NationalWatch

Nikki Haley heads to California on Wednesday, where the Republican presidential candidate is scheduled to headline her first rally in any of the 15 states that hold nominating contests on Super Tuesday in early March.

Ahead of her western campaign and fundraising swing, the former two-term South Carolina governor who later served as U.N. ambassador in former President Donald Trump’s administration is aiming to spotlight her momentum as she faces a steep uphill climb for the 2024 GOP nomination against her former boss.

Haley’s team says they hauled in $16.5 million in fundraising last month across all of their campaign committees, including $11.7 million from small-dollar grassroots supporters.

The January haul – Haley’s best fundraising month to date – was first reported Sunday by Axios and confirmed by Fox News. Haley’s campaign also said they added nearly 70,000 donors last month. 

HALEY, TRUMP, TRADE SHOTS OVER WHO’S STRONGER AGAINST BIDEN

Haley has seen her fundraising continue to increase since launching her presidential campaign a year ago. She raised $7.3 million during the April-June second quarter of 2023 fundraising, $11 million during the July-September third quarter, and over $24 million during the final three months of last year, as first reported by Fox News.

WHAT NIKKI HALEY TOLD FOX DIGITAL ABOUT WHAT SHE NEEDS TO DO TO KEEP RUNNING

“Hundreds of thousands of Americans are supporting Nikki’s campaign because they don’t want two grumpy old men and all their chaos, confusion and grievances. They want a strong, conservative leader who will save this country,” Haley campaign spokesperson Olivia Perez-Cubas argued, as she took aim at the 77-year-old Trump and 81-year-old President Biden.

Once a very long shot for the nomination, Haley enjoyed momentum in the polls in the late summer and autumn, thanks in part to well-received performances in the first three GOP presidential primary debates.

She’s the final major rival to Trump in a GOP presidential field that expanded to nearly 15 candidates last summer before shrinking.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis dropped out of the race last month, two days ahead of the Jan. 23 New Hampshire primary, making the nomination race a two-candidate showdown between Haley and Trump, who’s the commanding frontrunner as he runs a third straight time for the White House.

Haley captured 43% of the vote in New Hampshire, trailing Trump by 11 points.

She and her team have repeatedly spotlighted her grassroots fundraising in the days since the New Hampshire primary. And Haley held fundraisers last week with top dollar GOP donors in New York City and South Florida, with similar finance events scheduled for California this week, as well as Texas.

WHERE TRUMP AND HALEY STAND IN THE LATEST POLL IN A KEY REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL PRIMARY STATE

The next major contest on the Republican schedule is Haley’s home state, which holds its GOP primary on Feb. 24. The latest public opinion survey indicates the former president has a formidable 26-point lead over Haley.

But Haley said she doesn’t need to win in South Carolina to keep her campaign for the Republican presidential nomination alive.

“Success means being competitive. Closing the gap. Making sure we can continue to go forward as we go into Super Tuesday,” Haley emphasized in a Fox News Digital interview last Thursday.

Haley, speaking with Fox News after a campaign event at a popular eatery in the Palmetto State’s capital city, reiterated her goalposts.

“It’s just about keeping that momentum going. We got 20% in Iowa. We got 43% in New Hampshire. Let’s bring it a little bit closer so that we can get closer in to him [Trump] and make it more competitive going into Super Tuesday,” she emphasized.

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Thirty-six percent of all Republican presidential delegates will be up for grabs in the primaries and caucuses held on Super Tuesday, which this year will take place on March 5.

Since her 11-point loss to Trump on Jan. 23 in New Hampshire, Haley has faced calls to drop out, so Trump can start focusing on defeating President Biden in November’s general election.

But Haley emphasized that “we’re not going anywhere.”

“This is about just closing that gap,” she added. “We have a country to save, and I am determined to keep on going the entire way as long as we can keep closing that gap.”

Trump has repeatedly slammed Haley since she announced on primary night in New Hampshire that she would continue her presidential campaign.

On Sunday, Trump took to his Truth Social plaform to charge that Haley was a “Failed Political Candidate.”

Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more at our Fox News Digital election hub.

President Biden’s support among Black voters has dropped significantly since 2020, and his supporters are beginning to blame the change on “disinformation.”

The Democratic Party in South Carolina, where the Black vote essentially saved Biden’s candidacy in the 2020 primary, launched a program seeking to “educate” the state’s Black voters this month. Party officials went on a 30-stop bus tour of the state in an effort to close “the information gap” among Black voters. 

“I think there’s a lot of disinformation out there,” Democratic National Committee Chairman Jaime Harrison told NOTUS. “There are a lot of folks who don’t want this president for whatever reason, and I think some foreign and some domestic. They don’t want the record to be straight in terms of what this president has done and accomplished.”

“We needed to educate our voters and create a space for our candidates to come talk about their record,” Christale Spain, the Democratic Party chair in South Carolina, told the outlet. “That’s really why we launched this historic effort, to fill what I feel is an information gap and not an enthusiasm gap.”

BLACK VOTERS IN GEORGIA ‘DISAPPOINTED’ BY BIDEN: ‘IT MAKES ME WONDER WHY I VOTE’

Democrats argue Black voters need to be taught about what they say are Biden’s major successes, pointing to the Inflation Reduction Act, student loan forgiveness and other issues.

BIDEN’S POLLING PROBLEM: RUNNING FOR RE-ELECTION IN 2024, THE PRESIDENT ENDS 2023 UNDERWATER

According to a USA Today/Suffolk University poll released in January, Biden’s support among Black voters has fallen to just 63%, down from the 92% that Pew Research Center data shows he won in the 2020 presidential election. His support among Hispanic voters is down to 34% from 59%.

One student at South Carolina State University told NOTUS that she only began supporting Biden after finding out his record on appointing Black judges to the bench.

“I really didn’t know the information,” the student, Zyah Cephus, told the outlet. “I think those are things that the youth need to hear. I think, oftentimes, we’re kind of connected with the wrong things and disconnected with the right things. We know about Nicki Minaj and Megan Thee Stallion, but we don’t know about what’s going on in politics.”

Biden’s poll numbers more generally have remained historically low, with some Democratic commentators saying it is time to “panic.”

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“Precisely how scared Democrats should be about Biden’s standing depends on how his plight compares with those of presidents past. And there’s no sugarcoating it: This might be the worst polling environment for an incumbent president one year out from an election since the advent of the polling era in the 1930s and also the most dire situation facing any Democratic presidential candidate in decades,” David Faris, a writer and political science professor at Roosevelt University, said last month.

“Panic is entirely warranted,” he added.

Fox News’ Brandon Gillespie contributed to this report

FIRST ON FOX: Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., is throwing his support behind Trump-backed Republican Bernie Moreno for the Ohio Senate.

Tuberville made the endorsement ahead of the state’s heated March primary race, where Moreno is challenging GOP candidates Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose and state Sen. Matt Dolan for the Republican nomination.

“I’m endorsing Bernie Moreno for U.S. Senate because we need more Conservative fighters in Washington,” Tuberville said in a press release obtained first by Fox News Digital. “A successful businessman, proven leader, and political outsider, Bernie will join our fight against the Washington swamp.”

Republicans are putting an emphasis on red state Ohio as one of the GOP’s best Senate pickup opportunities of the 2024 cycle – a state won by former President Trump in both the 2016 and 2020 presidential elections.

OHIO SENATE CANDIDATE SAYS GOP IMPEACHING ‘TRAITOR’ MAYORKAS A ‘NO BRAINER’: ‘GROTESQUELY UNQUALIFIED’

Moreno, who is running to unseat vulnerable Democrat Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, expressed gratitude for the support from “a relentless fighter against the Washington establishment.”

TRUMP ALLY MORENO PICKS UP NOEM ENDORSEMENT, RISES TO TOP OHIO REPUBLICAN VYING TO BOOT DEMOCRAT SHERROD BROWN

“I am honored to have the endorsement of Senator Tuberville, a relentless fighter against the Washington establishment,” Moreno said. “I look forward to standing strong for our conservative values in the Senate alongside Senator Tuberville, and I am grateful for his support.”

Tuberville’s backing followed endorsements from former President Trump, Gov. Kristi Noem, R-S.D., and Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo.

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Tuberville has made several recent endorsements in prominent Senate races of the 2024 cycle, including backing Montana Senate candidate Tim Sheehy.

FIRST ON FOX: House Freedom Caucus members are urging their conservative Senate colleagues to reject the recently unveiled border security compromise, claiming it does not go far enough to curb the migrant crisis.

“It’s clear why Democrats waited until the last minute to drop this dumpster fire of a bill, it’s far worse than we could have expected,” former Freedom Caucus Chairman Scott Perry, R-Pa., told Fox News Digital on Sunday night after the legislation was released. “The Senate must reject this American sellout.”

The proposal is aimed at tightening current immigration and asylum laws while also fast-tracking eligible asylum claims. It also would give President Biden and the Department of Homeland Security authorities to temporarily shut down the border when it is overwhelmed.

However, a majority of House Republicans have insisted on border reform that goes even further, pointing to their H.R.2 border security bill passed last year.

SENATE RELEASES LONG-AWAITED BORDER LEGISLATION, MAJOR ASYLUM CHANGES

Others, like Freedom Caucus member Rep. Eli Crane, R-Ariz., are still critical of its attachment to Democrats’ supplemental aid proposal that would also allocate $60 billion toward Ukraine and additional funding for Israel and elsewhere.

“Instead of fighting for a serious bill that combats the invasion we face, weak-kneed Senate Republicans got rolled by Democrats, letting their obsession with Ukraine get in the way of their duty to America,” Crane told Fox News Digital. “This pathetic excuse for [a] border security deal gives Ukraine three times as much as it allocates to the U.S. border.”

JOHNSON SAYS TRUMP IS ‘NOT CALLING THE SHOTS’ FOR HOUSE ON BORDER DEAL

Rep. Ralph Norman, R-S.C., told Fox News Digital, “At first glance, this ‘deal’ is a wolf in sheep’s clothing. This is a Ukraine border deal, not a U.S. border deal.” 

A big sticking point for critics even before the bill was released was the rumored authority to allow 5,000 migrants into the country per day before enforcing a Title 42-like expulsion authority. 

What the bill text does is create a new “border emergency authority” to turn people away, which may be used if the average number of migrants encountered reaches an average 4,000 per day across a seven-day period. The authority would be mandatory if that number hits 5,000. 

Those powers can be used for up to 270 days in the first year of implementation, a number that gradually decreases before the authority sunsets altogether in three years.

SOUTH DAKOTA GOV NOEM SEEKS TO BOLSTER TEXAS SECURITY EFFORTS AT US-MEXICO BORDER

“The acceptable number of illegal aliens allows into the U.S. should be zero. The proposal is an absolute slap in the face to Americans and no Republican (or Democrat, for that matter) should support it,” Rep. Andy Ogles, R-Tenn., told Fox News Digital. 

Sen. James Lankford, R-Okla., Senate Republicans’ lead negotiator of the deal, called the notion that 5,000 people were “coming into the country” each day “absurd and untrue.”

“The emergency authority is not designed to let 5,000 people in, it is designed to close the border and turn 5,000 people around,” he said on X.

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However, it is not just GOP hardliners who are pumping the breaks on the bill. House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., called it a “nonstarter” and Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., vowed it would not get a House vote.

GOP Conference Policy Chair Gary Palmer, R-Ala., wrote on X, “I cannot believe the Senate actually thinks this bill will secure our border. This poor excuse for a border security bill will continue to incentivize illegal crossings and will not have my support.”

Squad members Reps. Cori Bush, D-Mo., and Jamaal Bowman, D-N.Y., have both so far been out-raised by their more moderate Democrat challengers, as primary threats mount. 

Bush, a defund the police advocate under Justice Department investigation for shelling out tens to hundreds of thousands of dollars in campaign cash to a security firm, was just narrowly outraised by her primary challenger, attorney Wesley Bell. 

Bell earned $492,149 in donations, compared to the $487,000 Bush raised during the last quarter of 2023, according to the latest filings with the Federal Election Commission. 

“Missouri’s 1st District deserves a representative who shows up, does the work and gets things done,” Bell said in a statement to The Hill. “I’m honored by our fast-growing list of endorsements from community members and local officials, and energized by the incredible momentum of support driving our campaign.”

CORI BUSH BLAMES ‘RIGHT-WING’ WATCHDOG GROUPS FOR DOJ PROBE

Bowman, who pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor after pulling an office fire alarm in the House – allegedly to pause a vote during the government shutdown debate – raked in about $724,000 in the last quarter of 2023, according to the latest FEC filings. That compares to the $1.4 million raised by his opponent in New York’s 14th Congressional District, George Latimer. 

“There is a fundamental weakness to Latimer’s fundraising,” Bill Neidhardt, a spokesperson for Bowman’s re-election push, told The Hill. “His connection to Republican Trump mega donors.”

“His money won’t go as far in a Democratic primary where the electorate wants to hold Donald Trump accountable,” Neidhardt added. 

A Westchester County Executive who entered the race in early December, Latimer traveled to Israel in the wake of the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks to show support for the Jewish state and earned the endorsement from AIPAC, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee. 

Meanwhile, Bowman, who represents what is considered a safe blue seat, recently lost the endorsement of the progressive group J Street. 

CORI BUSH’S CAMPAIGN PAYS $17,500 MORE TO HER HUSBAND, BRINGING HIS TOTAL TO $120K, NEW FILINGS SHOW

An organization that claims to be pro-Israel but has faced criticism because of its support for positions that allegedly favor Iran’s regime and the Palestinians, J Street rescinded its endorsement of Bowman on Jan. 30, arguing that the progressive congressman “crossed a line” in calling for a cease-fire and describing Israel’s military campaign in Gaza as a “genocide.” 

Other Squad members, Reps. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., and Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., continue to rake in donations. 

Despite their fundraising setbacks and controversial anti-Israel remarks, Bush and Bowman are still considered tough – and likely costly – to beat as progressive incumbents. Their defeat, however, would signal a shift more toward the center of the Democratic Party in Congress. 

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“It’s a very small group to begin with,” Mark Mellman, a veteran Democratic pollster and leader of the Democratic Majority for Israel, told The Hill of members of Congress considered part of the progressive Squad. “It would be good for the party and good for the country if it got smaller.”

EXCLUSIVE: The United Nations Foundation, a nonprofit founded in the 1990s to support global U.N. initiatives, is quietly fueling climate change policies in top Democratic state government offices nationwide, Fox News Digital has learned.

The Washington, D.C.-based organization — which was “created to work closely with the United Nations” — houses the U.S. Climate Alliance, a coalition of Democrat-led states launched to coordinate environmental policy after former President Donald Trump withdrew from the U.N. Paris climate accords. As part of the initiative, the United Nations Foundation has wired millions of dollars to state governors and agencies, in many cases even funding state officials’ salaries.

According to United Nations Foundation tax filings reviewed by Fox News Digital, the group wired a staggering $5.4 million to 12 state governments between 2020 and 2022, the most recent year with data available, with grants often being vaguely earmarked for “UN strengthening.” Further, information requests shared with Fox News Digital indicate another state, Michigan, received $451,000 from the group circuitously routed through the University of Michigan.

“What we see is that wealthy donors are providing layers of ‘staff’ to do what is supposedly government work, led by a U.N. ‘strategic partner’ no less boasting that these millions to staff government offices in the United States is for ‘UN Strengthening,’” D.C. lawyer Chris Horner, who filed the information requests on behalf of watchdog groups Government Accountability & Oversight (GAO) and Power The Future, told Fox News Digital.

FORMER CIA DIRECTOR LEON PANETTA WARNS CHINA MAY USE MICHIGAN EV PLANT FOR ESPIONAGE

“They are staffing governors’ offices, to set the policies, and regulatory agencies — including at least one cabinet official — to ensure that official reports and rules are climate-industry produced,” Horner continued. “Meanwhile, the risk of blackouts across the U.S. has soared as this U.N. ‘energy transition’ agenda is implemented, by people they have placed on the inside.”

Overall, United Nations Foundation filings show that, during the time frame with data available, North Carolina has been the largest beneficiary of the funding scheme, receiving nearly $1.2 million in U.S. Climate Alliance grants sent to the state’s Office of the Governor, Department of Commerce and Department of Transportation.

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In the same time frame, the nonprofit sent $853,000 to Maine’s Office of the Governor, Energy Office and Department of Agriculture. And New Mexico’s government received another $725,193, sent to its Environment Department and Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources Department.

“It is extremely concerning that global government activists may be secretly influencing public policy in New Mexico,” New Mexico state Senate Republican Leader Greg Baca told Fox News Digital. “If these grants are funding employees within our state agencies, the people of New Mexico deserve to know about it. We call on the Governor to disclose the details of what these funds are being used for and why New Mexico was selected as a beneficiary.”

A spokesperson for North Carolina Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson, the state’s highest-ranking Republican, added that the United Nations Foundation and U.S. Climate Alliance funding structure raises concerns about how key climate policies are being crafted.

“The United Nations Foundation funneling $1.19 million into North Carolina for influencing the policy of our state raises serious concerns about the potential of unaccountable bureaucrats bypassing the legislature’s budgeting power to push political agendas,” the spokesperson said in a statement. “Transparency is crucial – we need clear answers on how the funds are utilized.”

“Currently, there’s unease that the money might be funding salaries for state officials involved in developing climate policies,” the statement continued. “It’s essential to ensure that the government officials tasked with crafting policies to benefit North Carolinians are accountable to the taxpayers, not beholden to global activist organizations promoting agendas.”

CONSUMER GROUP REVEALS LEFT-WING GROUPS INCREASINGLY USING COURTS TO PUSH GREEN NEW DEAL

The information requests shared with Fox News Digital reveal additional details about the purpose of the United Nation Foundation’s “U.N. strengthening” grants to states. 

Documents obtained by GAO show that the Michigan state government signed a memorandum of understanding with the University of Michigan in 2021 to use a U.S. Climate Alliance grant for $451,000 to hire two full-time climate policy staff through 2025. That same year, the United Nations Foundation reported sending that same amount to the Regents of the University of Michigan.

According to the contract, the staff, whose salaries of more than $100,000 a year were funded by the U.S. Climate Alliance via the United Nations Foundation, work at the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy’s Office of Climate and Energy (OCE), which was established by Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer in 2019 to “advance climate action.”

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Among their responsibilities under the grant, the staff are tasked with helping develop the Michigan Healthy Climate Plan. That plan lays out a broad plan for the state under Whitmer’s leadership to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050 and outlines other environmental policies including expanding electric vehicle charging infrastructure, decarbonizing the residential sector and boosting conservation.

“These two [Climate Leadership Grant Program] positions are essential for supporting OCE’s work as it pursues the state’s decarbonization goals,” the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy wrote in an application to extend funding submitted with the U.S. Climate Alliance in December and obtained via information request. 

“I’m thrilled to let you know that the application has been approved for the full grant amount,” Katie Thomas, a senior U.S. Climate Alliance official, wrote to Michigan officials in an email on Dec. 20. “It’s clear that these two positions are critical to advancing all the great climate work happening in Ml and we are proud to support them.”

And the documents obtained by Power The Future, show a similar arrangement was green-lit in New Mexico. 

In September, the New Mexico Department of Energy, Minerals and Resources, and the United Nations Foundation signed a U.S. Climate Alliance grant agreement worth $307,300. According to the contract, the funding supports a new senior climate policy adviser who will work directly with Democratic New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham through January 2026.

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The contract includes a provision stating that the United Nations Foundation “may monitor and conduct formal evaluations of operations under this Agreement, which may include a visit from UNF personnel or other representatives, including representatives from the U.S. Climate Alliance, to observe Grantee’s projects.”

“If your government is up for sale, then you’re going to have a pretty corrupt group of bidders,” Daniel Turner, the executive director of Power The Future, told Fox News Digital in an interview. “The whole purpose of the government is to be above such deviousness. And yet these governors have sold their power to a global agenda, and they should be held accountable by their constituents.”

“It’s really just shocking and it’s traitorous,” Turner added. “To think governors would just sell out to third party groups — it’s just terrible behavior.”

In addition to Michigan, New Mexico, Maine and North Carolina, state offices in Colorado, Connecticut, Hawaii, Illinois, Massachusetts, Nevada, Rhode Island, Vermont and Wisconsin have received funding from the U.S. Climate Alliance via the United Nations Foundation. Nevada withdrew from the U.S. Climate Alliance shortly after Republican Gov. Joe Lombardo succeeded former Gov. Steve Sisolak, a Democrat, last year.

On its website, the U.S. Climate Alliance boasts that member states have committed to uniform net-zero goals, such as reducing greenhouse gas emissions at least 26-28% by 2025 and 50-52% by 2030, while promoting equity and “environmental justice.”

In December, the alliance’s co-chairs, Govs. Jay Inslee, D-Wash., and Janet Mills, D-Maine, issued an annual report highlighting the coordinated actions member states had taken throughout 2023. The report pointed to the states’ aggressive electric vehicle mandates, shutdown of fossil fuel infrastructure and bans on natural gas hookups for new construction.

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U.S. Climate Alliance spokesperson Evan Westrup said the initiative’s funding — through both the Climate Leadership Grant Program, which “bolsters state-level staff capacity” for climate policy roles, and Technical Assistance Fund, which provides “policy support” for member states — is “critical” where staff capacity constraints persist. He added that grants are managed by individual states, not the U.S. Climate Alliance or United Nations Foundation.

“At a time when unprecedented heat, fires, and storms continue to threaten communities across America, it’s clear our leaders — both Democrats and Republicans — need every available resource at the ready to confront the climate crisis,” Westrup told Fox News Digital. “Our health, economy, and future depend on it.”

Meanwhile, the United Nations Foundation’s tax filings reveal that it has itself received tens of millions of dollars from major left-wing pass-through organizations.

For example, in recent years, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has contributed more than $55 million, the Bezos Earth Fund has contributed nearly $6 million, and the Tides Foundation contributed nearly $4 million. Corporations such as Johnson & Johnson and Facebook, and government entities from the U.K., Canada, Sweden, Norway, and the Netherlands have contributed tens of millions of dollars more.

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But it appears the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation and Sequoia Climate Fund, two massive nonprofits dedicated to writing grants to fuel progressive causes in the U.S., have spearheaded the U.S. Climate Alliance initiative.

“The Hewlett Foundation is proud of our work to address climate change,” a Hewlett Foundation spokesperon said. “All of our grants and their purpose, including to the U.S. Climate Alliance, are public and listed on our website.”

A spokesperson for Maine Gov. Mills declined to comment. Governors’ offices in Michigan, North Carolina and New Mexico didn’t respond to requests for comment.

House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., criticized the Senate’s bipartisan $118 billion border security and foreign aid package after the text of the agreement was released Sunday night, stating that the proposal is “even worse than we expected” and would be “dead on arrival” in the lower chamber.

The legislation would allocate $20 billion for border security to give the federal government temporary authority to expel migrants when the average number of daily crossings exceeds a threshold. The border security component also includes ending “catch and release,” increasing standards for asylum screenings and attempting to process asylum claims quicker.

The foreign aid portion of the agreement includes $60 billion for Ukraine, $14.1 billion for Israel and aid for Indo-Pacific allies. Johnson said he would put $17.6 billion in emergency funding for Israel in a standalone bill up for a vote on the House floor next week.

“I’ve seen enough,” Johnson wrote on X, formerly Twitter. “This bill is even worse than we expected, and won’t come close to ending the border catastrophe the President has created. As the lead Democrat negotiator proclaimed: Under this legislation, ‘the border never closes.'”

SENATE RELEASES LONG-AWAITED BORDER LEGISLATION, MAJOR ASYLUM CHANGES

“If this bill reaches the House, it will be dead on arrival,” the speaker declared.

The statement from Johnson echoes comments he made before the Senate released the text of the agreement Sunday night.

“If rumors about the contents of the draft proposal are true, it would have been dead on arrival in the House anyway,” he wrote to House Republicans last month.

Shortly before Johnson’s statement, House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., said the Senate bill would not receive a vote in the lower chamber. Scalise oversees the schedule in the House.

“Let me be clear: The Senate Border Bill will NOT receive a vote in the House,” Scalise wrote on X. “Here’s what the people pushing this ‘deal’ aren’t telling you: It accepts 5,000 illegal immigrants a day and gives automatic work permits to asylum recipients — a magnet for more illegal immigration.”

Sen. Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said a vote on the package in the Senate could come as early as Wednesday.

Johnson’s statement comes after a few Senate negotiators worked for months on a deal to address border security. Republicans had demanded that any aid for Ukraine be paired with legislation to help the illegal immigration crisis at the Southern Border.

In recent weeks, as negotiators were nearing a deal, Republicans became skeptical of the bipartisan talks, arguing that President Biden already has the resources to address the situation at the border and does not need new legislation. Some Republicans have also suggested that they do not want to support the border bill and give Biden a political win in an election year.

Former President Trump, on his social media platform Truth Social, also urged GOP lawmakers to not support a border deal unless they receive “EVERYTHING needed to shut down the INVASION of Millions & Millions of people.”

JOHNSON SAYS TRUMP IS ‘NOT CALLING THE SHOTS’ FOR HOUSE ON BORDER DEAL

Sen. James Lankford, R-Okla., the lead GOP negotiator on the border deal, responded to Johnson’s comments on the proposal, saying that he was confused about how the bill could be worse than House Republicans expected.

“I’m a little confused how it’s worse than they expected when it builds [the] border wall, expands deportation flights, expands ICE officers, border patrol officers, detention beds how it creates a faster process for deportations, clears up a lot of the long-term issues and loopholes that have existed in the asylum law and then gets us an emergency authority that stops the chaos right now on the border,” Lankford told reporters.

“So I’m a little confused,” he continued. “I’ll have to get with the Speaker’s team on that and find out what part would be ‘worse than what we expected’ based on the actual text and hopefully they will all have had an opportunity to read through the text.”

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Prior to the release of the text, Lankford told Fox News the claim that the bill would allow 5,000 illegal crossings per day was “the most misunderstood section of this proposal.”

“It would be absolutely absurd for me to agree to 5,000 people a day. This bill focuses on getting us to zero illegal crossings a day,” he said during a Jan. 28 appearance on “Fox News Sunday.”

Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., is slamming Harvard for hosting a Palestinian professor who has blamed Israel for the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks. 

The Democratic lawmaker said he was “truly appalled” that Harvard’s Kennedy School would platform Dr. Dalal Saeb Iriqat, a columnist and associate professor at Arab American University Palestine. 

Dr. Iriqat is scheduled to speak at the Harvard Kennedy School’s Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs on March 7 for a seminar series called “Middle East Dialogues.” 

“I am truly appalled that the Kennedy School would platform an individual who celebrates and justifies Hamas’ October 7th killing of Israeli citizens—babies, children, the elderly, and the systemic rape, mutilation, and torture of young girls and women,” Fetterman said. 

Fetterman added that “this hate has absolutely no place in any sanctioned dialogue. Decency would demand it relegated to the sewer of social media fringe.”

“As an alumni and a member of the United States Senate, 25 years later, it’s hard to recognize my former university,” he said. 

PROGRESSIVE DEMOCRATS SHRUG OFF RAPIDLY RISING US ANTISEMITISM WHILE MANY WATCH IN DISBELIEF

Iriqat drew controversy for her statements downplaying the Hamas attack on Israel and blaming the Israeli government for the bloodshed on October 7, when 1,200 people were killed after Hamas terrorists infiltrated the country.

“Today is just a normal struggle 4 #Freedom,” Iriqat posted on X on Oct. 7, as Israelis near the border with Gaza cowered in their homes while terrorists went door-to-door butchering people.

Fox News Digital has reached out to Dr. Iriqat and Harvard for a response. 

In an online statement, Harvard said the event’s organizer, Professor Tarek Masoud, chose and invited the speakers for the series himself. 

UPENN FACULTY BLOCK BUILDING ENTRANCE, STAGE ‘DIE-IN’ PROTEST IN SUPPORT OF PALESTINIANS

“The purpose of the series is to provide a venue for debate and discussion, recognizing that different views will be offered and challenged—including views that many at the Kennedy School and beyond may disagree with vehemently and even find repugnant,” Harvard said. 

The school noted that Dean Douglas Elmendorf finds Iriqat’s quotes personally “abhorrent.”

The speakers in the “Middle East DIalogues” series will include Jared Kushner, a former senior adviser to President Donald Trump; Matt Duss, former foreign policy adviser to Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt.; Salam Fayyad, former Prime Minister of the Palestinian Authority; and Einat Wilf, a former member of the Israeli Knesset.

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Harvard said all speakers must answer unfiltered questions from the audience as well as by the faculty member who invited them. An invitation to speak at the Kennedy School never implies an endorsement of a speaker’s views by the Kennedy School or members of the Kennedy School community. 

Fox News’ Chris Pandolfo contributed to this report.

Timing could benefit former President Donald Trump as he faces down four criminal trials that are mired in controversy and legal obstacles while Election Day 2024 creeps closer, legal experts say. 

“Does it eventually get so late in the election-campaign calendar that it would be too unseemly to start trial? I would hope so,” former assistant U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York Andrew McCarthy, a Fox News contributor, wrote in an op-ed for National Review on Saturday.  

“The administration of justice in criminal cases is an important national priority, but it’s not the only one – or, necessarily, the highest one. How much intrusion on politics by the justice system should Americans tolerate – particularly under circumstances in which the intrusion is being orchestrated by the administration of the incumbent president against his campaign opponent?”

McCarthy’s op-ed was in response to a federal judge suspending Trump’s trial involving Special Counsel Jack Smith’s 2020 election interference investigation indefinitely last week, after it was set to begin on March 4. The move comes after Trump’s legal team filed an appeal arguing he is granted immunity from prosecution for actions in office. 

TRUMP TRIAL DELAYED IN CASE STEMMING FROM SPECIAL COUNSEL JACK SMITH’S JAN. 6 INVESTIGATION

“A president of the United States must have full immunity, without which it would be impossible for him/her to properly function,” Trump said last week on Truth Social in all caps. “Any mistake, even if well intended, would be met with almost certain indictment by the opposing party at term end. Even events that ‘cross the line’ must fall under total immunity, or it will be years of trauma trying to determine good from bad.”

An appeals court is reviewing Trump’s argument, tying the presiding judge’s hands from proceeding with the case. Trump filed an appeal in December, with a three-judge panel hearing arguments last month. No opinion has yet been issued, and the case could be sent to the full circuit court or Supreme Court for review, which would add additional time to proceedings.

TRUMP VISITS MANHATTAN COURT TO BLAST NYAG CASE, PRAISES APPELLATE RULING IN HIS FAVOR

McCarthy has been arguing that Trump’s trial strategy is “delay, delay, delay,” adding that after the postponed trial, a midsummer trial date for the D.C. case is “ambitious”and will likely be closer to Election day. 

“The election-interference prosecution of Donald Trump, the former president and likely Republican presidential nominee, by the Justice Department of Joe Biden, the incumbent president and Trump’s likely Democratic opponent, is the most politically charged in American history,” McCarthy wrote in a January column for National Review. 

He argued Saturday in a column that the delay of the trial did not come as a shock, and only solidified what had long been anticipated due to Trump’s appeal. In addition to the appeal potentially being heard by the full 11-member Circuit Court or Supreme Court, pre-trial work could hold up the trial even longer, making a midsummer trial date “optimistic.”

“Why? Because there is a lot of pre-trial work, including administrative detail, that must be attended to for a case to get to trial. As I elaborated in my [January column] about Trump’s delay strategy, the pre-trial process includes discovery, motions to dismiss the case or suppress evidence, hearings on motions, and so on. Whenever jurisdiction is finally returned to Judge Chutkan, all of that will have to crank up again – it takes a long time to get through, and it’s not like this is the only case on Her Honor’s docket,” he wrote. 

McCarthy speculated whether the courts would allow the anticipated GOP nominee to languish in courtrooms for weeks as Election Day comes down to the wire. 

“​​Defendants have to be present in court for the entirety of criminal trials. Could we really have the Republican nominee stuck in a courtroom from, say, August through October? I’m sure that would be fine with the Biden Justice Department’s special counsel. The question may be whether the court will go along,” McCarthy concluded. 

The former assistant U.S. attorney told Fox Digital that Jack Smith “will push to go to trial in the Washington case no matter how late in the election campaign calendar it gets,” but noted Smith’s not in the driver’s seat when it comes to determining schedules. 

“But when the trial gets scheduled is up to the judge, not the prosecutor. The question will be whether the courts are content to be perceived by half the public as part of a partisan scheme to get Trump tried and convicted prior to Election Day,” he said. 

HOUSE COMMITTEE SUBPOENAS FULTON COUNTY DA FANI WILLIS

In his op-ed, McCarthy also cited former prosecutor Bill Shipley – who has represented a handful of separate Jan. 6 cases – pointing to his X posts explaining it would be wildly difficult to seat a jury in the D.C. case. The courts will need to vet hundreds of potential jurors, including sending out questionnaires weeks ahead of the trial. That process cannot begin without a trial date, as the top question asked of jurors is whether they are able to serve for a two- to three-month period beginning on a certain date.

Shipley checked “scores” on Trump’s legal battles last week, and argued that cases against Trump in Georgia, Florida, D.C., and the New York Stormy Daniels case have been hit with legal obstacles and issues that benefit Trump. 

Shipley told Fox News Digital on Sunday that it “has been only 26 days since the Trump immunity appeal was argued,” and that the “average time between argument and opinion was 116 days,” meaning the appeals court will likely issue an opinion on his immunity appeal on May 12. 

“There is no legal basis for the proposition that Trump’s case should be decided ahead of other Circuit Court cases that were argued before Jan. 9.  Delays in appeals courts routinely force trial dates to be pushed back. The fact that it has happened to Trump’s trials means the appeals court is handling it like it would any other case,” he told Fox News Digital. 

In New York, Trump is accused of allegedly falsifying business records to conceal hush money payments to porn star Stormy Daniels during the 2016 election. The trial for that case is tentatively scheduled for March, meaning it would be the first of Trump’s four high-profile criminal trials following the postponement of the D.C. case. 

“Those are misdemeanors my good sir, and the statute of limitations expired in 2021,” Shipley wrote on X of the hush money case. Trump’s attorneys also noted last year that the statute of limitations would typically be subject to a five-year statute of limitations. New York, however, extends the statute of limitations if a defendant “was continuously outside this state.”

GA SENATE LAUNCHES COMMITTEE TO PROBE TRUMP PROSECUTOR FANI WILLIS FOR ‘IMPROPER’ AFFAIR

McCarthy told Fox News Digital that after the postponement of the D.C. trial, it’s unlikely that Democrats will first head to trial against Trump in the New York case, as it’s “nakedly political” – but noted the door is open to that possibility. 

“It’s hard for me to believe Democrats want to go first with that trial: It’s such a ludicrous case that Trump could get acquitted, even in Manhattan; and if he gets convicted, it’s such a nakedly political prosecution that he won’t be hurt much by it,” he said. 

Trump was also charged in Georgia with allegedly attempting to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election, which has recently been mired in controversy after the Trump team claimed District Attorney Fani Willis was having an affair with one of her top prosecutors. 

Willis admitted last week to having a personal relationship with the special prosecutor she hired, Nathan Wade, but denied the “salacious” allegations against her having “merit.”

Trump’s team is calling for the prosecutors to be disqualified and his charges dismissed. No trial has been set in that case. 

FULTON COUNTY DA FANI WILLIS ADMITS PERSONAL RELATIONSHIP WITH PROSECUTOR BUT DENIES CONFLICT OF INTEREST

In Florida, Trump was charged for allegedly mishandling classified documents following his presidency, and is scheduled to face trial on May 20. The case may be postponed, however, with the presiding judge – a Trump nominee – saying she’d revisit the date during a March 1 hearing. 

Shipley also noted that having the presumed GOP nominee sit in courtrooms instead of campaigning late in the election cycle would be unprecedented, and has long speculated that Trump’s federal trials wouldn’t begin until after the start of August. 

“For several months I have been taking it at face value that no trial in either federal case would begin after Aug. 1. Both cases are expected to take 2-3 months, and trials in the Aug-Oct time period would be right in the middle of the general campaign.  Trump would be required to sit in a courtroom in Washington DC rather than – as the nominee of a major party – be out doing the usual kind of campaign events,” Shipley wrote on Twitter. 

FANI WILLIS, WHO ‘RELISHED IN’ DONALD TRUMP PROSECUTION, SHOULD BE REMOVED FROM CASE FOR ILLICIT AFFAIR: EXPERTS

In December, Smith’s authority in the federal cases even came into question after former Reagan administration Attorney General Edwin Meese filed an amicus brief with the Supreme Court arguing Smith’s appointment as special counsel wasn’t lawful and thus he can’t prosecute Trump. Attorney General Merrick Garland appointed Smith to the position as he was working as a private citizen, with Meese arguing he should have been selected by the president, then confirmed by the Senate and working within the Justice Department to serve as special counsel. 

Trump has repeatedly defended his innocence in the four cases, calling the charges a “witch hunt” at the hands of Democrats who seek to silence him. 

“Deranged Jack Smith, Letitia ‘Peekaboo’ James, Alvin Bragg, the J6 Committee of Political Thugs (who have deleted and destroyed all evidence and findings), and all of the rest of the Biden prosecutors and ‘bad people who hate our Country,’ are just as guilty as Fani Willis. It’s Biden Investigations for purposes of ELECTION INTERFERENCE,” Trump wrote on Truth Social last week. 

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Amid the legal battles, Trump is also on the campaign trail. He holds a commanding 26-point lead in South Carolina over Nikki Haley, who served as governor in the state from 2011 to 2017, according to a Monmouth University-Washington Post poll. The state’s primary will be held on Feb. 24. Trump previously won the Iowa caucuses, as well as the nation’s first primary last month in New Hampshire. 

Former President Trump teased possible rallies in New York City at Madison Square Garden and in the South Bronx during an interview with Fox News that aired Sunday. 

“Sunday Morning Futures” host Maria Bartiromo asked Trump if he believes he could flip blue states like New York and New Jersey, noting there is a rumor he is planning a rally in the South Bronx.

“Yeah, I think I will do that,” Trump said of the South Bronx rally. “And I think I’ll do one maybe at Madison Square Garden.”

“Do I think we have a chance? New York has changed a lot in the last two years. We have migrants all over the street. They are living on Madison Avenue,” Trump said. “Nobody can believe what’s happened to New York. The people of New York are angry. People that would have never voted for me because I’m a Republican. I mean, they’re Democrats. Their parents were Democrats. They would vote for Democrats. I think they’re going to vote for me. So I think we’re going to give New York a heavy shot. They’re very unhappy in New York. What’s happening? And they’re unhappy with the crime. You take a look at the crime in New York, it’s at record levels. The other thing is, and very importantly, New Jersey, I think New Jersey can be flipped. I think that Virginia can be flipped. I think that New Mexico could be flipped. And I think Minnesota could be flipped. And I’m not even sure that everything can’t be flipped.”

NEW YORK CITY TO HAND OUT $53 MILLION IN PRE-PAID CREDIT CARDS TO MIGRANT FAMILIES: REPORT

A native New Yorker whose real estate ventures helped build the New York City skyline, Trump has come under fire in the Empire State, where New York Attorney General Letitia James has been vying to drive the former president’s business from the state. Trump has repeatedly blasted James’ investigation as politically motivated. Also in New York, a jury ordered Trump to pay more than $83 million in the defamation case brought by his accuser, E. Jean Carroll, but Trump’s legal team has vowed to appeal the civil judgment. 

Trump’s remarks come amid a report claiming New York City will soon launch a $53 million pilot program to hand out pre-paid credit cards to migrant families housed in hotels. 

The New York Post, citing city records, reported on Saturday that 500 migrant families at the Roosevelt Hotel will receive pre-paid cards to help them buy food. The program is intended to replace the current food service provided there, the Post reported.

GRAHAM GRILLS DOJ, DHS OVER ILLEGAL MIGRANTS’ ‘BRAZEN’ NYC POLICE ATTACK: ‘WILL THEY BE DEPORTED?’

“Not only will this provide families with the ability to purchase fresh food for their culturally relevant diets and the baby supplies of their choosing, but the pilot program is expected to save New York City more than $600,000 per month, or more than $7.2 million annually,” a spokesperson for New York City Mayor Eric Adams told the newspaper in a statement.

The Big Apple was also riddled with controversy after a gang of migrants beat New York City Police Department officers in Times Square. One of those illegal migrants involved, 22-year-old Jhoan Boada, flipped two middle fingers to news cameras after he was released from a police precinct following his arrest over the attack. 

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Authorities reportedly believe at least four more of those migrants arrested and released after the incident have since fled on a bus bound for California. 

President Biden’s team reportedly is fearing photos included in Special Counsel Robert Hur’s imminent report on the handling of classified documents could impact his 2024 re-election bid. 

Axios reported that Biden’s aides do not expect criminal charges as a result of the investigation, but they are concerned about potentially embarrassing photos included in Hur’s expected report that could be released as soon as this week. The images could show how Biden stored classified materials, which were discovered in late 2022 in the garage of Biden’s Delaware home, as well as in a private office he used. The classified documents were carried over from Biden’s time as former President Obama’s vice president. 

Biden’s aides told Axios that they are fearful former President Trump’s campaign could use the photos against the Democrat incumbent ahead of their likely 2024 rematch. 

Trump himself is facing more than 40 counts, including obstruction of justice and willful retention of national defense information, for improperly storing classified documents at his private residence at Mar-a-Lago in Florida after leaving the White House following a probe by Special Counsel Jack Smith. 

BIDEN INTERVIEWED BY SPECIAL COUNSEL ABOUT CLASSIFIED DOCUMENTS

With Hur’s report looming, Biden’s aides are concerned Trump’s campaign could attempt to contrast the handling of the two investigations. 

Hur, a former U.S. attorney nominated by Trump in 2017 and a former clerk for conservative Chief Justice William Rehnquist, is obligated to write a report about the investigation, and Biden’s aides told Axios they expect the report could come as soon as this week, though the exact timing of its release is unknown. 

Biden has defended the storing of classified documents in the past. 

“By the way, my Corvette is in a locked garage, so it’s not like they’re sitting out on the street,” he once said. 

In a CBS “60 Minutes’ interview last fall, Attorney General Merrick Garland vowed to make public a special counsel’s report related to another matter – the one related to Hunter Biden – “to the extent permissible under the law,” and promised to explain the “decisions to prosecute or not prosecute, and their strategic decisions along the way.”

10 UNANSWERED QUESTIONS ABOUT BIDEN’S CLASSIFIED DOCUMENTS

“Usually, the special counsels have testified at the end of their reports, and I expect that that will be the case here,” Garland said. 

The Justice Department told Axios that Garland is also committed to releasing Hur’s report as well. 

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Anthony Coley, a former senior adviser to Garland, accused the Biden team of slow-walking discovery in the case. 

“Against the backdrop of former President Trump’s indictment on charges of willful and deliberate retention of classified documents, the Biden team’s drip, drip, drip of information made the discoveries seem even worse,” he wrote in an op-ed. 

Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley accused former President Trump of “playing politics” with the border crisis Sunday after he called on Republican senators to kill a bipartisan border bill.

Haley made the comments during a Sunday morning appearance on CNN’s “State of the Union” with host Dana Bash. She agreed with Bash that Trump was seeking to halt progress on illegal immigration in order to continue using it as a political issue.

“He is absolutely playing politics. Of course he is, by telling [senators] not to do anything,” Haley said. “But what they do need to do is put a tough immigration law in place.”

Haley went on to say that a “Remain in Mexico” provision must be included in any reform bill to make sure illegal immigrants “never step foot on U.S. soil.”

WHAT NIKKI HALEY TOLD FOX DIGITAL ABOUT WHAT SHE NEEDS TO DO TO KEEP RUNNING

She also addressed Republicans who argue Biden already has all the tools he needs to ensure border security if he were to start enforcing the law.

WHERE TRUMP AND HALEY STAND IN THE LATEST POLL IN A KEY REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL PRIMARY STATE

“Yes, Biden could go back to some of the laws… but three million illegal immigrants came under Trump,” she said. “That’s because the asylum laws are not strong enough. We need to strengthen the asylum laws so we don’t have people coming in here for loose reasons.”

Haley also addressed a statement she made last week suggesting that U.S. states have the right to secede from the union. She clarified that the U.S. Constitution does not allow states to secede, but added that friction between states like Texas and the federal government is caused by Washington not acting in the interest of voters.

2024 SHOWDOWN: HALEY TARGETS BIDEN AND TRUMP AS ‘GRUMPY OLD MEN’

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“People don’t think the government is listening to them. I’ve been 400 miles on that border, Dana. When you see what those ranchers are going through, when you see what those people in Eagle Pass are going through, and when you see what’s going on in New York and other cities across the country – because now every city is Eagle Pass – we’ve gotta start getting this under control,” she said.

Former President Trump revealed his criteria for a running mate on Sunday, but he told Fox News host Maria Bartiromo that he won’t announce a vice presidential pick “for a little while.”

Trump made the comments in an interview with Bartiromo that aired on “Sunday Morning Futures.” He said the most important factor is to ensure his running mate would be able to step up and handle the presidency in the case of an emergency.

“What criteria are you using to identify who your running mate is?” Bartiromo asked.

“Always it’s gotta be who is going to be a good president. Obviously you always have to think that, because in case of emergency. Things happen, right? No matter who you are, things happen. That’s gotta be number one,” Trump responded.

TRUMP, RFK JR SIDE WITH TEXAS IN BORDER FIGHT WITH BIDEN ADMIN AS 25 STATES SHOW SUPPORT

“Who is your running mate?” Bartiromo pressed.

“Well, I have a lot of good people. I have a lot of good ideas,” he added, saying he “talks to everybody.”

VOTERS SHARE TOP RUNNING MATE CHOICES FOR TRUMP IF ELECTED: ‘IT HAS TO BE SOMEONE YOUNGER’

“You know, I called [South Carolina Sen.] Tim Scott and people like Tim Scott, and I said you’re a much better candidate for me than you are for yourself,” Trump said. “When I watched him, he was fine. He was good, but he was very low key.”

“I watched him in the last week, defending me and sticking up for me and fighting for me – I said, man, you’re a much better person for me than you are for yourself,” he continued.

Trump went on to praise South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem as well, noting that she said publicly that she would never run against him, “because I could never beat him.”

TRUMP ASKS SUPREME COURT TO KEEP NAME ON COLORADO BALLOT

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Trump also denied reports that his campaign had reached out to Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., to explore a potential ticket with him early on in the campaign season. Trump said the interaction “never happened.”

A Democrat representing a swing House district that could prove crucial for both parties in this year’s election is remaining silent over calls from within the nation’s largest teachers union to rescind its endorsement of President Biden over the war in Gaza.

Rep. Jahana Hayes, D-Conn., a former teacher and National Education Association (NEA) member, first ran for Congress in 2018 with the backing of the union, specifically its president, Becky Pringle, who campaigned for her. 

However, the congresswoman has yet to publicly speak out on the organized effort from within the union to halt the Biden endorsement until there is a permanent cease-fire in Gaza.

Hayes’ office also didn’t respond to Fox News Digital’s multiple requests for comment concerning the effort and whether she believed the NEA should continue its support for Biden.

STACEY ABRAMS’ ONCE-POWERFUL VOTING RIGHTS GROUP FACES MASSIVE LAYOFFS AS IT STRUGGLES WITH MILLIONS IN DEBT

According to a January report by The Nation, a faction of rank-and-file NEA members are demanding the union’s endorsement of Biden for re-election this year to be revoked until the president “secures a ‘permanent cease-fire,’ stops ‘sending military funding, equipment, and intelligence to Israel,’ and commits ‘to a fair due process for asylum-seekers and refugees.’”

The report said a petition circulating within the union says signatories will withhold their voluntary donations to the group’s political action committee, the arm of the organization that supports candidates running for office.

DISPUTED TRUMP-BACKED MICHIGAN GOP CHAIRMAN INVESTED THOUSANDS IN COMPANY DISPOSING ABORTED FETAL REMAINS

“As a Palestinian American, it hurts,” one union member told the outlet, “because our union has been very focused on racial and social justice, and supporting him when he is not only funding but also sending weapons killing my people sends me the message that we don’t matter and that we are collateral damage and that’s OK.”

Hayes narrowly won re-election by just over 2,000 votes in the 2022 midterms, and the seat is likely to be a top target for Republicans as they aim to maintain and expand their majority in the House of Representatives.

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Hayes is running unopposed in the Democratic primary, while her 2022 opponent, former Republican state Sen. George Logan, is hoping for a general election rematch in November. His only opponent in the GOP primary is public sector worker Michelle Botelho. 

Election analysts largely view the race as leaning Democratic.

Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more at our Fox News Digital election hub.

The U.S. Supreme Court will soon debate whether former President Donald Trump should be removed from Colorado’s primary ballot, the first of what could be several legal challenges by Trump to confront the nine justices.

At issue is whether Trump committed “insurrection” by inciting a crowd to storm the U.S. Capitol Jan. 6, 2021, and whether that would make him constitutionally ineligible to be re-elected president. That, in turn, could block him from appearing on a state primary ballot as a candidate for that office.

Oral arguments are scheduled for Thursday at 10 a.m. ET, and an expedited ruling could come within days or weeks.

The issues have never been tested at the nation’s highest court and are framed as both a constitutional and political fight with enormous stakes for public confidence in the judicial system and the already divisive electoral process.

TRUMP ASKS SUPREME COURT TO KEEP NAME ON COLORADO BALLOT

The wording

The 14th Amendment, Section 3 of the Constitution states, “No person shall… hold any office… under the United States … who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States… to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof.”

Colorado’s highest court in December ruled that clause covers Trump’s conduct on Jan. 6, 2021, and therefore does apply to a president despite not being explicitly indicated in the text. 

“President Trump is disqualified from holding the office of president,” the state court wrote in an unsigned opinion. “Because he is disqualified, it would be a wrongful act under the election code for the secretary to list him as a candidate on the presidential primary ballot.”

SUPREME COURT TO DECIDE IF TRUMP BANNED FROM COLORADO BALLOT IN HISTORIC CASE

The issue could turn on whether the high court interprets “officer of the United States” to apply to a president’s conduct in office.

The arguments

Trump’s legal team in its merits brief said, “The [Supreme] Court should put a swift and decisive end to these ballot-disqualification efforts, which threaten to disenfranchise tens of millions of Americans and which promise to unleash chaos and bedlam if other state courts and state officials follow Colorado’s lead and exclude the likely Republican presidential nominee from their ballots.”

The Constitution treats the presidency separately from other federal officers, Trump’s team argued.

“The president swears a different oath set forth in Article II, in which he promises to ‘preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States’ — and in which the word ‘support’ is nowhere to be found,” like it appears in Section 3, Trump’s team wrote.

But lawyers for the Colorado voters challenging Trump’s eligibility said in response, “The thrust of Trump’s position is less legal than it is political. He not-so-subtly threatens ‘bedlam’ if he is not on the ballot. But we already saw the ‘bedlam’ Trump unleashed when he was on the ballot and lost. Section 3 is designed precisely to avoid giving oath-breaking insurrectionists like Trump the power to unleash such mayhem again.

“Nobody, not even a former President, is above the law,” the brief added, comparing Trump to a “mob boss.”

Also at issue:

TRUMP BACKED BY 27 STATES IN SUPREME COURT FIGHT, WHO WARN OF 2024 ‘CHAOS’ IF HE’S REMOVED FROM BALLOT

– Whether state courts or elected state officials can unilaterally enforce constitutional provisions and declare candidates ineligible for federal office — so-called “self-executing” authority — or is that exclusively the jurisdiction of the U.S. Congress. Also, whether Trump can be disqualified without a thorough fact-finding or criminal trial.

– Whether this issue is a purely “political” one that voters should ultimately decide.

– Whether the U.S. Senate’s acquittal at his impeachment trial over Jan. 6 makes him therefore eligible to seek re-election.

– And whether Section 3 prohibits individuals only from “holding” office, not from “seeking or winning” election to office.

The impact

More than a dozen states have pending legal challenges over Trump’s ballot eligibility.

At least 16 state courts and secretaries of state have already concluded his name can appear on the ballot. Colorado and Maine are the only two so far to keep his name off.

Other states are saying stay tuned. The Oregon Supreme Court earlier this year dismissed a related lawsuit but told a coalition of voters that, based on what the U.S. Supreme Court decides, they can refile again.

In conducting what are expected to be lengthy and contentious oral arguments, the justices will likely be forced to revisit the events of Jan. 6 and the pivotal speech Trump gave to supporters just before Congress was to certify the Electoral College ballots.

Trump has repeatedly claimed he was not trying to incite violence and that his speech was protected by First Amendment guarantees, especially pertinent as the top federal office holder.

The storming of the U.S. Capitol left 140 law enforcement officers injured, and lawmakers and Vice President Pence fled a mob that breached the building.

The Colorado decision has been on pause pending the U.S. Supreme Court’s final ruling.

MAINE’S TOP COURT WON’T RULE ON TRUMP BALLOT ELIGIBILITY UNTIL SUPREME COURT DECISION IN COLORADO

The state’s 2024 presidential primary ballot with Trump’s name on the Republican ballot has already been certified by the Colorado secretary of state.

But if Trump is ultimately declared ineligible for public office before the state’s March 5 primary, any votes cast in his favor would be nullified.

The Supreme Court has traditionally been reluctant to get involved in overtly political disputes, especially involving elections.

The partisan blowback over the 2000 ruling in Bush v. Gore still resonates, creating the impression among the public that many of the justices harbor partisan political intentions.

“Sometimes the Supreme Court has no choice but to be involved in the election cases because that is an area where, unlike most, the Supreme Court doesn’t even have discretion over whether it takes the case,” said Brianne Gorod, chief counsel at the Constitutional Accountability Center. 

“There are some voting rights and election cases that the Supreme Court is required to resolve on the merits.”

And beyond …

It is important to note the legal debate over “insurrection” comes to the Supreme Court on a ballot eligibility question.

Special counsel Jack Smith is separately prosecuting Trump for alleged election interference leading up to the Jan. 6 riot, but the former president is not charged specifically with “insurrection” or “rebellion.” The four charges he faces relate to conspiracy and obstruction. Some legal scholars have pointed out Section 3 does not require a criminal conviction to take effect.

The Supreme Court could soon be asked to decide an important component of Smith’s federal case — whether Trump has “absolute immunity” for alleged crimes committed in office.

A federal appeals court is considering the question, and the issue could soon reach the high court on an expedited basis. 

Trump’s criminal trial was scheduled for March 4, 2024, but it is likely any Supreme Court consideration of the issues would force a delay, perhaps past the November election.

The former president also faces a state criminal prosecution for alleged election interference in Georgia; a federal criminal prosecution in Florida for alleged mishandling of classified documents that is also led by the special counsel; and a New York state criminal case over allegedly falsifying business records for hush money payments to a porn star. 

And there are various civil claims against Trump, from lawsuits: by U.S. Capitol police officers over Jan. 6; alleged fraud involving various Trump-related businesses; and an $83 million defamation judgment stemming from an alleged sexual assault.

It is unclear if any of these cases will eventually reach the U.S. Supreme Court on appeal on the merits. Some may not be considered for years.

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In the short term, any further petition with the name “Trump” on the cover could severely strain public confidence in a judicial institution designed to hover above partisan politics.

“I don’t think that the court really follows the political calendar,” said Thomas Dupree, a former top Justice Department attorney in the George W. Bush administration. “I think they’re aware of the fact, obviously, that we’re in an election year, but I don’t think the fact that we’re in an election year is going to be driving the outcomes of any of these decisions.”

The ballot case is Trump v. Anderson (23-719).

President Biden holds a campaign event in Nevada Sunday, two days ahead of the crucial western battleground state’s presidential primary.

Biden’s stop this weekend in Las Vegas comes a day after he quickly cruised to a landslide victory in South Carolina’s Democratic presidential primary and scored his second straight convincing win in his party’s 2024 nominating calendar.

The president, moving toward an all-but-certain nomination, on Saturday grabbed roughly 95% of the vote in the Palmetto State as ballots continued to be counted into the night.

“In 2020, it was the voters of South Carolina who proved the pundits wrong, breathed new life into our campaign and set us on the path to winning the presidency,” Biden said in a statement soon after the race was called.

BIDEN AIMS TO SOLIDIFY SUPPORT AMONG BLACK VOTERS AT THE BALLOT BOX

“Now, in 2024, the people of South Carolina have spoken again, and I have no doubt that you have set us on the path to winning the presidency again — and making Donald Trump a loser — again.”

Biden trounced his two long-shot Democratic primary challengers, Rep. Dean Phillips of Minnesota and Marianne Williamson, the bestselling author and spiritual adviser who’s making her second straight White House run.

A week and a half earlier, the president wasn’t on the ballot in New Hampshire because the state’s Democrats held a primary in violation of the Democratic National Committee’s 2024 nominating calendar. But he still won 64% of the vote, thanks to a well-funded write-in effort by top Granite State Democrats. 

No delegates were up for grabs in New Hampshire’s unsanctioned primary, but 55 were at stake in South Carolina’s primary, with Biden expected to win the lion’s share.

South Carolina, where Black voters play an outsize role in state Democratic politics, for the first time led off the party’s official presidential nominating calendar.

And much of the credit goes to Biden, who orchestrated an upending of the Democratic National Committee’s long-running nominating calendar to place the Palmetto State first.

For Biden, there was a bigger mission this weekend in South Carolina than just winning the primary and collecting delegates.

The president is aiming to solidify his support among Black voters in South Carolina and across the country. Those voters, who four years ago boosted Biden first to the Democratic nomination and ultimately into the White House, appear less energized in 2024.

The president’s approval ratings among Black voters, who are a crucial part of the Democratic Party base, have eroded over the past three years, which is a significant concern for his re-election chances.

DNC CHAIR TELLS NIKKI HALEY SOUTH CAROLINA DEMOCRATS ‘ARE NOT BAILING YOU OUT’

And while Black voters overwhelmingly cast ballots for Democratic candidates in the 2022 midterm elections, Republicans made gains. 

Former President Donald Trump, the frontrunner for this year’s Republican nomination, is making a play for Black and Hispanic voters.

Trump often points to endorsements from Black celebrities as a sign of his support in the Black community. And Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina, a former 2024 GOP White House candidate and the only Black Republican in the Senate who endorsed Trump last month, has become a top surrogate for the former president.

While Trump suggests “there is much more enthusiasm now” for him among minority voters, there’s little polling evidence to back up his claims.

But even a slight shift of voters from Biden to Trump — or the possibility of some Black voters frustrated with a lack of progress on key issues sitting out the 2024 election — could potentially make the difference in crucial battleground states like Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin that Biden narrowly won in 2020.

Black voters carried Biden to a landslide victory in the South Carolina Democratic presidential primary four years ago, igniting his 2020 campaign after earlier setbacks.

In a sign of the importance of the Black vote, the president kicked off his re-election bid last month at Mother Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina, where nine Black parishioners were killed in a 2015 mass shooting.

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But some Democratic leaders have been raising concerns regarding the president’s underwhelming support among some Black voters.

The president enjoys the backing of the DNC as he seeks a second term in the White House, and national party chair Jaime Harrison, back in his home state, told Fox News Digital on Saturday morning in Columbia, South Carolina, that “this president wanted to send a signal to Black folks, not only here in South Carolina, but across the nation, that we see you, we hear you and you matter.

“That is why it’s important for the president and the vice president and the first lady and the second gentleman to come into a state and to show up even when they know that they’re going to win. And that they’re going to win decisively.”

Biden was in California for meetings and campaign fundraisers as the results were tabulated in South Carolina.

But he called into a South Carolina Democratic Party celebration after the race was called.

“What happened?” he joked on the call. “I can’t tell you how much I appreciate it. And you’re not rid of me. I’m coming back.”

Next up is Nevada, where 36 delegates are up for grabs in Tuesday’s Democratic primary. While Biden and Williamson are on the ballot in the Silver State, Phillips is not since he declared his candidacy for president in late October, after the state’s filing deadline had passed. 

Spanish-speaking voters, with whom Republicans have also made gains, play an influential role in Nevada elections.

In a strange twist, there are two Republican presidential nominating contests in Nevada. A GOP primary will also be held Tuesday and a Republican caucus on Thursday.

In 2021, when Democrats controlled Nevada’s governor’s office and legislature, the state switched from running caucuses to a state-run primary. But the state GOP objected and eventually decided to hold caucuses. No delegates will be at stake in the primary, while all 26 will be up for grabs in the caucus.

Former President Trump is the only remaining major candidate running in the caucus, while former U.N. Ambassador and former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley is the sole major GOP contender on the primary ballot.

Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more at our Fox News Digital election hub.

A Maine Republican state senator told Fox News Digital this week progressives in the historically purple state are pushing a “radical” agenda with recent legislation in an attempt to turn Maine into California. He pointed to the decision to remove former President Trump from the ballot as an example of how the state has gone overboard attacking democracy.

Maine GOP State Rep. Billy Bob Faulkingham and State Sen. Trey Stewart issued a response to Democratic Gov. Janet Mills this week, warning that Democrats in the state have embraced a “California agenda” and pointed to several examples where they say Democrats are moving the state in a direction most voters don’t want. 

Trey Stewart spoke to Fox News Digital after the speech and said, “Maine appears to be in a race to the bottom under Democrat leadership and really rivaling some of the historically liberal states on the West Coast” while “trying to jockey for worst state in the country.”

Stewart pointed to energy policy as a prime example.

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“You’ve seen Democrats really kowtowing and bowing down to the special interest groups, namely in the solar and wind lobby, doing basically whatever they want to do at the expense of Maine ratepayers,” Stewart said. 

“And so that’s why you’re seeing some of the highest electricity prices in the country, right here in Maine, when they don’t have to be. You’re also seeing really radical and crazy proposals coming out of August, including bans on things like plastics. We made a lot of national headlines with an electric vehicle mandate to say that we are going to go to 40% all electric vehicle fleet in one of the coldest states in the country, which is rural and spread out, by 2030.

“It’s completely unrealistic. As we know, these vehicles will not do well up here when you’ve got ten feet of snow and it’s minus ten degrees outside. Your battery power isn’t going to be able to get you where you need to go, and so forcing these choices on Maine consumers is absolutely ridiculous and is, frankly, pretty dangerous, actually.”

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Additionally, Stewart said parental rights are under attack in Maine and pointed to a recent bill that was killed in the state legislature that Republicans say was essentially a promotion of “sex trafficking” and “sex tourism” because they say it would have endangered children.

Stewart says the bill, LD 1735, would have allowed “for a non-parental custodian to take a child in Maine for the purposes of sex change, surgery and other procedures, without the parents’ consent.” 

“It was a carryover bill from last year, garnered a ton of national headlines and opposition and, thankfully, because of that, I believe, we were able to push back in committee on that and put a spotlight on it,” Stewart said. “And so much so that the Democrats agreed with us to kill the bill in committee. Now, that doesn’t mean this is over, not by a long shot.”

In late December, Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows, a Democrat, ruled that Trump was barred from running for president in her state because he allegedly “engaged in insurrection” through his actions leading up to and during the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol. 

Stewart told Fox News Digital that decision is out of step with where most Mainers are, in both parties, and has been opposed by most of the top politicians in the state.

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“Look, whether you like the guy or you don’t like the guy, that’s not the way that you beat him,” Stewart said. “If folks have an issue with Donald Trump, we live in a democratic society. You’re allowed to voice that opinion at the polls this November. You can make that choice to do something different, and that’s fine. That’s up to the people to decide. We will respect it. We will honor that decision. What’s not fine is to basically run a kangaroo court, which is what happened.“

Stewart added that the move contradicts Democrats’ claims that they are protecting democracy and “flies in the face of a lot of the taglines and the talking points that the left has been clamoring about for the last few years here, and really is completely, a backwards way of approaching this situation.”

“The left is hypocritical all the time. They claim to care about low-income folks, and then they raise their heating bill,” Stewart said. “You know, they claim to care about folks in generational poverty, and then they pass policies that make it even harder. They claim to care about democracy, and then they try to rig an election. You can’t make this stuff up. It doesn’t pass a straight face test. I know that Maine people are buying it. I know that people around the country are buying it.”

Stewart told Fox News Digital that Maine is “not really a blue state” but more a purple state that fluctuates between who is in power every few years but has been under Democrat control recently and the decisions made have “rubbed a lot of folks the wrong way.“

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“They really want to push the envelope as much as they can, and, like I said, they’re vying for the title of, you know, most liberal in the country and pushing their agenda as far as they possibly can, which is only going to hurt Maine people and, in fact, the rest of the country as well,” Stewart said. 

“So, it’s really important that we win. Common sense can rule the day here. It all happens this November.”

Fox News Digital reached out to the Maine Democratic Party for comment but did not receive a response.