NationalWatch

In response to accusations that staffers of a United Nations agency were allegedly involved in the Oct. 7 terror attacks in Israel, Texas Republican Rep. Michael McCaul reminded Americans that former President Donald Trump cut funding to the U.N. agency during his administration. 

“The United Nations Relief Agency, the previous Trump administration, cut all funding for a reason, just for this reason. The idea that UNRWA was actually supplying, you know, harboring weapons to assist with Hamas’ invasion of Israel,” McCaul told Fox News’ Shannon Bream on “Fox News Sunday.” 

“Now, those are the allegations that have come out of Israel, we’re investigating, but if true, think how outrageous that is,” he continued. 

As of Saturday, the U.S., United Kingdom and other key Western powers cut funding to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), which is intended to provide relief and humanitarian services to Palestinian refugees, following accusations that 12 staffers with the group were “involved” in the October attack on Israel.

MORE COUNTRIES CUT FUNDING TO UN AGENCY AFTER STAFFERS ACCUSED OF PARTICIPATING IN OCT. 7 HAMAS ATTACK

Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant has since praised the U.S. decision as “an important step in holding UNRWA accountable.” 

The State Department under Trump cut ties with UNRWA in 2018, but President Biden resumed funding to the group shortly after taking office. He continued to increase spending to the organization, with funds exceeding $1 billion, Fox News Digital previously reported. 

Trump said in 2018 that he pulled funding to the group after peace talks stalled. 

“I stopped massive amounts of money that we were paying to the Palestinians and the Palestinian leaders.  We were – the United States was paying them tremendous amounts of money,” Trump said at the time.  “And I’d say, ‘You’ll get money, but we’re not paying you until we make a deal. If we don’t make a deal, we’re not paying.'”

BIDEN ADMIN CUTS FUNDING TO CONTROVERSIAL UN AGENCY AMID ALLEGATIONS MEMBERS ASSISTED IN HAMAS MASSACRE

U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres said an investigation was immediately launched following the accusations, leading to the termination of nine employees. 

“Of the 12 people implicated, nine were immediately identified and terminated by the commissioner-general of UNRWA, Philippe Lazzarini; one is confirmed dead, and the identity of the two others is being clarified,” Guterres said. 

“Any U.N. employee involved in acts of terror will be held accountable, including through criminal prosecution. The Secretariat is ready to cooperate with a competent authority able to prosecute the individuals in line with the Secretariat’s normal procedures for such cooperation.”

UN’S TOP COURT ALLOWS ISRAEL TO KEEP FIGHTING IN GAZA, ORDERS IT TO ‘ADHERE TO THE GENOCIDE CONVENTION’

He called on the nations that ended their funding to the group to resume their support, arguing that “tens of thousands of men and women who work for UNRWA, many in some of the most dangerous situations for humanitarian workers,” and they “should not be penalized.”

The comment sparked outrage from Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations, Gilad Erdan, who said nations that continue funding the UNWRA “before a comprehensive investigation of the organization should know that its money might be used for terrorism.”  

“The U.N. secretary-general has proven once again that the security of the citizens of Israel is not really important for him. After years in which he ignored the evidence presented to him personally about UNRWA’s support and involvement in incitement and terrorism, and before he conducted a comprehensive investigation to locate all Hamas terrorists in UNRWA, he called to fund an organization that is deeply contaminated with terrorism,” Erdan said. 

KIRBY UNSURE OF ‘DOLLAR FIGURE’ OF US FUNDING TO CONTROVERSIAL UN AGENCY ALLEGEDLY TIED TO HAMAS ATTACK

McCaul, who chairs the House Foreign Affairs Committee, recently requested the UNRWA commissioner-general appear before the committee on the matter, with the Texas lawmaker saying Sunday, “We’re gonna get some answers.”

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“And we do have reporting that UNRWA is using money to give aid to Hamas. And that’s why I’ve advocated to cut that funding. The administration – finally, after they allowed it – put a pause on it just a couple of days ago. And they’re gonna testify before my committee, and we’re gonna get some answers,” he said. 

Fox News Digital’s Timothy H.J. Nerozzi contributed to this report. 

Sen. James Lankford, R-Okla., cited the “presidential election year” in explaining on Sunday why Republicans are backing away from the border bill he is negotiating with Senate Democrats, arguing that the supplemental package, contrary to the assertion by Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, is “not about letting 5,000 people in a day.” 

Lankford, under fire from the Oklahoma GOP as well over the border bill, appeared on “Fox News Sunday,” where he defended the package said to have something akin to a Title 42 power that would allow everyone at the border to be turned away. Last week, Cruz blasted the Republican compromise, however, saying it still afforded about 6 million people – or two-thirds of the 9.6 million illegal border crossings under President Biden – to illegally enter and stay. He further argued the actual text language of the legislation was being kept a secret. 

“The challenge that Sen. Cruz has and a bunch of other folks is they’re still waiting to be able to read the bill on this. And this has been our great challenge of being able to fight through the final words, to be able to get the bill text out so people can hear it. Right now there’s internet rumors is all that people are running on. It would be absolutely absurd for me to agree to 5,000 people a day,” Lankford told “Fox News Sunday” host Shannon Bream. “This bill focuses on getting us to zero illegal crossings a day. There’s no amnesty.”

Lankford argued the bill increases the number of Border Patrol agents, increases asylum officers, and increases detention beds “so we can quickly detain and then deport individuals.”

SENATE BORDER BILL TO ALLOW 5,000 MIGRANTS A DAY BEFORE TITLE 42-TYPE LIMIT STARTS; SPARKING CONSERVATIVE FURY

“It ends catch and release. It focuses on additional deportation flights out. It changes our asylum process so that people get a fast asylum screening at a higher standard and then get returned back to their home country. This is not about letting 5,000 people in a day,” he said. “This is the most misunderstood section of this proposal.”

In the past four months, Lankford said, there’s only been seven days when less than 5,000 people have crossed the border in one day. “This is set up for if you have a rush of people coming at the border, the border closes down. No one gets in,” he said of the bill. “This is not someone standing at the border with a little clicker saying, I’m going to let one more. And we’re at 4,999, and then it has to stop. It is a shutdown of the border and everyone actually gets turned around.” 

Despite President Biden claiming at a campaign rally this weekend that the border supplemental would allow him to secure the border, Lankford stressed the Democrat incumbent could already secure the border now if he wanted to. Some Republicans are criticizing Lankford for pursuing the bill anyhow, essentially handing Biden a win to claim he’s made progress on the border crisis. But the senator from Oklahoma urged that the timing of the election shouldn’t affect progress. 

“Republicans four months ago would not give funding for Ukraine, for Israel and for our southern border because we demanded changes in policy. So we actually locked arms together and said, we’re not going to give you money for this. We want a change in law. And now it’s interesting, a few months later, when we’re finally going to the end, they’re like, ‘Oh, just kidding. I actually don’t want a change in law,'” Lankford said. “We all have an oath to the Constitution, and we have a commitment to say we’re going to do whatever we can to be able to secure the border.”

The Republican senator noted that over the last four months, 50 people on the terror watch list were detected crossing the border. 

BORDER DEAL PRICE TAG LIKELY TO COST MORE THAN $14 BILLION, BUT GOP LAWMAKERS GROW RESTLESS TO SEE BILL TEXT

Tens of thousands more declared national security risks were detected crossing the border. 

“This puts in mandatory pieces that haven’t been there in the past to make this administration actually enforce the law. I would tell you that I don’t – I don’t know of anyone that believes that if President Trump was elected, he was president right now, this border would not have this problem. So the thought that somehow President Biden can suddenly be the pro-national security president in the final months of this is not believable,” Lankford continued. “We’ve had millions of people illegally cross because he opened up our border. He literally invited the world to be able to come, and they came. That’s why we have this chaos. We’ve got to do something now to be able to stop it, and then to be able to put new tools that even the Trump administration was looking for when they were president, put those tools in place for every president from here on out.” 

Later in the program, Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., noted mounting criticism from his own party against Lankford. 

“He’s on a suicide mission. The Democrats do not want to secure the border,” Scott said. “This border could be secure, but we know we have a lawless administration, a completely lawless Biden administration. So the only way this is going to happen is if we have accountability that forces Biden to enforce the law. We could change all these laws. There’s laws now. Trump secured the border. Biden decided open the border on the exact same laws. We don’t need a new bill. We need something to enforce to force Biden to comply with the law.” 

Scott said Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., told Lankford he cannot add accountability measures to the bill to require Biden to secure the border immediately. 

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“Biden could do that today. Why doesn’t he do it today? I mean, he doesn’t need any of this to secure the border. Trump secured the border with the exact same laws,” Scott said. “Unless there’s some accountability measure that forces Biden to secure the border – tied to Ukraine aid, tied to something else – unless there’s something like that, Biden is not going to comply with the law. If it was important for him to comply with the law, he would do it right now. If we can’t force Biden to secure the border, we need to shut the border today.” 

Former President Donald Trump was ordered to pay E. Jean Carroll $83 million in damages for defaming her after he repeatedly denied allegations he raped her in the 1990s, in a legal ordeal that has been mired in controversy and concerns over the former advice columnist’s accusations. 

“Absolutely ridiculous! I fully disagree with both verdicts, and will be appealing this whole Biden Directed Witch Hunt focused on me and the Republican Party,” Trump posted on Truth Social shortly after the verdict was read on Friday. “Our Legal System is out of control, and being used as a Political Weapon. They have taken away all First Amendment Rights.”

Carroll, who previously worked as a columnist for Elle Magazine, had filed two lawsuits against Trump since 2019, when she first accused him of raping her in an excerpt in her book “What Do We Need Men For? A Modest Proposal.” Trump vehemently denied the allegation, saying, “it never happened,” ultimately leading Carroll to sue Trump for defamation when he was still president. 

Carroll filed a second lawsuit against Trump in 2022, accusing the former president of rape and defamation for social media posts where Trump denied the allegations and accused her of promoting a “hoax and a lie.” Carroll was able to sue Trump over the rape accusation despite it being past the statute of limitations due to the passage of a law in New York in 2019 that allowed adults to file a one-time civil case despite the expiration of the statute of limitations. 

TRUMP CANNOT ASSERT PRESIDENTIAL IMMUNITY IN E JEAN CARROLL DEFAMATION LAWSUIT, APPEALS COURT RULES

TRUMP CANNOT ASSERT PRESIDENTIAL IMMUNITY IN E JEAN CARROLL DEFAMATION LAWSUIT, APPEALS COURT RULES

Trump was never criminally charged with sexual assault, as the statute of limitations had expired. Last spring, jurors found Trump liable for sexual abuse – though not rape – and awarded Carroll $5 million in a judgment. The jury said Carroll hadn’t proven that Trump raped her.

Carroll’s recently-wrapped case sought more than $10 million for damage to her reputation stemming from Trump’s comments in 2019, when he was still president. The jury ultimately awarded her $18.3 million in compensatory damages and $65 million in punitive damages.

Amid the trial, Carroll’s attorney told U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan that Trump was heard remarking that the trial was a “witch hunt, and it really is a con job.”

JUDGE THREATENS TO BAR TRUMP FROM COURTROOM OVER INTERJECTIONS DURING E JEAN CARROLL TRIAL

“Mr. Trump has a right to be present here. That right can be forfeited if he is disruptive and if he disregards court orders,” Kaplan said before threatening to boot Trump from the trial if he “can’t control” himself. 

Amid court proceedings and immediately following, supporters of the president and social media critics have sounded off with previous remarks Carroll has made that raised concerns about her recounting, including her 2019 interview on CNN where she argued “most people” view rape as “sexy.”

“​​I think most people think of rape as being sexy,” Carroll told CNN’s Anderson Cooper in 2019, before the anchor cut to a commercial break. 

Trump, along with his supporters, have argued his hands were tied amid the trial as the judge barred some evidence from being shown to the jury, including the Cooper interview. Trump said last week that the CNN interview would “totally” exonerate him from a “decades old accusation.”

The judge presiding over the case also barred Trump’s legal team from arguing he didn’t sexually assault Carroll, or “that she fabricated her account of the assault, or that she had any motive to do so.” Kaplan ruled that the case would not be a “do over” of the case last year when Trump was found liable for sexual abuse, but not criminally charged with sexual assault.

LAWYER IN TRUMP DEFAMATION CASE WON’T INTRODUCE ‘ACCESS HOLLYWOOD’ TAPE AHEAD OF POSSIBLE TESTIMONY

“Donald Trump is not allowed to call his accuser E Jean Carroll a nut job. So we can do it for him,” one X user posted this month, accompanied by a 2017 interview between Carroll and Elle Magazine. In the interview, Carroll showed off her cabin home, called the “Mouse House,” as well as rocks she had painted blue, and a shed decked out with names of books and authors who influenced her in her youth. 

Carroll also came under fire for tweets about learning “sex tips” from her dog, as well as for naming her cat “Vagina T. Fireball,” according to a 2019 Vanity Fair article, and one of her dogs “Tits,” according to the 2017 video interview with Elle Magazine. 

Carroll said in her memoir that in 1995 or 1996, she saw Trump in a Bergdorf Goodman store in Manhattan, where she claims the two exchanged shopping banter before he attacked her in a dressing room in the store’s lingerie department. The year of the incident was later clarified to the spring of 1996. The department store previously confirmed it had no surveillance footage to prove or disprove the attack, New York magazine previously reported. 

Trump said in a Truth Social post Thursday that Carroll allegedly changed the timeline of her recounting of the incident due to previously claiming that she still had the Donna Karan dress she wore the day of the attack, though the dress had not yet been manufactured. 

“E. Jean Carroll was forced to change her story about her ‘dress’ when Donna Karan, the designer of the dress, said that it wasn’t conceived or manufactured until long after the date in question. In other words, the Monica Lewinsky type gambit failed badly, then also learning that there was ZERO EVIDENCE on the dress, despite all of the threats. All of this HOAX run and funded by Political Operatives!!!” Trump wrote. 

TRUMP VIDEO OF E JEAN CARROLL DEPOSITION RELEASED: ‘SHE WOULDN’T BE MY TYPE IN ANY WAY, SHAPE OR FORM’

Trump also highlighted on his Truth Social account that Carroll described the encounter as a “fight,” and she had “not been raped.”

“Every woman gets to choose her word. Every woman gets to choose how she describes it. This is my way of saying it. This is my word. My word is ‘fight,'” she explained in an interview with a New York Times podcast in 2019.

“My word is not the victim word. I have not – I have not been raped,” she continued. “I have – something has not been done to me. I fought. That’s the thing.”

Trump said on Truth Social last week that Carroll’s accusations were “false” and “forced into the public eye by Democrat operatives like her lawyer, her finders, and others.” 

During last year’s trial, Trump’s legal team and critics drew parallels between Carroll’s allegations and an episode of “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit,” which included a plot line where a character discussed role-playing a rape fantasy in Bergdorf Goodman. Carroll said during last year’s trial that she was “aware” of the 2012 episode, but had not seen it.

Trump has repeatedly denied Carroll’s accusations, including in the White House when he was president, which is a central argument to Carroll’s case.

“He had the biggest microphone on the planet… He used it to tear her reputation to shreds – to defame her,” Shawn Crowley, one of Carroll’s attorneys, said earlier this month. 

“Is it any wonder that when Donald Trump spoke from the White House, people all across the country listened and many, many believed what he said? Of course not,” Crowley added. 

Carroll also told the jury this month that due to Trump’s public comments in 2019 regarding the accusations, her life has been threatened and she’s been painted as a “whack job.” 

“I spent 50 years building a reputation,” Carroll said last week. “Now I’m known as a liar, a fraud, and a whack job.”

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Following the verdict, Carroll said she plans to do “something good” with the funds awarded to her from the case.

Trump, who received support from New York Republican Rep. Elise Stefanik ahead of the verdict, said court proceedings were “witch hunts,” and his legal team is now working to appeal the verdict. The legal team reportedly plans to use a “conflict of interest” between Carroll’s attorney and Kaplan to appeal the case, the New York Post reported. 

“President Trump is leading in the polls, and now we see what you get in New York,” Trump attorney Alina Habba told reporters following the verdict. “It will not deter us, we will keep fighting, and I assure you we didn’t win today, but we will win.”

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., says President Biden can “do more” to persuade voters to re-elect him, rather than focusing on attacking former President Trump.

Ocasio-Cortez made the comment during a Sunday morning appearance on NBC’s “Meet the Press” with host Kristen Welker. She argued that Biden should be more aggressive on providing free health care and college education for Americans.

“You have said in the past that it’s not enough to Democrats to just talk about what they are running against,” Welker began. “Do you think, in this very moment, President Biden is doing a good enough job explaining to voters why they should vote for him and not just against former President Trump?”

“I think we can certainly do more to be advancing our vision,” Ocasio-Cortez responded. “I believe we have a strong vision that we can run on.”

UN’S TOP COURT ALLOWS ISRAEL TO KEEP FIGHTING IN GAZA, ORDERS IT TO ‘ADHERE TO THE GENOCIDE CONVENTION’

AOC then gave Biden some credit, referencing his pledge to codify abortion protections if Democrats hold the House, Senate and presidency.

“I think we can do more,” she added, however. “I think we need to be talking more about health care. Of course, me, as a progressive, I want to see the age of Medicare drop, whether it’s to 50 as the president has discussed earlier or to zero, as is my preference.”

EDUCATORS URGE LARGEST TEACHERS UNION IN US TO RESCIND SUPPORT FOR BIDEN UNTIL ‘PERMANENT CEASE-FIRE’ IN GAZA

“I believe we can do more. We can talk even more about the fact that public colleges and universities should be tuition-free or reduced,” she added.

Ocasio-Cortez went on to affirm that Biden is the strongest candidate for Democrats to put up against Trump, though she offered the caveat that he is the strongest in the current Democratic field.

ALEXANDRIA OCASIO-CORTEZ BLASTS BIDEN OVER ‘LURCH TO THE RIGHT’: ‘IT’S QUITE DANGEROUS’

The current field includes just Marianne Williamson, a self-help author, and Rep. Dean Phillips, D-Minn., who launched his campaign in protest against the lack of a serious Democratic primary.

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Ocasio-Cortez has heavily criticized Biden in the past, accusing him of a “lurch to the right” in April last year. Prior to Biden announcing his re-election campaign, AOC had refused to say whether she would support him. 

Ohio U.S. Senate candidate Bernie Moreno has risen to be the top Republican primary candidate vying to boot Democrat Sherrod Brown. 

Moreno recently picked up a key endorsement from South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem, who encouraged Republicans to unite in support of the entrepreneur and “America-first conservative” in the GOP primary race that still also includes  Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose and state Sen. Matt Dolan. 

“I am pleased to announce my endorsement of Bernie Moreno for the United States Senate. Bernie is a winner and the kind of candidate that we need to win this November to take back the Senate,” Noem said in a statement on Thursday. “I’ve known Bernie for over 10 years, and I’ve always been impressed by his conservative values and by his ability to get things done. Those are two qualities that we desperately need in the U.S. Senate.”

“Ohio deserves better than the radical liberal views of career politician Sherrod Brown. He’ll be tough to beat, so it’s crucial that we unite behind Bernie now,” she added. 

OHIO REPUBLICAN SENATE CANDIDATES CLASH OVER BORDER SECURITY, DRONE STRIKES IN MEXICO

Early voting starts on Feb. 2 in the Ohio Republican primary scheduled for March 19. 

A nod to Moreno’s growing strength in the primary contest, Brown has begun targeting Moreno, deeming him “Trump’s hand-picked candidate.” Brown, one of two Democratic incumbents up for reelection this year in the state Trump won in 2016 and 2020, is considered a key target for Republicans hoping to reclaim the Senate majority in November, The Hill noted. 

Moreno – who was endorsed by former President Trump in December – clashed with LaRose and Dolan on the border issue during last week’s Republican primary debate, and the Senate Republicans’ campaign arm notably has not yet prioritized funding for one of the three primary candidates as the strongest to go up against Brown. 

VULNERABLE DEM SENATOR PROMOTES TIKTOK ACCOUNT AFTER SAYING HE HAD ‘SERIOUS CONCERNS’ ABOUT CCP TIES

At an event for the conservative-leaning think tank The Ripon Society last week, Sen. Steve Daines, R-Mont., the chair of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, said a GOP victory against Brown cannot be taken for granted because the incumbent Democrat has demonstrated he knows “how to win” in a red-leaning state. “But we think that Matt Dolan, Bernie Moreno and Frank LaRose are all capable of beating Sherrod Brown,” Daines said. “We will have a primary … in March, and we’ll be off to the general election.”

After Trump threw his support behind him, Moreno has picked up other key endorsements from Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, and Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo., yet GOP strategists who spoke with The Hill said Moreno should not consider the nomination yet in the bag and must spend some of his own money to effectively communicate those endorsements to Ohio voters. 

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His competitors have enjoyed more name recognition, given LaRose holds statewide office and Dolan, who has served in the state Senate since 2017, unsuccessfully ran in the primary for Sen. JD Vance’s seat in 2022 and was the first to enter the race to challenge Brown.

EXCLUSIVE: The lone House Republican endorsing former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley for president is insisting he’s with the White House hopeful until the end, however the contentious race concludes.

“I’ve had a lot of calls to abandon her — switch. Look, I’ll be with her as long as she stays there,” Rep. Ralph Norman, R-S.C., told Fox News Digital Friday. “I don’t care that I’m just one. … I don’t care if the whole caucus says we ought to end it right now and get out. I’m just not gonna do that.”

Norman, a member of the ultra-conservative House Freedom Caucus, came out for Haley early in the race and has remained her only supporter in Congress. A handful of lawmakers had supported Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis before he dropped out, but the vast majority — more than 120 House Republicans — have so far backed former President Donald Trump.

Speaking with Fox News Digital days after Trump’s victory in the New Hampshire primary, Norman insisted the race was far from over. He noted it started with a field of more than a dozen candidates and is now down to two.

HALEY CAMPAIGN LASHES OUT AT RNC, RONNA MCDANIEL OVER RESOLUTION TO DECLARE TRUMP PRESUMPTIVE GOP NOMINEE

“Look what she’s done. Name me one candidate in this race that started out with 2%, no money, and look at where she is now. She’s taken every challenge,” Norman said. “And I will say this, being 25 years younger than President Trump, it’s gonna take work night and day to unwind the devastation this president has done.”

He criticized fellow Republicans who have pressured Haley to drop out, including Republican National Party Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel. He said McDaniel was “out of line” calling for unity behind Trump.

HALEY FACES GROWING CALLS TO LEAVE 2024 RACE AS RNC NEARLY CONSIDERS DECLARING TRUMP THE PRESUMPTIVE NOMINEE

“That’s not her role,” Norman said. “How is competition bad? What’s the rush?”

He also took a veiled shot at a fellow member of the South Carolina congressional delegation, Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., who dropped out of the running for president and endorsed Trump.

“It surprised me with Tim Scott, particularly with not even calling her. But it is what it is,” Norman said.

But unlike other Republicans who have been attacked by Trump and his allies for not falling in line fast enough — including fellow Freedom Caucus members — Norman has stayed out of the line of fire.

HOUSE VOTES TO AVOID GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN AFTER SPEAKER JOHNSON BUCKS GOP REBELS

Norman pointed out he’s never criticized Trump and supported his actions in office. He also revealed that he called the ex-president before making his endorsement last February.

“When I supported Nikki Haley, I had the respect of Donald Trump to call him, and I told him what I was gonna do, and I decided I was going to do it,” he said. 

He added that Haley is eligible for eight years, versus Trump, who could only serve one more term. 

“I know what she did South Carolina,” Norman said. “I know what she can do to the country, and she can give us eight years.”

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Norman did, however, push back on Trump declaring that Haley’s donors are “permanently barred from the MAGA camp.”

“I think he’s making a mistake, saying that anybody that gives to Nikki is gonna be excluded from MAGA,” Norman said. “I think he’s gonna need all the votes that it takes, as well as Nikki, any candidate. It’s gonna take a lot to beat whoever the Democratic nominee is, so I find it interesting that he’s doing that. But he’s smart. He can do his own campaign.”

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A wide range of Republicans, including former Energy Secretary Rick Perry, excoriated President Biden for his decision to pause proposed liquefied natural gas (LNG) export projects over its economic impacts and potential to boost U.S. enemies.

Perry and Republican lawmakers like House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., House Energy and Commerce Committee Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash., and House Natural Resources Committee Chair Bruce Westerman, R-Ark., argued LNG exports were critical for maintaining low energy prices in the U.S., supporting American allies are able to wean off Russian gas and decrease global carbon emissions.

“It is an act of economic hostility to withhold U.S. LNG supply from the allies we have promised it to, particularly in the midst of ongoing conflicts in the Middle East and Europe,” Perry said in a statement. “The Biden moratorium on LNG permits will empower Putin while killing jobs in Pennsylvania. It will hamstring American national security by forcing our allies back to Russia and Qatar for their energy supply.”

“It will also result in an increase in emissions by withholding the most effective tool we have to improve the climate,” he continued. “It is a grave mistake for President Biden to reverse course and bow to the elite environmental lobby who do not represent the best interests of the American people and our allies overseas.”

DOZENS OF SENATE REPUBLICANS WARN BIDEN’S LATEST WAR ON ENERGY EMPOWERS AMERICA’S ENEMIES

Perry — who led the Department of Energy (DOE) under the Trump administration between March 2017 and December 2019 — added that, while serving as secretary of energy, he met with dozens of European leaders who were “hungry to diversify their energy suppliers.”

On Friday morning, Biden ordered the DOE to pause pending permits for LNG export facilities while federal officials conduct a rigorous environmental review assessing the projects’ carbon emissions, which could take more than a year to complete. The move represents a major victory for climate activists who have loudly called for such a move, even threatening to hold large protests in Washington, D.C., over the issue.

BIDEN ADMIN APPEARS TO FABRICATE PAPER TRAIL IN PURSUIT OF MAJOR CHEMICAL PLANT SHUTDOWN: COURT DOCS

In a statement Friday, the president said the pause on LNG permitting was a part of his sweeping climate agenda, saying the action “sees the climate crisis for what it is: the existential threat of our time.” He also took aim at “MAGA Republicans” for willfully denying the “urgency of the climate crisis.”

“President Biden’s decision to indefinitely pause LNG export permits prioritizes the wishes of radical activists over U.S. energy security and the security of our allies,” said McMorris Rodgers. “This is another gift to Putin. Everyday Americans want our energy unleashed to strengthen the economy, safeguard jobs, and keep us secure. That’s what Republicans will continue to fight for.”

“It is outrageous that this administration is asking American taxpayers to spend billions to defeat Russia while knowingly forcing allies to rely on Russian energy, giving Putin an advantage,” added Johnson. “This policy change also flies in the face of the commitments made when the White House announced the joint US-EU Task Force less than two years ago to reduce Europe’s dependence on Russia and strengthen energy security.”

ENVIRONMENTALISTS CALL ON BIDEN ADMIN TO TANK NATURAL GAS PROJECT AMID NATIONWIDE ARCTIC BLAST

While it is unclear which proposed projects the action will affect, a senior administration official said at least two have a larger capacity and two have a smaller capacity. Another official added that the pause implemented Friday will only impact projects that have gone through the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s (FERC) lengthy approval process and are ripe for DOE approval.

According to federal data updated this week, there are 11 projects that have been green-lit by FERC but are not yet under construction. An additional four projects are pending before FERC and two are in the pre-filing stage. Those six projects wouldn’t be impacted by the pause since they are not before DOE yet, but they would be impacted if approved by FERC.

“Stopping the export of American natural gas is a win for our adversaries, like China and Russia, and a direct blow to the environment, American energy workers and communities as well as our allies overseas,” Westerman said on Friday.

“It’s a policy that is shortsighted political pandering and will do nothing but drive the cost of energy even higher,” the Natural Resources Committee chair said. “American natural gas is the cleanest and safest on earth, and bending the knee to foreign producers only serves to jeopardize our national security and punish hardworking American families who are already struggling under the failing policies of this administration.”

BIDEN ADMIN ABRUPTLY REVERSES PROPOSAL OPENING PUBLIC LANDS TO FOREIGN OWNERSHIP AFTER GOP OPPOSITION

Congressional Western Caucus Chairman Dan Newhouse, R-Wash., said the pause on LNG export terminal permits is “yet another assault on American energy production that jeopardizes our national security and global energy markets.”

“President Biden’s move to stall LNG exports is only a win for our adversaries and dirty global polluters like China and Russia,” GOP House Energy Action Team Chair Rep. August Pfluger, R-Texas, and Republican Study Committee Chairman Kevin Hern, R-Okla., added in a joint statement. “U.S. LNG helped Europe through a potential energy catastrophe following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and we must not underestimate the important role US LNG cargoes played in handicapping Putin’s efforts.”

Biden’s action comes weeks after European and Asian energy suppliers called for him to expedite LNG exports. They also called for the president to keep his promise to ensure a steady supply of natural gas in light of the ongoing war in Ukraine.

HOUSE REPUBLICANS UNVEIL EFFORT TO BLOCK BIDEN ADMIN FROM TEARING DOWN KEY HYDRO DAMS

In the weeks following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in early 2022, Biden traveled to Europe and struck a deal with the European Union, vowing to send more U.S. LNG to the bloc. At the time, the White House pledged to “maintain its regulatory environment,” a statement that appears to have been contravened with Friday’s actions.

Additionally, a group of 25 Senate Republicans, led by Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., and including Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., penned a letter to Biden and Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm warning of the consequences of the administration’s actions.

“Limiting U.S. LNG exports does not have any impact on the world’s demand for natural gas,” the letter stated. “Instead, countries including Russia and Iran will simply produce more energy that is subject to less stringent environmental regulations. As a result, limiting American LNG exports in the name of stopping climate change could do just the opposite and add to global emissions.”

Proponents of increased LNG exports have noted that transitioning the world’s economy to more natural gas reliance would also help ensure nations meet decarbonization goals. Without increased LNG, they argue, nations would rely more heavily on coal-fired power generation, which has a much larger carbon footprint when burned than natural gas power generation.

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According to the fossil fuel industry, the U.S. has led the world in carbon emissions reductions thanks in large part to greater reliance on natural gas. Coal produced the largest share of electricity generated in the U.S. for decades until 2015, when natural gas surpassed it.

“Once again, President Biden has caved to far-left extremists, choosing politics over the actual climate science, gutting the American workforce, and putting America’s national security and our allies at risk,” Sen. Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska, said. “When America exports clean-burning natural gas, global emissions go down and our allies can get off Russian gas. These are facts.”

A firestorm ignited Friday after a federal jury ordered former President Donald Trump to pay E. Jean Carroll more than $83 million in damages after he denied allegations he raped her in the 1990s.

The jury decided Trump must pay $18.3 million in compensatory damages and $65 million in punitive damages. The jury’s verdict was announced Friday evening by federal Judge Lewis A. Kaplan.

A federal jury in New York City decided last year Trump was not liable for rape but was liable for sexual abuse and defamation. The former president was ordered to pay $5 million in that trial.

“Absolutely ridiculous! I fully disagree with both verdicts, and will be appealing this whole Biden Directed Witch Hunt focused on me and the Republican Party,” Trump posted on his Truth Social shortly after the verdict was read. “Our Legal System is out of control, and being used as a Political Weapon. They have taken away all First Amendment Rights.”

TRUMP ORDERED TO PAY MORE THAN $80 MILLION IN E. JEAN CARROLL DEFAMATION TRIAL

Trump added, “THIS IS NOT AMERICA!”

Carroll, who alleged Trump raped her at the Bergdorf Goodman department store across from Trump Tower in Manhattan sometime in 1996, was seeking $12 million.

Taking aim at Democrats who are “using the system” to target the former president, Rev. Franklin Graham, head of Samaritan’s Purse and The Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, took to social media to show his support for Trump.

“Simply put, Democrats are using the system & changing the law to go after Pres. @realDonaldTrump. They hate this man so much & will try ANYTHING to get to keep him out of office,” Graham wrote Saturday. “President Trump is right about the trial when he said, “This is not America.”

Similar to that of Graham, Mike Davis, founder and president of the Article III Project, said the move by the jury was “part of the Democrats’ lawfare and election interference against Trump.”

“Another Democrat plaintiff, with more Democrat-funded attorneys, another Democrat judge, and another Democrat jury in another Democrat hellhole just awarded a legally flawed and an unconstitutionally punitive award against Trump,” Davis said in a statement. “No sane person on the planet actually believes Jean Carroll, who named her cat Vagina and fantasized about rape being sexy. Nor would any sane person believe her reputation is worth anywhere close to $6 — let alone $65 million.

“This is part of the Democrats’ lawfare and election interference against Trump,” he added. “Democrats know they can’t beat Trump on November 5, 2024. So they just want to impeach him twice, throw him in prison for life, bankrupt him, illegally gag him, and simply take him off the ballot. Unless judges want the courts to lose all legitimacy, this must stop.”

Conservative commentator and podcast host Benny Johnson also weighed in on the verdict.

“Another example of how the government has been weaponized against Donald Trump in [an] attempt to ruin the man,’ Johnson wrote on X.

OutKick founder Clay Travis also spoke out against the jury’s decision ordering Trump to pay Carroll.

“A left-wing NYC jury just awarded E. Jean Carroll $83 million dollars because they said Trump defamed her by denying he sexually assaulted her,” Travis stated. “So, now it’s defamation to claim you didn’t commit a crime? Banana republic we live in, y’all. Total banana republic.”

TRUMP DEFENDS HIMSELF ON THE STAND, BLASTS E JEAN CARROLL TRIAL: ‘THIS IS NOT AMERICA’

“Legit question, as a matter of law, how can you defend yourself against an accusation that you committed a crime if saying you didn’t commit the crime and the other person is lying about it is defamation? Under this judgement, Trump isn’t legally permitted to defend himself,” Travis added in a separate post.

Though several people took issue with the jury’s findings, others celebrated the verdict, including Republican presidential candidate and former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley.

“Donald Trump wants to be the presumptive Republican nominee and we’re talking about $83.3 million in damages,” Haley wrote on X. “We’re not talking about fixing the border. We’re not talking about tackling inflation. America can do better than Donald Trump and Joe Biden.”

Responding to Haley, Texas GOP Rep. Lance Gooden wrote on X, “It’s important to remember that Nikki Haley mega donor, Reid Hoffman, funded E Jean Carroll’s frivolous lawsuit against President Trump. Nikki should return his money and drop out of the race!”

Carroll also celebrated the ruling, saying in a statement that the jury’s verdict was a “great victory” for women who decide to come forward with claims.

“This is a great victory for every woman who stands up when she’s been knocked down and a huge defeat for every bully who has tried to keep a woman down,” she said. “This win is because of Robbie Kaplan and her dazzling team at Kaplan Hecker & Fink.”

Despite concerns from Trump’s legal team about how the court process played out, Kaplan noted in a statement that the verdict proves the “law applies to everyone.”

“Today’s verdict proves that the law applies to everyone in our country, even the rich, even the famous, even former presidents,” Kaplan said. “There is a way to stand up to someone like Donald Trump who cares more about wealth, fame and power than respecting the law. Standing up to a bully takes courage and bravery; it takes someone like E. Jean Carroll. We thank the jury for standing up for E. Jean and the rule of law.”

Trump, the 2024 GOP frontrunner, has repeatedly and vehemently denied the allegation. His denial resulted in Carroll slapping Trump with a defamation lawsuit, claiming that his response caused harm to her reputation.

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The jury found Carroll was injured as a result of statements Trump made while in the White House in June 2019.

The jury awarded Carroll $18.3 million in compensatory damages. The jury found Trump’s statements were made to harm Carroll and awarded her $65 million in punitive damages. In total, the jury said Carroll should be paid $83.3 million.

Fox News’ Brooke Singman contributed to this report.

Former President Trump called out President Biden at a Las Vegas rally on Saturday, while lambasting the new White House-backed bipartisan border bill.

On Friday, Biden announced that he would “shut down the border” once Congress passes a bipartisan immigration deal that would purportedly give the president authority to do so. In a press release, Biden acknowledged that “the border’s been broken.”

“What’s been negotiated would — if passed into law — be the toughest and fairest set of reforms to secure the border we’ve ever had in our country,” the president said. “It would give me, as president, a new emergency authority to shut down the border when it becomes overwhelmed. And if given that authority, I would use it the day I sign the bill into law.”

Speaking to a Las Vegas audience, Trump argued that the bill would actually make the migrant crisis worse.

MAHER PANEL DEBATES NIKKI HALEY AS TRUMP’S VP: SHE MAKES ‘DICK CHENEY LOOK LIKE THE DALAI LAMA’

“The so-called border security deal Biden is gushing out and pushing out is not designed to stop illegal immigration,” the Republican claimed. “It’s designed to continue the invasion of America while sending billions of dollars to Ukraine and other countries.”

Trump also disputed Biden’s claim that he does not already have the executive power to make sweeping changes.

“The fact is that if Joe Biden truly wanted to secure the border, he doesn’t really need a bill,” Trump said. “I didn’t need a bill. I did it without a bill. I did it with the current laws. I used Border Patrol.”

TRUMP URGES STATES TO SURGE NATIONAL GUARD TO TEXAS AS ABBOTT STANDOFF WITH BIDEN ACCELERATES

The Trump Organization owner also said there was a “zero chance” he would support the deal.

“There is zero chance I will support this horrible open-border betrayal of America. It’s not going to happen,” Trump said. “And I’ll fight it all the way.”

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“[The Senate was] getting ready to pass a very bad bill and I’ll tell you what. I’d rather have no bill than a bad bill,” the Republican candidate added. “And that’s what was happening in the House…[House Speaker Mike Johnson] said it’s dead on arrival in the House. We want either a strong bill or no bill.”

Fox News Digital’s Timothy H.J. Nerozzi contributed to this report.

Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley said on Saturday that she has raised around $4 million thanks to former President Trump’s “temper tantrums” this week.

Speaking to an audience in Maudlin, South Carolina, Haley spoke positively of Tuesday’s New Hampshire primaries, where she gained nine delegates versus Trump’s 12.

“It became a two-person race in New Hampshire, and we got to 43%,” she explained. “And what happened after that was a sight to see because on election night, we were super excited. We had moved 25 points in the three weeks leading up to the election.”

Her opponent, Haley said, was not pleased.

HALEY FACES GROWING CALLS TO LEAVE 2024 RACE AS RNC NEARLY CONSIDERS DECLARING TRUMP THE PRESUMPTIVE NOMINEE

“Donald Trump was totally unhinged on this,” the Republican contender said.

“Seriously, [he] threw a total temper tantrum and was talking about revenge,” Haley added. “So, after he talked about revenge and had a little something to say about me. That’s fine. We raised $1,000,000 online right after he did that.”

Haley, who served as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations under Trump, said that she was able to raise an additional $3 million for her campaign from more comments that Trump made this week.

“The next day, unhinged again, [Trump] says, ‘For anybody that supports Nikki Haley, you will barred from MAGA.’ So we had a little fun with that. We started selling t-shirts that said ‘Barred Permanently.'”

HALEY CAMPAIGN LASHES OUT AT RNC, RONNA MCDANIEL OVER RESOLUTION TO DECLARE TRUMP PRESUMPTIVE GOP NOMINEE

“We sold 10,000 T-shirts. We raised another $1.6 million.”

The candidate then criticized Trump for allegedly trying to “push [her] out” using the Republican National Committee.

“[Donald Trump] can’t bully his way to the White House,” It’s not going to work,” she continued. “And after he did that, we raised another $1.4 million.”

The former South Carolina governor has been strategically criticizing Trump’s credibility. On Friday, Haley took aim at the former president’s “confused” mental state after he reportedly said that E. Jean Carroll was running for office.

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“Wait a second, did Trump just say the person suing him is ‘running for office?’ Is he confused again?” Haley wrote on X. “I was not in a New York City courtroom yesterday, any more than I was in charge of security at the Capitol on January 6. I was in South Carolina meeting with voters. They’d like to see a debate between me and Trump.”

Fox News Digital’s Brandon Gillespie contributed to this report.

House Majority Whip Tom Emmer on Saturday claimed that President Biden is only interested in discussing border security, “because it has now become a political liability for the White House.” 

“You’ve got an administration now that since they took office more than three years ago, they have completely opened the southern border through some 64 executive actions,” Emmer told Fox News’ Neil Cavuto. “They effectively undid all of the work that had been done by the previous administration to seal the border. You’ve got a record number. Over 300,000 came across the border in December.” 

He also called claims that former President Trump has asked Republicans not to back a bipartisan Senate approved border deal false and is a narrative from someone who, “wants to give cover to the [Biden] administration.”

He said Republicans want to see the text of the bill to make sure that, “what we do on the southern border is a substantive fix, not just words.” 

FLORIDA GOV RON DESANTIS CALLS BIDEN BORDER DEAL A ‘FARCE,’ SAYS IT WILL WORSEN MIGRANT CRISIS

Emmer posited that reinstating Trump’s Remain in Mexico policy would stop “70% of the flow across our Southern Border overnight,” adding that “catch and release” should also be removed. 

After Cavuto pointed out that some conservatives have suggested, “some deal is better than no deal,” Emmer said, “The only reason President Biden is even interested in discussing this issue is because it has now become a political liability for the White House.” 

BIDEN PROMISES TO ‘SHUT DOWN’ SOUTHERN BORDER IF CONGRESS APPROVES BILL GOP CLAIMS WOULD ‘INCENTIVIZE ILLEGAL ALIENS’ 

Emmer balked at a border security statement the president released on Friday that said the proposed bill would give him “emergency authority to shut down the border when it becomes overwhelmed,” which he said he would do right after signing it. 

“If you’re giving the president additional parole authority to admit up to 50,000 people a year, if you’re doing the 5,000 plus one on the border over a certain period of time and giving them discretion and if you’re not ending catch and release, if you’re not restoring Remain in Mexico, I’m going to have a very difficult time getting the votes that are necessary even if it comes to the floor,” Emmer explained. 

“Donald Trump secured the border when he was in the White House, Neil,” he added. “This administration has undone all of the great work that was done.” 

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House Speaker Mike Johnson also suggested on Friday that the bill could be “dead on arrival.”

The South Carolina home of Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley was “swatted” last month after someone filed a false police report, Reuters reported.

Authorities responded after a man claimed to have shot a woman and threatened to harm himself at Haley’s home in Kiawah Island on Dec. 30, according to town records obtained by the news agency. 

Haley’s campaign did not respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital.

The previously unreported “swatting” incident came to light after Reuters issued a records request for threats against Haley’s home. 

‘SWATTING’ GETS A TERRIFYING NEW UPDATE AS CRIMINALS NOW WREAKING ‘EMOTIONAL HAVOC’ AS A PAID SERVICE

Craig Harris, Kiawah Island director of public safety, reportedly told town officials in an email that an unknown person called 911 and “claimed to have shot his girlfriend and threatened to harm himself while at the residence of Nikki Haley.” 

“It was determined to be a hoax … Nikki Haley is not on the island and her son is with her,” the email read, per Reuters. 

“Swatting” is a crime that has become prominent in recent years, gaining more steam in the social media age when people’s addresses are easily accessible.

The crime targets an individual by calling in a false police report for a violent crime — such as a murder, a hostage situation or other crimes that would require a greater law enforcement response — to the home of the target.

The goal of the false police report is to elicit a SWAT team response by the police to the target’s home.

WHAT IS ‘SWATTING,’ THE ‘CRIMINAL HARASSMENT’ HOAX THAT’S HIT 3 GOP LAWMAKERS SINCE CHRISTMAS? 

In the email, Harris said he was in contact with South Carolina’s state police, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the head of Haley’s security team. “This incident is being investigated by all involved,” he wrote. The email did not mention a suspect or potential motive, Reuters reported. 

In a separate email, an FBI official in South Carolina told Harris and other law enforcement officials that federal agents were tracking the hoax call and intended to open a “threat assessment” into the matter, the report said. 

Law enforcement has not publicly identified a suspect in the Haley case. 

MAINE SECRETARY OF STATE’S HOUSE ‘SWATTED’ DAY AFTER TRUMP BALLOT DISQUALIFICATION DECISION

The incident targeting Haley — who is challenging former President Donald Trump for the 2024 GOP presidential nomination — is the latest in a series of violent threats, bomb scares and other acts of intimidation directed at public officials in recent years. Law enforcement officials have expressed concerns that more such incidents will occur ahead of this year’s presidential election.

Since Christmas, three Republican lawmakers — Sen. Rick Scott of Florida and Reps. Brandon Williams of New York and Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia — have been victims of swatting at their homes.

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Democratic officials have also been targeted, including Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows, who barred Trump from her state’s ballot. 

Others targeted include judges and at least one prosecutor handling cases against Trump. 

Fox News Digital’s Landon Mion and Reuters contributed to this report.

Republican South Carolina Rep. Nancy Mace’s former chief of staff has launched a primary challenge against the lawmaker following his departure from her office last month.

In a bid to replace Mace as the representative for the Palmetto State’s First Congressional District, Dan Hanlon filed his statement of candidacy with the Federal Election Commission on Friday.

Hanlon joined Mace’s office in 2021 after serving in the Trump administration’s Office of Management and Budget. He departed last month under reportedly contentious circumstances.

The address used in the FEC filing by Hanlon, who has faced criticism from Mace and her campaign for allegedly living outside the district, appears to belong to a Mellow Mushroom located in Hilton Head, South Carolina.

FORMER NANCY MACE STAFFERS WORKING WITH EX-CHIEF OF STAFF TO UNSEAT HER, SOURCES SAY

Mace and Hanlon reportedly had a falling-out last fall when she voted with seven Republicans and all Democrats to oust then-House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., from his post.

Hanlon’s decision to challenge Mace in the state’s primary election, which is slated to take place on June 11, comes after a source told Fox News Digital earlier this month that a handful of former Mace staffers were informally aiding Hanlon’s bid to replace his ex-boss in some capacity.

“I along with several other former staff are backing Hanlon in some sort of way,” the source said.

“Dan has been overwhelmed by the amount of support he’s received, and due to the number of people wanting to financially support him, had to file a campaign account,” an advisor to Hanlon told Fox News Digital Saturday. 

“While he still hasn’t made a final decision on running, it’s clear Nancy Mace has become a joke in the Lowcountry. Off the backs of tax payers she’s upped her net worth by millions while delivering no real results, and South Carolinians are looking for an alternative they can actually be proud of,” the advisor said.

SOUTH CAROLINA REPUBLICAN NANCY MACE ENDORSES TRUMP OVER HALEY AHEAD OF NEW HAMPSHIRE PRIMARY

Mace’s campaign told Fox News Digital earlier this month, amid reports that he planned to enter the race, that Mace “couldn’t get this lucky.”

When reached for comment last week about the matter, Doug Stafford, a spokesman for Mace’s re-election campaign, said, “This can’t be true. Mace couldn’t get this lucky? Well, would he move there, ’cause he sure as s— doesn’t live there now!”

Mace offered similar comments at the time when she was asked about reports that Hanlon might run for her seat, telling Fox News, “I believe we put a statement out. He’s going to have to move to the district if he has to run.”

A source familiar with Hanlon’s plans responded to her accusation at the time about his living outside the district, saying earlier this month, “Dan owns a home in the district. Rep. Mace had her ex-fiancé buy her one.”

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Fox News’ Elizabeth Elkind contributed to this report.

Individuals working closely alongside former President Donald Trump reportedly made attempts to recruit a former Democratic presidential candidate to serve as his running mate.

Citing a source in Trump’s orbit who is familiar with the matter, the New York Post reported that people close to the former president made “preliminary overtures” to independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy about the possibility of him serving as Trump’s running mate in the 2024 presidential election.

“Trump operatives expressed an interest in Kennedy early on, but it was all premature,” one person familiar with the matter told the outlet, adding that it was “right out of the box when Bobby announced” in April 2023 that he was making a run for the White House.

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

“Anything’s possible. I wouldn’t write it off by any means,” the source added.

Kennedy, 70, initially launched a bid for president last year as a Democrat. However, amid conflicts with the Democratic National Committee tossing its total support behind President Biden in the 2024 race, he announced in October that he would instead be making an independent run for the White House.

One large donor to both the Trump and Kennedy campaigns told the outlet that the effort to recruit Kennedy to serve as Trump’s running mate is still very much alive amid Trump insiders.

“It’s very much behind the scenes at this stage. As we progress you might see it bubble up a little bit more,” the donor said. “Bobby can bring new people to the polls.”

Fox News Digital reached out to Trump’s and Kennedy’s campaigns but did not immediately receive a response.

Earlier this week, both Trump and RFK came down on the same side of the ongoing southern border crisis in Texas.

Kennedy said Texas was “right” to defend its borders amid what he regarded as the failed policies of the Biden administration.

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

“A country without borders is not a country at all,” he wrote in a post to X.

Trump said that all Americans ought to support Texas’ “commonsense measures” and vowed to work with Lone Star State Gov. Greg Abbott and other border states to “stop the invasion, seal the border, and rapidly begin the largest domestic deportation operation in history.” 

“Those Biden has let in should not get comfortable because they will be going home,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform. 

With GOP primary victories in both Iowa and New Hampshire, Trump is poised to become the Republican Party’s presidential nominee. There has been speculation in recent weeks about whom the former president would select as his running mate.

Earlier this month, Trump remarked that he knew who his running mate is “going to be” during an Iowa Town Hall event put on by Fox News.

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“I can’t tell you that really, I mean, I know who it’s going to be,” Trump said when he was asked who his running mate will be in 2024.

It’s unclear who that selection would be, and few in his political orbit appear to have a good feel for whom Trump is leaning toward as his running mate.

“We’ll do another show sometime,” Trump said when pushed by host Martha MacCallum to “give us a hint.”

Fox News’ Paul Steinhauser contributed reporting.

his is the first story in a series about the addiction and homelessness crises plaguing Oregon.

SALEM, Ore. – It was a quiet morning, aside from the man shouting incoherently behind the Oregon State Capitol. He paced back and forth, occasionally flailing his arms, and seemed unbothered by the January drizzle.

Inside the building, lawmakers filtered in and out of meetings, trying to figure out how best to address homelessness, mental health and addiction in the upcoming legislative session. 

“We have a crisis on our hands and that’s easy to see,” Republican Rep. Lucetta Elmer told Fox News Digital. “Something has to change. And Oregonians are asking for that change.”

‘FENTANYL NEXUS’: PORTLAND POLICE’S BIKE SQUAD FACES ‘EXPLOSION’ OF OPEN-AIR DRUG USE

A man with curly brown hair cascading out from under a beanie struggled to light a flame under his meth pipe on a sidewalk in Portland’s Chinatown neighborhood. He tried to block the breeze with swollen, pink fingers, but the wind was too strong. So he tented a wool blanket over his head. He emerged a moment later along with a dense cloud of smoke.

Tara Faul snapped the portrait.

“Really sad,” she said afterward, asked how it feels to document the moment. Before she could continue, another man started shouting obscenities from underneath a Portland Timbers blanket. “And sometimes scary,” she said. “We should probably move.”

Faul grew up on the Oregon Coast and bought a house in Portland in 2018. She loved everything about the city — the culture, the food and especially the weather.

But in 2020, she felt a growing sense of despair. She could hear riots from her home some nights. She had to call her kids in from the yard when a man wandered by with a machete. A nearby house was shot up so many times it became difficult to distinguish the new bullet holes from the old.

“You couldn’t go out the door without having something crazy happen to you,” she said.

What she heard on the news and social media did not match what she witnessed in real life.

So she grabbed a camera and started documenting what she saw, trying to put an artistic flair on the piles of garbage that had become prevalent in the city. She chats with drug users and homeless people as she snaps their portraits.

CRISIS IN THE NORTHWEST: ARE OREGONIANS ‘BEYOND A TURNING POINT’?

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Lately, her most famous pictures have been of human excrement splattered on walls and sidewalks as the city’s homeless community faces a surge in the waste-borne illness Shigella.

Those who deride the “liberal sh–hole of Portland” on X often don’t know what to make of Faul’s appearance. The homeschooling mother of four’s short hair, piercings and tattered band T-shirts hardly scream “Trump voter” and instead regularly earn her obscenity-laden accusations that she “voted for this” and deserves “every bit of what happens to you.”

“I get it,” she said. “I look like I voted for the poop.”

‘We have a crisis on our hands’

Pioneers flocked to the land of “milk and honey” in the 1800s, seeking fertile soil and bountiful agriculture. Over time, Oregon became famous for its breathtaking natural scenery — Willamette Valley residents cherish being a mere hour from the coast and an hour from the Cascades — timber, craft breweries and coffee shops.

That picturesque scene has become tarnished.

Graffiti, tents and trash litter sidewalks and roadsides as Oregon contends with one of the highest rates of homelessness. Fentanyl deaths surged more than 67% last year, the biggest increase in the nation, according to an analysis by the organization Families Against Fentanyl.

Violent crime rates spiked 16.6% in the state from 2019 to 2022, according to FBI data, though Oregon remains safer than the national average. Car thefts surged nearly 50%, with 551.5 thefts reported for every 100,000 people in Oregon in 2022, compared to the national average of 282.7.

Only 29% of Oregonians polled by DHM Research last year said the state is headed in the right direction.

“We are on the absolute wrong track,” Elmer said. “We are in a health crisis because of the rampant drug use. We are in a justice crisis because we’re not able to deal with people who are breaking the law. We’re in a generational crisis.”

OPEN-AIR DRUG USE, OVERDOSES PUSH DEMOCRATS TO INTRODUCE OVERHAUL OF FIRST-IN-THE-NATION DECRIMINALIZATION LAW

Online, more contemptuous conservatives rejoice in Oregon’s current downturn, pointing to it as an example of failed progressive policies. A Republican hasn’t governed Oregon since the 1980s. Democrats dominate both chambers of the legislature. Voters brought this upon themselves and any lingering conservatives should flee now, go the predictable comments.

“I wish [Oregon] wasn’t always easy to kind of dunk on,” Clackamas County Commissioner Ben West said. “Much of what has happened is that there’s a lack of balance in Oregon … Politics is downstream from culture, and elections have consequences.”

Both parties have signaled a desire to roll back the state’s landmark drug decriminalization law during the February legislative session. A Democratic lawmaker is considering bringing back involuntary commitment. City leaders — including those in Portland — hope the Supreme Court will give them the power to restrict homeless people camping on public property.

“I think the voters and the residents are beyond a turning point,” West, a sixth-generation Oregonian, said of the state’s political mood. But he’s not confident lawmakers will do more than “nibble around the edges” of reform.

‘If downtown Portland goes down, the entire state of Oregon goes down’

Faul counts herself among the 56% of Portlanders who said they would leave the city in a recent poll. 

“It would make me sad because I love this place, and I used to tell everybody that it was the best city in the country,” she said. “I had a ton of pride in Portland.”

She has done plenty of Zillow scrolling and research on potential places to move, but said high interest rates and housing costs have made it “not a good world to try to move around in.”

“So I’m sure a lot of people just feel trapped,” she said.

JUDGE BLOCKS AMERICA’S ‘MOST EXTREME’ GUN CONTROL LAW, BUT BLUE STATE PLANS TO APPEAL

Oregon’s population dipped in 2022 for the first time in nearly 40 years and, according to recent Census Bureau estimates, the downturn continued in 2023. High earners left Multnomah County in droves between 2020 and 2021, taking more than $1 billion in tax revenue with them.

“That’s a sign of how unique and critical this moment is,” Portland City Commissioner and mayoral candidate Mingus Mapps said. “We have to get this right, and the things that we need to be focusing in on are houselessness, public safety and economic vitality.”

Oregon’s problems are most prominently displayed in Portland. Open-air drug use, block after block of RVs and tents, vandalism and office buildings that still haven’t refilled after the pandemic.

“There’s no question Portland’s been through a rough patch,” Mayor Ted Wheeler said. “We have experienced an unprecedented number of simultaneous worst-case scenario crises.”

That’s why Gov. Tina Kotek made restoring the City of Roses a top priority after taking office last year, sending in state troopers to help crack down on fentanyl dealing. She recently unveiled a bundle of proposals she hopes will encourage economic activity in the city, including a sweeping effort to clear graffiti and garbage, and a push to bring down the remaining 2020-era plywood — the latter of which received chuckles and eye rolls from locals who have grown accustomed to the sight of boarded-up windows.

Portland’s city council welcomes Kotek’s vision. Downtown Portland is the “economic engine of both the city” and the state, Mapps said.

“If downtown Portland goes down, the entire state of Oregon goes down,” he said. “We cannot allow that to happen.”

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As local leaders await the outcome of Oregon’s special legislative session, set to begin Feb. 5, West said Oregon and the northwest are “absolutely worth fighting for.”

“There’s still a lot of good here and a lot of great people across this entire state,” he said. “Great businesses and people that do work hard to help make Oregon better. And so I want to fight with those people.”

Ramiro Vargas contributed to the accompanying video.

President Biden is vowing to “shut down the border” if Congress passes the bipartisan immigration deal he claims would give him “emergency authority” necessary to stop the years-long surge of migrants.

Biden said in a Friday press release later published on social media that the border security measures, which are tied to a Ukraine aid package opposed by the GOP, would be “the toughest and fairest set of reforms to secure the border we’ve ever had as a country.”

“For too long, we all know the border’s been broken,” the president said. “It’s long past time to fix it.”

BIDEN TOUTS POTENTIAL BORDER DEAL WITH SENATE AS SPEAKER MIKE JOHNSON SAYS BILL ‘DEAD ON ARRIVAL’ IN HOUSE

“What’s been negotiated would — if passed into law — be the toughest and fairest set of reforms to secure the border we’ve ever had in our country,” Biden said. “It would give me, as president, a new emergency authority to shut down the border when it becomes overwhelmed. And if given that authority, I would use it the day I sign the bill into law.”

In the White House statement, Biden urged lawmakers to provide funding to aid Ukraine that was requested in October, which would include funds for an additional 1,300 U.S. Border Patrol agents, 375 immigration judges, 1,600 asylum officers and more than 100 inspection machines to help prevent the smuggling of fentanyl into the United States. 

It would also increase visas by 250,000 and bolster green card eligibility.

“For everyone demanding tougher border control, this is the way to do it,” Biden said. “If you’re serious about the border crisis, pass a bipartisan bill and I will sign it.”

TRUMP URGES STATES TO SURGE NATIONAL GUARD TO TEXAS AS ABBOTT STANDOFF WITH BIDEN ACCELERATES

Hours earlier, House Speaker Mike Johnson wrote a letter to his colleagues in the Senate signaling the legislation addressing the border and aid to Ukraine has no future in the House if Republicans there feel it doesn’t do enough to address the record numbers of illegal immigrants crossing into the United States.

“I wanted to provide a brief update regarding the supplemental and the border, since the Senate appears unable to reach any agreement. If rumors about the contents of the draft proposal are true, it would have been dead on arrival in the House anyway,” Johnson wrote. “Many of our constituents have asked an important question: ‘What is the point of negotiating new laws with an administration that will not enforce the laws already on the books?’”

Johnson suggested that the GOP was not interested in negotiating the bill because Biden has failed to enforce illegal immigration laws already on the books.

BORDER BATTLE LINES: DEMS CALL ON BIDEN TO SEIZE CONTROL OF TEXAS NATIONAL GUARD, AS GOP ALLIES BACK ABBOTT

“I am emphasizing again today that House Republicans will vigorously oppose any new policy proposal from the White House or Senate that would further incentivize illegal aliens to break our laws,” Johnson said. 

Biden’s claim that the bill was necessary to confer him with the authority to close the border received notable pushback from conservatives, who pointed to a variety of powers currently at his disposal to stop the hundreds of thousands of migrants pouring into the U.S.

“No laws need to be passed,” billionaire Elon Musk, who owns the X social media platform, responded to Biden’s announcement. “All that is needed is an executive order to require proof before granting an asylum hearing. That is how it used to be.”

Just this week, Border Patrol agents near El Paso, Texas, caught 40 migrants involved in two human smuggling operations as the border hit its highest rate of migrant encounters last month, blowing away previous statistics.  

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Sources with Customs and Border Protection told Fox News Digital that migrant encounters hit a staggering 300,000 incidents in the last month of 2023, reaching a level thought unimaginable just years ago.

Between Dec. 1 and 31, more than 302,000 migrants were documented attempting to cross the U.S. southern border. 

It is the highest total for a single month ever recorded. It is also the first time migrant encounters have exceeded 300,000. 

Fox News Digital’s Louis Casiano and Brie Stimson contributed to this report.

Nikki Haley is enjoying a surge in small dollar, grassroots fundraising.

But following her 11-point loss to former President Donald Trump in New Hampshire’s primary — which was seen by political pundits as her best shot at slowing down Trump’s push for the GOP nomination — liberal megadonor and LinkedIn cofounder Reid Hoffman appears to be one of the first wealthy donors who’s apparently heading for an exit.

A top adviser to the megadonor told Fox News that a “new potential path to victory” would be needed to appear before sending any further contributions to Haley.

In the 24 hours after her runner-up finish to Trump in Tuesday’s Republican presidential primary in New Hampshire, the former two-term South Carolina governor who later served as U.N. ambassador in the Trump administration hauled in $1 million in grassroots online donations.

As Fox News first reported on Thursday, Haley raked in another $1 million after she responded on social media to a warning Trump directed to GOP donors to stop contributing to his remaining major rival for the 2024 Republican nomination. Hours later, the campaign touted that total 48-hour haul had reached $2.6 million.

Haley is campaigning this weekend in her home state, which on Feb. 24 will hold the next major primary on the Republican nominating calendar. 

HALEY RAKES IN CAMPAIGN CASH AFTER TRUMP WARNS TOP DOLLAR DONORS

She will then head to New York City early next week to meet with some top Republican donors as she aims to replenish her campaign coffers.

Sources in Haley’s political orbit told Fox News that a fundraiser on Tuesday co-hosted by billionaires Leonard Stern, Cliff Asness, Stanley Druckenmiller, Ken Langone and Henry Kravis remains on her schedule.

TRUMP ALIGNED SUPER PAC SEES SURGE IN FUNDRAISING

It is one of roughly 10 fundraisers with major Republican donors on Haley’s itinerary over the next couple of weeks.

HALEY LIVES TO FIGHT ANOTHER DAY, BUT FACES A ‘CHALLENGING’ ROAD AHEAD

Hoffman, a supporter of President Biden who contributed over three-quarters of a million dollars last year to the Biden Victory Fund, gave a quarter of a million dollars last month to SFA Fund, Inc, the Haley-aligned super PAC.

“Prior to the primaries, we made an investment in Governor Haley because we saw that her performance in New Hampshire might give her a path to defeating Donald Trump,” Hoffman’s political philanthropy adviser Dmitri Mehlhorn said in a statement to Fox News.

With the New Hampshire primary now in the rearview mirror, Mehlhorn said that “it is still possible that Governor Haley will be able to persuade voters that Trump is no longer stable and cannot carry their banner into the fall campaign.”

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But he emphasized that “before recommending another investment at this later stage in the process, however, I would need to see a new potential path to victory given that she did not win New Hampshire.”

“The only way I can see a path happening is if Trump has a ‘senior moment,’ and she’s able to exploit it to persuade GOP voters that he’s lost it,” Mehlhorn added.

Hoffman has long been a vocal critic of the former president. Mehlhorn said that “if it becomes clear that the GOP has decided to nominate Trump, we have no choice but to turn our attention to defeating Trump in the general election.”

Trump and his allies have repeatedly blasted Haley since Hoffman’s contribution to her super PAC grabbed headlines in early December.

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

A coalition of former FBI officials has issued a warning about a “new and imminent danger” for the U.S. at the southern border, suggesting the country has “been invaded” by military-age foreign nationals.

In a letter sent last week to congressional leaders in the House and Senate, the retired officials “express our concern about a current, specific threat that may be one of the most pernicious ever to menace the United States.”

The letter warns “the United States is facing a new and imminent danger” and highlights what the officials say is a threat of an invasion at the southern border, where there were over 302,000 migrant encounters in December after a record fiscal 2023 in which there were 2.4 million migrant encounters.

“In its modern history, the U.S. has never suffered an invasion of the homeland and, yet, one is unfolding now,” they say. “Military aged men from across the globe, many from countries or regions not friendly to the United States, are landing in waves on our soil by the thousands — not by splashing ashore from a ship or parachuting from a plane but rather by foot across a border that has been accurately advertised around the world as largely unprotected with ready access granted.”

MIGRANT CRISIS BROKE NEW RECORD IN DECEMBER WITH 302K ENCOUNTERS, OFFICIALS CONFIRM 

The ten officials include former FBI assistant directors Kevin Brock and Chris Swecker, former Terrorist Screening Center Director Timothy Healy and former acting Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Mark Morgan, who is also a former FBI superintendent.

The lawmakers note the releases of migrants into the country in large numbers, although federal officials have repeatedly claimed that migrants are only released after going through a multi-layered vetting process and biographical and biometric vetting. 

They also note numbers of gotaways, which are estimated to have exceeded 800,000 last fiscal year, and encounters of those on the FBI’s terror watch list. FBI Director Christopher Wray has also expressed concern about who is evading Border Patrol. 

The Biden administration has, however, also said it has greater awareness of the border now and that gotaways are a decades-old problem for the country.

“With the investments that this Congress has made in the Border Patrol, CBP as a whole, we have greater situational awareness now than I’ve ever had,” Border Patrol Chief Raul Ortiz said in March last year.

The former officials express concern, particularly in light of the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel.

BORDER PATROL HAS ‘NO PLANS’ TO REMOVE RAZOR WIRE SET UP BY TEXAS AMID FEUD WITH BIDEN ADMIN

“It is stark to say so, but having a large number of young males now within our borders who could begin attacking gatherings of unarmed citizens, in imitation of 10/7 and at the behest of a foreign terror group, must be considered a distinct possibility,” they wrote. 

“We would be remiss not to call out this potentially grave threat in the most direct terms. The warning lights are blinking.”

They warn that some of the men arriving to the border are from terror-linked areas as well as geopolitical foes like China and Russia.

“For these reasons, elements of this recent surge are likely no accident or coincidence. These men are potential operators in what appears to be an accelerated and strategic penetration, a soft invasion, designed to gain internal access to a country that cannot be invaded militarily in order to inflict catastrophic damage if and when enemies deem it necessary,” they say.

They encourage Congress and other federal leaders to take action and pay more attention to the threat.

5,000 ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS RELEASED EVERY DAY INTO US, ADMIN OFFICIALS PRIVATELY TELL LAWMAKERS

“The country has been invaded, an invasion that will continue as long as the nation’s enemies perceive it will be tolerated,” they say.

The letter was written at a time when border security is a top political issue. Republicans have blamed the migrant crisis on Biden-era policies and the reversal of Trump-era policies. The administration says it needs more funding and reforms to fix a “broken” system and deal with a hemisphere-wide crisis. DHS has also pointed to an increase in returns of illegal immigrants, including more since May than in the entirety of fiscal 2019.

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Lawmakers are debating a supplemental spending bill that includes $14 billion for border funding for staffing, processing, removals and aid to cities and organizations. Republicans, however, want to see tightened asylum restrictions and fewer parole releases.