NationalWatch

It was the announcement Senate Democrats were dreading.

When it came, it appeared to strike a major blow to their hopes of holding their razor-thin Senate majority in the 2024 elections.

“I have made one of the toughest decisions of my life and decided that I will not be running for re-election to the United States Senate,” Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia announced earlier this month.

Manchin, a moderate Democrat and former governor, won over 60% of the vote in his 2012 re-election, but his margin of victory fell to just three points in 2018.

CHECK OUT THE LATEST FOX NEWS 2024 POWER RANKINGS 

The consensus was that Manchin was the only Democrat who could win in West Virginia next year after his state shifted dramatically to the right over the past decade. Former President Donald Trump carried West Virginia by nearly 40 points in the 2020 election.

Democrats control the U.S. Senate with a 51-49 majority, but Republicans are looking at a favorable Senate map in 2024, with Democrats defending 23 of the 34 seats up for grabs. Three of those seats are in red states that Trump carried in 2020 — West Virginia, Montana and Ohio.

Five other blue-held seats are in key swing states narrowly carried by President Biden in 2020 — Arizona, Michigan, Nevada, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.

WITH NINE WEEKS TO GO UNTIL THE FIRST VOTES, THIS CANDIDATE REMAINS THE COMMANDING FRONT-RUNNER IN THE GOP PRESIDENTIAL RACE

“Democrats have multiple pathways to protect and strengthen our Senate majority and are in a strong position to achieve this goal,” Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee spokesman David Bergstein argued in a statement after Manchin’s announcement.

“In addition to defending our battle-tested incumbents, we’ve already expanded the battleground map to Texas and Florida,” Berstein added, pointing to what he called “unpopular Republican incumbents.”

Texas and Florida, where incumbent senators Ted Cruz and Rick Scott are seeking re-election, appear to be the only potentially competitive GOP-held seats up for grabs next year. 

Here’s a look at the five seats most likely to flip in 2024.

West Virginia

With Manchin not seeking re-election, National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) chairman Sen. Steve Daines said, “We like our odds in West Virginia.”

Right now, the main action is in the Republican Senate primary, where popular Democrat-turned-Republican Gov. Jim Justice has the backing of the NRSC and Trump.

Justice has rasied more money than his main rival, conservative Rep. Alex Mooney, who enjoys the support of the fiscally conservative Club for Growth.

The first Democrat to jump into the race following Manchin’s departure is 32-year-old Zachary Shrewsbury, a native West Virginian and Marine Corps veteran.

Montana

Democrats breathed a sigh of relief when Sen. Jon Tester of Montana announced earlier this year that he would seek re-election in 2024 in a state that Trump carried by 16 points three years ago. The Democratic incumbent has hauled in a formidable $15 million in fundraising so far this year.

Tim Sheehy, a former Navy SEAL and Purple Heart recipient who notched more than 200 missions in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and elsewhere around the globe, launched a Republican Senate bid in late June.

Sheehy, the CEO of Bridger Aerospace, a Montana-based aerial firefighting and wildfire surveillance services company, enjoys the NRSC’s backing.

Rep. Matt Rosendale, a hard-right congressman, is seriously mulling a bid. Rosendale narrowly lost to Tester in the 2018 Senate election.

Ohio

Longtime Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown is the only member of his party to win a non-judicial, statewide election in Ohio in the past decade. As Brown runs in 2024 for a fourth six-year term representing Ohio, he will be heavily targeted by Republicans in a state that was once a premier general election battleground but has shifted red over the past six years.

Trump carried Ohio by eight points in his 2016 presidential election victory and his 2020 re-election defeat. Last year, Trump’s handpicked Senate candidate in Ohio — Sen. JD Vance — topped longtime Democratic Rep. Tim Ryan by six points despite Ryan running what political experts considered a nearly flawless campaign.

Brown, who has served as a congressman, state lawmaker and Ohio secretary of state during his nearly half century career in elective politics, is well known across the Buckeye State. The senator, known as a champion for populist causes, raked in $3.6 million in contributions during the first three months of this year.

Two Republicans who ran unsuccessfully for the 2022 GOP Senate nomination in Ohio are already in the race to oust Brown.

State Sen. Matt Dolan, a former top county prosecutor and Ohio assistant attorney general, launched his campaign in January. Dolan, whose family owns Major League Baseball’s Cleveland Guardians, shelled out millions of his own money to run ads for his 2022 Senate bid. 

He surged near the end of the primary race, finishing third in a crowded field of Republican contenders, winning nearly a quarter of the vote.

Last month, Bernie Moreno, a successful Cleveland-based businessman and luxury auto dealership giant, declared his candidacy. Moreno, an immigrant who arrived in the U.S. legally from Colombia with his family as a 5-year-old boy, also shelled out millions of his own money to run TV commercials to try and boost his first Senate bid.

But he suspended his campaign in February 2022 after requesting and holding a private meeting with Trump.

In July, Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose joined the race, launching a much-anticipated Senate campaign.

Arizona

With Democrat-turned-independent Sen. Kyrsten Sinema appearing to gear up for a re-election campaign — even though she hasn’t officially announced a campaign — the Senate race in battleground Arizona could be the most complicated of the 2024 cycle.

Democratic Rep. Ruben Gallego is already running on the left and has raised more money than Sinema, although the incumbent enjoys a healthy $1 million cash-on-hand advantage.

Pinal County Sheriff Mark Lamb recently became the first major GOP contender to launch a campaign.

But 2022 GOP gubernatorial nominee Kari Lake instantly became the Republican front-runner when she jumped into the race in October. Lake, a former TV news anchor and strong Trump ally, narrowly lost last year’s election for governor but refused to concede.

Pennsylvania 

The Keystone State, which is a perennial general election battleground, will likely live up to its reputation once again in 2024 as it holds what will arguably be one of the most competitive and expensive Senate races across the country.

Democratic Sen. Bob Casey, who served a decade as the state’s auditor general and then treasurer before first winning election to the Senate in 2006, is seeking a fourth six-year term in office.

Casey, who’s not expected to face any serious Democratic primary challenge, is the son of a popular former governor.

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Republicans appear mostly united behind Dave McCormick, who’s making his second straight Senate run.

McCormick, a former hedge fund executive, West Point graduate, Gulf War combat veteran and Treasury Department official in former President George W. Bush’s administration, was endorsed by the Pennsylvania GOP in late September, soon after he entered the race.

McCormick had been courted by national and state Republicans to run, and his candidacy gives the GOP a high-profile candidate with the ability to finance his own race that’s expected to be one of the most expensive in the country.

The Pennsylvania GOP’s endorsement will likely help McCormick avoid a crowded and combustible battle for the 2024 GOP Senate nomination like the one he faced last year. McCormick ended up losing the nomination by a razor-thin margin to celebrity doctor and cardiac surgeon Mehmet Oz, who secured a primary victory thanks to a late endorsement from Trump. Oz ended up losing the general election last November to Democrat John Fetterman.

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

Republican Gov. Greg Abbott of Texas will endorse former President Donald Trump for their party’s 2024 nomination when the two team up Sunday near the U.S.-Mexico border, GOP sources in Texas confirm to Fox News.

The former president will join the governor in Edinburg, Texas, for Abbott’s annual pre-Thanksgiving tradition of serving tamales to Texas Department of Public Safety troopers and Texas National Guardsmen deployed along the southern border under the governor’s Operation Lone Star program.

Trump endorsed Abbott in 2021, as the conservative governor was gearing up for re-election and faced multiple primary challenges from the right. Abbott overwhelmingly won renomination in March of last year before comfortably defeating Democratic challenger former Rep. Beto O’Rourke last November to secure a third term steering Texas.

GAME ON IN IOWA AS DESANTIS AND HALEY BATTLE FOR SECOND PLACE BEHIND TRUMP 

Abbott was grateful for Trump’s early endorsement last cycle, according to those in the governor’s political orbit, and he’s now apparently returning the favor.

WITH CLOCK TICKING TOWARDS FIRST VOTES IN THE GOP PRESIDENTIAL NOMINATION RACE, THIS CANDIDATE REMAINS IN THE DRIVER’S SEAT

Trump, who’s making his third straight White House run, is the commanding front-runner for the Republican 2024 nomination, with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and former ambassador to the United Nations and former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley currently vying for a distant second place in the polls.

Trump’s lead expanded over the spring and summer as he made history as the first former or current president in American history to be indicted for a crime. Trump’s four indictments — including in federal court in Washington D.C. and in Fulton County court in Georgia on charges he tried to overturn his 2020 presidential election loss — have only fueled his support among Republican voters.

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The former president’s trip to Texas to meet with Abbott near the border will spotlight the combustible issue of illegal immigration and border security. The issue’s long been top of mind for Republican voters, and GOP leaders and politicians for two and a half years have heavily criticized President Biden’s administration over the surge in border crossings by migrants.

Trump has pledged, if he wins back the White House, to launch the largest mass deportation effort in American history, would reinstate travel bans as well as his 2019 “Remain in Mexico” program, which forced non-Mexican asylum-seekers aiming to enter the U.S. at the southern border to wait in Mexico for the resolution of their cases. Trump also said he’d seek to end automatic citizenship for children born in the U.S. to immigrants who entered the country illegally, an idea he proposed during his administration.

Biden’s 2024 re-election campaign has slammed Trump’s “scary” proposals, arguing that it would violate the U.S. Constitution, the nation’s values, and the rights of immigrants.

Border security has also long been a top issue for Abbott, who’s sparred repeatedly with the Biden administration.

The Texas legislature, during a special session called by the governor, this week passed a controversial measure allowing state law enforcement officials to arrest suspected undocumented migrants. Democrats have pilloried the strict immigration bill.

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

Utah Republican Sen. Mike Lee is calling for an investigation into the now-defunct House January 6 committee, accusing former and current lawmakers who served on the committee of “deliberately” hiding some of the footage from the Capitol riots.

Lee’s comments came after House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., began releasing more than 40,000 hours of footage taken at the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021, when protesters angry about the 2020 election results stormed the halls of Congress.

Highlighting the release of the footage in a series of posts to X, formerly known as Twitter, Lee called into question the character of former Republican representatives Liz Cheney of Wyoming and Adam Kinzinger of Illinois.

“Why didn’t Liz Cheney and Adam Kizinger ever refer to any of these tapes? Maybe they never looked for them. Maybe they never even questioned their own narrative. Maybe they were just too busy selectively leaking the text messages of Republicans they wanted to defeat,” Lee wrote in a post to the platform, which included a video that purportedly showed Capitol police officers facilitating the passage of protesters through the building that day.

SPEAKER JOHNSON BEGINS RELEASING 40,000 HOURS OF JAN 6 FOOTAGE

Cheney and Kinzinger, Lee wrote in another post to X, were “people who helped hide the J6 tapes” and “are cut out of the same cloth as those who will tell you that FISA 702 must be reauthorized without reforms—’because search warrants require too much effort.'”

“We need to investigate the J6 committee,” he wrote in another post.

Lee also took aim at the committee overall, as well as then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., who appointed the select committee to investigate what took place at the Capitol on January 6, 2021.

“Given the evidence they apparently suppressed, how much footage (and how many other records) do you think Nancy Pelosi and the J6 committee deliberately lost or destroyed?” Lee questioned in one post.

In response to a Friday post by Cheney, which included “some January 6th video” of disgruntled protesters tangling with Capitol police, Lee wrote, “Liz, we’ve seen footage like that a million times. You made sure we saw that — and nothing else. It’s the other stuff — what you deliberately hid from us — that we find so upsetting. Nice try.”

“P.S. How many of these guys are feds? (As if you’d ever tell us),” Lee added in his response to the former lawmaker.

LEFT-WING ACTIVIST CHARGED IN CAPITOL RIOT AFTER SAYING HE WAS JUST THERE TO ‘DOCUMENT’

In another post, Lee wrote, “Taxpayer dollars funded the sham J6 committee.”

The GOP senator also amplified a clip released Friday that shows an officer working inside the Capitol on January 6, 2021, who appeared uncuffed and released a protester. The protester could be seen in the clip giving a fist bump to what appeared to be another officer who was nearby at the time of his release.

“I walk through these doors every day — several times a day. I’ve never seen this happen,” Lee wrote in response.

In releasing the remaining footage from the Capitol on January 6, 2021, Speaker Johnson said in a statement: “When I ran for Speaker, I promised to make accessible to the American people the 44,000 hours of video from Capitol Hill security taken on January 6, 2021. Truth and transparency are critical.”

Some video was made available to the public on Friday, with the bulk of it to be released gradually over time, Johnson said.

Johnson said his decision to release the remaining footage “will provide millions of Americans, criminal defendants, public interest organizations, and the media an ability to see for themselves what happened that day, rather than having to rely upon the interpretation of a small group of government officials.”

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Johnson said that roughly 5% of the footage would likely be held back due to “sensitive security information related to the building architecture,” and that some faces would be blurred “to avoid any persons from being targeted for retaliation of any kind.”

It is being made public through the House Administration Committee’s subcommittee on Oversight.

Fox News’ Elizabeth Elkind contributed to this report.

A new poll suggests that significantly more voters trust former President Donald Trump in handling the ongoing crisis at the southern border compared to President Biden — just as the U.S. remains wracked by a historic migrant crisis.

The Marquette Law School Poll asked respondents who would handle immigration and border security better. Of those polled, 50% said Trump, 27% said Biden, 7% said about the same and 16% said neither.

Respondents also believed Trump to be better on the economy by a 21-point margin. It also found him preferred on the Israel-Hamas war, foreign relations and Medicare and Social Security by just one point. Biden was preferred on abortion policy and climate change.

TRUMP SAYS HE WILL CARRY OUT THE ‘LARGEST DOMESTIC DEPORTATION OPERATION IN AMERICAN HISTORY’ IF ELECTED 

The poll comes as the U.S. continues to face a migrant crisis now deep into its third year. There were more than 249,000 migrant encounters in October, the highest October on record.

That comes after more than 2.4 million migrant encounters in FY23 — itself an annual record – and more than 600,000 gotaways.

Republicans have hammered the Biden administration for its handling of the migrant crisis, blaming it on its policies — including the rolling back of Trump-era policies like the Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP) and border wall construction, as well as decreased interior enforcement. 

In the House, Republicans have passed a sweeping bill that would strictly limit asylum and increase border security measures — including resuming wall construction. But it has not received support from Democrats, which would be needed for it to pass the Senate. Republicans have also moved to impeach DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas — although a bid to do that failed in the GOP-controlled House this week.

Trump, running for the presidency in 2024, has promised to carry out the “largest domestic deportation operation in American history” if elected.

THOUSANDS OF CHINESE NATIONALS, GOTAWAYS AT THE SOUTHER BORDER SINCE OCT 1: SOURCES 

Meanwhile, the Biden administration has said it is dealing with a hemisphere-wide crisis, and is in need of resources and immigration reform legislation to fix what it says is a “broken” immigration system. It also says it is using a strategy of implementing “consequences” for illegal entry while broadening “legal pathways” for migration.

It has called for the passage of legislation it unveiled in early 2021, which not only would have broadened immigration paths but also would have granted amnesty to millions of illegal immigrants already in the country. It has yet to pick up any Republican support. The White House recently requested an extra $14 billion in supplemental funding for “border operations.” That includes money for for migrant services and housing, anti-fentanyl technology and more border agents.

A fact sheet put out by the White House stressed that the Biden administration’s strategy is “focused on enforcement, deterrence and diplomacy” that includes a massive expansion of “lawful pathways” into the U.S.

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“The request we have made of Congress today provides critically needed funding to equip the Department of Homeland Security with the people and tools it needs to prevent cartels from moving fentanyl through our ports of entry and to enforce our immigration laws in an orderly and effective way,” Mayorkas said in a statement. 

Meanwhile, the crisis has not only affected border communities but also cities and states deeper in the interior. New York City on Thursday announced deep budget cuts, including to policing and education, which it blamed on the billions it is spending on dealing with the more than 110,000 migrants that have come through the “sanctuary” city in the last year.

DES MOINES, Iowa – He trails former President Donald Trump by at least 25 points in the latest polls in the state that leads off the Republican presidential nominating calendar, but Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis remains confident.

“We’re going to win here. We have what it takes,” DeSantis vowed in a Fox News interview in Iowa’s capital city.

The Florida governor spoke minutes before he sat down with former ambassador and former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley and multi-millionaire biotech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy – two of his 2024 GOP White House rivals – in front of a large crowd of social conservative voters in a state where evangelicals play an outsized role in Republican politics.

DeSantis is making a strong showing in Iowa central to his bid to defeat Trump, who remains the commanding Republican front-runner as he makes his third straight run for the White House.

DESANTIS, HALEY, RAMASWAMY, GET PERSONAL AS THEY SIT SIDE-BY-SIDE

But Haley, who’s enjoyed momentum in the polls in recent months thanks in part to well-received performances in the first three GOP presidential primary debates, has leapfrogged DeSantis for second place in New Hampshire – which holds the first primary and votes second in the Republican schedule – and her home state – which holds the first southern contest.

Now, she aims to make a fight of it in Iowa, where she’s pulling even with DeSantis in some of the latest polls.

“The momentum is real. The excitement is there. We’re going to keep working hard to win every Iowan’s vote. We’re not going to give up on Iowa,” Haley touted in a Fox News Digital interview Friday ahead of a town hall in Newton, Iowa.

COULD THIS IOWA EVANGELICAL LEADER’S ENDORSEMENT PUT  DENT IN TRUMP’S COMMANDING LEAD?

With under two months to go until the January 15 caucuses, Haley returned to Iowa showcasing over 70 new Hawkeye State endorsements. And Haley is set to launch a $10 million ad blitz in Iowa and New Hampshire in two weeks.

Asked what kind of finish she needs in Iowa, Haley responded, “we don’t look at it as what do we have to have. The way I look at it is, we’re not going to stop until we get every single person’s vote. That’s the focus.”

But Haley, who only last month opened her headquarters in Iowa, is playing catch up with DeSantis, who been all-in on the Hawkeye State for months. Between his campaign and the DeSantis-aligned super PAC Never Back Down, the Florida governor has built up a formidable ground game. 

“We’re going to get the job done,” he pledged.

In a major boost for DeSantis, the Florida governor landed the endorsement earlier this month of Gov. Kim Reynolds, who is very popular among Hawkeye State Republicans. Reynolds’ backing helped DeSantis alter a negative narrative.

Reynolds is scheduled to spend Saturday campaigning with DeSantis at multiple stops in Iowa. 

DeSantis called the endorsement “a huge plus for us.”

He’s also aiming to land the endorsement of Bob Vander Plaats, the president and CEO of The Family Leader, the influential social conservative group that hosted Friday’s presidential forum.

Vander Plaats backed former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee in 2008, former Sen. Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania in 2012, and Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas in 2016 — all three of whom went on to win the Iowa caucuses, but failed to capture the GOP presidential nomination.

When asked about winning the support of Vander Plaats, DeSantis told Fox News “we would love that endorsement…I think after this forum, that may be a time when they want to dig in.”

WITH NINE WEEKS TO GO UNTIL THE FIRST VOTES IN THE GOP PRESIDENTIAL NOMINATION RACE, THIS CANDIDATE REMAINS IN THE DRIVER’S SEAT

DeSantis, who earlier this year signed a six-week abortion ban into law in Florida, questioned Trump’s social conservative credentials and argued that “Haley has moved left on a lot of these issues, so I’m really the conservative choice at this point. I think the governor [Reynolds] endorsing me shows that. I think you’ll see us coalesce the support of conservatives on caucus night.”

At the forum, Haley doubled down on comments on her stance on abortion that she made last week at the third Republican presidential debate, in which she urged Americans to find consensus when it comes to limiting abortions.

Haley also reiterated that she is “unapologetically pro-life” and emphasized that “our overall goal is how do we save as many babies as possible and support as many moms as we can.” 

Nicole Schlinger, a longtime Iowa-based strategist with close ties to evangelicals, told Fox News that “this was the answer that I think Iowans were waiting for from Amb. Haley on life issues… I think that was very positive.”

“Gov. DeSantis really came alive during the second half of this forum,” added Schlinger, who’s neutral in the GOP presidential nomination race. “This was a very pro-DeSantis crowd. He got the biggest applause.”

A couple of hours before the presidential forum in Des Moines, Haley landed a surprise endorsement from another social conservative leader in Iowa.

As Haley was taking questions from the audience at a town hall in Newton, Iowa, former state GOP executive director and former president of the Iowa Right to Life Marlys Popma stood to speak.

“I was an undecided voter when I walked in here today, and I am no longer an undecided voter,” Popma said, as many in the crowd applauded. “I just want to tell Nikki that I wholeheartedly support you.”

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While Haley and DeSantis have repeatedly clashed in recent weeks as they battle for second place in the polls behind Trump, who remains the commanding front-runner for the GOP presidential nomination, there were no fireworks at the Family Leader forum.

Asked if it’s getting personal between her and DeSantis, Haley told Fox News “no, it’s not personal. I think Ron’s been a good governor. I think we’re both fighting to save our country. I think we have differences of opinion.”

And Haley, who advocates a muscular American foreign policy compared to DeSantis, Trump, or Ramaswamy, argued that “I have a stronger foreign policy sense than he does. I’ve focused on what I did as governor. He’s focused on what he did as governor. But I was also at the United Nations and dealt with these countries every single day.”

Given a chance to respond to her comments, DeSantis told Fox News Haley “has less than two years at the U.N., which is a corrupt organization that I would defund.”

DeSantis touted his military service in the War in Iraq and his years on the House Foreign Affairs Committee and charged “I think she really represents kind of the failed foreign policy elite that we’ve seen over the last 20-25 years.”

Fox News’ Aubrie Spady and Monico Oroz contributed to this report

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

Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo unleashed a fiery response to Biden administration officials who signed on to a dissent letter over President Biden’s pro-Israel stance in its fight against Hamas terrorists — with the former top diplomat saying their moral compass “is broken.”

“People who serve our country in any government institution, whether in the military or the State Department, swear allegiance to the United States and should commit to the mission of the President — elected by the American people — and his Administration,” Pompeo said in a statement to Fox News Digital. “If they are unable or refuse to do so, they should resign or face termination.”

Hundreds of government officials from 40 departments and agencies within the administration signed an anonymous letter demanding a “cease-fire” and opposing the president’s handling of the Israel-Hamas war.

BIDEN OFFICIALS REBEL AGAINST PRESIDENT ON ISRAEL-HAMAS WAR, SIGN DISSENT LETTER 

“We call on President Biden to urgently demand a cease-fire; and to call for de-escalation of the current conflict by securing the immediate release of the Israeli hostages and arbitrarily detained Palestinians; the restoration of water, fuel, electricity and other basic services; and the passage of adequate humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip,” the letter reads, in part.

Biden and others have argued that a cease-fire would only benefit Hamas, who launched a brutal terrorist attack on Israel on Oct. 7, in which militants murdered over 1,000 Israeli civilians. The administration has pushed for humanitarian pauses in fighting, which Israel has carried out.

Pompeo said the dissent was a problem that plagued him during his time in office “when hundreds of State Department employees worked to subvert the mission of the Trump administration.”

“Then as now, these dissenting staff fundamentally misunderstand their role and authority. Not a single American voted for them or their personal views on foreign policy. Their job is to serve the State Department as it executes the elected President’s foreign policy objectives to keep America safe,” he said. “To do otherwise is not just inappropriate; it is deeply at odds with our Constitutional order and subverts the will of the American people.”

BIDEN ALLIES CONDEMN FAR-LEFT CALLS FOR CEASE-FIRE IN ISRAEL-HAMAS WAR: ‘AMERICANS REMAIN PRO-ISRAEL’

Apart from their general outspokenness about government policy, Pompeo argued that the staff “are also dead wrong.”

“Their moral compass is broken,” he said. 

“It is absolutely right for America to back Israel in its war against the barbaric Hamas terrorists who committed the worst massacre against Jews since the Holocaust. Supporting Israel right now isn’t about politics. It’s about enabling the triumph of good over true evil,” he asserted. “Any staffer who fails to recognize this does not deserve the honor of serving the American people at the State Department or any other government agency.”

Meanwhile, President Biden on Wednesday said he believes that Israel’s military operation in Gaza will stop when Hamas “no longer maintains the capacity to murder, abuse, and do horrific things to the Israelis.”

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“Hamas said they plan to attack Israelis again and this is a terrible dilemma,” he said.

Fox News’ Anders Hagstrom and Chris Pandolfo contributed to this report.

Former President Donald Trump and his family attended the funeral of his sister, Maryanne Trump Barry, at a church in New York City on Friday, The New York Post reported.

Barry, a retired judge and assistant U.S. attorney, passed away on Nov. 13 at the age of 86.

According to The Post, “a somber-looking” Trump was joined by former First Lady Melania Trump, sons Donald Jr., and Eric, daughter Ivanka and a number of others at St. Ignatius of Loyola Church on Park Avenue on Manhattan’s Upper East Side.

TRUMP TO REMAIN ON COLORADO BALLOT AFTER JUDGE REJECTS 14TH AMENDMENT CHALLENGE TO ELIGIBILITY

Trump waited with his family on the sidewalk outside to greet the hearse carrying Barry’s coffin before entering the church.

The Post reported that New York Archbishop Cardinal Timothy Dolan performed the blessing over Barry’s body.

Barry was a former federal appellate judge who retired in April 2019, according to the New York Times. The newspaper, citing people familiar with the matter, reports that she passed away at her home in New York City’s Manhattan borough, with one person saying she was found Monday morning.

COULD EVANGELICAL LEADER’S ENDORSEMENT UPEND TRUMP’S MASSIVE LEAD BEFORE IOWA’S CAUCUS?

In 2016, Trump called his sister a “highly respected judge” while noting they disagree on public policy issues.

Four years later, Trump dismissed secret audio recordings released of Barry saying he had “no principles” and was “cruel.”

“Every day it’s something else, who cares?” Trump said in a statement at the time, according to the Washington Post.

LEFT-WING COMEDIAN MICHAEL RAPAPORT SAYS VOTING FOR TRUMP ‘ON THE TABLE’ IF ANTI SEMITISM NOT ADDRESSED IN US

The Washington Post’s story about the recordings appeared one day after the White House hosted a private memorial service for Robert Trump, the president’s younger brother, who died Aug. 15, 2020, at age 71.

During her legal career, Barry worked as a federal prosecutor before being nominated by then-President Ronald Reagan to the Federal District Court in New Jersey in 1983, the New York Times reported.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP 

In 1999, then-President Bill Clinton appointed her to the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, the newspaper added.

Fox News’ Greg Norman and Houston Keene contributed to this report.

DES MOINES, IOWA – They’ve traded fire from behind podiums on the Republican presidential debate stage.

But White House rivals Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, former ambassador and former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, and biotech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy sat down together on Friday around the same table for a very different discussion in front of a large crowd of social conservative voters in Iowa, the state whose caucuses kick off the 2024 GOP presidential nominating calendar.

All three candidates shared personal and at times emotional stories at a presidential Thanksgiving forum hosted by The Family Leader, a politically active and influential social conservative group in a state where evangelical voters play an outsized role in Republican politics.

And each of the candidates spotlighted the difficulties they endured in having children as they showcased their opposition to legalized abortion.

COULD THIS IOWA EVANGELICAL LEADER’S ENDORSEMENT PUT  DENT IN TRUMP’S COMMANDING LEAD?

“I actually haven’t shared this story before,” Ramaswamy said as he described his wife Apoorva’s first pregnancy. 

“About three and a half months in… one day she woke up, she was bleeding. She had a miscarriage. We lost our first child,” Ramaswamy shared.

Moments later, he signaled for his young son to join him on stage.

DeSantis also noted his wife Casey’s miscarriage, and shared publicly for the first time how the two of them prayed for a child during a trip to Israel soon after their marriage.

TRUMP, DESANTIS OR HALEY — WHO BENEFITS AS TIM SCOTT DROPS OUT OF THE RACE?

“We got back to the United States, and a little time later, we got pregnant,” DeSantis continued. “But unfortunately, we lost that first baby.”

Haley also discussed the difficulties she had in getting pregnant.

And Haley doubled down on comments on her stance on abortion that she made last week at the third Republican presidential debate, in which she urged Americans to find consensus when it comes to limiting abortions.

Family Leader president and CEO Bob Vander Plaats noted that Haley’s debate comments sounded “pro-choice” to some evangelicals and asked the presidential candidate to “assure them why that’s not a pro-choice answer.”

Haley reiterated that she is “unapologetically pro-life” and emphasized that “our overall goal is how do we save as many babies as possible and support as many moms as we can.” 

“I think you can look at my entire record as governor. I fought for life whether it was a pain-capable bill, whether it was making sure that women had to wait to see an ultrasound before they made a decision,” said Haley said as she pointed to her two-terms steering South Carolina.

And Haley, who served as ambassador to the United Nations during former President Donald Trump’s administration, touted that “they said that I was the most pro-life ambassador they had ever had represent the U.S. at the United Nations because we did everything we could to make sure our taxpayer dollars never went towards anything that would take that life away or abortion.”

When Vander Plaats pressed Haley on whether she would have signed a six-week abortion bill into law when she was governor,” she quickly answered “Yes. Whatever the people decide, you should do.”

“I think it’s right to be in the hands of the people. I think that the people decided this was put in the states; that’s where it should be. Everybody can give their voice to it.” 

WITH NINE WEEKS TO GO UNTIL THE FIRST VOTES IN THE GOP PRESIDENTIAL NOMINATION RACE, THIS CANDIDATE REMAINS IN THE DRIVER’S SEAT

Nicole Schlinger, a longtime Iowa-based strategist with close ties to evangelicals, told Fox News that “this was the answer that I think Iowans were waiting for from Amb. Haley on life issues… I think that was very positive.”

“Gov. DeSantis really came alive during the second half of this forum,” added Schlinger, who’s neutral in the GOP presidential nomination race. “This was a very pro-DeSantis crowd. He got the biggest applause.”

While Haley and DeSantis have repeatedly clashed in recent weeks as they battle for second place in the polls behind Trump, who remains the commanding front-runner for the GOP presidential nomination, there were no fireworks on Friday. 

And the recent acrimony between Haley and Ramaswamy was also not evident at the forum.

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“I don’t want to know what is bad about the other person,” Vander Plaats, who moderated  the forum, said as he explained the ground rules. “I want to have an adult conversation about the future of this country.”

Trump, who was invited to the forum, declined to attend. It was the second major presidential cattle call hosted by the Family Leader that Trump skipped this year. The former president will return to Iowa on Saturday, to headline a rally. 

The forum was briefly interrupted by a climate protester, who shouted, “Repent! Repent!” 

“How can you guys talk about being pro-life when our children’s future is on fire? ” the protester said before being escorted out of the hotel ballroom in downtown Des Moines where the event was held.

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

COLUMBIA, Mo. (AP) — A trial for a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of Missouri‘s new photo identification requirement for voters is scheduled to begin Friday. Here is a look at the function of the law and why voting rights groups are suing:

WHAT THE LAW DOES

Missouri’s GOP-led Legislature last year capped off a nearly two-decade-long push by Republicans and passed a law requiring voters to show photo identification to cast a regular ballot.

WIDESPREAD SUPPORT FOR VOTER ID AND MAKING EARLY VOTING EASIER: NATIONAL POLL

People without a government-issued photo ID can cast provisional ballots to be counted if they return later that day with a photo ID or if election officials verify their signatures. The law requires the state to provide a free photo identification card to those lacking one to vote.

LEGAL CHALLENGES

The Missouri League of Women Voters, NAACP and two voters sued to overturn the law last year, arguing the change makes casting ballots unconstitutionally difficult for some voters.

Cole County Presiding Judge Jon Beetem, who also will hear arguments in the trial beginning Friday, dismissed the case in October 2022. He found neither of the two voters “alleged a specific, concrete, non-speculative injury or legally protectable interest in challenging the photo ID requirement.”

The Missouri ACLU and Missouri Voter Protection Coalition, who sued on behalf of the plaintiffs, have since added another voter to the lawsuit and asked Beetem again to find the voter ID requirement unconstitutional.

ARGUMENTS AGAINST THE LAW

The newest plaintiff is John O’Connor, a 90-year-old Columbia, Missouri, resident with poor vision who needs help walking. When the law took effect last year, O’Connor had an expired passport and driver’s license, which are not acceptable forms of identification to vote under state law.

His lawyers argued he eventually obtained a non-driver’s license with the help of his wife, but only because officials accepted his expired driver’s license despite guidance from the state Revenue Department that long-expired licenses are not acceptable records to use when seeking new IDs.

“Even when a voter obtains the underlying documentation, voters who lack transportation, cannot get to the DMV or other government agencies during their hours of operation, or have a disability or impairment that prevents them from accessing a DMV, the voter is still unable to surmount the burdens to obtaining a photo ID,” the plaintiffs’ lawyers wrote in a pretrial brief.

ARGUMENTS FOR THE LAW

Republican Attorney General Andrew Bailey’s office is defending the law in court. The state lawyers argue that, so far, no one has been turned away at the polls because of the law.

Missouri provides free non-driver’s licenses for voting to those who do not already have a driver’s license or have a current license. The health department’s Bureau of Vital Records provides free birth certificates to those seeking their first non-driver’s license in order to vote if the applicant does not have a current driver’s license.

“There is not a severe burden on the right to vote as the State has gone to great lengths to help voters obtain IDs,” Bailey wrote in a court brief.

VOTER ID ELSEWHERE

The National Conference of State Legislatures reports 36 states request or require identification to vote, of which at least 20 ask for a photo ID.

Other Republican-led states are moving in the same direction as Missouri as they respond to conservative voters unsettled by unfounded claims of widespread fraud and persistent conspiracy theories over the accuracy of U.S. elections. Critics characterize such requirements as an overreaction that could disenfranchise eligible voters.

For the first time this year, Ohio voters were required show photo identification to cast ballots in person. The new law eliminated previously acceptable non-photo options, such as a utility bill, bank statement, government check or paycheck. State-issued photo IDs are available free of charge

Missouri Republicans are not the only ones who had to fight for years to enact ID requirements.

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North Carolina’s voter photo identification law, enacted nearly five years ago by the Republican-controlled legislature but blocked by litigation, is just now being implemented. Registered voters there can get free IDs at their county election offices if they provide their name, date of birth and the last four digits of their Social Security number.

Nebraska lawmakers this summer passed a voter ID law allowing a wide array of photo identification that voters can present at the polls. IDs include passports, driver’s licenses, military and tribal IDs and Nebraska college IDs. Expired IDs are allowed if they have the voter’s name and photo. Residents of hospitals, nursing homes and assisted living centers will be able to use patient documents that include a photo.

Mexico’s President Andrés Manuel López Obrador on Friday praised President Biden for being the “first president in the United States in recent times who has not built walls.”

López Obrador made the remark while meeting with Biden in San Francisco, adding that “we wish to assist the people in their countries of origin when they are forced to migrate.” 

“I would like to also take this opportunity to greet our paisanos, the Mexican migrants who are living and making a life and working in the United States,” he continued. “Around 40 million people have made the United States their second home, their second country, and I would also like to inform those who may not be aware of this that in recent years there are many American citizens who are moving to Mexico to stay there or to live in Mexico.”

“So welcome, because we are brotherly countries,” López Obrador added. 

BIDEN ADMINISTRATION APPROVES $950 MILLION IN CONTRACTS FOR BORDER WALL REPAIR, UPGRADES 

Biden said while sitting next to Mexico’s president, “We’re working side by side to combat arms trafficking, to tackle organized crime and to address the opioid epidemic, including fentanyl.” 

The meeting comes two weeks after Fox News Digital reported that the Biden administration approved $950 million in contracts to repair and upgrade part of existing border wall construction in Arizona, California and Texas, using money from Trump-era congressional appropriations. 

NEWS PHOTOGRAPHER SHOT DEAD IN CARTEL-DOMINATED MEXICAN BORDER HUB 

In court documents, first reported by the New York Post, the Department of Homeland Security said that Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has awarded contracts for repair work and “system attribute installation” in the San Diego, El Centro, El Paso and Tucson Sectors. 

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Remediation work includes closing gaps, installing gates and improving roads and drainage systems. “System attribute installation” includes putting in cameras, roads and detection technology to enhance the border wall. Other contracts include installing anti-climb features on the wall in San Diego, IT support and environmental planning. None of the money was awarded for additional wall construction.

Fox News’ Adam Shaw contributed to this report. 

Former President Donald Trump’s name will remain on the Colorado 2024 presidential primary ballot, a judge ruled Friday.

“The court orders the Secretary of State to place Donald J. Trump on the presidential primary ballot when it certifies the ballot on January 5, 2024,” U.S. District Court Judge Sarah B. Wallace wrote in her ruling.

The decision came following a legal challenge seeking to disqualify Trump from appearing on the ballot, citing the 14th Amendment.

BIDEN USES TRUMP’S OWN WORDS AGAINST HIM IN BID TO RECAPTURE THIS MAJOR VOTING BLOCK FOR DEMS IN 2024

The lawsuit sought to use the Disqualifications Clause, or Section 3 of the 14th Amendment, which bars individuals who have “engaged in insurrection or rebellion” against America or who have aided those engaged in such activities from holding office, and specifically cited Trump’s alleged involvement in the Capitol riot of Jan. 6, 2021. 

Watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), as well as six Colorado voters, filed the lawsuit in September, one of multiple legal attempts in a number of states across the country aiming to prevent Trump winning another four years in the White House.

CREW, a left-wing organization that often targets Republicans, was optimistic Friday morning that the ruling would fall in their favor.

NEW YORK JUDGE LIFTS TRUMP GAG ORDER IN CIVIL FRAUD TRIAL OVER FREE SPEECH CONCERNS

The decision comes after a Michigan judge ruled Wednesday in a similar lawsuit that Trump would also remain on that state’s primary ballot, which followed the Minnesota Supreme Court and a federal judge in New Hampshire previously dismissing other challenges.

Trump is the first former president in United States history to face criminal charges. 

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He was indicted during special counsel Jack Smith’s investigation into alleged interference in the 2020 election and the Jan. 6, 2021 Capitol riot. He faces criminal charges in Georgia, New York and from Smith’s separate investigation into his alleged mishandling of classified documents.

Trump pleaded not guilty to all charges, which included conspiracy to defraud the United States, conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding, obstruction of and attempt to obstruct an official proceeding and conspiracy against rights.

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

Fox News’ Brooke Singman and Anders Hagstrom contributed to this report.

Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., said the House of Representatives will release more than 40,000 hours of footage taken at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, when protesters angry about the 2020 election results stormed the halls of Congress.

Some video is already available to the public as of Friday, with the bulk of it to be released gradually over time, Johnson said.

“When I ran for Speaker, I promised to make accessible to the American people the 44,000 hours of video from Capitol Hill security taken on January 6, 2021. Truth and transparency are critical,” Johnson said in a statement.

LEFT-WING ACTIVIST CHARGED IN CAPITOL RIOT AFTER SAYING HE WAS JUST THERE TO ‘DOCUMENT’

“Today, we will begin immediately posting video on a public website and move as quickly as possible to add to the website nearly all of the footage, more than 40,000 hours. In the meantime, a public viewing room will ensure that every citizen can view every minute of the videos uncensored.”

He continued, “This decision will provide millions of Americans, criminal defendants, public interest organizations, and the media an ability to see for themselves what happened that day, rather than having to rely upon the interpretation of a small group of government officials.”

FEDS SEIZE $90K FROM SUPPOSED LEFT-WING ACTIVIST WHO SOLD FOOTAGE OF CAPITOL RIOT

Johnson said that roughly 5% of the footage would likely be held back due to “sensitive security information related to the building architecture,” and that some faces would be blurred “to avoid any persons from being targeted for retaliation of any kind.”

It is being made public through the House Administration Committee’s subcommittee on Oversight. 

Johnson shared the link to the public website on his X page on Friday afternoon.

JOHNSON’S FIRST WEEKS AS SPEAKER MARKED BY GOP INFIGHTING — AND SOME VICTORIES

Former Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., had made clips from Jan. 6 available to qualified individuals like the media, legal defendants and certain groups in September, to be viewed under security measures at the Capitol.

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But hardliners in the House GOP Conference have been pushing for the full tranche to be released to the public.

“Doing what he said he would do. Good,” Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, wrote on X after Johnson’s announcement.

A Democratic congresswoman from Michigan said the violent pro-Palestinian demonstration at the Democratic National Committee (DNC) “rattled” her more than the Jan. 6 Capitol riots.

Rep. Debbie Dingell, D-Mich., said Thursday the protest frightened her and warned that someone “is going to get hurt at one of these things.”

“They can get out of control,” Dingell added. 

In an interview with Fox News Digital, Dingell described how she attempted to leave the DNC building as the protest turned violent.

REPUBLICANS BLAST PRO-PALESTINIAN PROTESTS AT DNC: ‘NATION’S CAPITAL IS UNDER SIEGE’

Dingell and fellow Michigan Democrat Rep. Hillary Scholten were inside the DNC during the protest that saw a U.S. Capitol Police (USCP) officer pepper-sprayed.

Dingell told Fox News Digital she thinks “that the right to free speech and the right for peaceful protest … right for assembly, they’re really fundamental parts of our Constitution.”

However, as she tried to leave the building through a side door, she found it had been blocked.

“I later learned that they had pushed those trash bins so you couldn’t open the doors,” Dingell said. “And they said people are waiting in the alley to jump at you.”

Dingell said she went back and chatted with people inside the building before deciding she would leave the DNC via the front door because she has “talked to protesters” before.

“I’ve always done that,” Dingell said. The congresswoman said she told the other people who were in lockdown at the DNC she was going to leave the building and was joined by Scholten.

“And I said, ‘I talk to protesters all the time, what can they do to us?’” Dingell said. “And I said, ‘So I’m going to walk out the front door, and we’ll see how we get treated and the rest of you can figure it out.”

Dingell said she got up to leave but stopped when she saw the pepper-sprayed USCP officer brought in.

“Her skin was burnt, her eyes were bad. She had been pepper-sprayed and was not OK,” Dingell said. “And a medic came in right behind her and was treating her, and we’re all looking at that.

“Then, the Capitol Police said to me, ‘It’s not OK out there, you’re going to get hurt,'” she added. “And you looked, and there were policemen there with masks on up on the stairs. And you saw the intensity of what was going on.

“So, yeah, when you’re that close and you see someone come in who’s been hurt, it does rattle you.”

The Michigan Democrat said the DNC building “is not a huge building,” calling it a “contained space.”

“In the Capitol, we were in a big place. They were working to keep us safe,” Dingell said, recalling the storming of the Capitol by supporters of former President Donald Trump in January 2021. “I never knew how bad it was until after we had finished our final voting about what had been happening.”

The DNC headquarters, on the other hand, put her closer to the clash between police and protesters. 

“When you’re in that contained space and all you see are bodies fighting each other, it’s scary,” Dingell said.

Dingell said that while she “will protect anybody’s right for peaceful protest,” the violent Wednesday night protest “distracts from the message that they were trying to get people to hear.”

The Michigan Democrat said she was grateful to the Capitol Police for keeping her and her colleagues safe and that she is “sorry anybody got hurt.”

Dingell said she believes “that there are people that are deliberately trying to pit us against each other.”

When asked who she thinks is trying to divide the country, Dingell said she thinks there are some “outside forces” at play.

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“And I’m not into calling any … I am a person who believes in civility. I believe you can disagree agreeably,” Dingell said. “And I think that there are forces at play, probably multiple ones that really enjoy watching some of this play out.”

“And they’re trying to harm our democracy,” she added.

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Threat to Democracy?

Michigan Democratic Rep. Debbie Dingell says the violent pro-Palestinian demonstration at the Democratic National Committee (DNC) Wednesday scared her more than the January 6 riots at the Capitol …Read more

In an interview with Fox News Digital, Dingell described attempting to leave the DNC headquarters, only to find doors blocked. She tried to leave through the front door where demonstrators stood in a line despite police telling them to cease blocking the door. Police warned that she would be hurt if she left, and she described how much it rattled her to see the violence up close.

“In the Capitol, we were in a big place, they were working to keep us safe,” Dingell said, recalling the storming of the Capitol by supporters of former President Donald Trump in January 2021. “I never knew how bad it was until after we had finished our final voting about what had been happening.”

The DNC headquarters, on the other hand, put her closer to the clash between police and protesters. “When you’re in that contained space and all you see are bodies fighting each other, it’s scary,” Dingell said.

‘UNDER SIEGE’: Republicans blast pro-Palestinian protests at DNC …Read more

Capitol Hill

TAPES RELEASED: Speaker Johnson has begun releasing thousands of hours of footage from the January 6 Capitol riots …Read more

WORLDS APART: Senate and House headed for showdown over defense bill …Read more

RED LIGHT: House breaks for Thanksgiving with Johnson notching wins and losses …Read more

ONWARD AND UPWARD: Biden signs temporary spending bill, pushes budget fight with GOP into 2024 …Read more

White House

ON THE CLOCK: Biden campaign reportedly weighs joining Chinese-owned TikTok to reach younger voters …Read more

‘HATRED‘: Feds launch investigation into Ivy League colleges for antisemitism …Read more

‘IMMEDIATE ACTION’: Biden admin reveals its authority when handling visas of Hamas supporters …Read more

‘CHINA FIRST’: Experts blast Biden’s deal with China to shut down oil and gas …Read more

Campaign Trail

FOX NEWS POLL: Americans rate the parties on issues for 2024 …Read more

TRUMP FOE EYES 2024: Key Trump impeachment figure running for Congress as a Democrat …Read more

PUSHING OUT DEADLINE: Trump team moves for mistrial in NY case …Read more

LABOR PAINS: Biden using Trump’s own words against him in bid to win back major voting block …Read more

IOWA: Will an influential leader’s support in Iowa upend Trump’s massive lead in the lead-off nominating state? …Read more

NEW JERSEY SNUB: New Jersey Democrat fundraising organization endorses Menendez’s opponent …Read more

Across the Nation

SUNSHINE STATE STANDOFF: Supreme Court denies DeSantis in legal battle over drag queen ban …Read more

BORDER BOOM: Thousands of Chinese nationals, gotaways since Oct 1 …Read more

DOMINANT: Trump remains untouchable in early polls but one candidate is rising …Read more

Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more on FoxNews.com.

With less than two months until the first votes in the battle for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, two new polls in the first primary state show sustained momentum for former ambassador and former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley.

However, the surveys in New Hampshire, which holds the second overall contest in the GOP nominating calendar following the Iowa caucuses, reaffirm that former President Trump remains the dominant front-runner.

The polls also suggest that Trump’s supporters are more enthusiastic and committed about voting for their candidate compared to those backing the former president’s rivals for the nomination.

Trump stands at 46% support among likely Republican presidential primary voters in New Hampshire in a Monmouth University/Washington Post poll released on Friday.

Haley, who served as ambassador to the United Nations during the first two years of the Trump administration, is second in the survey at 18%.

Trump enjoys the backing of 42% of likely Republican presidential primary voters in a poll released Thursday by the University of New Hampshire (UNH) Survey Center and CNN. His support was relatively unchanged from the previous UNH/CNN survey in New Hampshire, which was conducted in September.

Haley stands at 20% support in the UNH/CNN survey, up eight points from the September poll. 

“While Trump continues to lead as the GOP field narrows, Nikki Haley seems to be consolidating her position as the alternative to Trump among New Hampshire Republicans,” UNH Survey Center director Andrew Smith told Fox News. “Importantly, Haley does not have the negative drag on her campaign compared with other Republican candidates.”

WHERE TRUMP STANDS IN THE LATEST FOX NEWS NATIONAL POLL IN THE GOP PRESIDENTIAL RACE

Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who is concentrating most of his time and resources in New Hampshire as he runs a second time for the White House, stands in third place in both polls. He is at 14% support in the UNH/CNN survey and 11% in Monmouth University/Washington Post poll.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis stands at 9% and 8% in the polls, with biotech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy at 8% in each survey. 

During his third straight White House run, Trump saw his lead in the GOP nomination race expand over the spring and summer as he made history as the first former or current president in American history to be indicted for a crime. Trump’s four indictments — including in federal court in Washington, D.C., and in Fulton County court in Georgia on charges he tried to overturn his 2020 presidential election loss — have only fueled his support among Republican voters.

Trump enjoys a massive lead in national polling — including 62% support in a Fox News survey released on Wednesday. However, his margins — while extremely formidable — are smaller in the crucial early voting states.

Haley, thanks to well regarded performances in the first three GOP presidential primary debates this summer and autumn, has seen her support among primary voters rise. Haley has tied DeSantis for second place in some of the latest polls in Iowa — whose caucuses kick off the Republican nominating calendar on Jan. 15. 

WITH 9 WEEKS TO GO UNTIL THE FIRST VOTES, TRUMP REMAINS COMMANDING FRONT-RUNNER AS GOP FIELD KEEPS SHRINKING

The UNH/CNN and Monmouth/Washington Post polls are the latest to indicate Haley in second place in New Hampshire, which will hold its presidential primary Jan. 23. She has also moved ahead of DeSantis for second place in her home state, which votes Feb. 24 and holds the first southern contest.

The new UNH/CNN survey indicates that Trump enjoys the backing of 55% of registered Republicans in New Hampshire. Support among independents who say they will cast a ballot in the GOP primary is evenly split among Trump, Haley and Christie.

Independents, known in New Hampshire as undeclared voters, make up slightly more than 40% of the state’s electorate.

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Both polls also indicate that self-described Trump voters are more likely than those backing the former president’s rivals to say their choice for the GOP nomination is definite. 

The survey was conducted Nov. 10-14, entirely after the third Republican debate, which was held Nov. 8 in Miami. 

“Few likely Republican primary voters paid close attention to the November Republican debate and only about half are interested in further debates taking place,” the release from the UNH Survey Center spotlighted.

Additionally, UNH also noted that when it comes to the issues, the survey indicates that “foreign policy has become far more important since September, while support for a 15-week abortion ban has declined.”

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

Retired Army Col. Eugene Vindman, a key figure in former President Donald Trump’s first impeachment, is running for an open seat in the House of Representatives. 

Vindman had been a senior ethics lawyer on the National Security Council (NSC) in July 2019 when his brother, fellow NSC official and retired Army Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, reported Trump’s now-infamous phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

Eugene Vindman alluded to his role in the controversy in a Thursday campaign announcement: “Soldiers are trained to run towards fire, no matter the personal cost. That’s why I’m running for Congress – to defend our nation against the clear and present danger of Donald Trump and the 147 Members of Congress who voted to overthrow the will of the American people.”

NEW YORK JUDGE LIFTS TRUMP GAG ORDER IN CIVIL FRAUD TRIAL OVER FREE SPEECH CONCERNS

“I want America to remain the land of opportunity, a refuge for families like mine, where hard work makes a difference, truth prevails, rights are protected, and we are all free to be who we are and pursue our dreams,” he said in the statement.

JUDGE IN TRUMP’S GEORGIA ELECTION INTERFERENCE CASE ORDERS ‘SENSITIVE’ EVIDENCE WITHHELD FROM PUBLIC

Eugene Vindman is running for Virginia’s 7th Congressional District, which is being vacated by Rep. Abigail Spanberger, D-Va., as she prepares to run for governor. 

“Abigail Spanberger served our district with integrity and passion, and I hope to follow her example,” he said. “Families are struggling to pay for gas, groceries and housing, while Republicans in Congress fight among themselves. They have no interest in governing. America’s enemies relish in their dysfunction and the divisions they sow.”

He’s the first Democrat to jump into the race, which is expected to be among the most closely watched House elections of the 2024 cycle. The district went to President Biden in 2020, but before that, Spanberger clinched it by unseating a Republican incumbent. 

Eugene Vindman launched his bid just as the former president is seeking to reclaim the White House for a second term.

He said that he and his twin brother were key to kicking off Trump’s impeachment over accusations of trying to get a foreign power to influence the 2020 election and obstructing Congress’ subsequent probe into the matter.

KARI LAKE GETS ANOTHER BIG BOOST WHILE GOP INCREASINGLY SEES HER AS STANDARD-BEARER FOR MAJOR SENATE SEAT FLIP

Alexander Vindman had testified during a 2019 congressional hearing about Trump’s phone call with Zelenskyy, in which Trump pressed Zelenskyy to launch investigations into the Biden family’s actions and business dealings in Ukraine.

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Both brothers were dismissed from the NSC shortly after Trump was acquitted.

A May 2022 report by the Pentagon’s inspector general found that Eugene Vindman likely faced retaliation from his superiors after raising alarms about Trump with his brother.

New York Attorney General Letitia James is seeking a December deadline for a judicial response to former President Trump’s motion for a mistrial in his highly publicized civil fraud case. 

Trump’s team filed the motion for a mistrial Wednesday, citing Judge Arthur Engoron’s past social posts on an alumni page for Wheatley School. In the posts, the judge appears to reference the case, as well as Trump and members of the former president’s family. 

“In this case, the evidence of apparent and actual bias is tangible and overwhelming,” wrote Trump lawyers Clifford Robert and Alina Habba. 

TRUMP TAKES THE STAND IN CIVIL TRIAL STEMMING FROM NEW YORK ATTORNEY GENERAL LETITIA JAMES LAWSUIT

“Such evidence, coupled with an unprecedented departure from standard judicial procedure, has tainted these proceedings and a mistrial is warranted,” the pair added.

James filed a letter to Engoron on Thursday requesting the judge reply to the Trump legal team’s motion by Dec. 8.

James called the claims in the Trump team’s letter “spurious allegations.”

NY AG LETITIA JAMES CAUGHT SMIRKING AS DON JR. TAKES THE STAND AT TRUMP CIVIL TRIAL

Over the past several weeks, Trump has made many appearances in court defending the Trump Organization, which has its New York business license in jeopardy as James has leveled fraud charges against him and his two adult sons, who were named co-defendants in the case. 

Trump has denied any wrongdoing and has repeatedly said his assets were actually undervalued. 

The former president has also repeatedly said his financial statements had disclaimers, requesting that the numbers be evaluated by the banks.

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James has been vocal in her opposition to Trump and repeatedly campaigned on prosecuting the former president before becoming attorney general. 

She has denied her charges against him are politically motivated.

Fox News Digital’s Joseph A. Wulfsohn, Brooke Singman, and Maria Paronich contributed to this report.

EXCLUSIVE: The Biden-Harris campaign is using former President Donald Trump’s own words against him in a bid to recapture one major voting block that helped secure his 2016 election victory, as well as boosted him in certain states during the 2020 election.

Union workers, who were largely traditional Democrat voters prior to Trump’s rise, were a big factor in pushing states like Pennsylvania, Ohio and Michigan toward the former president, and are being viewed as major players ahead of the 2024 elections amid the grip of labor disputes and their effects on the economy.

In partnership with the Democratic National Committee, the Biden-Harris campaign on Friday launched the opening salvo in a strategy that it hopes will win back those workers and propel President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris to another four-year term.

NEW YORK JUDGE LIFTS TRUMP GAG ORDER IN CIVIL FRAUD TRIAL OVER FREE SPEECH CONCERNS

That first shot appeared in the form of a video on “Biden HQ,” the campaign’s social media rapid response network, which highlights Trump’s past statements about unions, including describing them as “dues-sucking people.” The descriptor is one he is known to have used on occasion, including once in 2019 when referring to a firefighters union that endorsed Biden’s 2020 campaign.

“[Unions] get their little 5%, they get another 2%, they get another 3%, 4%. Then, all of a sudden, they’re making more money than the people that own the company,” another audio clip of Trump says in the video, followed by what appears to be him calling wage negotiations a “terrible thing.”

“Donald Trump: Anti-union. Anti-worker,” the video adds.

JUDGE IN TRUMP’S GEORGIA ELECTION INTERFERENCE CASE ORDERS ‘SENSITIVE’ EVIDENCE WITHHELD FROM PUBLIC

Biden-Harris campaign Rapid Response Director Ammar Moussa told Fox News Digital that “Donald Trump sees the world from Park Avenue, not an assembly plant floor, and it shows.”

“While Trump looks down on workers and gives handouts to big corporations and his rich friends, Joe Biden isn’t just saying that he’ll always have workers’ backs – he’s proving it. After President Biden made history by standing with striking autoworkers, unions have notched historic wins and even non-unionized auto companies are taking note, increasing workers’ wages,” Moussa said. 

“This is what happens when you have a president who cares about working people: Workers win,” he added.

KARI LAKE GETS ANOTHER BIG BOOST WHILE GOP INCREASINGLY SEES HER AS STANDARD-BEARER FOR MAJOR SENATE SEAT FLIP

According to Fox News exit poll data from the 2016 presidential election, Democrat candidate Hillary Clinton won union households by eight points. That was a 10-point drop from former President Obama’s total in his 2012 election victory, and the lowest union support for a Democrat in two decades.

In 2020, Fox News exit poll data showed Biden winning back some of that support, garnering 56% of union households to Trump’s 42%, but the latter still outperformed in some states. The percentages were the same for voters who said they were union members.

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Polls have largely shown a hypothetical rematch between Trump and Biden to be in a dead heat as both face the threat of primary challenges and third-party presidential bids.

Fox News Digital has reached out to the Trump campaign for comment.

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

With less than two months to go until the Iowa caucuses, former President Donald Trump remains the commanding front-runner in the state that leads off the Republican presidential nomination calendar.

But a prominent social conservative leader in Iowa — a state where evangelical voters play an outsized role in Republican politics — said he believes Trump is still beatable.

“You’re seeing the field naturally coalesce. It’s getting smaller and smaller,” Bob Vander Plaats, president and CEO of The Family Leader, a politically active and influential social conservative group, told Fox News Digital as he pointed to the winnowing of the 2024 GOP presidential field.

Noting that the former president’s under 50% support in the latest polls in Iowa, Vander Plaats predicted that Trump’s backing might be as low as 35% by the time of the Jan. 15 caucuses.

TRUMP, DESANTIS OR HALEY – WHO BENEFITS AS TIM SCOTT DROPS OUT OF THE RACE?

“There’s definitely a shot that the former president can be beat here,” he argued.

Vander Plaats, who’s likely to endorse one of Trump’s rivals in the coming weeks, was interviewed on the eve of Friday’s Family Leader presidential Thanksgiving forum. 

Joining Vander Plaats for what’s being described as a “family discussion” will be Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, former ambassador to the United Nations and former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, and biotech entrepreneur Vivek Ramawamy. Haley and DeSantis are currently battling for a distant second place behind Trump.

WITH NINE WEEKS TO GO UNTIL THE FIRST VOTES IN THE GOP PRESIDENTIAL NOMINATION RACE, THIS CANDIDATE REMAINS IN THE DRIVER’S SEAT

Trump was also invited to Friday’s forum, but is not attending. He also skipped the Family Leader’s summit in July, which attracted nearly the entire field of presidential contenders.

Vander Plaats, who’s long had a rocky relationship with Trump and who has argued that it’s time for new conservative leadership, said that the former president’s “absence communicates a lot to our base.”

“It’s a forum he’d want to take advantage of and remind our base of all the good things he did while he was president,” he said.

Vander Plaats reiterated that his likely endorsement “will be sometime after the forum and before Christmas.”

While there’s the possibility that the endorsement could come from the Family Leader, Vander Plaats said “my guess is…it’s a personal endorsement and not a ministry endorsement.”

And he said that his support would be much more than a one-day announcement, emphasizing that “I’ll do whatever I can to make the endorsement stick and see what happens.”

FORMER GOP PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE URGES SOME REMAINING CONTENDERS TO FOLLOW HIS FOOTSTEPS

In a major boost for DeSantis, who has staked his campaign on winning in Iowa, the Florida governor landed the endorsement earlier this month of Gov. Kim Reynolds, who’s very popular among Hawkeye State Republicans. Reynolds’ backing helped DeSantis alter a negative narrative.

Vander Plaats, who has repeatedly showed praise for DeSantis this year, said the Reynolds endorsement of the Florida governor “will weigh in on my discernment. But that won’t make my endorsement.” 

Vander Plaats backed former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee in 2008, former Sen. Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania in 2012, and Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas in 2016 — all three of whom went on to win the Iowa caucuses, but failed to capture the GOP presidential nomination.

Ahead of Friday’s forum, Trump’s political allies have dismissed the importance of a Vander Plaats endorsement.

A recent memo from veteran Republican pollster Tony Fabrizio, who among other things conducts surveys for the Trump-aligned super PAC Make America Great Again Inc., argued that a Vander Plaats endorsement would have “no significant impact” on the caucuses.

Pointing to polling he conducted in September, Fabrizio charged that “while the DeSantis camp will try and spin that a Vander Plaats endorsement will revive their sputtering and shrinking campaign, cold hard data tells a much different story.” 

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Asked about the criticism, Vander Plaats told Fox News “my endorsement means one vote. Beyond that, we’ll see what happens.”

But he added “I think their obsession with my endorsement probably would indicate that they’re more fearful of it than they should be.”

Trump’s allies also call into question $95,000 in payments earlier this year from the DeSantis campaign, and a super PAC and nonprofit group aligned with the Florida governor, to the Family Leader. 

The funds paid for three pages of ads for the campaign and the aligned groups in a booklet distributed by the Family Leader at their July presidential forum, which drew some 2,000 social conservative Iowans.

The big question going forward is whether the Reynolds backing of DeSantis and the pending endorsement by Vander Plaats can make a dent in Trump’s commanding lead over the rest of the field.

Nicole Schlinger, a longtime Iowa-based strategist with close ties to evangelicals, argued that endorsements only go so far.

“I think what matters more to Iowa caucus goers than anything is meeting with the candidates and getting their questions answered about their policy positions,” she told Fox News. “Endorsements, whether it’s the Governor or Bob Vander Plaats, can shine a light on the campaign, and then it’s up to the candidate to seal the deal.”

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

The U.S. Department of Justice accused a man, whom prosecutors have painted as a left-wing, anti-establishment activist, of inciting supporters of former President Donald Trump on January 6, 2021. 

At the conclusion of the trial against 29-year-old John Earle Sullivan in Washington, D.C., federal prosecutors outlined how he allegedly incited the mob of rioters inside the U.S. Capitol. 

Sullivan claimed to have been a journalist who only followed the crowd to record the historic event. He captured video of the shooting of Ashli Babbitt, an Air Force veteran, who was fatally struck trying to enter the House Speaker’s lobby by a bullet fired by Capitol Police officer ​​Lt. Michael Byrd.

“It does not matter whether Sullivan was holding a camera to record his crimes. He incited the mob at every step. He knew why he was there that day. He wanted to tear it all down,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Barclay told jurors during closing arguments Wednesday, according to NBC News. 

Prosecutors also presented a call that Sullivan – the leader of an organization called Insurgence USA, through which he organizes protests – had with members of his Discord channel after January 6 during which he bragged about his actions. “I brought my megaphone to instigate s—,” Sullivan said on the call, added that he wanted to “make those Trump supporters f— s— up.”

LEFT-WING ACTIVIST CHARGED IN CAPITOL RIOT AFTER SAYING HE WAS JUST THERE TO ‘DOCUMENT’

On January 6, 2021, Sullivan, who is from Utah, said he was in D.C. again to film the “Stop the Steal” march. He has claimed that he was at the U.S. Capitol only to document and report it, telling federal agents he was an activist and journalist who filmed protests and riots, but admitted that he did not have any press credentials. 

“Everything that came out of his mouth was a ploy,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Rebekah Lederer told jurors. 

Of Sullivan’s own testimony, she said the only thing more offensive was his “request for you to believe it.” 

“He came to engage in chaos,” Lederer told the courtroom. 

The jury also saw multiple videos of Sullivan’s actions at the Capitol that day. 

Federal prosecutors said that Sullivan was captured in one video from inside the Capitol on January 6, telling the crowd, “We gotta get this sh** burned.” Among other things, Sullivan is heard saying, “it’s our house mother***ers” and “we are getting this shi**” More footage showed Sullivan, who had a ballistic vest and gas masks, join a crowd trying to open doors to another part of the Capitol guarded by law enforcement officers. According to the indictment, Sullivan can be heard on the video telling other individuals in the crowd, “There’s officers at the door.” 

Less than two minutes later, while officers are still at the doors and as others yell to break the glass windows in them with various objects, Sullivan, also known as Jayden X, can be heard saying, “Hey guys, I have a knife. I have a knife. Let me up,” according to federal prosecutors. However, Sullivan never made it to the door. 

FEDS SEIZE $90K FROM SUPPOSED LEFT-WING ACTIVIST WHO SOLD FOOTAGE OF CAPITOL RIOT

“I was only observing,” Sullivan testified in court. “I followed the crowd. I’m there to document.”

“I don’t remember bringing a knife specifically,” he said of the video. “I’m not sure if that’s a knife.”

His defense lawyer, Steven Kiersh, categorized Sullivan’s remarks as “just words,” noting that he had not been in possession of any matches or lighter fluid. 

“His intent was not to burn the place down,” Kiersh told jurors. “His intent was to film.”

Sullivan was arrested in Utah on January 14, 2021, and charged through a federal complaint with one count of knowingly entering or remaining in any restricted building or grounds without lawful authority, one count of violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds and one count of interfering with law enforcement engaged in the lawful performance of their official duties incident to and during the commission of civil disorder. 

Jurors were expected to start deliberating as soon as Thursday. 

Prosecutors are also seeking the forfeiture of more than $90,000 that Sullivan made from selling video of the January 6 riot, WUSA reported. 

Sullivan is said to have also attended Black Lives Matter and Proud Boys events in the past. 

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The indictment says that Sullivan was captured on video shared to YouTube in July 2020 – following the death of George Floyd – telling protesters over a microphone in Washington, D.C., “We need to burn this sh** down,” “We got to rip Trump out of office… f***ing pull him our of that sh**… we ain’t waiting until the next election…we’re about to go get that mother***er,” according to federal prosecutors. The indictment says that Sullivan is then seen leading the crowd in a chant of “It’s time for a revolution.”