NationalWatch

Former President Trump on Saturday described Democrats’ warnings that his potential return to the White House after the 2024 election would be a threat to democracy as a “hoax” and “misinformation,” and that President Biden is the “real threat.”

Trump predicted in a speech hosted by the New York Young Republican Club that Biden’s “Banana Republic” would end following the presidential election in November 2024.

“The radical left Democrats, their fake news allies have unveiled their newest hoax that Donald J. And the Republican Party are a threat to democracy … This is their new line. Here we go again — ‘Russia, Russia, Russia,’ ‘Mueller, Mueller, Mueller,’ ‘Ukraine, Ukraine, Ukraine.’ One hoax after another,” Trump said.

“But no, I’m not a threat. I will save democracy. The threat is Crooked Joe Biden,” he continued.

AMERICANS DON’T WANT A TRUMP VS. BIDEN REMATCH IN 2024 — SO WHY DOES IT FEEL INEVITABLE?

The former president said claims that he is a threat to democracy are a “hoax” and a “new idea” and that “We call it now the threat to democracy hoax, because that’s what it is.”

Trump went on to say that Democrats and the media “think the threat to democracy will save Biden from having created the worst inflation in our country’s history, a fragile economy that may soon end in a depression like 1929 … We are very, very close to a depression, the likes of which you have never seen. We owe $36 trillion and this guy has no clue.”

He also called the threat to democracy claims a “desperate and shameless attempt to distract from the monstrous abuses of power the left is committing before your very eyes.”

Biden and other Democrats have said that a second Trump presidency could damage U.S. democracy, as Biden and Trump prepare for a possible rematch of the 2020 election. Biden said at a fundraiser in Los Angeles on Saturday that “the greatest threat Trump poses is to the democracy.”

Amid 91 federal counts against Trump from four separate investigations, the former president warned Biden that indicting him could lead to retaliation if he returns to the White House.

CONFIDENCE IN US PRESIDENCY HITS LOWEST POINT EVER AS TRUMP LEADS BIDEN IN 2024 REMATCH: SURVEY

“He’s opened up a Pandora’s box that will never let our country be the same. I can only say to Joe: Be very careful what you wish for, but what you have done is a terrible thing,” Trump said, adding, “These are Biden indictments against their political opponent.”

Trump has recently spoken about imposing “retribution” against political enemies if he returns to the White House after next year’s election. He was asked by Fox News host Sean Hannity during a town hall last week if he would ever abuse power as retribution against anybody if elected, to which the former president said, “Except for day one.”

“Except for day one. I want to close the border and I want to drill, drill, drill,” Trump told Hannity.

During Saturday’s speech, Trump accused the media of mischaracterizing his comments to Hannity as him saying he wants to be a dictator.

“I said I want to be a dictator for one day … and you know why I wanted to be a dictator? Because I want a wall … and I want to drill, drill, drill,” he said.

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Trump’s remarks to Hannity about being a dictator have drawn criticism from press freedom groups, who argued his statement is “anti-democratic.” Trump had previously suggested during a 2022 rally that he would jail reporters for not giving up their sources.

“You tell the reporter, ‘Who is it’ … and if the reporter doesn’t want to tell you, it’s ‘bye bye.’ The reporter goes to jail,” the former president said at the time.

In concluding his speech on Saturday, Trump predicted he would return to the White House and make America “great again.”

“We will throw off the sick political class that hates our country,” Trump said. “We will rout the fake news media. We will evict Joe Biden from the White House and we will finish. This job of making our country great again once and for all.”

A new book by political historians John B. Judis and Ruy Teixeira warns the Democrats they’re losing a critical voting base — working-class minorities.

Two decades ago, Judis and Teixeira published a book claiming “The Emerging Democratic Majority” consisted of the working-class, minorities, young people, women and educated professionals.

But in their new book, “Where Have All the Democrats Gone?: The Soul of the Party in the Age of Extremes,” Judis and Teixeira argue Democrats “have steadily lost the allegiance of ‘everyday Americans’ — the working- and middle-class voters that were at the core of the older New Deal coalition.”

“Initially, most of these voters were white, but in the last elections, Democrats have also begun to lose support among Latino and Asian working-class voters as well,” they wrote.

BERNIE SANDERS SCOLDS DEMS FOR LOSING WORKING-CLASS, MINORITY VOTERS TO GOP: ‘FRANKLY IT IS ABSURD’

“Democrats continued to enjoy huge margins among black voters, but even here, those margins declined in 2020 by 5 points relative to 2016,” they continued. “In 2022, Democrats lost more ground among black voters, compounding their losses from 2020.”

Part of the reason, they argued, is the changing political landscape in the era of former President Donald Trump, as well as the left’s embrace of what conservatives would describe as woke politics. 

“What began happening in the last decade is a defection, pure and simple, of working-class voters,” they wrote. “That’s something that we really didn’t anticipate when we wrote ‘The Emerging Democratic Majority.’ The loss of working-class voters, who constitute the great majority of the electorate, could undermine Democrats’ chances not simply of being the majority party but of being competitive with the Republican Party.

“Democrats, we believe, need to look in the mirror and examine the extent to which their own failures contributed to the rise of the most toxic tendencies on the political right.”

Judis and Teixeira expanded on the Democratic Party’s losses among non-white, working-class Americans in a recent interview with Time magazine.

Teixeira argued that Trump found a way to exploit the Democrats’ weaknesses in a way that is still benefiting him in the 2024 presidential election, where he remains the commanding frontrunner.

“But another transition point then hits in 2020,” Teixeira said. “And that had been building for a while, which is the defection of non-white working-class voters for the Democratic Party.

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“We can see in the polling data that’s been collected in the last year or two that the weaknesses of Democrats among non-white voters, particularly Hispanic and Black working-class voters, is pretty significant,” Teixeira continued. 

“They’re sort of realizing this is a problem. On the other hand, they’re so invested in this whole vector of cultural issues. They’re worried about the blowback on social media and from the college-educated ‘liberalish’ voters who are increasingly a loyal base of the Democratic Party.

“Trump understood that, and he played upon it. He continues to play upon it. He continues to get votes upon it. And the Democrats are oblivious to it.”

Judis and Teixeira aren’t the only ones sounding the alarm about troubles facing the Democratic Party.

Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., gave a speech at Saint Anselm College in August urging Democrats to focus on economic issues or risk losing the 2024 election.

POLL SHOWS BIDEN HITTING RECORD LOW APPROVALS, FALLING BEHIND AGAINST TRUMP IN 2024 MATCHUP

“It should be deeply worrying that, according to recent polls, Democrats are losing support within the Latino communities and even among African American men,” he said. “That has got to change, not just for the well-being of the Democratic Party, but for the future of our country.”

A Times/Siena Poll conducted in July showed Biden leading Trump by only 16 points among non-white, non-college educated voters.

FIRST ON FOX: House Republican lawmakers are calling for a new report on the number of illegal immigrants who commit crimes and who are incarcerated in prisons across the U.S., as the previous assessment came years before the current historic migrant crisis at the border.

Last month, authorities announced the arrest of a Honduran illegal immigrant charged with rape, kidnapping and assault, and last week authorities said an illegal immigrant was arrested for fatally shooting two sisters in their home in Dallas.

There have been a slew of other charges against illegal immigrants, including a Venezuelan migrant accused of raping a woman in front of a three-year-old child in New York. Meanwhile, the head of Border Patrol has said that illegal immigrants with “serious criminal histories” are trying to cross the border daily.

ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT CHARGED FOR FATALLY SHOOTING 2 TEXAS SISTERS

Immigration activists and others have pointed to the relatively small percentage of migrants with known criminal histories found to be crossing the border — although that does not account for those who cross and evade Border Patrol — and some studies suggest that illegal immigrants offend at a lower rate than the general population.

Now, Republicans want to get to the bottom of it. 

In a letter to the Government Accountability Office (GAO), obtained by Fox News Digital, Republicans led by Rep. Pete Sessions, R-Texas, note the estimated 1.7 million gotaways in the last three years in addition to the more than 2.4 million encountered last fiscal year alone.

“The possible correlation between uncontrolled immigration and rising crime in major cities across the U.S is a major concern for Congress, local law enforcement, and everyday Americans,” the 23 lawmakers write. “Congress needs data outlining incarcerations, arrests, crimes, convictions, costs, and removals of noncitizens to properly evaluate the relationship between increased illegal immigration and current criminal alien population.” 

ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS WITH ‘SERIOUS CRIMINAL HISTORIES’ ARE TRYING TO CROSS BORDER DAILY: BORDER PATROL CHIEF

The GAO last published a report on “Criminal Alien Statistics” in 2018, but that was before the Trump-era migrant crisis in 2019, and the Biden-era crisis from 2021 to the present. The report provided information on the number of incarcerated foreign nationals, the number of arrests and convictions and the costs of jailing them.

“In addition, the report provided data on the removability of noncitizens from the United States after their incarceration in federal prison,” the lawmakers wrote.

Consequently, they ask the GAO to update its study on incarcerated noncitizens, which includes federal and state prisons, as well as local jails. Lawmakers signed onto the letter include Reps. Kay Granger, R-Texas, Michael McCaul, R-Texas, Mike Rogers, R-Mich., Andy Biggs, R-Ariz., and Chip Roy, R-Texas.

Republicans and Democrats along with the Biden administration remain at loggerheads over the ongoing border crisis. The Biden administration has said the crisis is due to a “broken” system and a hemisphere-wide migration movement. It has called for more funding and comprehensive immigration reform.

A $14 billion funding request is still being debated in Congress, with Republicans calling for more limits on asylum and the use of parole.

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Republicans have called for stricter border controls, and have blamed the crisis on the Biden administration’s rollback of Trump-era policies, greater use of catch-and-release and narrowed interior enforcement.

“The crisis on our southern border is reverberating into cities and towns across the United States,” Sessions said in a statement. “Violent crime, drug trafficking, and human trafficking are now a daily reality in communities where such illicit activity was once rare. While we cannot directly attribute rising crime to illegal immigration, Congress needs data to fully understand the effect President Biden’s open border has in enabling illicit activity,” he said. 

“This update to the 2018 Government Accountability Office report will provide this necessary information,” he said.

The National Rifle Association (NRA) has found an unlikely ally in the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) as the group pursues its First Amendment case before the Supreme Court. 

“The NRA is proud to stand with the ACLU and others who recognize this important truth: regulatory authority cannot be used to silence political speech,” NRA President Charles Cotton said after adding the ACLU as co-counsel for the case. 

“This case is important not only to the Association, but all who openly advocate for the causes and issues in which they believe,” Cotton continued. 

The NRA filed its 2018 challenge following the revelation that former New York State Department of Financial Services Superintendent Maria T. Vullo, at the order of former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, allegedly blacklisted the NRA – effectively forcing banks and insurers to cut ties with the group.

GUN RIGHTS GROUP APPLAUDS AFTER FEDERAL APPEALS COURT DEALS BLOW ON NY CONCEALED CARRY LAW

The NRA fired back at this action by claiming it violated First Amendment rights to free speech. The lawsuit alleges that Vullo made “backroom threats” against regulated firms, accompanied by offers of leniency on unrelated infractions if regulated entities would agree to blacklist the NRA.

The lawsuit defeated multiple challenges and setbacks before the Supreme Court agreed to hear the case. The NRA sees the ACLU’s support as a major confirmation of its arguments. 

“The ACLU joining as counsel underscores the importance of this First Amendment case and the NRA’s position that government officials cannot use intimidation tactics to silence those with whom those officials disagree,” William A. Brewer III, partner at Brewer, Attorneys & Counselors and counsel for the NRA, said of the development. 

SUPREME COURT APPEARS WARY OF MASSIVE TAX CODE OVERHAUL

“The ACLU is a leading voice on legal and constitutional issues and is a welcome addition to this advocacy,” Brewer added. 

The ACLU’s national legal director David Cole acknowledged that the decision to assist the NRA will prove controversial within and beyond the group, but argued that while it’s “never easy to defend those with whom you disagree… the ACLU has long stood for the proposition that we may disagree with what you say but will defend to the death your right to say it.”

“In this hyper-polarized environment, where few are willing to cross the aisle on anything, the fact that the A.C.L.U. is defending the N.R.A. here only underscores the importance of the free speech principle at stake,” Cole wrote in a statement to the New York Times. 

NRA CALLS CHUCK SCHUMER’S LATEST GUN BILL ‘ATTACK’ ON CONSTITUTION

The group made clear that it does not support the NRA or its mission, but that it also did not support public officials abusing their power to blacklist an organization “just because they oppose an organization’s political views.” 

A Second Circuit court struck down the effort in 2022, arguing that New York’s financial regulators had a reasonable duty to warn banks and businesses about “social backlash” for associating with the NRA, calling it part of the “enhanced corporate social responsibility.” 

The Supreme Court agreed to review the decision and review on the question of “Does the First Amendment allow a government regulator to threaten regulated entities with adverse regulatory actions if they do business with a controversial speaker, as a consequence of (a) the government’s own hostility to the speaker’s viewpoint or (b) a perceived “general backlash” against the speaker’s advocacy?”

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The answer will impact the relationship between state regulators and private entities, which the NRA argues currently “gives state officials free rein to financially blacklist their political opponents.” 

Fox News Digital’s Brianna Herlihy contributed to this report. 

President Biden’s approval rating has hit an all-time low, and he trails former President Donald Trump in a hypothetical head-to-head 2024 matchup.

Trump leads Biden 47% to 43% in a hypothetical ballot between only those two candidates and trails 37% to 31% in a hypothetical ballot with five independent candidates, according to the results of a Wall Street Journal poll released Saturday.

The president’s sagging numbers against Trump also come as voters gave Biden low approval marks, including only 23% of respondents saying Biden’s policies have helped them personally, compared to 53% who say they have been hurt by the president’s policies. 

About half of respondents said they were helped by Trump’s policies when he was president, and only 37% said the former president’s policies harmed them.

DEMOCRATIC ANALYSTS SOUND ALARM ON MORE ‘GRIM’ BIDEN POLLING SHOWING DIMINISHING SUPPORT IN KEY VOTER GROUPS

Biden’s overall job performance garnered only 37% approval from survey respondents as well, a new low for the WSJ poll. Meanwhile, 61% of respondents see his overall image in an unfavorable light, which is a record high for the poll.

The president also compared unfavorably to Trump when it comes to most issues, with a majority of respondents saying Trump was better suited for the economy, inflation, and border security. Trump also garnered higher marks than Biden on crime and ability to handle the Israel-Hamas conflict. Meanwhile, Biden only topped Trump on abortion and setting a better tone in politics.

HEAD HERE TO CHECK OUT THE LATEST FOX NEWS POLLING

“Americans were better off financially under President Trump. Now, under Crooked Joe Biden, we have runaway inflation, a porous southern border, crime in our streets, and chaos around the globe,” Jason Miller, a Senior Trump Advisor, told Fox News Digital.

“If this race is about policy and performance, then Donald Trump has a significant advantage,” Tony Fabrizio, a Republican pollster who conducted the survey with Democrat Michael Bocian, said of the results. “If this race is about temperament and character, things like that, then Biden has an advantage.”

BIDEN FACES A BIGGER POLLING DEFICIT NOW THAT OBAMA DID A YEAR BEFORE THE 2012 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION

Bocian, meanwhile, said Biden might be struggling with groups that have traditionally sided with Democrats, including young Latino and Black Americans.

“They are feeling economically stressed and challenged right now. And they are not showing enthusiasm in the way they were turning out in 2020, 2022,” he said.

The poll surveyed 1,500 registers voters between November 29 and December 4, having a margin of error of +/- 2.5 percentage points.

The Wall Street Journal survey is the latest national poll the past two months to indicate Trump with the edge over Biden in hypothetical general election matchups.

THESE SIX BATTLEGROUND STATES COULD COST BIDEN THE WHITE HOUSE IN 2024

Biden once held the upper hand over Trump in 2024 rematch surveys, but Trump began enjoying an advantage over his successor in the White House in most polls starting in October. And a Siena College survey for the New York Times released early last month indicated Trump topping Biden in five of the six key battleground states the president carried over Trump in the 2020 election. The survey sparked another round of stories spotlighting Biden’s polling woes.

The new Wall Street Journal survey is also the latest to indicate that Biden remains well underwater in the most important metric of his presidency – his approval rating.

Biden’s approval rating hovered in the low to mid 50s during his first six months in the White House. But the president’s numbers started sagging in August 2021 in the wake of Biden’s much criticized handling of the turbulent U.S. exit from Afghanistan and following a surge in COVID-19 cases that summer among mainly unvaccinated people.

The plunge in the president’s approval was also fueled by soaring inflation — which started spiking in the summer of 2021 and remains to date a major pocketbook concern with Americans — and the surge of migrants trying to cross into the U.S. along the southern border with Mexico. 

Biden stands far below where his three most recent two-term predecessors stood at this point in their presidencies, as they successfully ran for re-election. The only recent president whose approval ratings were nearly as negative as Biden’s current numbers was his most recent predecessor — Trump.

Amid the spate of polls suggesting Biden trails Trump in a likely 2024 election rematch, the Biden campaign and Democratic allies point back nearly a dozen years.

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That’s when former President Barack Obama — with Biden as his running mate — won re-election to a second term in the White House in 2012 despite polls a year earlier predicting a ballot box defeat for the incumbent.

“Predictions more than a year out tend to look a little different a year later,” Biden campaign spokesperson Kevin Munoz said last month. “Don’t take our word for it: Gallup predicted an eight point loss for President Obama only for him to win handedly a year later.”

However, Obama was saddled in late 2011 with unfavorable polling a year before his re-election, his standing was not as troublesome as the deficits Biden currently faces.

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

Hunter Biden‘s indictment in California this week on nine tax-related charges shines an awkward light on his father’s repeated promises about forcing the wealthy to pay their “fair share” of taxes. 

The younger Biden allegedly carried out a multiyear scheme to evade paying $1.4 million in federal taxes while leading a hedonistic lifestyle that included spending exorbitant sums on escorts and illegal drugs. 

HUNTER INDICTMENT A ‘NUCLEAR BOMB FOR THE BIDENS,’ AS JOE SOUNDS LIKE CLINTON DURING LEWINSKY SCANDAL: EXPERTS

According to Special Counsel David Weiss, the president’s son “engaged in a four-year scheme to not pay at least $1.4 million in self-assessed federal taxes he owed for tax years 2016 through 2019, from in or about January 2017 through in or about October 15, 2020, and to evade the assessment of taxes for tax year 2018 when he filed false returns in or about February 2020,” which was in the middle of his dad’s presidential campaign.

Weiss said that, in “furtherance of that scheme,” Hunter “subverted the payroll and tax withholding process of his own company, Owasco, PC by withdrawing millions” from the company “outside of the payroll and tax withholding process that it was designed to perform.”

Hunter allegedly “spent millions of dollars on an extravagant lifestyle rather than paying his tax bills,” and that in 2018, he “stopped paying his outstanding and overdue taxes for tax year 2015.” If convicted, the president’s son faces up to 17 years in prison.

President Biden has repeatedly called on the rich to pay their fair share in taxes and pledged to go after “tax cheats” despite his son allegedly evading his own income taxes for several years. 

HUNTER’S EX-BUSINESS ASSOCIATE BLASTS BIDEN’S NEW CLAIM ABOUT SON’S BUSINESS DEALINGS: ‘COMPLETE MALARKEY’

Throughout the 2020 campaign — when Hunter allegedly avoided his taxes — Biden routinely called on the rich and corporations to pay their fair share.

“Corporations need to pay their fair share in taxes,” Biden posted on social media in November 2019. “I’ll reverse Trump’s giveaway to the super-wealthy and corporations because it’s time we reward work, not just wealth.”

“As president, I’ll make sure giant corporations and the super-wealthy pay their fair share in taxes — and then invest that money in growing a stronger, more inclusive middle class,” he wrote weeks later in December 2019.

Biden continued the call throughout the 2020 campaign and his presidency. 

During his first re-election campaign rally this year, he targeted the wealthy and called for them to cough up more money. And before that, he proposed doubling the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to target tax cheats.

In May 2021, Biden called for hiring 87,000 new IRS workers over the next decade as part of an effort to beef up the agency’s budget by $80 billion, Politico reported at the time. 

“The president’s compliance proposals are designed to ameliorate existing inequities by focusing on high-end evasion,” the Treasury Department wrote in a report.

WHITE HOUSE SCRAMBLES TO DISTANCE ITSELF FROM ISLAMIC GROUP AFTER LEADER’S PRAISE FOR HAMAS’ OCT 7TH SLAUGHTER

“These unpaid taxes come at a cost to American households and compliant taxpayers as policymakers choose rising deficits, lower spending on necessary priorities, or further tax increases to compensate for the lost revenue.”

Biden has also said paying higher taxes is “patriotic” and has regularly singled out the rich.

“For too long we’ve had an economy that gives every break in the world to the folks who need it the least. It’s time to grow the economy from the bottom up,” Biden said months after entering office and calling on the rich to pay their “fair share” in taxes, a line he’s repeatedly said during his presidency.

“I’m a capitalist, but just pay your fair share,” Biden said at his State of the Union address this year.

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Biden also targeted former President Trump over taxes in October 2020 in a Facebook post that included a video titled, “Americans compare their taxes to Trump’s taxes.”

“I paid my taxes. These folks paid theirs. So why didn’t Trump pay his?” Biden wrote.

The White House did not respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment. 

EXCLUSIVE: Former 2020 Trump campaign communications director Tim Murtaugh said working for the former president was “the highest honor” of his career, while telling his “redemption story” in the hopes of helping others to overcome addiction.

Murtaugh, a political consultant who has served on numerous national political committees and campaigns, is rolling out a new book — “Swing Hard in Case You Hit It,” set to be released in April but available for pre-order on Amazon. 

Murtaugh’s book will focus on his “escape” from alcoholism to “the top of the political world on the 2020 Trump campaign.” 

In an interview with Fox News Digital, Murtaugh said his initial idea to write the book came after political opposition researchers approached reporters in 2019 with stories about his alcohol-related legal problems in, what he called, an attempt to “harm the Trump campaign through bad stories about my past.” 

TRUMP CAMPAIGN LAUNCHING ‘EXTREMELY AGGRESSIVE OPERATION’ IN FINAL STRETCH TO IOWA CAUCUSES

“I wanted to tell this story on my terms to take away the power of some of these dark times in my life, and hopefully help other alcoholics see that there can be a pathway through for them as well,” Murtaugh told Fox News Digital. “I was able to make it thanks to the support of my wife, family, and friends; and I now have two young sons who have never seen their father take a drink.” 

“My recovery also allowed me to experience some amazing things on the Trump 2020 campaign, and there are some stories in there that people have never heard before,” Murtaugh told Fox News Digital. “This is far from a regular political book.”

Fox News Digital obtained excerpts from the book exclusively. 

The book “has some stories from inside the Trump 2020 presidential re-election campaign, but it’s not totally about that race, or Donald J. Trump, for that matter,” Murtaugh writes in the preface. 

“It’s about the path that I took, starting early in life, and the poor choices that I made that eventually threatened to ruin everything I had tried to achieve over my first forty-five years on this planet,” he continues. “It’s about going to jail — twice — because I couldn’t stop guzzling alcohol, and it’s about very nearly losing my loving wife, my career, and all my self-respect, and still somehow recovering to hold a prominent job for the president of the United States less than four years later.” 

Murtaugh adds: “I am proud to have worked for President Trump, and proud to have run comms on his re-election campaign. To have been trusted with that responsibility remains the highest honor of my professional career.” 

Murtaugh’s book is filled with stories from Trump rallies to COVID, to Election Day 2020, to Jan. 6, 2021, and beyond. 

The title of his book comes from what his father used to say to him before he left for baseball practice growing up: “Swing hard in case you hit it.” 

Murtaugh is the grandson of Danny Murtaugh, who was the manager of the Pittsburgh Pirates and won the World Series twice. 

Murtaugh writes that he “truly” hopes that his story can “help other alcoholics to get closer to being sober.”

“I know that writing it all down for once certainly helped me to continue to avoid drinking, one day at a time, because I was reminded of how farcical my whole existence once was,” he relates.

DESANTIS STOPS IN ALL OF IOWA’S 99 COUNTIES, BUT WILL IT HELP HIM CLOSE THE GAP WITH TRUMP?

Murtaugh’s book alternates between stories from the 2020 Trump campaign, his experience leading communications for the former president’s re-election and his time struggling to combat alcohol addiction.

Murtaugh had his last drink in May 2015, after alcohol-related legal troubles threatened to send him to jail for almost three months and “ruin” his career and personal life. At the time, Murtaugh was working for Rep. Lou Barletta, R-Pa., in Congress as his communications director.

Murtaugh, who has been critical of Hunter Biden and his foreign business dealings, at one point in his book says he never targeted the president’s son over his addiction because he “understood.” 

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The book reads: “I never sought to attack Hunter for things directly related to his addiction, or for his condition of being an addict.” 

“I knew what it was like to be controlled by a substance, and I wanted to stay away from bashing him for that,” Murtaugh writes. “But anything involving foreign payments that could have involved his father were totally in bounds.” 

“Swing Hard in Case You Hit It” is being published by Bombardier Books, an imprint of Post Hill Press.

Three of the main contenders challenging former President Donald Trump for the 2024 GOP nomination will be in heavily Republican northwest Iowa on Saturday, joining conservative Rep. Randy Feenstra for a candidate forum.

But Trump isn’t attending. He doesn’t have to.

Trump, the commanding front-runner for his party’s presidential nomination, will be in New York City on Saturday evening, to headline the New York Young Republican’s annual gala.

It’s the latest example of Trump mostly ignoring his rivals and keeping his focus on President Biden as he makes his third straight White House run.

WAS THE REAL WINNER SO FAR IN THE REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL DEBATES THE GUY WHO DIDN’T SHOW UP?

From skipping the first four GOP presidential nomination debates to running ads that spotlight his record in the White House and target Biden, Trump is shining his spotlight on his likely general election opponent rather than taking aim at his nomination challengers during the primary process.

“You just look at the numbers alone, and he is so strong with Republican voters,” longtime New Hampshire-based GOP strategist Michael Dennehy emphasized. “It’s a typical strong front-runner campaign strategy.”

TRUMP CAMPAIGN PREVIEWS ‘EXTREMELY AGRESSIVE’ PUSH IN IOWA 

Dennehy, a veteran of numerous presidential campaigns, said Trump “can run the campaign he wants without having to interact with the other Republican candidates.”

It’s a sea change from a year ago, when Trump launched his 2024 campaign to lackluster reviews and plenty of fellow Republicans were blaming him for the party’s less than impressive performance in the 2022 midterm elections. 

Fast-forward a year and Trump enjoys extremely large and formidable double-digit leads in the most recent public opinion polls in the crucial early voting states of Iowa and New Hampshire over Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, former ambassador and former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, and biotech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, who are the remaining major contenders for the GOP nomination.

Trump made history earlier this year as the first former or current president to be indicted for a crime, but his four indictments — including those 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.

DESANTIS STOPS IN ALL OF IOWA’S 99 COUNTIES, BUT WILL IT HELP HIM CLOSE THE GAP WITH TRUMP?

At Wednesday’s fourth debate, despite Christie’s best efforts, the former president once again emerged with relatively few bruises.

Christie, a vocal Trump critic, repeatedly chastised his rivals for failing to verbally confront the former president. But his scolding appeared to fall on deaf ears, as DeSantis, Haley and Ramaswamy mostly avoided direct criticism of Trump even when the moderators asked a series of questions regarding the former president. 

A source in Trump’s political circle, asked about the campaign’s strategy, told Fox News, “it’s like being the incumbent, and you don’t need to punch down.”

Pointing to the rest of the 2024 Republican field, the source emphasized “there’s no need to engage with these guys.”

But while Trump is keeping his eyes on Biden and next November’s general election, his campaign is definitely not blowing off the primary process.

As Fox News first reported earlier this week, the Trump campaign said it’s shifting into a higher gear in the final weeks leading up to the Jan. 15 Iowa caucuses, which lead off the Republican presidential nominating calendar.

“We have an extremely aggressive operation and an extremely aggressive schedule,” Trump campaign senior adviser Chris LaCivita told Fox News Digital.

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LaCivita spoke as he accompanied the former president to Davenport, Iowa on Tuesday, where Trump sat down with Fox News’ primetime opinion host Sean Hannity for a town hall.

“The last couple of weeks, we’ll be blitzing” Trump touted at the end of the town hall. “We’re up by like 30 or 40 points, but we’re not taking any chances.”

LaCivita previewed that the Trump campaign is planning a slew of Iowa visits not only from the former president but also from “dozens of surrogates that are going to be storming the state campaigning… in every venue that has people.”

He said there were “close to 1500-1600 precinct captains throughout the state that, literally, their sole job is to run each individual caucus that takes place and making sure that the list of the targeted voters supporting President Trump show up.”

Trump’s campaign has also assembled a large grassroots outreach and get-out-the-vote team in New Hampshire, which holds the first primary and votes second after Iowa.

And while the Trump campaign commercials ignore his nomination rivals, they’re running in Iowa and New Hampshire ahead of the two kick-off contests.

Trump’s campaign says it’s not taking anything for granted.

Looking ahead to the final stretch leading up to the caucuses, LaCivita said “our only concern is complacency.”

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

In a letter to President Biden on Friday, Democratic Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs expressed her frustration and concern about the administration’s response to the southern border crisis and, in the process, demanded a hefty reimbursement. 

“Today, I sent a letter to President Biden calling on him to reassign National Guard members to assist in its reopening, as well as reimburse the $512,529,333 federal border inaction has cost us,” Hobbs posted on X.

In the letter, Hobbs told Biden that the reimbursements are for the federal government’s “failure to secure the Arizona border,” emphasizing that moving forward, the state Arizona will regularly seek reimbursement from the federal government.

DEM GOV KATIE HOBBS REQUESTED TWITTER CENSOR CRITICS OF TWEET COMPARING TRUMP SUPPORTERS TO NAZIS

On Monday, the Lukeville Port of Entry was closed at the federal government’s order, forcing all American and Mexican residents to drive several hours to the next closest port of entry in Nogales, Arizona.

“For far too long, Arizona has continued to bear the burden of federal inaction in managing our southern border,” Hobbs wrote in the letter. “The recent decision to close the Lukeville Port of Entry has led to an unmitigated humanitarian crisis in the area and has put Arizona’s safety and commerce at risk.”

In her letter, Hobbs urged Biden to “immediately” move 243 National Guard soldiers who are already assigned to the Tucson region to the Lukeville Port of Entry.

MIGRANT CRISIS SMASHING NEW RECORDS AMID FRESH SURGE AT SOUTHERN BORDER

“Further, to the extent it is necessary, I am requesting that additional National Guard members currently on federal active duty orders be reassigned to Arizona to assist U.S. Customs and Border Protection to reopen the Lukeville Port of Entry,” Hobbs said. 

Hobbs was set to travel to the state’s southern border with Mexico this weekend to visit the border crisis in Lukeville.

CONGRESS STALLS ON TACKLING BORDER SECURITY AS MIGRANTS STREAM IN WITH NO END IN SIGHT

Hobbs added that border security and keeping their communities safe was her top priority.

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“As long as I’m Governor, I will do everything I can to keep Arizonans safe — even when the federal government fails to act,” Hobbs said.

Gov. Hobbs’ office did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.

Multiple candidates hoping to replace Joe Biden as president in next year’s presidential election pulled no punches Friday in response to the indictment of his son, Hunter, a day earlier.

The indictment, which was handed down Thursday by DOJ Special Counsel David Weiss in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, included nine charges alleging a “four-year scheme” when Hunter did not pay his federal income taxes from January 2017 to October 2020 while also filing false tax reports.

“The timing of the Hunter Biden tax indictment is one more sign that the deep state is planning to sideline Biden & pick a new puppet for 2024, all the while using this indictment as a perfect fig leaf to claim that the Trump prosecutions aren’t politically motivated. Kills two birds with one stone,” Republican entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy wrote in a post on X.

DEFIANT HUNTER BIDEN SAYS REPUBLICAN ‘MOTHERF—ERS’ ARE ‘TRYING TO KILL ME’

Former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley also a Republican, agreed in her own X post on the timing of the indictment, describing it as a sign of deeper issues within the DOJ.

“The fact that the Justice Department slow-walked the Hunter Biden case despite serious allegations & nearly gave him a slap-on-the-wrist plea deal a few months ago shows how damaged the Justice Dept. has become. We need to clean it out from top to bottom,” she wrote, referencing Hunter’s plea agreement on two federal tax charges and a gun charge that fell apart in July.

When asked about the indictment during a press gaggle in Iowa, Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said he didn’t trust the DOJ, and that he was unsure how it ultimately reached the point of the indictment when it did.

WATCH: BIDEN IGNORES REPORTERS WHEN PRESSED ON HUNTER’S NEW INDICTMENT

“Obviously, I think Hunter Biden has a lot of problems with criminal liability. I’ve been saying that for a long time. I wonder whether this is something where they’re going to be able to point to and say, see, you can’t say that they’re going after Trump because they’re even going after the president’s son, and that is totally apolitical,” he said. 

He said he expected Biden to eventually pardon Hunter and that the president’s son would never “actually face full justice.” He added that he was skeptical of the motivations behind the indictment.

Former Republican Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson took a different approach, telling Fox News Digital that Hunter “should be treated like everyone else” accused of a crime.

“We should stand back and let the case proceed without politics overhanging every court appearance. No one should rejoice in the President’s son being indicted, but I am a rule of law champion, and it seems our system of Justice is working even though it was almost derailed by a premature plea agreement that the Court rejected,” he said, also referencing Hunter’s failed plea agreement mentioned by Haley.

Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie’s campaign didn’t immediately respond to Fox’s request for comment on the indictment, but the Republican candidate did address the allegations of corrupt business dealings by Hunter and Joe Biden during an appearance on a New Hampshire radio show Friday morning.

“The relationship between Hunter and Joe – who knows what we’re going to find out? Is there a financial relationship between the two of them? I think there’s no doubt the father has provided support to the son. There’s no doubt about that,” Christie said. “I have no doubt knowing Joe Biden – I’ve known him for 40 years – that he would be supportive of his son’s business ventures.” 

FROM SEX CLUBS TO STRIPPERS: HERE ARE THE 5 MOST SALACIOUS DETAILS FROM THE HUNTER BIDEN INDICTMENT

Independent candidate Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. declined to comment on Biden’s indictment.

Fox reached out to the campaigns of Democrat Minnesota Rep. Dean Phillips, Green Party candidate Dr. Jill Stein, independent candidate Cornel West, Democrat candidate Marianne Williamson, Biden and former President Donald Trump, and asked about the indictment, but did not immediately receive responses.

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Fox has also reached out to the DOJ for comment.

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

Stanford University on Friday issued a statement condemning calls for Jewish genocide after presidents of other Ivy League schools shocked the nation with their Congressional testimony regarding antisemitism on campus.

“In the context of the national discourse, Stanford unequivocally condemns calls for the genocide of Jews or any peoples,” the school posted on X. “That statement would clearly violate Stanford’s Fundamental Standard, the code of conduct for all students at the university.”

The statement comes as the presidents of Harvard University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and The University of Pennsylvania (UPenn) are reeling from backlash to their remarks before lawmakers earlier this week.

On Tuesday, the universities’ presidents were summoned to Capitol Hill to give testimony about rising antisemitism on their campuses before the House Education and Workforce Committee.

HOUSE REPS ANNOUNCE INVESTIGATION INTO HARVARD, MIT, UPENN AFTER ‘MORALLY BANKRUPT’ TESTIMONY ON ANTISEMITISM

During the hearing, Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., asked each president about the pro-Palestinian protests on their campus and whether antisemitic chants calling for the genocide of Jews at those demonstrations violated their school codes of conduct on bullying and harassment.

“If targeting individuals, not making public statements,” MIT President Sally Kornbluth said, denying that she heard calls for the genocide of Jews on campus. 

“But you’ve heard chants for intifada,” Stefanik said, a reference to the Arabic word “uprising” or “shaking off.” The term has been used to describe periods of Palestinian resistance against Israel, often in the form of terrorism.

The MIT leader replied that such incidents would be investigated as harassment if found to be “pervasive and severe.”

UPENN PRESIDENT TORCHED OVER ANTISEMITIC SPEAKERS, TEACHERS ALLOWED ON CAMPUS BUT NOT TRUMP ICE DIRECTOR

UPenn President Elizabeth Magill was then asked the same question. She told Congress that if the speech turned into conduct, it would be considered harassment.

She added that it was a “context-dependent” situation that would constitute bullying and harassment if it was “directed,” “pervasive” and “severe.”

Stefankik, stunned, repeatedly asked Magill if she would answer “yes” that calling for the genocide of Jews is harassment. 

“It can be harassment,” Magill admitted when pressed.

HARVARD, MIT AND UPENN PRESIDENTS PRESSED ON ‘RACE-BASED IDEOLOGY OF THE RADICAL LEFT’ AT ANTISEMITISM HEARING

Harvard President Claudine Gay answered next, saying the situation would depend on the “context” and if it targets specific individuals. 

These answers sparked public outrage and have led to calls for each university president to resign. Two of the presidents, Gay and Magill, subsequently released statements adding context and clarification to their testimony.

“There are some who have confused a right to free expression with the idea that Harvard will condone calls for violence against Jewish students. Let me be clear: Calls for violence or genocide against the Jewish community, or any religious or ethnic group are vile, they have no place at Harvard, and those who threaten our Jewish students will be held to account,” Gay said in a statement posted to Harvard’s X account.

Magill released a statement that put the blame on existing policies in the institution.

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“There was a moment during yesterday’s congressional hearing on antisemitism when I was asked if a call for the genocide of Jewish people on our campus would violate our policies. In that moment, I was focused on our University’s longstanding policies aligned with the U.S. Constitution, which say that speech alone is not punishable. I was not focused on, but I should have been, the irrefutable fact that a call for genocide of Jewish people is a call for some of the most terrible violence human beings can perpetrate.  It’s evil — plain and simple,” she said. 

“I want to be clear, a call for genocide of Jewish people is threatening… In my view, it would be harassment or intimidation… Penn must initiate a serious and careful look at our policies, and Provost Jackson and I will immediately convene a process to do so.” 

The House Committee on Education & the Workforce on Thursday announced an investigation into the three elite schools over “rampant antisemitism” after their “morally bankrupt” testimony. 

Fox News Digital’s Hannah Grossman, Danielle Wallace and Nikolaus Lanum contributed to this report.

There is a power play going on as Congress rushes to approve the renewal of a controversial foreign surveillance program (Known as FISA Section 702) before it expires at the end of the year.

FBI Director Christopher Wray testified before a Senate panel earlier this week that he had “never seen a time where all the threats or so many of the threats are all elevated, all at exactly the same time.” The intelligence community is very wary of FISA Section 702 going dark at the end of the year unless Congress renews it amid the current, volatile threat matrix.

However, conservatives have crowed for years that they will not reauthorize FISA without significant reforms. They are apoplectic about misuse of FISA during the 2016 campaign involving former President Trump. There is concern that the program currently sweeps up the communication of everyday Americans – thus violating their Fourth Amendment rights.

DEFENSE BILL SCORES BIG WINS FOR GOP ON DRAG SHOWS, DEI AND COVID VACCINES, INTERNAL HOUSE MEMO SAYS

Congressional leaders tucked into the annual defense policy bill a five-month renewal of FISA. The plan drew a rare, full-throated endorsement via a joint statement from Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY). However, House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) got an earful from conservatives about including the interim renewal in the defense bill. The Senate is currently considering the defense bill.

Fox is told that the defense bill probably can’t make it out of the House Rules Committee because of concerns about FISA from arch conservatives. That means the House would probably need to approve the defense bill as a “suspension.” That’s where the House bypasses the Rules Committee and directly puts the measure on the floor. However, the tradeoff for bypassing the Rules Committee is that passage of the bill requires a two-thirds vote. It is believed that there is a wide, bipartisan swath of members who would vote to pass the defense bill.

So, that means FISA remains switched on after the new year – but without reforms conservatives demand.

MAJORITY OF AMERICANS SAY CHINA IS GREATEST NATIONAL SECURITY THREAT, UP 30 POINTS IN FIVE YEARS

However, the House Rules Committee plans to consider two competing proposals to reform FISA on Monday.. One is from House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Turner (R-OH). The other is from House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-OH). The Jordan plan enjoys broad, bipartisan support. The intelligence community prefers the Turner option – as does the Senate.

House Republicans will huddle in a special meeting Monday night to discuss both plans. The House will then put both the Turner and Jordan bills on the floor, via a “king of the hill” system. Thus, the bill with the most votes wins and is sent to the Senate. However, there is not enough time for the Senate to get its own bill done before the end of the year. The House and Senate would have to go to a conference committee and sort out the differences. Again, something akin to what Turner drafted is believed to be the preference of the Senate.

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So, there is time to hash this out between now and spring. And the FISA Section 702 program remains switched on into 2024 – so long as both bodies of Congress approve the annual defense bill.

However, the undercurrent is that conservatives keep demanding FISA reforms and may not be able to get them. And for now, they are taking this all out on the new Speaker of the House.

Welcome to Fox News’ Politics newsletter with the latest political news from Washington D.C. and updates from the 2024 campaign trail. 

Subscribe now to get Fox News Politics newsletter in your inbox.

Happening soon:

– Hunter Biden has been subpoenaed for a deposition in the House next week… 

– Trump to testify in the New York civil fraud trial on Monday…

INDICTED AGAIN

Hunter Biden was indicted on new federal criminal charges Thursday, the latest legal trouble for the president’s son. 

In some ways, the charges are far from a surprise. IRS whistleblowers Gary Shapley and Joseph Ziegler said the new charges against Hunter Biden are a “complete vindication” of their years-long investigation into the president’s son. 

Hunter is facing nine charges alleging a “four-year scheme” when he did not pay his federal income taxes from January 2017 to October 2020 while also filing false tax reports. If convicted, the president’s son could face up to 17 years in prison.

WHERE’S DADDY? President Biden walked away from questions about his son’s latest criminal charges. 

BUT… White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre answered a question about whether the president would pardon his son …Read more

MEANWHILE: Hunter recorded a podcast with vegan musician Moby, released Friday, where he said Republicans were ‘trying to kill’ him to take down the president …Read more

WHO IS HUNTER’S JUDGE?: Who is Mark C. Scarsi, the Trump-appointed judge assigned to Hunter Biden’s case? …Read more

SEX CLUBS, STRIPPERS: From sex clubs to strippers: Here are the 5 most salacious details from the Hunter Biden indictment …Read more

Capitol Hill

WHAT ABOUT BOB?: Santos set new precedent for expulsion. But indicted Sen. Menendez is hanging on …Read more

‘WOEFULLY INADEQUATE’: Rep. Jordan subpoenas Mayorkas for case files of illegal immigrants with murder, terror charge …Read more

ON THE WIRE: Judiciary Committee pushes DHS on docs related to cutting of border razor wire …Read more

RED TAPE: Top GOP lawmaker moves to reinstate Trump-era rule shredding government red tape …Read more

SHOUTING MATCH: Jamaal Bowman, GOP lawmaker clash over border crisis on CNN …Read more

White House

‘DECEPTIVE SALES PRACTICES’: Biden admin facing congressional probe for sending billions to solar company accused of scamming elderly …Read more

BLAME GAME: Hunter Biden’s attorney claims indictments would not have been brought if he was not related to the president …Read more

‘UNREALISTIC GREEN AGENDA’: Republicans unleash effort forcing Biden admin to hold oil and gas lease sales …Read more

Tales from the Campaign Trail

REAL WINNER: 2024 Showdown: Is the real winner of the four GOP presidential primary debates the guy who didn’t show up? …Read more

‘SPECTACULAR VICTORY’: Indiana county judge strikes down ‘unconstitutional’ voting law in favor of GOP Senate hopeful …Read more

NO GOOD OPTIONS: Charles Barkley insults Trump supporters as ‘nutty’ on CNN, also says Biden is ‘too old’ …Read more

Across America

CONFRONTING ‘RUNAWAY ANTISEMITISM’: Jewish student group flies ‘Harvard Hates Jews’ airplane banner around Ivy League campus …Read more

RECORD-BREAKING SURGE: Migrant crisis smashing new records amid fresh border surge …Read more

‘RADICAL GREEN AGENDA’: UN climate summit serving gourmet burgers, BBQ as it calls for Americans to stop eating meat …Read more

‘SEVERE REVENUE DECLINE’: California faces ‘severe revenue decline,’ record $68 billion budget deficit as mass exodus continues …Read more

‘IGNORING JEWISH SUFFERING IS EVIL’: Rabbi resigns from Harvard’s antisemitism board following school president’s ‘painfully inadequate testimony’ …Read more

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

Hunter Biden held nothing back during a recent podcast appearance, blasting his critics as “motherf—ers,” and casting himself as a victim while claiming Republicans were trying to kill him in order to destroy his dad’s presidency.

The podcast episode of Moby Pod was published Friday, and was recorded in Hunter’s art studio in San Francisco. The more than an hour-long discussion eventually turned to Biden’s recovery from drug addiction and how he openly shared details of his struggles in his memoir, “Beautiful Things.”

Podcast co-host Lindsay Hicks told Biden there was “real beauty” in how “vulnerable” he was in the memoir by sharing many intimate details of his addiction. She noted that others may read it and feel that they don’t have to be ashamed of their secrets.

WATCH: BIDEN IGNORES REPORTERS WHEN PRESSED ON HUNTER’S NEW INDICTMENT

“That’s the one thing — one of the reasons why I’m going to survive this — and I’m going to survive it clean and sober — is because I am not going to let these motherf—-ers use me as just another example of why people in recovery are never going to be okay, never to be trusted, they’re all degenerates. I’m just not going to let that happen. I’m just not going to let it happen,” Biden said.

He went on to agree with the hosts’ opinion that people targeting Hunter, specifically Republicans, were addicted to inflicting their own hurt on other people.

“I absolutely am positive of that. If you can’t look at some of these people like Marjorie Taylor Greene or Paul Gosar and see someone that have been bullied, that are just absolutely suffering— They’re suffering people. And that doesn’t excuse the things that they have done to others and to me, but you see people that are in anguish. They’re not healthy people,” Biden said.

FROM SEX CLUBS TO STRIPPERS: HERE ARE THE 5 MOST SALACIOUS DETAILS FROM THE HUNTER BIDEN INDICTMENT

He claimed that those going after him were trying to end his life with the ultimate goal of hurting his father, President Biden.

“They are trying to destroy a presidency. And so, it’s not about me. In their most base way, what they’re trying to do is they’re trying to kill me, knowing that it will be a pain greater than my father could be able to handle. And so, therefore, destroying a presidency in that way,” he said.

“These people are just sad, very, very sick people, that have most likely just faced traumas in their lives that they have decided they’re going to turn into an evil that they decided they’re going to inflict on the rest of the world,” he added.

HUNTER’S EX-BUSINESS ASSOCIATE BLASTS BIDEN’S NEW CLAIM ABOUT SON’S BUSINESS DEALINGS: ‘COMPLETELY MALARKEY’

Biden went on to blame former President Donald Trump for the “underlying sickness” facing the country, claiming he “gave voice” to feelings of rage, and making it okay to express that.

He later dismissed the idea of the “Biden Crime Family,” arguing that any claims of corruption within his family were refuted by the decades his family had been in the public light.

“Think about this, okay? My dad has been a senator since I was two years old. He has released decades-worth of his tax returns. He has lived in the public light. We have lived in the public light. We have gone through four presidential campaigns. My entire life has been before the public. It took until, oh, low and behold, Donald Trump figured out that somehow this is a criminal enterprise,” he joked.

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Biden was indicted Thursday in California on nine federal charges related to allegedly failing to pay taxes over a period of four years. 

A federal appeals court has upheld key parts of a federal judge’s gag order limiting what Donald Trump can say about his ongoing prosecution by the Special Counsel for alleged Jan. 6 election interference.

In response, former President Donald Trump’s legal team issued the following statement.

“We agree with the district court that some aspects of Mr. Trump’s public statements pose a significant and imminent threat to the fair and orderly adjudication of the ongoing criminal proceeding, warranting a speech-constraining protective order. The district court’s order, however, sweeps in more protected speech than is necessary. For that reason, we affirm the district court’s order in part and vacate it in part. Specifically, the Order is affirmed to the extent it prohibits all parties and their counsel from making or directing others to make public statements about known or reasonably foreseeable witnesses concerning their potential participation in the investigation or in this criminal proceeding,” Trump’s team stated.

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This is a developing story. Check back for updates.

Mark C. Scarsi, a Trump-appointed judge, is presiding over Hunter Biden’s most recent federal indictment on tax evasion charges. He currently serves as the U.S. district judge for the Central District of California. 

Scarsi was selected at random to oversee the case against Biden, which includes nine new charges alleging a “four-year scheme,” when he did not pay his federal income taxes from January 2017 to October 2020 while also filing false tax reports.

HUNTER BIDEN FACES NEW INDICTMENT IN CALIFORNIA

The charges break down to three felonies and six misdemeanors centered around $1.4 million in owed taxes that were since paid.

Scarsi was confirmed by the Senate in 2020 after being nominated by former President Trump. 

He spent most of his career on civil litigation “with an emphasis on intellectual property,” according to his bio on California’s district court website, and has represented Fortune 100 companies such as Apple and Google. 

FROM SEX CLUBS TO STRIPPERS: HERE ARE THE 5 MOST SALACIOUS DETAILS FROM THE HUNTER BIDEN INDICTMENT

Earlier this year, Scarsi sentenced a California construction owner to two years in prison after failing to report more than $4.8 million in income over a five-year span and failure to pay nearly $2 million in taxes. 

In March, Scarsi sentenced a man to 10 years in prison for scamming eight romantic partners, as well as nine businesses and laundering funds. 

In Ocober, he ruled that the owner of an Orange County real estate finance business would spend more than five years in prison for “fraudulently obtaining” nearly $6.2 million from an investor by making false promises that shares of his private company were on the verge of going public. 

HERE’S WHAT’S IN HUNTER BIDEN’S NEW CALIFORNIA INDICTMENT

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Last year, he also sentenced a Los Angeles-based actor to 20 years in prison and ordered him to pay over $230,000 in restitution to his victims after he pleaded guilty to scamming $650 million from film investors. 

Also in 2022, he sentenced a former lawyer to more than three years for scamming clients, leading them to believe he won cases by forging judges’ signatures. 

Scarsi was born in 1964 in Syracuse, New York. He studied computer science at Syracuse University and earned both his bachelor’s and master’s degree. In 1996, he earned his law degree from Georgetown University Law Center. 

In addition to his career in California, he also worked at two New York district courts in 2010. 

Fox News’ Houston Keene contributed to this report. 

FIRST ON FOX: Republicans on the House Judiciary Committee on Friday subpoenaed Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas for case files of illegal immigrants charged with serious crimes including murder and terrorism.

In a cover letter, obtained by Fox News Digital, Chairman Jim Jordan says that the committee has been seeking the alien files (A-files) of 14 illegal immigrants “charged with serious crimes, such as theft, brutal assault, murder, and terrorism-related charges.”

“The Committee has followed up on its requests – the vast majority of which have remained outstanding for months on end – regularly and on numerous occasions,” Jordan says.

TOP HOUSE GOP COMMITTEE RENEWS DEMAND FOR DOCS FROM DHS ON TEXAS BORDER WIRE CUTTING 

However, he says that there have only been partial summaries of two A-files produced, with only limited productions. Since then, the committee wrote to DHS in November seeking the outstanding 14 documents, but says it has not received anything.

“Your response without compulsory process has, to date, been woefully inadequate,” Jordan says.

Jordan says the Supreme Court has recognized that Congress has broad power to conduct oversight and the committee has jurisdiction to conduct oversight of matters relating to federal immigration law.

“These potential legislative reforms could include, among other proposals, legislation to enhance the vetting of aliens to ensure criminal aliens are not released into American communities and proposals to end mass catch-and-release. The information the Committee has requested is necessary to inform such potential reforms and to understand DHS’s current application of the immigration laws,” he says.

“Accordingly, and in light of your disregard of our earlier voluntary requests, please find attached a subpoena for the requested documents and information,” he says. Mayorkas is required by the subpoena to produce the documents to the committee on Jan. 8.

MIGRANT CRISIS SMASHING NEW RECORDS AMID FRESH SURGE AT SOUTHERN BORDER

The subpoena marks the latest escalation of efforts by House Republicans to investigate the ongoing crisis at the southern border, where new records have been set for migrant traffic. Republicans have hammered the administration, and specifically Mayorkas, over the crisis — which they say has been caused by the policies of the administration.

Specifically, they point to an increase in “catch-and-release,” reduced interior enforcement, the ending of border wall construction, and other rollbacks of Trump-era policies. House Republicans have introduced and passed their own legislation that would restart border wall construction and limit asylum and the use of parole.

The Biden administration, meanwhile, has said it is dealing with a hemisphere-wide crisis and is working within a “broken” system that needs additional funding and comprehensive immigration reform from Congress.

TEXAS AG PAXTON SUES BIDEN ADMIN OVER CUTTING OF RAZOR WIRE AT SOUTHERN BORDER: ‘THIS IS ILLEGAL’ 

The White House has requested over $14 billion in supplemental border funding, but it is currently being negotiated in Congress as Republicans are seeking limits to the use of humanitarian parole by the administration and stricter standards for initial asylum screenings. Democrats have balked at that idea, with some saying it would need to be accompanied by amnesty for some illegal immigrants already in the U.S.

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President Biden this week said that he is open to “significant compromises,” while Mayorkas has said  that some GOP proposals were worthy of consideration while others were not.

The subpoena comes just hours after Judiciary Committee Republicans also pushed for more information on a migrant surge in Texas in Sept. 20, and the cutting of razor wire set up by the state of Texas by federal officials.

 

An Indiana county judge ruled Thursday a contested state law that stipulates voting requirements for candidates’ party affiliation is unconstitutional, dealing a win to a U.S. Senate hopeful who is seeking to run as a Republican in the primary.

The Marion County judge granted the injunction sought by John Rust, former chair of the egg supplier Rose Acre Farms who is running to replace Sen. Mike Braun. Rust filed a lawsuit in September against Secretary of State Diego Morales, the Indiana Election Commission and Jackson County Republican Party Chair Amanda Lowery to challenge the law and ensure the possibility of his place on the ballot.

The law in question says a candidate’s past two primary elections must be cast with the party the candidate is affiliated with or a county party chair must approve the candidacy. In court documents, Rust argued that this statute “should be struck down as being unconstitutionally vague and overly broad.”

ANOTHER REPUBLICAN LAWMAKER RETIRES FROM INDIANA LEGISLATURE

“It is a spectacular victory for the voters of Indiana,” Rust said when reached by phone Thursday evening.

It was not immediately clear if the secretary of state will appeal the decision. The Associated Press sent an email to its office and left messages with its attorneys Thursday.

Rust voted as a Republican in the 2016 primary but as a Democrat in 2012. He did not vote in the 2020 Republican primary due to the pandemic and the lack of competitive Republican races in Jackson County, the lawsuit said. Rust said his Democratic votes were for people he personally knew.

Lowery, the county’s Republican Party chair, said in a July meeting with Rust that she would not certify him, according to the lawsuit. Rust has said Lowery later cited his primary voting record.

FORMER REPUBLICAN INDIANA AG CURTIS HILL ENTERS 2024 PRIMARY RACE TO REPLACE OUTGOING GOP GOV HOLCOMB

When reached by phone, Lowery said she believes party chairs from both parties will be disappointed by the ruling, and questioned how candidacy can be determined without the primary record. She expects the ruling to be appealed.

In a November hearing, Rust said the law keeps legitimate candidates who have recently moved to Indiana or have switched political identifications from running for office.

In his ruling, Marion County Superior Court Judge Patrick J. Dietrick said the law “unduly burdens Hoosiers’ long recognized right to freely associate with the political party of one’s choosing and to cast one’s vote effectively.” He also ordered the defendants to pay Rust’s attorney fees.

Rust still faces an uphill challenge for the GOP nomination. U.S. Rep. Jim Banks has received the endorsement of the Indiana Republican Party and former President Donald Trump. Rust must also fulfill a signature quota for the nomination.

Casting himself as a conservative gay man with an “outsider’s voice” to Washington D.C., Rust is the former chair of his family business Rose Acre Farms in southern Indiana. Rose Acre Farms identifies itself as the second-largest egg producer in the U.S.

SELF-DESCRIBED ‘GAY CONSERVATIVE’ EGG FARMER CHALLENGES JIM BANKS IN INDIANA GOP SENATE PRIMARY

The company was one of four major egg producers in the country accused of fixing the price of eggs in the 2000s. A jury in an Illinois federal court recently ruled the producers conspired to limit the domestic supply of eggs to increase prices between 2004-2008 and ordered the companies to pay $17.7 million in damages.

The ruling inflamed the Senate race. Rep. Banks has accused Rust of being a “conman pretending to be a Republican.” Rose Acre Farms has denied any wrongdoing and Rust has said the verdict will be appealed.

Sen. Mike Braun is vacating the seat in his bid for governor.

FIRST ON FOX: A top House Republican is moving to force a Trump administration-era policy back into the federal government, calling it a “simple way” to rein in President Biden’s progressive regulatory actions. 

The bill introduced by Rep. Mike Gallagher, R-Wis., would codify a government policy active under former President Donald Trump, which forced federal agencies to identify two regulations to be cut for every new one enacted.

The legislation, expected Friday, is named “The 2 for 1 Act.”  

RNC CHAIR MCDANIEL DEFENDS THE INCREDIBLE SHRINKING GOP 2024 FIELD

“The Biden administration rules by regulation and finds new ways each day to make life harder for American farmers and small businesses,” Gallagher told Fox News Digital in a statement.

“Restoring the Trump administration’s common-sense principle of repealing two regulations for every new regulation created is a simple way to rein in the regulatory state, cut red tape and make it easier for Americans to earn a living.”

TRUMP CAMPAIGN PREVIEWS ‘EXTREMELY AGRESSIVE’ PUSH IN IOWA 

In addition to requiring proposals for new regulatory cuts, the bill would direct the White House Office of Management and Budget to project how much a new rule would cost the private sector.

The cost of implementing a new rule must be offset by the two proposed cuts.

The original policy was enacted with an executive order signed by Trump in January 2017, just days after he took office.

It was rescinded by President Biden his first day in the White House.

DESANTIS STOPS IN ALL OF IOWA’S 99 COUNTIES, BUT WILL IT HELP HIM CLOSE THE GAP WITH TRUMP?

Biden further empowered regulators in May with an executive order that, among other things, raised the threshold for review of rules based on economic impact. 

Previously, a new rule was slated for review by the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs if its projected annual economic impact was at least $100 million. Biden’s executive order raised that threshold to at least $200 million.

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More than 750 new regulations have been finalized since Biden took office, according to the American Action Forum. 

According to the group’s projection, those regulations cost a total of roughly $437 billion.

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – The four Republican presidential primary debates of 2023 are in the books.

Whether there will be another showdown before the Jan. 15 Iowa caucuses remains to be seen.

The big winner from the four prime-time clashes appears to be the candidate who skipped out on all four debates and came out relatively unscathed.

That candidate is former President Donald Trump, who, in his third straight White House run, is the commanding frontrunner in the GOP nomination race with the Iowa caucuses, which kick off the 2024 GOP presidential nominating calendar, and the New Hampshire primary fast approaching.

TRUMP ONCE AGAIN OFF THE HOOK DESPITE THIS CANDIDATE’S BEST EFFORTS 

“They did not change the fact that former President Trump will likely be the nominee and will likely win Iowa and New Hampshire by large margins,” said Jimmy Centers, a longtime Iowa-based Republican strategist and communicator who served on multiple presidential campaigns.

Dave Kochel, another veteran of numerous GOP presidential campaigns with decades of experience in Iowa, emphasized the debates have been “the semifinals.” 

He said Trump’s had “a bye week” and that he’s already “going into the finals.”

RNC CHAIR MCDANIEL DEFENDS THE INCREDIBLE SHRINKING GOP 2024 FIELD

Trump made history earlier this year as the first former or current president to be indicted for a crime, but his four indictments — including those 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.

Wednesday’s debate — with just four candidates on the stage — was the smallest to date but delivered some of the biggest fireworks.

Much of the verbal crossfire at the showdown at the University of Alabama was directed at Nikki Haley, the former ambassador to the United Nations and former South Carolina governor who has enjoyed plenty of momentum this autumn.

Despite the best efforts of former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who repeatedly chastised his rivals for failing to verbally confront Trump, the former president once again emerged with relatively few bruises.

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“We’re 17 minutes into this debate. … We’ve had these three acting as if the race is between the four of us,” Christie said as he pointed to Haley, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and biotech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy.

Christie said it was “ridiculous” his debate rivals wouldn’t discuss Trump. 

“I’m in this race because the truth needs to be spoken,” Christie said. “He is unfit to be president.”

Christie’s jabs at Trump drew boos a couple times during the debate, including in his closing comments when he predicted Trump would be convicted and would be unable to vote for himself. 

“If we deny reality as a party, we’re gonna have four more years of Joe Biden,” Christie warned.

But Christie’s scolding of his rivals mostly fell on deaf ears. They mostly avoided direct criticism of Trump even when the moderators asked a series of questions regarding the former president.

“None of them on that stage tonight talked about his conduct. They acted as if this trial that’s coming up in March isn’t even going to happen. That’s why I said tonight, ‘Can we stop pretending that four of us are the only people in this race?'” Christie told reporters in the spin room after the debate.

DESANTIS STOPS IN ALL OF IOWA’S 99 COUNTIES, BUT WILL IT HELP HIM CLOSE THE GAP WITH TRUMP?

At one point during the debate, Christie and DeSantis engaged in a heated exchange as Christie pushed DeSantis to answer whether he thought the 77-year-old former president was fit for office.

While DeSantis reiterated that “we should not nominate someone who is almost 80 years old,” he wouldn’t go any further. It was the latest example of the reluctance of the major candidates other than Christie to lay into Trump as they try to succeed the former president.

Asked about his confrontation with the former New Jersey governor, DeSantis said Thursday on “Fox and Friends” that when it comes to taking on Trump, Christie “was trying to go in a much different direction.”

Karoline Leavitt, a former Trump White House press official and former GOP congressional candidate who’s a top spokesperson for the Trump-aligned MAGA Inc. super PAC, argued the debates have been “pointless” and “the biggest waste of time and money and energy that we’ve ever seen.”

“Our message consistently — and it continues to get more worthy every day — is that it’s so beyond time for them to do what’s best, realize that they don’t have a practical pathway to the nomination … and they should be unifying around the president,” Leavitt told Fox News Digital. “That’s been our message for a long time, and I think it’s just become more and more apparent with every single one of these debates.”

While the debates haven’t changed the dynamic at the top of the race, they’ve made an impact.

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Haley has risen in the polls in recent months, thanks in part to well-received performances in the first three debates. She has leapfrogged DeSantis for second place in New Hampshire and her home state, which holds the first southern contest. And she’s aiming to make a fight of it in Iowa, where she is pulling even with DeSantis in some of the latest polls.

Her rising status was evident Wednesday night, as she came under repeated and withering attacks from DeSantis and Ramaswamy. 

Even Christie, who defended Haley from Ramaswamy’s degrading attacks, highlighted his policy differences with his fellow former Republican governor.

Centers, who served as a top communicator for current Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds and former Gov. Terry Branstad, said the debates “have changed things in the sense that here in Iowa and New Hampshire Nikki Haley has positioned herself to come in second place and become the clear alternative to former President Trump.

“Absent these debates, we would not be having the conversation we’re having today about Nikki Haley. We’d be talking about Gov. DeSantis still being the alternative to former President Trump.”

Looking ahead, the immediate question is whether the Republican National Committee will continue to host nominating debates, with the next two expected to be held next month in Iowa and New Hampshire ahead of the caucuses and primary. The RNC could potentially bow out and decide to allow state parties to team up with media organizations to run any future debates.

Sources with knowledge of the national party committee’s thinking told Fox News the RNC was not expected to make any decision on upcoming debates until after Wednesday’s showdown.

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