NationalWatch

CONCORD, N.H. – EXCLUSIVE: Some of Donald Trump’s leading rivals for the 2024 GOP nomination are blasting the former president over his controversial critical comments of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his description of a terror group as “smart.”

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, in an exclusive Fox News interview on Thursday, pointed to Trump’s comments and argued that the former president “makes no sense.”

Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, who served as ambassador to the United Nations during Trump’s first two years in office, said in a one-on-one interview with Fox News Digital a couple of hours later that “we can’t be doing this. You don’t need to be talking about how good Hezbollah is, and you don’t need to be talking about how bad Netanyahu is.”

Trump’s comments, made during a speech Wednesday night in Florida, came just days after a sneak attack Saturday by Hamas on Israel resulted in the deadliest assault on the Jewish State in decades. Thousands have been killed and wounded after Hamas militants swarmed into Israel and butchered civilians, and in the resulting Israeli counterattacks on the Hamas controlled Gaza Strip.

HEAD HERE FOR LIVE FOX NEWS UPDATES ON THE ISRAEL-HAMAS WAR

Trump, who often showcases that he was the strongest defender of Israel ever to serve as president, criticized Netanyahu, claiming the Israeli leader backed out at the last minute in the plan to kill Iran’s top security and intelligence commander, Maj. Gen. Qassim Suleimani, who was taken out by an American drone strike in 2020.

“I’ll never forget that Bibi Netanyahu let us down. That was a very terrible thing,” Trump said. “We were disappointed by that, very disappointed. But we did the job ourselves, and it was absolute precision, magnificent, beautiful job. And then Bibi tried to take credit for it. That didn’t make me feel too good.”

WATCH FOX NEWS CHANNEL COVERAGE OF THE ISRAEL-HAMAS WAR

Pointing to the apparent Israeli intelligence failure to anticipate the Hamas attack, Trump said Israel’s “got to straighten it out” and “strengthen themselves up.”

Trump also blamed President Biden’s administration for the terror attack on Israel — as well as for clashes on Israel’s northern border with Hezbollah, which like Hamas is backed by Iran. Trump credited Hezbollah, which along with Hamas is committed to the destruction of the Jewish State, saying “Hezbollah, they’re very smart.”

The Florida governor, who signed an executive order Thursday to conduct rescue operations in Israel and to provide support to Jerusalem in its war against Hamas, told Fox News that “our ally has been under an unprecedented assault. You’ve seen the death toll continue to mount in the most barbaric fashion. This is a time to be standing with Israel.”

2024 DIVIDE: GOP PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES SPAR OVER ISRAEL-HAMAS WAR

Pointing to Trump’s comments, DeSantis argued that to be attacking the prime minister and the defense minister just makes no sense. To be saying that Hezbollah, talking about how smart they are, just doesn’t make any sense.”

“I don’t know what he was doing. I know they got him on the teleprompter. When he gets off that teleprompter, then there’s things that happen. But the reality is this is the time to be strong, it’s a time for moral clarity and to make sure that Israel is able to defend itself to the hilt,” added DeSantis, who was interviewed at the New Hampshire Statehouse, minutes before he formally filed to place his name on the state’s GOP presidential primary.

Haley, interviewed in Rochester, New Hampshire following a town hall, charged that Trump “can’t leave the past alone. I’m mean everything that he thinks about is how someone treated him or what they said to him or what happened in the past. The world is a dangerous place. We’ve got to be dealing with our issues straight on. Focused, disciplined, and ready to go.”

“We can’t be doing this. You don’t need to be talking about how good Hezbollah is and you don’t need to be talking about how bad Netanyahu is,” Haley said. “Right now we need to have the backs of Israel. We need to do what it takes to eliminate Hamas. We need to do what it takes to get those American hostages and Israeli hostages home. And we need to do what it takes to bring peace in the world and stop all the other nonsense and chaos.”

Haley wasn’t the only Trump administration official to criticize the former president.

Trump’s two-time running-mate, former Vice President Mike Pence, said in an interview on radio show “New Hampshire Today with Chris Ryan” that “Hezbollah aren’t smart, they’re evil.”

“This is no time for the former president, or any other American leader to be sending any message other than America stands with Israel,” Pence added. “And look, I know the former president was frustrated with Netanyahu; he’s been critical over the last two years… I consider him a friend, and I’m proud of the relationship that America had under our administration with Israel.”

North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, another rival for the GOP presidential nomination, also criticized Trump’s comments.

Burgum, after filing to place his name on the New Hampshire primary ballot, told Fox News Digital that “it’s about leading forward. It’s not about criticizing something you know. You want it you want to do that, then be a pundit on TV. Do you want to lead? Then you actually get it in. And you have to you have to take responsibility for what’s going on. And you have to say, here’s our path forward.”

A Trump campaign spokesperson clarified the GOP front-runner’s remarks in a statement to Fox News Digital.

“President Trump was clearly pointing out how incompetent Biden and his administration were by telegraphing to the terrorists an area that is susceptible to an attack,” the spokesperson said. “Smart does not equal good. It just proves Biden is stupid.”

The spokesperson also pointed to another moment from Wednesday’s speech, when Trump said that if he regains office, “the United States will fully support Israel, defeating, dismantling, and permanently destroying the terrorist group, Hamas.”

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While Trump and Netanyahu were close allies for years, the former president turned on the embattled Israel leader after Netanyahu congratulated then-President-elect Biden for winning the 2020 election while Trump was still trying to overturn the results.

White House spokesman Andrew Bates called Trump’s statements “dangerous and unhinged,” while the Israeli communications minister, Shlomo Karhi, told Israel’s Channel 13 that it was “shameful that a man like that, a former U.S. president, abets propaganda and disseminates things that wound the spirit of Israel’s fighters and its citizens.”

The political question going forward is whether Trump’s comments will hurt his current political standing as the commanding front-runner in the GOP presidential nomination race. 

“I think he stepped in it, but I think like almost everything else, it’s not likely to leave a lasting mark,” longtime New Hampshire based Republican consultant Jim Merrill told Fox News.

Pointing to Trump’s record in the White House, including his moving of the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem, Merrill said the former president’s “kind of inoculated himself on Israel.”

“Time will tell, but I think it’s likely this will be just another one of those things that we all thought might be an issue for him but won’t be,” he predicted.

Fox News’ Brooke Singman, Danielle Wallace, and the Associated Press contributed to this report. 

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

Counties in Pennsylvania have told Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro and lawmakers that it is too late to move up the state’s 2024 presidential primary date if counties are to successfully administer the election.

In a letter, the County Commissioners Association of Pennsylvania said there is no longer enough time for counties to handle the tasks associated with moving next year’s primary election from the current date set in law, April 23.

The counties’ association drafted the letter after weeks of efforts by lawmakers to move up the primary date, in part to avoid a conflict with the Jewish holiday of Passover. That became embroiled in partisan and intraparty disagreements after Senate Republicans then touted moving up the date as a way to give the late primary state more say in deciding 2024’s presidential nominees.

PENNSYLVANIA HOUSE GREENLIGHTS EARLIER 2024 PRIMARY, BUT WILL LIKELY RUN AFOUL OF SENATE

County officials say they are planning for 2023’s election, less than five weeks away, and already spent many months of planning around holding 2024’s primary election on April 23.

“While we thank the General Assembly and the administration for their thoughtful discussions around this matter, at this date counties can no longer guarantee there will be sufficient time to make the changes necessary to assure a primary on a different date would be successful,” the organization’s executive director, Lisa Schaefer, wrote in the letter dated Friday.

Shapiro has supported changing the primary date to avoid it falling on Passover, but his administration has been silent about the protracted fight in the Legislature over moving it. Lawmakers have not yet shown a willingness to let the matter drop.

On Thursday, Senate Majority Leader Joe Pittman, a Republican, released a letter insisting that the House agree to the Senate’s preferred date of March 19, instead of the House’s counterproposal of April 2.

“In the Senate we now consider this matter to be closed,” Pittman wrote.

Counties face a number of challenges if the primary date moves.

Those include rescheduling more than 9,000 polling places that are typically contracted a year or more ahead of time, including in schools that then schedule a day off for teacher training. Schools would have to consider changing their calendars in the middle of the academic year, Schaefer said.

Counties also would need to reschedule tens of thousands poll workers, many of whom were prepared to work April 23 and had scheduled vacations or other obligations around the date, Schaefer said.

Meanwhile, Pennsylvania — a presidential battleground state won by Democrat Joe Biden in 2020 — is still buffeted by former President Donald Trump’s baseless lies about a stolen election.

Schaefer said county elections staff are facing an increasingly hostile environment that has spurred “unprecedented turnover.”

Changing the presidential primary at this late date would put the state “at risk of having another layer of controversy placed on the 2024 election, as anything that doesn’t go perfectly will be used to challenge the election process and results,” Schaefer said. “This will add even more pressure on counties and election staff, and to put our staff under additional pressure will not help our counties retain them.”

PENNSYLVANIA CONSIDERING EARLIER 2024 PRIMARY DATE

Senate Republicans had backed a five-week shift, to March 19, in what they called a bid to make Pennsylvania relevant for the first time since 2008 in helping select presidential nominees. County election officials had said April 9 or April 16 would be better options.

House Democrats countered last week with a proposal to move the date to April 2, two days after Easter. However, Senate Republicans are echoing the concerns of county election officials who say the nexus with Easter will make it difficult to get voting machines and election materials into churches that also serve as polling places.

House Republicans opposed a date change, saying it threatened counties’ ability to smoothly administer the primary election.

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Critics also suggested that moving up the date would help protect incumbent lawmakers by giving primary challengers less time to prepare and that 2024’s presidential nominees will be all-but settled well before March 19.

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UNCERTAIN SPEAKER

The House has been in limbo for 10 days without a speaker. The GOP nominee with the most support from his party — Rep. Steve Scalise — doesn’t have enough to support to win the top job in the House …Read more

LOW ODDS: Why Scalise’s speaker math may never work …Read more

BEHIND CLOSED DOORS: In private meetings with GOP members, Scalise does not appear to have made headway in convincing his colleagues to support him. Some hardliners are calling to have the fight out in the open …Read more

War rages on in Israel

UNDER THE MICROSCOPE: Suspended Biden Iran envoy once pushed engagement with terror groups …Read more

‘HELP IS ON THE WAY’: DeSantis moves to help Americans stranded in Israel …Read more

FAILING UP: Top Biden adviser’s blunders come back to haunt him after recent claim about Middle East …Read more

‘NONSENSE’: Israeli Minister of Communications characterizes Trump’s recent comments on Netanyahu as ‘shameful,’ says ex-president cannot be relied on …Read more

‘ABSURD’: DeSantis slams Trump for ‘attack’ on Netanyahu, calling terror group ‘smart’ …Read more

SHOW OF SUPPORT: Senators set to introduce bipartisan resolution supporting Israel as fighting continues with Hamas …Read more

CAMPUS PROTECTION: Lawmakers call on Biden admin to do something to help Jewish college students in the face of  pro-Hamas  demonstrations …Read more

Around DC

‘POT MET KETTLE’: Fetterman roasted for comment on quality of D.C. politicians …Read more

‘FAILURE TO COMPLY’: Rubio calls on Biden to crack down on Iran amid Israel-Hamas war …Read more

‘NO REASON TO DOUBT’: White House official shuts down reporter questioning ‘authenticity’ of dead Israeli children photos …Read more

‘BOTTLENECKING’: Fossil fuel permitting plummets to two-decade low amid Biden’s war on oil drilling …Read more

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

Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., was roasted on social media after he claimed Wednesday America is failing to send its “best and brightest” to serve in Congress.

“You all need to know that America is not sending their best and brightest to Washington, D.C.,” Fetterman remarked during a late-night interview with Stephen Colbert, sparking laughter from the audience. “Sometimes you literally just can’t believe these people are making the decisions that are determining the government here. It’s actually scary.”

Fetterman’s comments came in response to a question from Colbert about whether it was “awkward” to face a lawmaker in person who he posted a meme about. 

Shortly after his remarks, Fetterman was roundly mocked by social media users who commented that he “embodies the very truth he speaks.”

CRITICS DRESS DOWN SENATE’S ‘PATHETIC’ DECISION TO AXE FORMAL DRESS CODE: FETTERMAN MUST BE ‘VERY FRAGILE’

“Fetterman speaks truth. He’s unaware of it, but he embodies the very truth he speaks,” former GOP Gov. Mike Huckabee wrote on X, formerly Twitter. “This could have been a skit on SNL. But it was a rare funny moment on Colbert.”

REPUBLICAN SENATORS SLAM RELAXED DRESS CODE, DEMAND SCHUMER REVERSE CHANGES

“Yes. Fetterman — the guy who lived off of his parents into his 40s and has never held a job in the real world in his life — actually said that,” conservative columnist and author Joe Concha wrote.

Steve Guest, a former staffer for Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, added, “Pot met kettle,” while Libs of TikTok creator Chaya Raichik said in a post, “Does he own a mirror.”

FETTERMAN BLASTED BY CONSERVATIVES AFTER SENATE DROPS DRESS CODE: ‘STOP LOWERING THE BAR!’

“Just wait until John Fetterman hears about John Fetterman,” Alex Lorusso, a conservative commentator and media producer, said.

“The whole Fetterman thing is just one giant troll,” added Monica Crowley, a conservative podcast host and former Trump administration official.

“For once in his life, John Fetterman is correct. But is he aware that includes himself is the question,” conservative commentator Benny Johnson said.

Fetterman’s appearance on “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert” comes weeks after Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., relaxed dress requirements for the chamber that allowed Fetterman to continue to wear his trademark hooded sweatshirts and gym shorts. The move was blasted by critics who argued for decorum in the Senate.

Shortly after the rule change, a resolution introduced by Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., and Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, was passed unanimously, formalizing a dress code for men that includes wearing a coat, tie, and slacks.

During the interview Wednesday, Fetterman and Colbert both mocked the outrage sparked by the brief relaxation of the Senate’s dress code.

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The pair also discussed at length Fetterman’s recovery from a stroke and his mental health issues. The Pennsylvania Democrat was hospitalized earlier this year to treat depression, and he continues to struggle with auditory processing problems that have made communication difficult.

Fetterman used a tablet to transcribe Colbert’s questions during the interview.

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

Fox News Digital’s Hanna Panreck contributed to this report.

An Israeli official on Thursday slammed former President Trump’s remarks on Israeli intelligence and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as “shameful.” 

Shlomo Karhi, member of the Knesset in the Likud party and serving as Israel’s minister of communications, reportedly told Israel’s Channel 13 that it is “shameful that a man like that, a former U.S. president, abets propaganda and disseminates things that wound the spirit of Israel’s fighters and its citizens.”

“We don’t have to bother with him and the nonsense he spouts,” Karhi added. 

When asked if Trump’s remarks make it clear that he cannot be relied on, Karhi reportedly replied, according to the Times of Israel, “Obviously.”

DESANTIS SLAMS TRUMP FOR ‘ATTACK’ ON NETANYAHU, CALLING TERROR GROUP ‘SMART’

Both Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, competing against Trump for the 2024 presidential election, and the Biden administration have condemned Trump’s Wednesday speech in Florida on Israel. 

Addressing a crowd in West Palm Beach, Trump criticized Israeli intelligence for not detecting Gaza-based Hamas’ brutal, large-scale terror operation over the weekend in advance and blamed the Biden administration purportedly for outwardly signaling to Iranian-backed Hezbollah militants in Lebanon of Israel’s vulnerability along its northern border. 

Seemingly referring to Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, Trump said, “They have a national defense minister or somebody saying, ‘I hope Hezbollah doesn’t attack us from the north.’ So the following morning, they attacked … If you listen to this jerk, you would attack from the north because he said, ‘That’s our weak spot.’”

Trump remarked that Hezbollah was “very smart” for following every word put out by American and Israeli officials. When reached by Fox News Digital, a Trump campaign spokesperson clarified that “President Trump was clearly pointing out how incompetent Biden and his administration were by telegraphing to the terrorists an area that is susceptible to an attack.” 

BLINKEN, IN ISRAEL, SAYS MORE AMERICANS KILLED, VOWS SOLIDARITY ‘ALWAYS’

“Smart does not equal good. It just proves Biden is stupid,” the campaign spokesperson said. 

Also in his speech, Trump criticized Netanyahu, claiming the Israeli leader backed out at the last minute in the Trump administration’s plan to kill Iran’s top security and intelligence commander, Maj. Gen. Qassim Suleimani, who was taken out by an American drone strike in 2020. “I’ll never forget that Bibi Netanyahu let us down. That was a very terrible thing,” Trump said.

The former president and current 2024 GOP front-runner added in the speech that if he regains office, “the United States will fully support Israel, defeating, dismantling, and permanently destroying the terrorist group, Hamas.”

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White House deputy press secretary Andrew Bates categorized Trump’s statements as “dangerous and unhinged,” while Biden has condemned Hamas’ “sickening atrocities” as “pure evil.”

Fox News Brooke Singman contributed to this report. 

Offshore oil and gas permitting under President Biden has fallen to a low the energy industry has not experienced since the Bush administration two decades ago, according to federal data reviewed by Fox News Digital.

Since January 2021, when Biden took office, the federal government has approved applications for permit to drill on just 157 new wells, according to the data compiled by Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE). The figure represents a 29% decline compared to the same period under the Trump administration and a 55% decline compared to the same period under the Obama administration.

“Policymakers should leverage the Gulf of Mexico to help meet growing global oil demand,” Erik Milito, the president of the National Ocean Industries Association, told Fox News Digital. “The Gulf of Mexico is a prime example of doing more with less.”

“We were producing more than 2 million barrels of oil per day in the Gulf of Mexico prior to the pandemic, despite the number of active lease blocks being much lower than they were 5, 10, or 15 years ago,” he continued. “We produce a massive amount of energy with a small footprint. However, bottlenecking the permitting process is a surefire way to discourage the success of the region despite growing global demand.”

REPUBLICANS URGE BIDEN ADMIN TO STOP DELAYING MAJOR GAS PIPELINE PROJECT

In 2021 and 2022, the BSEE reported the federal government green-lit 52 and 53 offshore drilling permits, respectively, marking the first time since 2003 the figure had fallen below 60. 

Additionally, while the Biden administration issued 105 permits in its first two years, the Trump administration issued 148 permits, the Obama administration issued 275 permits, and the Bush administration, in the first two years of its second term, issued 704 permits.

MANCHIN, OTHERS TORCH BIDEN FOR BANNING OIL DRILLING ACROSS MILLIONS OF ACRES: ‘ASSAULT ON OUR ECONOMY’

“Given that a production well in the Gulf of Mexico can cost hundreds of millions of dollars in total to develop, decision-makers must be judicious in deciding to develop a lease,” added Milito, whose organization represents both traditional and renewable offshore energy producers. “Their job is made much more difficult when they cannot depend on a predictable regulatory process.”

“Without a fair and stable leasing and permitting system, energy producers will be incentivized to leave and go to regions with a more predictable regulatory environment,” he said.

In addition to its permitting policies, the Biden administration has been heavily criticized by both industry and lawmakers over its approach to oil and gas leasing. Biden entered office after making a campaign promise to block all new leasing on federal lands and waters and, in May 2022, his administration canceled all three remaining offshore fossil fuel lease sales set for the Gulf of Mexico and Alaska.

The administration was ultimately forced to resume leasing after a federal court struck the policy down and the canceled lease sales were reinstated under the Inflation Reduction Act.

BIDEN ADMIN UNVEILS SWEEPING NEW ACTIONS INCREASING COSTS FOR OIL, GAS LEASING

However, the Department of the Interior (DOI) proposed a five-year offshore oil and gas leasing program late last month that includes just three lease sales through 2029, the fewest number of offshore lease sales ever proposed by the federal government.

“The proposed final program, with three potential oil and gas lease sales in the Gulf of Mexico is nothing short of a slap in the face to the American taxpayer. And for what? This plan will go down as one of the great blunders of the Biden administration,” House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Bruce Westerman, R-Ark., said in response to the plan.

Overall, both onshore and offshore fossil fuel production on federal lands and waters has yet to return to its pre-pandemic level of 13.1 million barrels a day recorded in March 2020, Energy Information Administration data showed. As of Sept. 29, when the latest data was released, overall production hit 12.9 million barrels a day.

Offshore oil production remains at 1.9 million barrels a day, about 200,000 barrels per day less than the pre-pandemic level under the Trump administration.

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“U.S. energy production is at an all-time high, reflecting not only industry security but also the Administration’s work to encourage responsible production in existing areas,” DOI spokesperson Melissa Schwartz told Fox News Digital in a statement. “There are millions of acres of leased, non-producing acres of federal land and waters for oil and gas development.” 

“There are similarly thousands of approved permits that industry is letting sit, un-developed,” she continued. “The Interior Department will continue to support responsible development of our natural resources. Offshore permitting reviews are conducted by the same dedicated career civil servants that have always done them. We will defer to BSEE on any further information.”

Rep. Dan Newhouse, R-Wash., who chairs the Congressional Western Caucus, introduced legislation that would block a federal proposal to release grizzly bears in a forest area in his state.

The legislation would force the Department of the Interior to withdraw a proposed rule and draft environmental impact statement (EIS) that opens the door to release the apex predator in the federally-managed North Cascades National Park in northern Washington. The proposal — unveiled in September by the National Park Service (NPS) and Fish & Wildlife Service (FWS) — was cheered by left-wing eco groups but criticized by local lawmakers and residents.

“Central Washingtonians have consistently voiced their concerns and opposition over the introduction of grizzly bears into the North Cascades Ecosystem, yet unelected bureaucrats from the National Park Service and the Fish and Wildlife Service continue to try to force these predators upon our communities,” Newhouse said in a statement. 

“These agencies should listen to the people who would be most impacted by these actions and immediately withdraw their proposed rule and draft EIS statement so members of the region can rest safely knowing that an 800 pound apex predator is not going to enter into their backyard,” added the Washington lawmaker who represents communities that would be impacted by the proposal.

REPUBLICANS URGE BIDEN ADMIN TO STOP DELAYING MAJOR GAS PIPELINE PROJECT

The Biden administration’s proposal late last month included three options, two that would involve actively restoring populations of the threatened apex predator species and one “no action” alternative that would maintain current management practices. As part of the announcement, the public is invited to comment on the proposed actions through mid-November.

Under the plan, NPS and FWS would release up to seven grizzly bears annually into the North Cascades ecosystem over the course of the next five to 10 years. The federal government’s overarching goal would be to establish a grizzly bear population of roughly 200 bears in the coming decades.

WHITE HOUSE PROHIBITING OFFICIAL TRAVEL TO FOSSIL FUEL CONFERENCES, INTERNAL MEMO SHOWS

“If this part of our natural heritage is restored, it should be done in a way that ensures communities, property, and the animals can all coexist peacefully,” Hugh Morrison, the regional FWS director, said in a statement.

Grizzly bears occupied the North Cascades and served as an “essential part of the ecosystem” for thousands of years. However, in the 20th century, as a result of aggressive hunting practices, the species was driven into near extinction and the last confirmed sighting of a grizzly bear in the North Cascades ecosystem was in 1996, the NPS said.

According to the Washington State Department of Fish and Wildlife, unintentionally or intentionally killing a grizzly bear in the state can result in massive fines and penalties since the species is listed as federally threatened and state-listed as endangered.

BIDEN SIGNS BILL INTO LAW THAT REVERSES HIS ADMIN’S DEFUNDING OF SCHOOL HUNTING, SHOOTING PROGRAMS

“We have previously provided extensive comments opposing grizzly bear reintroduction into our local communities,” the commissioners of Chelan County, Washington, which is located near North Cascades, wrote to the NPS in December. “We continue to oppose grizzly bear reintroduction given the likely negative impacts to public safety, economic development, recreation opportunities and the overall livelihood of our rural communities.” 

“The federal agencies leading this effort have generally failed to address these concerns and have failed to engage in any meaningful way Chelan County and other neighboring counties in the proposed grizzly bear restoration area,” they added in their letter.

Plans to reintroduce grizzly bears to the North Cascades dates back to the Obama administration. Then, after significant state opposition led by Newhouse, the Trump administration concluded that grizzly bears would not be restored in the ecosystem. 

Former Interior Secretary David Bernhardt noted in July 2020 that grizzly bears are not in danger of extinction and that his agency could manage populations across their existing range.

However, late last year, following extensive litigation from environmental groups, the Biden administration announced it would again review whether to move forward with restoration, a process that led to the proposal last month.

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“Fortunately, communities in the Rocky Mountains and elsewhere have demonstrated how humans can live successfully alongside grizzly bears, utilizing the many effective nonlethal tools to prevent conflicts between people and bears,” a coalition of more than a dozen environmental organizations wrote to Interior Secretary Deb Haaland last year, urging the restoration of grizzly bears in Washington.

“Thanks to the work of state and federal agencies, Tribes, businesses, and nonprofits, many people across the North Cascades are already using bear-resistant trash cans, electric fences, and other tools to coexist with grizzlies and other wildlife.”

FIRST ON FOX: Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., the vice chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, sent a letter to the U.S. State Department on Wednesday calling for a tougher crackdown on Iran and its role in helping carry out the Hamas terrorist attacks on Israel over the weekend.

Rubio, along with several co-signers, including Sens. Bill Cassidy, R-La., Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., among others, also want the administration to release information about the International Atomic Energy Agency’s (IAEA) investigation into Iran. The GOP senators criticized the lack of progress in resolving key questions about Iran’s nuclear program during a September IAEA Board of Governors meeting.

Over the last five years, the IAEA has been conducting an inquiry into Iran’s undisclosed nuclear material and endeavors linked to a covert initiative in 2003 aimed at creating atomic weaponry, known as the Amad Plan. 

“The Iranian regime is intent on fomenting terror across the region, as evidenced by its proxies, Hamas and Hezbollah’s, brutal attacks this weekend on our ally, Israel,” Rubio wrote. “Now more than ever, you must ensure that you hold the regime accountable for its failure to comply with obligations under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.” 

BIDEN ISSUES CRYPTIC WARNING TO IRAN AFTER ADMIN DENIES COUNTY WAS INVOLVED IN HAMAS ATTACK: ‘BE CAREFUL’

The Nuclear-Non-Proliferation Treaty, which came into law in 1970, is an international treaty aimed at preventing the spread of nuclear weapons and weapons technology to nonnuclear weapon regions. 

Rubio wrote that despite the IAEA’s repeated attempts to access several Iranian regions, it “has not been able to determine whether Tehran retains covert nuclear weapons activities.”

“The Biden Administration has failed to press for concrete action against Iran in Vienna. We are especially disturbed by reports that the United States led efforts to oppose a censure of Iran,” Rubio wrote. “As Iran violates its commitments and refuses to comply with the IAEA, your business-as-usual approach to resolving the situation is tantamount to an endorsement of the Iranian regime’s activities.”

US MUST STOP FEEDING ‘MONSTER’ IRAN FOLLOWING HAMAS’ ATTACK ON ISRAEL: FORMER TRUMP ADVISER AND SCHOLAR SAYS

He added, “Further, your failure to pursue a censure of Iran, likely in conjunction with ongoing nuclear negotiations with Iran that you continue to conceal from Congress, is simply unconscionable.”

According to a congressional report in July, which cited U.S. intelligence assessments, Tehran — the capital of Iran — has the “capacity to produce nuclear weapons at some point,” but froze the program and “has not mastered all of the necessary technologies for building such weapons.” While both the IAEA and the U.S. government continue to investigate Iran and have not found evidence they are involved in creating any nuclear weapons, they “assess that Iran is more likely to use covert, rather than declared, facilities to produce the requisite fissile material.”

However, Rubio said “many questions remain with regard to Iran’s nuclear activities” given several instances where they violated the Safeguards Agreement — the framework for the IAEA to verify that nuclear materials and facilities are used for peaceful purposes and not diverted for any military or explosive purposes — at two sites with undisclosed nuclear activity. 

Rubio joins a growing choir of GOP lawmakers who are seeking answers from the Biden administration on the $6 billion deal with Iran in exchange for five American prisoners last month. 

The deal allowed the transfer of Iran’s frozen assets held in a South Korean bank to accounts in Qatar. The administration said the money can only be used for humanitarian purposes, and the U.S. will have oversight as to how and when the funds are used, but it quickly drew skepticism about whether those funds could have been used to fund the surprise attack in Israel. 

KAMALA HARRIS ALLIES FURIOUS OVER DISRESPECT FROM DEMOCRATS: ‘CUT THE BULLS—‘   

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A Hamas spokesperson Ghazi Hamad told the BBC this week that they had Iran’s support for the attacks, which began Saturday. A bombshell Wall Street Journal report Sunday also said Hamas and Hezbollah helped Iran plan the attack — which killed at least 1,200 Israelis and injured thousands more — contradicting the administration’s statements.

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, speaking Wednesday at the annual International Monetary Fund and World Bank meetings in Marrakesh, Morocco, said the money has not been spent and could be re-frozen.

Fox News Digital has reached out to the State Department for comment on Rubio’s letter.

Fox News’ Greg Wehner contributed to this report. 

GOP presidential candidate and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis slammed former President Trump for words of respect directed at terror group Hezbollah, as well as what he called an “attack” on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. 

Following a speech Trump gave Wednesday in West Palm Beach, Florida, DeSantis took Trump to task for his remarks. 

“Terrorists have murdered at least 1,200 Israelis and 22 Americans and are holding more hostage, so it is absurd that anyone, much less someone running for President, would choose now to attack our friend and ally, Israel, much less praise Hezbollah terrorists as ‘very smart.’” DeSantis wrote on X, formerly Twitter, late Wednesday. 

“As President, I will stand with Israel and treat terrorists like the scum that they are,” he added. 

BIDEN ADMIN SAYS NO ‘SPECIFIC EVIDENCE’ IRAN DIRECTLY LINKED TO HAMAS ATTACK ON ISRAEL: ‘BROAD COMPLICITY’

Speaking to a Florida crowd not far from his Mar-a-Lago residence, Trump on Wednesday blamed the Biden administration for the terror attack on Israel over the weekend – and also attributed the bloodshed to the Iran-backed terrorist group Hezbollah, which operates across the border in Lebanon. Israel has faced attacks originating in Lebanon at the same time that it conducts a war against Hamas following the Gaza-based group’s brutal, large-scale terror operation over the weekend. 

“Two nights ago I read all of Biden’s security people – can you imagine? – national defense people, and they said, ‘Gee, I hope Hezbollah doesn’t attack from the north because that’s the most vulnerable spot. I said wait a minute, you know Hezbollah’s very smart. They’re all very smart. The press doesn’t like when I say,” Trump said. “You know, I said that President Xi of China, 1.4 billion people he controls it with an iron fist, I said he’s a very smart man. They killed me the next day. I said he was smart … what am I gonna say?”

ISRAELI AIRSTRIKES KILL SENIOR HAMAS NAVAL OPERATIVE, DESTROYED OPERATIONAL COMMAND CENTERS IN GAZA: IDF

“But Hezbollah, they’re very smart,” he continued. “And they have a national defense minister or somebody saying I hope Hezbollah doesn’t attack us from the north. So the following morning they attacked. They might not have been doing it, but if you listen to this jerk, you would attack from the north because he said that’s our weak spot.” 

Trump, who considers himself a strong ally to Israel, also criticized Netanyahu, claiming the Israeli leader backed out at the last minute in the plan to kill Iran’s top security and intelligence commander, Maj. Gen. Qassim Suleimani, who was taken out by an American drone strike in 2020.

“I’ll never forget that Bibi Netanyahu let us down. That was a very terrible thing,” Trump said. “So when I see sometimes the intelligence. You talk about the intelligence or you talk about some of the things that went wrong in the last week, they’ve gotta straighten it out because they’re fighting potentially a very big force. They’re fighting potentially Iran, and when they have people saying the wrong things, everything they say is being digested by these people because they’re vicious and they’re smart, and boy are they vicious because nobody’s ever seen the kind of sight that we’ve seen. Nobody’s ever seen it. But they cannot play games. We were disappointed by that, very disappointed. But we did the job ourselves, and it was absolute precision, magnificent, beautiful job. And then Bibi tried to take credit for it. That didn’t make me feel too good. But that’s alright. So they gotta strengthen themselves up.”

A Trump campaign spokesperson clarified the GOP front-runner’s remarks in a statement to Fox News Digital.

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“President Trump was clearly pointing out how incompetent Biden and his administration were by telegraphing to the terrorists an area that is susceptible to an attack,” the spokesperson said. “Smart does not equal good. It just proves Biden is stupid.”

The spokesperson also referred to another moment from Wednesday’s speech, when Trump said that if he regains office, “the United States will fully support Israel, defeating, dismantling, and permanently destroying the terrorist group, Hamas.”

The sneak attack by Hamas on Israel — the deadliest assault on the Jewish State in decades — instantly rocked the 2024 White House race, altering the conversation on the presidential campaign trail.

While the Republican presidential candidates have tried to one-up each other in placing blame with President Biden for the horrific attack and showcasing their support for Israel, the Hamas assault has also quickly become a wedge issue in the GOP nomination fight.

Hours after Hamas militants swarmed into Israel, former Vice President Mike Pence took aim at Biden, decrying what he called American’s “retreat on the world stage.” 

HEAD HERE FOR THE LATEST FOX NEWS COVERAGE OF THE ISRAEL-HAMAS WAR

But the former vice president, on the campaign trail in Iowa, seemed to save his most scathing rebuke for three of his rivals for the nomination.

Pence pointed fingers at “voices of appeasement like Donald Trump, Vivek Ramaswamy and Ron DeSantis that I believe have run contrary to the tradition in our party that America is the leader of the free world.”

The growing schism in the Republican Party over America’s role policing the world — evident in GOP fight over continued support for Ukraine in its year and a half long war against Russian aggression — may be spreading to Israel, where Republicans have long showcased their unyielding support for Jerusalem.

MIDDLE EAST BATTLE INSTANTLY ROCKS 2024 PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN

It’s no surprise that Pence was the first to take aim at other GOP White House hopefuls and has repeatedly criticized some of his rivals, including his former running mate, over their lack of support for Kyiv.

“This is also what happens when you have leaders in the Republican Party signaling retreat on the world stage,” Pence argued. Evoking the late President Ronald Reagan, as he often does, Pence emphasized that “it’s time to get back to peace through strength.”

Another part of the rift in the Republican presidential primary between the GOP’s growing isolationist wing and more traditional conservatives pushing for a muscular U.S. role overseas, could be seen in a speech Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina delivered Tuesday afternoon at a think tank in Washington D.C., and in an ensuing interview on the Fox News Channel.

While blasting Biden for having “blood on his hands,” and claiming that the president’s weakness “invited the attack” by Hamas, which was supported by Iran, Scott targeted DeSantis and Ramaswamy.

“Vivek Ramaswamy has said that the definition of success is reducing America’s support for Israel,” Scott argued. He accused the multi-millionaire biotech entrepreneur and first-time candidate of proposing “that we surrender Taiwan to the Chinese Communist Party as long as we’ve relocated some factories.”

WATCH FOX NEWS LIVE COVERAGE OF THE ISRAEL-HAMAS WAR

Scott also blasted the Florida governor, noting that “DeSantis once dismissed Russia’s invasion of Ukraine as just some ‘territorial dispute.’”

“The last thing we need is a Joe Biden wing of the Republican Party on foreign policy,” he argued.

Scott, who has been running a positive and uplifting conservative campaign, for months avoided criticizing his rivals, including Trump — the commanding front-runner for the GOP nomination as he makes this third straight White House run. 

But the senator has turned up the volume against his rivals in recent weeks, as his standing in polls has flat lined.

DeSantis, campaigning in Iowa on Monday ahead of the Scott speech, pushed back at Pence.

“If Mike Pence wants to blame me for what’s happening, I think that most people would just laugh at that. What a joke,” DeSantis told reporters.

And on Tuesday, the Ramaswamy campaign fired back at Scott.

“We understand Tim Scott is attempting to gain some semblance of relevance in this race, but lying in the face of these barbaric atrocities isn’t an effective way to do so,” spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin wrote in a statement. “Vivek has offered a clear, rational response that supports Israel while avoiding another U.S.-led disaster in the Middle East.”

Ramaswamy also fired away at former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, who served as ambassador to the United Nations during the first two years of the Trump administration.

Haley, who knocked the 38-year-old Ramaswamy at the first Republican presidential nomination debate in August by arguing “you have no foreign policy experience, and it shows,” urged earlier this week that Israel “needs to eliminate Hamas without question” during an interview on Fox News’ “Hannity.”

Ramaswamy on Tuesday emphasized that “I am disappointed and deeply concerned by the remarks of certain presidential candidates including Nikki Haley who have irresponsibly called the Hamas attack an ‘attack on America’ and rabidly shout ‘FINISH THEM!!’ repeatedly without offering a pragmatic path forward.”

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Doug Heye, a veteran Republican strategist and communicator, offered that blowup of warfare in the Mideast was an unexpected development on the campaign trail.

“I think that there’s sort of a figuring it out as we go along part of this because clearly what happened this weekend was a surprise to everyone,” Heye, who’s neutral in the 2024 GOP presidential nomination race, said. 

Heye noted that the “candidates can take swipes at each other, but this is an opportunity for them to demonstrate leadership as well.”

“I look at this as an opportunity for candidates with foreign policy experience to shine,” he said. And Heye pointed to Haley and Pence “as the two obvious examples.”

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

Former President Trump’s endorsement for the new House speaker failed on Wednesday when the GOP picked House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., as their nominee for top House lawmaker.

Trump endorsed House Judiciary Committee chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, to be the new House speaker last week, which many expected could push Jordan over the finish line.

Jordan received a lot of public support and endorsements from his House colleagues, but any expectations that he would cruise to the nomination over Scalise were dashed on Wednesday.

JORDAN URGES SUPPORTERS TO BACK SCALISE FOR SPEAKER AS HOUSE GOES INTO RECESS

Scalise took the nomination over Jordan in a secret ballot, drawing questions about the strength of the former president’s endorsement.

Democrat Rep. Dean Phillips of Minnesota — a moderate member — told Fox News Digital on Wednesday that he thinks “on the surface” the pick of Scalise over Jordan “seems like a pretty clear repudiation of Trump, and a fairly public one.”

Phillips said he thinks “supporters of Mr. Scalise would probably have to think twice about [that] before they actually make that vote for reasons” that people would “understand.”

Rep. Troy Nehls, R-Texas, seemed to dismiss the idea that Scalise’s victory was a repudiation of Trump’s endorsement. 

“Well, you got some people in the conference that obviously have some issues with Donald Trump,” Nehls told reporters after the GOP conference. “But I would probably say to those in the Republican conference that have problems with Donald Trump, get over yourself, because Donald Trump is the leader of our party. Make no mistake.”

When pressed on what it means that Trump’s preferred candidate failed to win a majority of the GOP votes, Nehls said: “But he also got 99 votes. Jim Jordan did get 99. That’s a significant number.”

Trump’s campaign did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.

Since the nomination, Jordan said he plans to vote for Scalise for speaker and is even expected to give a nominating speech on the House floor whenever a vote is held.

Jordan has also been encouraging his supporters to back Scalise once the nomination hits the House floor for a vote.

Some Republicans, including Reps. Chip Roy and Marjorie Taylor Greene have said they will not vote for Scalise.

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The news comes as Republicans look to mint a new House speaker after former Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s historic ouster last week.

McCarthy has since backed Scalise, his former number two, for the speakership.

Fox News’s Elizabeth Elkind and Kelly Phares contributed reporting.

A top adviser to President Biden is facing criticism over a comment he made shortly before the Hamas attacks on Israel.

Biden’s National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said that the Middle East was the calmest it has been in decades, bringing to the forefront other controversial foreign policy decisions the Biden adviser has been involved with over the last decade.

“What we said is want to depressurize, de-escalate, and ultimately integrate the Middle East region,” Sullivan said at “The Atlantic Festival” on September 29. 

“The war in Yemen is in its 19th month of truce, for now the Iranian attacks against U.S. forces have stopped, our presence in Iraq is stable, I emphasize for now because all of that can change and the Middle East region is quieter today than it has been in two decades,” he said.

Eight days later, Hamas launched an attack on Israel that killed at least 1,200 Israelis causing many conservatives to blast Sullivan’s comments on social media.

DEMOCRATS JOIN REPUBLICAN PUSH FOR BIDEN ADMINISTRATION TO REFREEZE $6B IRANIAN ASSETS

“We are less safe with this Biden team,” former Trump Acting Director of the United States National Intelligence Richard Grenell posted on X, formerly known as Twitter, in response to Sullivan’s comment. 

Matthew Brodsky, senior fellow at the Gold Institute for International Strategy, wrote on X that Sullivan’s comment was an “outright lie at the time he said it.”

Sullivan has been at the center of several controversies in recent years, many of which have been brought up by conservatives on social media in light of his Middle East comment, including the Biden administration’s chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan.

In the days following the Biden administration’s withdrawal from Afghanistan, Sullivan and the State Department were criticized for being unable to say exactly how many Americans had been left behind. 

WHITE HOUSE SAYS ’20 OR MORE’ AMERICANS ARE MISSING IN ISRAEL AMID HAMAS ATTACKS

On August 22, 2021, more than a week after frenzied scenes of evacuating Afghans at the Kabul airport began to surface, Sullivan admitted that the administration did not know how many Americans were still in Afghanistan.

“We cannot give you a precise number,” Sullivan told CNN. “We believe it is several thousand Americans who we are working with now to try to get safely out of the country.”

At one point, it was believed that nearly 450 Americans were still stuck in the country two months after the U.S. withdrawal. 

Sullivan said on August 16 that “the president did not think it was inevitable that the Taliban were going to take control of Afghanistan” and that the situation devolved at “unexpected speed.”

REPUBLICANS SEND LETTER TO JAKE SULLIVAN DEMANDING ‘TOTAL FIGURES’ FOR UKRAINE AID

“He should’ve lost his job after the botched Afghanistan withdrawal,” Abigail Jackson, press secretary for GOP Senator Josh Hawley, posted on X on Sunday.

In 2021, the top oversight Republican in Congress called for the removal of Sullivan from his position due to his position at the “epicenter” of failed foreign policy decisions over the last ten years including the Benghazi terror attack that killed 3 American contractors and a U.S. Ambassador. 

Sullivan served as former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s former deputy chief of staff and policy adviser at the State Department during the 2012 attack on U.S. Embassy in Benghazi, Libya.

“From Benghazi to the disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan, Jake Sullivan has been at the epicenter of the worst foreign policy crises and decisions over the past decade,” Ranking Member on the House Committee on Oversight and Reform, Kentucky Rep. James Comer, told Fox News Digital at the time. “Given this administration’s tendency to create self-inflicted crises, it’s no surprise Jake Sullivan has been given a top post at the Biden White House.”

NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER JAKE SULLIVAN: ‘NO DEFINITIVE ANSWER’ FROM INTELLIGENCE COMMUNITY ON LAB LEAK THEORY

A source involved in Libya policy in Washington throughout Clinton’s tenure, speaking on background, told Fox News Digital in 2020 that Sullivan was a prominent — albeit quiet — player in the controversial U.S. overthrow of Libya with Clinton’s unflinching support.

Republicans also raised questions about Sullivan this past summer, Fox News Digital reported, after it was revealed that Sullivan served with Hunter Biden on the board of the Truman National Security Project, a liberal foreign policy think tank, for roughly two years before Sullivan joined the Biden campaign in 2020.

During the Clinton presidential campaign, Sullivan also notoriously pushed the Trump-Russia collusion narrative to reporters. He told members of the House Intelligence committee in a December 2017 interview that prior to the 2016 election he briefed reporters on his suspicions. 

“[B]asically we sat with them and walked through what we understood to be the case from — in terms of the DNC hack and leak, what we believed to be the case with respect to Russian involvement,” Sullivan said, “and then what we thought the upshot of this was, which is you now have the start of a much more aggressive phase of an intelligence-led operation by foreign power, and there’s likely to be more as we go forward, and people should really pay attention to this.”

“Jake Sullivan has a lot to answer for,” GOP Sen. Josh Hawley, who sits on the Senate Judiciary Committee, told Fox News Digital earlier this year. 

“He has repeatedly lied for perceived political gain – whether that be about the Russia Collusion hoax or the Hunter Biden laptop. And now he’s Biden’s national security adviser? He should resign immediately.”

Sullivan was recently accused by former White House official Mike McCormick of being a “conspirator” in the Biden family’s “kickback scheme” in Ukraine when Biden was vice president.

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Sullivan denied the allegations, telling reporters that he had nothing to do with such an operation. 

Sullivan has also been criticized in the past for his involvement in the U.S. foreign policy dealings in Syria and Myanmar. 

During a 2019 interview with the New Yorker, Sullivan said it was “a great regret of mine” that “we were not able to more effectively play a role in stopping hundreds of thousands of people from dying in Syria and millions and millions more losing their homes.”

The National Security Council did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital. 

Fox News Digital’s Cameron Cawthorne and Jessica Chasmar contributed to this report.

The Democrat governor of one red state is taking heat from his Republican challenger over his continued support for President Biden just weeks ahead of what could be the most consequential Election Day of the off-year campaign cycle.

The criticism comes after a local Kentucky outlet reported that the state’s Democrat governor, Andy Beshear, reiterated his support for Biden, who is wildly unpopular with Kentuckians, in an interview published on Tuesday.

“It should come as no surprise that Andy Beshear is endorsing Joe Biden. Andy has been doing Biden’s bidding his entire time in office. As a result, Kentuckians are struggling to make ends meet, our streets are full of crime and drugs, and our kids face historic learning loss,” Kentucky’s Republican Attorney General and gubernatorial nominee Daniel Cameron told Fox News Digital after the report’s publishing.

FORMER SPECIAL FORCES SOLDIER GETS ANOTHER BIG NAME ENDORSEMENT IN RACE TO FLIP SWING HOUSE SEAT FROM DEMS

Sean Southard, the spokesman for the Republican Party of Kentucky and a Cameron campaign surrogate, added to that, pointing to what he said was Biden “bankrolling” Beshear’s political operation.

“Kentuckians don’t want four more years of Joe Biden’s failures,” he said. “Andy’s endorsement of Biden shows he is out-of-touch on inflation, crime, and the border. Biden is bankrolling Beshear’s campaign. That’s why Andy will always put Biden ahead of Kentucky. Daniel Cameron will always put Kentucky first.”

Southard’s “bankrolling” accusation was in reference to Federal Election Commission data showing the Kentucky Democrat Party was raising money through the Biden Victory Fund, a joint fundraising committee authorized by the Biden-Harris re-election campaign, and in turn transferring hundreds of thousands of dollars to Beshear’s campaign.

POTENTIAL NAIL-BITER RACE IN DEEP-RED STATE HEATS UP AS DEM NOMINEE ACCUSES GOP GOVERNOR, FAMILY OF CORRUPTION

In his Tuesday interview, Beshear said that commercials trying to tie him to Biden were being run by the Cameron campaign and groups supporting his gubernatorial bid because “they don’t have an agenda to run on, and they can’t win if this race is about us in Kentucky.”

“Every governor’s race is about that state, is about what’s going on in the economy, yet the ads you’re seeing from them are trying to convince you that this race is about Washington, D.C., and I believe that they are dishonest as I believe a number of the ads are. They are meant to confuse, and they are meant to stir up anger and fear and sometimes even hatred,” Beshear said.

A spokesperson for Beshear’s campaign, told Fox, “Daniel Cameron knows he can’t win this race if it’s about the record economic development, tens of thousands of new jobs and historic investments in our infrastructure made under Andy Beshear. He’s desperate to make this race about Washington, DC instead of what’s happening here in Kentucky to improve our families lives every day.”

REPUBLICAN CONGRESSMAN ADMITS HE ‘WAS PRAYING’ FOR ‘SMALL’ GOP HOUSE MAJORITY BEFORE 2022 MIDTERM ELECTIONS

The spokesperson also pointed out that this isn’t a new position for Beshear as suggested by the Cameron campaign, and that “it shows just how desperate the Cameron campaign is that they think a Democratic governor supporting a Democratic president for reelection is interesting.”

In terms of his own presidential preference, Cameron told Fox he was “proud to support and to be endorsed by President Trump,” before adding that voters in Kentucky were “looking forward to November 7, when we can fire Andy Beshear.”

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The race between Beshear and Cameron is the among the most closely watched election of 2023 and is being largely viewed as a bellwether for the 2024 elections. A Beshear victory could spell trouble for Republicans hoping to capitalize on the unpopularity of Biden and Democrats in Congress.

Rep. Jack Bergman, R-Mich., plans to introduce a resolution to censure Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., over her “long history of making anti-Semitic and anti-Israel remarks.”

Bergman will formally introduce the move later Wednesday, Fox News Digital has learned. The lawmaker blasted his fellow Michigan representative for her reaction to this weekend’s unprecedented attack on Israel by Hamas terrorists, which left at least 1,200 Israelis dead and thousands more wounded.

“As Hamas terrorists beheaded infants, paraded dead Jewish teenagers through town, and attacked innocent concert-goers in the most deadly day for Jews since the Holocaust, Rep. Rashida Tlaib chose to place the blame solely on Israel and the Jewish people,” Bergman, a 40-year veteran of the U.S. Marine Corps, told Fox News in a statement.

“There is no moral equivalence between Israel defending itself and Hamas attacking innocent Israeli civilians. Tlaib’s long history of anti-Semitic tropes and blatant anti-Jewish propaganda is both disturbing and evil – and should have no place in the halls of Congress,” he added.

HOUSE SPEAKER RACE: REPUBLICANS TO SELECT A CANDIDATE TO REPLACE MCCARTHY IN CLOSED-DOOR VOTE

“One day after a series of coordinated attacks on Israel perpetrated by Hamas terrorists and leaving more Jews dead than any single day since the Holocaust, Congresswoman Tlaib issued a statement calling Israel an apartheid state and insinuating the United States should end its support for the State of Israel,” Bergman’s resolution charges.

FAMILIES OF ISRAELIS FEARED KIDNAPPED BY HAMAS TERRORISTS SPEAK OUT

Tlaib’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

In addition to censuring Tlaib, the resolution would reaffirm the House of Representative’s support for Israel and reject the notion that it is an “apartheid” state.

Tlaib also came under fire this week for flying a Palestinian flag outside her Capitol Hill office. The flag has been there since at least January, but observers were outraged the flag remained following Saturday’s attack.

LIVE UPDATES: HAMAS ATTACKS ON ISRAEL

The House is currently in disarray following the ouster of former Speaker Kevin McCarthy, and Republicans are scrambling to nominate a new speaker.

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The top candidates for the role are Rep. Steve Scalise, R-La., and Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio. Scalise already serves as Majority Leader in the House, though Jordan has been endorsed by former President Trump. McCarthy has withdrawn his name from contention.

A senior White House official on Wednesday defended the Biden administration’s response to Iran, while admitting Tehran’s “broad complicity” in Hamas’ attack on Israel. 

John Kirby, the National Security Council Coordinator for Strategic Communications, also said there was no intelligence to date suggesting Iran was directly linked to Saturday’s attack. 

“Nobody has turned a blind eye to Iranian destabilizing behavior,” Kirby said. “We’re obviously recognize that there’s broad complicity here by the Iranians, I mean, because of the longstanding support to Hamas. Hamas wouldn’t have been able to function at all had it not been for propping up by the Iranian regime. But we haven’t seen any specific evidence that tells us they were wittingly involved in the planning or involved in the resourcing and the training that went into this very complex set of attacks over the weekend.” 

Fox News White House correspondent Jacqui Heinrich pressed Kirby on how the Biden administration would define a “direct link” between the Hamas attack on Israel and Iran. In response, Kirby noted what White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan told reporters Tuesday. 

“We haven’t seen anything that tells us they knew specifically date time, method that they were that they were witting to this it. We haven’t seen anything that tells us they specifically cut checks to support this set of attacks or that they were involved in the training and that obviously this required quite a bit of training by these terrorists or that they were involved in any directing of the operation,” Kirby said Wednesday. “We’re not one and done here either. We’re going to continue to look at the intelligence stream and see if it leads us to a different conclusion. All I can do is be honest with you about the conclusions we’re coming to today, and we just haven’t seen that.” 

WHITE HOUSE SILENT ON IRAN NUKE DEAL AFTER CLAIMS TEHRAN HELPED PLAN ATTACKS ON ISRAEL

“Is it the position of the administration that at this stage Iran was not involved?” Heinrich asked. “I guess my question is, how can we know this was in the planning for over a year and within a few short days say that Iran was not behind it?” 

“Because that’s what we think,” Kirby responded. “Again, we have not seen any evidence, specific evidence that Iran was directly involved with these specific sets of attacks.” 

“Look, we’re going to keep looking at it. The book is not closed on it. We’re going to keep looking at that. But that’s just where we are right now,” he added. 

This comes as former President Donald Trump and others have criticized the Biden administration’s $6 billion prisoner swap deal with Iran and called for the U.S. to rescind those funds. 

DEMOCRATS JOIN REPUBLICAN PUSH FOR BIDEN ADMINISTRATION TO REFREEZE $6B IRANIAN ASSETS

At the White House press briefing, Kirby earlier reiterated to reporters that Iran has been “supporting Hamas and Hezbollah and other terrorist networks.” 

“Hamas is one of the most highly sanctioned terrorist networks on the planet, largely because of what we’ve been doing here in the United States to — to target them,” he said. 

Since the start of the Biden administration, Kirby said the United States sanctioned some 400 plus entities with more than 40 different sets of sanction regimes, including 30 the past year alone. He also stressed the Biden administration has increased U.S. military presence in the Gulf region because of attacks on maritime shipping. 

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“We have added additional sanctions because of their support to Russia and the fact that they’re still providing drones and technology to Mr. Putin so he can kill innocent Ukrainians. And now we’ve added our military capability. We’ve added to it from a naval perspective in the Eastern [Mediterranean],” Kirby said. 

Prosecutors are recommending a prison sentence for a former Republican candidate for Michigan governor who pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor for his participation in the 2021 U.S. Capitol riot.

Ryan Kelley’s arrest in 2022 gave his campaign a burst of notoriety in a conservative multi-candidate field, but he ended up finishing far behind other supporters of former President Donald Trump in the GOP primary election. Conservative commentator Tudor Dixon won the Republican primary but ultimately lost to incumbent Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, a Democrat.

GOP MICHIGAN GOVERNOR CANDIDATE PLEADS GUILTY TO JAN. 6 MISDEMEANOR CHARGE

Prosecutors, citing Kelley’s lack of remorse, are urging a judge to lock him up for three months when he returns to a Washington court Oct. 17, The Detroit News reported.

“For two years, Kelley posted statements on Facebook and other social media, making light of the riot, falsely denying that any violence took place, and insisting that he engaged in no wrongdoing,” prosecutors said in a court filing.

In July, Kelley, who lives in Ottawa County, pleaded guilty to a charge of illegally entering a restricted area.

ILLINOIS MAN GETS OVER 4 YEARS FOR J6 ASSAULTS ON REUTERS PHOTOGRAPHER, POLICE OFFICER

He climbed an “architectural feature” outside the Capitol and then gestured for other rioters behind him to move toward stairs leading up to the building, prosecutors said.

Kelley has said he was “protesting the government” because he did not like the results of the 2020 election.

Defense attorney Gary Springstead said probation, not prison, is an appropriate sentence.

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“Mr. Kelley has proven over the last 42 years that he is capable of being a law-abiding citizen and this is his first brush with the law,” Springstead said.

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg was chased from an event in Baltimore on Tuesday evening after left-wing climate activists stormed the stage and demanded he stop fossil fuel infrastructure projects.

Buttigieg was forced to depart the event — a Maryland policy forum at the city’s Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall hosted by local outlet Baltimore Banner — after more than a dozen activists with the group Climate Defiance stormed the stage yelling slogans. The protesters called on Buttigieg to reject two proposed oil transport projects, the Sea Port Oil Terminal and Texas GulfLink, under review by his agency’s Maritime Administration.

“Petro Pete is a coward. As we write he is ramming down our throats the Sea Port and GulfLink oil terminals – each worse than Keystone,” Climate Defiance tweeted following the event. “We must resist him with all we’ve got. And we will.”

“Your DOT just approved the Seaport Oil Terminal, a project that will have 80 coal plants worth of greenhouse gas emissions and will worsen air quality in areas that already live in cancer clusters,” one of the Climate Defiance activists told Buttigieg on stage. “This is about environmental racism and it’s about climate impacts this project will have. Will you commit to stopping these projects?”

REPUBLICANS URGE BIDEN ADMIN TO STOP DELAYING MAJOR GAS PIPELINE PROJECT

During the protest, activists were filmed calling Buttigieg “Petro Pete,” demanded he “end fossil fuels,” and chanted “which side are you on, Pete?” repeatedly.

When the event’s moderator then asked about the specific projects the protesters mentioned, Buttigieg said he didn’t want to “speak off the cuff.” But he added he respected “where they’re coming from” in reference to the protesters.

BIDEN ADMIN QUIETLY REVERSES TRUMP-ERA RULE, BANS TRANSPORTING FOSSIL FUELS BY TRAIN

“I get the urgency. By the time my kids are old enough to ask, we’re going to have a really good answer to get out of climate change,” he said, according to the Baltimore Banner.

“But my hope also is that some of those folks who are just here saw what happened when I was in front of the Transportation Infrastructure Committee two weeks ago trying to persuade or help the members of Congress [understand] that the seasons changing is not the same thing as climate change,” Buttigieg continued. “And if this literally came up, and so we’ve got literal climate deniers… who can’t be bothered to admit that climate change is real.”

The Seaport Oil Terminal project was proposed years ago and would consist of an offshore pipeline network in the Gulf of Mexico along the coast of Texas. The project, which is expected to enter operations in 2025 and allow for greater U.S. oil exports, received an initial approval by the Maritime Administration last year, but has yet to receive a license.

And the Texas GulfLink crude oil export terminal is also located off the coast of Texas, but has yet to receive approval by the Maritime Administration.

BIDEN ADMIN STONEWALLING ON PETE BUTTIGIEG’S PRIVATE GOVERNMENT JET RECORDS: WATCHDOG

Environmental groups have loudly opposed both projects, pointing to the expected greenhouse gas emissions that would be produced indirectly by the oil that would be transported. Groups led by the Sierra Club and Center for Biological Diversity filed a lawsuit in January challenging the record of decision for Seaport Oil Terminal project, listing Buttigieg as a defendant.

“Considering the administration’s stated commitment to ‘tackle the climate crisis’, it is particularly troubling that MARAD’s review of SPOT’s environmental and community impacts entirely fails to account for the project’s significant contributions to climate change, including impacts from excessive greenhouse gas pollution that will push temperatures higher in the Houston area and disrupt global climate,” said Sierra Club senior attorney Devorah Ancel.

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The event Tuesday is one of many that Climate Defiance has interrupted and shut down as part of its goal to force lawmakers to do more on climate issues. They have also targeted events featuring federal officials like Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm, Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo and senior White House climate adviser John Podesta.

The White House has remained silent on any future relationship with Iran in light of Hamas and Hezbollah terrorist leaders claiming Iran helped plan the surprise attacks against Israel. 

Fox News Digital reached out to the White House at least three times this week inquiring if the U.S. would participate in negations and return to the nuclear deal if evidence is found that Iran helped plan the brutal attacks against Israel. The White House’s press office ultimately referred Fox News Digital to the National Security Council Monday, which did not respond to the inquiry. 

News broke Sunday that Iranian security officials allegedly approved Hamas’ plan to attack Israel during a meeting in Beirut last Monday, The Wall Street Journal reported. Hamas and Hezbollah leaders said Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps worked with Hamas since August on air, land and sea attack plans. 

Following the report, U.S. leaders said they have not found direct evidence of Iran planning the attacks in coordination with Hamas but noted that Iran has long supported Hamas, and the nation holds “a degree of complicity” in the attacks. 

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“We are looking through the information streams. We haven’t seen hard, tangible evidence that Iran was directly involved in participating in or resourcing and planning these sets of complex attacks that Hamas pulled off over the weekend,” Coordinator for Strategic Communications at the National Security Council John Kirby said Tuesday, something echoed later on in the day by National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan, who again stressed that the U.S. has no evidence that Iran knew about the attacks in advance or that it helped Hamas.

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Both Sullivan and Kirby’s comments this week echo what a U.S. official told Fox News Digital on Sunday evening, that “of course” Iran is in the picture, but that U.S. officials currently do not have information corroborating the report. 

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When asked specifically about the future of the U.S. relationship with Iran, however, the White House has not said if leaders would return to the negotiating table for the Iran nuclear deal or if the U.S. strategy with Iran will change in light of terrorist leaders claiming Iran helped with the attacks. 

World powers, including the U.S. and the United Kingdom, reached a nuclear deal with Iran in 2015, formerly known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, after years of international tensions that Iran was working to build a nuclear bomb. The agreement limited some of Iran’s nuclear activities, while allowing international authorities to carry out inspections. Sanctions on Tehran were lifted in exchange. 

Former President Trump pulled the U.S. out of the agreement in 2018 after slamming it as “defective at its core.”

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“At the heart of the Iran deal was a giant fiction, that a murderous regime desired only a peaceful, nuclear energy program,” Trump said at the time. “Today, we have definitive proof that this Iranian promise was a lie.”

Under the Biden administration, officials have signaled they hope to return to the deal if Iran comes back into compliance. 

“The JCPOA has not been on our agenda since September, when Iran turned its back on a deal that was on the table, but we are still very much open to diplomacy,” a State Department spokesperson told Fox News Digital back in April. 

The Biden administration has also come under scrutiny this week for a $6 billion prisoner swap deal with Iran last month. Republicans have claimed that the money helped free up resources to fund the attacks, though Biden administration leaders have pushed back on the claims. 

“I think it’s important for people to remember that not a single dollar … of those funds has gone into Iran,” Kirby told Fox News’ Bret Baier on “America’s Newsroom” Tuesday. “Not one… not any. Nothing’s been allocated out of that fund, and we’re going to watch it.”

Chaos broke out in Israel early Saturday morning when Hamas launched attacks that took the nation by surprise. The terrorist organization has since fired more than 4,500 rockets at residential areas from the Gaza Strip, which has contributed to killing an estimated 1,000 Israelis and injuring thousands of others. 

The U.S. confirmed that 14 Americans are among those killed in Israel, and an undisclosed number of other Americans are unaccounted for and being held hostage under Hamas terrorists. 

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Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has meanwhile praised the attacks on social media, saying at the beginning of the war, the “Zionist regime will be eradicated at the hands of the Palestinian people and the Resistance forces throughout the region,” WSJ reported. 

A federal judge in Texas on Tuesday evening ordered the discovery phase of a lawsuit accusing the Biden administration of knowingly providing funds that benefited Palestinian terrorists get underway.

America First Legal (AFL) first filed the lawsuit in 2022, alleging that President Biden and Secretary of State Antony Blinken resumed payments to the Palestinian Authority (PA) that former President Trump ended in order to be in compliance with the Taylor Force Act — a federal law that prohibits the government from sending American taxpayer dollars to the PA until it stops supporting terrorism. 

The lawsuit claims the Biden administration has transferred nearly half a billion American taxpayer dollars “to directly benefit and subsidize the Palestinian Authority” while admitting that the PA still operates its “Pay to Slay” program – which encourages terrorist attacks against persons living in and visiting the State of Israel.

Judge Matthew J. Kacsmaryk, of the Northern District of Texas, found Tuesday that AFL’s “recent production of records shows that the Government knew its economic support fund (ESF) funding in the West Bank and Gaza was benefiting Palestinian terrorists, thereby ‘increasing the risk of terrorist attacks against the Plaintiffs and others similarly situated.’”

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“And they aver that the Government’s ‘admission that its activities in the West Bank and Gaza benefit Hamas suggests, with reasonable particularity, the possible existence of other facts, currently hidden, establishing traceability,’” the order says.

“These reasons, in concert with Hamas’s recent attack on Israel that killed fourteen Americans and resulted in others being held hostage, provide a sufficient basis for Plaintiffs Request,” Kacsmaryk wrote. 

AFL asked the court to grant what is called expedited and limited jurisdictional discovery, which will require the Biden administration to produce related documents and testimony for the court. 

The legal group represents Congressman Ronny Jackson, R-Texas; Stuart and Robbi Force, parents of West Point graduate Taylor Force murdered by a Palestinian terrorist in Tel Aviv – after whom the Taylor Force Act was named; and Sarri Singer, the survivor of a suicide bombing on a Jerusalem bus. 

“This case is about the Palestinian Authority’s decades-long program of financial payments, social services, misinformation, and indoctrination to incentivize terrorist attacks against persons living in or visiting the State of Israel. The program is known as ‘Pay to Slay,’” the lawsuit states. 

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“Under Pay to Slay, the Palestinian Authority rewards terrorists and/or their families with increased rewards in proportion to the casualties inflicted. Terrorists who are married, or have children, or are Israeli residents/citizens receive an additional payment. Terrorists who spend more than 5 years (in a single term or cumulatively) in prison are paid a guaranteed salary by the Palestinian Authority for the rest of their lives,” the lawsuit explains.

“Every terrorist, regardless of their affiliations or the identity of their victims, is paid by the Palestinian Authority. This includes members of designated terror organizations, such as Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, who kill U.S. citizens,” the lawsuit alleges. 

According to the suit, the “Pay to Slay” program beneficiaries include the family of Bashar Masalha who stabbed 11 people and murdered 28-year-old U.S. Army Iraq and Afghanistan war Taylor Force on March 8, 2016. Mr. Force was visiting Israel as part of his graduate program. Shortly after his death, Congress passed the legislating in his memory. 

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In the Taylor Force Act, Congress determined that “The Palestinian Authority’s practice of paying salaries to terrorists serving in Israeli prisons, as well as to the families of deceased terrorists, is an incentive to commit acts of terror.”

Through the Act, Congress prohibited the Executive Branch from providing any grant or award from U.S. taxpayer funds available for assistance under chapter 4 of part II of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 that “directly benefits the Palestinian Authority” unless the Secretary of State certifies that the Palestinian Authority is taking credible steps to end acts of violence against Israeli citizens and United States citizens and has terminated “Pay to Slay.”

Congress also made it clear that the Palestinian Authority could directly benefit from U.S. taxpayer-funded projects in the West Bank or Gaza, or operate the “Pay to Slay” program, but not both. 

The lawsuit outlines that the Palestinian Authority chose “Pay to Slay” and consequently, the Trump Administration terminated funding. 

AFL alleges, however, that when President Biden took office in January 2021, his administration transferred “hundreds of millions of dollars from U.S. taxpayers to the Palestinian Authority despite “Pay to Slay” and contrary to the Taylor Force Act.”

“Contrary to law, they have transferred nearly half a billion American taxpayer dollars to directly benefit and subsidize the Palestinian Authority. Among other things, the defendants are unlawfully laundering U.S. taxpayer funds through non-governmental organizations to directly benefit the Palestinian Authority,” the lawsuit alleges. 

The lawsuit says that at the time the complaint was filed in court, President Biden and Secretary Blinken “admit that the Palestinian Authority operates ‘Pay to Slay’ to encourage terrorist attacks against persons living in and visiting the State of Israel.” 

The lawsuit was filed in December 2022. 

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As of July 2023, both Democratic and Republican lawmakers were still requesting an update from Blinken on the administration’s plan to end “Pay to Slay.”

On Sept. 27, the House Foreign Affairs Committee held a hearing on efforts to stop “Pay to Slay.”

Former Deputy Assistant to the President and National Security Adviser Elliott Abrams testified before the committee that he believes the Biden administration has been encouraging other nations, like Saudi Arabia, to give the PA case, undermining the Taylor Force Act. 

Blinken is expected Wednesday to meet with senior Israeli officials and “reiterate his condolences for the victims of the terrorist attacks against Israel and condemn those attacks in the strongest terms,” a statement from his office said Tuesday. 

“ The Secretary will also reaffirm the United States’ solidarity with the government and people of Israel,” the statement said. “ He will also discuss measures to bolster Israel’s security and underscore the United States’ unwavering support for Israel’s right to defend itself.”

The State Department and White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment,