NationalWatch

The 79th Alfred E. Smith Memorial Foundation Dinner kicked off on Thursday evening, which will spotlight former President Trump during the bipartisan political event that typically adds a bit of levity to the campaign trail each presidential election cycle. 

Trump and former first lady Melania Trump were welcomed to the event just after 8 p.m., with Trump shaking hands with other high-profile guests, including Speaker of the House Mike Johnson. Comedian Jim Gaffigan is serving as the emcee of this year’s dinner, and 

The Al Smith dinner was launched in 1946, and has raised millions of dollars for charities supporting women and children. It has since grown to become a political and cultural hallmark of election seasons. The dinner is named after the first Catholic presidential candidate, Al Smith, who served as the 42nd governor of New York. He ran for president as a Democrat in 1928. 

Other attendees of the event include, Attorney General Letitia James – an outspoken critic of Trump who slammed him as a “con man” while campaigning for the AG job in 2018 – former New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, Gov. Kathy Hochul and others. 

HARRIS TO VIRTUALLY ATTEND CATHOLIC CHARITY DINNER THAT RIVAL TRUMP IS HEADLINING

Former US President and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump raises his fist as he and his wife Melania Trump attend the 79th Annual Alfred E. Smith Memorial Foundation Dinner at the Hilton Midtown in New York, October 17, 2024. (Photo by Timothy A. CLARY / AFP) (Photo by TIMOTHY A. CLARY/AFP via Getty Images) (Getty Images)

This year’s Al Smith dinner, however, is set to be a bit different from previous years, as Vice President Kamala Harris is skipping the in-person event and sending a pre-recorded video to be broadcast to the audience instead. The 2020 Al Smith dinner was also different from previous election years, as it was held virtually amid the pandemic’s lockdowns and social distancing requirements. 

“VP Harris will appear via a pre-recorded message,” the communications director for the Archdiocese of New York, Joseph Zwilling, told Fox News Digital on Thursday. 

Harris’ snub of the historic Catholic charity event irked New York Archbishop Timothy Dolan, the host of the dinner, on his podcast this week. 

“This year will be imbalanced because sadly, Kamala Harris isn’t coming,” Dolan said on his podcast Tuesday. “It’s a shame because the nature of the evening is to bring people together. The nature of the evening is civility, patriotism, humor. It’s not a campaign speech. It’s not a campaign stop.”

Fox News Digital reached out to the Harris campaign for comment on sending a pre-recorded video message for the event, but did not receive a reply. The campaign previously told Fox News that Harris was skipping the event to focus on campaigning in the battleground state of Wisconsin on Thursday. 

KAMALA HARRIS PLANS TO SKIP HISTORIC AL SMITH DINNER DESPITE LONG-STANDING TRADITION

Vice President Kamala Harris prepares to speak at “We the People: An Audio Townhall With Kamala Harris and Charlamagne tha God” in Detroit on Tuesday. (Aaron J. Thornton/Getty Images for iHeartMedia)

“The Vice President is going to be campaigning in a battleground state that day, and the campaign wants to maximize her time in the battlegrounds this close to the election. Her team also told the organizers that she would very much like to attend their event as President. This would make her one of the first sitting Presidents to attend,” the campaign said. 

The event this year will instead focus on Trump’s in-person remarks, as well as Harris’ video — not the typical speaker schedule that spotlights the presidential candidates from both political parties while they lob lighthearted jabs at each other. 

 Former US President and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump with his wife Melania Trump and Archbishop of New York Timothy M. Dolan (L) attend the 79th Annual Alfred E. Smith Memorial Foundation Dinner at the Hilton Midtown in New York, October 17, 2024. (Photo by Timothy A. CLARY / AFP) (Photo by TIMOTHY A. CLARY/AFP via Getty Images) (Getty Images)

Prior to the event, Trump lambasted Harris on Truth Social for not appearing in-person and suggested it could cost her the Catholic vote. 

“Just found out that Lyin’ Kamala is doing a video message tonight instead of being at the Al Smith Dinner. She shouldn’t be allowed to do a video message. Kamala should be there like almost every other Presidential Candidate in their History, except Walter Mondale, who lost 49-1. They didn’t give me the option of a video message, nor would I have done it. This is very disrespectful to everyone involved. She should be here, or lose the Catholic Vote!” Trump posted. 

TRUMP APPLAUDS CATHOLIC GROUP’S MULTI-MILLION ANTI-HARRIS CAMPAIGN APPEALING TO CHURCH FAITHFUL

Hillary Clinton speaks with Donald Trump while attending the Al Smith charity dinner on Oct. 20, 2016, in New York City. (Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

Trump has attended the event each election year since 2016, when he and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton traded barbs that drew roaring laughter and some jeers from the crowd. 

“It’s great to be here with a thousand wonderful people, or, as I call it, a small intimate dinner with some friends. Or as Hillary calls it, her largest crowd of the season,” Trump quipped during his 2016 remarks. 

CARDINAL DOLAN ‘UPSET’ THAT HARRIS SKIPPING AL SMITH DINNER 

“People look at the Statue of Liberty and they see a proud symbol of our history as a nation of immigrants. A beacon of hope for people around the world. Donald sees the Statue of Liberty and sees a 4. Maybe a 5 if she loses the torch and tablet and changes her hair,” Clinton joked amid her remarks. 

Trump has celebrated his third return to the dinner as the GOP’s presidential nominee, while also taking a shot at Harris for skipping attending the event.

MORNING GLORY: WHY IS KAMALA HARRIS SKIPPING THE AL SMITH DINNER IN NEW YORK CITY?

“It will be an honor to attend the SOLD OUT 79th ANNUAL AL SMITH DINNER on October 17th in New York. It will be great to see so many wonderful people there, including Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan. We know the Spirit of Al Smith, the first Catholic Nominee of a Major Party, and John F. Kennedy, the FIRST Catholic President, will be in the room with us that night,” Trump posted on Truth Social last month. 

Former President Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris. (Screenshots/Univision)

“It was a virtual event in 2020, and I was delighted to speak to our Catholic friends that day and, of course, it was a HIGHLY SUCCESSFUL evening in 2016 when we were there in person with Crooked Hillary Clinton. The reviews of my remarks were TREMENDOUS. It’s sad, but not surprising, that Kamala has decided not to attend. I don’t know what she has against our Catholic friends, but it must be a lot, because she certainly hasn’t been very nice to them, in fact, Catholics are literally being persecuted by this Administration. Any Catholic that votes for Comrade Kamala Harris should have their head examined,” he added. 

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Dolan said he anticipates the dinner to raise roughly $9 million, which will be given to various charities to assist women and children in need, as part of the Church’s pro-life mission, according to a press release from the foundation. 

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

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s victory plan includes bringing Ukraine into NATO and replacing U.S. troops with battle-hardened Ukrainian troops at outposts throughout Europe.

Zelenskyy pitched the plan to the Ukrainian parliament Wednesday, seeking peace through greater help from Ukraine’s western allies. 

His request includes an invitation to NATO, the international group formed as a way to counter Russia that President Vladimir Putin views as a threat to his nation’s existence. 

Many believe Putin invaded Ukraine in 2022 due to the threat of an expanding NATO. Putin has long said he will not entertain peace talks until Ukraine ceases its bid to become a part of the NATO alliance. 

UKRAINE DEFENSE MINISTER CONFIDENT CAN REPLENISH TROOPS BUT IN NEED OF WEAPONS, EQUIPMENT FROM ALLIES

If Ukraine is not allowed into NATO, it may begin to pursue nuclear weapons, according to Zelenskyy. 

“In a conversation with Donald Trump, I told him it comes to this,” Zelensky said in Ukrainian while speaking to the European Council in Brussels.

“The outcome is either Ukraine will be a nuclear power — and that will be our protection — or we should have some kind of alliance. Other than NATO, today we don’t know of any effective alliances.”

He offered to have Ukraine take charge of European security and kicking out U.S. forces, thanks to its war-hardened military. 

“If the partners agree, we envisage replacing certain military contingents of the U.S. armed forces stationed in Europe with Ukrainian units. After the war,” Zelenskyy said. “Ukrainians have proven that they can be a force that Russian evil cannot overcome.”

Zelenskyy’s victory plan includes bringing Ukraine into NATO. (Yan Dobronosov/Global Images Ukraine via Getty Images)

The U.S. has around 100,000 troops stationed across Europe. 

In Ukraine, where manpower is in short supply, the average age of frontline soldiers is 43. The dire need for fresh recruits has led military recruitment officers to raid concert halls, bars and restaurants in search of 25- to 60-year-olds out of compliance with conscription into their forces. 

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte would not say whether he’d push member nations to extend Kyiv an invitation into NATO, though he reiterated that Russia does not have a say over who joins NATO. 

“The victory plan is not only about an invitation to become a member of NATO. The victory plan has more elements,” Rutte told reporters Wednesday. “The next steps [are] not just on this issue, but on the general content of the victory plan.”

PUTIN WARNS US, NATO RISK WAR WITH RUSSIA IF LONG-RANGE STRIKE BANS LIFTED FOR UKRAINE

He also once again called for an end to all restrictions on long-range weapons given to Ukraine so that the army could strike deep inside Russia, provide more training and air defense capability and prevent allies from shooting down drones and missiles over Ukrainian territory. 

Zelenskyy’s new plan comes as he continues to implore the European Union to release tens of billions in aid that has been held up for more than a year. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, whose nation has been blocking the transfer of $7.1 billion to Kyiv, called Zelenskyy’s plan “more than frightening.” 

The war in Ukraine is pressing toward three years in February.  (Reuters/Yevhen Titov)

“We are losing this war, so the strategy is not working,” Orbán wrote on Facebook. “But this does not mean that we need more war, more dangerous and long-range weapons — it means that we need to change from a war strategy to a peace strategy. We need a cease-fire and peace talks!” 

Zelenskyy was in Washington last month making the pitch for unrestricted use of U.S. ATACMS and other long-range missiles to lawmakers, but the Biden administration has said it has no plan to lift the ban for fear of crossing the Kremlin’s red lines. 

Zelenskyy argues Ukraine’s attacks on the Russian territory of Kursk prove that Putin is bluffing. 

​​”Thanks to the Kursk operation, we saw that Putin doesn’t have enough strength to hold his own when we push really hard,” Zelenskyy said.

This photograph shows damaged houses after an air attack in Ukraine’s Odesa region Aug. 26, 2024. (Oleksandr Gimanov/AFP via Getty Images)

“If we start moving according to this victory plan now, it may be possible to end the war no later than next year,” Zelenskyy told the Verkhovna Rada, the parliament. He is presenting the five-point plan to the European Council on Thursday.

Zelenskyy also said he’d asked leaders from the U.S., Germany, France and the U.K. for help with a non-nuclear strategic deterrence package that he said would force Moscow into a diplomatic process to end the war.

And he proposed partners from the European Union and U.S. sign a special agreement to purchase Ukraine’s critical resources, like lithium, gas, titanium and others, to shore up economic development. 

Some Ukrainian politicians read the plan as an unrealistic wish list. 

“A set of slogans and nothing more,” European Solidarity opposition party MP Oleksiy Honcharenko said in a Facebook post. “The plan looks like others need to do everything for us.”

Roman Losynskyi, a Ukrainian soldier and a member of the liberal Holos party, called the plan a “fantasy.” 

“On one hand, the plan sounds like a fantasy. On the other hand, Patriot, Storm Shadow, and F-16s used to be just as fantastic, as was the sinking of a large part of the Black Sea Fleet of the Russian Federation and the control of a piece of Kursk. Everything depends on the decisions of partners and the success of our diplomacy,” Lozynskyi said.

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However, he added that Zelenskyy “did not explain how he plans to achieve the implementation of these points.”

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov called the plan “ephemeral” and said, “Kyiv needs to sober up and admit its policies have no perspectives.”

LA CROSSE, WI – Mark Cuban, taking aim at former President Trump, as he warmed up the crowd at a rally for Vice President Kamala Harris at the University of Wisconsin – La Crosse.

“The Trump that stole Christmas,” Cuban charged, as he riffed on the popular holiday classic. 

The billionaire businessman argued that the former president “wants you to have a lousy Christmas” because Trump’s proposed tariffs would increase the cost of some holiday presents.

Cuban, the co-star of the popular long-running business-reality TV show ‘Shark Tank,’ and former majority owner of professional basketball’s Dallas Mavericks, has been a very visible surrogate on behalf of Harris since she replaced President Biden atop the Democrats’ 2024 ticket nearly three months ago.

KAMALA HARRIS TEAMS UP WITH THESE ANTI-TRUMP REPUBLICANS 

Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris speaks during a campaign rally at the University of Wisconsin La Crosse, in La Crosse, Wis., Thursday, Oct. 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin) ((AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

Now, Cuban’s hitting the trail on behalf of the vice president – and taking aim at Trump over his proposed tariffs.

“This man has so little understanding of tariffs. He thinks that China pays for them. This is the same guy who also thought that Mexico would pay for the wall,” Cuban claimed.

Cuban’s two appearances Thursday with Harris in battleground Wisconsin – at a business school class at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and at the rally in La Crosse – kick off a multi-day campaign swing through the key battlegrounds states that will likely determine whether Harris or Trump wins the White House.

CHECK OUT THE LATEST FOX NEWS POWER RANKINGS IN THE 2024 ELECTION

On Saturday, Cuban will hold a town hall in Phoenix, Arizona to talk about Harris’ newly announced “Opportunity Agenda,” before heading to Grand Rapids, Michigan, to campaign alongside Second Gentleman Douglas Emhoff on Sunday. 

Mark Cuban speaks at a campaign rally for Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris at the University of Wisconsin La Crosse, in La Crosse, Wis., Thursday, Oct. 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Abbie Parr) (AP Photo/Abbie Parr)

The efforts by Cuban – a well-known personality in both the business and sports worlds – could boost Harris as she turns up the volume on her efforts to court younger male voters in a margin-of-error race against Trump.

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Cuban’s campaign appearances on Thursday came as Trump’s best-known billionaire backer – Tesla CEO Elon Musk – campaigned on behalf of the former president in arguably the most crucial of the seven battleground states – Pennsylvania.

Musk spoke a town hall in suburban Philadelphia which was the second of a series of events to help Trump win Pennsylvania’s 19 electoral votes.

Elon Musk speaks as part of a campaign town hall in support of Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump in Folsom, Pa., Thursday, Oct. 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke) (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

“I’m in Pennsylvania. And I’m here for the very important reason which, you know….I can’t emphasize enough that Pennsylvania is… the lynch pin and in this election and this election, I think, is going to decide, the fate of America,” Musk stressed.

Musk isn’t just hitting the campaign trail on behalf of Trump.

The person estimated to be the world’s richest has donated roughly $75 million to a super PAC supporting Trump, according to the latest filings with the Federal Election Commission.

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

PLEASANT CORNER, Pa. – On a clear day, a hiker standing atop Bake Oven Knob, a high point along the Appalachian Trail in Lehigh Furnace, Pa., can see most of state Sen. Jarrett Coleman’s district.

Below the crest of Blue Mountain lies a patchwork of woods and farmsteads in the historically Pennsylvania Dutch communities. On the horizon lies the growing, diverse footprint of Allentown, Pennsylvania’s third-largest city.

Beyond Allentown lies mixed suburbs like Emmaus and Coopersburg, before again giving way to rural communities like Hosensack and Old Zionsville, the latter being the hometown of former three-term Republican Sen. Pat Toomey.

As Pennsylvania’s friendlier economic climate draws transplants from New York and New Jersey, its farmland has been gradually replaced by residential subdivisions and corporate warehousing.

INSIDE DEMOCRATS’ GROUND GAME IN PENNSYLVANIA’S ‘SWING’ LEHIGH VALLEY AREA

Bake Oven Knob, a high point on Blue Mountain in Germansville, Pa., overlooks Lehigh County. (Charles Creitz)

All of those factors combine to create what Allentown Democratic Mayor Matt Tuerk called the “swingiest” area of the perennial bellwether state.

Coleman, a Republican and an airline pilot who entered the political scene as an outspoken conservative member of the Parkland School Board during the height of national controversies, said Republicans are poised to do well in the Lehigh Valley this year.

“We are seeing some of the highest levels of excitement and motivation from folks in the Lehigh Valley. I am hopeful for turnout to exceed 2020 levels,” Coleman said. The GOP underperformed that year in both Lehigh and Northampton counties.

“Although Lehigh County contains a ‘blue’ urban core, life for everyone, regardless of political party, has gotten harder under the current administration. This is prompting even some who have traditionally voted Democrat to cast ballots for GOP candidates.

“The economy, border and community safety remain top concerns for those in the Lehigh Valley.”

Democrats are also aiming to retake the Pennsylvania state Senate, and state Sen. Sharif Street, D-Philadelphia, the state party chairman, said in a recent interview the landmark achievement is within reach.

But, in terms of Harrisburg and Washington, Coleman said, “kitchen table issues” are front of mind in his district, which also includes a slice of the Philadelphia “swing” suburb of Bucks County, and will help the GOP at both levels.

“It’s very clear that the majority of Pennsylvanians — and especially those in the Lehigh Valley — are far worse off than they were four years ago. The GOP has a platform with specific steps to take to improve the lives of those in the Lehigh Valley, Pennsylvania and across the nation.”

Democratic “demonizing” of Trump has not helped his constituents’ pocketbook or public safety via the open border, he added.

Off the side of Bake Oven Knob, adjoining the county lake now named for him, lies the property of Revolution-era farmer Frederick Leaser.

POPULAR PA DEMOCRATIC MAYOR WARNS TRUMP IS ‘OUT-MESSAGING’ HARRIS: I GET MORE FROM STEPHEN COLBERT

As the British approached Philadelphia in 1777, Leaser loaded the Liberty Bell onto his wagon during one of his trips to take produce to market and hauled it home to Lehigh County, preventing the Redcoats from melting it down for ammunition.

Such patriotic, community sentiment remains in that part of the valley, with American flags flying in yards during holidays and local churches and fire halls hosting community dinners, from the Jacksonville oyster supper to the German Groundhog Day spread at the local Grundsau Lodsch.

A few blocks west of the church where Leaser ultimately hid the bell is the headquarters of the Lehigh County Republican Committee.

Chairman Joe Vichot said the party’s presence is ubiquitous at many local events, including the Schnecksville Fair and Allentown Puerto Rican Day Parade.

Schlicher’s Covered Bridge, built in 1882, carries Game Preserve Road across Jordan Creek in Schnecksville, Pa. Donald Trump rallied in the town in 2024. (Fox News Digital/Charles Creitz)

Trump rallied at Schnecksville’s fairgrounds earlier this year, claiming how crucial the area is this cycle.

“We have literature on candidates, and we listen and speak to residents about the issues,” Vichot said, adding his party’s float won third place in the aforementioned parade and that more than a dozen attendees were registered to vote in only a few hours. 

The party also registers voters and has made connections with civic leaders in the Jewish, Syrian and Muslim communities, he said.

“The top two issues we hear are the border and the economy,” Vichot said.

“[Voters] want a new direction. They don’t believe the open border policies of Biden/Harris is good for their wallet or safe for their family.”

In neighboring Northampton County, home to Bethlehem, Easton and smaller cities like Nazareth and Wind Gap, conservatives are similarly pounding the pavement to get their messages out.

“Our local party is very involved. We are able to communicate with our voters. We are able to text them, call them, and they are receptive to our requests to … help out in going door to door and making phone calls for us,” Northampton County Republican Committee board member Andrew Azan III said.

Recent construction on Eighth Street in Allentown exposed an old-style campaign sign for the city’s last Republican mayor, Bill Heydt, who served from 1994-2002. (Charles Creitz)

Azan told Fox News Digital there’s a “waitlist” for Trump-Vance signs in his county, which the Republican nominee flipped red in 2016 but lost in 2020.

“That’s a positive sign,” he quipped.

With Bethlehem and Easton’s population of retired steelworkers giving way to new Hispanic and African American residents, the party has adjusted its messaging, but not its principles, to meet the changing diversity of the Lehigh Valley where it stands, Azan added.

In that regard, according to Lehigh Valley Tea Party board member Tom Carroll, locals are more receptive to the conservative platform, and the right wing is “more unified than I’ve ever seen.”

“They are more concerned than ever about losing their country because of the Marxist and socialist policies that are coming out of both Biden and, of course, now Kamala Harris,” said Carroll, whose Tea Party group is the nation’s largest, with 7,000 recorded members.

“She’s going to open the borders, and she’s going to enact the tax policies that she’s talked about, things like [levying] unrealized capital gains. Our voters are educated, and they’re concerned because they know what that will do to the economy.”

The Moravian Star shines on South Mountain above the Philip J. Fahy Memorial Bridge in Bethlehem, Pa. (Fox News Digital/Charles Creitz)

Carroll, an attorney who also helps lead the Bethlehem City GOP, said he’s been involved in politics since the 2010 midterms and recognized Republicans typically lagged behind Democrats in that realm most cycles.

“But there has been such a reach-out to the voters … in Pennsylvania in that there’s a lot of grassroots knocking on doors and meeting people and having a lot of events and surrogates from the various campaigns coming in.

“We believe in President Trump. We want him to get elected. And we realize Pennsylvania is the most important state in the nation.”

Fox News Digital’s Matteo Cina contributed to this report.

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

Here’s what’s happening…

-Nebraska high court restores voting right for thousands of convicted felons

-‘Unprecedented field operation’: Republicans gain momentum toward capturing critical Senate race

–Comer report reveals Biden-Harris admin’s ‘rampant waste, fraud, abuse’

The Israeli prisoner turned terrorist Hamas leader killed by IDF troops

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) just took out their target No. 1: Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, the mastermind behind the Oct. 7 attacks on Israel. 

Sinwar rose to the top position after the killing of previous leader Ismail Haniyeh in the explosion of a guesthouse in Tehran on July 30. 

Referred to by Israel as “The Butcher of Khan Younis” for his violent and cruel torture methods against his enemies, both Israeli and Palestinian, Sinwar, 61, is widely seen as being behind the massacre of Israeli civilians carried out by thousands of Hamas terrorists on Oct. 7…Read more

Hamas chief Yahya Sinwar and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (Ali Jadallah/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images // Ma’ayan Toaf (GPO))

White House

‘FOR NOW’: Supreme Court to allow Biden admin power plant climate standards to remain in place – for now…Read more

VIDEO CALL: Harris to virtually attend Catholic charity dinner that rival Trump is headlining…Read more

‘IT’S A SHAME’: Cardinal Dolan ‘upset’ that Harris skipping Al Smith Dinner…Read more

THOUSANDS STAYING: Biden admin moves to protect Lebanese nationals from deportation…Read more

NONCITIZEN VOTING FIGHT: Biden admin slapped with major lawsuit over alleged refusal to help state purge noncitizens from voter rolls…Read more

MIDDLE EAST ‘MESS’: CNN host calls Biden foreign policy ‘a mess,’ suggests Israel killing Hamas leader could help Harris…Read more

‘BEHIND THE SCENES’: ‘Yacht Killer’ got taxpayer-funded sex change while on death row after Harris ‘behind the scenes’ policy work…Read more

‘WE WILL BE WATCHING’: Biden admin issues warning to Netanyahu as Israel holds emergency meeting on Gaza aid…Read more

Capitol Hill

SWING-STATE SWING: Mike Johnson kicks off swing-state tour as GOP clings to House control…Read more

‘SLEAZEBALL’: ‘Despicable human being’: McConnell’s 2020 thoughts on ‘sleazeball’ Trump revealed in new book…Read more

‘HE’S SUCCESSFUL’: Fetterman admits Elon Musk ‘attractive to a demographic’ Democrats ‘need’ to win Pennsylvania…Read more

Tales from the Trail

OPEN TO ALL: VP Harris’ ‘Agenda for Black men’ not as exclusive as advertised…Read more

NJ BATTLEGROUND: New Jersey battleground House district poll finds tight race as GOP seeks to retain seat…Read more

‘MASSIVE AND PROFESSIONAL’: ‘Massive and professional’ effort boosts GOP’s confidence about ground game in pivotal swing state…Read more

DUMPING ON DON: Media says Donald Trump is in mental decline…Read more

Across America

IT’S ALL GREEK TO HER: TikToker apologizes after tearing down Greek flags she mistook for Israeli flags: ‘My bad’…Read more

PROBABLE CAUSE: Alleged ISIS-linked terrorist Nasir Tawhedi denied release in preliminary hearing…Read more

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

CINCINNATI – The third and final debate in one of the most closely watched House races in the country took place in southwest Ohio on Tuesday night where Democratic Rep. Greg Landsman and his GOP challenger Orlando Sonza squared off on a variety of issues from immigration to the economy to a newly surfaced ethics complaint.

“As I walk around this district now, whether it’s the economy or followed very closely by the issue with the southern border immigration, those are at the forefront of voters minds,” Sonza told the crowd of mostly students at Xavier University in Cincinnati as he debated Landsman in the race for Ohio’s 1st Congressional District.

“My dad had to wait five years to be a naturalized citizen,” Sonza continued. “So what we’re seeing in this country right now flies in the face of not just my dad, but the millions of Americans that have come in here illegally. So how do we actually stop the over 15 million illegal immigrants that have come into our country, that are overburdening our economy, overburdening our housing market, and also bringing in fentanyl like endemic here in southwest Ohio, rising crime.”

“Well, you’ve got to immediately close that border and I know that, look, if I was in Congress in these last 20 months, I would have voted for the Secure Border Act unlike my opponent, that would have immediately secured the southern border, brought resources to our border Patrol, and also tightened up our asylum policies and actually sent resources to our immigration courts. So in both of those ways, you can bring in people here legally and welcome them in here, just like my family did to pursue the American dream. But we have to do it in a way that actually stops the bleeding at the southern border and actually tightens the policies and procedures that we have.”

OHIO LT. GOV. ENCOURAGES SUPPORT FOR TRUMP’S ‘SWAMP THE VOTE’ STRATEGY AS KEY STATE’S EARLY VOTING OPENS

Democratic U.S. Rep. Greg Landsman and Republican challenger Orlando Sonza, Wednesday, Oct. 16, 2024, at the Schiff Family Conference Center at Cintas Center in Cincinnati. (Frank Bowen IV/The Enquirer / USA Today Network via Imagn Images)

Landsman responded to the immigration question by suggesting that he sees “eye to eye” with Sonza on many aspects of the problem.

“The fact is that you have to have a secure border, and for far too long, both parties have messed this up,” Landsman said, echoing the argument from many Democrats that the failed bipartisan border bill over the summer would have made a difference at the border.

“That was a good bill that will get 300 votes in the House, probably 80, 90 in the Senate,” Landsman said. “It was a bill put together by one of the most conservative Republicans in the United States Senate, and it would have come to us but for Trump. Trump did not want it to get in the way of his reelection campaign.”

On the economy, the issue that polling shows most Americans list as their top concern, Landsman took issue with billionaires receiving tax breaks while others struggle to make ends meet.

“I think more and more Americans, even though the economy has gotten better, more and more Americans are finding it harder and harder to pay all their bills, or if they pay all their bills, there’s almost nothing left for savings or vacation, and so the question becomes, who’s the economy built for?” Landsman said, taking aim at former President Trump’s tax policy.

OHIO GOP SENATE CHALLENGER REACTS TO POLLS SHOWING DEAD HEAT IN CRITICAL SENATE RACE: ‘RADICAL LIBERAL’

Rep. Greg Landsman, D-Ohio, is interviewed by CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images in his Longworth Building office on Friday, November 3, 2023 (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)

“You can look at the results that those at the top, the 1%, the super wealthy, they’re doing great,” Landsman said. “This is the best it’s ever been for billionaires and big corporations. And that’s in part because the tax code is built for them. Eighty-three percent of the tax giveaways in the 2017 Trump tax plan went to the top 1%. But what if you flipped it? What if you said that 83 to 90 percent of all of that will go to the working folks and middle-class families you all like? You have a much better economy because you’d have more money in your pockets to buy goods and services here in our local communities. And that creates jobs as opposed to what happens when the one percent get more money.“

Landsman said that “fixing the tax code is number one” and “number two is that you’re going to have to deal with price gouging.”

Sonza discussed the economy by pointing out that his family of four is dealing with the high costs of goods. 

“So what’s the first problem?” Sonza said. “It is this hyperinflationary environment that we have. How do you fix prices that continue to increase due to this inflation? What you have to do is you have to stop this idea of spend, spend, spend in our federal government.”

Sonza, a West Point graduate and former infantry officer, continued, “You can start with cutting the fraud, waste and abuse and the duplication and the redundancy in government. So stopping this over-bloated government spending fixes the inflation problem. But what do you then do with prices still high? Well, what you can’t do is make sure that we have a competitive environment that allows for prices to go down.”

“So we actually increase competition, whether it’s in health care or whether it’s in manufacturing or energy. If we increase competition here in America, we’re actually going to bring those prices down. I think that’s how you fix both of those problems.”

FLASHBACK: VULNERABLE DEM SENATOR ACCUSED VOTERS SUPPORTING TRUMP OF ‘RACISM’: ‘IT WORKS FOR THEM’

Orlando Sonza is running against Dem. Rep. Greg Landsman in OH-01

On abortion, Sonza told the audience he does not “hide” the fact that he is pro-life but pledged that he would not support a federal abortion ban and believes in exceptions for life of the mother, rape and incest. Sonza said abortion is no longer a federal issue and acknowledged that Ohio voters recently chose to enshrine abortion access into the state Constitution. 

Sonza argued that Landman’s opposition to the Born Alive Act, which instructs doctors to attempt to save the life of a newborn who survives an abortion, shows that Democrats have adopted “extreme” positions on abortion that most Americans disagree with.

Landsman expressed his support for codifying Roe v. Wade into federal law.

“It’s not the role of politicians to be telling you what you can and can’t do with your healthcare and politicians, whether it’s at the federal level, at the state level, are getting in the middle of these very complicated medical decisions,” Landsman said. “It’s not only dangerous, but it has gotten people killed. There are women who have lost their lives because of these new laws. These bans are bad. They’re bad for women. They’re bad for doctors and bad for our daughters. They’re bad for our economies. They’re bad for the country, and this is a big difference. I will restore reproductive freedom.”

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Representative Greg Landsman, a Democrat from Ohio, speaks during a news conference to announce the Rail Act at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, DC, on Thursday, March 30, 2023. ( Nathan Howard/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

One of the more contentious exchanges occurred after Sonza brought up a recent ethics complaint against Landsman by a former inspector general of the U.S. Department of Commerce accusing him of breaking the law by waiting 20 months to disclose stock transactions, far outside the mandatory 45-day period.

“It was my opponent that violated Federal Stock Act in failing to disclose over 80 stock transactions within the 45-day timeline,” Sonza said. “How long did it take, Congressman Landsman, to disclose over 80 stock transactions? 20 months. That, to me is not a mistake. That’s a pattern of misconduct that I believe is a threat to democracy and I think we have the ability to hold our elected officials accountable.”

“It was a question of whether or not the stock trades were disclosed,” Landsman said. “They’ve all been disclosed. I have nothing to do with my trades. And so I didn’t know. Once I found out when we were putting our financial disclosure together, we disclosed them. It was late, and that was wrong. And I took responsibility. It happened to maybe 60, 70, 80 members of Congress in the last term, dozens this term. And we put in place a system to make sure it doesn’t happen again.”

Sonza pressed the issue again later in the debate.

“Those of you here, those of you at home are learning not 20 months prior, but 20 months later, that the sitting congressman who sits on the Small Business Committee in Congress fails to disclose over 80 stock transactions, some of them in the very corporations that he railed against his opponent in 2022, Big Pharma and Big Oil.”

“Forty-six days, a mistake, 48 days, a slip up, 20 months to fail to disclose that and the reasoning we get on this stage is because I don’t do my stock transactions?” Sonza added. “That’s not the way my wife and I train our kids on how to actually save the money. You are responsible for every dollar that goes into your piggy bank.”

The Cook Political Report ranks the 1st District race as “likely Democrat,” but Republicans have dedicated resources to the race as they look to protect their slim majority in the House. Landsman won by just over five points in 2022.

Ohio’s 1st District consists of the city of Cincinnati and all of Warren County and was represented by Republican Steve Chabot for over a decade before Landsman defeated him in 2022 following redistricting.
 

Republican vice presidential candidate Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, speculated Thursday that the reason Pennsylvania is trending red could be related to former President Donald Trump’s proposal on tariffs, warning that voters in the battleground shouldn’t trust Vice President Harris’ promise to revive American manufacturing.

“This is where President Trump gets the most criticism, but it’s also where President Trump is the most right,” Vance said at a campaign stop in Pittsburgh, referencing Trump’s plan to implement tariffs as a way to discourage imports and drive domestic production. Harris has criticized the plan as risking price hikes. 

“If you are a business, and you rely on foreign slave labor at $3 a day, the only way to rebuild American manufacturing is to say, if you want to bring that product made by slave labor back into the United States of America, you’re going to pay a big fat tariff before you get it back into our country,” Vance said. 

“My message to Pennsylvanians: don’t trust anybody, especially Kamala Harris, when she tells you she’s going to rebuild American manufacturing without forcing the Chinese to pay a tariff,” he continued, speaking to voters in the critical swing state. “There is no way to do it unless you’re fighting hard against the people who are stealing our jobs and stealing our manufacturing industries, you got to do it. And if you’re not doing it, you’re not serious about rebuilding the American middle class.” 

TRUMP RIPS HARRIS ON ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION DURING LATINO VOTER TOWN HALL: HISPANIC VOTERS ‘MOST AGAINST IT’

Republican vice presidential nominee Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, speaks at a campaign event at The Pennsylvanian in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, on Thursday, Oct. 17, 2024.  (AP Photo/Rebecca Droke)

Vance was responding to a reporter’s question about what county in Pennsylvania the Trump campaign would turn to first to determine whether they won the election. 

“I’m not much of a political prognosticator. The only prognostication I’ll make is that Pennsylvania is going to make Donald Trump the next President of the United States,” Vance said. “I really do believe that.” 

Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, on Thursday, Oct. 17, 2024.  (AP Photo/Rebecca Droke)

“If you look at the early voting numbers, if you look at how much redder Pennsylvania has gotten in just the last couple of years, we are going to win this race so long as we work for it over the next 19 days,” Trump’s running mate added. “I really do believe that.” 

CARDINAL DOLAN ‘UPSET’ THAT HARRIS SKIPPING AL SMITH DINNER

Vance credited Pennsylvania’s tradition of world-renowned steel manufacturing and craftsmanship, saying the country has unfortunately “gotten way too far away from self-reliance.” 

Crowds of supporters listen to Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, speak at a campaign event at The Pennsylvanian in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, on Thursday, Oct. 17, 2024.  (AP Photo/Rebecca Droke)

The senator turned vice presidential pick said he believes Trump’s message is resonating in Pennsylvania more than Republicans from 20 years ago had because of the 45th president’s belief in “making things in America and stamping more products with the incredible label Made in the USA.” 

Citing a statistic he said “scares the hell out of me,” Vance said China has 32% of world manufacturing GDP, meaning 32% of the goods made worldwide are made in China, compared to just 18% made in the U.S.

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“That means China makes more stuff – I’m talking about the pharmaceuticals that we put into the bodies of our children, some of the important weapons systems of the future, the computer chips,” he said. “We’ve got to make more of our own stuff in the United States of America. And the way to do that is to lower regulations, lower energy costs for American businesses, and to rebuild the great American middle class.” 

Vice President Kamala Harris will virtually attend the historic Al Smith dinner on Thursday evening, the Archdiocese of New York confirmed to Fox News Digital. 

“VP Harris will appear via a pre-recorded message,” the communications director for the Archdiocese of New York, Joseph Zwilling, told Fox News Digital on Thursday. 

Harris will be the first presidential candidate in 40 years to not physically attend the Catholic charity event – since 1984 when failed presidential Democratic candidate Walter Mondale skipped. Former President Trump will attend and address the sold-out audience during the event Thursday. 

Harris’ snub of the historic Catholic charity event irked New York Archbishop Timothy Dolan on his podcast this week. 

KAMALA HARRIS PLANS TO SKIP HISTORIC AL SMITH DINNER DESPITE LONG-STANDING TRADITION

Vice President Kamala Harris addresses the Economic Club of Pittsburgh on the Carnegie Mellon University campus in Pittsburgh, Sept. 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)

“This year will be imbalanced because, sadly, Kamala Harris isn’t coming,” Dolan said on his podcast Wednesday. “It’s a shame because the nature of the evening is to bring people together. The nature of the evening is civility, patriotism, humor. It’s not a campaign speech. It’s not a campaign stop.”

He did add during the podcast that Harris was slated to appear via “Zoom.” 

“She’s sending a Zoom,” Dolan said during the podcast. Adding: “We have it already… I haven’t looked at it. There’s an embargo on it.” 

MORNING GLORY: WHY IS KAMALA HARRIS SKIPPING THE AL SMITH DINNER IN NEW YORK CITY?

The Alfred E. Smith Memorial Foundation Dinner was launched in 1946, and has raised millions of dollars for charities supporting women and children, and has since grown to become a political and cultural hallmark of election seasons. The dinner is named after the first Catholic presidential candidate, Al Smith, who served as the 42nd governor of New York and ran for president as a Democrat in 1928. 

This year’s dinner will be emceed by comedian Jim Gaffigan, who has portrayed Harris’ running mate Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz in sketches on “Saturday Night Live” this fall.

Cardinal Timothy Dolan speaks during a prayer service for Ukraine at Ukrainian Orthodox Cathedral of St. Volodymyr. (Lev Radin/Pacific Press/LightRocket via Getty Images)

Fox News Digital reached out to the Harris campaign for comment and confirmation that Harris will virtually attend the event, but did not receive a reply. 

The campaign previously told Fox News that the vice president would not physically attend the event, focusing her time on campaigning in the battleground state of Wisconsin instead. 

TRUMP CAMPAIGN PREVIEWS AL SMITH DINNER REMARKS AMID HARRIS’ ABSENCE: ‘WON’T BE DISAPPOINTED’

“The Vice President is going to be campaigning in a battleground state that day, and the campaign wants to maximize her time in the battlegrounds this close to the election. Her team also told the organizers that she would very much like to attend their event as President. This would make her one of the first sitting Presidents to attend,” the campaign said. 

The campaign previously told Fox News that the vice president would not physically attend the event. (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)

Trump attended the dinner in-person in 2016, as did then-Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, and attended 2020’s virtual dinner due to the pandemic. 

Former President Trump reacts during a Univision Noticias town hall event on Oct. 16, 2024, in Doral, Florida. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

CLINTON AND TRUMP TRADE JABS AT AL SMITH DINNER

“It will be an honor to attend the SOLD OUT 79th ANNUAL AL SMITH DINNER on October 17th in New York. It will be great to see so many wonderful people there, including Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan. We know the Spirit of Al Smith, the first Catholic Nominee of a Major Party, and John F. Kennedy, the FIRST Catholic President, will be in the room with us that night,” Trump posted on Truth Social last month. 

Cardinal Timothy Dolan sits between, Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump during the annual Alfred E. Smith Memorial Foundation Dinner at the Waldorf Astoria on Oct. 20, 2016, in New York City. (Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

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“It was a virtual event in 2020, and I was delighted to speak to our Catholic friends that day and, of course, it was a HIGHLY SUCCESSFUL evening in 2016 when we were there in person with Crooked Hillary Clinton. The reviews of my remarks were TREMENDOUS. It’s sad, but not surprising, that Kamala has decided not to attend. I don’t know what she has against our Catholic friends, but it must be a lot, because she certainly hasn’t been very nice to them, in fact, Catholics are literally being persecuted by this Administration. Any Catholic that votes for Comrade Kamala Harris should have their head examined,” he added. 

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

House Speaker Mike Johnson is embarking on a swing-state tour in the closing weeks of the election as Republicans fight to keep hold of their razor-thin majority in the House.

Johnson’s “American Revival Tour” is making stops in Michigan this weekend, and additional events are being planned in Ohio and Pennsylvania, among other states.

Its purpose is “highlighting House Republicans’ agenda for the next Congress,” Johnson’s political team told Fox News Digital.

The Louisiana Republican has been crisscrossing the country in 24 states in a bid to keep and possibly expand the GOP’s control over the House.

CLUB FOR GROWTH POURS $5M INTO TIGHT HOUSE RACES AS GOP BRACES FOR TOUGH ELECTION

House Speaker Mike Johnson is taking his “American Revival” tour to the swing states as the election draws near. (Getty Images)

All three states are also being viewed as critical keys to victory for former President Donald Trump’s 2024 campaign. It is no surprise they line up considering Johnson’s efforts to unite the GOP behind the former president.

A video rolling out the tour, previewed by Fox News Digital, features Johnson pledging, “We are going to win the White House, the Senate, and take back the House.”

“We’re going to secure the border, unleash our energy sector, protect our rights, support working families, pursue peace through strength,” Johnson says in the video. “Everything is on the line. We will be able to restore those foundations, and we really truly can bring about an ‘American Revival.’”

Johnson has been appearing with Republican incumbents and candidates across the country while also diving into the fundraising circuit – a baptism by fire for a previously little-known policy wonk who was rocketed to the national stage after the ouster of ex-Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., roughly a year ago.

SPEAKER JOHNSON RIPS ‘LACK OF LEADERSHIP’ IN BIDEN ADMIN’S HELENE RESPONSE: ‘ALARMED AND DISAPPOINTED’

House Speaker Mike Johnson, left, is battling Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries for control of the House next year. (Getty Images)

The work he has put in appears to be paying off. Earlier this week, it was announced that Johnson raised $27.5 million from July through September, “the highest amount raised by a Republican Speaker of the House in the third quarter of a presidential election year,” according to his team.

Of that, just over $8 million went to individual GOP candidates.

That cash will likely be much needed as groups aligned with the House GOP continue to trail their Democratic counterparts.

House Democrats’ campaign arm, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC), outraised the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) in August, according to numbers released late last month.

FORMER REPUBLICAN US SENATOR ENDORSES KAMALA HARRIS, SAYS ELECTION OFFERS ‘STARK CHOICE’

The states that House Speaker Mike Johnson’s tour will hit will also be critical for Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

The DCCC raised $22.3 million in August, compared to $9.7 million by the NRCC. House Democrats ended that time period with more cash than the GOP as well – $87 million compared to $70.7 million.

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Meanwhile, Republicans in tight races like Reps. Marianette Miller-Meeks, R-Iowa, and Ken Calvert, R-Calif., have been trailing their Democratic challengers in terms of funding as of the latest fundraising quarter.

Johnson is pivoting his “American Revival” tour to swing states after kicking off a pro-Trump event in Texas earlier this month.

Cardinal Timothy Dolan, the Archbishop of New York, said he was “upset” that Vice President Harris, the Democratic presidential nominee, is skipping out on the Al Smith charity dinner on Thursday. 

“This year will be imbalanced because, sadly, Kamala Harris isn’t coming,” Dolan said on an episode of his podcast Tuesday. “It’s a shame because the nature of the evening is to bring people together. The nature of the evening is civility, patriotism, humor. It’s not a campaign speech. It’s not a campaign stop.” 

Trump is expected to attend the Alfred E. Smith Memorial Foundation Dinner on Thursday, while Harris is campaigning in Wisconsin as the Democratic presidential nominee turns her focus to the “blue wall” states, which Hillary Clinton neglected in the final weeks of her failed 2016 campaign. 

KAMALA HARRIS PLANS TO SKIP HISTORIC AL SMITH DINNER DESPITE LONG-STANDING TRADITION

Cardinal Timothy Dolan speaks during the intercessory prayer service for Ukraine at the Ukrainian Orthodox Cathedral of St. Volodymyr in 2022.  (Lev Radin/Pacific Press/LightRocket via Getty Images)

Dolan argued the dinner is “worth keeping, worth doing,” given it could raise $9 million for charity. 

“We’re upset that she didn’t come because we’ve missed an evening to access something sorely needed now that even she articulates rather eloquently: that we’ve got to turn the page on bitterness,” Dolan said of Harris on the podcast. “And the Al Smith, you know, traditionally tries to do that.” 

“It’s not a roast. There’s teasing, big time teasing,” the archbishop said of the dinner. “A lot of laughs. But, but it’s – it’s a grand evening. … A lot of people think it’s a Catholic campaign stop. Not really, no. I would say the evening is reflective of New York demographics.” 

“It’s not a Republican crowd. It’s not a Democratic crowd,” he said. “It’s kind of evenly split.” 

Vice President Harris arrives at Trenton-Mercer Airport, in Mercer County, New Jersey, on Wednesday, Oct. 16, 2024, en route to a campaign rally in Pennsylvania.  (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

TRUMP APPLAUDS CATHOLIC GROUP’S MULTI-MILLION ANTI-HARRIS CAMPAIGN APPEALING TO CHURCH FAITHFUL

Dolan said there’s a possibility of Harris appearing virtually. 

“The Vice President is going to be campaigning in a battleground state that day, and the campaign wants to maximize her time in the battlegrounds this close to the election,” the Harris campaign told Fox News, explaining her absence. “Her team also told the organizers that she would very much like to attend their event as president. This would make her one of the first sitting presidents to attend.” 

Donald Trump speaks during a Univision town hall on Oct. 16, 2024, in Doral, Florida.  (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

Hosted annually since 1946, the charity dinner has raised millions of dollars for New York’s women and children, according to the foundation’s website, and “has featured renowned cultural, business, and political figures, including most major party presidential nominees during election years since 1960.” 

Trump’s Make America Great Again (MAGA) PAC sent out an email Thursday noting that Harris would be the first presidential candidate to skip the annual Al Smith charity dinner since 1984. 

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“Her radical policies are fundamentally at odds with Catholic teachings, and her history of anti-Catholic rhetoric has further alienated this crucial voting bloc,” the pro-Trump PAC wrote. 

With the 2024 presidential campaign soon coming to a close, Vice President Kamala Harris has sought to rally Black male voters with proposals to boost their financial and career prospects.

The “Opportunity Agenda for Black Men” released on Monday promises that a future Harris administration would provide “1 million loans that are fully forgivable to Black entrepreneurs and others to start a business.” Harris also proposes new “education, training and mentorship programs that help Black men get good-paying jobs,” in addition to legalizing marijuana and offering assistance to Black men for elderly care. 

But if that all sounds exclusive to non-Black Americans, the Harris campaign assures it is not. In statements to The Wall Street Journal, the campaign said Wednesday that Harris’ proposals will be open to all Americans, regardless of their race or ethnicity. 

HARRIS UNVEILS AGENDA TO HELP BLACK MEN ‘GET AHEAD’ AS POLLS SHOW TRUMP GAINS

Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris arrives to speak during a campaign rally at Erie Insurance Arena, in Erie, Pa., Monday, Oct. 14, 2024.  (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

The vice president is “clear-eyed about how Black men have long been denied the tools that would allow them to grow their wealth, get a good-paying job and support their loved ones—she is championing solutions that will benefit all Americans and address these specific barriers to economic opportunity,” a campaign aide told the WSJ. 

The Harris campaign did not respond to Fox News Digital’s requests for comment. 

OBAMA, STUMPING FOR HARRIS, REPEATEDLY TAKES AIM AT TRUMP

A person protests outside the Supreme Court in Washington, Thursday, June 29, 2023.  (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

The report notes that the U.S. Supreme Court has recently shown hostility towards government programs tailored to a specific race. The court in 2023 struck down college and university affirmative action policies, which made institutions of higher learning consider race in admissions in an effort to mandate diversity on campus. 

“Eliminating racial discrimination means eliminating all of it,” Chief Justice John Roberts wrote in the majority opinion. 

PRO-TRUMP BLACK GROUP FIRES BACK AT OBAMA

Activist Edward Blum, founder and president of Students for Fair Admissions, has led the charge to force companies and government entities to abandon programs and policies that take race into consideration, arguing any such endeavor is discriminatory. The WSJ reported that in September, Blum settled a lawsuit with the Atlanta-based Fearless Fund, a group that promotes minority female entrepreneurs, in which the group agreed to end a grant program that awarded $20,000 to small businesses owned and operated by women of color.

Blum told the Journal that he would seek to challenge the Harris administration if she delivered on programs that exclusively benefited Black men or any other racial group. “Racially exclusive programs like the one she has proposed have been repeatedly struck down by the courts in the past,” he said.

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The Harris campaign’s proposal comes as Democrats are increasingly concerned about wavering support among Black men, and in particular younger Black men, for Harris, who would make history if she is elected as the nation’s first female president.

Harris and Trump are locked in a neck and neck race in the seven key battleground states whose razor-thin margins decided President Biden’s 2020 election victory over Trump and will likely determine the winner of the 2024 White House race. Any erosion of support among Black voters, and in particular Black males, could prove costly to the vice president.

Fox News Digital’s Paul Steinhauser contributed to this report.

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Vice President Kamala Harris is barnstorming Wisconsin on Thursday with three separate engagements scheduled across the crucial state. 

The Democratic nominee for president has events scheduled in Milwaukee, La Crosse and Green Bay throughout the day as she tries to make her pitch to voters just weeks from the election. 

FOX NEWS POWER RANKINGS: HARRIS LOSES HER LEAD AND A NEW ELECTORATE EMERGES

Vice President Kamala Harris is criss-crossing Wisconsin with weeks until Election Day. (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)

She will begin her day in Milwaukee, which is the state’s biggest Democratic stronghold. According to the Harris-Walz campaign, the vice president will drop in on a business class at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. She will also speak with students on campus and emphasize her “opportunity economy” plan. 

Afterward, Harris will go to La Crosse and hold a rally at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse. 

STRIKING BOEING WORKERS BOO AFTER DEMOCRATIC SEN. MARIA CANTWELL CRITICIZES TRUMP

Former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris are each fighting to win swing state Wisconsin, which has gone both Democrat and Republican in the past two elections. (Reuters/IStock)

For her last event of the day in Wisconsin, she will have a rally in Green Bay outside of Lambeau Field. 

Harris’ campaign emphasized that counties surrounding Green Bay have trended toward Democrats in recent elections, which they attribute to former President Donald Trump’s policies and rhetoric. For this reason, they believe the area presents a prime opportunity for the candidate. 

LAKEN RILEY ACT SPONSOR BLASTS BILL CLINTON’S CLAIM ABOUT GEORGIA STUDENT’S DEATH

Vice President Kamala Harris is holding three separate engagements in Wisconsin on Thursday.  (Reuters)

The campaign noted that Harris’ Wisconsin barnstorm comes as they officially knocked on more than 1 million doors in the swing state. Her team said it has over 250 coordinated staff working in more than 50 field offices in 43 counties in Wisconsin, in addition to a team of campus organizers focused on turning out young voters. 

Wisconsin has notably flipped in the last two presidential elections and is rated one of several “toss-ups” in Fox News Power Rankings’ latest update. Other such states are Nevada, Arizona, Michigan, Pennsylvania, North Carolina and Georgia. 

SENATE DEMS TARGET BLACK VOTERS WITH NEW AD AS HARRIS’ SUPPORT FALLS SHORT

For her last event of the day in Wisconsin, Vice President Kamala Harris will have a rally outside of Lambeau Field. (Jamie Squire/Getty Images)

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Harris and Trump were tied in Wisconsin at 48% each in a recent poll by the Wall Street Journal. The poll was of 600 registered voters in Wisconsin and was conducted over Sept. 28-Oct. 8. It had a margin of error of +/-4 percentage points. 

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

EXCLUSIVE: House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer revealed his committee’s oversight work of the Biden-Harris administration, telling Fox News Digital that Americans “cannot afford” another term of “incompetence.”

Vice President Kamala Harris has “been an active participant in the worst administration in U.S. history that has inflicted untold harm on the American people,” Comer told Fox News Digital. 

Comer compiled a 72-page report with the committee’s “118th Congress accomplishments,” highlighting the committee’s work — including its investigation into the Biden family’s domestic and international business dealings, oversight of the Biden-Harris administration’s border crisis, as well as probing the fraud and abuse related to COVID unemployment relief benefits and the infiltration of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in the U.S. 

“Republicans on the House Oversight and Accountability Committee are committed to achieving what Democrats have neglected: rooting out waste, fraud, and abuse within the federal government and holding the Biden-Harris Administration accountable,” he said. “We have succeeded.”

BIDEN COMMITTED ‘IMPEACHABLE CONDUCT,’ ‘DEFRAUDED UNITED STATES TO ENRICH HIS FAMILY’: HOUSE GOP REPORT

House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., is announcing a hearing into the Biden administration’s policy “failures.” (Getty Images)

“Our thorough oversight and investigations have revealed rampant waste, fraud, abuse and mismanagement in the Biden-Harris Administration, and we’ve provided the transparency and accountability the American people demand,” Comer said. 

The report included the committee’s latest Secret Service oversight following the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump at his Butler, Pennsylvania, rally in July. Then-Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle resigned the day after she publicly testified before the committee. 

“Americans cannot afford another four years of the same failed policies and incompetence,” Comer told Fox News Digital. 

“Vice President Kamala Harris has been an active participant in the worst administration in U.S. history that has inflicted untold harm on the American people,” Comer continued. “We must return to pro-growth, America-first policies to restore prosperity, liberty, and security for the American people.”

During the 118th Congress, the House Oversight Committee held 135 hearings, sent more than 600 investigative letters, issued 51 subpoenas, heard testimony from 112 government witnesses and saw 23 bills passed in the House — with three signed into law. 

The committee investigated the Biden family’s business dealings, finding that from 2014 to the present, Biden family members and their associates received more than $27 million from foreign individuals or entities. The committee claimed that the family set up shell companies to conceal the payments from scrutiny. 

The White House previously ripped the investigation as an “evidence-free, politically-motivated” probe. 

House Oversight and Accountability Committee Chair James Comer speaks during a news conference. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

Comer also co-led the impeachment inquiry into President Biden. Comer’s Oversight Committee led the inquiry after its monthslong investigation into the Biden family’s business dealings, alongside the House Judiciary Committee and House Ways & Means Committee. 

The committees concluded that Biden engaged in “impeachable conduct, “abused his office” and “defrauded the United States to enrich his family.”

TAXPAYERS LOST MORE THAN $100B TO COVID UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE FRAUD, COMMITTEE FINDS

“We also exposed Joe Biden’s corruption at the highest levels of government as he actively participated in his family’s influence peddling racket that made the Bidens millions from Chinese, Russian and other foreign entities,” Comer told Fox News Digital. 

From those investigations, Comer, Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan and Ways & Means Committee Chairman Jason Smith sent criminal referrals to the Justice Department recommending Hunter Biden and James Biden be charged with making false statements to Congress about key aspects of the impeachment inquiry. 

The White House discounted the committee’s investigations, calling the impeachment inquiry a “failed stunt” that “will only be remembered for how it became an embarrassment that their own members distanced themselves from as they only managed to turn up evidence that refuted their false and baseless conspiracy theories.”

Hunter Biden, son of President Biden, is seen during the Democratic National Convention at the United Center in Chicago on Monday, Aug. 19, 2024. (Getty Images)

Following the investigation, Comer introduced the bipartisan Presidential Ethics Reform Act — a bill requiring presidents and vice presidents to disclose conflicts of interest while in office and disclose foreign payments, expensive gifts, loan transactions and tax returns during the two-year period prior to taking office, time in office, and for two years after leaving office. That bill also required presidents and vice presidents to make disclosures for immediate family members who receive foreign payments and other gifts, or who use official travel for personal business. 

HOUSE OVERSIGHT INVESTIGATING WALZ OVER ‘LONGSTANDING CONNECTIONS’ TO CHINA

Regarding its oversight of the Biden-Harris administration’s border crisis, Comer said the committee found there have been more than 8 million illegal immigrants encountered entering the country and over 1.9 million gotaways — illegal immigrants who avoided agents but were detected by other forms of surveillance — since they took office. 

As for China, Comer sent letters to 25 federal agencies to investigate whether officials were aware of CCP outreach to the American public. The committee held briefings with 23 federal agencies revealing “there is no cohesive, government-wide strategy to identify, deter, and defeat CCP political warfare.”

Immigrants line up at a remote U.S. Border Patrol processing center after crossing the U.S.-Mexico border on Dec. 7, 2023 in Lukeville, Arizona. (Photo by John Moore/Getty Images)

The committee also found that American taxpayers lost more than $100 billion to fraud and improper payments as a result of temporary unemployment insurance programs created in response to COVID-19. 

The committee also investigated Biden-Harris administration officials implementing a “radical environmental agenda” that Comer said is “jeopardizing jobs, energy security, and national security.”

SECRET SERVICE DIRECTOR CHEATLE RESIGNS AFTER MOUNTING PRESSURE IN WAKE OF TRUMP ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT

Meanwhile, after the July 13 assassination attempt against Trump, Comer launched an oversight investigation into the U.S. Secret Service, acting “quickly” to investigate the “historic failure and prevent a similar incident from happening again in the future.” 

Comer held an immediate hearing with Cheatle, who testified publicly about the egregious security lapses that led to the assassination attempt of Trump and the murder of an innocent attendee, Corey Comperatore. 

Cheatle resigned the following day. 

Most recently, Comer launched an investigation into Harris’ running-mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, for alleged connections to the CCP. 

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Comer said the committee’s “effective, targeted oversight has led to transparency, accountability, and solutions for the American people.” 

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) warned noncitizen criminals with felony convictions this week that they “forfeit the privilege” to be in the United States — in the type of muscular language rarely used by the Biden administration.

“Noncitizens with felony convictions forfeit the privilege to be in the United States,” ICE’s enforcement and removal operations (ERO) office in New York said on Tuesday.

The statement came as it announced multiple arrests in New York City, which is a sanctuary city that limits cooperation with ICE detainers. Those detainers are requests that ICE be notified when a potentially deportable suspect is being released so that they can be taken into ICE custody. It means that ICE agents have to go into the community to make arrests of immigrant criminals.

TRUMP SOUNDS ALARM ON ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT MURDERERS: ‘A LOT OF BAD GENES IN OUR COUNTRY’ 

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers look to arrest an undocumented immigrant during an operation in the Bushwick neighborhood of Brooklyn on April 11, 2018 in New York City. (Photo by John Moore/Getty Images)

The ICE account noted the arrest of a 45-year-old Jamaican citizen convicted of forcible touching, and a 34-year-old Guatemalan convicted of illegal re-entry. Agents also arrested a 38-year-old Dominican Republic citizen charged with sexual misconduct and a “criminal sex act.”

The Biden administration has said it is prioritizing public safety and national security threats as part of its narrowed enforcement priorities. However, it has come under fire for a sharp drop in deportations compared to the prior administration.

Recently, the deportation of criminals came under scrutiny after numbers showing that among those in removal proceedings but who are not in ICE detention, there are 425,431 convicted criminals. That is up from about 405,000 in June 2021 and 368,000 in April 2016.

NEW POLL REVEALS TRUMP HAS SIGNIFICANT LEAD ON IMMIGRATION, BORDER SECURITY IN KEY BATTLEGROUND STATE

Overall, the non-detained docket, which lists those in removal proceedings or who have a final order of removal but who are not in ICE custody, has expanded to more than 7.4 million people, up from around 3.7 million when former President Donald Trump left office. 

Immigration has become a top election issue, with both Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris pushing to be seen as tougher on the border crisis than the other.

CLICK HERE FOR MORE COVERAGE OF THE BORDER SECURITY CRISIS

A number of polls, however, have shown Trump to be the more trusted candidate on border security and immigration among voters.

Harris has hammered Trump on his failure to back a bipartisan border security bill that would have increased funding for the border and limited releases into the interior. Conservatives said the bill would only codify high levels of illegal immigration. Trump has accused the administration of fueling the crisis with its liberal border policies.

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He recently commented on the number of illegal immigrant criminals in the country.

“You know, now a murderer, I believe this, it’s in their genes. And we got a lot of bad genes in our country right now,” he said.

With less than three weeks to go until Election Day, a new poll in battleground Georgia indicates former President Trump holding on to his single-digit lead over Vice President Harris in the fight for the state’s 16 crucial electoral votes.

But a survey in neighboring North Carolina, another key swing state that also has 16 electoral votes up for grabs, shows Harris with a slight edge over Trump.

According to a pair of Quinnipiac University polls released on Wednesday, the GOP presidential nominee tops the Democratic Party standard-bearer 52%-45% among likely Georgia voters, with Green Party candidate Jill Stein and Libertarian Party candidate Chase Oliver each receiving 1% support.

Trump’s seven-point lead edged up a point from his 50%-44% margin over Harris in Quinnipiac’s September survey in Georgia.

WHAT THE LATEST FOX NEWS POLLS IN THE 2024 ELECTION SHOW 

Former President Trump sat down with Fox News’ Harris Faulkner for a town hall on “The Faulkner Focus” and answered questions from female voters in Georgia. (“Fox & Friends” screengrab)

Most other public opinion surveys in Georgia indicate a much tighter margin-of-error race between the vice president and the former president.

President Biden narrowly edged Trump in Georgia in 2020 to become the first Democrat to carry the state in a White House race in nearly 30 years, since former President Bill Clinton in 1992.

CHECK OUT THE LATEST FOX NEWS POWER RANKINGS 

In Quinnipiac’s North Carolina poll, Harris edges Trump 49%-47%, with Oliver at 1%.

That’s a switch from last month, when Trump held a two-point advantage over Harris.

Democrat presidential nominee Vice President Harris speaks during a campaign event at East Carolina University, Oct. 13, 2024, in Greenville, N.C. (AP Photo/David Yeazell)

Most other recent polling indicates Trump with a slight edge over Harris in a state he narrowly carried over Biden four years ago.

“Between them, there’s a mother lode of electoral votes ready to be mined. One state favors Trump. The other is up for grabs,” Quinnipiac University polling analyst Tim Malloy said.

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Pointing specifically to North Carolina, Malloy noted that “in a tight race, there is an enormous gender gap, women for Harris and men for Trump, going down to the final stretch.”

Kamala Harris and Donald Trump

The release of the polls comes as both states this week kick off early in-person voting.

Georgia began ballot box voting on Tuesday and set a new record on day one. North Carolina begins early voting on Thursday.

In Georgia, the new poll indicates independent voters supporting Trump 49%-42% over Harris. In North Carolina, Trump edges Harris 49%-45% among independent voters.

The new survey also indicates Democrat state Attorney General Josh Stein of North Carolina leading scandal-plagued Republican Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson 52%-40% among likely voters in the race to succeed term-limited Democrat Gov. Roy Cooper.

The polls were conducted Oct. 10-14 with 1,328 likely voters in Georgia and 1,031 likely voters in North Carolina questioned.

The sampling error was plus or minus 2.7 percentage points in Georgia and plus or minus 3.1 percentage points in North Carolina.

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

The Federal Bureau of Investigation quietly updated its 2022 crime data to show an increase in violent crimes, despite previous data showing violent crimes had fallen that year, which was touted as a victory for the Biden-Harris administration. 

“For some reason, the media, they did pick the crime data that they think goes and makes the Democrats look as good as possible. And then even when the crime data that they’ve relied on turns out by the very source of that data to be wrong, none of them fix it,” John Lott, the founder and president of the Crime Prevention Research Center, told Fox News Digital in a Zoom interview this week. 

The FBI released its annual crime in the nation data for 2022 last year, which found a 2.1% decrease in violent crimes compared to 2021, Lott explained. The data was lauded by Democrats and the media as part of a turning point for crime woes in the U.S., following the crime wave of 2020, when defund-the-police protests and riots swept the nation and the pandemic’s stay-at-home orders upended daily life.

Now, the data reflects a net increase of 80,029 violent crimes in 2022 over 2021. Lott found that under the umbrella of violent crime, there were an additional 1,699 murders, 7,780 rapes, 33,459 robberies and 37,091 aggravated assaults that year. 

VIOLENT CRIMES HAVE INCREASED UNDER BIDEN-HARRIS ADMIN DESPITE DEMS’ DENIALS: EXPERT

Vice President Kamala Harris and President Biden attend a campaign event in Pittsburgh on Sept. 2. (AP/Jacquelyn Martin)

“To give people an idea of the size of the change, when the 2022 data came out in September 2023, they initially reported that violent crime had fallen by 2.1% in 2022.… That’s the final data, supposedly, for 2022. The revision of that final data that came out last month, now claims that rather than the 2.1% drop, that there was actually a 4.5% increase in violent crime that occurred in 2022. That’s a 6.6 percentage point change there,” Lott told Fox News Digital. 

“It’s from a drop to an increase. And, you know, the bizarre thing to me is, for a year after the 2022 data was put out, we were having headlines, news articles after news articles saying, ‘Violent crime is falling, people mistakenly or erroneously believe that it’s increasing.’ And, you know, and they were relying on this data. But you don’t see any corrections in the news. Saying, ‘Oops, the FBI data that we relied on was wrong, that rather than a drop, there was actually an increase that had occurred,’” he added. 

‘WEAK-ON-CRIME LIBERAL’: TRUMP CAMPAIGN HITS BACK AFTER HARRIS BLAMES HIM FOR ‘VIOLENT CRIME WAVE’

President Biden and the Harris campaign have touted that violent crimes had fallen under their leadership, with Biden calling the reported violent crime drops “historic” while citing the FBI’s most recent data. 

“This year, the homicide and violent crime rates have continued their rapid decline from their peaks during the last administration,” Biden said in an official White House statement late last month. “… Communities across our country are safer now than when I took office.”

“Americans are safer today than when Vice President Harris and I took office. We can’t stop now,” Biden added in a separate White House statement in August touting crime data from an independent organization of police chiefs across the nation. 

Former President Trump gestures at a campaign rally at the Findlay Toyota Arena in Prescott Valley, Arizona, on Sunday. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

The Trump campaign, when asked about the revised data, took a victory lap, saying, “President Trump was right…. AGAIN!”

“The federal government lied about Biden’s cognitive decline, lied about the job numbers, and now we learn they lied about crime numbers too,” Trump campaign spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt told Fox News Digital. “Kamala Harris must admit she’s wrong and address how she plans to bring down the rising crime crisis. Every mainstream media reporter who was quick to correct President Trump must cover this new revelation if they have any shred of integrity left.”

Trump has repeatedly said on the campaign trail that “crime in this country is through the roof” under the Biden-Harris administration, despite the previous figures promoted by the FBI showing violent crime was allegedly on a downward trend. 

When asked about the revision, the White House argued that following the passage of the American Rescue Plan in 2021 under the Biden-Harris administration, violent crime is “at a near 50-year low.” 

“Under the previous administration, our country saw the biggest increase in murder rates on record. President Biden and Vice President Harris immediately got to work to turn it around and passed the American Rescue Plan, which led to the largest ever federal investment in public safety. As a result, violent crime is at a near 50-year low, and is continuing to decline this year according independent data from police chiefs in the nation’s largest cities,” White House spokesperson Robyn Patterson told Fox News Digital on Wednesday. 

An administration official added in a comment to Fox Digital that the “FBI often adjusts crime estimates as more data is reported.”

“During the prior administration, the FBI upwardly adjusted crime data during its last three years: in 2018, 2019, and 2020. These adjustments are standard practice,” the official continued before citing an article on the data this week. “Real Clear Investigations fails to mention that, in 2021, there was a sharp decline in the number of agencies participating in FBI data collection because the FBI temporarily disallowed an earlier collection method. The FBI switched back to its prior method in 2022.”

Lott explained he noticed the quiet update when the FBI released its 2023 crime data set last month, adding: “It was pretty easy to see that things had changed.”

“For 2022 and 2021 in particular, they had some changes for a few of the previous years, but they were very small. The changes for 2021 and 2022 were very large. You know, I looked through the press release that the FBI had put out, there was no mention of them having changed the data for earlier years. And surely no mention of the large change that had occurred. I looked through the Uniform Crime Report summary report that the FBI puts out, and there was no mention of the size of the change. There’s one footnote there that vaguely mentions that they had updated the data for 2022. No mention about updating it for 2021 or any other time,” he said, calling the discovery “shocking.” 

2ND AMENDMENT STEPS IN AFTER COPS STEP BACK IN WAKE OF DEFUND MOVEMENT IN CHICAGO

The data update is akin to when the Bureau of Labor Statistics overestimated the number of jobs created in the U.S. by 818,000 between March 2023 and March of this year, Lott said. 

The NYPD arrive at a crime scene near Gracie Mansion in Manhattan on July 26. (Kyle Mazza/Anadolu via Getty Images)

Lott authored an article on the data for Real Clear Investigations this week, which argued the updates to 2022 stats open the door to questioning if the 2023 stats showing an estimated 3% drop in violent crimes compared to 2022 are legitimate. 

“Without the increase, the drop in violent crime in 2023 would have been less than half as large — only 1.6% instead of the reported drop of 3.5%,” Lott wrote.

While FBI data has shown alleged drops in violent crimes in recent years, other government data sets have shown crime has increased in the last few years. 

BIDEN-HARRIS ADMIN SAYS CRIME IS DOWN, BUT INDEPENDENT DATA SHOWS VIOLENT CRIME UP ACROSS 66 CITIES

The seal of the Federal Bureau of Investigation outside its headquarters in Washington, D.C., on Aug. 15, 2022. (Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images)

Crimes such as rape or sexual assault, aggravated assault and robbery increased from 2020 to 2023, the Department of Justice’s Bureau of Justice Statistics revealed last month as part of its National Crime Victimization Survey. Across the board, the survey found total instances of reported violent crimes increased from 5.6 per 1,000 individuals aged 12 and over in 2020, when Trump was still in office, to 8.7 per 1,000 in 2023. 

PUBLIC SAFETY GROUP FINDS FBI VIOLENT CRIME DATA IS HIGHER THAN INITIALLY REPORTED

Lott, who also served as a senior adviser for research and statistics at the DOJ’s Office of Justice Programs, authored an op-ed for Real Clear Politics last month and detailed that the DOJ survey found that total violent crimes are 55.4% higher in 2023 than in 2020, the end of Trump’s tenure, while rape crimes increased by 42%, robbery by 63% and aggravated assault by 55%. The DOJ survey does not include surveys on murder, but that category is almost always reported to police departments, and subsequently to the FBI, he noted, and makes up about 1% of the U.S.’ total violent crimes.

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Fox News Digital reached out to the FBI and Harris campaign regarding the 2022 data but did not immediately receive replies. 

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

Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis is requesting that a Georgia appeals court restore six of her original criminal counts against former President Trump and his co-defendants in her 2020 election case after a judge tossed the charges earlier this year. 

Willis filed a brief to the Georgia Court of Appeals requesting it overturn Fulton County Judge Scott McAfee’s decision to dismiss charges against Trump and allies, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution first reported Wednesday.

GEORGIA JUDGE DISMISSES TWO CRIMINAL COUNTS AGAINST TRUMP IN FANI WILLIS’ 2020 ELECTION INTERFERENCE CASE

McAfee, in March, dismissed six of the charges against Trump, saying Willis failed to allege sufficient detail. 

Last month, McAfee also dismissed two other criminal counts against Trump, saying Willis and Georgia prosecutors had no authority to bring the charges, which related to the alleged filing of false documents in federal court. 

McAfee did, however, uphold the racketeering charge in the case, which was brought against all the defendants.

In her filing, Willis said the trial court “erred by quashing six counts of the indictment in this case.” 

“The indictment more than sufficiently placed Cross-Appellees on notice of the conduct at issue and allowed them to prepare an intelligent defense to the charges,” Willis argued, adding that her indictment “included an abundance of context and factual allegations.” 

Willis is arguing that the court “should reverse the trial court’s order and reinstate counts 2, 5, 6, 28, 36, and 38 of the indictment.”

Lead Trump defense counsel in the case, Steve Sadow, told Fox News Digital that Willis’ brief is “simply incorrect on the law.” 

“The trial court’s dismissal order properly decided that the State failed to sufficiently plead the allegations in the dismissed counts under Georgia law,” Sadow said. 

The case was thrown into limbo when it was revealed Willis reportedly had an “improper affair” with Nathan Wade, a prosecutor she hired to help bring the case against Trump. Wade later stepped down.  

FANI WILLIS FACES NOTHING BUT SETBACKS IN CASE AGAINST TRUMP

In June, the Georgia Court of Appeals paused the proceedings until it hears the case to disqualify Willis, yet another major setback for Willis. 

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The Georgia Court of Appeals said it would hear Trump’s argument to have Willis disqualified on Dec. 5, a month after the 2024 presidential election. 

Trump pleaded not guilty to all charges. 

After allegations of plagiarism levied against Vice President Harris, the New York Times quoted an expert who insisted Republicans were “mak[ing] a big deal” out of minor violations that were “an error and not an intent to defraud.” Meanwhile, speaking to the Washington Post, the same expert blamed Harris’ plagiarism on technical difficulties.

Despite the benign reaction to the revelations of Harris’ plagiarism from her 2009 book about prosecuting crime, the reaction to plagiarism accusations against Joe Biden during his 1987-1988 run for president was much more aggressive, and many, such as the Washington Post, have credited the scandal with derailing his then-campaign.

“Senator Joseph R. Biden Jr., fighting to salvage his Presidential campaign,” the New York Times wrote in 1987 after reports he lifted excerpts from other politicians’ speeches to use as his own and plagiarized a paper in law school. They also called the revelations “damaging,” while independent columnist Lewis Grizzard described Biden’s plagiarism as “thievery and disinformation.”

NY TIMES ENDORSES KAMALA HARRIS, CHOOSES DEMOCRAT IN 17TH STRAIGHT PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION 

Joe Biden announces his bid for the 1988 Democrat presidential nomination. (Steve Liss/Getty Images)

The public was concerned enough about Biden’s alleged plagiarism that he was forced to withdraw from his regular duties in Congress, which, at the time, included the Senate confirmation of Supreme Court Justice nominee Robert Bork, to hold an impromptu press conference to answer questions about the ordeal. Roughly a week later, Biden withdrew from the race amid the backlash.

When asked during the press conference if he thought the plagiarism accusations would affect his run for the presidency, Biden said he didn’t think so but conceded it would come down to how the press portrayed it to the American people: “You all will make the judgment about that. It will all depend on how you write it. I don’t mean that – I’m not being smart. It will all depend on how the American people look at me. They’re going to look at me and say, ‘Is Joe Biden being honest with me? Or is Joe Biden not being honest with me?” 

The New York Times’ reporting on Harris’ plagiarism was slammed by Republican critic Christopher Rufo, who was the force behind the Harris account of plagiarism. Rufo, alongside an Austrian plagiarism expert, said they found dozens of violations in Harris’ 2009 book, “Smart on Crime: A Career Prosecutor’s Plan to Make Us Safer.” These reportedly included verbatim passages lifted from news reports at NBC and the Associated Press, as well as sections taken from Wikipedia, all without any citation or quotes indicating it was not her language. Harris also plagiarized excerpts from a Bureau of Justice Assistance report, a report from the Urban Institute and a press release from the John Jay College of Criminal Justice for her book, according to Rufo.

NY TIMES ADVICE COLUMN PONDERS APPROPRIATENESS OF FLEEING THE COUNTRY IF ‘WRONG CANDIDATE’ GETS ELECTED

A front-page article from the New York Times after the first assassination attempt on former President Trump. (Stephanie Keith/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

After the New York Times came out with its reporting on the matter, Rufo criticized the paper for “lying.” The Times, which spoke to plagiarism expert Jonathan Bailey, said Rufo only found “five sections” of “about 500 words” that amounted to something problematic. Bailey referred to the alleged plagiarism as an “error and not an intent to defraud,” adding that Rufo was trying to “make a big deal of [something minor].” 

The paper added that “none of the passages in question took the ideas or thoughts of another writer.” Meanwhile, in 1987, the Times slammed claims from Biden that the ideas he reportedly plagiarized came to him spontaneously: “Mr. Biden’s borrowing raises questions about how much a candidate can adapt someone else’s language and thoughts, whether he remembers to give credit or not,” the outlet posited at the time.

Rufo also blasted the Washington Post’s coverage for downplaying the Harris plagiarism allegations. The paper, which spoke to Bailey as well, blamed the “errors” on technical difficulties.

“Bailey said such errors are not uncommon in material written from the late 1990s to around 2010, a period when electronic research became more common, but plagiarism detection had not yet emerged,” wrote the Post.

Kamala Harris and conservative activist Christopher Rufo (Getty Images)

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Rufo also drew a contrast between how the Post criticized first lady Melania Trump for what he described as “lifting a few turns of phrase” during a 2016 speech.

“When Kamala Harris did this more than a dozen times, the paper explained that it was OK because Kamala didn’t know how to use a computer,” he said.

In addition to alleging plagiarism by Harris, Rufo was also the force behind alleging plagiarism by the former president of Harvard, Claudine Gay. The revelations that Gay had reportedly copied numerous academics over the course of her own academic career subsequently led to her removal as Harvard’s president.

Fox News Digital reached out to the New York Times, the Washington Post and the Harris campaign for comment but did not hear back by press time.

Kamala Harris’ first interview on Fox News was a contentious affair, and at times she and Bret Baier wound up talking over each other. 

But while the vice president repeatedly ducked some questions, she also had several moments when she appeared to be standing up to her least favorite network–undoubtedly something she hoped to achieve.

WHY TRUMP, BATTLING MEDIA HOSTILITY, IS DECLARING WAR ON FACT-CHECKERS

She showed passion, even anger, raising her voice, on a question about most of the country believing we’re on the wrong track, saying that Donald Trump was “unfit to serve” and “unstable.” Turning questions into broadsides against the former president was her signature move.

But what about half the country that supports him, Baier asked. “Are they stupid?”

A side-by-side of Bret Baier and Kamala Harris. (Fox News Media/Getty Images)

No, but “he’s the one who tends to demean and belittle and diminish,” Harris said. Trump is the one talking about “an enemy within,” and using the military against Americans. “He’s talking about locking people up because they disagree with him.”

Several times she told Baier “you and I both know” before lobbing a grenade at Trump, trying to project an image of standing up to both Fox and her opponent. She wanted this fight.

AS A CAUTIOUS KAMALA LOSES MOMENTUM, DEMOCRATS ARE PANICKING OVER A TRUMP WIN

Among the questions Harris didn’t want to answer:

Does she support taxpayer-funded transgender surgery for federal inmates, as she did in 2019? “I will follow the law,” she said flatly, insisting Trump had done the same. (The Trump camp shot back that the first such surgery took place in 2022, during her tenure.)

Didn’t she know that Joe Biden had been diminished? She danced around that one.

Bret Baier interviews Kamala Harris on Fox News. (Fox News Channel)

Why hasn’t she made progress on these issues during her time as vice president?

“My presidency will not be a continuation of Joe Biden’s presidency,” she said, pointing out that she hasn’t spent most of her life in Washington. That was a cleanup of her disastrous response on “The View” that she couldn’t think of a single thing where she differed from the president.

TRUMP COUNTERS HARRIS MEDIA BLITZ BY RIPPING BOB WOODWARD, HOWARD STERN AND HER HURRICANE BRIEFING

The Fox anchor spent the first chunk of the interview on immigration, following up again and again to pin her down. 

At first Harris conceded the obvious: “We have a broken immigration system that needs to be repaired.”

Why didn’t you fix it? Trump killed their most recent attempt at a bipartisan bill, though nothing was accomplished when Democrats controlled both houses of Congress.

Laken Riley’s killing gripped the nation. (ELIJAH NOUVELAGE/AFP via Getty Images)

Had she changed her position since her 2019 campaign, when she said border crossings should be made legal?

“I do not believe in decriminalizing border crossings,” Harris responded, without explaining the change.

Asked about crimes committed by illegal immigrants, such as the murder of Laken Riley, Harris called them “tragic cases” and said her heart went out to their families.

There were times when her answers seemed thin, and other times when she slipped in a litany of her proposals.

The confrontational session was Harris’ first of this short campaign, after a series of softball sitdowns with people openly supporting her candidacy.

Fox News got the exclusive, and Harris got what she wanted: A defiant half hour in which she could try to change minds among the largest audience by far in cable news. 

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She should abandon her friends like Howard Stern and Stephen Colbert and do more tough interviews, because that’s how you show voters you can take the heat.

A former ICE field director is warning that a violent Venezuelan gang is more organized than the infamous MS-13, and is backing former President Donald Trump’s plan to stamp out the gang in Colorado and across the U.S.

John Fabbricatore, who served as an ICE field director and is currently a GOP congressional candidate in Colorado, told Fox News Digital that he would not describe Tren de Aragua as a gang. The organization has popped up throughout the U.S. and has been linked to a number of crimes amid the crisis at the southern border.

“TdA is a true organization. They’re not a gang. They have a better structure than MS-13 ever had. So I think that’s the difference and if we look at TdA, just in the amount of time that TdA have been in the United States and how fast they’ve grown. When you look at that, you need to realize that they’ve grown faster and gotten into certain aspects of crime better than MS-13 did and MS-13 has been here for 25 years,” he said.

NEW REPORT WARNS BLOODTHIRSTY VENEZUELAN GANG’S FOOTPRINT WILL REMAIN IN US ‘FOR DECADES’ 

Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump speaks during an interview with Bloomberg News Editor-in-Chief John Micklethwait during an event with the Economic Club of Chicago, Tuesday, Oct. 15, 2024, in Chicago.  (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

Tren de Aragua is believed to have started in the Tocoron prison in the Venezuelan state of Aragua and has since expanded into Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico, Peru and the U.S. There have been numerous crimes in the last year that have been linked to TdA, in states including Georgia, Illinois, Texas, Colorado and New York.

This week, an apartment management company in Colorado sounded the alarm on the troubles it has been facing as the group has taken over multiple apartment blocks in Aurora.

Fabbricatore says that the U.S. should look to other countries where TdA has a presence.

TRUMP ANNOUNCES ‘OPERATION AURORA’ TO TARGET ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT GANG MEMBERS IN COLORADO

These images from a CBP intelligence bulletin, show tattoos and identifiers for Tren De Aragua. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott announced a $5,000 reward for information leading to the identification and arrest of known or suspected members TdA members.  (ICE)

“TdA has put a foothold and has built up structure and foundation in other South American countries after leaving Venezuela in just a few short years. And when we look at that and we see what they’re already doing in the United States, that’s the worry,” he says.

“And I think enough news organizations are not looking into that to see how fast TDA has grown in such a short amount of time. And that’s why we have to do what we have to do. We have to put them out now. We have to make sure that they don’t grow to get a strong foothold,” he warned.

BLOODTHIRSTY VENEZUELAN STREET GANG SPARKS FEAR IN US AMID MIGRANT SURGE: WHAT TO KNOW

Suspected members of the Venezuela-based transnational gang Tren de Aragua were seen on surveillance footage shared by the El Paso County Attorneys Office at the Gateway Hotel. (KFOX14/El Paso County Attorneys Office)

Former President Donald Trump announced last week that he would invoke the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 to target and dismantle “every illegal migrant criminal network operating on American soil.” 

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Trump said, if elected, the federal government would “send elite squads of ICE, Border Patrol and federal law enforcement officers to hunt down, arrest and deport every last illegal alien gang member until there is not a single one left in this country.” 

Fabbricatore, who was given a shout-out by Trump at the rally, said he thinks those opposing the program are misunderstanding it.

‘I think President Trump’s basic want on this is just to protect the United States, protect United States citizens from the crimes that are being committed against them from foreign born criminal organizations. And if this is something that he’s got to pull out of a hat because no one else is doing anything about it, then it’s something that that needs to be needs to be tried,” he said.

Fox News’ Brooke Singman and Emma Woodhead contributed to this report.