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EXCLUSIVE: Former President Trump said President Biden and Vice President Harris’ “rhetoric” is what is causing him to be “shot at,” following the second assassination attempt against him since July, while telling Fox News Digital that the suspected gunman “acted” on “highly inflammatory language” of Democrats.  

Trump spoke exclusively with Fox News Digital Monday morning, just a day after he was rushed off of the golf course at Trump International in West Palm Beach, Fla., after the Secret Service discovered a gunman in the bushes. 

WHO IS RYAN WESLEY ROUTH: ALLEGED GUNMAN AT TRUMP GOLF CLUB

The suspected gunman, Ryan Wesley Routh, had an AK-47 style rifle pointing through the chain-link fence out toward the green; a go-pro camera; and two backpacks. He ran from the scene but was pulled over and arrested on I-95. 

Authorities are treating the episode as an apparent assassination attempt against Trump.

The motorcade for President Donald Trump arrives at Trump International Golf Club, Feb. 15, 2020, in West Palm Beach, Fla. 

Trump was safe following the second assassination attempt against him since July. 

“He believed the rhetoric of Biden and Harris, and he acted on it,” Trump said of the gunman in an interview with Fox News Digital. “Their rhetoric is causing me to be shot at, when I am the one who is going to save the country, and they are the ones that are destroying the country — both from the inside and out.” 

Trump pointed to Biden and Harris’ past comments casting Trump as a “threat to democracy,” while telling Americans they are “unity” leaders. 

“They are the opposite,” Trump said. “These are people that want to destroy our country.” 

He added: “It is called the enemy from within. They are the real threat.” 

Ryan Routh is accused of aiming an AK-47 at former President Trump while he was golfing at his course in West Palm Beach, Florida, on Sunday. It is being investigated as a second assassination attempt on Trump. (Obtained by Fox News Digital)

A background check on the name given by officials, Ryan Wesley Routh, revealed that he currently lives in Hawaii and has faced dozens of run-ins with police, stretching back to at least the 1990s.

Routh previously echoed Biden and Harris’ anti-Trump comments, that “Democracy is on the ballot” on his social media pages this year, and that Democrats “cannot lose.” 

TRUMP SAFE AFTER ‘GUNSHOTS IN HIS VICINITY,’ CAMPAIGN SAYS

Routh posted about politics often and donated to only Democrat candidates and causes.

“They do it with a combination of rhetoric and lawsuits they wrap me up in,” Trump said. “These are the things that dangerous fools, like the shooter, listen to — that is the rhetoric they listen to, and the same with the first one.” 

Democrats, meanwhile, have repeatedly blamed Trump for raising the temperature and have accused him of being a “threat to democracy,” particularly due to his handling of the Jan. 6, 2021 riot at the U.S. Capitol.

The White House, Harris’ campaign, and the office of Minnesota Gov. Time Walz, Harris’ running mate, did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s requests for comment.

Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump speaks during a news conference held at Trump National Golf Club Los Angeles in Rancho Palos Verdes, Calif., on Friday, Sept. 13. (AP/Jae C. Hong)

Trump also said Biden and Harris’ policies are “destroying” the country “by allowing millions of very dangerous migrants to pour into it and destroying our country and cities.” 

“On the outside, we are weak and feeble and not respected by the world anymore,” Trump said. 

Meanwhile, reflecting back on the debate against Harris last week, Trump slammed the media. 

“The media is made up of fools that will spew [Democrats’] garbage and spew their sick philosophies and will protect them at all costs, and they can’t believe they get away with it,” Trump said. “Democrats are totally protected by the media.” 

Trump said the debate on ABC News last week “was so biased and so out of control.” 

“Harris was the one lying about Project 2025, she lied about abortion, she lied about everything,” Trump said. “She was correcting me.” 

“It was three against one,” he said. “I was surprised at David Muir. I thought he was a high-quality person, but he is just a sleeze like the rest of them.” 

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But with just 50 days until Election Day, Trump warned Democrats to watch their rhetoric. 

“They use highly inflammatory language,” he said. “I can use it too — far better than they can — but I don’t.” 

EXCLUSIVE: America First Legal is suing Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office for records of any communication related to the prosecution of former President Trump between prosecutors and the Biden-Harris campaign, the Democratic National Convention and other groups. 

America First Legal (AFL) filed the lawsuit Monday morning. 

The organization is seeking documents and communication between Bragg’s office and the Biden-Harris campaign, the DNC, Color of Change and CREW. 

JUDGE MERCHAN SUED FOR FINANCIAL DISCLOSURES AMID CONCERNS OF DAUGHTER’S DEMOCRAT WORK

It is also seeking records related to efforts to raise money off the prosecution of the former president in New York v. Trump. 

AFL is also looking to see if records exist between Bragg’s office and Judge Juan Merchan’s daughter — Loren Merchan — who runs a Democrat-affiliated political consulting firm, Authentic Campaigns. 

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg stands with members of his staff at a news conference after the conviction of former President Trump in his hush money trial May 30, 2024, in New York City. (Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

“It is incumbent for Alvin Bragg’s office to meet its transparency responsibilities. The public record now reveals a direct contradiction between statements from the U.S. Department of Justice and Bragg’s own office about coordination between the two,” AFL Vice President Dan Epstein told Fox News Digital. 

“And now it would appear that groups like Color of Change may be coordinating activities between Washington, D.C., and New York City behind the scenes.”

AFL describes Color of Change as a far-left, Soros-funded group. The organization issued a statement characterizing the prosecution of Trump as the “fruit of our labor.” 

AFL says the group visited the White House 16 times and met with both President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris. 

The lawsuit comes as part of America First Legal’s ongoing investigation into Bragg’s office over concerns of impartiality, politically motivated prosecution and the weaponization of the justice system. 

AFL sued Merchan last week for refusing to turn over his financial disclosures amid questions about his daughter’s work at Authentic Campaigns. 

From left to right: Judge Juan Merchan, former President Trump and Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg. (Getty Images, AP Images)

The CEO of Authentic reacted to the subpoena last week, saying the allegations against the company are “completely false and purely politically motivated.” 

Under New York law, judges are required to file annual financial disclosures, which are required to be made available upon request. 

Trump was found guilty in an unprecedented criminal trial on all 34 counts of falsifying business records in the first degree after a six-week trial stemming from Bragg’s investigation. Trump had pleaded not guilty. 

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His legal team has moved to appeal the verdict. 

Merchan granted Trump’s request to delay sentencing until after the presidential election. The sentencing is scheduled for Nov. 26. 

A retired autoworker who spent 36 combined years on the line for both Ford and Chrysler – now Stellantis – started a pro-Trump group of colleagues and retirees in 2017 that has ballooned to thousands in recent times.

In a wide-ranging interview with Fox News Digital, founder Brian Pannebecker said his group started with 30 active United Auto Workers (UAW) members who all supported former President Trump in 2016.

“Word got out around my plant. It quickly doubled and tripled in size. … Other workers at other auto plants started seeing it [on social media] and requesting to join. And all of a sudden I had hundreds of members,” Pannebecker said.

Now, he says his group has expanded outside the internet to regular visits to auto plants around Michigan where he and his army of Trump-supporting union members are engaging with others and building support in a sector long known for its reliably Democrat bent.

Pannebecker said the UAW has and continues to be an important entity for middle-class workers, adding that he and his members support collective bargaining and the idea that unions built America’s working class. Henry Ford also deserves credit, he said, for creating the five-day work week and defying personal interests to offer his employees a then-best $5-per-day wage.

EPA SUED OVER ‘CAPRICIOUS’ BIG-RIG EMISSIONS STANDARDS CRITICS CLAIM COULD CRIPPLE CORN INDUSTRY

Brian Pannebecker, founder of Auto Workers for Trump 2024, left, speaks beside former President Trump during a rally in Waterford Township, Mich. (Nic Antaya/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

While Pannebecker underlined that neither he nor his group are at odds with the UAW itself, they notably offer a differing political viewpoint than its leaders, including prominent Trump critic President Shawn Fain.

One major issue uniting his growing group in support of Trump and other Republicans is the Democrat favor shown toward what he calls the “Green New Scam.”

“We think it’s all a farce,” Pannebecker said, adding that it is obvious the American consumer does not want to be forced to buy electric vehicles and that the government’s insistence on supporting EVs over internal-combustion vehicles has led to lines of workers being cut and innumerable EV vehicles sitting idle on lots in Detroit and dealerships across the country.

Pannebecker added that Trump’s forging of the USMCA as a replacement for NAFTA infused a new energy in the automative sector, as it disincentivized offshoring union work.

“After [President Clinton] signed it and it … went into effect, the auto companies – who are in business to make money and profits for shareholders – started closing plants here in the United States and moving them to just south of the border, maybe 10 miles [into Mexico].”

“Well, the Democrats and even some of the previous Republican administrations never addressed that. So, when Donald Trump was running, he said, ‘If I’m elected, I will tear up NAFTA, and we’ll renegotiate our own trade agreement so it’s advantageous to American workers.’”

“And guess what? He kept his campaign promise.”

Pannebecker said Auto Workers For Trump is united behind the two issues of the federal push toward EVs and green regulations, including mileage standards and offshoring that has occurred in recent decades.

EPA SUED BY CONSUMER, MANUFACTURING, AGRICULTURAL COALITIONS OVER BIDEN’S NEW VEHICLE EMISSIONS RULE

“Kamala Harris is on record saying she would like to see all vehicles built in the United States reaching zero-emissions by 2035. She supported legislation to that effect when she was a U.S. senator,” he said, going on to cite broadcasted claims that she was the most liberal U.S. senator.

“Even more liberal than Bernie Sanders, so she’s dangerous,” he said. “She knows nothing about manufacturing. She knows nothing about the economy. She’s a San Francisco liberal district attorney. And then she was California’s attorney general. And we all know what’s happened in California. They’ve ruined that state.”

“So, it’s just very, very obvious who the choice is in this election for autoworkers: It’s Donald Trump. He’s got a record to run on. Kamala Harris is nothing more than a liberal attorney from California.”

Pannebecker said Harris and other Democrats supported legislation in Congress that would “destroy” the auto industry and its jobs stateside.

President Biden speaks during a campaign event for Democrat presidential nominee Vice President Harris at IBEW Local Union #5 on Sept. 2, 2024, in Pittsburgh. (Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)

“My group’s job is basically just to make the auto workers … aware of that, educate them and then rally and motivate the other workers who are already aware of those issues … and make sure they get out and vote. We cannot stay home. Nobody can stay home this election.”

Rep. John James, R-Mich., whose family business is in the automotive supply sector and who represents many of the workers in Pannebecker’s group, told Fox News Digital in a separate interview that liberal politicians “don’t get” workers’ needs.

“They don’t understand that our livelihoods don’t match up with the agendas they cook up in their coastal retreats,” he said.

“When you … put these comply-or-die mandates on industry, the automotive industry accounts for 50% of the economic impact in the state of Michigan,” he said.

While Harris as a senator supported a Zero-Emission Vehicles Act that would phase out other vehicles by 2040, her campaign sent a “fact-check email” obtained by Axios that suggested her previous position had changed and that she “does not support an electric vehicle mandate.”

President Biden and Kamala Harris (Getty Images)

James said federal policy has repercussions, from the workers to the supply chains to the management themselves that go along with the government much of the time.

He said hundreds of autoworkers have and will eventually be laid off because of the green regulatory push and anti-worker policies from the left, and he praised Pannebecker’s work.

James pointed to his own Democrat challenger, Judge Carl Marlinga, and comments he made in a 2022 Detroit News interview in which he criticized James by saying he wants to “hold tight and try to stick with a dying industry as long as we can.”

“Or we can do it my way, which is to embrace the new products of the future, of the new green-industrial revolution.”

When asked Tuesday about such comments by the New York Post, Marlinga campaign manager Alan Fosnacht said that “unlike John James, who is happy to cede the automobile industry jobs of the future to China, what Carl said … is that our policies should prepare Michigan to be the manufacturing capital of the world in the 21st century.”

James, however, countered that the green movement supported is not based “in reality.”

“[The] technology is not yet ready for products that people don’t want,” James said, adding that autoworkers like Pannebecker understand that and are making their voices heard this election season.

As word got out about Pannebecker’s burgeoning group of autoworkers, members began making stops at the massive parking lots outside plants in the Detroit area during the current 2024 cycle.

While he was still working at a Ford axle plant, Pannebecker and other members would set up outside the lots before and after shift-change to greet and engage with the workers coming and going.

Shawn Fain, president of the United Auto Workers, attends the Democratic National Convention in Chicago on Aug. 19, 2024. (REUTERS/Mike Segar)

While they don’t impede traffic, Pannebecker said Auto Workers For Trump has been immensely successful in engaging with the hundreds of workers as they wait in line to enter or exit the plants. Sometimes, he said, the workers become volunteers themselves and the dynamic has greatly expanded the group’s numbers.

Many workers often have questions as to why they should support the Republican nominee, he said.

“As word has gotten out, we started getting some of the guys who are working in the very plant that were demonstrating and rallying at get off their shift and walk right out to us … and start holding the signs up.”

“They’ve lost their fear of repercussions by the UAW bosses because it’s just so commonplace that guys in the plants now support Donald Trump, and they want the union leadership to support them.”

While union workers have long been considered a key Democrat voting bloc, Pannebecker said that tide has been changing since Trump infused his own brand of policy into the Republican Party.

Areas of Michigan long held by Democrats are becoming increasingly “swing” districts, he said, adding the same has been happening in areas of the country where other union labor is prominent.

In Pennsylvania’s Anthracite Coal Region, counties like Schuylkill, Carbon and Northumberland – previously friendly to Democrats – are flush with Trump signs and now tend to elect Republicans to the state capital, Harrisburg, and to Washington, D.C. 

President Biden, who describes himself as the “most pro-union president,” has sought to blunt that by visiting key locations similar to those Pannebecker’s group does.

EV PARADISE OR CHARGING HELL? ALARMING ELECTRIC CAR SECRET EXPOSED

Former President Trump (Bill Pugliano/Getty Images)

Biden toured Mack Trucks’ main facility in Macungie, Pennsylvania, in 2021, and later its now-parent company Volvo’s plant in Washington County, Maryland, in 2022 to burnish his credentials and engage with workers.

Biden often tells stories of growing up in industrial Scranton, Pennsylvania, and later living in Claymont, Delaware, and being a stone’s throw from the massive oil refineries across the border in Marcus Hook, Pennsylvania.

In the trucking industry, Pannebecker suggested there is also a growing pro-Trump sentiment due to the same issues of the economy, job outsourcing and green policy.

He credited Teamsters President Sean O’Brien with having an open mind and speaking at the Republican National Convention this year. O’Brien was apparently snubbed by the DNC.

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“I’m not exaggerating here. Almost 90 to 95% of the trucks that drive by, whether they’re hauling automotive parts or whatever … they are blowing their air horns, giving us a thumbs-up, pumping their fist so we can see it,” he said, noting those truckers are often Teamsters.

As for Fain, the UAW leader, Pannebecker said many of the members he speaks with don’t understand how the union elected him.

“He did negotiate a good contract for them and got them caught up on all the give-backs … over the previous two or three contract cycles. But they do not like his politics. They think he’s got a big head now. They disagree with his endorsement of Kamala Harris.”

As for Auto Workers for Trump’s future plans, Pannebecker said they are looking to target some of the largest plants in Michigan in hopes of getting their message out.

“I think it’s going to be fresh in their minds as the voting begins here in Michigan, and Donald Trump will carry the vote of the UAW membership. I promise you,” Pannebecker said.

Fox News Digital reached out to the Harris campaign and UAW for comment but did not receive a response by press time.

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

Sen. Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis., has come under increased scrutiny over her years-long relationship with a private wealth adviser whom she owns a residence with, but since the two are unmarried, she is not required by Senate rules to disclose her partner’s finances. 

“Sen. Baldwin’s partner, Maria Brisbane, advises the uber wealthy on industries regulated by Baldwin, creating a massive conflict of interest that merits further investigation. Sen. Baldwin should immediately disclose her partner’s assets and client list – the people of Wisconsin deserve transparency,” said a spokesperson for Republican Senate candidate Eric Hovde in a recent statement. 

Brisbane, whom Baldwin has been dating since 2018, works as a private wealth adviser with the Brisbane Group, which is a wealth management team under the Morgan Stanley umbrella. In her capacity in the role, she serves clients with “ultra high net worth,” the website says.

JON TESTER CASTS DOUBT ON UNFAVORABLE POLL IN MONTANA SENATE RACE: ‘GIVE ME A BREAK’

Republican Senate candidate Eric Hovde has called Sen. Tammy Baldwin’s relationship with Maria Brisbane a conflict of interest and urged her to disclose her partner’s assets and clients. (Reuters)

Per Morgan Stanley’s code of conduct, “Examples of confidential information include the identity of our clients, Firm and client trading activities and securities holdings, acquisition, divestiture and tender offer plans, supervisory activities of the Firm’s regulators and Personally Identifiable Information relating to clients and employees.”

The Fix Washington PAC, which is promoting Hovde in the competitive Wisconsin Senate race, recently cut an ad about Brisbane and Baldwin, their shared residence and Brisbane’s client list. 

“They spend their time in New York and D.C. in their multimillion-dollar homes, but Baldwin fails to report their jointly owned assets or Maria’s clients, who get rich off industries that Tammy regulates,” the ad said. “That’s a conflict of interest raising serious ethical questions to face Tammy Baldwin.”

It’s true that Baldwin does not disclose Brisbane’s assets or client list in her own financial disclosures. However, she is not required to by the current rules. 

TOP SENATORS BRIEFED ON ‘MAJOR ERRORS’ LEADING UP TO TRUMP ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT

Baldwin has dated Brisbane since 2018. (Daniel Boczarski/Getty Images for The Democratic Party of Wisconsin)

Baldwin responded to the ad with one of her own, titled, “Complete lie.”

“This ad is a complete lie,” it said. “The truth is Tammy Baldwin’s never shared inside information with her partner and Tammy Baldwin’s leading the fight to ban senators from purchasing any individual stocks.”

In a statement to Fox News Digital, Baldwin campaign spokesperson Andrew Mamo said, “Eric Hovde’s attempt to attack the woman Tammy Baldwin is dating is sad and desperate. Tammy works for the people of Wisconsin and only the people of Wisconsin. No matter how low Eric Hovde goes, voters will not forget about the massive conflict of interest presented by his continued ownership of his $3 billion California bank that receives deposits from unnamed foreign banks and governments.” 

DEMS RUN ON BORDER BILL REPUBLICANS SAY ‘WAS NEVER DESIGNED TO SOLVE THE PROBLEM’

Hovde has called for Brisbane’s ties to industries Baldwin regulates to be investigated. (John Hart/Wisconsin State Journal via AP, file)

Her campaign also pointed out other senators who have been in dating relationships that did not disclose their partner’s assets, such as Sens. Tim Scott, R-S.C., and Cory Booker, D-N.J.

Part of the charges by Hovde and his campaign about the supposed conflict of interest posed by Baldwin’s partner and their status as unmarried, is Brisbane’s previous role as manager of a biotechnology mutual fund, per a progress report from 2017 for the Cancer Research & Treatment Fund (CR&T). 

Brisbane further listed on her firm’s previous archived website under Merrill Private Wealth Management that she “manages custom-tailored equity portfolios that place emphasis on large-growth stocks – with an effort to enhance performance through small biotechnology and technology companies.”

Because her clients are confidential, it’s unknown who they are and what interests they may have. 

TOP HANDICAPPER GIVES GOP’S TIM SHEEHY EDGE AGAINST DEMOCRAT JON TESTER IN MONTANA RACE SHIFT

Part of the concern put forward by Hovde is that Baldwin serves as chairwoman of the Appropriations Committee’s Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies subcommittee. 

“Tammy regulates the biotech industry,” an ad from his campaign said last week. “Maria advises clients in the biotech industry. If they were married, they would have to disclose their financial conflicts. But they aren’t married, so they can share inside information to get rich. It’s time to investigate Sen. Tammy Baldwin. She’s in bed with Wall Street.”

While Baldwin and Brisbane are not married, they purchased a residence in Washington, D.C., together and share it. Both of their names are on the property’s deed. According to Baldwin’s campaign, the two split the cost of the condominium and Brisbane paid for hers in cash while Baldwin took out a mortgage on her half. 

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The campaign also said Baldwin and Brisbane do not share bank accounts.

In a recent Marquette University Law School poll, Baldwin led Hovde 51% to 45% among registered voters in Wisconsin. 

Top political handicapper, the Cook Political Report, rated the election as a slight advantage for Baldwin, labeling it “lean Democrat,” alongside several other competitive Senate races. 

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

The man arrested at Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach, Florida, on Sunday afternoon prolifically posted on social media about world events and politics, and had at least 100 run-ins with police, public records show. 

Ryan Wesley Routh, 58, was arrested Sunday after allegedly pushing the muzzle of an AK-47 through the chainlink fence outside of where Trump was golfing. Trump was not injured during the incident, and was safely escorted away from the area, officials and the campaign reported Sunday.

Ryan Routh is accused of aiming an AK-47 at former President Trump while he was golfing at his course in West Palm Beach, Florida, on Sunday. It is being investigated as a second assassination attempt on Trump. (Obtained by Fox News Digital)

Routh currently resides in Hawaii, after spending the majority of his life in North Carolina, where he worked construction, including owning a company called United Roofing, a background check conducted by Fox Digital shows. 

Fox News Digital poured through the suspect’s alleged social media accounts Sunday afternoon, and found he prolifically posted about Trump, the war in Ukraine, the 2020 election and other world events. 

DONALD TRUMP SAFE AFTER SHOTS FIRED OUTSIDE PALM BEACH GOLF CLUB

Sheriff vehicles are pictured near Trump International Golf Club, Sunday. Sept. 15, 2024, in West Palm Beach, Fla., after gunshots were reported in the vicinity of Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump. (Peter Burke/Fox News Digital)

“I feel lucky to have been born in America, with freedom and opportunity and hope that I do not waste such a valuable thing; to do more and take less,” Routh’s apparent X account biography declares. 

In 2020, during the presidential primary, the X account said: “I was not supporting Bernie, but now I am; as sleepy Joe stands for nothing; no plans, no ideas, just as limp as hillary.  Bernie…….give them hell…..fight to the death…”

The account also weighed in on Trump’s assassination attempt in July, calling on Vice President Kamala Harris to visit with those injured at the Pennsylvania Trump rally, because “Trump will never do anything for them.” 

LAW ENFORCEMENT SOURCES IDENTIFY RYAN WESLEY ROUTH AS SUSPECT IN TRUMP SHOOTING

“You and Biden should visit the injured people in the hospital from the Trump rally and attend the funeral of the murdered fireman. Trump will never do anything for them….show the world what compassion and humanity is all about,” he said in a reply message to Harris’ account on July 17. 

“You should visit the victims in the hospital of the trump rally victims and attend the funeral of the fireman that died; Trump certainly never would. SHOW THE WORLD WHAT REAL LEADERS DO,” he wrote in another X reply to President Biden. 

In another X post published on April 22, Routh appeared to quote a commonly used phrase by the Harris campaign, declaring: “DEMOCRACY is on the ballot and we cannot lose.”

“Your campaign should be called something like KADAF. Keep America democratic and free. Trumps should be MASA …make Americans slaves again master. DEMOCRACY is on the ballot and we cannot lose. We cannot afford to fail. The world is counting on us to show the way,” the account posted ahead of Biden dropping out of the race in July and Harris ascending to the top of the Democratic ticket. 

TRUMP ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT: WHISTLEBLOWERS CLAIM THAT THEY WERE ‘WOEFULLY UNPREPARED’ TO PROVIDE SECURITY

Sheriff vehicles are pictured near Trump International Golf Club, Sunday. Sept. 15, 2024, in West Palm Beach, Fla., after gunshots were reported in the vicinity of Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump. (Peter Burke/Fox News Digital)

The X account appearing to belong to Routh also said that Trump was his “choice” in 2016, before completely backtracking during the 2020 election. 

“While you were my choice in 2106, I and the world hoped that president Trump would be different and better than the candidate, but we all were greatly disappointment and it seems you are getting worse and devolving; are you retar—; I will be glad when you gone,” he posted on June 11, 2020. 

The X account appearing to belong to Routh also repeatedly issued messages related to the war in Ukraine, posting to X that he was ready to fly to Ukraine to fight Russian President Vladimir Putin. 

“I am flying to Ukraine to fight.  We need to launch a media campaign to encourage every human around the globe to meet in Ukraine and join in the fight.  We need hundreds of thousands of civilians to make the cost of war high for putin and a flood of fighters,” he posted on Feb. 17, 2022. 

Following repeated messages declaring his intention to fight on behalf of Ukraine, he posted in April that he was in Kyiv. 

“I am here in kyiv and want to use Independence Park to create a tent city of all the foreigners here in support to get thousands more foreign civilians to come and support Ukraine,” the account posted. 

TRUMP SHOOTING: TIMELINE OF ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT

The New York Times published an article, “Stolen Valor: The U.S. Volunteers in Ukraine Who Lie, Waste and Bicker,” last year that also quoted a man named Ryan Routh, describing him as a former construction worker from North Carolina who traveled to Ukraine. 

Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump speaks during a campaign event at the Linda Ronstadt Music Hall on Thursday, in Tucson, Arizona.  (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)

Routh, the outlet reported, was seeking Afghan soldier recruits who fled the Taliban to fight in Ukraine. “Mr. Routh, who spent several months in Ukraine last year, said he planned to move them, in some cases illegally, from Pakistan and Iran to Ukraine. He said dozens had expressed interest,” the outlet reported. 

“We can probably purchase some passports through Pakistan, since it’s such a corrupt country,” he told the New York Times in an interview last year. 

A background check reviewed by Fox News Digital found that Ryan Wesley Routh from has had repeated run-ins with law enforcement spanning decades in North Carolina. 

A majority of the arrests included ones for simple possession, driving without a license, driving with an expired registration, driving without insurance. 

VIDEO FROM TRUMP ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT VICTIM’S POV SHOWS FIGURE MOVING ON ROOF MOMENTS BEFORE GUNFIRE

In 2002, the Greensboro News & Record reported Ryan Routh was arrested after barricading himself in United Roofing’s office in a three-hour standoff. 

Routh had been pulled over by police during a traffic stop, but put his hand on a gun during the stop, sparking him to drive to United Roofing and barricade himself in the building, the outlet reported at the time. He was arrested without incident after the stand-off. 

HARRISBURG, PENNSYLVANIA – SEPTEMBER 04: Republican presidential nominee, former U.S. President Donald Trump participates in a Fox News Town Hall with Sean Hannity at the New Holland Arena on September 04, 2024 in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Trump and Democratic presidential nominee, U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris continue to campaign across swing states as polls show a tight race prior to next week’s presidential debate in Philadelphia. (Photo by Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images) (Kevin Dietsch)

He was charged with carrying a concealed weapon and possession of a weapon of mass destruction,  resisting, delaying and obstructing a law enforcement officer and driving while license revoked. State records show he was sentenced to probation in the case. 

Background records show Ryan Routh is divorced, and moved to Hawaii from North Carolina around 2017. 

A LinkedIn profile appearing to belong to Routh details that he is now the owner and operator of a construction company called “Camp Box Honolulu,” which is described on the account as a company that builds “simple economical structures to help address the highest homelessness rate in the United States due to unparalleled gentrification.” 

“Having passed along any meager remnants of myself in North Carolina and relocated to Oahu, I currently build very simple housing structures for the less fortunate and pursue a wide range of other creative projects towards developing unique products and devices as well as community improvement projects. I am constantly looking for collaborative opportunities which yield the most public impact for the improvement of our society. I would tremendously enjoy the invitation to join any monumental worthy cause to bring about real change in our world. I am certainly free to relocate to any remote location on the planet that might render the most positive impact, or right around the corner creating something unique and magical,” the LinkedIn page stated. 

His previous company, United Roofing, earned one star reviews on Yelp, including a review in 2016 that said: “As a military member trying to buy a home before returning from a deployment the proprietor, Ryan Routh, insulted me for trying to buy a house site unseen as many military members do returning from over seas.”

A prominent pro-life group isn’t pleased with ABC News debate moderator Linsey Davis over a fact-check of former President Trump. (Win McNamee)

The arrest Sunday has been described by FBI as “what appears to be an attempted assassination of former President Trump.”

Routh was allegedly armed with an AK-47 and was able to push the muzzle of his gun through the chainlink fence outside the Florida golf club, authorities said. He was located about 300 to 500 yards away from Trump. Secret Service spotted Routh and opened fire, according to authorities. 

Routh fled, but was later stopped by authorities and arrested. 

Trump assured supporters and the public shortly following the incident that he was safe and well. 

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“There were gunshots in my vicinity but before rumors start spiraling out of control, I wanted you to hear this first: I AM SAFE AND WELL!” he posted in a campaign message. “Nothing will slow me down. I will NEVER SURRENDER.” 

An assassination attempt against Trump nearly claimed his life in July during a campaign rally in Pennsylvania. Trump was left with an injury to his ear when shots rang out at the rally, while a rally-goer was fatally shot and two others injured. 

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

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said Sunday that his state will conduct a separate investigation into how a second gunman was able to get within 500 yards of former President Trump.

The former president was playing a round at Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach, Florida, when the U.S. Secret Service opened fire on Ryan Wesley Routh, who was allegedly armed with a rifle.

Authorities said Routh had a GoPro camera and two backpacks, and allegedly shoved the muzzle of his rifle through a chain-linked fence about 300 to 500 yards away from the former president.

The agents fired at Routh after they saw him raising the weapon, Fox News’ Lucas Tomlinson confirmed. Routh then fled in a black Nissan but was apprehended quickly, authorities said.

TRUMP SAFE AFTER ‘GUNSHOTS IN HIS VICINITY,’ CAMPAIGN SAYS

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis announced the state will conduct its own investigation into the second attempted assassination on former President Trump, which occurred on Sunday. (Paul Hennessy/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)

Trump was on the fifth hole of his course when the shots rang out, prompting his protective detail to swarm him and usher him to the safety of the clubhouse. It marks the second assassination attempt on Trump in just two months.

As more information comes out about what is being investigated as an attempted assassination on Trump’s life, DeSantis announced Florida will conduct its own investigation to find out what happened at Trump International Golf Club.

“The people deserve the truth about the would-be assassin and how he was able to get within 500 yards of the former president and current GOP nominee,” DeSantis said in a post on X.

TRUMP ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT: WHISTLEBLOWERS CLAIM THAT THEY WERE ‘WOEFULLY UNPREPARED’ TO PROVIDE SECURITY

A gunman was able to come within 500 yards of former President Trump at his golf club in West Palm Beach, Florida on Sunday. (AP/Jae C. Hong)

This is the second time in 64 days that a gunman has been able to get within close proximity of the president with a gun.

On July 13, Thomas Matthew Crooks opened fire at a Trump rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, from the roof of a building nearly 150 yards away from the stage.

Crooks fired off eight rounds, one of which grazed Trump’s ear. A slight movement to the left or right may have resulted in serious brain damage or even possible death.

DEM SEN. BLUMENTHAL SAYS AMERICANS WILL BE ‘SHOCKED’ AND ‘APPALLED’ BY TRUMP ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT REPORT

A man attempted to assassinate Trump at his golf course in West Palm Beach, Florida, on Sunday.

The investigation into how Crooks was able to gain access to the top of a building that was not manned, yet was so close to Trump, is being conducted by a group of bipartisan lawmakers, including Mike Kelly, R-Pa., and Jason Crow, D-Colo.

The two lawmakers released a statement Sunday, saying they requested a briefing with the U.S. Secret Service about the events leading up to another attempted assassination on Trump, this time in West Palm Beach.

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“We are thankful that the former President was not harmed but remain deeply concerned about political violence and condemn it in all of its forms,” the two wrote.

Fox News Digital’s Stepheny Price contributed to this report.

The 58-year-old man accused of pointing an AK-47 at former President Donald Trump on Sunday afternoon has a prolific arrest record that spans several decades.

Ryan Wesley Routh was arrested shortly after the incident at Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach, Fla. Authorities said Secret Service agents fired at him after seeing the muzzle of his AK-47 pointing through a chain-link fence one hole ahead of where Trump was playing.

Authorities are treating the episode as an apparent assassination attempt on Trump.

A background check on the name given by officials, Ryan Wesley Routh, revealed that he currently lives in Hawaii and has faced dozens of run-ins with police, stretching back to at least the 1990s.

Routh is a native of North Carolina, where his list of arrests includes simple drug possession, driving without a license, expired inspection and operating a vehicle with no insurance. In addition, the Greensboro News & Record reported in 2002 that Routh was arrested after barricading himself in his roofing company’s office during a three-hour standoff that followed a traffic stop in which he put his hand on a gun before fleeing.

TRUMP SAFE AFTER ‘GUNSHOTS IN HIS VICINITY,’ CAMPAIGN SAYS

Sheriff vehicles are pictured near Trump International Golf Club, Sunday. Sept. 15, 2024, in West Palm Beach, Fla., after gunshots were reported in the vicinity of Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump. (AP Photo/Stephanie Matat)

Routh moved to Hawaii in 2017, records show. He has since launched another construction company in Hawaii that builds simple housing structures for homeless people, according to a LinkedIn page that appears to belong to Routh.  

“This does not appear to be some random guy with an AK-47 walking outside Trump’s club,” an official said after the Sunday afternoon incident.

FILE: The motorcade for President Donald Trump arrives at Trump International Golf Club, Feb. 15, 2020, in West Palm Beach, Fla. 

News of the incident broke shortly after Trump was safely escorted off of the golf course. 

A Secret Service member spotted the would-be gunman while Trump was playing on the course’s fifth hole. Officials say he abandoned an AK-47, a go-pro camera and two backpacks along a chain-link fence that borders the sixth hole of the course. 

Routh fled in an SUV after a member of the Secret Service fired on him, but was soon arrested, according to authorities.

Trump’s campaign quickly issued a statement that the 45th president was safe, with Trump following up in a message to supporters that he will “never surrender.” 

Fox News’ Lucas Tomlinson confirmed that the Secret Service opened fire after they saw a man lift an AK-47. The suspect fled in a car, but was quickly apprehended, authorities said.

“There were gunshots in my vicinity but before rumors start spiraling out of control, I wanted you to hear this first: I AM SAFE AND WELL!” he wrote in a message that was shared on social media

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“Nothing will slow me down. I will NEVER SURRENDER!” he continued. “I will always love you for supporting me. Unity. Peace. Make America Great Again. May God bless you.”

This is a developing story…. 

A group of bipartisan U.S. lawmakers on a task force looking into the assassination attempt against former President Trump have requested a briefing from the U.S. Secret Service on Sunday’s latest attempted murder of the former president.

On Sunday, a man with an AK-47 was fired upon by Secret Service agents after raising his rifle from a bush between 300 and 500 yards away from Trump, who was playing a round of golf at his club in West Palm Beach, Florida. The man fled and was later apprehended. The suspect has been identified as Ryan Routh. 

In a statement later that day, task force chair Mike Kelly, R-Pa., and ranking member Jason Crow, D-Colo., released a joint statement after the attempted assassination.

“The Task Force is monitoring this attempted assassination of former President Trump in West Palm Beach this afternoon,” the bipartisan statement read. “We have requested a briefing with the U.S. Secret Service about what happened and how security responded.” 

TRUMP SAFE AFTER ‘GUNSHOTS IN HIS VICINITY,’ CAMPAIGN SAYS

Sheriff vehicles are pictured near Trump International Golf Club, Sunday. Sept. 15, 2024, in West Palm Beach, Fla., after gunshots were reported in the vicinity of Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump. (Peter Burke/Fox News Digital)

Sheriff vehicles are pictured near Trump International Golf Club, Sunday. Sept. 15, 2024, in West Palm Beach, Fla., after Secret Service fired on a man that pointed a rifle at Trump while he was golfing. (AP Photo/Stephanie Matat)

The task force the two lawmakers sit on was established on Aug. 4 by House Speaker Mike Johnson and Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries.

Pictures of evidence found at the fence of former President Donald Trump’s golf course are shown at a press conference in West Palm Beach, Florida, on September 15, 2024, following a second attempt on the president’s life. (Candan Khanna / AFP via Getty Images)

It was established after a gunman opened fire on Trump at a Butler, Pennsylvania, campaign rally on July 13.

At the rally, Trump was speaking about the border when shots fired by 20-year-old gunman Thomas Crooks rang out from on top of a nearby building.

TRUMP ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT: TEXTS REVEAL OFFICERS WERE AWARE OF THOMAS CROOKS 90 MINUTES BEFORE SHOOTING

President Trump famously raised his fist and yelled “fight” to the crowd after surviving an assassination attempt in July. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

Crooks was about 150 yards away from Trump when he fired off eight rounds from an AR-15-style rifle, grazing the former president’s ear.

Sixty-four days after Trump was nearly killed, another gunman came within close proximity of the former president.

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“We are thankful that the former President was not harmed, but remain deeply concerned about political violence and condemn it in all of its forms,” Kelly and Crow wrote. “The Task Force will share updates as we learn more.”

EXCLUSIVE: A bipartisan pair of senators is introducing a new bill on the fourth anniversary of the Abraham Accords to deepen cooperation between U.S. and Middle East partners. 

The LINK Act, brought forth by Sens. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, and Jacky Rosen, D-Nev., co-chairs of the Abraham Accords Caucus, would establish a “military subject matter exchange program” to deepen cultural ties and strategic cooperation between American troops and allies in the Middle East. 

“In the face of emboldened Iranian aggression, I’m deepening the historic partnerships created through the Abraham Accords four years ago today,” said Ernst.

“More cooperation among our Middle East partners is what Tehran fears. The LINK Act accomplishes this by coordinating military planning and creating a permanent and effective defense alliance. By working hand-in-hand with our partners, the strength and security of our nations grows.”

Gen. Joseph Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, speaks during a ceremony on Christmas Eve at Bagram Air Base, in Afghanistan, on Dec. 24, 2017. (AP Photo/Rahmat Gul, File)

The pair of senators had three of their previous Middle East-related bills signed into law. 

The Gulf States of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Bahrain signed a normalization deal with Israel in 2020, brokered by the U.S., known as the Abraham Accords.

As part of the agreements, UAE and Bahrain recognized Israel’s sovereignty and established full diplomatic relations. It was the first time Israel had established peace with an Arab country since 1994 with the Israel-Jordan peace treaty. 

CHINESE MILITARY COMPANY’S MACHINE IN USE AT TOP SECRET RESEARCH LAB 

Sen. Joni Ernst speaks with reporters following the Senate Republicans weekly policy lunch on Capitol Hill, March 6, 2024. (Reuters/Bonnie Cash)

Sen. Jacky Rosen speaks during a news conference on June 16, 2023, at the East Vegas Library. (Madeline Carter/Las Vegas Review-Journal/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)

In the months that followed, Sudan and Morocco signed deals to normalize relations with Israel. 

ARMY OFFICIALS TO FACE HOUSE GRILLLING ON SLIDES THAT DESIGNATE PRO-LIFE GROUPS AS ‘TERRORISTS’ 

The bill comes at a time of sky-high tensions between Israel and its Arab neighbors. Israel and Saudi Arabia had been nearing a deal that included the U.S. and would have normalized relations when Hamas launched its Oct. 7 attack on Israel. 

The U.S. has been bolstering its relations with nations in the Middle East to counter the growing threat of a potential nuclear Iran – even ones with mixed human rights records like Egypt and Saudi Arabia. 

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The Biden administration recently lifted a hold on $320 million in military aid to Egypt that it had frozen in response to human rights concerns, bringing the total amount up to $1.3 billion transferred from Washington to Cairo this year. 

Egypt is playing a central role in the talks between Hamas and Israel about a cease-fire agreement.

The Oregon DMV admitted on Friday to wrongfully registering at least 306 non-citizens to vote in U.S. elections.

The DMV says the wrongful registrations have occurred since 2021 and were the result of a program that automatically registered anyone who obtained a driver’s license or state ID. State officials say they expect to find more wrongful registrations ahead of Election Day.

Oregon has allowed non-citizens to obtain diver’s licenses since 2019. Of the 306 people identified, just two have cast ballots in an election since 2021.

Oregon Secretary of State LaVonne Griffin-Valade says the 306 people “will be notified by mail that they will not receive a ballot unless they demonstrate that they are eligible to vote.”

HARRIS REPEATS DEBUNKED CLAIM TRUMP WANTS TO ‘BAN’ ABORTION

Oregon says it wrongfully registered hundreds of non-citizens to vote in U.S. elections since 2021.

Griffin-Valade defended the state’s automatic voter registration program despite the lapse. Gov. Tina Kotek also argued the discovery will “not impact” the 2024 election.

“While this error is regrettable, the secretary and the Elections Division stand by automatic voter registration and its many benefits,” Griffin-Valade said.

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“The error in data entry which may have affected the voter eligibility of some Oregonian’s voter registration was discovered because the Oregon DMV and the secretary of state were doing their due diligence ahead of the 2024 election,” Kotek said in another statement. “My office will continue to closely monitor the situation. This situation will not impact the 2024 election in any way.”

Gov. Tina Kotek defended her state’s automatic voter registration program despite it allowing hundreds of non-citizens to vote. (Getty Images)

Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose, who has led a purge of illegal voter registration in Ohio throughout the year, told Fox News Digital that so-called automatic voter registration is a problem across the country.

“This is why we have resisted so-called automatic voter registration in Ohio. We have multiple really convenient ways to register in Ohio, but there are people who should not be registered, like non-citizens, and there are people who simply don’t want to be registered,” LaRose said.

He also highlighted the obstacles state offices face when trying to verify voter rolls. LaRose says Ohio first checks against DMV data, but it often can’t determine a registrant’s status.

Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose has led a purge of non-citizens from state voter rolls. (getty images)

The second check is the federal Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements (SAVE) database, a list of non-citizen data maintained by the Department of Homeland Security. States have to pay $1.50 for each query of the database, however, and finding the information required to properly search the data is cumbersome, LaRose says.

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LaRose added that he and other election officials are seeking access to more DHS data that would allow for a more accurate audit of voter rolls, but his requests have so far been refused.

“I don’t usually assume people’s intentions, but it would seem they don’t want us to use that information to identify non-citizens,” LaRose told Fox.

Republican vice presidential nominee Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, said Vice President Harris is more focused on calling the residents of Springfield, Ohio, “racist” than “undoing her open border.” 

While making the rounds on CNN, NBC and CBS Sunday morning shows, Vance was confronted about recent controversy in Springfield, where residents have been pointing to an uptick in crime, mayhem and car crashes due to the massive influx of roughly 20,000 Haitian immigrants since the COVID-19 pandemic into a small town of approximately 58,000 people. 

Residents at city council meetings have alleged that Haitians are killing and eating ducks and geese in parks, as well as pet cats and dogs, unverified allegations that Vance has referenced on social media and former President Trump repeated during the Philadelphia presidential debate last week. 

“I trust my constituents more than I do the American media that has shown no interest in what’s happened in Springfield until we started sharing cat memes on the Internet, which is disgraceful that the American media ignored this town,” Vance told NBC “Meet the Press” host Kristen Welker. “And that’s the most important part, Kamala Harris’ open border, Kristen, has led to skyrocketing housing costs in Springfield, rising rates of crime, rising rates of communicable diseases. They have dropped 20,000 immigrants into a town of 40,000, and it’s caused a host of social problems.”

Welker cited officials in Springfield and Dayton, Ohio, as claiming there is “no evidence” of immigrants eating park animals or pets, and noted recent threats of violence forcing closures in Springfield. The NBC host also quoted Vance’s past comments from 2016 accusing Trump of making “people I care about” afraid. 

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“This week in Springfield, buildings were closed because of bomb threats. Haitian immigrants say they are afraid for their lives. Are you not doing the very thing you once called reprehensible, Senator?” Welker asked.

Sen. JD Vance attends Charity Day hosted by the Cantor Fitzgerald Relief Fund at BGC Group on Sept. 11, 2024, in New York City. (Dave Kotinsky/Getty Images for The Cantor Fitzgerald Relief Fund)

“First of all, Kristen, we condemn all acts of violence and all threats of violence. But, Kristen, the reason that I changed my mind on Donald Trump is actually perfectly highlighted by what’s going on in Springfield, because the media and the Kamala Harris campaign, they’ve been calling the residents of Springfield racist,” Vance said. “They’ve been lying about them. They’ve been saying that they make up these reports of migrants eating geese. And they completely ignored the public health disaster that is unfolding in Springfield at this very minute.” 

“Donald Trump is the only person who brought Springfield to national attention and is the only president who’s going to fight for the residents, not just their right to live safely in their communities, but for their right to complain about what’s going on in their own community,” Vance added. “I think it’s disgraceful that Kamala Harris has heard these complaints, has decided to call people racist instead of actually trying to make their lives better by undoing her open border.” 

“We don’t blame the Haitian migrants for coming to Springfield,” he said. “We blame Kamala Harris for opening the American southern border and inviting 20,000 people to get dropped in a small Ohio town.” 

Fox News Digital reached out to the Harris campaign for comment but did not immediately hear back. 

During a heated exchange on CNN’s “State of the Union,” Vance said he would “fact check” host Dana Bash for failing to clarify how the Haitians were in the United States “legally.” 

People watch as police investigate at Springfield City Hall after bomb threats were made against buildings earlier in the day on Sept. 12, 2024. (Roberto Schmidt/AFP via Getty Images)

TRUMP TALKS ABC NEWS PRESIDENTIAL DEBATE, WHAT’S HAPPENING IN SPRINGFIELD, OHIO, IN FOX NEWS INTERVIEW

“You said that all of these migrants are in the country legally. They are in the country through what’s called temporary protective status. That is when Kamala Harris waved a magic amnesty wand, taking people and giving them legal status,” Vance said. “That is not to say that they’re here legally. That is a terrible indictment of her amnesty policies that have further opened the border.” 

In June, the Biden-Harris administration announced that about 300,000 Haitians already in the United States will now be eligible for temporary legal status allowing them to remain in the U.S. and work because Homeland Security said conditions in the strife-torn Caribbean nation are considered unsafe for them to return. The decision marks a major expansion of Temporary Protected Status for Haitians who were in the United States on June 3 and will last until Feb. 3, 2026. Anyone arriving after June 3 would not qualify. DHS also extended the Temporary Protected Status of an estimated 200,000 Haitians who already had it.

On CBS’ “Face the Nation,” Vance also brought up the subject of temporary protected status when asked by host Margaret Brennan if he would work to get Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine federal assistance. 

Heritage Center of Clark County in Springfield, Ohio, Wednesday, Sept. 11, 2024. (AP Photo/Paul Vernon)

“The most important thing that we can do to assist Gov. DeWine and the whole state of Ohio, and frankly, the whole country, Margaret, is to stop Kamala Harris’ open border. And for two years, I’ve been fighting for policies that do exactly that. You have to ask yourself, why have these 20,000 Haitian migrants been dropped into a small Ohio town in just a few years, Margaret?” Vance said. 

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“And the answer is because Kamala Harris implemented what’s called temporary protective service for over 100,000 Haitian migrants. She basically, with a magic wand, granted amnesty to thousands of people who shouldn’t have been in this country, and now a small Ohio town is dealing with the consequences,” the senator continued. “And to anybody listening, Margaret, this is what Kamala Harris wants to do to every town in this country. Overwhelm them with migration, stress their municipal budgets, see communicable diseases on the rise. What is happening in Springfield is coming to every town and city in this country if Kamala Harris’s open border policies are allowed to continue. We’ve got to stop this. American citizens are suffering because of what she’s done.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report. 

Republican Senate candidate Bernie Moreno is blasting “depraved” politicians for the migrant crisis in Springfield, Ohio, that he says shows elected Democrats have “forgotten” they “work for the American people.”

“Let’s start with we don’t even know how many Haitian immigrants have been brought into Springfield, Ohio,” businessman Bernie Moreno, running as a Republican against Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown in Ohio, told Fox News Digital. 

“That’s problem number one, and number two is why on earth are we bringing that number of people into a small community like Springfield, where they don’t have the infrastructure, they don’t have the health system, they don’t have the educational system and to get to the place where they do it would cost tens of millions, if not hundreds of millions of dollars.”

Moreno continued, “We have incredible priorities here in America. We have people in need, American citizens that need housing, American citizens that are struggling because of high inflation caused by Joe Biden and Kamala Harris. Why on earth are we taking precious resources from the American taxpayers and using it to benefit foreign nationals? That’s the real question to Springfield that’s not being answered.”

SPRINGFIELD RESIDENT SAYS ROADS ARE LIKE ‘ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK’ AFTER HAITIAN MIGRANTS OVERRUN RURAL TOWN

Bernie Moreno is the Republican candidate for Senate in Ohio. (Fox News Digital)

Springfield, Ohio, has garnered national headlines in recent weeks over an influx of tens of thousands of Haitian migrants into the town of 60,000, where residents say the infrastructure doesn’t exist to care for them all and that crime has been an increasing issue.

“It’s like living in a dystopian nightmare,” Springfield resident Diana Daniels told “Fox & Friends“ on Thursday. “You hope you wake up and it’s 2019 again, and then you realize it’s 2024, and it’s the same thing over and over again, day after day. It’s hard sometimes to get up in the morning and hear residents that I’ve known for years struggle. This is a paycheck-to-paycheck… kind of town… working class. The citizens that depend on our social services like health care, the Rocking Horse [Community Health Center], going down to the Social Security office for benefits are waiting in line, and they’re not getting the services they need.”

Moreno told Fox News Digital that Brown and Biden, who he called “two 50-year career politicians,” have “forgotten they work for the American people.”

HAITIAN REFUGEES ‘DON’T UNDERSTAND THE LAWS,’ FORMER LAWMAKER SAYS AMID FATAL WRECK, CULTURAL CLASHES

Rose Groute Creole Restaurant in Springfield, Ohio, a popular Haitian food establishment that opened in August 2023. (Fox News)

“Elections come down to whose side you’re on and are you on the side of Haiti and Haitians and people suffering all over the world, which clearly we all empathize with, or are you on the side of Americans, American workers, American families, who are seeing their costs of health care go up dramatically, who are seeing their taxes go up, who are seeing their insurance prices go up, who are seeing their grocery bills go up, and what are you doing about that?”

Moreno added, “You’re certainly not helping by bringing 5% of the population of this poor country to America to clash two cultures together and land in a place like Springfield, Ohio, where the American citizens there are deprived of the very benefits that they’re supposed to get.“

Moreno echoed Daniels’ concerns and explained that residents who are “entitled” to use the resources they have paid into are “standing in line behind Haitian immigrants.”

SPRINGFIELD PASTORS SPEAK OUT ON HAITIAN REFUGEE CHALLENGES: ‘THE SUFFERING IS REAL’

People line up for food at the St. John’s Lutheran Church food pantry in Springfield, Ohio, on Sept. 13, 2024. (Fox News/Max Becall)

“They shouldn’t even be in this country in the first place,” Moreno said. “That’s ultimately what is unfolding and why this story matters so much, because this is genuinely the story of America. Do we want leaders in elected office in Washington, D.C., like President Trump, like what I’ll do, like JD Vance, who put America first? Or do you want political leaders that have been there forever? These career serial politicians put the interests of foreign nationals first. That’s ultimately what this election comes down to.”

Moreno, who immigrated to the United States from Colombia as a child, told Fox News Digital that his fellow legal immigrants are “sick and tired” of this “culture that rewards people for skipping the line” and getting “preferential treatment for whatever reason.”

“For example, temporary protected status, operative word ‘temporary,’ is supposed to be given to people who are here who have an emergency in their home country and need to stay for a few months,” Moreno said. 

“Instead, we’re using that to make people stay here permanently. That skips the line from the millions of people who want to come to this country. Why are we giving preferential treatment to Haiti? There’s suffering all over the world: India, Africa, my home country of Colombia. There’s suffering everywhere. Why are we giving preferential treatment to certain countries and not others? And the answer is because you have special interest groups that pay off these politicians, that fund nonprofits, that pay huge salaries to the CEOs and it’s all about money and the people who pay the price and the citizens of the people in Springfield, Ohio.”

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Sen. Sherrod Brown during votes in the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 23, 2024. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)

Moreno also took issue with prominent Democrats and celebrities who he says have not taken the issue seriously.

“Then you have depraved politicians like Sherrod Brown that hang out with their Hollywood celebrity buddies like John Legend, who from his multimillion-dollar mansion in a bathrobe, by the way, talks about how the people in Springfield, Ohio, should be welcoming,” Moreno said. 

“Why doesn’t he house them? Why don’t these migrants go to Beverly Hills and live there 16 or 18 per two-bedroom or three-bedroom-home? And why don’t his kids go to school with these migrants that don’t speak a word of English, that their culture is very different than ours because, of course, they’re the elites of this country that want the rest of us to have to live with the results of their ridiculous policies.”

Fox News Digital reached out to Sen. Brown and the White House but did not receive a response.

Vice President Kamala Harris has made up significant ground on former President Trump in Iowa, a state previously thought to be safely in the former president’s column.

Harris has narrowed Trump’s lead to four points, trailing the former president 47% to 43% in Iowa, according to the latest Des Moines Register/Mediacom Iowa Poll released Sunday.

The poll represents a shocking reversal from where Trump stood in the state in spring, when the Des Moines Register/Mediacom Iowa Poll showed Trump leading President Biden by 18 points in Iowa, 50% to 32%.

“I wouldn’t say 4 points is comfortable” for Trump, pollster J. Ann Selzer, president of Selzer & Co., told the Des Moines Register in reaction to the poll, the first Des Moines Register/Mediacom Iowa Poll to be released since Harris became the Democratic nominee. “The race has tightened significantly.”

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Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Trump (Getty Images)

Iowa has long been an afterthought in this year’s race, not typically included as a swing state along with the group of Arizona, Nevada, Georgia, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin, with most analysts believing the state to be safely red. Trump won the state by nearly 10 percentage points in 2016 and a similar margin in 2020, a margin that would be seemingly difficult to overcome for Harris in 2024.

But Iowa has been a swing state in the past, going to Democratic Vice President Al Gore in 2000, Republican President George W. Bush in 2004, and former President Barack Obama in 2008 and 2012.

While one poll is unlikely to change the overall dynamic of the race, Harris’ ability to put former Midwestern swing states such as Iowa or Ohio in play could put her in a stronger position come November.

Former President Trump participates in a Fox News Town Hall with Sean Hannity at the New Holland Arena on Sept. 4, 2024, in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)

WIFE OF HARRIS’ VP PICK SETS SOCIAL MEDIA ABLAZE WITH ‘BIZARRE’ ADMISSION ABOUT 2020 RIOTS

The Harris surge in Iowa can largely be attributed to female voters, with the poll finding the vice president leads Trump among women 53% to 36%. Meanwhile, Trump leads among men in the state 59% to 32%.

Women are also more likely to vote than they were in previous versions of the survey, with 8% more women indicating they will vote in this year’s election than in the June poll.

Other groups that showed an uptick in plans to vote included those younger than 45 (10% increase), those from cities (6%), and those with a college degree (9%).

Vice President Kamala Harris during the debate in Philadelphia on Tuesday, Sept. 10, 2024. (Doug Mills/The New York Times/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

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“This poll may be catching newly energized voters who thought they would sit out the election at the time our June poll was taken,” Selzer said. 

The poll was conducted between Sept. 8 and 11, surveying 811 Iowa residents 18-years of age and older and has a sampling error of plus or minus 3.4 percentage points.

A campaign speech by Minnesota first lady Gwen Walz, in which she used a sweeping hand gesture to say “bye bye” and “turn the page” on former President Trump energized a Wisconsin audience, but induced cringes elsewhere.

Gwen Walz was slammed as the “living embodiment of Trump Derangement Syndrome” for a stump speech for her husband, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, and Vice President Kamala Harris in Wisconsin on Saturday. 

In the speech, Gwen Walz cited Harris’ debate performance last week and how she repeatedly said the election is the time to “turn the page” on the current political climate. 

“Now you probably saw that debate the other night. Yeah, that was great. And what Kamala Harris told us we had to do, was we had to turn the page. Yeah, because we have something really exciting headed in our direction,” Gwen Walz said. 

WIFE OF HARRIS’ VP PICK SETS SOCIAL MEDIA ABLAZE WITH ‘BIZARRE’ ADMISSION ABOUT 2020 RIOTS

Minnesota first lady Gwen Walz speaks in Wisconsin. (Fox News)

“But I kinda like when she did this,” Minnesota’s first lady continued, imitating someone turning the page of a book. “Turn the page.”

Gwen Walz then asked the audience to join her in pantomiming turning the page, while declaring the Democratic Party has “52 days to turn the page” on Trump’s run for the White House. 

President Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris and Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff on the Truman Balcony of the White House on July 4, 2024. (Tierney L. Cross/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

“You know what else that looks like?” Walz asked as she continued moving her arms around. “Bye, bye. Bye bye, Donald Trump,” she exclaimed. 

“We are turning the page,” she added. 

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Critics quickly slammed Gwen Walz and her speech as “cringe” and “1000x worse than Hillary Clinton.” 

Gwen Walz is a Minnesota teacher who met her husband when they both worked as educators in the 1990s. She has served as the Gopher State’s first lady since 2019, when Tim Walz was sworn in as governor. 

Gwen Walz previously set social media ablaze this election cycle after an unearthed clip went viral of her describing how she handled the 2020 Minnesota riots.

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“Again we had more sleepless nights during the riots,” Walz’s wife told KSTP in July 2020. “I could smell the burning tires, and that was a very real thing. And I kept the windows open as long as I could because I felt like that was such a touchstone of what was happening.”

Critics and conservatives at the time slammed the remarks as “bizarre” on social media.

A protester reacts standS in front of a burning building set on fire during a demonstration in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on May 29, 2020, over the death of George Floyd. (Chandan Khanna/AFP via Getty Images)

“What might you call this? Bizarre? Abnormal? Peculiar? Eccentric? Offbeat? Quirky?” wrote Noah Rothman, a senior writer at the National Review Online. “Gotta be a word that describes reveling in the catharsis represented by the torching of other people’s property.”

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Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk described the comments as “weird.”

The Harris-Walz campaign did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment. 

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

Critics took to social media demanding that the New York Times apologize for an opinion piece accusing former President Trump’s running mate, Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, of pushing “blood-and-soil nationalism.” 

The piece by New York Times opinion columnist Jamelle Bouie was initially published on Saturday with the headline: “JD Vance’s Blood-and-Soil Nationalism Finds Its Target.” 

After outcry on social media, however, the Times changed the headline to “Shouldn’t JD Vance Represent All of Ohio?” Bouie’s message, however, accusing Vance of espousing “blood-and-soil nationalism” and suggesting he would progress past simply a “rhetorical war” against immigrants if elected vice president, remained. 

Critics online accused the Times piece of inciting violence against Vance and essentially calling him a Nazi just two months after the assassination attempt against Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania. Vance’s wife, Usha, is the daughter of Indian immigrants. Other X users and the Vance campaign pointed to how the couple share three biracial children. 

TRUMP TALKS ABC NEWS PRESIDENTIAL DEBATE, WHAT’S HAPPENING IN SPRINGFIELD, OHIO, IN FOX NEWS INTERVIEW

JD Vance’s campaign slammed the New York Times for an opinion piece. (Getty Images)

“‘Blood and soil’ The @nytimes has now stooped to essentially calling @JDVance a Nazi,” Republican strategist Andrew Surabian wrote, sharing a screenshot of the original headline. “Truly vile stuff from the supposed paper of record – If they had any ethics at all they would retract this and apologize.” 

“Just months after a psychopath tried to assassinate my father, the @nytimes is now openly trying to incite violence against @JDVance,” Donald Trump Jr. wrote on X. 

“PS: JD is the father of 3 biracial kids, which makes this smear even more disgusting!” the Republican presidential nominee’s eldest son added. 

“With an assassination attempt on President Trump’s life only two months ago, it’s abhorrent the New York Times would spew such disgusting bile – against a father of three biracial children nonetheless,” Vance’s national press secretary Taylor Van Kirk said in a statement to Fox News Digital. “With headlines like these, it’s no wonder why countless people are asking if the purpose was to incite violence against Senator Vance. We sincerely hope that isn’t the case and that the Times will come to their senses and retract this disgusting headline.”

“So now the Times is directly calling JD Vance a Nazi,” Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk wrote to his 3.4 million followers. “This is the kind of regime propaganda that nearly got President Trump assassinated.”

Fox News Digital reached out to the Times for comment, but they did not immediately respond.

In the Times piece, the columnist took issue with Vance’s comments about Springfield, Ohio, where residents have been pointing to an uptick in crime, mayhem and car crashes due to the massive influx of roughly 20,000 Haitian immigrants into what was a small town of approximately 58,000 people since the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Residents at city council meetings have alleged that Haitians are killing and eating ducks in parks and pet cats and dogs, allegations which Vance and Trump repeated on social media and at the debate. Local officials said they had not received reports of such incidents.

“What matters to Vance is who they are, where they come from and what they look like,” Bouie wrote of Haitian immigrants. “They don’t belong to this soil, he might say, and therefore they don’t belong. Right now, the most Vance can do to wage this war is use his words. I shudder to think what might be possible if he had the authority of the state to wield as well.”

Sen. JD Vance and his wife, Usha Vance, board a plane following a campaign event in Greenville, North Carolina, Saturday Sept. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Steve Helber)

Former State Department spokesperson Morgan Ortagus slammed the Times’ piece for attacking Vance despite rising antisemitism under the Biden-Harris administration since the Oct. 7 terrorist attacks in Israel.

SINGER JOHN LEGEND LECTURES HOMETOWN TO ‘EMBRACE’ HAITIAN MIGRANTS, DISMISSES PET-EATING CLAIMS IN OHIO CITY

“Under the Biden-Harris Administration, Jewish Americans can’t safely wear religious symbols in many places in America; Jewish students are harassed, intimidated, and calls for their genocide, which are eerily reminiscent to the holocaust, [permeate] our educational Institutions. Israel faces existential threats while Harris ‘both-sides’ the argument everytime [sic] she speaks,” Ortagus wrote. “Our generation of Jews have known levels of antisemitism that we haven’t experienced since WW2. But the legacy media tries to somehow paint my friend @JDVance as the problem for American Jews. I can tell you from my public and private conversations with him, that he is ardently pro-Israel. Further, he refuses to tolerate the open season on Jewish Americans that has flourished under the Biden-Harris Administration.” 

Sen. JD Vance and his wife, Usha, before speaking at a rally at trucking company, Team Hardinger on Aug. 28, 2024, in Erie, Pennsylvania. (Jeff Swensen/Getty Images)

“I look forward to the Oct 1st VP debate, where JD will absolutely expose Walz and Harris on these issues,” she added. 

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“It’s disgusting that the media is now pushing these ridiculous, violence inciting claims about @JDVance just two months after @realDonaldTrump was nearly assassinated,” Trump campaign adviser Alex Bruesewitz wrote on X. “Also friendly reminder to the media & the left that JD is the father of 3 biracial kids. They should immediately retract and apologize to JD.” 

Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., painted a grim picture of the world stage and predicted a 9/11-style attack on the U.S. if President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris continue to control U.S. policy.

Graham made the statement during an appearance on “Fox News Sunday” with host Shannon Bream. He pointed to Iran’s escalating belligerence in the Middle East as well as the administration’s failure to navigate an end to the war in Ukraine.

“I’ve never been more worried about a nuclear breakout by Iran than I am right now. I’ve never been more worried about another 9/11 against America than I am right now,” Graham said. 

“The withdrawal from Afghanistan put every jihadist on steroids. We have a broken border. There are more terrorists in our country than any time I can remember associated with terrorism. So 9/11 – We’re just living on borrowed time here at home,” he added.

KAMALA HARRIS RALLIES ACROSS THE COUNTRY REPEATING SAME SPEECH IN DIFFERENT ACCENTS

Sen. Lindsey Graham condemned the Biden-Harris administration’s handling of world affairs. (Getty Images)

Graham went on to encourage Israel to “do what you need to do” to prevent Iran from breaking out as a nuclear power.

The Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD) claims Iran could have a nuclear bomb before the next president’s inauguration in January.

GRAHAM WARNS IRAN COULD ‘SPRINT TO A NUCLEAR WEAPON’

The group warned that while most U.S. officials are monitoring Iran’s capacity to enrich uranium to 90%, the regime is taking other, covert steps toward a nuclear weapon, like taking measures toward building a nuclear explosive device that would make quick work of putting a bomb together.

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is pushing toward nuclear capability, experts say. (Iranian Leader Press Office/Handout/Anadolu via Getty Images)

Graham also condemned the administration’s handling of Ukraine, saying the U.S. has been “slow” to deliver missiles and jets to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

WHITE HOUSE DISMISSES QUESTIONS ABOUT KAMALA HARRIS’ NEW ‘SOUTHERN ACCENT:’ ‘JUST INSANE’

“Biden has no plan to end this war that is effective. I am listening to Zelenskyy. He has a plan coming out in about a week. What we need here is an American president that can get Putin and Zelensky in a room to end this war to make sure we don’t have another war,” Graham said.

“The entire world is on fire and Harris’s fingerprints are all over this,” he added.

Graham says Kamala Harris’ fingerprints are “all over” ongoing crises across the globe. (Reuters/Mike Segar)

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Biden met with U.K. Prime Minister Kier Starmer last week to discuss whether the West should allow Ukraine to use long-range missiles against targets within Russia’s borders.

Russian President Vladimir Putin says such approval would constitute a declaration of war by NATO, the U.S. and the U.K.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said on Saturday he is being investigated over a decades-old story that he decapitated a dead whale and transported its skull across state lines.

Kennedy made the admission during a campaign event for former President Trump, saying he had received a letter last week. The report comes weeks after a left-wing environmental group resurfaced the whale story and called for an investigation.

“I received a letter from the National Marine Fisheries Institute saying that they were investigating me for collecting a whale specimen 20 years ago,” Kennedy said Saturday.

“This is all about the weaponization of our government against political opponents,” he added.

KENNEDY FAMILY CHOOSES POLITICS OVER FAMILY WITH ENDORSEMENT IN 2024 PRESIDENTIAL RACE

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is facing an investigation into a story that he once transported a whale skull across state lines. (CBS/Screenshot)

Kennedy did not offer details about the incident, but it first became public thanks to a 2012 interview with Kennedy’s daughter, Kick Kennedy, with Town and Country Magazine.

In the interview, Kick describes her father cutting the head off of a dead whale and strapping it to the roof of their vehicle, before driving from a beach in Massachusetts to Mount Kisco, New York.

ROBERT F. KENNEDY, JR. LAMBASTS ‘DNC-ALIGNED MAINSTREAM MEDIA,’ ACCUSES THEM OF ENGINEERING HARRIS’ RISE

The left-wing group, the Center for Biological Diversity Action Fund, had argued the dead animal was protected by the Marine Mammal Protection and Endangered Species, making it illegal to possess any part of it.

Kennedy argues left-wing groups are trying to “weaponize” the government against him. (Rebecca Noble/Getty Images)

They further claimed that it was likely a felony violation of the 1900 Lacey Act, “which prohibits the transportation of any wildlife, dead or alive, that was reduced to possession in violation of any state, federal or international regulation or law.”

TRUMP THANKS RFK JR FOR ENDORSEMENT AFTER THIRD-PARTY CANDIDATE SUSPENDS HIS CAMPAIGN: ‘THAT’S BIG’

“Every time we accelerated on the highway, whale juice would pour into the windows of the car, and it was the rankest thing on the planet,” Kick told the magazine, saying the incident happened sometime around 1994.

“We all had plastic bags over our heads with mouth holes cut out, and people on the highway were giving us the finger, but that was just normal day-to-day stuff for us,” she added.

Kennedy dropped out of the presidential race and endorsed former President Trump last month. (Rebecca Noble/Getty Images)

The Center for Biological Diversity resurfaced the story just days after Kennedy withdrew from the 2024 presidential race and endorsed Trump.

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The whale incident is not the only recent controversy involving Kennedy and dead animals. He also admitted to dumping the body of a dead bear in New York City’s Central Park over a decade ago.

The House of Representatives is expected to vote early this week on a roughly $3 billion veterans supplemental funding bill, Fox News Digital has learned.

It comes as Congress is barreling toward an Oct. 1 partial government shutdown deadline with no agreement between Republicans and Democrats on federal spending in the next fiscal year. 

Rep. Mike Garcia, R-Calif., who is spearheading the veterans bill, is hopeful that his legislation has enough critical support to keep it free from the political quagmire of fiscal year 2025 funding.

“In the fray and chaos of all the election drama and all the [funding] drama…there are still members, you know, in a bipartisan fashion, making sure that our veterans are taken care of,” Garcia told Fox News Digital.

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

Rep. Mike Garcia, R-Calif., is leading the charge on a $3 billion supplemental funding bill for veterans’ care. (Getty Images)

“And we just need the Senate and the president to understand that value as well, and when they do that, we’ll fix the problem.”

The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) warned Congress in July that it was about $3 billion short of the funding it needed for the current fiscal year, ending Sept. 30, and about $12 billion short of its projected needs in the following one. 

The VA is warning that a failure to pass the added funds by Sept. 20 could mean that 7 million veterans could be left without benefits by Oct. 1.

“I would never just write a blank check to a federal agency that’s underperforming and, you know, effectively overrunning their accounts,” Garcia explained. “It is something that affects not just the 7 million veterans, but also the families and everyone around depending on those checks.”

And those 7 million veterans, he said, “would lose their pension benefits, they would lose their GI bill benefits, the college tuition assistance.”

JOHNSON UNVEILS TRUMP-BACKED HOUSE GOP PLAN TO AVOID GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN, SETS UP BATTLE WITH SCHUMER

Secretary of Veterans Affairs Denis McDonough would need to provide detailed budget accountings to Congress under the House bill. (Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)

Garcia’s bill also includes a mandate for the VA to issue a report on the shortfall to Congress, and future accountability reporting guardrails to ensure continuing funds are managed properly. It would also force the VA secretary to report to lawmakers on any future budget estimate changes. 

He ascribed the budget shortfall to “mismanagement and bad budgeting from the VA and probably, you know, not managing other accounts correctly that have affected these VA benefits.”

For its part, the VA pointed to increased demand for its health care and passage of the PACT Act as reasons for the shortfall.

The House vote is expected early this week. Lawmakers return to Washington, D.C., on Tuesday afternoon, when they will have less than 10 working days to solve the broader government funding issue before the partial shutdown deadline.

JOHNSON UNVEILS TRUMP-BACKED HOUSE GOP PLAN TO AVOID GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN, SETS UP BATTLE WITH SCHUMER

Government funding has been a political lightning rod that has caused some of the largest political upheavals of the 118th Congress.

A planned vote on a short-term fiscal year 2024 funding extension, called a continuing resolution (CR), was delayed in the face of intra-GOP strife last week and is expected to possibly get a vote this week as well.

Garcia urged House leaders, including Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., to keep the VA funding bill separate from federal spending talks. (Getty Images)

Garcia maintained that his veterans supplemental funding bill and the wider federal spending fight were on parallel legislative tracks, but admitted he did worry about the former effort getting sandbagged by the latter.

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“Because this turns into a pumpkin on Sept. 20, we don’t really have time to tie this to a CR package. And I would suggest to leadership, which I have, that we shouldn’t use our veterans as political leverage for other legislative initiatives,” he said.

The House bill is co-led by senior GOP lawmakers House Appropriations Committee Chairman Tom Cole, R-Okla., and House Veterans Affairs Committee Chairman Mike Bost, R-Ill.

It comes after a similar legislative push was mounted in the Senate in August.

Former President Trump told reporters on Friday that California Republican U.S. Senate candidate Steve Garvey “hasn’t reached out to MAGA” after the presidential nominee was asked why he hadn’t endorsed Democratic Congressman Adam Schiff’s opponent. 

“I don’t know much about Steve Garvey. I think he’s made a big mistake because he hasn’t reached out to MAGA,” Trump said outside his Trump National Golf Club in Rancho Palos Verdes following a press conference where he spoke out against “Comrade Kamala Harris and the communist left.”  

He said if the former Major League Baseball star Garvey “doesn’t have MAGA, he has no chance.” 

Trump was fundraising in California Thursday and Friday. 

EX-MLB STAR CALLS ON SOROS-BACKED DA TO PROSECUTE LA SYNAGOGUE ATTACKERS: ‘UNCONSCIONABLE’

Former President Trump said Friday that California Republican U.S. Senate candidate Steve Garvey made a “big mistake” not reaching out to him for an endorsement. (Reuters/Getty)

“Well, I haven’t spoken to him,” Trump added of Garvey. “I’m hearing he wants the MAGA endorsement, but he’s got to call me. If he had the MAGA endorsement, he could win. If you had an honest election he’d win, but you don’t have an honest election.” 

Garvey previously told FOX 11 he voted for Trump in 2016 and 2020. 

He told Fox News Digital in a statement, “Since day one, I’ve ran a different type of campaign, I have not taken or asked for a single political endorsement. The only endorsements I want are from the law enforcement community and first responders. This week, we launched a historic campaign dedicating all of our resources to talk with California’s Latino community from now until the election.

“My focus is, and always has been, on the issues that truly matter to Californians — affordability, public safety, securing the border, fixing the homelessness crisis and restoring California’s leadership. I’m running a ‘Steve Garvey’ campaign for all the people of California, not for partisan or special interests. I’m committed to tackling the challenges that families and communities face every day and making sure that California has the voice it deserves in Washington.” 

Republican Steve Garvey, right, is running against Democrat Adam Schiff, left, in California’s U.S. Senate race.  (Getty Images)

Trump also disparaged Schiff as “one of the sleaziest politicians in history, Crooked Adam Schiff. He’s one of the most disgusting human beings and to think he’s going to be a senator. That’s why you need me as president, because this guy is a sleazebag.” 

He called it “impossible to believe” Schiff could represent the area. 

TRUMP ACCEPTS LARGEST POLICE UNION ENDORSEMENT, BLASTS HARRIS AS A ‘DEFUNDER’: ‘KAMALA’S CRIME WAVE’

The former president has long disliked the Los Angeles-area congressman, who served as the lead impeachment manager in Trump’s first Senate trial and was a vocal critic throughout his presidency. 

Former President Trump speaks during a news conference at Trump National Golf Club Los Angeles in Rancho Palos Verdes, Calif., Friday.  (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

Schiff responded to Trump’s comments about him on X, writing, “I don’t think he likes me.”

“Steve Garvey’s a nice guy. I don’t know him at all,” Trump told reporters. “But if he doesn’t reach out to MAGA, he has absolutely no chance.” 

Schiff is heavily favored to win in the deep blue state that hasn’t had a Republican senator since John Seymor lost his election in 1992. 

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The most recent Real Clear Politics polling average has Schiff leading Garvey 57.3% to 33%. 

Fox News Digital has reached out to the Trump and Schiff campaigns for comment.

The backlash continued to mount following Vice President Kamala Harris‘ televised interview Friday, with critics calling out her unwillingness to give clear and specific answers.

In her first solo sit-down TV interview since becoming the Democratic presidential nominee, Harris seemed to filibuster to avoid direct answers. One example came when the interviewer, Brian Taff of the Philadelphia ABC affiliate, asked for her “specific” plans to bring down prices for Americans.

“Well, I’ll start with this. I grew up a middle-class kid,” Harris responded. “My mother raised my sister and me. She worked very hard. She was able to finally save up enough money to buy our first house when I was a teenager. 

“I grew up in a community of hard-working people, you know, construction workers and nurses and teachers. And I try to explain to some people who may not have had the same experience. You know, a lot of people will relate to this.” 

HARRIS DODGES QUESTION ON LOWERING PRICES BY DESCRIBING ‘MIDDLE-CLASS’ ROOTS: NEIGHBORS ‘PROUD OF THEIR LAWN’

Vice President Kamala Harris went viral with her response to a question about how she’d bring down prices in an interview with Philadelphia’s 6 ABC anchor Brian Taff. (Screenshot/6 ABC Philadelphia)

Critics have slammed Harris on social media, saying she gave confusing answers to a number of questions. 

“Kamala Harris did her first local sit down interview after prepping for 53 days and it was a nightmare[.] She couldn’t even name 1-2 things she would do to bring down inflation,” Karoline Leavitt, Donald Trump’s press secretary, wrote in post on X following the interview. 

California state Senate Minority Leader Brian Jones told Fox News Digital if Harris becomes president, the entire nation would suffer.

“Kamala Harris has spent decades in public office, with a track record defined by rising costs and inflation. During her tenure in California, prices soared, and the affordability crisis has only worsened since she became Vice President,” Jones said. “Talk is cheap, and while she promises to lower costs, her actions have repeatedly resulted in the opposite. 

“Californians struggled under her leadership, and now the entire nation is bearing the brunt. America simply can’t afford a Harris presidency.”

Conservative podcaster Benny Johnson added that Harris’s answers made no sense.

“Kamala Harris: “My focus is very much about what we need to do over the next 10-20 years to catch up to the 21st century around, again, capacity, but also challenges.” What does this even mean?” Johnson wrote in a post. on X. 

Harris’ answer resembled the response she gave during the ABC News presidential debate against former President Trump Tuesday, when she was asked by moderator David Muir whether Americans are economically “better off than they were four years ago.”

“So, I was raised as a middle-class kid,” Harris told Muir. “And I am actually the only person on this stage who has a plan that is about lifting up the middle class and working people of America. I believe in the ambition, the aspirations, the dreams of the American people, and that is why I imagine and have actually a plan to build what I call an opportunity economy.” 

DREW BARRYMORE CALLS HER VIRAL ‘MOMALA’ HARRIS INTERVIEW THE ‘SCARIEST CONVERSATION I’VE DONE’

Vice President Kamala Harris speaks during a presidential debate at the Pennsylvania Convention Center in Philadelphia Tuesday.  (Doug Mills/The New York Times/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Although Harris drew praise from pundits for her debate performance, her sometimes unresponsive answers there foreshadowed Friday’s sit-down, particularly on economic matters. In the debate, Harris went on to tout the same proposals without answering whether Americans are better off now than they were four years ago. 

“Kamala Harris was very clearly and directly asked: Are the American people better off now than they were 4 years ago? She could not say yes because the answer is no — the American people are worse off today because of Kamala Harris and Joe Biden’s policies,” former Hawaii Rep. Tulsi Gabbard posted on X following Tuesday night’s debate. 

TRUMP-VANCE TICKET HAS DONE COMBINED 49 INTERVIEWS SINCE LAST MONTH COMPARED TO ONLY 10 FOR HARRIS-WALZ

New York Times columnist Brett Stephens slammed Vice President Kamala Harris’ interview with CNN on Thursday as “vague” and “vacuous.” (AP/Stephen B. Morton)

Harris and running mate Tim Walz have only done 10 unscripted interviews for the Democratic presidential ticket thus far, while Republican presidential nominee Trump and vice presidential candidate Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, have sat down for at least 49 interviews. 

Harris still has not held a formal press conference since replacing President Biden as the Democratic nominee. Trump took questions at a news conference on Friday in California, his third extended presser in recent weeks.

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USA Today Washington bureau chief Susan Page said she believes Americans deserve to hear both candidates answer tough questions. 

“I think part of the job description of being president is answering questions, not because reporters have a right to ask them, but because Americans have a right to hear them,” Page told Fox News Digital. 

Fox News Digital reached out to the Harris campaign for comment. 

Fox News Digital’s Joseph A. Wulfsohn contributed to this report.