NationalWatch

Vice President Kamala Harris’s homecoming in California’s San Francisco Bay Area proved very lucrative.

The Democratic presidential nominee’s campaign says that Harris hauled in over $12 million Sunday at a fundraiser held at San Francisco’s famed Fairmont Hotel atop Nob Hill.

Harris has enjoyed a surge in fundraising after replacing President Biden three weeks ago atop the Democrats’ 2024 ticket, and her July haul was more than double that of former President Trump, the GOP presidential nominee.

And Harris saw another spike in fundraising after naming Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz as her running mate on Tuesday.

WHAT THE LATEST POLLS IN THREE KEY BATTLEGROUND STATES SHOW IN THE HARRIS-TRUMP SHOWDOWN

Vice President and Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris (L) and her running mate,  Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, gesture during a campaign rally at the Thomas and Mack Center, University of Nevada in Las Vegas, Nevada, on August 10, 2024.  (RONDA CHURCHILL/AFP via Getty Images)

The vice president and Walz quickly hit the campaign trail, with a swing through the key battleground states of Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Michigan, Arizona, and Nevada that drew large crowds at every stop.

“The energy is undeniable,” Harris told the audience at the fundraiser, as she pointed towards her campaign swing. “The crowds are large. But even better is the fact that, like last night in Las Vegas, attendees are signing up for volunteer shifts by the thousands.”

HARRIS AND WALZ TRADE FIRE WITH TRUMP AND VANCE IN BATTLEGROUND STATES FIGHT

But the vice president acknowledged that in the race against Trump, “we have a lot of work to do,” and emphasized that “we can take nothing for granted in this critical moment.”

Harris was introduced at the fundraiser by former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who has represented San Francisco in Congress for nearly four decades.

“This is a good day, when we welcome Kamala Harris home to California,” Pelosi said. “She makes us all so proud. She brings us so much joy. She gives us so much hope.”

Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris arrives to speak at a campaign rally, Saturday, Aug. 10, 2024, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/Julia Nikhinson)

Comments by Pelosi, who remains a key power broker in the Democratic Party, were considered crucial in persuading Biden last month to suspend his re-election bid and endorse Harris following his disastrous performance against Trump in their late June debate.

Biden’s rambling and uneven answers at the debate fueled questions over whether the 81-year-old president had the physical and mental abilities to handle another four years in the White House, and sparked a chorus of calls from within his own party to end his 2024 bid.

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After Biden repeatedly insisted that he was staying in the race, Pelosi’s comments in a high profile TV interview suggesting that the president had not yet decided on whether to keep running or drop out served as a signal for other Democrats to call on Biden to end his campaign.

Pelosi, a longtime ally and friend of the president, has praised Biden’s White House achievements while also criticizing his now defunct re-election campaign.

Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi admitted that there was no path to victory for President Biden during a recent interview. (Left:  (Photo by Paul Morigi/Getty Images), Right: Photographer: Sergio Flores/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Harris was born in nearby Oakland, California and spent the first 12 years of her childhood in the Bay Area. Harris served as a prosecutor in Alameda County and later in San Francisco before winning election in 2002 as the city’s district attorney.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom, a longtime Harris ally who was also a top surrogate for Biden before the president dropped his re-election bid, also appeared at Sunday’s fundraiser.

Tickets for the event ranged from $3,300 to get in the door all the way up to $500,000, according to an invitation obtained by Fox News.

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

President Biden said he plans to campaign for Democrat presidential candidate Vice President Harris in Pennsylvania, a key battleground state in the November election.

Biden spoke with CBS’s Robert Costa on “Sunday Morning,” making it the first interview since he announced in late July that he was bowing out of the presidential race against former President Trump.

During the interview, Costa asked the president if the public would see him out on the campaign trail for Harris.

“Yes, you will,” Biden said, adding that he talks to Harris all the time.

PRESIDENT BIDEN ADMITS PRESSURE FROM DEMOCRATS CONTRIBUTED TO DECISION TO DROP OUT

President Biden and Vice President Harris stand on the Truman Balcony of the White House on July 4, 2024. (Tierney L. Cross)

Biden then spoke about her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, calling him a “great guy” who, had they grown up in the same neighborhood, would have been his friend.

“He’s my kind of guy. Yeah, he’s real. He’s smart,” Biden said. “I’ve known him for several decades.”

Costa asked what the president would say to those who have expressed skepticism about his health, the rest of his term and being out on the campaign trail for Harris.

“All I can say is watch,” Biden said. “That’s all. Look, I had a really, really bad day in that debate because I was sick. But I have no serious problem.”

PELOSI ADMITS BIDEN CAMPAIGN WASN’T ON ‘PATH TO VICTORY,’ DENIES SHE PRESSED HIM TO LEAVE RACE

President Biden (Jacquelyn Martin/AP/Bloomberg via Getty Images/File)

The 81-year-old incumbent’s halting delivery and stumbling answers during the CNN-hosted presidential debate in Atlanta on June 27 sparked widespread panic among Democrats and spurred calls from pundits, editorial writers and some party donors for Biden to step aside in favor of a younger, more able standard-bearer.

Biden told Costa he has been in contact with his “friend,” Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, about winning the president’s original home state.

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“He and I are putting together a campaign tour in Pennsylvania,” Biden said. “I’m going to be campaigning in other states as well. I’m going to do whatever Kamala thinks I can do to help most.”

Fox News’ Chris Pandolfo contributed to this report.

Former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi highlighted her warm and longstanding relationship with the Bush family in an interview with MSNBC’s Jen Psaki. 

“We were friends. He was such a lovely man,” Pelosi told Psaki of her friendship with President George H.W. Bush, who died in 2018. 

Pelosi joined MSNBC’s “Inside with Jen Psaki” where the former speaker discussed the upcoming election, President Biden dropping out of the race, her new book, “The Art of Power,” as well as her decades-long friendship with the Bush family. 

“You also speak glowingly – I kind of love this part of the book – about the Bush family, specifically George H.W. Bush. Your family goes way back. But you even have some nice things to say about his son, George W. Bush, which might surprise people who read the book because you were a strong opponent of the Iraq War,” Psaki asked Pelosi in an interview that aired Sunday.

NANCY PELOSI WIELDS BIBLE, QUOTES BUSH, OBAMA IN RESPONSE TO TRUMP

First lady Barbara Bush and President George H.W. Bush are shown during the National Medal of Arts ceremony at the White House on Nov. 19, 1989. (Ron Sachs/CNP/Getty Images)

Pelosi said she first formed a relationship with George H.W. Bush in the late 1980s as the two sparred over policies in China after the Tiananmen Square massacre. 

PRESIDENT GEORGE W BUSH TURNS 78 YEARS OLD: A LOOK BACK AT HIS PRESIDENCY, LIFE

“I went in there [Congress], started fighting against our policy on China right after Tiananmen Square. I came in ‘87, that happened in ’89. So, I had a disagreement with President George Herbert Walker Bush on that. But we kind of – it was a difference of opinion. It wasn’t an animosity. It was just policy, it wasn’t personal,” Pelosi explained. 

Nancy Pelosi in 2021 (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images/File)

A friendship soon bloomed between the two before H.W.’s son, George W. Bush, was sworn in as president in 2001. Pelosi also struck up a friendly relationship with the 43rd president despite the pair’s political differences, she said in the interview.

PELOSI ADDRESSES WHETHER THERE’S ‘WAY BACK’ TO BIDEN FRIENDSHIP AFTER DEM PRESSURE CAMPAIGN TO DROP OUT

“When President George W. Bush was being sworn in, I, as is the custom, go to the … the White House to escort him to the Capitol. And he said, ‘My father and mother will be here.’ And I said, ‘Well, I can’t wait to see him. He’s a sweetheart.’ And he said, ‘Why does everybody say that about him and not about me?’” Pelosi said while smiling about the encounter.

She also recounted in the interview that during President George W. Bush’s administration, Pelosi joined a Christmas gathering at the White House where H.W. Bush came up to her and chit-chatted about family, before he quipped, “Madam Speaker, give my kid a break.”

“Such a great story,” Psaki responded while laughing about the exchange. “I mean, every parent can relate to that.”

Pelosi released her book, “The Art of Power,” this month, which repeatedly cites the Bush family and her “warm relationship” with H.W. Bush and first lady Barbara Bush.

PELOSI ADMITS BIDEN CAMPAIGN WASN’T ON ‘PATH TO VICTORY,’ DENIES SHE PRESSED HIM TO LEAVE RACE

Former President George W. Bush is shown with House Democrat leader Nancy Pelosi at an arrival service for former President George H.W. Bush as his body lies in state in the U.S. Capitol Rotunda on Dec. 3, 2018. (Jonathan Ernst-Pool/Getty Images)

PELOSI DEMURS ON IF ‘EVERYTHING IS OK’ BETWEEN HER AND BIDEN: ‘YOU’D HAVE TO ASK HIM’

Pelosi’s interview comes after the 2024 presidential election took a turn last month, when Biden dropped out of the race after mounting concerns over his mental acuity. Amid the speculation that Biden would drop out, the Associated Press reported that leaders within the Democratic Party, such as former President Obama, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and Pelosi, were reportedly working in the background to encourage Biden to drop out due to concerns he could not defeat former President Trump. 

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi talks with President Biden in the East Room of the White House on June 13, 2022. (Win McNamee/Getty Images)

Pelosi has denied speculation that she helped lead a coup to pressure Biden to exit the race, but she revealed this month that she has not spoken to Biden since he dropped out of the race. 

CNN PANEL REACTS TO PELOSI REVEALING SHE, BIDEN HAVEN’T SPOKEN SINCE HE DROPPED OUT: ‘SHE’S IN CHARGE’

“Is everything OK with your relationship?” CNN’s Dana Bash asked Pelosi during an interview this month. 

“You’d have to ask him,” Pelosi answered. “But I hope so.”

Psaki pressed Pelosi in her interview that aired Sunday whether there is a “way back for your friendship?”

“In our family, we have three generations of love for Joe Biden. My husband and I, of course, we’ve known him for a very long time – respect him, love him and Jill. He and Jill are so remarkable and their family. Our kids have always loved them. I had pictures with him from our children growing up and now our grandchildren growing up,” Pelosi responded. 

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“But the most important thing we have to do is to win the election, just to sustain his legacy, and to have the legacy be to do even more in the presidency and the vice presidency of Kamala Harris and Tim Walz,” Pelosi continued.

MINNEAPOLIS – A former top Republican state lawmaker says there are two concerning things about a potential Gov. Tim Walz vice presidency: He “is terrible in a crisis” and “how he spends money.”

Paul Gazelka, former Republican Senate majority leader, shared his experience working alongside Walz over the years, including during the COVID-19 pandemic and the 2020 riots.

The former lawmaker said his early experiences with Walz were collaborative, but that, eventually, “rather than working with him, I was working against him.”

“I wouldn’t say at first that he was difficult to work with. He comes in with what I would say is kind of a country charm, but that is not really where he is trying to drive his agenda. It is much more liberal,” Gazelka told Fox News Digital in an exclusive interview.

TIM WALZ HAS TIES TO MUSLIM CLERIC WITH ANTISEMITIC VIEWS, GAVE STATE FUNDING TO HIS GROUP: REPORT

Paul Gazela, who served as state Senate majority leader from 2017 to 2021, spoke with Fox News Digital about his experience working with Gov. Tim Walz. (Fox News Digital)

“When he has power, I don’t think he can be trusted. And when he has to make decisions in a crisis, they’re terrible decisions,” the former lawmaker added.

There are two top concerns that Gazelka, who served as the state’s Senate majority leader from 2017 to 2021, has about Walz in a leadership role.

TIM WALZ ‘MISSPOKE’ ABOUT USING WEAPONS ‘IN WAR,’ HARRIS CAMPAIGN SAYS: REPORT

“My concern for him as a leader, number one, is he’s terrible in a crisis. And then how he spends money. It’s like he has no sense of what the value of a dollar is. And they just spend money until they go into debt. And so people need to pay attention.”

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz speaks during a campaign event on Aug. 7, 2024, in Detroit. (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)

Gazelka reflected on the 2020 riots that erupted in Minneapolis after the death of George Floyd and Walz’s leadership during the chaotic event.

“The mayor of Minneapolis, Mayor Frye, said to the governor, ‘I need your help. I need the Guard.’ And that’s when the governor just sat on his hands. He froze. He didn’t do anything,” Gazelka said.

He added that voters “need to know” that “when he presents this country charm, it does not represent rural American values.”

Vice President Kamala Harris and her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, arrive at a campaign rally in Philadelphia, Tuesday, Aug. 6, 2024. (Matt Rourke/AP Images)

Gazelka drew a contrast between the Harris-Walz and Trump-Vance tickets.

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“Both sides are very, very clear. They didn’t pick somebody opposite of them to get votes. They just said, you know, this far-left liberal that goes toward socialism or the Trump direction, which is Make America Great Again,” he said. “Trump is a strong leader. Harris is not. She hasn’t even done a press conference. She won’t get out there and stand up and be who she is. And that presents herself and therefore America as weak, and that is not what we want to do.”

The U.S. Secret Service has hinted it was not involved in the break-in of a hair salon during a Kamala Harris campaign event in Massachusetts late last month. 

The allegations of Secret Service involvement arose after the salon’s owner, Alicia Powers, alleged that agents put duct tape over her security cameras and broke into her building by picking the lock. 

A Secret Service agent stands guard. (AP)

Security camera footage shows an individual dressed like a Secret Service agent approaching the door with a roll of tape and observing the locked door and camera before grabbing a nearby chair to put tape over the camera. 

“The U.S. Secret Service works closely with our partners in the business community to carry out our protective and investigative missions,” USSS spokeswoman Melissa McKenzie said in a statement. 

McKenzie said the Secret Service has been in contact with Powers since the July 27 incident.  

SECRET SERVICE FAILURE AT TRUMP RALLY EXPOSES CULTURE ROT, STAFFING WOES

“We hold these relationships in the highest regard and our personnel would not enter, or instruct our partners to enter, a business without the owner’s permission,” McKenzie said, stopping short of saying who was responsible. 

Powers told Business Insider that “several people” who were “in and out for about an hour-and-a-half – just using my bathroom, the alarms going off, using my counter, with no permission.” 

“And then when they were done using the bathroom for two hours, they left, and left my building completely unlocked, and did not take the tape off the camera,” she added.

The salon is near the Colonial Theater in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, where Vice President Kamala Harris spoke for a campaign fundraiser on July 27, 2024. (Stephanie Scarbrough/Getty Images)

Powers later said that a USSS representative contacted her after Business Insider sought comment from the agency for comment on the incident. 

Fox News Digital has reached out to Powers for a response to the Secret Service’s latest comment. 

MINNESOTA MURDER STATS ROSE UNDER WALZ’S LEADERSHIP AS HE TRIES TO TIE VIOLENT CRIME TREND TO TRUMP: DATA

The incident comes less than a month after the assassination attempt on former President Trump during a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. 

The shooting put heavy scrutiny on the Secret Service, which was ultimately responsible for coordinating security with local law enforcement. 

Former President Trump is rushed offstage after the assassination attempt on July 13, 2024, in Butler, Pennsylvania. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

The scrutiny only intensified after it was revealed that law enforcement officers had observed the shooter, 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks, and identified him as suspicious more than an hour before the shooting, but lost track of him. 

Crooks was able to scale the roof of a building owned by AGR International Inc., a supplier of automation equipment for the glass and plastic packaging industry, and fire an estimated eight shots with an AR-15 style rifle. 

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After mounting pressure, Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle resigned, following heated testimony before the House Oversight Committee. 

Fox News Digital’s Anders Hagstrom contributed to this report. 

Former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi said sustaining President Biden’s legacy is at the top of her to-do list when asked if there’s a “way back” to their friendship after the pair stopped speaking when he dropped out of the 2024 race to retain the Oval Office. 

“Is there a way back for your friendship?” former Biden administration White House press secretary Jen Psaki asked Pelosi, D-Calif., during a segment of her MSNBC show “Inside with Jen Psaki” that aired Sunday. 

Pelosi focused her attention on the generational love her family has for Biden and on sustaining the 46th president’s legacy when answering the question. 

“In our family, we have three generations of love for Joe Biden. My husband and I, of course, we’ve known him for a very long time – respect him, love him and Jill. He and Jill are so remarkable, and their family. Our kids have always loved them. I had pictures with him from our children growing up and now our grandchildren growing up,” she said. 

PELOSI ADMITS BIDEN CAMPAIGN WASN’T ON ‘PATH TO VICTORY,’ DENIES SHE PRESSED HIM TO LEAVE RACE

“But the most important thing we have to do is to win the election, just to sustain his legacy and to have the legacy be to do even more in the presidency and the vice presidency of Kamala Harris and Tim Walz,” Pelosi continued. 

Biden dropped out of the presidential race last month in a social media message posted to his X account on a Sunday afternoon. He exited the race as pressure from elected Democrats and traditional Democratic allies in the media began calling on the president to pass the mantle to another candidate following his disastrous debate performance against former President Trump in late June. The debate performance opened the floodgates to criticisms that Biden’s mental acuity had slipped. 

PELOSI DEMURS ON IF ‘EVERYTHING IS OK’ BETWEEN HER AND BIDEN: ‘YOU’D HAVE TO ASK HIM’

Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has denied speculation that she helped lead a coup to pressure Biden to exit the race. (Screenshot)

Dozens of members of Congress began publicly thanking Biden for his work in the White House and decades in public office while calling on him to pass the torch to another candidate. Biden made the announcement just more than a week after an assassination attempt on Trump’s life during a rally in Pennsylvania and just days after the Republican National Convention wrapped up in Milwaukee, where Trump was certified as the Republican Party’s nominee last month. 

CNN PANEL REACTS TO PELOSI REVEALING SHE AND BIDEN HAVEN’T SPOKEN SINCE HE DROPPED OUT: ‘SHE’S IN CHARGE’

Amid the speculation that Biden would drop out, the Associated Press reported that leaders within the Democratic Party such as former President Barack Obama, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and Pelosi were reportedly working in the background to encourage Biden to drop out due to concerns he could not defeat Trump. 

President Biden kisses House Speaker Nancy Pelosi during an Affordable Care Act event in the East Room of the White House, April 5, 2022. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

Pelosi notably publicly suggested before Biden dropped out of the race that the president’s previously adamant resolve to remain in the running was not his final decision. The former speaker of the House has since denied speculation that she helped lead a coup to pressure Biden to exit the race. 

PRESIDENT BIDEN ADMITS PRESSURE FROM DEMOCRATS CONTRIBUTED TO DECISION TO DROP OUT

Pelosi revealed earlier this month that she has not spoken to Biden since he dropped out. 

“Is everything OK with your relationship?” CNN’s Dana Bash asked Pelosi during an interview this month. 

“You’d have to ask him,” Pelosi answered. “But I hope so.”

Biden admitted in an interview that aired Sunday that pressure from his Democratic colleagues, including name-dropping Pelosi, contributed to his ultimate decision to drop out of the race. 

“A number of my Democratic colleagues in the House and Senate thought that I was going to hurt them in the races. And I was concerned if I stayed in the race, that would be the topic, you’d be interviewing me about why did Nancy Pelosi say – why did – and I thought it’d be a real distraction,” Biden told CBS News’ Bob Costa in an interview that aired Sunday. 

PELOSI IS WORKING TO UNDERMINE BIDEN’S ATTEMPT TO END DISCUSSION OF HIS CANDIDACY: REPORT

“The polls we had showed that it was a neck-and-neck race, it would have been down to the wire,” Biden added. 

Pelosi continued in her interview with Psaki that she was not impressed with Biden’s campaign and its shot at winning re-election when squaring up against Trump at the polls in November, while praising Biden as a “preeminent” and “consequential” president. 

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“I wanted the decision to be a better campaign so that we could win. I did not think we were on a path to victory. So that was really more the thing. He made his decision that that would be accomplished by him stepping aside,” she said. 

Following Biden dropping out of the race, he endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris to run in his place. Harris has since secured the Democratic Party’s nomination, and named Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz as her running mate. 

Minnesota murder rates have risen under Democratic Gov. Tim Walz leadership as Vice President Kamala Harris’ running mate attempts to link spiraling crime trends of the 2020 era to the Trump administration. 

“I just want to set the record straight, because facts do matter and there’s not an alternative set of facts. Violent crime was up during the Trump presidency, and that’s even not counting his crimes,” Walz said at a rally in Las Vegas on Saturday. 

Walz was named as Harris’ running mate last week, and has since hit the campaign trail to rally support for the newly-formed ticket with less than 100 days until voters head to the polls. 

His comment on crime sparked critics to call out Minnesota’s violent crime rate under Walz’s leadership, with Fox News contributor Byron York outlining how murders increased in Minnesota after Walz was sworn in as governor. 

WALZ ACCUSATIONS OF ‘STOLEN VALOR’ PROMPT BATTLE BETWEEN HOUSE VETERANS PELOSI PRAISES 

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz speaks during a campaign event on Aug. 7, 2024 in Detroit. (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)

“It turns out that rise included an increase in Minnesota. Here are the numbers of murders in Minnesota, starting in 2018, the last year before Walz became governor,” York posted to X. 

Walz was sworn in as governor in 2019. Data from the Minnesota Department of Public Safety reviewed by Fox News Digital shows that in 2018, the year before Walz took office, the state recorded 104 murders, a figure that increased by more than 12% in 2019, when the state recorded 117 murders. Murders in the state in 2020, when violent crimes spiked nationwide, skyrocketed to 185. In 2021, the state recorded 201 murders, 182 in 2022, and 172 last year. 

MINNESOTA RIOTS CONTINUED AFTER WALZ TOOK ‘RESPONSIBILITY TO ENSURE’ THERE WOULDN’T BE CHAOS

Data from the state shows that in the four years before Walz took office, from 2015-2018, there was an average of about 113 murders recorded in the state each year, which has increased to 171 murders, according to the yearly average under Walz’s five years as governor. 

Protesters throw objects into a fire outside a Target store near the Third Police Precinct on May 28, 2020, in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The police precinct went up in flames late on May 28 on the third day of demonstrations over the death of George Floyd. (Kerem Yucel/AFP via Getty Images)

Violent crime rates did spike to historic highs during Trump’s final year in the White House in 2020, which has been attributed to the widespread riots and protests that swept the nation following the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis on Memorial Day 2020. 

TIM WALZ’S BLM RIOTS RESPONSE LEFT MINNESOTA HUSBAND, DAD OF 2 ‘DISGUSTED’: ‘CAN’T BELIEVE’ PEOPLE SUPPORT HIM

FBI crime data reviewed by Fox News Digital shows that homicides in 2017, Trump’s first year in office, slightly dipped nationally from 15,320 in 2016 to 15,312 in 2017. The data shows violent crime again dipped in 2018, at 14,604 homicides, and again in 2019 to 14,678, before skyrocketing in 2020 amid the riots to 18,965 homicides. 

A large fire burns on East Lake Street in Minneapolis during a third night of unrest following the death of George Floyd. (David Joles/Star Tribune via Getty Images)

All in, the violent crime spike of 2020 saw murders increase by nearly 30% compared to the year prior, according to FBI data. It marked the largest single-year increase in killings since the agency began tracking the crimes.

TRUMP PRAISED WALZ’S GEORGE FLOYD RIOT RESPONSE IN 2020, AUDIO SHOWS: ‘VERY HAPPY’

Experts who have previously spoken to Fox News Digital pointed to an array of variables that contributed to the increases of 2020 and the years following, including: anti-police rhetoric voiced by Black Lives Matter and defund the police proponents, the pandemic, a culture of lawlessness promoted by liberal district attorneys, and the “Ferguson effect” – when police pull back during high-profile and violent crime trends.

Demonstrators protest the death of a Black man in police custody in Rochester, New York, Sept. 6, 2020. (Reuters/Brendan McDermid)

​​Minneapolis was the epicenter of the 2020 riots, where Floyd, a Black man, died at the hands of a White officer during a police encounter in the city. Floyd’s death was followed by social justice protests and riots across the nation, which came at a time when COVID-19 cases and government-mandated lockdown measures meant to control the pandemic upended society in unprecedented ways ahead of the 2020 election.

​​More than 1,500 buildings in Minneapolis alone were damaged or destroyed due to the riots, resulting in hundreds of millions of dollars in damages.

WALZ SLAMMED FOR ‘HESITATING’ TO SEND IN GUARD AS HIS DAUGHTER TIPPED OFF RIOTERS VIA SOCIAL MEDIA

Former President Trump holds his first public campaign rally with his running mate, Sen. JD Vance, at the Van Andel Arena on July 20, 2024, in Grand Rapids, Michigan. (Bill Pugliano/Getty Images)

The newly formed Harris-Walz ticket, which secured the Democratic nomination following President Biden dropping out of the race as concerns mounted surrounding his mental acuity, has focused its attention on Harris’ background as a California prosecutor when laying out its crime platform, most notably attacking Trump and his court battles. 

“As a tough prosecutor, Kamala Harris dealt with men like Trump all the time: Rapists, con men, frauds, criminals – she’s used to guys like Trump, used to putting them in their place,” a narrator for a recent pro-Harris ad says. 

Meanwhile, Trump has slammed left-wing led cities nationwide that didn’t do more to end the riots of 2020, and vowed to restore law and order across the nation to lower crime rates, including closing the border to illegal immigration.

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“The cartels will be crushed, crime will plummet, incomes will soar, the wars will end, and the American dream will come roaring back bigger, better and stronger than ever,” Trump said at a rally last week. 

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

Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., slammed Vice President Harris as “naive” on Iran and blasted the Democratic presidential candidate for not being tough on Hamas. 

Cotton, who serves on the Senate Intelligence, Armed Services and Judiciary Committees, said during an appearance on “Fox News Sunday” that Harris’ policy toward Israel over the past 10 months alone is “just an example of how she’s unprepared to be the commander in chief.” 

“She immediately took at face value Hamas’ claims about the number of people killed and what they were doing,” Cotton said. The death toll in Gaza is reported by the Hamas-controlled Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between combatant and civilian casualties. 

“Israel has to strike on occasion at places like hospitals and schools because Hamas uses them for command and control or to fire mortars and rockets,” Cotton said. “There are civilian casualties in Gaza, no doubt, but those are solely the responsibility of Hamas, not Israel. Kamala Harris, like Joe Biden, though, have put more pressure on Israel than they put on Hamas from the very beginning.” 

The senator also condemned how Harris, who as vice president presides over the Senate, joined the approximately 128 Democratic members of Congress in skipping Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s address to both chambers last month. Harris did have a separate closed-door meeting with Netanyahu at her office on the White House grounds while he was in Washington, D.C.

BIDEN SAYING ‘DON’T’ AND OTHER THREATS SEEMINGLY FAIL TO DETER IRAN AS MORE US MIDEAST BASES HIT

Vice President Kamala Harris during a campaign rally at the University of Nevada in Las Vegas on Aug. 10, 2024. (Ronda Churchill/AFP via Getty Images)

“She refused to preside over the joint session, her only constitutional duty as president of the Senate, she refused to have a meeting in public with him, and she came out and again blamed Israel for the civilian casualties in Gaza, only emboldening Iran and Iranian-backed terrorists,” Cotton said. “And what did you have two days later, Hezbollah, another Iranian-backed terrorist, shot in rockets to Israel and blew up children playing ball at a playground.

“Kamala Harris is naïve, and she’s not prepared to be the commander in chief,” he added. 

After her private meeting with Netanyahu, Harris did say Israel has every right to defend itself against terrorist factions. 

“Is that not strong enough for you?” Fox News host Shannon Bream asked Cotton. 

Sen. Tom Cotton accuses Kamala Harris of being “naive” on Iran. (Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)

“Well, she says it all the time like Joe Biden does, and then she immediately says ‘but.’ And usually, Shannon, when a politician says ‘but,’ what matters is what comes after the ‘but,’ not what came before it,” Cotton said. 

HARRIS VOTERS DEFEND DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE ON ISRAEL-HAMAS CONFLICT: ‘SHE’S MARRIED TO A JEWISH GUY’

“And what comes after the ‘but’ with Kamala Harris is always implying that Israel is responsible for all the civilian suffering in Gaza, not Hamas, that Israel is the one being provocative when it’s waging a defensive war after the October 7 atrocity and that Israel is the one that should pull in its horns, as opposed to supporting Israel and standing strong against Iran and Iranian-backed terrorist throughout the region,” he said. 

Cotton also ripped Harris over her handling of being interrupted by anti-Israel protesters.

Vice President Kamala Harris and her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, during a campaign rally at the Thomas and Mack Center, University of Nevada in Las Vegas on Aug. 10, 2024. (Ronda Churchill/AFP via Getty Images)

“She’s been interrupted twice by pro-Hamas radicals. The first time she accused them of helping Donald Trump get elected. Not telling them they were demented for supporting terrorists, not telling them that the United States stands with Israel, the victim of the worst slaughter of Jews since the Holocaust, but that they might help Donald Trump get elected,” Cotton said. “Apparently, though, that was too tough even for her and her campaign because when she was interrupted next, she literally had a script in front of her. She had a piece of paper that she started reading from in which she sympathized with these pro-Hamas radicals.

“She said, ‘I hear you. I hear your voice. We need a cease-fire immediately,’” Cotton recalled. “Rather than saying that we need a cease-fire immediately, she should have been saying, like Joe Biden should have said from the beginning, we need an Israeli victory immediately.” 

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The senator applauded how Israel has handled the war, “despite the constraints that Kamala Harris and Joe Biden have put on them, despite the fact that they’re operating under a significant arms embargo, which Kamala Harris won’t even say that she would worsen if she becomes elected president.” 

Cotton added that former President Trump understood that “we cannot have peaceful stable relations in the Middle East with daylight between the United States and Israel and our Arab partners.” 

Vice President Kamala Harris is under fire from critics and conservatives for “copying” former President Trump’s campaign vow to not tax service industry employees’ tips after the Biden-Harris administration rolled out a plan to crack down on waiters’ tips.

“Now is a good time to remind everyone that #CopyCatKamala’s administration rolled out a new enforcement program JUST LAST YEAR to collect more taxes on tips! She could stop it now… but she won’t, because she’s a dishonest fraud!” Trump campaign political director James Blair posted to X. 

Blair was responding to Harris revealing at a campaign rally in Las Vegas, Nevada, on Saturday that she supports the elimination of taxes on service industry workers’ tips. 

​​”It is my promise to everyone here when I am president we will continue to fight for working families, including to raise the minimum wage and eliminate taxes on tips for service and hospitality workers,” Harris said at the rally. 

BIDEN’S IRS PLANS TO CRACK DOWN ON WAITERS’ TIPS

Vice President Kamala Harris says her cursing habit has gotten worse since she entered office.  (AP Photo/Morry Gash)

Trump had already vowed earlier this summer that he would eliminate taxes on service industry tips if re-elected to the Oval Office, and included the promise on the 2024 GOP platform. 

“This is the first time I’ve said this and for those hotel workers and people that get tips, you’re going to be very happy, because when I get to office we are going to not charge taxes on tips, people making tips… It’s been a point of contention for years and years and years, and you do a great job of service, you take care of people, and I think it’s going to be something that really is deserved,” Trump said back in June during a rally in Las Vegas. 

TRUMP CAMPAIGN RIPS UNION THAT REJECTED HIS TIPS PLEDGE WHILE ENDORSING HARRIS: ‘CONTINUE TO BE PUPPETS’

Harris joining Trump in calling for the elimination of the tax on tips comes after the Biden administration rolled out a voluntary tip reporting system last year for industry workers that works to streamline tax compliance on tips. 

President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris on the Truman Balcony of the White House on July 4, 2024. (Tierney L. Cross/Getty Images)

“The Treasury Department and Internal Revenue Service today issued Notice 2023-13, which contains a proposed revenue procedure that would establish the Service Industry Tip Compliance Agreement (SITCA) program, a voluntary tip reporting program between the IRS and employers in various service industries,” the IRS said in a press release last year of the plan. 

The plan was criticized by tax experts at the time as a crackdown on “waitresses’ tips” after the IRS hired 87,000 new agents under the Biden administration, Fox News Digital reported last year. 

INTERNET SHREDS BIDEN’S IRS PLAN TO TARGET WORKERS’ TIPS: ‘FINALLY, WE’RE GONNA TAKE DOWN THE RICH WAITRESSES’

“Washington has a spending problem, not a revenue problem,” Rep. Mike Kelly, R-Pa., the chairman of the Ways and Means Subcommittee on Tax, told Fox News Digital at the time. “Now, the IRS is going after middle-income families and working moms and dads who are just trying to make ends meet and put food on the table.” 

“My colleagues and I have warned for months that the IRS would start targeting hardworking Americans in the Biden administration’s quest for more taxpayer dollars. Now, we’re starting to see some of these concerns come to fruition,” he added.

Following Harris saying Saturday that she also wants to eliminate taxes on tips, Trump accused Harris of stealing the plan and slammed her as a “copycat.” 

TRUMP PLEDGES TO ELIMINATE TAXES ON TIPS FOR SERVICE WORKERS DURING LAS VEGAS RALLY

​​”Kamala Harris, whose ‘Honeymoon’ period is ENDING, and is starting to get hammered in the Polls, just copied my NO TAXES ON TIPS Policy,” Trump wrote. 

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

“The difference is, she won’t do it, she just wants it for Political Purposes! This was a TRUMP idea—She has no ideas, she can only steal from me,” he added.

REPUBLICANS BLAST BIDEN ADMIN OVER PLAN TO CRACK DOWN ON WAITERS’ TIPS

Other critics on social media slammed Harris for “copying” Trump as the veep squares up against the 45th president after President Biden dropped out of the race last month amid mounting concerns surrounding his mental acuity and 81 years of age. Critics frequently used the hashtag “#CopyCatKamala” when calling out the vice president for “copying” Trump, sparking the hashtag to trend on X over the weekend. 

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The Harris campaign did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment on the criticisms and SITCA program. 

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

Sen. JD Vance made the rounds on major news networks on Sunday, appearing on ABC, CBS and CNN, while his Democratic counterpart, Gov. Tim Walz, was nowhere to be found.

Vance gave an extended interview with ABC News’ Jonathan Karl, with their conversation airing in full on Sunday. Vance detailed plans for deportations and defended his support for family voting.

Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign has attacked Vance for past comments, suggesting that parents should get extra votes when they have children.

“The Democrats are talking about giving the vote to 16-year-olds, but let’s do this instead,” Vance said in a speech at a private event. “Let’s give votes to all children in this country, but let’s give control over those votes to the parents of those children. When you go to the polls in this country as a parent, you should have more power.”

VICE PRESIDENT KAMALA HARRIS ENCOURAGES US MEN’S BASKETBALL TO ‘BRING BACK THE GOLD’ AS PARIS OLYMPICS LOOM

Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump’s running mate, Sen. JD Vance, left, and Vice President Kamala Harris’s running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz. (Drew Hallowell/Stephen Maturen/Getty Images)

Vance described the comments on Sunday as a “thought experiment” and not a policy proposal.

NORQUIST: ALL THE REASONS TRUMP’S TAX-FREE TIPS PLAN IS BRILLIANT

“Do I regret saying it? I regret that the media and the Kamala Harris campaign has, frankly, distorted what I said,” he said. “They turn this into a policy proposal that I never made. … I said, I want us to be more pro-family.”

Vance went on to elaborate on former President Donald Trump’s plans to handle illegal immigration, specifically regarding calls for mass deportations. The Ohio senator said that a second Trump administration would take a “sequential approach” to removing the nearly 20 million illegal immigrants living in the U.S.

Vance defended his support for families and explained Trump’s plan for illegal immigration. (AP Photo/John Bazemore)

“You start with what’s achievable,” Vance said. “I think that if you deport a lot of violent criminals and, frankly, if you make it harder to hire illegal labor, which undercuts the wages of American workers, I think you go a lot of the way to solving the illegal immigration problem.”

“I think it’s interesting that people focus on, well, how do you deport 18 million people? Let’s start with 1 million. That’s where Kamala Harris has failed. And then we can go from there,” he added.

Vance also spoke with CBS’ “Face the Nation” in an interview that aired Sunday. Host Margaret Brennan pressed Vance on comments Trump made claiming that the majority of voters don’t truly care about vice presidential picks.

LAS VEGAS RIDESHARE DRIVERS LAUD TRUMP’S ‘AWESOME’ NO-TAX-TIPS PLAN AS HARRIS HOLDS RALLY ACROSS TOWN

“I think President Trump’s right about that, actually. I think most people are voting for Donald Trump or for Kamala Harris,” Vance said. “I think that he’s actually right, that most people, when they cast their ballots, they’re basing it based on who the presidential nominee is, not the vice presidential nominee. It’s just straightforward political reality. I think Donald Trump’s right.”

Walz was absent from network television on Sunday, keeping in line with the Harris campaign’s refusal to speak to the press. (Andrew Harnik)

Vance also answered many of the same questions in an appearance on CNN’s “State of the Union” with host Jake Tapper.

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Meanwhile, Walz was nowhere to be found on any of the major networks on Sunday. His absence is part of a running theme with the Harris campaign, which has struggled with media transparency.

Harris herself has gone weeks without conducting a formal interview or holding a press conference, despite being made the Democratic nominee for president. Harris has committed to conducting an interview “before the end of the month.”

A California man was sentenced to 20 years in prison for his role in the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol, the second-longest sentence yet in hundreds of prosecutions of riot participants.

David Nicholas Dempsey pleaded guilty in January to two counts of assaulting police officers with a dangerous weapon, landing him a sentence only surpassed by Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio’s 22-year sentence, according to a report from the Guardian.

Prosecutors accused Dempsey of being one of the most violent members of the mob that stormed the Capitol in protest of Congress certifying the 2020 election for President Biden, detailing how the California native stomped the heads of police officers, struck officers with makeshift weapons, including a metal crutch, poles, pepper spray, and broken pieces of furniture.

SUPREME COURT RULES IN FAVOR OF JAN. 6 CAPITOL RIOT PARTICIPANT WHO CHALLENGED OBSTRUCTION CONVICTION

Rioters at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, in Washington. (AP Photo/John Minchillo, File)

He also used other rioters as “human scaffolding,” climbing on top of them to reach officers guarding a tunnel to the building, injuring two of the officers. Dempsey, who worked as a construction and fast-food worker, also attacked a fellow demonstrator who was attempting to disarm him, prosecutors said.

“Your conduct on Jan. 6 was exceptionally egregious,” U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth told Dempsey. “You did not get carried away in the moment.”

Dempsey apologized for his conduct during the sentencing, telling the judge that his actions were “reprehensible” while also apologizing to the police officers he attacked.

“You were performing your duties, and I responded with hostility and violence,” Dempsey said.

A scene from the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol in 2021. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez, File)

LEGAL EXPERTS SAY BIDEN ADMIN’S LEGAL THEORY IN JAN 6 PROSECUTION ‘ON THE ROPES’ AFTER SUPREME COURT ARGUMENT

Dempsey had a previous conviction for burglary, theft and assault in California after he attacked protesters peacefully demonstrating against former President Trump in October 2019. He served 200 days of jail time for that conviction.

Prosecutors sought a 21-year sentence for Dempsey, arguing that he “is political violence personified.” His defense, meanwhile, argued that the government’s sentencing recommendation was “ridiculous” and argued for a sentence of six years and six months.

Scene from the Jan. 6 2021, Capitol riot. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana, File)

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“It makes him a statistic,” his attorney, Amy Collins, said. “It doesn’t consider the person he is, how much he has grown.”

Ultimately, the judge sided closer to the prosecution’s preference, settling on 20 years for Dempsey, who has already been in prison since August 2021.

The U.S. Secret Service was forced to apologize to a Massachusetts salon owner after using her building’s bathroom without permission ahead of a fundraiser for Vice President Kamala Harris last week.

The salon owner, Alicia Powers, says Secret Service agents put duct tape over her security cameras and broke into her building by picking the lock. They then allowed various people to use the salon’s bathroom over a two-hour period.

Powers told Business Insider that she was aware she had to close her salon but was not informed about the Secret Service’s other plans.

“They had a bunch of people in and out of here doing a couple of bomb sweeps again – totally understand what they have to do, due to the nature of the situation,” Powers told Business Insider. “And at that point, my team felt like it was a little bit chaotic, and we just made the decision to close for Saturday.”

TRUMP ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT PUTS SECRET SERVICE FUNDING IN QUESTION: AMERICANS ‘DESERVE ANSWERS’

Footage from the salon’s front-door Ring security camera shows a Secret Service agent approaching the door with a roll of tape and observing the locked door and the camera. The agent then grabbed a nearby chair and stood on it to tape over the security camera.

“There were several people in and out for about an hour-and-a-half – just using my bathroom, the alarms going off, using my counter, with no permission,” Powers told BI.

FORMER SECRET SERVICE AGENT WARNS AGENCY ‘STRETCHED THIN’ WITH NEW RESPONSIBILITIES, LACK OF MANPOWER

“And then when they were done using the bathroom for two hours, they left, and left my building completely unlocked, and did not take the tape off the camera,” she added.

Secret Service are facing scrutiny over their treatment of a local salon in Massachusetts ahead of a fundraiser for Vice President Kamala Harris. (JIM WATSON/AFP via Getty Images)

Powers told the outlet that an EMS worker later told her the Secret Service agent in charge of security that day “was telling people to come in and use the bathroom.” The Secret Service told BI that its agents “would not” have used the building without permission, but they acknowledged that an agent had taped over the camera.

TRUMP SHOOTING: TIMELINE OF ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT

“Whoever was visiting, whether it was a celebrity or not, I probably would’ve opened the door and made them coffee and brought in donuts to make it a great afternoon for them,” Powers told BI. “But they didn’t even have the audacity to ask for permission. They just helped themselves.”

The building’s landlord, Brian Smith, says no one gave the Secret Service officers permission to use the building or even enter it.

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“Me and my dad own the building, and I have a crazy eccentric guy that lives upstairs,” Smith told BI. “And he didn’t tell the Secret Service they could use it, and I didn’t tell them, and my father didn’t tell them, and they had no permission to go in there whatsoever.”

Powers says a representative for the Secret Service’s Boston field office called her to apologize after BI contacted the agency about the incident.

“He said to me everything that was done was done very wrong,” Powers told the outlet. “They were not supposed to tape my camera without permission. They were not supposed to enter the building without permission.”

New polls coming out of three key battleground states indicate that Vice President Harris is ahead of former President Trump.

According to polls released this weekend by Siena College for the New York Times, Harris tops Trump by four points – 50% to 46% – among likely voters in Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin. 

The surveys, conducted August 5-9, are the latest to indicate the transformation of the presidential race in the wake of Harris replacing President Biden at the top of the Democratic Party’s national ticket last month.

Trump saw his polling edge over Biden expand in the wake of late June’s disastrous debate performance by the president, which spurred questions over whether the 81-year-old Biden was physically and mentally up to another four years in the White House.

HEAD HERE FOR THE LATEST FOX NEWS POLLING IN THE 2024 ELECTION

Democratic presidential nominee  Vice President Kamala Harris and her running mate,  Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, walk out on stage together during a campaign event on August 6, 2024 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.  (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)

Democrats quickly coalesced around Harris after Biden ended his re-election bid on July 21, amid growing calls from within his own party for the president to drop out of the race.

In the three weeks since Biden’s blockbuster announcement, a slew of national and key swing state polls have indicated it’s a margin-of-error race between Harris and Trump.

HARRIS AND WALZ TRADE FIRE WITH TRUMP AND VANCE IN BATTLEGROUND STATES FIGHT

According to the new surveys, in a multi-candidate field that also includes Democrat turned independent Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Green Party candidate Jill Stein, and independent Cornel West, Harris edges Trump by two-points in Pennsylvania and holds a five-point lead in Michigan and six points in Wisconsin.

Kennedy, who earlier this year enjoyed support in the teens in some polling, registered in the mid-single digits in the new surveys.

GOP running mate Sen. JD Vance of Ohio ,left, greets Republican presidential nominee and former President Donald Trump during at a campaign rally at Georgia State University in Atlanta, Saturday, Aug. 3, 2024. (AP Photo/John Bazemore) (AP Photo/John Bazemore)

The polls were conducted slightly before and mostly after the vice president on Tuesday announced Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz as her running mate on the Democrats’ 2024 ticket.

The two teamed up for large rallies Tuesday evening in Pennsylvania, and Wednesday in Wisconsin and Michigan.

The three states are known as the Democrats’ ‘blue wall,’ which the party reliably won in presidential elections for nearly a quarter-century before Trump narrowly carried them in capturing the White House eight years ago.

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In 2020, President Biden won back all three states with razor-thin margins as he defeated Trump, and the states remain extremely competitive in the 2024 presidential election.

The New York Times Times/Siena College polls were conducted between Aug. 5-8 with 619 registered voters in Michigan and 661 in Wisconsin. The Pennsylvania survey was conducted between Aug. 6-9 with 693 registered voters.

Former President Trump is ready to debate Vice President Kamala Harris.  (Photographer: Dustin Chambers/Bloomberg via Getty Images | Photographer: Hannah Beier/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

The sampling error for each survey was plus or minus 4.8 percentage points in Michigan, plus or minus 4.3 percentage points in Wisconsin and plus or minus 4.2 percentage points in Pennsylvania.

Besides the bump in polling, Harris has also enjoyed a surge in fundraising since replacing Biden at the top of the Democrats’ ticket and again after naming Walz as her running mate.

Trump campaign chief pollster and top adviser Tony Fabrizio argues that the surge for Harris won’t last.

“We are witnessing a kind of out of body experience where we have suspended reality for a couple of weeks,” Fabrizio told reporters at a Trump campaign briefing on Thursday.

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

Former President Trump’s campaign slammed Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., as “radically out of touch” after the vulnerable Democrat rolled out several new ads focused on abortion, claiming his opponent would allow abortion to be banned without exceptions. 

“Kamala Harris and Democrats like Jon Tester are radically out of touch with the majority of Americans in their support for abortion up until birth and even after birth, and forcing taxpayers to fund it,” Trump spokesperson Karoline Leavitt said in a statement to Fox News Digital. 

The Montana Democrat’s first ad last week featured a woman claiming the Republican Senate candidate in Montana, Tim Sheehy, would let an abortion ban be implemented, even in a situation where the procedure is necessary “to save a woman’s life or health.” 

‘FEEL BETRAYED’: TOP CONSERVATIVE GROUP BLASTS VULNERABLE DEMS ON INFLATION IN MULTIMILLION-DOLLAR AD BLITZ’: 

Trump’s campaign hit Jon Tester’s stance on abortion limitations after several new ads accused Tim Sheehy of not believing in exceptions. (Getty Images)

In two additional video ads on the subject, women tell viewers that Sheehy would let politicians ban abortion “with no exceptions” and criminalize women. 

However, Sheehy has reiterated that he believes in exceptions to any abortion limitations. “I’ll always protect the three rights for women. Rape, incest and the life of the mother,” he said during a debate with Tester in June. 

In a May interview with Montana Public Radio (MPR), the Republican candidate said, “I am proudly pro-life and support commonsense protections for when a baby can feel pain, as well as exceptions for rape, incest and the life of the mother.”

‘NEVER HEARD OF HIM’: HARRIS VP PICK WALZ HAS LITTLE NOTORIETY AMONG TRUMP-VANCE VOTERS IN PA

Sheehy is looking to unseat Tester, an incumbent. (Reuters/Mike Segar)

He added that “any further limits must be left to each state.” 

The Trump campaign has also reiterated its support for abortion being addressed on a state-by-state basis, rather than adopting a one-size-fits-all policy on the hot-button issue for the entire country. 

‘NEVER HEARD OF HIM’: HARRIS VP PICK WALZ HAS LITTLE NOTORIETY AMONG TRUMP-VANCE VOTERS IN PA

Tester is in one of the most competitive races in the country.  (Drew Angerer)

It emphasized this once again in its statement to Fox News Digital, with a spokesperson saying, “President Trump has long been consistent in supporting the rights of states to make decisions on abortion.”

On Sheehy’s campaign website, he wrote, “It’s unfortunate that what gets lost in this debate is that Jon Tester supports elective abortion on demand up until the moment of birth.”

DEMOCRAT REP ELISSA SLOTKIN WINS SENATE PRIMARY IN MICHIGAN

Abortion has emerged as a significant issue following the overturn of Roe. (JOSE LUIS MAGANA/AFP via Getty Images)

“Think about that again: Jon Tester supports aborting a healthy, full-term baby the day before it’s due. That is the extreme position here.”

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Asked whether he supports any limitations on abortion at all, Tester’s campaign did not provide comment to Fox News Digital. 

Tester is running for re-election in Montana, which voted twice for Trump. The race between him and Sheehy is considered one of the most competitive in the country, with non-partisan political handicapper the Cook Political Report rating it a “Toss Up.”

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

A progressive-backed bill to mandate cultural and sensitivity training for police recruits is being panned by House Republican lawmakers who are former officers themselves.

“It is imperative that law enforcement officers are well-trained on agency policy and procedures and held to the highest standards that keep both officers and the public safe,” Rep. John Rutherford, R-Fla., a former sheriff and 40-year veteran of the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office, told Fox News Digital.

“However, it is not the role of Congress, nor should it be, to tell local agencies what that training should look like.”

The legislation would require people enrolled at police-training academies “to receive sensitivity training on ethics and racial bias, cultural diversity, and police interaction with . . . people with disabilities, those in a mental health crisis, and new immigrants,” according to the press release.

NEW POLL SHOWS TRUMP, HARRIS TIED IN KEY BATTLEGROUND STATE: ‘CLOSE AS CLOSE CAN BE’ 

Former sheriffs and current GOP Reps. Pete Stauber, left, and John Rutherford, right, are criticizing a Democratic bill on police trainings for sensitivity and bias. (Getty Images)

It would also require independent probes and prosecutions of officers accused of using deadly force.

The bill was introduced by Rep. Steve Cohen, D-Tenn., earlier this month, on the heels of the police killing of Sonya Massey in Illinois, a Black woman who was shot by a police deputy in her home after calling 911 about a suspected prowler. The deputy was fired and recently pleaded not guilty to charges, including first-degree murder.

Rep. Pete Stauber, R-Minn., accused Democrats of trying to advance a “defund the police” agenda rather than being interested in serious reform.

MASSACHUSETTS RAPE SUSPECT WANTED FOR DECADES-OLD CRIMES CAPTURED AFTER POLICE CHASE IN LOS ANGELES

Progressive Rep. Steve Cohen is spearheading the measure in the House. (Getty Images)

“Even after the failures of their extreme ‘Defund the Police’ movement, radical Democrats continue to demonize the brave men and women who protect and serve their communities. These anti-cop politicians don’t want real reform, they want to eradicate law enforcement altogether, and proposals like this continue to incite violence against them,” Stauber told Fox News Digital.

Another former sheriff, Rep. Clay Higgins, R-La., called the bill “another dangerously ridiculous bad idea from the woke left.” 

TRUMP SHOOTING: TIMELINE OF ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT

Rep. Clay Higgins also spoke out against the bill. (Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)

Rutherford explained, “I oppose any effort to nationalize our law enforcement agencies, which is exactly what Rep. Cohen’s bill does.”

“Public safety depends on a diverse network of law enforcement agencies at the state and local levels. This bill would tie the hands of local and state police agencies and require them to meet national standards overseen by presidential appointees and bureaucrats in Washington,” he said.

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

Former Hawaii state lawmaker Bob McDermott, a Marine Corps veteran, won the Republican Senate primary in Hawaii on Saturday, according to the Associated Press.

McDermott initially won his seat in the Hawaii House of Representatives by roughly 150 votes, according to his campaign website. He was the only candidate in the race promoted on the Senate GOP campaign arm’s website.

Campaign finance data shows that McDermott raised just under $2,500 in individual contributions as of July and is going into the general election with about $10 cash on hand.

PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGNS ‘INVISIBLE’ IN CRITICAL SWING STATE OF MICHIGAN: REPORT

Sen. Mazie Hirono, D-Hawaii, is the favorite to win her Senate seat in November. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)

Candidates running in the crowded six-way primary ran largely unpolished campaigns compared to the millions invested behind incumbent Sen. Mazie Hirono, D-Hawaii.

Hirono is seeking a third term in the Senate, having first been elected in 2012. 

The Japan-born U.S. senator is the favorite to win Hawaii’s general election later this year. But her victory will be much welcomed among Democrats as they fight what could be an uphill battle to keep their razor-thin majority in the Senate.

‘NEVER TRUMPERS’ COALESCE BEHIND DEM TICKET IN REPUBLICANS FOR HARRIS CAMPAIGN

Hawaii is significantly Democratic-leaning. (iStock)

Her 2024 campaign brought in more than $3 million in individual donations, according to campaign finance data. She’s going into the general election with more than $2.3 million cash on hand.

Hirono was the lieutenant governor of Hawaii before being elected to the U.S. House of Representatives, where she served three terms prior to her 2012 run for Senate.

KEY PRIMARIES IN 4 STATES ON TUESDAY TO SET TABLE FOR NOVEMBER SENATE, HOUSE SHOWDOWNS

The National Republican Senatorial Committee, led by Sen. Steve Daines, is not likely to invest significant resources in Hawaii. (Reuters/Mike Segar)

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Hawaii’s congressional delegation, two senators and two House members, is fully Democratic.

The state’s governor’s office and both houses of its legislature are also controlled by Democrats.

Vice President Kamala Harris cloned former President Trump’s pledge to eliminate federal taxes on tips paid to workers in restaurants, bars, hotels and others in the service industry.

At a rally on the campus of the University of Nevada at Las Vegas on Saturday evening, Harris pledged to fight for “working families of Americans.”

“When I was attorney general of California, we worked together to crack down on wage theft,” she said. “When I was a United States senator, we fought together for paid family leave and medical leave.”

LAS VEGAS RIDESHARE DRIVERS LAUD TRUMP’S ‘AWESOME’ NO-TAX-TIPS PLAN AS HARRIS HOLDS RALLY ACROSS TOWN

US Vice President and Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris speaks during a campaign rally at the Thomas and Mack Center, University of Nevada in Las Vegas, Nevada, on August 10, 2024.  (RONDA CHURCHILL/AFP via Getty Images)

Harris, who received the endorsement of the Culinary Workers Union Local 226, promised the droves of service and hospitality workers in Sin City to “eliminate taxes on tips.”

“And earlier this year, right here in Vegas, we celebrated your historic contract win. And it is my promise to everyone here when I am president, we will continue our fight for the working families of America,” Harris said. “Including to raise the minimum wage. And eliminate taxes on tips for service and hospitality workers.”

Kamala Harris parroted Donald Trump’s policy of eliminating taxes on tips. (RONDA CHURCHILL/AFP via Getty Images)

Trump was quick to respond on social media, putting Harris on blast for “stealing” his policy.

“Kamala Harris, whose “Honeymoon” period is ENDING, and is starting to get hammered in the Polls, just copied my NO TAXES ON TIPS Policy,” he wrote in a Truth Social post.

NORQUIST: ALL THE REASONS TRUMP’S TAX-FREE TIPS PLAN IS BRILLIANT

“The difference is, she won’t do it, she just wants it for Political Purposes! This was a TRUMP idea – She has no ideas, she can only steal from me,” he said. “Remember, Kamala has proposed the LARGEST TAX INCREASE IN HISTORY – It won’t happen. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!!!”

Trump introduced his plan to eliminate taxes on tips for service workers during a trip to Las Vegas, Nevada. (iStock)

Kamala’s policy introduction came after Trump pledged the same in June during a visit to Las Vegas.

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“For those hotel workers and people that get tips, you’re going to be very happy, because when I get to office, we are going to not charge taxes on tips. … It’s been a point of contention for years and years and years, and you do a great job of service, you take care of people and I think it’s going to be something that really is deserved,” Trump said at the time.

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

Supporters of Vice President Kamala Harris’ presidential bid largely defended her when asked to define the Democratic nominee’s stance on the Israel-Hamas conflict.

Harris and her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, held a campaign rally Friday in Arizona, followed by another Saturday in neighboring Nevada.

At Harris’ Glendale, Arizona, rally, Angela from Arizona defended Harris, adding that both sides of the aisle should agree that Hamas is the major problem.

“First of all, she’s married to a Jewish guy,” Angela said. “She is for humanity — period. 

HARRIS SUPPORTERS SOUND OFF ON HER BORDER BLUEPRINT

“Whatever side of the coin you’re on, and not only that, it was Hamas — those are the bad people doing stuff to people, not the Palestinians [who are] trying to survive.”

U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris is pictured in front of the White House. (Getty Images)

Angela said Harris wants to make sure Palestinian civilians are kept safe, adding that Israel rightly has an “Iron Dome” defense system.

“Even though we have different ethnic backgrounds and different ideologies of our religion, it’s one race, one humankind,” she said.

On Saturday, Ashlyn from Las Vegas said Harris understands that what is going on in Gaza is a “complete atrocity,” adding “a cease-fire has to happen now.”

“I think that she’s going to be very wise, making sure that it happens diplomatically, whether that’s more progressive or more moderate, I don’t know,” she said.

Ashlyn said the issue is so controversial it must be faced from a moderate perspective with the hope of a “progressive” outcome.

“I trust she can do that because she’s been listening to her voters,” she added.

AZ KAMALA HARRIS RALLY SPEAKERS COURT ‘JOHN MCCAIN REPUBLICANS’

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addresses a joint meeting of Congress in the chamber of the House of Representatives at the U.S. Capitol July 24, 2024, in Washington, D.C. (Kent Nishimura/Getty Images)

Farther along the line outside the Thomas & Mack Center at the University of Nevada-Las Vegas, Graydon said Harris is taking a more pro-Israel stance.

As for voters who may take issue with that, he suggested, it is important to contrast Harris’ position with that of former President Trump.

“Each side obviously will have its faults, but it [will] lead to a better end to the conflict by voting for Harris,” he said.

At Friday’s rally near Phoenix, R.J., who hails from the Grand Canyon State, spoke out about both the Israel-Gaza conflict and the border and where Harris stands on each.

R.J. said she has heard Harris speak in a way that suggests she wants a “two-state solution” and that the current vice president is only the latest top official to try to forge peace between the Israelis and Palestinians.

On the border issue, R.J. dismissed claims Harris was ever named “border czar” and defended the nominee against Republicans’ claims she has not acted to blunt the crisis.

“Harris has crossed the border,” she said. “She went into countries and had conversations about the basic issues there. ‘Why are people leaving your country the way they are and coming [to the U.S.]?’ And they worked on those issues, which is what she is supposed to be doing.”

Scott Kirkland, from Henderson, Nev., was in line Saturday to see Harris in nearby Las Vegas.

Pro-Israel supporters outside NYU’s Stern School of Business in Manhattan, N.Y. (Julia Bonavita/Fox News Digital)

Asked to define and speak on Harris’ Israel-Gaza approach, Kirkland said she has put forth a position of moderation.

“What’s really happening there is that you’re starting to see war crimes creep in on the part of the Israeli government, and particularly with the IDF, and particularly in the case of indiscriminate bombing of many of the locations in the Palestinian area,” Kirkland said.

“Do I believe that Hamas is a terrorist organization? Most certainly.

“Kidnapping … is pure criminal behavior. So, is there room for improvement on both sides? Yes. Do I believe that Kamala’s position is a legitimate one? I do.”

On Friday, a rallygoer in Phoenix said she was the first Jewish superintendent of Peoria, Arizona, schools.

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“I broke that ceiling,” she said. “[Harris] is pro-Israel. She has done everything pro-Israel, but these babies in Palestine who are getting killed. They have to be looked out for too.”

The woman also noted Harris’ marriage to second gentleman Douglas Emhoff, who is Jewish.

Another Harris supporter in Phoenix, when asked to define Harris’ stance on the conflict, said only, “They both should stop fighting.”

PARADISE, Nev. – While Vice President Kamala Harris and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz prepared for a campaign rally Saturday in Las Vegas on the city’s famed Vegas Strip, rideshare drivers collectively voiced their support for former President Trump’s plan to end taxation of gratuities.

In June, Trump announced he would enact a no-tax-on-tips policy for employees geared toward those who rely on them for a large part of their income, like cabbies, lodging industry workers and waitstaff.

“[F]or those hotel workers and people that get tips, you’re going to be very happy, because when I get to office, we are going to not charge taxes on tips. … It’s been a point of contention for years and years and years, and you do a great job of service, you take care of people and I think it’s going to be something that really is deserved,” Trump said at the time.

Trump’s announcement came around the same time senators Ted Cruz, R-Texas; Steve Daines, R-Mont; Rick Scott, R-Fla.; and Kevin Cramer, R-N.D., co-sponsored the “No Tax on Tips Act.” 

NORQUIST: ALL THE REASONS TRUMP’S TAX-FREE TIPS PLAN IS BRILLIANT

Michael, a Las Vegas rideshare driver, spoke to Fox News Digital Saturday. (Fox News Digital)

Busy Vegas rideshare drivers, who declined to give last names or requested anonymity, told Fox News Digital they’re likely voting for the Trump after his “no-tax-on-tips” pledge.

Reed, a registered Democrat who said he will be voting for Trump this fall, said the plan is just one more reason he looks forward to pulling the lever for the former president.

“On a personal level, that would be wonderful — that’s terrific,” Reed said as he drove west on Tropicana Boulevard toward the New York, New York resort.

Reed added that a friend of his is also a service industry worker who relies on tips for nearly half her annual compensation. The woman was previously “not a Trump supporter or fan in any way,” he said. 

“Until he made the comment about ‘no tax on tips.’ … Now, she’s willing to vote for Trump on that one subject alone.”

Michael, who was waiting for a passenger at a nearby casino, called the plan “awesome.”

ARIZONA KAMALA HARRIS RALLY SPEAKERS COURT ‘JOHN MCCAIN REPUBLICANS’

Ruiz, a rideshare driver originally from Cuba, spoke to Fox News Digital Saturday. (Fox News Digital)

“I’m a registered independent,” Michael said. “And [Trump] is going to get my vote.”

Another driver, who declined to give his name, called the plan “really good.”

“I don’t like what that politician, [President] Biden, is doing. Everything is expensive,” he said, adding that, in addition to gratuity taxes, spiking gasoline prices have hurt his bottom line.

He added that expenses like gasoline and taxes eat into the take-home pay he gets after his rideshare employer also takes its cut. 

Ruiz, an immigrant from Cuba, said his “overhead costs” have increased in recent years and that he would support the policy.

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A Las Vegas rideshare driver speaks out on former President Trump’s no-tax-on-tips plan. (Fox News Digital)

Adanis, speaking in Spanish, said the policy would be “better for me,” adding he hopes the next president will bring down gas prices too.

He echoed other drivers’ concerns that between taxes, fuel and maintenance costs and rideshare companies’ slice of the fiscal pie, it is becoming increasingly difficult to make sufficient money in his line of work.

Another driver had a similar contention, remarking that the increasing cost of rideshares overall is pushing people toward cheaper, subsidized but slower mass transit options.

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

Former President Trump’s campaign confirmed to Fox News on Saturday that some of its internal communications were hacked. 

Liberal media outlet Politico had reached out to the campaign after the news outlet started receiving internal Trump documents. 

“These documents were obtained illegally from foreign sources hostile to the United States, intended to interfere with the 2024 election and sow chaos throughout our Democratic process,” said Steven Cheung, communications director for the Trump campaign.

“On Friday, a new report from Microsoft found that Iranian hackers broke into the account of a ‘high ranking official’ on the U.S. presidential campaign in June 2024, which coincides with the close timing of President Trump’s selection of a Vice Presidential nominee,” he added. 

Former President Trump’s campaign confirmed to Fox News on Saturday that some of its internal communications were hacked.  ( Bill Pugliano/Getty Images)

Cheung noted that the hack allegedly by Iran came, “after recent reports of an Iranian plot to assassinate President Trump around the same time as the Butler, PA tragedy.”

He added: “The Iranians know that President Trump will stop their reign of terror just like he did in his first four years in the White House. Any media or news outlet reprinting documents or internal communications are doing the bidding of America’s enemies and doing exactly what they want.”

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The documents sent to Politico included a “dossier” on Trump’s running mate JD Vance that dated back to February, the outlet said. 

The Trump campaign didn’t say if they had contacted law enforcement over the hacking. 

It was not immediately clear if Politico used any of the hacked material in its reporting. Fox News Digital has reached out to Politico for comment. 

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.