NationalWatch

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

COUNTDOWN: 1 DAY: Don’t miss the Fox News simulcast of the ABC News Presidential Debate, tomorrow at 9 p.m. ET. Learn more.

What’s happening…

-Retired generals and admirals defend Biden-Harris’ Afghan withdrawal

-Harris’ campaign website finally includes policy section

-Biden’s deep ties to liberal think tank hamper Project 2025 criticism

GOP Weighs in

In a margin of error race with eight weeks to go until Election Day and early voting getting underway this month in some crucial battleground states, it is hard not to underscore the importance of Tuesday’s debate between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump.

“It’s going to frame the race in people’s minds and have a decisive impact,” veteran GOP strategist and Republican Jewish Coalition CEO Matt Brooks told Fox News Digital.

Republican consultant and Fox News contributor Ari Fleischer emphasized that there is “a lot at stake in this debate.”

While Trump is a very well known commodity in the minds of American voters, they are considerably less familiar with Harris.

“For the first time people are really going to get to see her and whether she can stand on her own two feet,” argued Fleischer, a White House press secretary under then-President George W. Bush.

Harris and Trump will share the same stage at Philadelphia’s National Constitution Center in an ABC News debate in their first and perhaps only face-to-face encounter ahead of the presidential election.

Harris has enjoyed a wave of momentum in both polling and fundraising since replacing President Biden at the top of the Democrats’ 2024 ticket in July, but Republicans argue Americans’ honeymoon with the vice president is subsiding…Read more

U.S. Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC) waves as he sits with Republican presidential candidate, former U.S. President Donald Trump during a Fox News town hall at the Greenville Convention Center on February 20, 2024 in Greenville, South Carolina (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

White House

‘CHAOTIC APPROACH’: Retired generals, admirals criticize Trump’s actions in Afghanistan, defend Biden-Harris withdrawal …Read more

OUT OF ORDER: Biden has signed just 2 executive orders since dropping out of race, trailing past presidents …Read more

‘TWO CAN PLAY THIS GAME’: Biden’s deep ties to liberal think tank could come back to haunt Harris campaign as it blasts Project 2025 …Read more

‘NOT TRUE’: State Department denies lack of planning for Afghanistan withdrawal after scathing report …Read more

‘THEY DID IT’: 9/11 families call on Trump and Harris to oppose US-Saudi deal …Read more

Capitol Hill

AFGHAN WITHDRAWAL: House Dems issue response to GOP report on Biden’s withdrawal from Afghanistan …Read more

‘UNLAWFUL’: Top Trump ally in Congress grills Garland on who’s letting Jack Smith keep going …Read more

TEMPORARY SENATOR: George Helmy being sworn in as Menendez replacement, will only serve for final months of term …Read more

Tales from the Trail

WORTH THE WAIT?: Harris campaign website now includes policy section, uses much of it to bash Trump …Read more

TOUGH TIMING: Dems face narrow timeline to push Biden-Harris judges through and surpass Trump legacy …Read more

GALVANIZED SUPPORT: Poll finds Black voters more likely to vote now that Harris has replaced Biden on Democratic ticket …Read more

‘SMART SOLUTIONS’: Harris doubles down on support for left-wing benefit for illegal immigrants …Read more

‘HIT HER ON POLICY’: Republican allies advice for Trump in debate showdown with Harris …Read more

GAME-‘CHANGER’?: Conservative group registers 50K in swing states …Read more

STEEL CITY SPEAKS OUT: Voters say where they believe Harris stands on issues …Read more

Vice President Kamala Harris, left, will defeat former President Trump in November, Allan Lichtman is predicting. (AP/Jacquelyn Martin/Nell Redmond)

Across America

RED PERIL: New report sounds alarm on China’s role in destroying US familes with deadly drug …Read more

FEWER JOBS: Surge of migrant workers cutting off bottom of the career ladder for native-born Americans: expert …Read more

TERROR TUNNELS: Hezbollah relies on aid from North Korea, Iran to mine tunnels in threat to Israel …Read more

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

House Republicans’ plan to avert a partial government shutdown and crack down on election security surpassed a key hurdle Monday evening, though it’s headed for an uncertain fate in a chamber-wide vote this week.

Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., is aiming to pass legislation combining a six-month extension of fiscal year 2024’s federal funding levels, called a continuing resolution (CR), and a House GOP bill to mandate proof of citizenship in the voter registration process.

The plan passed the House Rules Committee, 9-4, late Monday, bundled with unrelated bills – the final step for legislation before a House floor vote. 

House lawmakers are expected to hold a procedural vote allowing for debate on the bill Tuesday, with final passage teed up for Wednesday.

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

Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-La., speaks during a press conference with former President Trump in Florida. (AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee)

But it’s not clear yet whether the bill will survive a chamber-wide vote, with at least five House Republicans publicly opposing it as of Monday evening.

Johnson only holds a majority of four votes, meaning he will likely need Democratic support for it to pass.

Both Republicans and Democrats agree a CR is needed to give congressional appropriators more time to negotiate fiscal year 2025 federal spending and to avoid a partial government shutdown weeks before Election Day. The House has passed four of 12 GOP-led appropriations bills so far, while the Democrat-led Senate has not passed any. 

House GOP leaders are hoping to use the fiscal pressure to force Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., into holding a vote on the Safeguarding American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act, a bill authored by Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, and backed by former President Trump. 

But Democratic leaders generally see the SAVE Act as a nonstarter. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., called it “partisan and extreme” in a letter to House Democrats on Monday, and the White House issued a veto threat.

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

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., called the plan ‘extreme.’ (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)

Schumer wrote to colleagues on Sunday, “As I have said before, the only way to get things done is in a bipartisan way. Despite Republican bluster, that is how we’ve handled every funding bill in the past, and this time should be no exception. We will not let poison pills or Republican extremism put funding for critical programs at risk.”

Congressional leaders have until Sept. 30 to find a path forward or risk nonessential government programs being paused and potentially thousands of federal employees furloughed.

Meanwhile, Johnson has little room for error in his own conference.

MCCARTHY’S ‘FINAL STRUGGLES’ THREATEN TO HAUNT JOHNSON’S GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN FIGHT

Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., has called for Johnson to pass a full-year CR to take advantage of a rule that would force a 1% spending cut. (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)

The speaker could get some help from Democratic defectors, however. Five House Democrats broke from their party to vote for the SAVE Act earlier this year.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

A CR through March would mean the government funding debate will be taken up by a new White House – run by either Trump or Vice President Kamala Harris – and a new Congress.

The pundits predict the presidential election will be close. So should people prepare for contingencies?

There’s truly only one contingency for this scenario. It’s called a contingent election.

What’s that?

Don’t feel badly if you’ve never heard of a contingent election. The term is not even mentioned in the Constitution. However, Article II, Section 3 of the Constitution and the 12th Amendment address the process for settling a dispute in the Electoral College where no candidate scores the magic number of 270 electoral votes. Or, if there’s a tie.

REPORTER’S NOTEBOOK: WIN OR LOSE, HARRIS MUST ATTEND THE JAN. 6 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION CERTIFICATION

The U.S. has only undergone a contingent election on three occasions: 1801, to elect President Thomas Jefferson. Then in 1825 to pick President John Quincy Adams. Finally in 1837 to elect Vice President Richard Mentor Johnson.

In a contingent election, the House selects the President. The Senate picks the Vice President.

But let’s first explore scenarios for a complicated Electoral College tabulation – which could trigger a contingent election.

Here’s what to expect if this year’s Trump-Harris showdown ends with no candidate receiving 270 Electoral College votes. (AP/Jacquelyn Martin/Nell Redmond)

The possibility of a 269-269 Electoral College tie is real. Let’s say Vice President Harris loses Pennsylvania and Georgia. But she prevails in Nevada, Arizona, Michigan and Wisconsin. Harris also collects a singular electoral vote in Nebraska’s 2nd Congressional district. Maine and Nebraska distribute their electoral votes based on which presidential candidate prevails in each Congressional district. For instance, in 2020, Rep. Don Bacon, R-Neb., won – even as President Biden carried the district. In Maine’s 2nd Congressional district, Rep. Jared Golden, D-Maine, won. Yet former President Trump bested Mr. Biden in that district. Nebraska has five electoral votes. Mr. Trump received four. President Biden, one. Maine has four electoral votes. The President earned three. But former President Trump collected one.

There are other scenarios to get you to an Electoral College tie.

Fast-forward to January 6th, the day the House and Senate meet in a Joint Session of Congress to certify the Electoral College. We know what happened in 2021 with Republicans contesting slates of electoral votes from six states. If Congress fails to certify a winner, or, if there are disputes on various batches of electoral votes, it’s possible no candidate hits 270.

SENATE TO SWEAR IN MENENDEZ SUCCESSOR FOLLOWING NJ LAWMAKER’S CONVICTION, RESIGNATION

So, it’s then up to the House of Representatives to select the President and the Senate, the Vice President, in a contingent election.

Here’s the fascinating part.

Each state votes as a state delegation – but receives only one vote in a contingent election. In other words, California, with its 52-member delegation comprised of 40 Democrats, counts the same as South Dakota, with its lone Republican.

In a contingent election, Republican Rep. Dusty Johnson – South Dakota’s sole congressman – would have as much voting power as California’s entire 52-member delegation. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)

But we don’t truly know the breakdowns of each Congressional delegation for next year which could vote in a contingent election. We only know the breakdown for this Congress. The new Congress isn’t sworn-in until January 3, 2025.

So here’s an analysis on where each state delegation stands now, and where they could stand come January.

As of this moment, Republicans control 26 state delegations – ranging from all Republican West Virginia to mostly Republican Florida and Texas. Democrats rule in 22 state delegations. That includes mostly Democratic New York and all Democratic Massachusetts and Connecticut. Two states are tied: Minnesota features a 4/4 split between the parties. North Carolina is divided 7/7.

REPORTER’S NOTEBOOK: WHY FOREIGN POLICY MIGHT MATTER

But what does the House look like next year? Things would still favor the GOP – even if Democrats win control of the House with the most seats. And evaluating the map, the odds favor Republicans to control the most state delegations. But nothing is a done deal.

So let’s study state delegations which have a chance of flipping one way or the other in 2025 – and how that could sway a contingent election.

Alaska is a fascinating place to start. Rep. Mary Peltola, D-Alaska, won this statewide seat in a special election in 2022 after the death of late Rep. Don Young, R-Alaska. Young represented the state for 49 years. Peltola is up against Republican Nick Begich Jr., grandson of late Rep. Nick Begich, Sr., D-Alaska. Ironically, Young took the seat after the elder Begich died in a plane crash. Also on the ballot: John Wayne Howe and Eric Hafner.

Should Democrats find themselves facing a contingent election, securing the vote of Alaska Rep. Mary Peltola is an absolute must. (AP Photo/Mark Thiessen, File)

If Democrats are to hold the House for a potential contingent election, they need Peltola to win. Former President Trump won Alaska in 2020 with 61 percent of the vote.

Where could Democrats flip a Congressional delegation in their favor? Arizona is a case study as to why it’s hard for Democrats to gain traction in state delegations.

Arizona is a swing state at the presidential level. But there are two Republicans at risk. Rep. Dave Schweikert, R-Ariz., narrowly won two years ago. Freshman Rep. Juan Ciscomani, R-Ariz., also represents a battleground district. But Republicans currently hold a 6-3 advantage over Democrats in the House delegation. Democrats have an outside shot at moving the delegation to 5-4 in their favor should they knock off two incumbents. But that’s dicey.

THE HOME STRETCH: VP HARRIS FILLS DEMOCRATS WITH OPTIMISM AS ELECTION DAY NEARS

Colorado’s House districts currently favor the Democrats, 5-3. But in order to maintain that advantage and avoid a 4-4 tie, freshman Rep. Yadira Caraveo, D-Colo., must win re-election. Caraveo won her first term with less than 50 percent of the vote in 2022.

As mentioned, Maine awards its electoral vote proportionately. Golden is one of the most moderate Democrats in the House, routinely winning close races. But Maine only has two House seats. Rep. Chellie Pingree, D-Maine, holds the other one. Pingree is favored to win this fall. However, if Golden loses, Maine’s delegation is tied. How that delegation votes in a contingent election is anybody’s guess. A tie essentially nullifies that state’s vote in a contingent election on the House floor.

In the contingent election of 1801, the House delegations of Vermont and Maryland were split evenly. The House then consumed 36 ballots before electing Thomas Jefferson. One of the reasons Jefferson became president is that Maryland’s House delegation eventually dropped its deadlock. Maryland had voted 4-4 for days. But Jefferson prevailed after four of Maryland’s House members didn’t vote on the 36th ballot.

A loss by Democratic Rep. Susie Lee could split Nevada’s four-member delegation in half. Should her challenger, Drew Johnson, win, he would join fellow Republican Mark Amodei and Democratic colleagues Dina Titus and Steven Horsford in the Silver State’s congressional ranks. (Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)

It’s also worth keeping an eye on Nevada. Nevada is a key state at the presidential level. Democrats hold a 3-1 House advantage. A loss by Rep. Susie Lee, D-Nev., could tie that delegation, 2-2, taking away the Democrats’ advantage.

Minnesota is another state with a 4-4 tie in its delegation. Probably the best chance for Democrats here is to hold the tie and nullify the Gopher State’s vote in a contingent election. Rep. Angie Craig, D-Minn., historically wins with slim margins. A loss by Craig flips the Minnesota delegation to 5-3 in favor of Republicans.

Now, buckle in. North Carolina is where things get intriguing.

NORTH CAROLINA ELECTIONS BOARD FACES ANOTHER LAWSUIT, AS RNC SUES SWING STATE OVER NONCITIZEN VOTING CONCERNS

The Tar Heel State features 14 House members, split evenly 7-7 among Democrats and Republicans. But thanks to redistricting, Republicans likely gain in the House delegation next year. North Carolina could favor the GOP 10-4 or maybe even 11-3. So the state could be a boon to Republicans if the House decides the presidency in a contingent election.

But here’s the rub:

North Carolina is now in play at the presidential level. What happens if Harris wins all 16 of North Carolina’s electoral votes – but there is still a contingent election in the House because no candidate reached 270? Does the North Carolina House delegation – now leaning heavily toward the GOP – ignore that fact in a contingent election on the House floor and vote for former President Trump? Or do those House members – mostly Republicans – cast their ballots for Harris because that expresses the will of the voters in their state?

North Carolina’s redrawn congressional map, which effectively strongarmed Rep. Wiley Nickel and two other Democrats out of the House, is likely to dramatically alter the state’s trajectory in a contingent election. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta, File)

House members are not bound in any way, shape or form to reflect the outcome of the popular vote or Electoral College in their states. House members can vote however they want.

Consider Georgia. It’s highly competitive at the presidential level. However, Republicans lead 9-5 in the House delegation. That delegation is not on the edge. Let’s say Harris wins Georgia. How does Georgia’s delegation vote in a contingent election?

Pennsylvania is a little like North Carolina. The Keystone State is up for grabs this fall. Democrats command a 9-8 advantage in its House delegation. However, that’s not a lock. Reps. Chris Deluzio, D-Penn., Susan Wild, D-Penn., and Matt Cartwright, D-Penn., all represent competitive districts. On the Republican side, Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick, R-Penn., has a district which has the potential to be in play.  Pennsylvania is challenging for Democrats to hold at the House level – regardless of what happens at the top of the ticket.

GRETCHEN WHITMER REJECTS POLLS SHOWING HARRIS UP 5 POINTS AGAINST TRUMP IN MICHIGAN: ‘IT’S JUST NOT TRUE’

The challenge for Democrats in Michigan is nearly a carbon copy of Pennsylvania. Michigan is a must-win state for both Harris and the former President. Democrats have a 7-6 edge in the House delegation. They are defending the seat of Rep. Elissa Slotkin, D-Mich., who is now running for Senate. Slotkin usually won her seat with a little more than 50 percent of the vote. But Democrats must also maintain the seats of retiring Rep. Dan Kildee, D-Mich., and Rep. Hillary Scholten, D-Mich. However, Democrats hope to flip the district currently held by Rep. John James, R-Mich. James narrowly won in 2022.

Virginia is the last state delegation which is truly in play in 2024. There is an outside chance Virginia’s 13 electoral votes could be up for grabs in the presidential election. But that is far from guaranteed. Democrats currently hold a 6-5 edge in the House delegation.

Rep. Abigail Spanberger, D-Va., is retiring to run for governor next year. Spanberger is a centrist Democrat who flipped one of the most-competitive districts in the nation in 2018. Democrats must hold her seat along with the district of retiring Rep. Jennifer Wexton, D-Va. Wexton is stepping down for health reasons. Wexton’s race was closer than expected in 2022. However, Democrats hope to pick up a seat won in 2022 by Rep. Jen Kiggans, R-Va., with 51 percent of the vote.

Absent a win in Republican Rep. Jen Kiggans’ district, Democrats must retain the seat held by retiring Rep. Abigail Spanberger (pictured) to keep their hold on Virginia’s congressional delegation. (AP Photo/Nathan Howard, File)

In short, House Democrats really don’t have a lot of chances to make inroads against Republicans with state delegations. It’s ironic because Democrats have a good chance of gaining control of the House. But Democrats run up their overall House numbers in Massachusetts and California. They’re not competitive in North Dakota, South Dakota and Utah. So, the GOP maintains those delegations.

When it comes to a contingent election, the best Democrats can do is hold current “battlegrounds,” like Alaska, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Virginia and maintain a tie in Minnesota. They also need to avoid a tie in Nevada, Colorado and Maine. At this writing, there are zero chances for Democratic delegation pickups. It boils down to defending five close states at the delegation level, ducking ties in three states and keeping things where they are in Minnesota. Even so, Republicans likely seize the delegation in North Carolina.

If that analysis holds, Democrats may only control 22 delegations in January, 2025. That’s compared to 27 held by Republicans if North Carolina goes the way we anticipate.

REPORTER’S NOTEBOOK: NO PROOF OF CITIZENSHIP? NO VOTE

Even so, it’s possible Democrats could lose seats in presidential battlegrounds like Michigan and Pennsylvania. Or Peltola could lose in Alaska. It’s entirely plausible that Republicans could control close to 30 state delegations compared to Democrats hovering around 20.

That doesn’t bode well for Harris if the election for President is pitched into the House.

In the contingent election of 1825, the House ultimately elected President John Quincy Adams, the son of President John Adams, one of the vanquished candidates in the disputed 1800 election which ultimately went to Jefferson. Future President Andrew Jackson scored most of the electoral votes needed to win. But the House still sided with the younger Adams. So, it’s far from certain that a contingent election reflects the electoral vote.

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There’s no experience with this archaic exercise in the modern Congress. It’s a gambit unused for nearly two centuries. And because of that, no one knows how it will go.

The White House pushed back on a report released Sunday by Republican lawmakers criticizing President Biden’s chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021, calling the report partisan and offering “little or nothing new.”

Texas Rep. Mike McCaul, the Republican chair of the committee, released a GOP-led report disputing Biden’s claims that his hands were tied to the agreement former President Trump had made with the Taliban establishing a deadline for U.S. withdrawal for the summer of 2021. It also said State Department officials had no plan for helping Americans and allies out while there were still troops in the region to protect them.

McCaul’s report also noted the failure to adequately respond to terror threats ahead of the ISIS-K bombing at Abbey Gate at the Kabul airport that killed 13 U.S. service members and more than 150 Afghan civilians, and that the Taliban likely had access after the withdrawal to $7 billion in abandoned U.S. weapons, and up to $57 million in U.S. funds that were initially given to the Afghan government.

On Monday, White House National Security Council communications adviser John Kirby defended Biden’s handling of the withdrawal from Afghanistan during a White House briefing.

HOUSE DEMS ISSUE RESPONSE TO GOP REPORT ON BIDEN’S WITHDRAWAL FROM AFGHANISTAN

U.S. soldiers stand guard behind barbed wire as Afghans sit on a roadside near the military part of the airport in Kabul, Afghanistan, in August 2021. (Wakil Koshar/AFP via Getty Images)

Kirby told reporters the GOP report comes two years after their first report, adding, “This one says little or nothing new.”

He then provided a rundown of what he called “actual facts” that he considered important.

“First, on the very day this administration took office, the Taliban was in the strongest position it had been in years. The Afghan government, the weakest,” Kirby said. “The Trump administration cut a deal called the Doha Agreement that mandated a complete U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, and yes, that included Bagram Air Base, by the end of May 2021.”

HOUSE GOP RELEASES SCATHING REPORT ON BIDEN’S WITHDRAWAL FROM AFGHANISTAN

National Security Communications Advisor John Kirby pushed back Monday against a report from GOP lawmakers that criticized the Biden administration’s withdrawal from Afghanistan. (Alex Wong/Getty Images)

Part of the deal was that 5,000 Taliban fighters would be released from prison, and in return, the Taliban agreed not to attack U.S. troops, he explained.

Kirby referred to testimony from former commander of U.S. Central Command, Gen. Frank McKenzie, who said the Doha deal had a really pernicious effect on the Afghan government, and it demoralized them.

“They knew right then and there that America was on its way out,” Kirby said. “Indeed, in October of 2020, then-President Trump ordered his military to rush the exit from Afghanistan and have everybody leave by Christmas of that year.

HOUSE COMMITTEE SUBPOENAS BLINKEN OVER AFGHANISTAN WITHDRAWAL

A U.S. Marine pulls an infant over a barbed wire fence during an evacuation at Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul, Afghanistan, Aug. 19, 2021. (Omar Haidiri/AFP via Getty Images)

“President Biden, for his part, faced a stark choice when he came to office: Abide by the flawed agreement and end America’s longest war, or blow up the deal, extend the war, and see a much smaller contingent of American troops back in combat with the Taliban,” Kirby added. “He chose the former and was able to buy additional time to prepare for that withdrawal all the way into summer, and we, as a nation, are safer for it.”

Kirby then brought up what he called “falsehoods” from the report. The first issue he found was that there was in fact planning for evacuations beginning in the spring of 2021.

Kirby said the Department of Defense proposed additional military units in the region so when a decision was reached to evacuate, they would be poised to respond.

AFGHAN GENERAL SAYS HIS COUNTRY HAS ONCE AGAIN BECOME ‘CRUCIBLE OF TERRORISM’

Afghanistan evacuees board a U.S. Air Force C-17 Globemaster III at Hamid Karzai International Airport, in Kabul, Afghanistan, Aug. 24, 2021. ( Master Sgt. Donald R. Allen/U.S. Air Forces Europe-Africa via Getty Images)

He also said there was no point in securing Bagram Air Base during the evacuation because it would have required thousands of additional U.S. troops. It would also have required a “dangerous trek by evacuees” across Taliban territory, making the evacuation even more difficult.

Kirby also mentioned that there was no handover of U.S. equipment to the Taliban.

“That equipment had been provided to Afghan security forces appropriately and with congressional approval over the course of two decades of war,” he said. “That equipment was left by those Afghan forces when they surrendered or stopped fighting.”

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Finally, Kirby told reporters the Biden administration did not deceive, lie or fail to be transparent during, or after the withdrawal.

“We did the best we could every day to keep the American people informed of what was happening,” he said. “We conducted our own after-action reports and shared those, too, with the public.”

Fox News Digital’s Landon Mion contributed to this report.

Foreign Affairs Chairman Rep. Mike McCaul said he still intends to haul in Antony Blinken on the Afghanistan withdrawal even after his sprawling report was completed, and will hold him in contempt of Congress if he does not comply. 

“This was a catastrophic failure of epic proportions,” the Texas Republican told reporters on Monday. “This is a disgrace. I will hold him in contempt if that’s what it takes to bring him before the American people.”

“Secretary Blinken refuses to take one day out of this month to come before the [Gold Star] families.” 

McCaul’s comments came on the heels of a 350-page report he released Monday on the withdrawal that the committee worked on for much of the past nearly two years of the Republican majority. 

It laid much blame on the State Department and detailed how State officials had no plan for getting Americans and allies out while there were still troops there to protect them.  

McCaul subpoenaed Blinken last week, saying he must appear before the committee by Sept. 19. 

HOUSE GOP RELEASES SCATHING REPORT ON BIDEN’S WITHDRAWAL FROM AFGHANISTAN

State Department spokesperson Vedant Patel shrugged off the committee’s threats. 

“The majority isn’t truly interested in legislating on Afghanistan policy. If they were, they would have sought to speak to the secretary long ago,” he told reporters Monday. 

House Foreign Affairs Chairman Michael McCaul spoke with Fox News Digital on the sidelines of his Congressional delegation to Taipei (Getty Images)

“They would have sought to speak to him to get his input as they make this report,” he said. “Instead they waited until the report was completely finished to come back to us.” 

In May, McCaul asked Blinken to appear at a hearing in September on the committee‘s report on its investigation of the withdrawal from Afghanistan. The State Department failed on several occasions to provide a date for Blinken to appear before lawmakers, McCaul said.

But the State Department said Monday Blinken had testified before House and Senate committees 14 times on the withdrawal, including four times before the Foreign Affairs Committee. 

McCaul also hinted that he believes there should still be a small contingency of U.S. forces in Afghanistan.

HOUSE COMMITTEE SUBPOENAS BLINKEN OVER AFGHANISTAN WITHDRAWAL 

“We cannot see now into Afghanistan except through over the horizon, which doesn’t work. We can’t see Russia, China and Iran, either, because of this tragic failure of foreign policy,” he told reporters.

“We can’t see all of ISIS gathering in the Korazhan region of Tajikistan, Pakistan, Afghanistan, making their way to the United States of America. That is what they did to us,” the chairman went on. 

“They embolden the unholy alliance of Putin, Xi, the Ayatollah and Kim Jong Un,” he said, referring to the leaders of Russia, China, Iran and North Korea. 

Secretary of State Antony Blinken, left, standing with Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, right, speaks during a news conference at the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md., Tuesday, Aug. 6, 2024.  (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

The Biden administration has long claimed the president’s hands were tied by the Doha agreement negotiated under President Trump that laid out a deadline for U.S. troops to withdraw from Afghanistan. But the new report detailed how the Taliban had failed to hold up their end of the deal, absolving the U.S. of any obligation to adhere to it. 

“​Biden, for his part, faced a stark choice when he came to office, abide by the flawed agreement and end America’s longest war, or blow up the deal, extend the war, and see a much smaller contingent of American troops back in combat with the Taliban,” White House national security spokesman John Kirby told reporters on Monday. 

“He chose the former and was able to buy additional time to prepare for that withdrawal all the way into the summer. And we, as a nation are safer for it. Any and every discussion about what happened in Afghanistan has to start right there. Sadly, the report does not dwell on it.”

The damning report claims that while US military personnel were drawing down their footprint in the nation, the State Department was growing theirs. 

And according to the report, U.S. Ambassador Ross Wilson was on vacation the last week of July and the first week of August 2021. He promptly hightailed it out of the country on a flight ahead of his staff in mid-August. He allegedly had COVID-19 at the time and forced a foreign service officer to take his COVID test so he could get on the plane.

Taliban fighters celebrate the third anniversary of the withdrawal of US-led troops from Afghanistan, in Kabul, Afghanistan, Wednesday, Aug. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Siddiqullah Alizai)

Patel defended Wilson, but did not deny the allegations. 

“I’m just not going to get into a tit-for-tat with the House Foreign Affairs Committee, but what I can say is that it is not my understanding that he was on vacation at the beginning of August. Beyond that, I will just echo what I said previously about Ambassador Wilson, that this is an esteemed individual, a decorated Foreign Service officer.” 

He claimed the GOP-led report chose “scandal over substance” and called it a “collection of cherry-picked comments… designed to paint an inaccurate picture of this administration’s efforts. 

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He claimed the withdrawal was carried out in a way that was consistent with department policy. “The drawdown in Kabul was conducted in a manner which is consistent with our departments and our country’s standards and protocols when faced in those circumstances.” 

He said he did not have a headcount on how many Americans are still in Afghanistan, but touted the more than 18,000 Afghan special immigrant visas (SIVs) for the U.S.’s Afghan allies, such as interpreters, that were processed in 2023.

House GOP leaders’ plan to avert a partial government shutdown at the end of this month could be derailed by mounting opposition from fiscal hawks within their own party.

Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., rolled out legislation late last week to extend the current year’s government funding levels through March via a continuing resolution (CR) to give congressional negotiators more time to work out the next fiscal year’s spending priorities.

It’s attached to a Republican-led bill for a proof of citizenship requirement in the voter registration process.

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

Speaker Mike Johnson (Getty Images)

Despite former President Donald Trump blessing the plan, Johnson can afford little room for error with a razor-thin House majority of just four votes.

As of early Monday evening, it appears that at least four House Republicans are opposed to their leaders’ bill – one more GOP “no” vote would ensure Johnson will need to seek out Democratic support for its passage.

Rep. Cory Mills, R-Fla., told reporters on Monday that he and Reps. Tim Burchett, R-Tenn., and Thomas Massie, R-Ky., are all opposed.

“I’ve made it clear…that I’ll be a no on the CR,” Mills said. “As far as I’m concerned, this is nothing more than messaging.”

Fox News Digital reached out to Burchett to confirm his stance.

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

Rep. Cory Mills came out against the bill to reporters on Monday. (David Dee Delgado)

Massie told Fox News Digital last week that he believed it was a mistake for Johnson not to push for a longer CR. Under a bipartisan deal passed last year, a CR extending past April 30 would automatically trigger a 1% government funding cut.

“Speaker Johnson has this teed up in front of him. The 1% cut is in law. All we need is a one-year CR to queue it up. When the April 30 deadline arrives, he could even trade the cut for something. But he’s afraid to even create a spending cut deadline,” Massie said.

Rep. Matt Rosendale, R-Mont., who is retiring at the end of this year, also told Fox News Digital last week that he is against the bill.

MCCARTHY’S ‘FINAL STRUGGLES’ THREATEN TO HAUNT JOHNSON’S GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN FIGHT

Lawmakers anticipate a Wednesday vote on the plan, but enough opposition could force House GOP leaders to scuttle the vote.

It’s possible that some Democrats will vote for the bill. Five House Democrats voted with Republicans to pass the Safeguarding American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act earlier this year.

But Democratic leaders in the House and Senate have both come out in opposition to the plan. The White House also announced Monday that President Biden would veto the bill if it got to his desk.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries is opposing the GOP plan. (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)

Johnson told reporters earlier in the day that he did not have a fallback plan in case of failure.

“There is no fallback position. This is a righteous fight. This is what the American people demand and deserve,” Johnson said.

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It’s a position that is likely to worry moderates who worry the political fallout from a government shutdown weeks before Election Day could cost them their seats.

“If we shut down, we lose,” one Republican told Fox News Digital last week.

Fox News Digital reached out to Johnson for comment on the “no” votes.

Fox News’ Tyler Olson contributed to this report.

Residents of a small Alabama city were up in arms at the migrant influx during a recent city council hearing that lawmakers suddenly cut short amid the outcry.

Meanwhile, state leaders demanded answers from the feds as the migrants appear to be in the country legally under Temporary Protective Status provisions extended to Haitian nationals by Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.

In Sylacauga, just south of NASCAR’s Talladega Superspeedway, City Council President Tiffany Nix abruptly curtailed public comment as residents demanded accountability for the at least 50 migrants that appeared in the city.

“We’re done,” Nix responded to resident David Phillips, who had criticized council’s attitude as “entirely unacceptable” during the meeting last week.

“[Haiti is] a failed state – their president (Jovenel Moise) was assassinated in 2021 – there is no way the State Department can vet these individuals,” Phillips said before Nix cut in as another resident called out, “Please let him talk.”

MIGRANT CRISIS ROILS BOSTON AREA AS SCHOOL STANDS FIRM ON RESIDENCY POLICY

Nix then made a motion to adjourn the meeting and ordered the gallery cleared.

“This is our city,” a woman in the gallery said. “Good to know, they don’t want to hear the truth,” another said.

Another resident wondered aloud how local schools will be able to handle the new migrants, noting that financial resources would be needed for children that only speak French-Creole and not English.

Amid the murmuring, Nix could be heard asking, “What would you like us to do?”

Earlier in the meeting, Nix said there is no reason to launch a municipal investigation and that people should not treat others “differently because of how they look.”

State Rep. Benjamin Robbins, who represents the city, wrote a letter Thursday to Mayorkas, demanding a federal response.

“As the secretary of Homeland Security, you are charged with overseeing immigration enforcement and refugee resettlement,” he wrote.

“Recently, my district has seen an influx of Haitian immigrants. You and your agency have failed in your responsibility to notify our community of the relocation of refugees, provide any information to local leaders or answer questions.”

Robbins said the situation has caused “panic and confusion” and left local leaders “helpless.” Robbins said he would demand Congress investigate if DHS does nothing.

Sylacauga Mayor Jim Heigl separately told Alabama’s 1819 News that information the migrants were in his city legally “came out from [Gov. Kay Ivey’s] office and also came from Mike Rogers’ office, [Sen.] Katie Britt’s office and [Sen. Tommy] Tuberville’s office.

BIDEN’S LATEST BORDER ORDER MAY EMBOLDEN MIGRANTS TO FLOUT IMMIGRATION LAWS, COMMIT MARRIAGE FRAUD CRITICS SAY

Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey (AP Photo/Vasha Hunt/File)

Rogers, the chair of the House Armed Services Committee, called the situation in his district “yet another example of the Biden-Harris administration’s moronic immigration policy failures.”

“Those two never cease to amaze me with their total incompetence and outright antagonism toward hardworking Americans. The way to fix this is to re-elect President Trump,” Rogers said.

Alabama House Speaker Nathaniel Ledbetter added his biggest concern is the lack of information from the feds on the migrants already inside the state.

“We have asked repeatedly,” said Ledbetter, R-Rainsville. “Once they are here, communities like Sylacauga and Albertville are left to deal with the disaster. Our schools don’t have the ESL resources to support the immigrant children, housing these people is an issue, crime is an issue, and the federal government has offered zero support whatsoever.”

Tuberville told Fox News Digital the feds are abusing their parole authority, which he said is supposed to be used sparingly and only for humanitarian purposes.

Instead, he said the administration is using it as a tool of “mass amnesty to millions of people.”

“We have no idea who most of these people are,” Tuberville said.

Fox News Digital reached out to the city and was directed to Nix’s email but did not receive a response.

Meanwhile, in Montgomery, state Senate President Pro-Tempore Greg Reed, R-Jasper, said Monday the Biden administration has allowed millions of illegal immigrants to “pour in” and cause a crisis.

“The immigration catastrophe they have … openly incentivized is hitting home right now for Americans across the country, including right here in Alabama,” he said.

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

“Alabama officials are prepared to use the tools at our disposal to clean up the mess and confusion their reckless policies have created,” Reed went on, adding that the crisis in Sylacauga emphasizes the importance of the presidential election.

A spokesperson for Ivey responded to a question about the mayor’s comments by saying her office has not received any facts or communications from the feds or to local officials on the matter.

“Separately though, Alabamians and Americans all over the country are rightfully concerned over the current Biden-Harris pro-illegal immigration policies. No doubt this is a contributing factor to the concerns of people in Sylacauga and other areas,” Gina Maiola said.

“People are on high alert. Gov. Ivey will continue taking action to enforce the law, doing everything in Alabama’s authority to secure the U.S. southern border and protecting our citizens from the harmful effects of illegal immigration.”

DHS did not respond to a request for comment for this story. 

A new ad from the Harris campaign slamming Trump as “dangerous” will feature comments from several former top Trump officials, including former Vice President Mike Pence.

The ad, titled, “The Best People,” seeks to bring old criticisms targeted at Trump — from former top officials he once hired — back into the spotlight. It will be aired the same day as ABC’s presidential debate Tuesday, and is scheduled to play on multiple Fox affiliates across the country.

“Anyone who puts themselves over the Constitution should never be President of the United States,” Pence said in August 2023. It came after an indictment was handed down against former President Donald Trump for allegedly interfering with the 2020 election results. The Harris campaign utilized the remark in its new ad, as well as a second remark made by Pence on Fox News roughly six months ago, saying he would not be endorsing Trump for president. 

“Take it from the people who knew him best,” a narrator says in the advertisement.

But despite the former vice president’s cameo appearance slamming Trump in the new ad, his decision not to endorse Trump does not equate to an endorsement for Kamala Harris, a spokesperson for Advancing American Freedom, a nonprofit recently founded by Pence, suggested. The spokesperson pointed Fox News Digital to a particular comment from Pence made last month in Atlanta, Georgia, during which Pence stated adamantly: “I could never vote for Kamala Harris as President of the United States, or Tim Walz her running mate.”

CNN CALLS OUT HARRIS FOR USING TRUMP’S BORDER WALL IN CAMPAIGN AD AFTER CONDEMNING IT FOR YEARS

Vice President Mike Pence and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz spoke to the press after Pence visited 3M World Headquarters in Maplewood, Minn. ((Photo by Glen Stubbe/Star Tribune via Getty Images))

The new Harris campaign advertisement also included year-old remarks from the former defense secretary under Trump, Mark Esper.

Esper’s comments utilized in the ad came from a June 2023 CNN interview, during which he was asked whether Trump “can be trusted” with the nation’s secrets in light of scrutiny over how he handled classified documents after leaving the White House. “No,” Esper says. “It’s just irresponsible action that places our service members at risk, places our national security at risk.”

Fox News Digital reached out to representatives for Esper to see if he was aware of his appearance in the ad, but did not hear back.   

Meanwhile, Trump former national security adviser John Bolton and the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff under Trump, Gen. Mark Milley, also appeared in the new ad from the Harris campaign. Bolton and Milley both have a track record of being outspoken critics of Trump.

Trump’s former National Security Adviser John Bolton (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

OVER 200 FORMER BUSH, MCCAIN, ROMNEY STAFFERS ENDORSE HARRIS: ‘THE ALTERNATIVE … IS SIMPLY UNTENABLE’

“Donald Trump will cause a lot of damage,” remarks from Bolton in the ad. “The only thing he cares about is Donald Trump.” 

Bolton’s remarks highlighted in the advertisement came from an interview on CNN in October 2023 and last week, respectively.

The ad concluded with remarks from Milley made during his final address as the nation’s top military general in September 2023. “We don’t take an oath to a king, or a queen, or a tyrant, or a dictator,” Milley says in the ad. “And we don’t take an oath to a wannabee dictator.”

Fox News Digital reached out for comment to representatives for Bolton and Milley, but did not receive a response by publication time.  

President Joe Biden, right, shakes hands with Mark Milley, outgoing chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, during an armed forces farewell tribute at Joint Base Myer-Henderson Hall in Arlington, Virginia, on Friday. (Nathan Howard/Sipa/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

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Trump campaign National Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, meanwhile, slammed the new ad as an attempt to “distract” from how “dangerously liberal [Harris] is.” 

“The Kamala campaign is using the words of a few disgruntled losers because they are losing in the polls and trying to distract from the fact that Kamala is losing support from moderate Democrats who realize how dangerously liberal she is,” Leavitt said on Monday.

Former President Obama’s half brother is backing former President Trump for president and spoke to Fox News Digital about why he left the Democratic Party and why he believes Trump is “going to win” in November.

“I’m supporting President Trump. I’ve been a supporter, a supporter since 2016. I like him,” Malik Obama told Fox News Digital on Monday. “I like the way he comes across. I like his demeanor. I like his straightforwardness. And I think he’s good for the country. And, he put the country back on course. Yes. I’m a Republican, so he’s my nominee.“

Malik and Barack are both sons of Barack Hussein Obama Sr. and Malik was the best man at Barack’s 1992 wedding, although the two have grown estranged since. 

“The main thing is making America strong, you know, in the eyes of the world. And Trump is a strong person. He’s known for his mettle, his strength and I like that,” Malik said. “He’s a no-nonsense guy. He’s a businessman, so he knows, you know, how to run a big organization. And the Democrats, I fell out with them because they’re hypocrites.”

EX-OBAMA ADVISER WARNS ‘IT’S VERY POSSIBLE’ TRUMP WOULD WIN ELECTION IF HELD TODAY, SAYS REPORTERS TOO COCKY

Malik Obama told Fox News Digital he is voting for Trump in November. (Fox News Digital)

Obama explained that the hypocrisy that made him leave the Democratic Party involved the way Democrats have treated Trump and Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign. 

“They’ve been treating Mr. President Trump horribly,” Obama said. “I’m not seeing anything like that in my life. You know, they’re going after him for, you know, going through tooth and nail. But using the judiciary to try to lock him up and keep him off the ballot, and I’ve not seen anything like that in my life. So the way they’re treating a former president of the United States of America is despicable to me.“

Obama said that in 2024 he believes “Democrats will be there doing the same thing they did in 2016.”

5 OVER-THE-TOP DNC MEDIA MOMENTS, FROM COINING THE TERM ‘KAMALA HARRIS DEMOCRATS’ TO COMPARING OBAMA AND JESUS

Vice President Kamala Harris is embraced by President Biden during a campaign event at IBEW Local Union #5 on Sept. 2, 2024. (Getty Images)

“They did it with Hillary, Hillary Clinton, and they were lying. And, you know, they’re just hypocrites. And, you know, they’re not straightforward and OK, I was a Democrat at that time until, you know, they started lying and, about the emails and I saw through, you know, they’re, they’re trying to put Hillary Clinton through, by devious means,” he continued. “And then Trump came out and called them out. He called them out straight to their face. And I like that. And a light bulb just came on from my head. And I just said, ‘Yeah, this is it.’ So I’ve been a big Trump follower since then.”

Obama also took issue with President Biden and the way his party handled transitioning to VP Harris.

“Then you had Joe Biden, old man,” Obama said. “He can’t even find the door even if you showed him, and he holds on until the last minute and he is the nominee. And all of a sudden, they drop off and they put Kamala Harris. Come on Harris. She’s like a joke. I see the way she behaves and everything, and I don’t think that she’s the right person. Maybe they should have decided to put Michelle Obama instead.“

Obama said his half brother Barack Obama and Harris are “cut from the same cloth” and “wishy-washy,” especially when it comes to abortion and immigration.

“Going around, fooling around with biology and things like that,” Obama said. “I think that is evil. But they stand for that. And I think that is abominable, you know, that they would go ahead and support such things. She’s talking about freedom of, what is it? What she’s talking about reproductive freedom and reproductive freedom is abortion. 

“You know, giving somebody the right to go ahead and kill a baby,” he added. “I don’t agree with it. I find it really abominable that they would do such a thing.”

“Even the border issue with the immigration and illegal immigrants coming into the United States. It took me forever to get my children [through] and I came in legally to the United States. I had a green card. The papers were put through, and I went through the process, and I was a legal resident for a long time until I decided to become a U.S. citizen. And that also was a process. You have to go and file and apply and do the things you’re supposed to do,” Obama continued. “And then, my children are now in the USA and had to go put in the papers for them and then legally. And then you got people coming in, illegals and being allowed to vote and things like that. And, and that to me is, you know, that’s a no no. I can’t stand for that. And I can’t support that kind of policy.”

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Former President Obama greets former first lady Michelle Obama as he arrives to speak on stage at the Democratic National Convention on Aug. 20, 2024. (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)

Obama’s half-brother went on to tell Fox News Digital that he believes former President Obama is “fake” and “did zilch” for his family and that’s part of the reason Trump is so appealing in comparison, because he “doesn’t beat around the bush.”

“Yeah, we’re going to win,” Obama said about what his message to Trump would be. 

“I just say President Trump, you’re going to win in November 2024,” he concluded. “You’re going to win. And I think you’re going to win by a landslide because all the hype that’s going on with Kamala and she can’t even interview, and I’m waiting for tomorrow, and everybody’s going to see that she can’t interview. All she does is laugh and move.”

As former President Trump faces backlash from Democrats over ties to the Heritage Foundation’s “Project 2025,” the Biden-Harris administration has been working hand in hand with a prominent liberal think tank through a revolving door of employees working to turn progressive policy recommendations into executive actions and legislation, which could come back to haunt the Harris campaign.

The Center for American Progress (CAP) has been labeled the “most influential” think tank in the Biden era, while the group publicly boasts that it has turned at least 10 policy recommendations into “executive action and policy legislation.”

Patrick Gaspard, the current president of CAP, has visited the Biden White House at least 20 times between December 2021 and January 2024, which included five solo meetings with high-ranking Biden officials.

CAP’s ties to the Biden White House go even deeper than Gaspard, as at least 60 alumni from the think tank have joined the administration, including Neera Tanden, who previously served as president of CAP and has served in multiple roles in the Biden administration, including senior adviser and staff secretary. 

PETE BUTTIGIEG REGULARLY CONSULTS DARK MONEY-FUNDED GREEN GROUPS, CALENDAR ENTRIES SHOW

Neera Tanden appears beofre a Senate Committee on the Budget hearing on Capitol Hill on Feb. 10, 2021. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik, Pool)

She was promoted in May 2023 to the “Assistant to the President and Domestic Policy Advisor” titles, replacing Susan Rice, according to a White House press release.

President Biden also hired CAP founder and chairman John Podesta as a senior White House clean energy czar in 2022. Podesta was tasked with overseeing roughly $370 billion in climate spending appropriated by the Inflation Reduction Act. 

The former Hillary Clinton campaign chairman was then tapped by Biden earlier this year to serve as his top climate diplomat after John Kerry stepped down to help with campaign efforts, which received backlash from top Republicans due to concerns over his ties to China dating back to his CAP days. 

Fox News Digital first reported on his connection to top CCP official Tung Chee-hwa, who he repeatedly referred to as his “friend” and took several calls from.

CAP’s influence within the Biden White House began months before he entered office. In late 2020, a half dozen of the group’s employees joined Biden’s transition team in the Treasury, Federal Reserve, Labor Department, Interior Department, National Security Council and Office of the U.S. Trade Representative. 

White House clean energy czar John Podesta, left, was appointed to “continue to lead our global climate efforts,” White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said. Podesta effectively replaced climate envoy John Kerry, right. (Getty Images)

CAP’s organization appears primed to push a policy agenda on several key issues on the progressive wish list if the Biden administration, now led by Vice President Kamala Harris on the presidential ticket, were to continue into a second term. 

CAP has voiced support for both setting term limits for Supreme Court justices and packing the court, which are two efforts being pushed by Demand Justice, a left-wing dark money group that Harris’ senior campaign adviser Brian Fallon co-founded and left less than a year ago. 

The liberal think tank has signed onto multiple letters pushed by Demand Justice, which was reportedly planning a $10 million offensive against conservative Supreme Court justices this year “on a range of activities, from conducting opposition research on potential Supreme Court picks to advocating for ethics reforms for the high court,” Politico reported.

“The Supreme Court has taken off its mask this term by creating unconstitutional de facto immunity for future presidents who act illegally and by gutting the ability of public agencies and Congress to protect Americans from abuse by right-wing special interests,” CAP states on its website.

BIDEN OMB NOMINEE NEERA TANDEN RECEIVED $731G OVER 2 YEARS FROM LIBERAL NONPROFIT

President Biden listens during an event in the South Court Auditorium on the White House complex in Washington, Tuesday, Sept. 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

CAP has pushed a variety of other left-wing efforts, which include censoring speech it believes to be “misinformation,” taxpayer-funded student loan bailouts, taxpayer-funded reparations, DEI mandates, federal taxpayer funds for abortion by eliminating the Hyde Amendment, and phasing out gas-powered cars.

“With skyrocketing profits and expanding domestic manufacturing, U.S. automakers have everything they need to help the country switch from fossil fuel-powered vehicles to electric,” CAP said in a 2024 post, despite multiple reports highlighting how consumers have complained about the cost and lack of charging stations.

CAP’s influence on Biden also spread to his messaging on the campaign trail before he dropped out of the race. In 2022, the Washington Post reported that Biden’s move to label Trump as “ultra MAGA” was the result of a six-month research project from the CAP Action Fund that was headed by his top aide Anita Dunn, who has performed consulting work for CAP.

CAP Action Fund’s president, Navin Nayak, has visited the Biden White House at least a couple dozen times, a Fox News Digital review of White House visitor logs found.

Biden’s former chief of staff Ron Klain, who was on the CAP Action Fund board for several years, has also repeatedly praised their efforts on his X account.

CENTER FOR AMERICAN PROGRESS SUPPORT COMES FROM ALL CORNERS, INCLUDING YOURS

Vice President Kamala Harris delivers remarks at a campaign rally in Savannah, Georgia, Aug. 29, 2024. (Reuters/Elizabeth Frantz)

VP Harris has worked with the Center for American Progress dating back to her time as California attorney general, when she joined the group for a press conference via telephone. She has also participated in several events hosted by the liberal think tank and her sister, Maya Harris, joined as a senior fellow, according to a 2013 press release. 

Tanden said, “Maya has worked tirelessly in many different arenas to ensure that the United States is a more inclusive country and that all Americans can live up to their potential” and looked forward to her involvement with CAP.

Despite its extensive connections to the Biden White House, CAP blasts Project 2025 on its website as a “far-right assault on America” that it claims will “serve as a road map” for a “far-right presidential administration.”

A CAP spokesperson dismissed the Heritage Foundation as “no longer a think tank” in a statement to Fox News Digital on Sunday.

“When it comes to the Heritage Foundation and their work, one needs to look no further than yesterday’s New York Times story exposing Heritage creating fake digital content and pushing lies about election integrity,” the spokesperson said. “Couple that with Heritage’s embrace of authoritarianism and their president threatening to launch a potentially violent ‘second American Revolution’ if it doesn’t get its way, and I think it’s safe to say that Heritage is on an island of its own. This is no longer a think tank.”

As a presidential candidate, Harris has repeatedly criticized Trump over Project 2025 as recently as last week when she ran an ad linking Trump to the project.

Former President Trump during a news conference at Trump Tower in New York, on Friday, Sept. 6, 2024. (Cheney Orr/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

While Project 2025 is staffed with several high-level individuals who have previously worked with Trump, he has strongly denied having any direct role with the group.

A Project 2025 spokesperson told Fox News Digital on Sunday that “Project 2025 does not speak for Donald Trump or his campaign” and is “continuing our decades-long legacy of preparing policy and personnel recommendations for the next conservative President.”

“The Heritage Foundation has been producing its Mandate for Leadership since 1980, and President Reagan handed out copies of the book to his cabinet at their first meeting,” the spokesperson continued. “The Left always prepares recommendations for liberal presidents, and they are simply upset that two can play this game.”

“The only reason that the Left is in a tailspin over Project 2025 is that it has winning ideas that the American people support, while their own recommendations, which are currently destroying our country, are wildly unpopular,” the spokesperson added.

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Trump campaign spokesperson Danielle Alvarez told Fox News Digital earlier this year that “Agenda 47 and President Trump’s RNC Platform are the only policies endorsed by President Trump for a second term.”

“Team Biden and the DNC are LYING and fear-mongering because they have NOTHING else to offer the American people,” she added. “Remember this is the same group that lied to Americans and hid Joe Biden’s cognitive decline all these years.” 

Fox News Digital reached out to the Biden White House and Harris campaign for comment but did not receive a response.

Fox News Digital’s Joe Schoffstall and Thomas Catenacci contributed to this report

EXCLUSIVE: A conservative grassroots group said Monday they registered 50,000 new voters in two key swing states, as the two major-party presidential nominees prepare to meet for a highly-anticipated debate.

Heritage Action for America, which boasts 2 million activists in states across the country, announced that its six-figure, data-driven endeavor to register voters in Georgia and Arizona has been a success.

To build on that, the group also announced it is considering resourcing another project in the two states to drive voter turnout among those they have just registered. 

The drive was geared toward conservative voters, not Republicans, Democrats or others on a party-line basis. As a 501c(4) organization, Heritage Action is permitted to back specific legislation but cannot work in support of partisan candidates.

Founded in 2010, Heritage Action seeks to work toward conservative policy victories at the state level and trains volunteers and other activists to be “sentinels” in their home states to “fight for America’s future.”

PENNSYLVANIANS OFFER MIXED ANSWERS ON WHERE HARRIS STANDS ON KEY ISSUES

A sign welcomes travelers to the Peach State at the I-20 East Welcome Center near Tallapoosa, Georgia, on Oct. 3, 2022. (Charlie Creitz)

Of the project in the two key states, Heritage Action Vice President Ryan Walker said the last several election cycles have shown that “every vote matters.”

“Registering as many like-minded voters as possible can and will make the difference between conservatives winning and losing in 2024,” Walker said.

“Heritage Action is proud of our work to register more than 50,000 conservative voters in Georgia and Arizona —and motivated to further our investments in these must-win states.”

Walker added that voter engagement is key to returning a conservative majority to Congress and enacting conservative policies from the executive branch.

CONSERVATIVE GROUP LAUNCHES MASSIVE VOTER REGISTRATION EFFORT IN KEY STATES

Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump speaks at the U.S.-Mexico border south of Sierra Vista, Arizona, on Aug. 22, 2024. (Rebecca Noble/Getty Images)

“The future of our country is on the line and Heritage is running through the tape to save her,” Walker said.

After identifying potential new registrants, the project’s organizers and activists followed up with door-to-door visits, text messages and telephone conversations.

President Biden defeated former President Donald Trump in the two states by about 12,000 votes each, a figure dwarfed by the 50,000 number announced by Heritage Action.

“Based on data from the 2020 election, the addition of 50,000 conservative voters in Georgia and Arizona could change the outcome of the presidential election,” the organization said in a statement.

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Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris speaks during a campaign event at IBEW Local Union #5 on Sept. 2, 2024 in Pittsburgh. (Getty Images)

In previous comments, Heritage Action President Kevin Roberts noted Biden won the White House in 2020 by a very small margin and, therefore, conservative change can be realized with targeted grassroots organizing.

“After he opened our borders, destroyed our economy through overspending and inflation, and invited conflict around the globe with failed foreign policy, voters are eager to fire him for good,” Roberts said.

“Heritage Action’s strategic voter registration campaign is finding and equipping the voters needed to ensure conservative majorities in must-win states across the country.”

In a margin of error race with eight weeks to go until Election Day and early voting getting underway this month in some crucial battleground states, it is hard not to underscore the importance of Tuesday’s debate between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump.

“It’s going to frame the race in people’s minds and have a decisive impact,” veteran GOP strategist and Republican Jewish Coalition CEO Matt Brooks told Fox News Digital.

Republican consultant and Fox News contributor Ari Fleischer emphasized that there is “a lot at stake in this debate.”

While Trump is a very well known commodity in the minds of American voters, they are considerably less familiar with Harris.

TEXAS GOV. GREG ABBOTT’S DEBATE ADVICE FOR TRUMP: ‘LET HARRIS SPEAK’

“For the first time people are really going to get to see her and whether she can stand on her own two feet,” argued Fleischer, a White House press secretary under then-President George W. Bush.

Harris and Trump will share the same stage at Philadelphia’s National Constitution Center in an ABC News debate in their first and perhaps only face-to-face encounter ahead of the presidential election.

Harris has enjoyed a wave of momentum in both polling and fundraising since replacing President Biden at the top of the Democrats’ 2024 ticket in July, but Republicans argue Americans’ honeymoon with the vice president is subsiding.

CLICK HERE FOR THE LATEST FOX NEWS REPORTING ON THE HARRIS-TRUMP DEBATE

Fleischer’s advice for Trump is, “Hit her on policy. Just like you did to Biden in the first debate. That was a disciplined, tough, policy-oriented Donald Trump. I would love to see the same Donald Trump against Kamala Harris.”

Brooks highlighted that “on policy the distinctions are sharp and clear. It will be teed up to the American people if we stick to policy. That’s what they’re looking for and that’s what they want to hear about.”

Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris speaks at a campaign rally at the Enmarket Arena Aug. 29, 2024 in Savannah, Georgia. (Win McNamee/Getty Images)

Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina, who was seriously considered a Trump 2024 running mate, told Fox News that the former president “doesn’t need my advice. He just needs to be himself.”

Scott said that “I think the American people have mostly made up their minds. Those independents, those uncommitted voters, this debate will show why Donald Trump is the only choice in 2024.”

Sen. Tom Cotton of Arkansas, another Trump ally and surrogate, emphasized that “the American people know where President Trump stands. They know what they got when President Trump was president.”

TRUMP AND HARRIS ON COLLISION COURSE AS 2024 CAMPAIGN ENTERS FINAL STRETCH

Pointing to the vice president, Cotton charged that “Kamala Harris has tried to run as a blank slate.”

When asked what advice he would give the former president, Cotton agreed with Scott that “I don’t think President Trump needs my advice.”

“The last time he debated he ended one presidential campaign. I look forward to him doing the same thing…by exposing Kamala Harris’ radical record,” Cotton said.

MSNBC host and former White House press secretary Jen Psaki was concerned about President Biden, right, during his infamous debate against former President Donald Trump. (Getty Images)

Biden’s disastrous performance in his late June debate against Trump instantly fueled questions about his physical and mental abilities to serve another four years in the White House – and spurred a rising chorus of calls from within his own party for the 81-year-old president to end his bid for a second term. Facing increased pressure from fellow Democrats, Biden, in a blockbuster announcement on July 21, ended his re-election campaign and endorsed his vice president.

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Harris and Trump are taking vastly different approaches to preparing for Tuesday’s showdown.

Harris spent most of the past four days hunkered down in a downtown Pittsburgh hotel, taking part in an intensive “debate camp,” which included numerous mock debate sessions. 

Trump spent much of this past weekend at his golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey, taking part in less formal “policy sessions” with aides and allies. However, Trump also traveled to swing state Wisconsin on Saturday to headline a campaign rally.

Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump departs a campaign event at the Central Wisconsin Airport on Sept. 7, 2024 in Mosinee, Wisconsin. (Scott Olson/Getty Images)

“It’s really important for Donald Trump to know the playbook,” Fleischer emphasized. “He needs to know Kamala Harris’ positions that she took in 2019 and 2020 about gun confiscation, about likening the border patrol to the KKK, ending fracking, ending offshore oil drilling. He needs to know her positions, and that requires studying ahead of time.”

When asked about the former president’s preparations, Trump campaign national press secretary Karoline Leavitt, in a Fox News interview, said “let me tell you, President Trump is ready.”

Biden’s halting delivery and uneven responses in the first debate gave Trump an almost unhindered ability to make his case.

However, it is unlikely the 78-year-old Trump will have such free-range against the 59-year-old Harris, a veteran prosecutor who served as San Francisco district attorney and California attorney general before winning election to the Senate in 2016.

A big question heading into Tuesday’s debate is how Trump will react if Harris gets under the former president’s skin, by going on offense and calling him out over his likely insults and misstatements.

“With President Trump, you never know what you’re going to get. There’s always an element of surprise, which is what makes him so authentic and real. But there can be risks to that,” Fleischer noted. “I’m hoping he’s going to be the same person he was against Joe Biden with that disciplined debate. He already knocked one Democrat out of the race – Joe Biden. Maybe he can do it twice.”

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

FIRST ON FOX: Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., is writing to Attorney General Merrick Garland to question the legitimacy of special counsel Jack Smith’s continued probing of former President Donald Trump.

Gaetz, one of Trump’s closest allies in Congress, asked Garland for “any written authorization” or other documentation regarding Smith’s continued efforts despite his case against the ex-president getting thrown out by a federal judge in July.

“On August 27, 2024, Special Counsel Jack Smith filed a superseding indictment against former President Donald Trump in federal district court in the District of Columbia. One day later, he was arguing before the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals, attempting to overturn a federal district judge’s finding that he was unlawfully appointed by you,” Gaetz wrote in the brief letter.

“It is unclear what authority Special Counsel Smith has to file either of these briefs or to provide services to the Department of Justice.”

TRUMP UNLEASHES ON HARRIS, TALKING IMMIGRATION, CHINA IN EXCLUSIVE ‘LIFE, LIBERTY & LEVIN’ INTERVIEW

Rep. Matt Gaetz, right, is questioning the legitimacy of special counsel Jack Smith’s recent legal moves after he was ruled to have been illegitimately appointed. (Getty Images)

Smith’s appointment as special counsel was deemed unlawful by Florida-based U.S. Judge Eileen Cannon, who said his lack of Senate confirmation for the role made him illegitimate. 

Cannon, who was appointed by Trump, had been overseeing Smith’s prosecution of the former president over his handling of classified documents found at Mar-a-Lago.

Smith filed a response with the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals, arguing Cannon was wrong in her assessment of the special counsel role, arguing “precedent and history” were on his side, as well as a “long tradition of special-counsel appointments by Attorneys General and Congress’ endorsement of the practice.”

TRUMP INDICTED A SECOND TIME IN ELECTION SUBVERSION CASE BROUGHT BY SPECIAL COUNSEL JACK SMITH

Former President Donald Trump’s congressional allies have publicly pushed back against the prosecutions against him. (Scott Olson/Getty Images)

Amid that court battle, Smith also filed a superseding indictment in a separate probe he is conducting into the ex-president, investigating whether Trump conspired to overturn the 2020 election. Smith had filed an amended indictment in that prosecution after the recent Supreme Court ruling that presidents are afforded wider immunity privileges.

However, Gaetz questioned whether Smith even had the legal footing to file either of those motions. 

His letter asked Garland whether he consulted the deputy attorney general and existing public integrity guidelines before Smith filed the superseding indictment.

If so, Gaetz asked him to “provide any records of the Deputy Attorney General’s Office or the Office of the Attorney General authorizing the Office of Special Counsel to file the Aug. 27, 2024, superseding indictment.”

Trump has so far denied any wrongdoing in any of the prosecutions against him.

His congressional allies like Gaetz have been key defenders – Gaetz has heaped skepticism on Trump’s legal trials, and House GOP Conference Chair Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., has filed a flurry of ethics complaints against judges overseeing Trump cases in New York.

TRUMP PLANS TO PLEAD NOT GUILTY TO JACK SMITH’S REVISED FEDERAL ELECTION INTERFERENCE CHARGES

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., another Trump ally, has spearheaded GOP pressure in the House to defund Smith’s office.

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It is not fully clear yet how Trump’s criminal and civil proceedings will affect his bid for re-election, with less than two months until Election Day.

The Department of Justice did not immediately return a request for comment on Gaetz’s letter.

The State Department stood by the frenzied 2021 Afghanistan withdrawal in a new statement after House Foreign Affairs Republicans released a scathing 350-page report detailing dysfunction and a lack of planning leading up to the pullout. 

Republicans have “issued partisan statements, cherry-picked facts, withheld testimonies from the American people, and obfuscated the truth behind conjecture,” according to a statement put out by a State Department spokesperson. 

The report, led by Foreign Affairs Chairman Mike McCaul, R-Texas, disputed Biden’s assertion that his hands were tied to the Doha agreement former President Donald Trump had made with the Taliban establishing a deadline for U.S. withdrawal for the summer of 2021, and laid much blame on a lack of planning by the State Department for getting Americans and allies out while there were still troops there to protect them. 

“There are valid and important criticisms of the two-decade-long war in Afghanistan and how it concluded, which is why the Department has remained focused on evolving and growing from this moment, learning important lessons and making sustainable changes to crisis operations,” the State Department statement said. 

“The Department stands ready to work alongside any Member who expresses serious interest in finding legislative and administrative solutions. However, we will not stand by silently as the Department and its workforce are used to further partisan agendas.”

Taliban fighters celebrate the third anniversary of the withdrawal of U.S.-led troops from Afghanistan in Kabul, Afghanistan, on Wednesday, Aug. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Siddiqullah Alizai)

US FAILURE IN TALIBAN INTEL HAS OPENED UP AFGHANISTAN TO CHINA, RUSSIA 

The department said the idea that they lacked a noncombatant evacuation operation (NEO) plan to close operations in Afghanistan is “one of the most persistent misunderstandings.” 

The State Department did not initiate a NEO to begin removing U.S. personnel and American allies until Aug. 14, as the Taliban marched into Kabul, and one day before President Ashraf Ghani fled his country in a helicopter full of cash. 

There were not enough troops present to begin the NEO until Aug. 19.

The report lays blame on former Afghanistan Ambassador Ross Wilson, who instead of shrinking, increased the embassy’s presence as the security situation deteriorated – despite warnings from military officials. 

The statement noted that the U.S. had intended for the embassy in Kabul to remain open after the evacuation – “a decision Congress broadly supported.” 

“While U.S. military forces would end combat operations, Department personnel planned to operate out of Embassy Kabul to assist Americans and Afghan allies, coordinate diplomatic and development activity and investments, and help protect and advance U.S. national security interests after August 2021.” 

The U.S. Embassy in Kabul closed officially on Aug. 31, 2021 and has not reopened since. 

The State Department claimed no one anticipated the Taliban takeover would be so swift.  (AP Photo/Siddiqullah Alizai)

The statement said that “executing the NEO before [August 15] would have signaled to the people of Afghanistan the U.S. had lost all confidence in the then-Afghan government and precipitated the very collapse we sought to avoid.”

Still, the department admitted it had no idea Afghanistan would fall to the Taliban so quickly. “Even the most pessimistic assessments did not predict the government forces in Kabul would collapse while U.S. forces remained.”

McCaul’s investigation found the State Department had been warned repeatedly about the Taliban takeover but refused to draw down its presence in the region. 

The department said it had been recommending Americans living in Afghanistan leave since March of that year.

A new GOP report laid a lot of blame on a lack of planning by the State Department for getting Americans and allies out while there were still troops there to protect them. (MoD Crown Copyright via Getty Images)

AFGHAN GENERAL SAYS HIS COUNTRY HAS ONCE AGAIN BECOME ‘CRUCIBLE OF TERRORISM’

“In total, between March and August, the Department sent 19 unique messages with warnings to Americans living in Afghanistan to leave, as well as offers of help, including financial assistance to pay for plane tickets.”

Despite such efforts, nearly 6,000 Americans remained as Kabul fell, mostly dual citizens, prompting an evacuation effort of “unprecedented scope and scale.” 

McCaul contends that the State Department left some 1,000 Americans in Afghanistan, but the State Department said it evacuated “almost all” Americans by Aug. 31. 

The department said it helped another 500 U.S. citizens evacuate between Aug. 31 and the end of the year – and noted that it helped some 120,000 Americans, Afghans and third-country nationals flee the country in the last two weeks of August 2021. 

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It also noted that when President Biden took office in January 2021, the special immigrant visa (SIV) program to offer visas to foreign nationals who assist U.S. missions abroad had a backlog of 14,000 and “there had not been a single SIV applicant interview in Kabul in nine months, going back to March 2020.”

More Black Americans are planning to make their voices heard on Election Day now that Vice President Kamala Harris has replaced President Biden as the Democratic nominee, according to a Monday poll.

The Washington Post-Ipsos poll found that 69% of Black Americans say they are “absolutely certain to vote” on Election Day, compared to 62% in April. Meanwhile, a similar New York Times poll found Sunday that 56% of Black Americans said they were “almost certain” to vote, with an additional 33% saying they were “very likely” to vote.

The Post poll found that Harris’ candidacy has had the largest impact on young Black voters, particularly women. The share of Black Americans under 30 who plan to vote has risen 15 points from April, to 47%. Meanwhile, intent to vote among Black women under 40 rose by 18 points since April, to 57%.

Among Black registered voters, 82% say they favor Harris over Trump, according to the Post, while only 12% say they favor Trump. In the Times poll, 78% of Black Americans said they favored Trump, and Trump again scored 14%.

HOUSE GOP RELEASES SCATHING REPORT ON BIDEN’S WITHDRAWAL FROM AFGHANISTAN

Vice President Kamala Harris has galvanized many Black voters to participate in the upcoming election, according to a new poll. (Getty Images)

SEN. JOHN FETTERMAN MAKES PREDICTION FOR TRUMP AND HARRIS DEBATE: ‘IT’S GOING TO BE CLOSE’

The Post and Ipsos conducted the poll from Aug. 23 to Sept. 3, surveying 1,083 Black Americans. The poll advertises a margin of error of 3.2%.

Harris holds solid or dominating majority support from Black voters when it comes to the issues as well. Only when it comes to Israel’s war with Hamas does she lose out on a majority, with 49% of Black Americans saying they trust her to handle the issue. A striking 28% said neither candidate could be trusted on the topic.

Trump’s best performance is on immigration, where 19% of Black Americans say he is best to handle the issue. Harris maintains a commanding 55% support on the issue, however.

Trump performs best among Black voters on immigration, where he holds 19% support. (Kate Medley for The Washington Post via Getty Images)

The poll lands just one day before Harris and Trump are set to square off in their first presidential debate on Tuesday. The pair’s campaigns have already laid the groundwork for lines of attack.

SEN. JOHN FETTERMAN MAKES PREDICTION FOR TRUMP AND HARRIS DEBATE: ‘IT’S GOING TO BE CLOSE’

Trump is expected to lean into Harris’ role in the 2021 withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan, which saw 13 soldiers killed in a suicide bombing. Several relatives of those soldiers have endorsed Trump and criticized Harris in recent weeks.

Harris and Trump will square off in their first debate on Tuesday night. (Getty Images)

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Meanwhile, Harris’ campaign sought to counter that narrative this week with a letter from 10 retired generals and admirals saying President Biden and Harris had done their best with a poor situation left to them by Trump’s own administration.

Vice President Harris finally added policies to her campaign website for the first time since President Biden dropped out of the race and endorsed her in the presidential race 50 days ago. 

The website breaks Harris and her vice-presidential running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz’ policy proposals into four sections: “Build an Opportunity Economy and Lower Costs for Families,” “Safeguard Our Fundamental Freedoms,” “Ensure Safety and Justice For All,” and “Keep America Safe, Secure, and Prosperous.” 

Before the new addition, Harris’ campaign website had pages to buy merchandise, donate and get to know the candidate’s background, but was devoid of any policy plans for weeks even after she formally accepted the nomination at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago 17 days ago. 

Harris’s website now includes a promise to cut taxes for middle class families by “ensuring no one earning less than $400,000 a year will pay more in taxes.” The website promises that Harris and Walz “will ensure the wealthiest Americans and the largest corporations pay their fair share, so we can take action to build up the middle class while reducing the deficit,” including by “rolling back Trump’s tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans, enacting a billionaire minimum tax, quadrupling the tax on stock buybacks, and other reforms to ensure the very wealthy are playing by the same rules as the middle class.” 

HARRIS TEAM MOVES TO SOFTEN POTENTIAL DEBATE IMPACT ‘BEFORE IT EVEN HAPPENS’ AND MORE TOP HEADLINES

Kamala Harris at a campaign rally in Savannah, Georgia, on Aug. 29, 2024.  (REUTERS/Elizabeth Frantz)

The website touts a plan to give more than 100 million working and middle-class families a tax cut by restoring the Child Tax Credit and the Earned Income Tax Credit. It says Harris and Walz will also expand the Child Tax Credit to provide a $6,000 credit to families with newborn children.

“Under her plan, the tax rate on long-term capital gains for those earning a million dollars a year or more will be 28 percent, because when the government encourages investment, it leads to broad-based economic growth and creates jobs, which makes our economy stronger,” the website says. 

The website also claims that Harris’ “lowering costs agenda is a stark contrast to Donald Trump’s plans to jack up prices, weaken the middle class, cut Social Security and Medicare, eliminate the Department of Education and preschool programs like Head Start, and end the Affordable Care Act.” 

Donald Trump departs a campaign event at the Central Wisconsin Airport on Sept. 7, 2024 in Mosinee, Wisconsin.  (Scott Olson/Getty Images)

Much of the Harris website’s policy section focuses on attacking her opponent. Under each policy section, Harris includes a subsection on what she calls “Trump’s Project 2025 Agenda.” 

Former President Trump and his campaign have repeatedly said they are not affiliated with Project 2025, which was created by the conservative think tank the Heritage Foundation as policy recommendations for the next Republican administration. Harris’ website also claims Trump would ban abortion and restrict in vitro fertilization (IVF) treatment, despite the Republican nominee stating the opposite. Trump has said he would not enact a federal abortion ban and recently said he would consider making sure the government or insurance companies cover the fertility treatment.

Regarding the economy, Harris claims that Trump’s “plans would increase costs for families by at least $3,900 a year by slapping a Trump sales tax on imported everyday goods that American families rely on, like gas, food, clothing, and medicine” and would raise rents and add $1,200 a year to the typical American mortgage. 

HERITAGE RIPS HARRIS’ ‘DANGEROUSLY LIBERAL’ POLICY RECORD WITH NEW WEBSITE, 6-FIGURE OUTREACH TO INDEPENDENTS

“Trump’s economic plans would also trigger a recession by mid-2025, cost America over 3 million jobs, threaten hundreds of thousands of clean energy jobs, increase the debt by over $5 trillion, send inflation skyrocketing, and hurt everyone but the richest Americans,” according to Harris’ website. 

Under what is intended to be policy proposals to “ensure safety and justice for all,” Harris’ website slams Trump as “a convicted criminal who only cares about himself,” claiming the Republican nominee has “proven that time and time again – from caving to the gun lobby and doing nothing to address gun violence to killing the bipartisan border security deal that would secure our border and keep America safe, just to help himself politically.” It also says Trump will implement the Project 2025 agenda if elected “to consolidate power, bring the Department of Justice and the FBI under his direct control so he can give himself unchecked legal power and go after his opponents, and rule as a dictator on ‘day one.’”

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

Kamala Harris is embraced by President Joe Biden during a campaign event at IBEW Local Union #5 on Sept. 2, 2024, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. (Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)

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Regarding foreign affairs, the website claims that Harris “has been a tireless and effective diplomat on the world stage” and “will never hesitate to take whatever action is necessary to protect U.S. forces and interests from Iran and Iran-backed terrorist groups.” Despite Harris boycotting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s address to Congress in Washington, D.C., earlier this year, her website states Harris “will always stand up for Israel’s right to defend itself and she will always ensure Israel has the ability to defend itself.” 

“She and President Biden are working to end the war in Gaza, such that Israel is secure, the hostages are released, the suffering in Gaza ends, and the Palestinian people can realize their right to dignity, security, freedom, and self-determination,” the website says. “She and President Biden are working around the clock to get a hostage deal and a ceasefire deal done.”

A group of retired generals is moving to defend Vice President Kamala Harris from criticism over the Biden-Harris administration’s handling of the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan this week.

The group of 10 former generals and admirals includes Admiral Steve Abbot, a former advisor to George W. Bush; Gen. Lloyd W. Newton, and Gen. Larry R. Ellis, who had never endorsed a political candidate until this week.

“Vice President Kamala Harris is the best—and only—presidential candidate in this race who is fit to serve as our commander-in-chief,” the group wrote in a National Security Leaders for America letter, first obtained by Axios.

“She has demonstrated her ability to take on the most difficult national security challenges in the Situation Room and on the international stage, from rallying our allies against Russia’s brutal invasion of Ukraine to standing shoulder to shoulder with our allies in the Indo-Pacific against China’s provocative actions, to advancing U.S. leadership on space and artificial intelligence,” the letter continued.

SEN. JOHN FETTERMAN MAKES PREDICTION FOR TRUMP AND HARRIS DEBATE: ‘IT’S GOING TO BE CLOSE’

A group of retired generals and admirals say Harris would serve as a better commander-in-chief than Harris.

The group went on to attack former President Trump for allegedly setting up President Biden and Harris to fail in Afghanistan. They say the Trump administration negotiated a deal “without involving the Afghan government” and released 5,000 Taliban fighters back onto the battlefield.

HARRIS WILL HAVE TO ‘FACE OFF’ AGAINST BIDEN, HIS LEGACY IN DEBATE AGAINST TRUMP: NYT COLUMNIST

“He left President Biden and Vice President Harris with no plans to execute a withdrawal, and with little time to do so. This chaotic approach severely hindered the Biden-Harris Administration’s ability to execute the most orderly withdrawal possible and put our service members and our allies at risk. Nevertheless, President Biden with the support of Vice President Harris ended America’s longest war, oversaw the largest airlift in U.S. history, and brought our troops home,” the generals wrote.

President Biden and Harris have faced heavy criticism for their handling of the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan. (Olivier Douliery/AFP via Getty Images)

Harris has faced heavy criticism for her involvement in the withdrawal since she became the Democratic Party’s presidential nominee last month. She famously stated that she was the “last” person in the room with Biden when the administration was calling the shots for the withdrawal.

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

Trump’s campaign has put the issue front and center in recent weeks, with parents and relatives of some U.S. soldiers killed during the withdrawal attacking Harris and endorsing the former president.

Trump’s campaign has sought to highlight Harris’ involvement in the disastrous pullout from Afghanistan, which resulted in the deaths of 13 U.S. soldiers. (Scott Olson/Getty Images)

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Trump is sure to raise the issue on Tuesday night, when he and Harris meet to debate for the first time.

President Biden and Senate Democrats are racing to confirm more judicial nominees than former President Donald Trump did while in office. 

However, they face a difficult schedule to get it done, with several time-sensitive pieces of legislation due this fall and an entire month out of session in October. 

Prior to the August break, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Dick Durbin, D-Ill., announced that seven nominees had been advanced out of committee to be considered for confirmation. It’s unclear when these votes will take place once the Senate is back. 

MCCORMICK SAYS ‘PEOPLE ARE RECOGNIZING’ IMPORTANCE OF 2024 ELECTION AS PENNSYLVANIA SENATE POLLS TIGHTEN

Democrats face significant time constraints in the Biden effort to appoint more judges than Trump. (Reuters)

A spokesperson for Durbin told Fox News Digital in a statement, “Senate Democrats are in a strong position to confirm additional Biden-Harris judicial nominees through the rest of the year. Chair Durbin will continue holding nominations hearings and markups through the end of the Congress, as well as push for floor votes on these highly qualified, diverse nominees who are bringing balance to the federal judiciary.”

So far, Biden has appointed 205 federal judges in his term, compared to the 204 whom Trump had appointed, as of Sept. 5, 2020, according to the Heritage Foundation’s judicial tracker. 

Both Biden and Trump have put a renewed emphasis on the federal judiciary, each focusing on quickly facilitating as many appointments as they could during their terms. Their appointments during one term have rivaled those of their predecessors, who had double the time to confirm them. 

POLITICAL HANDICAPPER SHIFTS MONTANA SENATE TO ‘LEANS REPUBLICAN’ AS TESTER FALLS BEHIND

Biden hit the 200 appointments milestone in May.  (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

Trump was particularly successful at appointing more judges to influential appellate court positions. In fact, Trump appointed nearly the same number of such judges in his sole term as former President Barack Obama did in both of his. 

In May, Biden’s White House had officially outpaced Trump at the same time in his term, appointing 200 federal judges. “Judges matter. These men and women have the power to uphold basic rights or to roll them back,” he said in a statement at the time, emphasizing his commitment to judicial appointments. 

While Biden was ahead of Trump in the key metric of judicial appointments in the spring, he’d fallen back on par with the former president by August when the Senate departed Washington, D.C., for recess. The lengthy blocks of out-of-session time in both August and October pose a significant obstacle to Democrats in the Senate getting future Biden judges confirmed. 

SENATE GOP BRACING FOR LAST-MINUTE LEADER BIDS — POTENTIALLY BY KEY TRUMP ALLY

Chuck Schumer said the spending bill needs to be done in a bipartisan manner. (Reuters)

Not only this, but several time-sensitive legislative fights are shaping up in Congress that are likely to take up valuable time. A partial government shutdown looms at the end of this month if Congress isn’t able to agree on a spending deal before the deadline. This could prove difficult, as conservative Republicans in the House and Senate, including House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., have demanded a six-month continuing resolution (CR) to keep spending levels steady until March, as well as an attached bill to require proof of citizenship to vote. 

The Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act’s inclusion is likely to be a nonstarter for Democrats. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., told Fox News Digital that the spending deal needed to be bipartisan when asked about the Republican-backed measure. 

SENATE GOP CAMPAIGN CHAIR ‘CONCERNED’ OVER FUNDRAISING DISPARITY BUT PREDICTS WHO WILL WIN MAJORITY

Durbin chairs the judiciary committee. (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

While five House Democrats voted in favor of it in the lower chamber, it doesn’t seem that it is enough for Schumer, who has refused to give it a vote on the Senate floor. 

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Once September is up, Congress is scheduled for an additional month-long recess. When they return for November and December, which each have holidays to consider, there will be minimal time to get final judges confirmed. 

Schumer’s office did not provide comment to Fox News Digital regarding his confidence in getting more judges appointed than Trump, given the time constraints. 

More than 3,000 family members of 9/11 victims are demanding both former President Trump and Vice President Harris oppose any Middle East peace deal with Saudi Arabia unless the kingdom acknowledges and is held accountable for its involvement in the attack.

“We waited 23 years for truth, justice and accountability,” Brett Eagleson, head of the advocacy group 9/11 Justice who lost his father in the World Trade Center, told Fox News Digital ahead of the 23rd anniversary of the nation’s deadliest terror attack. 

“As we continue to push and as we continue to make noise, we’re seeing more and more evidence, smoking-gun evidence coming out about the kingdom’s role in supporting 9/11 hijackers, and our government has done nothing to hold them accountable.”

Both Trump and President Biden have been pushing for a security deal that would normalize relations between Israel and the Saudis, allow for civil nuclear energy cooperation and defense guarantees to counter Iran. That deal was put on ice after the Hamas attack on Israel last October.

The families point to video footage of a Saudi government agent “casing” the U.S. Capitol as proof of Saudi involvement. 

They sent an original letter to both Harris and Trump last week and a follow-up one this week. They also invited both candidates to meet with them at Ground Zero next Wednesday on the 9/11 anniversary.

Pedestrians in Lower Manhattan watch smoke billow from New York’s World Trade Center on Tuesday, Sept. 11, 2001. (AP Photo/Amy Sancetta)

New York firefighters are shown amid the rubble of the World Trade Center after the 9/11 attacks. (Getty Images)

“As you campaign to become the next President of the United States, we ask you to pledge that you will not endorse any Middle East peace deal involving Saudi Arabia unless it fully addresses the role of the Saudi Arabian government in the 9/11 attacks,” their letter reads.

HARRIS’ RECORD GIVES INSIGHT TO GOALS: GETTING TOUGH ON SAUDI ARABIA AND RENEWING IRAN DEAL 

Omar al-Bayoumi, who the FBI says was an operative of the Saudi intelligence service with close ties to two of the 9/11 hijackers, can be seen filming a video published by CBS in June 2024 around the Capitol pointing out entrances and exits, security posts and a model of the building. 

Al-Bayoumi noted the airport nearby and pointed to the Washington Monument and said he would “report to you what is in there.” 

Federal investigators believe the hijackers of Flight 93, which crashed in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, had intentions of flying the plane into the Capitol. 

“We’re saying that if the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia truly wants to engage with the West, and they want to continue to buy our weapons, and they want our nuclear technology, and they want the defense of our troops, the least they can do is admit their fault and admit that the practices within their government 23 years ago, with supporting the hijackers and exporting this radical form of Islam, admit that it were not for that, 9/11 would have never had happened.”

Eagleson said Saudi Crown-Prince Mohammed bin Salman [MBS] “had nothing to do with 9/11 – we were both 15 at the time.”

“To MBS’ credit, he is sort of being a progressive, but … it doesn’t absolve them from the sins of their past.”

Formed by families of victims in Pennsylvania, New York and Virginia, 9/11 Justice has sued the Saudi government and pushed the U.S. government to declassify all remaining documents about 9/11. 

Fifteen of the 19 al Qaeda hijackers were from Saudi Arabia, but the direct links of the Saudi government have remained murky for years. 

“The leaders of our government, the two candidates for office, have refused to address this issue, and we’re sick and tired of it,” said Eagleson. 

OPINION: WHY SAUDI ARABIA MATTERS MORE THAN EVER TO THE US

In 2021, Biden signed an executive order for the review and declassification of 9/11 documents, but it’s “not working,” Eagleson says.

“We’re having to go outside of the country to get this information,” he added, noting that the casing video had come from British police. The London Police provided the FBI with the video years ago, but it was never made available to the 9/11 commission or the CIA, according to Deputy Director Michael Morrell. 

“I’m 99.9% confident that we did not have this video. I was the president’s briefer at the time. If somebody had shown me this video, I would have shown it to the president,” he told CBS. 

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“Have President Biden and Vice President Harris seen this video? Has President Trump seen it? Why was this video buried?” Eagleson said. “The fact that they’re not answering that question just smells of conspiracy, it smells of cover-up.”

The Harris and Trump campaigns could not be reached for comment.

The House Democrats on the Foreign Affairs Committee released their own memo on President Biden’s chaotic 2021 withdrawal from Afghanistan after committee Republicans released a report criticizing the president for what went down at the time.

Texas Rep. Mike McCaul, the Republican chair of the committee, released a GOP-led report disputing Biden’s claims that his hands were tied to the agreement former President Trump had made with the Taliban establishing a deadline for U.S. withdrawal for the summer of 2021. It also said State Department officials had no plan for helping Americans and allies out while there were still troops in the region to protect them.

McCaul’s report also noted the failure to adequately respond to terror threats ahead of the ISIS-K bombing at Abbey Gate at the Kabul airport that killed 13 U.S. service members and more than 150 Afghan civilians, and that the Taliban likely had access after the withdrawal to $7 billion in abandoned U.S. weapons and up to $57 million in U.S. funds that were initially given to the Afghan government.

But New York Rep. Gregory Meeks, the Democrat ranking member of the committee, released a dueling report in response to the GOP-led report, accusing Republicans of criticizing the Biden administration for the withdrawal for political purposes and failing to offer feasible alternatives.

HOUSE GOP RELEASES SCATHING REPORT ON BIDEN’S WITHDRAWAL FROM AFGHANISTAN

A U.S. Marine grabs an infant over a fence of barbed wire during an evacuation at then-Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul on Aug. 19, 2021. (Courtesy of Omar Haidiri/AFP via Getty Images)

Meeks also said Republicans did not involve Democrat members in their report and stressed that plans for withdrawing from Afghanistan began under the Trump administration.

He said in the memo’s summary that Republicans sought to avoid facts involving Trump, including “his committing the United States to a full, date-specific withdrawal in a deal he negotiated with the Taliban that excluded the Afghan government or any reference to the rights of Afghan women and girls.”

The ranking member also knocked Trump’s “unilateral announcements to withdraw troops, often a surprise to many of his own senior officials, which undercut U.S. leverage because those announcements were divorced from Taliban compliance with the deal; and his forcing the Afghan government to release 5,000 Taliban fighters back to the battlefield before a final Taliban offensive ultimately took Kabul.”

“When former President Trump took office, there were approximately 14,000 American troops in Afghanistan,” Meeks wrote. “Days before leaving office, the former President ordered a further reduction to 2,500. President Trump initiated a withdrawal that was irreversible without sending significantly more American troops to Afghanistan to face renewed combat with the Taliban.”

Taliban fighters celebrate the third anniversary of the withdrawal of US-led troops from Afghanistan, in Kabul, Afghanistan, Wednesday, Aug. 14, 2024.  (AP Photo/Siddiqullah Alizai)

“All witnesses who testified on this issue agreed that the United States would have faced renewed combat with the Taliban had we not continued the withdrawal,” he added. “Rather than send more Americans to fight a war in Afghanistan, President Biden decided to end it.”

Addressing the Abbey Gate bombing. Meeks said Republicans “knew for months that the attack was not preventable and that, even though a witness told our Committee he thought he had the ISIS-K bomber in his sights, he did not.”

Republicans, Meeks said, made partisan attempts to garner headlines rather than acknowledge the full facts and substance of their investigation during the height of the election cycle. He also said Republicans attempted to tie Vice President Kamala Harris, now the Democrats’ presidential nominee, to the withdrawal even though she is referenced only three times in 3,288 pages of the committee’s interview transcripts.

HOUSE COMMITTEE SUBPOENAS BLINKEN OVER AFGHANISTAN WITHDRAWAL

U.S. Marines with Special Purpose Marine Air-Ground Task Force – Crisis Response – Central Command, assist with security at an Evacuation Control Checkpoint (ECC) during an evacuation at Hamid Karzai International Airport, Kabul, Afghanistan, Aug. 26. ((U.S. Marine Corps photo by Staff Sgt. Victor Mancilla) )

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“American taxpayers have funded this Committee’s oversight, and the American people deserve the truth,” Meeks said. “We owe it to them to highlight the facts elicited in this investigation without undue spin and with respect for the seriousness of the subject and the witnesses who have voluntarily testified to us about it.”

“It strikes me now as it did during that hearing that many of those critical of the withdrawal effort simply have a fundamental objection to President Biden fulfilling his pledge to be the last Commander-in-Chief to preside over the war in Afghanistan,” he added. “They are masking their displeasure with criticisms but have failed to offer feasible alternatives. We must continue to wrestle with these matters not to rewrite the past or assign partisan blame, but to identify lessons that can help us better fight and end wars in the future.”