NationalWatch

House Republicans are claiming vindication after Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg admitted his company was pressured by the Biden-Harris administration to “censor certain COVID-19 content” during the pandemic.

“For too long, the Harris-Biden admin pressured social media companies to censor Americans’ views online. This was a deliberate abuse of power to stifle free speech,” Rep. Richard Hudson, R-N.C., chair of the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC), the House GOP’s campaign arm, said on X. 

House Majority Whip Tom Emmer, R-Minn., the No. 3 Republican leader, said on the site, “Mark Zuckerberg’s letter to [the House Judiciary Committee] leaves no room for doubt: this was an intentional assault on our First Amendment rights. This abuse of power must end now.”

TRUMP BLASTS META AND GOOGLE AFTER USERS CLAIM COMPANIES CENSORED ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT SEARCHES

Facebook co-founder and Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg sent a letter detailing pressure by the Biden administration on COVID information. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

Zuckerberg wrote to House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, earlier this week that he wished he and his company had been more outspoken about government censorship concerns in 2021.

“Ultimately, it was our decision whether or not to take content down, and we own our decisions, including COVID-19-related changes we made to our enforcement in the wake of this pressure,” the billionaire Facebook founder said. “I believe the government pressure was wrong, and I regret that we were not more outspoken about it.”

Zuckerberg said the administration “repeatedly pressured our teams for months,” though he noted, “We regularly hear from governments around the world and others with various concerns around public discourse and public safety.”

JORDAN PRESSES FTC CHAIR ON ELON MUSK ‘OBSESSION’ AS TWITTER ASKS COURT TO END GOVERNMENT DATA OVERSIGHT

Rep. Richard Hudson, chair of the National Republican Congressional Committee, was among the Republicans speaking out. (Reuters/Mike Segar)

Jordan has been conducting a monthslong investigation into whether the Biden administration colluded with social media companies to suppress free speech, something the White House has pushed back against.

But Republicans now say Zuckerberg’s letter is proof their suspicions were correct.

“Zuckerberg admitted that the Biden-Harris regime pressured him to censor conservative voices. There must be accountability within the federal government,” Rep. Andy Biggs, R-Ariz., wrote on X.

GOP LAWMAKERS INVESTIGATING META’S NEW THREADS PLATFORM OVER POTENTIAL CENSORSHIP

Zuckerberg accused the Biden administration of trying to censor certain COVID-19 information. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File)

Rep. Vern Buchanan, R-Fla., said, “Wow. If it wasn’t glaringly obvious enough already (it was), Zuckerberg is now coming clean and admitting that Facebook censored information at the request of the Biden-Harris WH. It’s time to finally hold Big Tech accountable for their blatant censorship of conservatives.”

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

“When confronted with a deadly pandemic, this administration encouraged responsible actions to protect public health and safety,” the White House said of Zuckerberg’s letter Tuesday.

“Our position has been clear and consistent: We believe tech companies and other private actors should take into account the effects their actions have on the American people, while making independent choices about the information they present.”

Fox News’ Kate Sprague contributed to this report.

Republican vice presidential candidate Sen. JD Vance took aim at Vice President Harris for plagiarizing the policies of former President Trump during an event in Michigan on Tuesday, one of several times the 2024 Republican presidential ticket has knocked their Democrat opponent for seemingly copying them.

“Kamala’s advisers are considering adopting all of Donald Trump’s policies. … I’ve heard that for her debate in a few weeks, she’s going to put on a navy suit, a long red tie and adopt the slogan Make America Great Again,” the Ohio Republican said during the remarks.

The remarks came just a few weeks after a similar critique by Trump during a rally in North Carolina, with the former president accusing Harris of waiting on him to release an economic agenda.

“She is waiting for me to announce it so she can copy it,” Trump said of Harris’ economic plans.

BIDEN-HARRIS ADMIN REFUSES TO REVEAL NATIONALITIES OF TERROR WATCH LIST MIGRANTS NABBED AT BORDER

Vice President Harris and former President Trump (AP Photos/File)

The comments come as Harris continues to be dogged by questions about the specifics of her policy positions and her lack of willingness to be interviewed by the press. 

While Harris has begun to roll out more policy proposals, such as providing $25,000 in down payment assistance for first-time home buyers, a few of her ideas on the trail have been remarkably similar to Trump’s.

NO TAXES ON TIPS

During an Aug. 11 rally in Nevada, Harris announced that she would eliminate taxes on tipped wages.

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

But the pledge came almost exactly two months after Trump promised the same at a June 9 event, which was also held in Las Vegas.

FEDERAL JUDGE BLOCKS BIDEN ADMIN MOVE TO GIVE LEGAL STATUS TO ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT SPOUSES OF US CITIZENS

“When I get to office, we are going to not charge taxes on tips,” Trump said at the time. “We’re not going to do it, and we’re going to do that right away, first thing in office, because it’s been a point of contention for years and years and years.”

Trump spent much of the next few months touting the proposal, a fact not lost on the former president when he heard Harris had announced the same thing two months later.

“This was a TRUMP idea – She has no ideas, she can only steal from me,” Trump wrote on Truth Social, arguing that she took the position for “political purposes.”

Vice President Harris (Kenny Holston-Pool/Getty Images/File)

RAISING THE CHILD TAX CREDIT

During an Aug. 11 appearance on CBS’ “Face the Nation,” Vance proposed boosting the Child Tax Credit to $5,000 per child from the current $2,000.

“I’d love to see a child tax credit that’s $5,000 per child,” Vance said. “President Trump has been on the record for a long time supporting a bigger child tax credit, and I think you want it to apply to all American families.”

2024 COUNTDOWN: HARRIS HAS POST-DNC MOMENTUM BUT TRUMP IS BURNING UP CAMPAIGN TRAIL WITH 10 WEEKS LEFT

Sen. JD Vance of Ohio, the Republican vice presidential nominee, headlines a Trump campaign event in Michigan on Aug. 14, 2024. (Fox News/Paul Steinhauser)

Just five days later, on Aug. 17, Harris released an economic plan of her own, part of which called for providing a $6,000 tax credit to parents of newborns and bringing back a pandemic-era boost to the Child Tax Credit, a policy that saw some taxpayers able to qualify for as much as a $3,600 credit instead of the typical $2,000.

FLIP-FLOPS?

Harris has also been accused of “flip-flopping” on other policy positions, taking positions more similar to Trump’s than she previously held.

One major issue Harris has seemingly reversed her position on is fracking, with her campaign announcing last month that the vice president did not support a ban on the oil extraction technique that enjoys broad support in battleground states like Pennsylvania.

But that position was a 180 from her remarks as a primary candidate during a 2019 CNN town hall event where Harris said there is “no question I’m in favor of banning fracking.”

CURRENT POLLS ACTUALLY SHOULD GIVE HARRIS BACKERS REASON TO WORRY ABOUT HER CHANCES: DEM STRATEGIST

“And starting with what we can do on day one around public lands. And this is something I’ve taken on in California. I have a history of working on this issue,” Harris said at the time.

Harris has also seemingly disavowed her support for “Medicare for All” and semiautomatic rifle buyback programs, two issues she publicly touted during her failed primary campaign that the current campaign has said she no longer supports.

Harris has also faced accusations of softening her stance on a wall to protect the southern border, with critics pointing to her support for the bipartisan border legislation that would have required unspent funds to be used on continuing construction of the barrier.

Vice President Harris and running mate Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images/File)

“It requires the Trump border wall,” Sen. James Lankford, R-Okla., told Axios as part of a report on the Harris position. “It is in the bill itself that it sets the standards that were set during the Trump administration. Here’s where it will be built. Here’s how it has to be built, the height, the type, everything during the Trump construction.”

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

But the Axios report noted that Lankford’s office estimated that roughly $650 million would be used on a wall instead of the $18 billion requested by Trump in 2018, while the Harris campaign argued that the legislation did not include any new money for construction of a physical barrier and only ensured the use of funds appropriated during Trump’s term.

Reached for comment by Fox News Digital, a Harris campaign spokesperson pointed to the vice president’s history of advocating for an expanded Child Tax Credit, including the Biden administration’s American Rescue plan that expanded the credit to $3,600 for children under 6 and $3,000 for children between the ages of 6 and 17.

“Unlike Donald Trump and JD Vance, Vice President Harris supports abortion rights instead of ripping them away, cutting middle class taxes instead of raising them by nearly $4,000, and bringing Americans together instead of dividing them,” the spokesperson said. “Most importantly, she opposes Donald Trump and JD Vance’s dangerous Project 2025 agenda.”

The Biden-Harris administration may be attempting to “Trump-proof” the Department of Justice (DOJ) by hiring permanent appointees to some federal positions, according to findings from a watchdog group’s public records request. 

Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) documents obtained by Protect the Public’s Trust (PPT) and shared with Fox News Digital show the administration is using an “obscure hiring authority” that bypasses normal hiring processes based on merit to secure DOJ positions that could thwart former President Trump’s agenda if he takes office in 2025. 

The Department of Justice (DOJ) is utilizing Schedule A hiring authority to fill hundreds of attorney and judge positions in career civil service roles without competitive selection, the watchdog group noted. 

HARRIS REPEATS DEBUNKED CLAIM TRUMP WANTS TO ‘BAN’ ABORTION DURING FIRST CAMPAIGN RALLY SINCE BIDEN QUIT RACE

Vice President Kamala Harris and President Biden (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

“The foundation of our democracy or our republic is the Constitution, and the Constitution vests decision making authority in the executive branch and the president, and then also in principal and inferior officers in the government agencies, so they are supposed to be representing the people,” PPT founder and former U.S Department of Education worker Michael Chamberlain told Fox News Digital in an interview. 

“The president is elected by the people. Now attempts to fight, whether it comes from career officials inside the government or others outside the government – especially inside the government – to undermine the ability of those principal and inferior officers to make those decisions, that seems to me to be very undemocratic,” he said.

According to the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), while Schedule A is designed to hire individuals with disabilities or for specific roles like chaplains and scientists, it also secures positions beyond the current president’s term. 

JD VANCE VOWS TRUMP WOULD NOT IMPOSE FEDERAL ABORTION BAN, VETO IT IF IT COMES ACROSS HIS DESK

FBI headquarters on July 3, 2023, in Washington, D.C. (Getty Images)

Although federal law restricts Schedule A appointments from being “policymaking or confidential,” they are being used to staff highly “politicized” offices, such as the Environment and Natural Resources Division (ENRD), which plays a key role in advancing the Biden-Harris administration’s environmental policies and ensuring their continuity even under a potential future administration change.

According to the documents, more than 150 attorneys were placed inside the DOJ’s Anti-Trust Division, and more than 100 immigration judges. Immigration judges determine “whether a noncitizen may remain in the United States or must leave the country,” according to the DOJ.

“Until recently, anti-trust enforcement was a relatively technical and non-partisan division. But the Biden-Harris administration’s increasingly aggressive implementation has sparked complaints of politicized enforcement. The administration is also using Schedule A to install immigration judges – again, outside of the normal merit-based system – who will rule on cases of those in a position to benefit from the administration’s immigration policies,” PPT said in a news release.

BIDEN ADMIN REFUSES TO REVEAL NATIONALITIES OF TERROR WATCHLIST MIGRANTS NABBED AT BORDER

Former President Trump speaks at a campaign rally at the Desert Diamond Arena, Friday, Aug. 23, 2024, in Glendale, Arizona. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

Schedule A was also used to hire attorneys for ENRD, which is responsible for enforcing environmental laws pertaining to the administration’s climate agenda, which includes the “collective pursuit of environmental justice,” and upholding the interests of Native American tribes, according to its website.

“The ENRD is a vital office in advancing the Biden-Harris administration’s energy and climate policies, and the placement of Biden-Harris loyalists is a means to defend those policies even if a future Trump (or other) administration seeks to change them,” PPT said.

“We were struck mainly by the magnitude of the hires rather than by any individual names,” Chamberlain said.

Chamberlain added that certain offices, including ATF, the Office of the Inspector General and the Civil Rights Division, denied sharing records under privacy or related exemptions.

Attorney General Merrick Garland testifies before the House Judiciary Committee in June 2024. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

Earlier this year, the Biden-Harris administration made it harder to fire federal workers. 

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

Biden deemed the rule to be “a step toward combatting corruption and partisan interference to ensure civil servants are able to focus on the most important task at hand: delivering for the American people.” 

The Office of Personnel Management, the government’s chief human resources agency, implemented new regulations this year barring career civil servants from being reclassified as political appointees, or as other at-will workers, who are more easily dismissed from their jobs. It comes in response to Schedule F, an executive order Trump issued in 2020 that sought to allow for reclassifying tens of thousands of the 2.2 million federal employees and thus reduce their job security protections, according to The Associated Press. 

Fox News Digital did not hear back from the White House by publication deadline. 

Fox News Digital’s Danielle Wallace contributed to this report. 

FIRST ON FOX: Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, is sounding the alarm about the effect the Biden administration’s “open border policies” are having on airport security — alleging that weaknesses in vetting could be putting safety at risk.

“DHS, particularly TSA, must explain how it is responding to the serious ways in which the administration’s open border policies are undermining airport security and Americans’ safety,” Cruz, who is ranking member of the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee, said in a letter to Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.

Cruz has been quizzing various agencies and airports about the effect that migration has had on the safety and security at airports, including the sheltering of migrants at a number of major U.S. airports.

SENATE COMMERCE REPUBLICANS EXPAND PROBE INTO AIRPORTS IN ‘SANCTUARY’ JURISDICTIONS SHELTERING MIGRANTS

Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, on Capitol Hill on Tuesday, March 12, 2024 in Washington, D.C. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)

In this letter to Mayorkas, Cruz highlighted three ways that he says “the administration’s open border policies are weakening airport security…”

He pointed first to the parole processes for Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans and Venezuelans (CHNV), which allows up to 30,000 migrants from those countries to fly into the U.S. via humanitarian parole. The program was recently paused due to large amounts of fraud in sponsor applications. 

He also highlighted data that those being allowed in via the CBP One app, which is used for both CHNV and entrants at the border via parole, nearly 96% of those who got an appointment were approved.

The Republican senator also pointed to a recent DHS OIG report, which faulted parts of the app and its use of data, finding also that it could not access all biometric data.

“Meanwhile, as these unvetted aliens fly into the country, TSA has deployed a significant number of air marshals—who are supposed to be protecting planes in the sky—to assist CBP with administrative tasks at the southern border, a concern I raised with TSA last October,” he said.

ILLEGAL MIGRANTS ARE SLEEPING IN TERMINALS OF BOSTON AIRPORT ON ‘DAILY’ BASIS AS CRISIS OVERWHELMS SHELTERS

He also reiterated his prior concerns about sheltering migrants at airports in Chicago, Boston and New York since the middle of 2023. Separately, he raised concerns about the release of migrants brought to the U.S. by an ISIS-tied group. Eight people with suspected ISIS ties were arrested across the country earlier this year.

“Airports remain an attractive target for anyone looking to harm this country and its citizens,” he said.

Cruz is requesting all documents related to airport security from illegal immigrants, sheltering, vetting or screening of migrants, as well as fraud found in parole programs.

SENATE COMMERCE REPUBLICANS PROBE MIGRANT SHELTERS AT CHICAGO AIRPORTS

He is also seeking documents related to the shelter of migrants at multiple airports, the numbers of migrants flown into airports, and actions taken to remove illegal immigrants from airports.

The letter comes amid a continued debate over the ongoing border crisis. The Biden administration has said it needs more funding and reforms, while arguing that expanded lawful pathways have been successful in reducing numbers at the border.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP 

Republicans claim that the crisis was fueled by Biden-era policies and the rolling back of Trump-era measures.

Democratic vice presidential candidate Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz spoke to union firefighters and emergency medical personnel on Wednesday in Boston, insisting that Vice President Kamala Harris – not former President Donald Trump – will fight for their rights to collectively bargain, while protecting their pensions and maintaining funding for federal fire fighting resources. 

The event at the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center was hosted by the International Association of Fire Fighters (IAFF), one of the nation’s largest labor unions that represents roughly 350,000 firefighters and emergency medical workers. 

“I can promise you this,” Walz said as he began his address. “When Vice President Harris and I win this election, we’ll have your back just like you’ve had ours this entire time.” Walz went on to describe the current Harris-Biden administration as “the most pro-labor administration in history.” 

Walz insisted that a future President Harris would bolster unions by signing into law the Protecting the Right to Organize Act, which he said would make it easier for workers to collectively bargain. The act also claims to maintain funding for the Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response grant program and protect any attacks on defined benefit pension plans.

PRO ACT GAINS SOCIALIST SUPPORT: THE DEMOCRATIC BILL THAT WOULD CRUSH RIGHT-TO-WORK LAWS

During the address, Walz slammed Trump over his “right to work stance,” insisting Trump and his running mate, Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance, together want to make it harder for workers to collectively bargain.

“Everybody in this room knows ‘right to work’ means right to work for less, right to work more dangerously, right to work for no pensions,” Walz insisted.

KAMALA HARRIS AND TIM WALZ, ENDORSED BY TEACHERS UNIONS, RECEIVE FAILING GRADE FROM SCHOOL CHOICE GROUP

Democratic vice presidential nominee Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz speaks to a union-friendly crowd in Boston, at the International Association of Fire Fighters Convention. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)

“The only thing [Trump and Vance] know about working people is how to take advantage of them, how to not pay them,” the Minnesota governor said. “Every single chance they’ve gotten, they’ve waged a war on workers and their ability to collectively bargain.”

Walz blamed Trump for blocking overtime benefits for workers, opposing efforts to raise the minimum wage, and slashing funding for federal fire service programs. He also sought to link the former president to the conservative nonprofit Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025, which, according to Walz, aims to “screw the middle class.”

“Donald Trump [is] trying to hide from that Project 2025 plan,” Walz insisted. “They’re going to use it.”

DEM GOVERNOR TIES TRUMP TO PROJECT 2025 EVEN THOUGH HE DISAVOWED IT

The Democratic National Committee projects images on Trump Tower in Chicago on the eve of the Democrats’ national convention on Aug. 18, 2024. (DNC)

Walz concluded his address by imploring everyone to tune in to the upcoming debate between Harris and Trump on Sept. 10. He conceded that many people will probably be more interested in “Monday Night Football” but insisted what is said that night will impact people’s retirement, their kids’ educations and the future of the nation’s infrastructure. 

HARRIS PREPS FOR DEBATE WITH GOOGLE LAWYER, CREATING ‘CONFLICT OF INTEREST,’ TRUMP CAMPAIGN SAYS

“When Republicans used to talk about freedom, they meant it. They meant it. Not anymore, these guys over there, they want government to have the freedom to invade every corner of your life, from our union halls, to our kids, schools, even our doctor’s office,” Walz insisted on Wednesday. “The vice president and I, we got a little bit different vision of this.”

Vice President Kamala Harris and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz celebrate their nomination during the final day of the Democratic National Convention at the United Center in Chicago. ( Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

The Democratic vice presidential nominee’s Wednesday trip to the IAFF’s 57th annual convention marked the second time he has visited Beantown in as many weeks.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

FIRST ON FOX: Former President Trump’s shifting stance on some of his abortion policies to attract independents and some disillusioned Democrats could alienate those who helped get him elected in 2016 – his pro-life base. But his growing support from middle-of-the-road voters could make up for it.

“No one owns the pro-life vote,” leading pro-life organization Live Action founder Lila Rose told Fox News Digital in an interview Tuesday. “It has to be earned.”

Rose stirred controversy on X, formerly Twitter, Monday by reposting a clip from Sen. JD Vance’s recent “Meet the Press” interview, where he pledged that a Trump-Vance administration would likely veto a federal abortion ban.

“If you don’t stand for pro-life principles, you don’t get pro-life votes,” Rose said in the post.

JD VANCE VOWS TRUMP WOULD NOT IMPOSE FEDERAL ABORTION BAN, VETO IT IF IT COMES ACROSS HIS DESK

When asked about the post, Rose said that as of now, Trump doesn’t have her vote – and he could be at risk of alienating others in the pro-life movement. She said she hopes she will be able to vote for him come November.

“We’re over two months out of this election, and Trump has changed his position in the past, as everyone knows, and I think that he’s changing it now to support abortion,” Rose said. “Thankfully, the election is not today, and he has two months to change his tune.”

“I hope that Trump changes course,” Rose said. “I think it’s politically foolish and morally wrong what he’s doing. I think he’s not winning any pro-abortion people to his side. Kamala Harris spent an entire week at the DNC cheerleading for the abortion industry to shore up her base, and then President Trump comes out and throws his base under the bus and tries to cheerlead for Kamala’s base.”

REP. MAXINE WATERS DODGES QUESTION ON CONTROVERSIAL ABORTION PROCEDURE

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and former President Trump shake hands during a campaign rally at Desert Diamond Arena on Aug. 23, 2024, in Glendale, Arizona. (Rebecca Noble/Getty Images)

This election cycle, Trump has countered Democratic attacks by stating he would leave abortion access to the states, as determined by the overturning of Roe v. Wade, and opposes a federal abortion ban. The Republican Party also abandoned its long-standing position of advocating for abortion limits in July. However, Trump has remained opposed to late-term abortions.

“President Trump has long been consistent in supporting the rights of states to make decisions on abortion and has been very clear that he will NOT sign a federal ban when he is back in the White House,” Trump-Vance campaign press secretary Karoline Leavitt told Fox News Digital in a statement. “President Trump also supports universal access to contraception and IVF. Contrarily, Kamala Harris and the Democrats are radically out of touch with the majority of Americans in their support for abortion up until birth and forcing taxpayers to fund it.”

NEWSOM DODGES QUESTION ON HARRIS PRICE CONTROLS: ‘SHE HASN’T PUT OUT THE DETAILS’

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

But Rose says the opposition to not supporting a federal ban is precisely the problem, because “the whole point of the pro-life movement politically, is to restrict abortion to save human lives.”

“Increasingly, his platform and his rhetoric is pro-abortion and that should disturb and concern the pro-life movement as it is,” she said.

To earn her vote, she said, Trump would need to champion pro-life laws and oppose Amendment Four – the right to abortion initiative – in Florida.

On Friday, Trump also upset anti-abortion activists when he posted on his Truth Social platform, “My Administration will be great for women and their reproductive rights.” He has also indicated he would not restrict access to abortion prescriptions. 

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

Meanwhile, Trump continues to make gains with independents and former Democrats. On Sunday, former presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. endorsed Trump, and a day later, former Democratic Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard also endorsed the former president. Both politicians are now signed on to Trump’s “transition team,” according to the campaign. 

A top non-partisan political handicapper is shifting three key states toward Vice President Kamala Harris in her 2024 election showdown with former President Donald Trump.

The Cook Political Report is moving North Carolina from leans Republican to toss up. The Tar Heel State is one of seven battlegrounds across the country that will likely determine the outcome of the presidential election.

Former President Barack Obama was the last Democrat to carry the state in the race for the White House, in the 2008 election. 

Four years ago, Trump narrowly edged President Biden in the state. However, following Biden’s disastrous debate performance against Trump in late June, the former president saw his lead in North Carolina grow to the mid single digits.

WASH, RINSE, REPEAT: WHY JD VANCE IS CONCENTRATING ON THESE 3 STATES

Vice President Kamala Harris speaks at the Hendrick Center for Automotive Excellence on the Scott Northern Wake Campus of Wake Tech Community College in Raleigh, North Carolina, on Aug. 16, 2024. (ALLISON JOYCE/AFP via Getty Images)

After Biden ended his 2024 re-election bid on July 21, and Harris replaced her boss at the top of the Democrats’ national ticket, the race in North Carolina tightened to a margin-of-error contest.

“Trump hasn’t lost political ground since July; instead it’s that Harris has improved on Biden’s vote share by seven points,” Cook Political Report publisher and editor-in-chief Amy Walter wrote in explaining her ratings shift.

2024 COUNTDOWN: TRUMP CRISSCROSSING CAMPAIGN TRAIL WITH 10 WEEKS UNTIL ELECTION DAY

“In other words, the race is tightening, not because Harris is cutting into Trump’s vote, but because Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents are coming home,” Walter added.

Trump, determined not to let North Carolina slip from his column, has campaigned in the state three times since Biden dropped out of the race five and a half weeks ago. 

Former President Donald Trump speaks behind bulletproof glass during a campaign rally at the North Carolina Aviation Museum & Hall of Fame in Asheboro, North Carolina, on Aug. 21, 2024. (Photo by PETER ZAY/AFP via Getty Images)

Additionally, the Trump campaign outspent the Harris campaign by $8.3 million to run ads in North Carolina since the president dropped out of the 2024 race, according to the national ad tracking firm AdImpact. However, the Harris campaign currently has $30 million in ad reservations in the state, compared to just $7.3 million for the Trump campaign.

GOP GOVERNOR SAYS TRUMP NEEDS TO CARRY HIS STATE TO WIN WHITE HOUSE

The Cook Political Report now joins another leading non-partisan political handicapper, Sabato’s Crystal Ball at the University of Virginia’s Center for Politics, in classifying North Carolina as a toss up.

Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump. (AP Photos)

Walter also made a shift in two competitive presidential election states that the Democrats have reliably won for decades, moving Minnesota and New Hampshire from lean Democrat to likely Democrat.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

In the weeks after the Biden-Trump debate, polls indicated Trump making gains in Minnesota – where the GOP has not carried the state in a presidential election in over a half century, and New Hampshire, which the Democrats have carried in five straight White House contests.

However, Walter said that “Harris has been able to reconstitute and energize the Democratic coalition…taking states like Minnesota and New Hampshire out of reach for the Trump campaign.”

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

Former President Donald Trump’s edge over Vice President Kamala Harris on the topics of crime and economic policy is slipping, according to a new poll. 

The latest Reuters/Ipsos poll, released on Tuesday, shows Trump now maintains a slim 3% lead against Harris on employment and economic issues — 43% against Harris’s 40%. 

In late July, Trump was leading Harris on economic issues by 11 points in the same poll.

2024 COUNTDOWN: HARRIS HAS POST-DNC MOMENTUM BUT TRUMP IS BURNING UP CAMPAIGN TRAIL WITH 10 WEEKS LEFT

Democratic presidential candidate U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris waits to speak at a campaign rally at United Auto Workers Local 900 in Wayne, Michigan. (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)

The gap is closing between the candidates on other key issues as well.

Trump and Harris are now tied at 40% on the issue of tackling crime and corruption.  Last month, Trump led Harris by 5 percentage points on the issue. 

The margin of error for the August poll is +/- 4%, meaning even Trump’s economic policy advantage is too close to be considered a solid lead.

CURRENT POLLS ACTUALLY SHOULD GIVE HARRIS BACKERS REASON TO WORRY ABOUT HER CHANCES: DEM STRATEGIST

Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump speaks at a campaign rally at the Desert Diamond Arena in Glendale, Arizona. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

Political operatives and pollsters are working desperately to build a reliable model of U.S. voters heading into the November presidential election, but accuracy remains a concern following 2016 and 2020.

Democratic pollsters also fear the prospect of another polling error, even though several of the party’s top firms got together in an attempt to diagnose the problem after the two past elections.

“Every year, we’ve had different curveballs. This is a difficult industry,” John Anzalone, the lead pollster on Biden’s 2020 campaign, told Politico. “Something’s gonna happen in 2024. You and I, right now, don’t know what that is.”

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

Rolls of “I Voted” stickers are stored at the Maricopa County Tabulation and Election Center (MCTEC) ahead of the 2024 General elections in Phoenix, Arizona. (PATRICK T. FALLON/AFP via Getty Images)

While Trump won in 2016 and failed to win re-election in 2020, the former president greatly outperformed his polling numbers in two close elections — a fact that is not lost on Democrats heading into the last stretch of 2024.

The Reuters/Ipsos poll was conducted between Aug. 23 and Aug. 25. The group surveyed 1,028 adults, 902 of whom were registered voters.

The poll has a margin of error of +/- 4%.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. cannot remove himself from the ballot in the two key battleground states of Michigan and Wisconsin, despite discontinuing his independent run for president and the dynastic Democrat endorsing former President Trump days ago. 

Kennedy will remain on the ballot in Michigan as a candidate for the Natural Law Party, which nominated him for president during their convention this year. 

“Minor party candidates cannot withdraw, so his name will remain on the ballot in the November election,” Cheri Hardmon, senior press secretary for Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, said in a statement to NBC News. 

The Wisconsin Elections Commission, meanwhile, voted Tuesday to keep Kennedy on the presidential ballot, despite his request to be removed, and also rejected a Democratic attempt to oust independent candidate Cornel West. A move by Democratic elections commissioners to keep Green Party candidate Jill Stein off the ballot also failed. 

TRUMP ADDS RFK JR., TULSI GABBARD TO HIS TRANSITION TEAM AS HE RECRUITS SUPPORTERS ‘ACROSS PARTISAN LINES’

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and former President Donald Trump shake hands during a campaign rally at Desert Diamond Arena on Aug. 23, 2024 in Glendale, Arizona. Kennedy announced that he was suspending his presidential campaign.  (Rebecca Noble/Getty Images)

Trump added Kennedy and former Democrat Tulsi Gabbard to his transition team on Monday. 

Kennedy’s campaign sent the Wisconsin Elections Commission a letter dated Friday asking that his name be removed from the ballot. 

Although Kennedy has said in his speech formally dropping out of the race Friday that he would try to remove his name from the ballot in battleground states where his candidacy could be a spoiler, he added that he wasn’t formally ending his bid and said his supporters could continue to back him in the majority of states, whether red or blue, where they are unlikely to sway the outcome.

“In about 10 battleground states where my presence would be a spoiler, I’m going to remove my name, and I’ve already started that process and urge voters not to vote for me,” Kennedy said. “Our polling consistently showed by staying on the ballot in the battleground states, I would likely hand the election over to the Democrats, with whom I disagree on the most existential issues.” 

Republican members of the commission in Wisconsin pushed to grant Kennedy his wish to no longer be on the ballot after he suspended his campaign last week and endorsed Trump. The commission was deadlocked under opposition from Democrats, who pointed to Wisconsin state law that says once a candidate has filed for office, they must remain on the ballot unless they die.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. listens during a campaign rally for former President Donald Trump at Desert Diamond Arena on Aug. 23, 2024, in Glendale, Arizona.  (Rebecca Noble/Getty Images)

RFK JR RESPONDS TO DRAMA WITHIN KENNEDY FAMILY, WIFE’S DISCOMFORT AFTER TRUMP ENDORSEMENT

“We know Trump and Kennedy are playing games,” Democratic elections commission member Mark Thomsen said, according to the Associated Press. “Whatever games they’re playing, they have to play them with Kennedy on the ballot.”

“The statute literally says, ‘Any person who files nomination papers and qualifies to appear on the ballot may not decline nomination. The name of that person shall appear upon the ballot except in case of death of the person,'” Ann Jacobs, the chair of the commission, said, according to video of the proceedings published by the nonprofit public affairs network known as the WisconsinEye. 

“You’re giving me this touchy-feely: ‘I feel like this shouldn’t be the law.’ The law in this case is crystal clear,” she added. “I don’t disagree with you — it’s weird, but I don’t see we have any discretion here.” 

Former presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. gives remarks at the Renaissance Phoenix Downtown Hotel on Aug. 23, 2024, in Phoenix, Arizona. (Rebecca Noble/Getty Images)

Republican commissioner Don Millis said he struggled with the state law requiring candidates to be on the ballot once they have filed. After his motion to remove Kennedy failed on a 3-3 vote, Millis and one other Republican commissioner sided with all three Democrats in voting to place Kennedy, West and Claudia De la Cruz of the Socialism and Liberation Party on the ballot as independents.

Ultimately, the commission approved eight presidential candidates for the ballot in Wisconsin: Democrat Kamala Harris; Republican Donald Trump; Randall Terry of the Constitution Party; Chase Oliver of the Libertarian Party; De la Cruz, Kennedy, West and Stein.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

The presence of independent and third party candidates on the ballot could be a key factor in a state where four of the last six presidential elections have been decided by between 5,700 votes and about 23,000 votes.

The Associated Press contributed to this report. 

The clock is ticking for Vice President Kamala Harris to schedule the formal interview she and her team promised would happen before the end of the month.

After formally receiving the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination, Harris told reporters on the tarmac in Detroit earlier this month that she wanted to schedule her first formal interview as the party’s nominee before the end of August. Meanwhile, the exact date, time, place and media outlet that will be conducting the interview has remained a mystery, even as Harris’ self-imposed deadline quickly approaches.

With only four days left this month, questions about the interview have been prevalent inside the beltway. Some of those questions include who on the Harris campaign is making the final interview decision, what kind of message Harris will try to send and who will be the figurehead posing the questions to her.

SPECULATION GROWS AS KAMALA HARRIS’ FIRST INTERVIEW AS CANDIDATE STILL UNSCHEDULED WITH SEPTEMBER APPROACHING

Vice President Kamala Harris sits for an interview with late night talk show host Seth Meyers in 2022.

Harris campaign staffers have reportedly been asking journalists who they think the vice president should talk to, according to Politico. The outlet indicated CBS’ Norah O’Donnell and NBC’s Lester Holt were among the frontrunners. There has also reportedly been internal disagreements over how Harris should approach the interview.

With less than a week remaining for Harris to get something on the calendar, some journalists have begun weighing in on the process.

“I understood why Kamala Harris wasn’t doing interviews before – she was getting her policy proposals hammered out behind the scenes before the convention. But now there are no more excuses. She needs to do interviews, a lot of them. We’re picking a president here. It’s important,” said political commentator Cenk Uygur, host of The Young Turks, which describes itself as “America’s largest online progressive news network.”

“The fact that there is so much internal turmoil over doing A SINGLE INTERVIEW is itself deeply revealing,” conservative columnist Marc Thiessen wrote Tuesday morning on X, formerly Twitter. “This is not a ‘big decision.’ It exposes their lack of confidence in her and is making something that should be routine into a high stakes event.”

ON DODGING THE MEDIA, KAMALA HARRIS ‘OWES RESPONSES’ TO THE AMERICAN PUBLIC, SAYS CAMPAIGN ADVISOR

While the pressure on Harris to do an interview is getting greater by the day, some of her supporters have urged her to continue dodging the media. Rick Wilson, former GOP strategist and co-founder of the anti-Trump Lincoln Project, said last week that Harris “has no f—ing necessity to do interviews right now.”

Andrew Ross Sorkin interviews Vice President Kamala Harris during the New York Times’ annual DealBook summit in November 2023. (Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)

The same opinion was echoed by legendary Hollywood director Quentin Tarantino, who told talk show host Bill Maher last Sunday that “sometimes it’s just about f—ing winning.”

“I’m going to vote for her f—ing anyway, no matter what she says in the stupid f—ing interview, so don’t f— s— up,” Tarantino added.

QUENTIN TARANTINO TELLS KAMALA HARRIS TO CONTINUE DODGING INTERVIEWS UNTIL ELECTION: ‘DON’T F— S— UP’

HBO talk show host Bill Maher and legendary Hollywood director Quentin Tarantino (HBO | Getty Images)

Harris has been utilizing a lighter than normal schedule since the Democratic National Convention concluded last week, according to Politico, which reported Harris has been using the time to prepare for her upcoming Sept. 10 debate and map out her future media strategy.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

Fox News Digital reached out to both the Harris and Trump campaigns for comment. The Harris campaign did not provide a response, but the Trump campaign directed Fox News Digital to a Tuesday press release it put out, which called out Harris for going 37 days without an interview.

“Kamala is dodging the press for a reason,” the press release stated. “She doesn’t want to talk about her radical agenda.”

Mark Zuckerberg just had to eat several large helpings of crow.

And some minor political flap wasn’t on the menu. 

As the Wall Street Journal first reported, the CEO of Facebook and Meta expressed regret on such weighty matters as government-induced censorship and free speech.

TRUMP THREATENS TO QUIT KAMALA DEBATE AFTER RFK BACKS HIM, DENOUNCES MEDIA

It’s good for Zuck to accept some degree of responsibility, but it’s kinda too late. By about three years.

The admissions came in a letter to Jim Jordan, the House Judiciary chairman, and is a major win for the Republicans. The onetime Harvard whiz kid usually digs in defensively, with vague promises of future reform.

After the pandemic hit, Zuckerberg wrote, senior Biden administration and White House officials had “repeatedly pressured our teams for months to censor certain COVID-19 content, including humor and satire, and expressed a lot of frustration with our teams when we didn’t agree.”

A side-by-side of Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and U.S. President Joe Biden. (Getty Images)

That is an important distinction. The Biden pressure tactics didn’t always work. Facebook could, and sometimes did, say no. But much of the time, the giant social media site just caved.

And Facebook had a publicly proclaimed agenda: prodding millions of people to take Covid vaccines.

Zuckerberg said the administration pressure “was wrong, and I regret that we were not more outspoken about it.” His company “made some choices that, with the benefit of hindsight and new information, we wouldn’t make today…I feel strongly that we should not compromise our content standards due to pressure from any administration in either direction — and we’re ready to push back if something like this happens again.”

TRUMP, REJECTING ADVICE, TRIES MOCKERY, INSULTS, AI AGAINST KAMALA, BUT IS IT WORKING?

I don’t know: How confident are you that Facebook would publicly push back on some hot-button issue today?

A Biden White House spokesman, in lawyerly language that didn’t quite respond to Zuck’s accusations, said it had “encouraged responsible actions to protect public health and safety…Our position has been clear and consistent: we believe tech companies and other private actors should take into account the effects their actions have on the American people, while making independent choices about the information they present.”

Two years ago, a Free Press reporter who examined the “Twitter Files” found that both the Trump and the Biden administrations “directly pressed Twitter executives to moderate the platform’s pandemic content according to their wishes.”

One document mentioned the White House chief technology officer, who “led the Trump administration’s calls for help from the tech companies to combat misinformation.”

In this photo illustration, a Facebook logo is seen on a computer screen and a hand holding a medical syringe in front of it.  (Pavlo Gonchar/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)

The piece also said that Facebook, Google and Microsoft joined in “weekly” calls with the Trump officials to talk about “general trends” at the companies. Sounds euphemistic.

But Trump was also a victim. Just four hours after a 2020 campaign video was posted and drew a half million views, Facebook took it down, saying it violated the social network’s policy against Covid misinformation. 

The Trump camp had posted a clip from a Fox interview in which the president said children were “virtually immune” from the coronavirus. Most medical experts disagreed at the time.

“They’ve got much stronger immune systems than we do somehow for this,” Trump said. “They don’t have a problem. They just don’t have a problem.”

PUT POLICY ASIDE: KAMALA HARRIS WILL WIN OR LOSE BASED ON THE EXCITEMENT FACTOR

A White House spokeswoman at the time called the move “another display of Silicon Valley’s flagrant bias against this president, where the rules are only enforced in one direction.”

Zuckerberg, for his part, also made news on the Hunter Biden laptop.

He told Jordan that Meta “shouldn’t have demoted” a New York Post story about the laptop shortly before the 2020 election. 

Let me stop right there. Demoted is tech jargon for suppressing a story, blatantly burying it so that few if any users see it. This happened after Twitter, as you’ll recall, totally blocked the Post story.

Former President Trump arrives to speak at a campaign rally in Bozeman, Montana, on Friday, Aug. 9.  (AP/Rick Bowmer)

Trump allies got access to the laptop from the Delaware computer shop owner, at a time when Biden was the Democratic nominee. Dozens of former intelligence officials signed a letter dismissing the laptop story as fake, and in a debate with Trump, Biden said the release of the emails had “all the classic earmarks of a Russian information operation.”

Zuckerberg writes: “It’s since been made clear that the reporting was not Russian disinformation, and in retrospect, we shouldn’t have demoted the story.”

Right. And it took the New York Times and Washington Post another year and a half to “authenticate” the laptop’s contents.

In the 2020 election, Zuck funded nonprofits to set up Covid-era voting booths and equipment sorting mail-in ballots, which Republicans, calling it “Zuckerbucks,” argued with some justification that this unfairly benefited Democratic areas. Zuckerberg now says he won’t repeat the effort this time.

Trump said in a posting last month: “All I can say is that if I’m elected president, we will pursue Election Fraudsters at levels never seen before, and they will be sent to prison for long periods of time. We already know who you are. DON’T DO IT! ZUCKERBUCKS, be careful!”

In his Mar-a-Lago interview with me, Trump made his distaste for Facebook quite clear, in fact using it to justify dropping his opposition to banning TikTok, saying that would only help Zuckerberg’s company.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

Now some may dismiss all this as old news, given that the events date to the pandemic and the last election. But it raises fundamental questions that continue to reverberate today, when Elon Musk’s endorsement of Trump has prompted many liberals to leave or largely abandon X and join Threads, the Zuckerberg copycat site.

Politicians and special interests routinely lobby the federal government. But when they use their considerable clout to pressure tech giants – secretly, behind closed doors, shielded from the public – it is deeply troubling.

A House Democrat who played a major role in the first impeachment of former President Trump is criticizing Republicans’ own push against former President Biden.

“I don’t see any evidence here. The problem is, is they wanted to try to create an impeachment, so they started with an impeachment, and they went looking for evidence, fishing for it,” Rep. Jason Crow, D-Colo., told Fox News Digital last week.

“There’s just nothing there. And it’s clear the report again confirms that. It’s too bad we wasted so much valuable time in Congress going through that process.”

Crow was one of seven House Democrats chosen by then-Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., to make the case for impeaching Trump in 2020. He was one of two first-term lawmakers on that team.

HOUSE REPUBLICANS REFER HUNTER BIDEN, JAMES BIDEN FOR CRIMINAL PROSECUTION AMID IMPEACHMENT INQUIRY

The House GOP accused President Biden of impeachable offenses. (Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP via Getty Images/File)

“Congress actually passed Ukraine funding. He withheld that funding, which is actually against the law; the president does not have the authority to withhold funding that’s dedicated by Congress for a specific purpose,” Crow said. “The job of the president is actually to make sure that funding is used appropriately and to implement it. So., that happened, and then Congress investigated it, and then we went through an impeachment proceeding.”

“Contrast that with the Republican approach, they just said they want to impeach Biden. And then they went looking for things to impeach him on, and, of course, didn’t come up with anything.”

His comments come after House Republicans released a report accusing Biden of committing impeachable offenses relating to his family’s foreign business dealings.

It’s the product of a yearslong probe by the House committees on Oversight, Judiciary and Ways and Means into whether Biden used his position as vice president to benefit himself or his family.

HUNTER DEMANDED $10M FROM CHINESE ENERGY FIRM BECAUSE ‘BIDENS ARE THE BEST,’ HAVE ‘CONNECTIONS’

Rep. Jason Crow, D-Colo., criticized the House GOP effort. (File)

Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., chair of the House Oversight Committee, pushed back on Crow’s comments via a spokesperson, telling Fox News Digital, “It comes as no surprise that a Democrat congressman who dismisses concerns about Joe Biden’s mental fitness to serve the remainder of his term also dismisses the clear evidence of Joe Biden’s involvement in his family’s business schemes. 

“Bank records don’t lie and reveal the Bidens and their associates raked in nearly $30 million by selling the Biden brand. Multiple witnesses have confirmed Joe Biden was involved in his family’s business schemes as he dined, spoke, had coffee, and met with nearly all of his family’s foreign business associates. This is blatant corruption and abuse of public office.”

Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee told Fox News DIgital, “Our impeachment inquiry shows conclusively that Joe Biden abused his public office for the private financial benefit of the Biden family and Biden business associates. The facts speak for themselves, and Democrats can no longer stretch the truth to cover for President Biden.”

The report said that “overwhelming evidence demonstrates that President Biden participated in a conspiracy to monetize his office of public trust to enrich his family.”

FLASHBACK: HUNTER BIDEN IN 2017 SENT ‘BEST WISHES’ FROM ‘ENTIRE BIDEN FAMILY’ TO CHINA FIRM CHAIR, REQUESTED $10M WIRE

Crow was an impeachment manager for Democrats’ bid to oust former President Trump. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci/File)

“Among other aspects of this conspiracy, the Biden family and their business associates received tens of millions of dollars from foreign interests by leading those interests to believe that such payments would provide them access to and influence with President Biden,” the report said.

The committees said the Biden family and its associates received more than $27 million from foreign individuals or entities since 2014.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

The White House said in response to the report last week, “This failed stunt will only be remembered for how it became an embarrassment that their own members distanced themselves from as they only managed to turn up evidence that refuted their false and baseless conspiracy theories. The American people deserve more from House Republicans, and perhaps now they will finally join President Biden in focusing on the real issues that American families actually care about.”

Fox News Digital also reached out to the Ways and Means Committee for comment.

One of the nation’s oldest civil rights organizations plans to seek federal legal action after Texas officials executed searches and seizures relating to alleged illegal ballot harvesting ahead of the 2024 election.

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, a Republican, announced that his office’s Election Integrity unit had executed searches in three South Texas counties last week as part of his ongoing probe.

Paxton said the unit had been working since 2022 to investigate fraud and ballot harvesting allegations, which led to enough evidence to obtain warrants.

However, officials at LULAC – the League of United Latin American Citizens – alleged the warrant searches constituted “raids” and wrongly targeted elderly longtime volunteers who were engaged in lawful ballot collection.

VERMONT GOP SEES RECORD BALLOT BOOST AS BLUE-STATE CITIZENS SEE NEED FOR CHANGE

A woman prepares mail-in ballots to be counted at a polling station in Pennsylvania. (Aimee Dilger/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images/File)

LULAC National President Roman Palomares said he is hoping to go to Washington to meet with Justice Department officials who handle civil rights cases. Palomares alleged that “100%” of those targeted were of Latino or minority ethnicity.

“Two or three of our members were [subject to the searches], and they’re certified [voter] registrants,” he told Fox News Digital. “These are regular people, but for some reason they’re targeting [them].”

“We think it’s unjustifiable. These are tactics that they use to suppress the vote,” Palomares said. “That’s what we feel that’s being done, and that’s why we’re here. I’m here to defend my members.”

While Paxton’s office did not return a request for comment, the attorney general said in a statement that “secure elections are the cornerstone of our republic.”

“We were glad to assist when the District Attorney referred this case to my office for investigation. We are completely committed to protecting the security of the ballot box and the integrity of every legal vote. This means ensuring accountability for anyone committing election crimes,” Paxton said.

NEWLY REPORTED TRANSCRIPTS DEPICT COMMUNICATION BREAKDOWN HINDERING LAW ENFORCEMENT AT TRUMP RALLY

However, Palomares said there may be another political interest in the Uvalde-area counties where the operations took place: Gov. Greg Abbott and Texas Republicans see the 80th State House district as the Democrat seat most primed to flip red in November.

Palomares argued that LULAC volunteers aren’t in Bexar County to help Democrats retain the seat, suggesting the organization is not allowed to do so.

“There are folks that are working to help, not necessarily her, but to get voters registered so they can vote; we’re nonpartisan. We can’t tell them how to vote, but we want to register as many people so they can exercise their right,” he said.

“And those are the folks that have been targeted. And it appears that it’s targeted around this district.”

Abbott’s office did not return a request for comment on the allegation, but it did in January endorse former Uvalde Mayor Don McLaughlin, the Republican in the race.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

League of United Latin American Citizens pamphlets (Jim Watson/AFP via Getty Images/File)

Palomares added that one woman subject to the warrant searches was 80 years old and a former member of the LULAC board. 

He said law enforcement confiscated her electronics and that she told him she was embarrassed to be stuck outside her house in her nightgown around dawn. He called the way the searches were conducted “intimidation tactics.”

“I don’t think it’s right. You know, she hasn’t committed a crime, hasn’t been convicted, hasn’t been hiding or anything,” Palomares said.

“I mean, these are allegations that they hear from somewhere, and they come in and do things.”

A spokesperson for the Justice Department confirmed receipt of a letter from LULAC on Tuesday but declined to elaborate further.

A California Republican congresswoman’s campaign is criticizing her Democratic attorney opponent of intentionally crafting a legal defense for a client that blamed victims for their alleged sexual harassment — and the challenger is hitting right back.

Rep. Michelle Steel, whose Democratic-leaning Orange County seat is considered a crucial hold for Republicans in November, is facing off with Derek Tran. 

Tran is an attorney and military veteran who recently defended a former employee of a warehouse market chain who was rebuffing accusations from two women.

In the case, plaintiff Luis Pacheco alleged he was wrongfully fired by a warehouse market in San Bernardino County after being accused of sexual harassment by two women with whom he had had “consensual relationships… and still on friendly terms,” according to court documents.

ALASKA REPUBLICAN DROPS OUT OF THREE-WAY RACE, DEALING BLOW TO DEMOCRATS NATIONALLY

Rep. Michelle Steel, R-Calif. (Getty)

Pacheco claimed the market and other defendants conducted a “sham investigation and automatically terminated [him] because he was male.”

“Plaintiff Pacheco was discriminated against for his gender due to the political climate and ‘Me Too’ movement. Plaintiff Pacheco believes Defendants automatically chose the females’ side without considering his explanation of events because of his gender,” documents read.

Lance Trover, a spokesperson for Steel, said Tran “based his campaign on protecting women, but chose the side of an alleged sexual abuser.”

“Not as a defense attorney but in an effort to enrich his client and himself: Voters deserve an explanation from someone who wants to be their representative in Congress,” he said.

In campaign advertisements and correspondence, the Steel campaign has used the “Me Too” references to criticize Tran’s legal defense formulation.

VERMONT GOP SEES RECORD BALLOT BOOST AS BLUE STATE CITIZENS SEEK CHANGE

A woman wearing a “Vote” t-shirt prepares mail-in ballots to be counted at a polling station in Pennsylvania.  (Aimee Dilger/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)

However, Tran sold the firm partway through the litigation and the new leadership took over active cases, including Pacheco’s.

In a statement to the Orange County Register, Tom Feher — the current attorney of record on the case — said the California Superior Court has ruled Pacheco’s case has merit and will go to trial.

“[That is] despite the attempts of the corporation to deny our client access to justice. My job as workers’ rights attorney is to uphold the law and win justice for workers — it’s not about politics.”

Tran’s camp, however, has responded by calling Steel the “last person” who should be criticizing others for treatment of victims — “like Derek Tran has spent his career fighting to do.”

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

Rolls of “I Voted” stickers are stored at the Maricopa County Tabulation and Election Center (MCTEC) ahead of the 2024 Arizona Primary and General elections. (Patrick T. Fallon/AFP via Getty Images)

“Michelle Steel puts corporations and political extremists ahead of women’s rights her entire career… Steel even voted against stronger protections for victims of domestic violence and sexual assault by opposing the reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act in 2021, and led efforts to ban abortion nationwide without exceptions for rape, incest, or the life of the woman,” a spokesperson for Tran’s campaign said.

In regard to the votes, Trover responded that Steel opposed a “partisan” Violence Against Women Act iteration, but supported ensuing compromise legislation.

The Cook PVI ranks Steel’s district as D+2, meaning she is one of a handful of Republicans defending seats in Democrat-majority districts. The district’s lines changed slightly after the 2020 census.

Recent polls depict the race as a dead heat.

The Biden administration’s border policies have helped contribute to the destruction of indigenous tribes in Central and South America, according to one expert.

Panama’s indigenous Embera-Wounnaan tribe has seen a rapid decay in its way of life over the last three years, with tribal leaders blaming the flood of migrants journeying north from South America and crossing its territory en route to the United States.

“What struck me most listening to the five Embera chiefs is how much their concerns reminded me of the past very similar marginalizations of Native American tribes, who were pushed aside and destroyed by gold miners, settlers and U.S. cavalry who prioritized their own narcissistic agendas during the 19th century,” Todd Bensman a National Security Fellow at the Center for Immigration Studies, told Fox News Digital.

BIDEN ADMIN REFUSES TO REVEAL TERROR WATCHLIST NATIONALITIES AS ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION EXPLODES ON HIS WATCH 

Vice President Kamala Harris clasps the hand of President Biden at the Democratic National Convention, Aug. 19, 2024, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

The comments come after Bensman’s recent travels to areas around the famed Darien Gap, a large chunk of nearly inhabitable wilderness stretching through Colombia and Panama. The area also is home to the indigenous territory of the Embera, a 19,000-member tribe of hunters and farmers who now find themselves at the center of broader U.S. border security policy.

Bensman conducted interviews with all five chiefs of the Embera-Wounaan reservation and detailed their plight in a report for the New York Post, arguing that much of the blame for the situation faced by the tribe rests with President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris.

“Rather that stop this dangerous flow, the White House has encouraged it.” Bensman wrote in the report. “The Biden-Harris administration lavished millions in tax money on United Nations agencies and non-governmental advocacy groups (NGOs) that descended on this region to ease the burdens of Darien Gap travel.”

The report outlines how mass migrations to the U.S., which have been encouraged by lax U.S. border policies, have been particularly damaging to the Embera, who have seen their native lands overrun with people, trash and human waste as migrants travel north to the United States.

But perhaps worse is the impact the situation has had on many of the tribe’s members, many of whom have abandoned their traditional way of life to chase the quick money that comes with helping facilitate travel through the dangerous wilderness.

FEDERAL JUDGE BLOCKS BIDEN ADMIN MOVE TO GIVE LEGAL STATUS TO ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT SPOUSES OF US CITIZENS

“Embera men do pilot pretty much every boat ferrying the immigrants. They are making money,” Bensman told Fox News Digital.

But the quick money has also led to an epidemic of drug and alcohol abuse within the tribe, as well as a mass-abandonment of its traditions of hunting, fishing and farming. As a result, many members of the tribe have also begun to suffer from food shortages, a problem exacerbated by passing migrants desperate for a meal themselves. 

“There is infighting among them now to get at the currency paid by immigrants,” Bensman said. “The villages I saw were greatly changed from how residents described them as being just a few years ago. Radical changes have occurred in some of the places I saw. There is filth and garbage everywhere.”

A Panamanian Embera competes in spear throwing during the third ancestral indigenous games in Pueblo Nuevo Buri, Panama, on Dec. 16, 2021. (Luis Acosta/AFP via Getty Images)

Bensman argued that the current situation faced by the tribe shares many traits with the plight of North America’s indigenous populations, only this time “American and international liberal groups” are the ones “clearly repeating that same terrible old history with the Embera.”

“One would think that the liberal progressives who staff the United Nations and all of those NGOs down there, facilitating a new kind of gold rush through tribal lands might occupy a higher moral plane than Gen. George Armstrong Custer or President Andrew Jackson during their days of dealing with indigenous peoples in the way as though they didn’t exist. But economic migrants rushing toward U.S. gold clearly are more important to these organizations,” Bensman said.

CLICK HERE FOR MORE COVERAGE OF THE BORDER SECURITY CRISIS

Without a seat at the table to determine their own fate, the tribal leaders were left hoping to send a message to international leaders, including Biden.

“Mr. President and you candidates, you are finishing off and you are killing all the Indians on the Comarca!” General Chief Leonide Cunampia told Bensman during their interview. “You have to pay attention to what’s going on in our territory. The immigration is contaminating us!”

Migrants arrive at the Reception Center for Migrant Care in Lajas Blancas, in the jungle province of Darien, Panama, on June 28, 2024. (Martin Bernetti/AFP via Getty Images)

Bensman argued that instead of helping facilitate travel, the U.S. will have to commit enough resources for air deportations that would hopefully work to deter larger numbers of migrants, though he sees little hope that a potential Harris administration would change the approach of the current one.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

“A Trump administration will flood the zone with the help Panama wants to close the gap. Hanging in the balance is the future cultural viability of this tribe out there,” Bensman said. “Either administration owes that tribe a seat at the table going forward.”

The White House did not immediately respond to a Fox News Digital request for comment.

Get the latest updates on the ongoing border crisis from the Fox News Digital immigration hub.

A Middle East policy expert who helped get the Iran nuclear deal signed into law is anticipating that Vice President Kamala Harris would seek a similar agreement with Tehran if she wins the White House.

“The idea that the old nuclear deal can just be restarted, we’re past that. Iran’s progress on its nuclear program has exceeded the previous limitations… a firm, verifiable nuclear deal that corrals and runs the ability to accelerate the nuclear weapon, that has to be the goal,” said Joel Rubin, a Democratic strategist and former Obama administration deputy assistant secretary of state for legislative affairs to the House.

“The best way to do that is a nuclear agreement that’s firm and verified… Any realistic president would go for that. And that’s Kamala Harris, she’s a realistic president-to-be.”

ISRAEL WARNS US DEFENSE CHIEF IRAN AGGRESSION HAS ‘REACHED ALL-TIME HIGH’

Vice President Kamala Harris should create some form of a new Iran nuclear deal, a former Obama official said. (Kenny Holston-Pool/Getty Images)

The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), commonly known as the Iran nuclear deal, was signed in 2015 by Iran, members of the United Nations National Security Council, and the European Union. 

Republicans and some moderate Democrats opposed the agreement, arguing it was too weak to successfully restrain the Islamic regime’s nuclear aspirations. Iran hawks in the U.S. also argued the lifting of sanctions on Iran would only serve to embolden its anti-Western leaders.

President Trump pulled out of the agreement in 2018.

But former President Barack Obama’s allies have maintained it was a necessary compromise to limit the threat from Iran’s nuclear capabilities and a sure way to bring Tehran to the negotiating table.

ISRAEL ATTACKS TARGETS IN LEBANON TO THWART HEZBOLLAH’S PREPARED STRIKES: IDF

Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, opened the door to new talks this week. (Iranian Leader Press Office/Handout/Anadolu via Getty Images)

“There has to be a way to curb Iran’s nuclear ambitions. If they were to get a nuclear weapon, that would be a threat to the region and to the world, including, of course, the United States. But it is not going to be an easy way forward,” Rubin said. 

Harris said during her short-lived 2020 presidential campaign that she would rejoin the Iran deal if elected president. 

While It’s unclear whether she’s retained that stance in her 2024 campaign platform, it could expose her to GOP-led accusations of emboldening Iran at a time when the country is already growing more aggressive toward the U.S. and its allies.

NETANYAHU VOWS MORE ‘SURPRISING BLOWS’ AFTER ISRAEL THWARTED ‘THOUSANDS’ OF HEZBOLLAH ROCKETS: ‘NOT THE END’

As president, Donald Trump pulled out of the Iran nuclear deal. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, suggested on Tuesday that Tehran could rejoin talks on a nuclear agreement, according to The Associated Press. Khamenei said there was “no harm” in interacting with an “enemy” in “certain situations.”

A State Department spokesperson told RadioFreeEurope, however, that rejoining the agreement “is not on the table right now.”

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

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

What’s happening…

-House launches inquiry into Biden’s trans surgery standards

-Over 200 Bush, Romney, and McCain staffers call on moderate Republicans to jump ship

-10 days until voting starts as election looms

Three State Swing

Republican vice presidential nominee Sen. JD Vance returns to the campaign trail Tuesday in battleground Michigan.

On Wednesday, former President Donald Trump’s 2024 running mate will hold events in two more crucial swing states – Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.

If it feels like déjà vu, it is. 

“We’re going to make sure that Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Michigan go red,” the first-term senator from Ohio who preaches populism said in a recent Fox News Digital interview in Michigan.

Democrats reliably won all three working-class states in presidential elections for nearly a quarter-century before Trump narrowly carried them in capturing the White House eight years ago.

However, in 2020, President Biden won back all three states with razor-thin margins as he defeated Trump.

The states remain extremely competitive as Vice President Kamala Harris and Trump face off in the 2024 presidential election.

Last month’s Republican National Convention was held in Milwaukee, Wisconsin’s largest city. Trump and Vance held their first joint-campaign rally after the convention in Grand Rapids, Michigan, just a few miles north of where Vance was interviewed by Fox News on Wednesday….Read more

Vice presidential candidate, U.S. Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH) addresses the audience at a campaign rally on August 20, 2024 in Kenosha, Wisconsin. (Andy Manis/Getty Images)

White House

STILL ON THE JOB: White House insists Biden is in charge of the country while on second straight vacation …Read more

‘INTENTIONAL FAILURE’: Governor rips Harris after report reveals eye-popping cost of illegal immigration in state …Read more

BORDER STONEWALL: Biden-Harris admin refuses to release nationalities of those on terror watchlist …Read more

Capitol Hill

‘FROZEN’: Trump assassination attempt task force chair questions law enforcement response after site tour …Read more

‘INTERFERENCE’: House launches probe into Biden admin ‘political interference’ in trans surgery standards …Read more

FILE – President Joe Biden speaks during an event with the National Governors Association in the East Room of the White House, Feb. 23, 2024, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File)

Tales from the Trail

FINAL COUNTDOWN: Trump, Harris begin sprint to Election Day …Read more

‘LAWLESSNESS’ FLOODING US: Police vote to likely make or break Harris’ run, retired chief says …Read more

TICK TOCK: With 10 days until voting starts, ‘election season’ kicks off sooner than you think …Read more

WHALE OF A TALE: RFK Jr targeted by environmental group after gruesome story involving dead animal resurfaces …Read more

DEADLOCKED: Republican aiming to flip key Senate seat in deep blue state deadlocked with Democrat: poll …Read more

SPLIT TICKET: Group that backs Trump bails on Lake in Arizona for progressive Dem …Read more

CAN’T LET THAT HAPPEN: Over 200 former Bush, McCain and Romney staffers implore ‘moderate Republicans’ to vote for Harris …Read more

GREEN MTN RED WAVE: Blue state GOP fields record number of candidates …Read more

Across America

POISON IVY: Anti-Israel agitators hit Cornell University with vandalism, protests on first day of classes …Read more

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, LYNDON: Lyndon B Johnson began his presidency after JFK was assassinated …Read more

‘MOTHER’S INTUITION’: Afghanistan withdrawal Gold Star family reveals moment they knew son was in danger …Read more

BEACH TOWN BUST: Homeless people taking over popular coastal boardwalk issued ultimatum …Read more

Subscribe now to get the Fox News Politics newsletter in your inbox.

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

Republican vice presidential candidate, Sen. JD Vance of Ohio, speaking near the site of a major electric vehicle battery factory project, charged that Democratic presidential candidate Vice President Kamala Harris and the current Democratic administration “are helping China destroy and replace our auto industry from the inside out.”

Vance held a campaign event Tuesday in Big Rapids, Michigan near where Gotion Inc., a company that, according to FARA filings, was quietly registered as a Chinese foreign principal in 2023, is planning to build a $2.4 billion electric vehicle battery plant.

Vance said that Harris’ “tie-breaking vote that she cast to send inflation through the roof,” referring to the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, made “Chinese companies like Gotion eligible for millions of your taxpayer dollars.”

“Even some of the folks in Obama’s administration said that the Gotion factory plant is a threat to America’s national security,” Vance told the audience. “But Kamala Harris not only wants to allow the Chinese Communist Party to build factories on American soil, she wants to pay them to do it with our tax money.”

BIDEN-HARRIS DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY OFFICIAL CALLS FOR ‘QUEERING NUCLEAR WEAPONS’ AS PART OF RADICAL DEI AGENDA

Republican Presidential candidate, former U.S. president, Donald Trump, left, poses for photos with Republican Vice Presidential candidate, U.S. Sen. J.D. Vance. (Melissa Sue Gerrits)

“Democrats in this state, and including Kamala Harris, want to give hundreds of millions of dollars to those same companies that have been undercutting Michigan autoworkers. What a disaster, isn’t it?” he added. “Donald Trump has a different idea. He is going to drill, baby, drill. We’re going to unleash American workers and bring back those great factories.”

The senator also touched on the drama surrounding former President Trump’s scheduled debate with Vice President Harris after reports that the presidential nominees were clashing over debate rules ahead of the live Sep. 10 event.

THE HARRIS-WALZ ENERGY AGENDA: HIGHER PRICES, FEWER AUTOMOTIVE CHOICES

“He thinks it’s important that the American people see him debate and especially see Kamala Harris, because she’s run from the media for pretty much the entire campaign,” Vance said in an exclusive interview with Fox News’ Aishah Hasnie at the Michigan event. “He also doesn’t like that they’re trying to change the rules at the very last minute, because they figured out that Kamala Harris, she’s just not that great at this.”

Democratic presidential candidate U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris waits to speak at a campaign rally at United Auto Workers Local 900 on August 8, 2024 in Wayne, Michigan.  (Andrew Harnik)

Vance also addressed the letter that Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg sent to House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan on Monday, revealing that he faced pressure from the Biden-Harris administration to censor Americans, particularly regarding COVID-19 content.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

“This should be bombshell news,” Vance told Fox of the letter. “The leader of one of the most important social networks in the world just came out and said, I censored Donald Trump in the run-up to the election because there were certain elements within the Biden administration and the Biden campaign that encouraged me to do that. That is crazy. That is the revelation of censorship in a way that affected an American election.”

Fox News’ Aishah Hasnie contributed to this report.

EXCLUSIVE — Republican Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp insists “the road to the White House is going to run through Georgia.”

And Kemp, the popular two-term conservative governor of the crucial southeastern battleground state, emphasized in an exclusive national interview with Fox News Digital “there’s no path for former President Trump to win, or any Republican … to get to 270 (electoral votes) without Georgia.”

Kemp, interviewed Tuesday on the eve of Vice President Kamala Harris’ two-day bus swing through Georgia, said his state “should be one that we win if we have all the mechanics that we need. And I’m working hard to help provide those in a lot of ways and turn the Republican vote out.”

“It’s my belief that we cannot afford four more years of [President] Joe Biden and Kamala Harris or Kamala Harris and [Minnesota Gov.] Tim Walz, which I think would probably be worse than even Biden and Harris were,” Kemp argued.

2024 COUNTDOWN: TRUMP CRISSCROSSING CAMPAIGN TRAIL WITH 10 WEEKS UNTIL ELECTION DAY

Republican Gov. Brian Kemp of Georgia is interviewed by Fox News Digital June 3, 2024, in Chalmette, La.  (Fox News/Paul Steinhauser)

The governor was interviewed a couple of days after Trump praised Kemp in a social media post “for all of your help and support in Georgia, where a win is so important to the success of our Party and, most importantly, our Country.”

“I look forward to working with you, your team, and all of my friends in Georgia to help MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!” the Republican presidential nominee added.

The comments from Trump were a major change of tune when it comes to Georgia’s governor.

For two years after his 2020 election defeat to President Biden, which included a razor-thin loss in Georgia, Trump attacked Kemp for failing to overturn the election results in his state. 

WASH, RINSE, REPEAT: WHY JD VANCE IS CONCENTRATING ON THESE THREE STATES

Trump toned down the criticism in 2022, after Kemp crushed Trump-backed former Sen. David Perdue in the state’s GOP gubernatorial primary.

But earlier this month, Trump went on a 10-minute tirade against Kemp at a rally in Atlanta just blocks from the Georgia Capitol. Trump blamed the governor not only for failing to overturn the 2020 vote count, but also for not stopping a county prosecutor from indicting the former president for his attempts to reverse the results.

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

“He’s a bad guy. He’s a disloyal guy. And he’s a very average governor,” Trump said. “Little Brian. Little Brian Kemp. Bad guy.”

Kemp told Fox News, “I’m not sure exactly what happened going into the rally. I’ve seen a lot of different stories and people’s explanations of what happened.”

“To me, that was a small distraction that’s in the past,” Kemp added.

And Kemp said Republicans “need to stay focused on the future. … We need to be telling people why they should vote for us, what we’re going to do to make things better than they are right now. And there’s a host of issues that I think you could contrast Kamala Harris and her record.

“To me, that’s what we need to stay focused on. Not some dustup from two or three weeks ago.”

HEAD HERE FOR THE LATEST FOX NEWS POLLING IN 2024 ELECTION

Asked about Trump’s reversal last Thursday, Kemp said, “You have to ask him those questions. I’ve been consistent for really the last couple of years that I was going to support the ticket, whoever our nominee was, in Georgia. That’s exactly what I’m doing. What I have been doing.”

But Trump’s statement came moments after Kemp appeared on Fox News Channel and reiterated to host Sean Hannity that “we need to send Donald Trump back to the White House.”

Asked Tuesday if he and Trump had connected since last week, Kemp said, “I haven’t talked to him.”

“I’ve talked to a lot of other folks, and I think everybody has a good understanding of where everybody is and understands my position has not changed,” Kemp said. “I have been supporting him and the whole ticket in Georgia, and I’m still doing that and will continue to do that through November.”

Republican strategists agree that to recapture Georgia, Trump will need assistance from Kemp’s well-oiled and funded political machine to turn out GOP voters.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

Kemp said he’s “working hard” to “turn the Republican vote out and make sure that we win this state in November.”

“How that looks and how that goes will really be up to kind of how things play out and what states are in play and who’s going where and when,” Kemp added.

“I’ve got other responsibilities in my duties with the Republican Governors Association, traveling around the country helping to raise money to win North Carolina and hold New Hampshire in our column and also helping our legislative races here.”

Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp (right) joins fellow GOP governors at a Republican Governors Association news conference at an oil refinery in Chalmette, La., June 3, 2024 (Fox News/Paul Steinhauser)

Kemp also acknowledged that he’s asked for legal advice from the state attorney general on whether he can remove from the state election board three conservative members on the five-person panel who championed and passed a controversial set of new rules that mandate extra requirements for county election boards to certify their results.

“We’ve asked the attorney general for an opinion on that on whether this would be an official complaint, if you will, and I’m waiting to hear back. So, I really wouldn’t be able to comment too much on that since we’re asking for legal advice,” Kemp told Fox News.

Trump, who has been charged in Fulton County, Georgia, for election interference, praised the three members for pushing for the new rules and called them “pit bulls fighting for honesty, transparency and victory.”

Georgia Democrats call the new rules a “concerted effort to subvert democracy” and have challenged them, arguing they could delay election certification and spark major disputes.

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

The Trump campaign on Tuesday pushed back against a narrative within the media that Vice President Kamala Harris is taking a more positive approach to border wall construction — calling such a claim “preposterous.”

“How much longer will the mainstream media allow Kamala Harris to hide and use staff to speak on her behalf?” Karoline Leavitt, National Press Secretary for the Trump campaign said in a statement. “It’s DAY 37 of ZERO interviews and Kamala’s anonymous campaign sources are now claiming she supports President Trump’s border wall — this is a preposterous and false claim.”

Axios ran a headline on Tuesday morning that accused Harris of a “flip flop” on border wall construction. It noted Harris’ support of a bipartisan border security bill introduced in January. The bill pushes funding to the border, while also authorizing limits on asylum entries.

BIDEN-HARRIS ADMIN REFUSES TO REVEAL NATIONALITIES OF TERROR WATCHLIST MIGRANTS NABBED AT BORDER 

The Harris campaign has not announced that an interview has been scheduled.  (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, File)

The package, which has the support of the Biden administration but has so far failed to drum up enough Republican support to pass the chamber, also includes a limited amount of funding for additional border wall construction, but it is just a fraction of the $25 billion former President Trump eyed for the project.

While Harris, along with President Biden and Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, have consistently backed the bill, Axios said that her recent speech at the Democratic National Convention in which she said she would sign the bill was a sign of her embracing a more hawkish immigration policy.

“Last year, Joe and I brought together Democrats and conservative Republicans to write the strongest border bill in decades. The Border Patrol endorsed it. But Donald Trump believes a border deal would hurt his campaign, so he ordered his allies in Congress to kill the deal. Well, I refuse to play politics with our security, and here is my pledge to you. As president, I will bring back the bipartisan border security bill that he killed, and I will sign it into law. I know — I know we can live up to our proud heritage as a nation of immigrants and reform our broken immigration system. We can create an earned pathway to citizenship and secure our border,” she said.

New ads, in which the Harris campaign portrays the former California senator as tough on the border, show images of the Trump-era border wall.

FEDERAL JUDGE BLOCKS BIDEN ADMIN MOVE TO GIVE LEGAL STATUS TO ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT SPOUSES OF US CITIZENS

Candidate and former President Donald Trump speaks at the U.S.-Mexico border on August 22, 2024 south of Sierra Vista, Arizona. Trump will hold a rally in Glendale, Arizona tomorrow. (Photo by Rebecca Noble/Getty Images) (Rebecca Noble/Getty Images)

But the Trump campaign noted that, despite that limited support, Harris has a history of opposing the wall at the border. The Trump administration built more than 400 miles of border wall, and it was abruptly halted by the Biden-Harris administration in 2021. 

While there have been some gaps filled and some limited extra construction due to already appropriated congressional funds, the administration has consistently said it opposes border wall construction and there have been no indications of plans for significant extra construction. 

Additionally, Harris has long been a critic of the wall construction that took place in the Trump-era. In 2018, Harris called the wall “un-American.” That came a year after she joined Democrats in introducing a bill to block border wall construction.

During her campaign launch in 2019, she dismissed the wall’s effectiveness.

CLICK HERE FOR MORE COVERAGE OF THE BORDER SECURITY CRISIS

“On the subject of transnational gangs, let’s be perfectly clear. The president’s medieval vanity project is not going to stop them,” she said.

In 2020, she called it “a complete waste of taxpayer money and won’t make us any safer.”

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

The Trump campaign also sought to link her to the decision to halt border wall construction in her role “as border czar” — although that role was limited to international diplomacy related to root causes. 

“As Border Czar, Kamala Harris halted construction of the border wall. Kamala’s ACTIONS speak much louder than the WORDS of the anonymous staff she is cowering behind,” Leavitt said.

Trump senior adviser Jason Miller described the report as “total bulls—” and said that Harris “hasn’t flip-flopped on anything.”

“Harris opposes the wall, has always opposed the wall, and stopped wall construction as VP,” he said.