NationalWatch

President Biden’s nominee for second-highest civilian position in the U.S. Air Force was grilled by Congress on Tuesday regarding the Department of Defense’s selling off of border wall parts, as well as the handling of the Chinese spy balloon, among other issues impacting national security. 

Melissa Dalton, who has served as the Pentagon’s Assistant Secretary of Defense for Homeland Defense and Hemispheric Affairs since 2022, appeared before the Senate Committee on Armed Services on Tuesday as she’s being considered for a second time for the role of Under Secretary of the Air Force. Biden nominated her for the Air Force’s No. 2 civilian role in September, but because the Senate didn’t act before the end of the year, the White House renominated Dalton this month. 

In his opening statement, Ranking Member Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Miss., raised concern that Dalton “has virtually no experience with the Air Force.” 

“Ms. Dalton, the Air Force and Space Force both possess insufficient capacity and capability to meet their growing mission sets. This is the case even as we march toward a state of maximum vulnerability in the Pacific. The last confirmed appointee to the post that Ms. Dalton has been appointed for was not focused on this challenge. She created division in our military instead of prioritizing readiness and modernization,” he said. “If Ms. Dalton is confirmed, I hope that she will not do the same. Regrettably, her performance in her current position gives me pause.”

While Dalton has been at her post, Wicker charged, the “Department of Defense was caught flat-footed as a Chinese surveillance balloon traversed the continental United States and flew over military sites,” and “when Congress sought more information, she, along with others at the Department, evaded Constitutionally-authorized oversight.” 

BIDEN ADMIN’S TOP OFFICIALS ATTEMPTED TO ‘CONCEAL’ CHINESE SPY BALLOON FROM PUBLIC, CONGRESS EXPOSED: REPORT

Wicker also raised concern over Dalton’s handling of the Pentagon’s responsibilities at the southwestern border. 

“At one point, the Department of Defense was spending $130,000 every single day to store, instead of use, border wall construction materials,” he said. “They were already manufactured, they were ready, and yet we were spending $130,000 to store them. Meanwhile, illegal migration broke records. Later, we found out that the Department of Defense had initiated a process in which these panels would be auctioned for pennies on the dollar — a clear effort to circumvent emerging Congressional intent as the FINISH IT Act was being added to the NDAA. That act was added to the NDAA; it is now the law of the land.”

Specifically, Wicker took issue with Dalton failing to deliver the Homeland Defense Planning Guidance until the end of 2023 — over a year after the release of the National Defense Strategy. 

“This track record casts a shadow on this nomination,” he said. 

Sen. Mike Rounds, R-S.D., was also among the Republicans to challenge Dalton about the border, as well as the Chinese spy balloon, which entered U.S. airspace over Alaska, crossed through Canada and then over the continental United States, reportedly gathering key intelligence about U.S. military sites, before it was shot down off the coast of South Carolina.

“This was under your watch. Were you in the direct chain of command in regards to the decision not to shoot the balloon down until after it had left American airspace?” Rounds demanded. 

Dalton admitted she was one of the officials advising Austin, adding that “the best military advice to not shoot down over U.S. territory came from our U.S. senior military officials.” 

BIDEN QUIETLY AUCTIONS OFF BORDER WALL PARTS TO STUNT REPUBLICAN EFFORT TO RESTART CONSTRUCTION: REPORT

Noting that at the time Dalton’s nomination to hold her current role passed the same committee in 2022, she was “not controversial,” Rounds said that since then, “two items have happened that now call into question that confidence.” 

Regarding the spy balloon, Rounds warned, “This is an area you will be challenged on this particular one because it’s a question of judgment and recommendations being made. I think that between now and the time that a vote is held on your nomination, I think you’ve got some work to do to regain the confidence of a lot of the members on this committee.” 

Sen. Kevin Cramer, R-N.D., also pressed Dalton on when she first was made aware of the spy balloon. 

Dalton testified she first heard of the balloon on Jan. 27, 2023, the same day as Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin. 

“My initial advice was that we absolutely needed to understand what capabilities were on the PRC high altitude balloon. NORAD NORTHCOM was tracking it and characterizing it, but we needed to get to the bottom of what it was doing, what its intentions were,” she said. 

Cramer pressed Dalton on why it was not “instinctive” for her to ever initiate an internal review of all the policies and processes, including the siloing of various intelligence agencies, in the aftermath of the incident, adding that it took the Senate Armed Service Committee to do so. 

“Did it ever occur to you, ‘Gee, this is something we should maybe dig into a little bit and see where our failings are’?” Cramer posed. 

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After insisting the department had incorporated the “lessons learned” in the development of the homeland defense policy guidance over the last year that was signed by Austin in December, Dalton was again grilled on what she would have done differently in the event of the crisis itself. 

“We as a community could have had better national level integration at the local level — what I saw in the early days of the PRC HAB was that we were very well wired for responding to hurricanes, to wildfires, and that is the day-to-day existence for defense supported civil authorities, but it hadn’t been since World War II that we had an incursion over U.S. territory from a foreign adversary, and so getting that national to federal to state and local integration happened, but I think in real time we could have been more expeditious about it, and we will do so going forward,” she said. 

“It’s OK to have been wrong,” Cramer told Dalton. “A correction is what we’re looking for.” 

Republican strategists told Fox News Digital that GOP presidential candidate Nikki Haley needs a “realistic path” to win primary elections in her quest for the White House.

Fox News Digital reached out to several Republican strategists for their takes after Haley’s New Hampshire loss to former President Trump on Tuesday.

Targeted Victory Vice President Matt Gorman told Fox News Digital that while the race isn’t over, Haley needs a “realistic path” in her campaign to win future primary elections.

NEW HAMPSHIRE PRIMARY RESULTS: DONALD TRUMP, JOE BIDEN WIN GRANITE STATE

“It’s not over yet, but Haley needs to set a realistic path for supporters, donors and the press as to how she’ll start actually winning some of these,” Gorman said.

Haley did not win the Iowa caucuses or the New Hampshire primary but is continuing her campaign as the GOP primary race heads to her home state of South Carolina. A win for Haley in South Carolina would be a critical step in her presidential aspirations.

Jimmy Keady, JLK Political Strategies founder and president, told Fox News Digital that “President Trump is dominating these primaries, and he has the benefit of being a sort of pseudo-incumbent.”

“Voters across the country remember the positives of his Presidency; a stronger economy, more secure border, and respect abroad — his Presidency is fresh on the minds of voters,” Keady said.

“The trick is that candidates and their consultants must capitalize on the momentum and not fizzle out as we have seen in the past,” he continued. “What we are going to see in the coming weeks will likely be a coalescing of support from Republican leaders across the country.”

“It is up to either campaign to build off the momentum from New Hampshire,” he added.

Matt Wolking, Axiom Strategies vice president of communications who previously worked for Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ super PAC, Never Back Down, told Fox News Digital that the “numbers in New Hampshire show that Trump is as strong among Republican voters as he is weak among the broader electorate that will determine the outcome of the general election in November.”

“Haley cannot win the Republican primary by relying on non-Republican voters, and it’s unlikely she will still be a candidate in March,” Wolking said. “The only question is whether she calls it quits before or after South Carolina.”

Trump won the New Hampshire primary by a sizable margin, securing 54% of the vote to Haley’s 43%. Still, Haley vowed to continue her campaign through the South Carolina primary on Feb. 24.

Haley spokesperson Olivia Perez-Cubas told Fox News Digital that we “don’t do coronations in this country.”

“We do elections,” Perez-Cubas said. “The political elites can back Donald Trump, but Nikki Haley will continue to fight for the nearly 50% of Republican primary voters and the 70% of all Americans who don’t want a Biden-Trump rematch.”

But some GOP strategists still don’t see a path forward for the former governor. Aaron Evans, national GOP strategist and president of Winning Republican Strategies, said, “Iowa and New Hampshire reinforced what we have known for months — there’s only one viable candidate in the Republican nomination process and that’s President Trump.”

“Despite all efforts otherwise from his competitors, the vast majority of Republican voters remain all-in for Trump. Haley’s loss in New Hampshire was a major blow in a state we were told she could win, and when she loses her home state of South Carolina in a few weeks, the blow will be even bigger. Optimism and hope from a failing campaign is not a strategy.”

“It didn’t work for Ron DeSantis, and it won’t work for Nikki Haley. President Trump will decisively be the Republican nominee,” Evans added.

GOP strategist with Calvary LLC John Ashbrook told Fox News Digital, “President Trump’s team has put on a clinic in every state where they’ve operated this cycle.”

“Nikki’s campaign is incredibly talented and President Trump’s victories are a testament to the professional machine he’s built,” Ashbrook said.

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

The strategists’ comments come after Haley’s loss to Trump in New Hampshire on Tuesday.

Trump is the first Republican candidate to win competitive elections in the Iowa caucuses and New Hampshire primary since 1976.

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DeSantis ended his campaign two days before the primary, effectively making it a head-to-head race between Trump and Haley.

The results of the Fox News Voter Analysis, a survey of nearly 2,000 New Hampshire Republican primary voters, show the contours of a race that was notably closer than the Iowa caucuses, which Trump won by 30 points.

The Fox News Polling Unit contributed to this report.

President Biden was heckled Wednesday during a speech at a United Auto Workers union conference in Washington, D.C. by pro-Palestinian protesters, the second such interruption in as many days for the president. 

Biden, who received an endorsement Wednesday from UAW President Shawn Fain, was speaking when protesters began chanting “Free Gaza.” Others waved the Palestinian flag. Video footage shows protesters being escorted out of a room and several union workers drowning them out with chants of “UAW.”

On Tuesday, Biden was also interrupted several times by pro-Palestinian protesters during his remarks at an abortion rights rally in Manassas, Virginia.

GOV BURGUM PRAISES ‘SOPHISTICATED’ NEW HAMPSHIRE VOTERS WHO ARE ‘GOING TO SEND A MESSAGE TO THE WORLD’

Throughout his speech, multiple protesters interrupted by shouting critiques of his handling of Israel’s ongoing ground offensive in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip.

A male protester with a Palestinian flag shouted, “How many kids have you killed?” He was drowned out by the crowd chanting “four more years” as security escorted him out. 

Pro-Palestinian protesters have called for the Biden administration to halt any military assistance to Israel, citing its military campaign against Hamas and the humanitarian crisis unfolding inside Gaza. Israel declared war on the terror group after its unprecedented deadly Oct. 7 attack on Israeli communities.  

The UAW endorsed Biden as he battles former President Donald Trump for the support of key labor groups. 

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“Joe Biden bet on the American worker, while Donald Trump blamed the American worker,” Fain said as the group caps its three-day gathering in Washington, D.C., to map out its political priorities. “We need to know who’s going to sit in the most powerful seat in the world and us win as a united working class. So if our endorsements must be earned, Joe Biden has earned it.”

FOX Business’ Danielle Wallace contributed to this report. 

As Texas Gov. Greg Abbott continues to tout the state’s right to self-defend itself from a migrant invasion, some Democratic lawmakers are calling on President Biden to take control of the state’s National Guard.

Abbott issued a lengthy statement Wednesday, saying the federal government broke the compact between the U.S. and the individual states.

“The Executive Branch of the United States has a constitutional duty to enforce federal laws protecting states, including immigration laws on the books right now,” Abbott said. “President Biden has refused to enforce those laws and has even violated them.”

Abbott is fighting multiple legal battles with the Biden administration, which has threatened legal action over Texas’ seizure of Shelby Park near Eagle Pass. Texas has also filed lawsuits against the administration, which cut razor wire set up by the state on the Rio Grande to prevent migrants from illegally crossing into Texas, as well as the establishment of buoys on the river.

ABBOTT DECLARES TEXAS HAS ‘RIGHT TO SELF-DEFENSE’ FROM MIGRANT ‘INVASION’ AMID FEUD WITH BIDEN ADMIN

While Abbott issues statements about the Biden administration overstepping its authority, Democratic lawmakers like Rep. Greg Casar, D-Texas, is accusing the governor of taking a play out of former President Trump’s playbook.

“Greg Abbott has continued to use political stunts and inflammatory language to advance his own agenda, violating the Constitution and endangering both U.S. citizens and asylum seekers,” Casar posted on X. “Abbott is following the Donald Trump playbook: making immigration harder and more dangerous, so asylum seekers are pushed into the hands of cartels and the system remains broken.”

Casar continued with a string of posts, saying he agreed with Rep. Joaquin Castro, D-Texas, who on Tuesday tweeted Biden should seize control of the Texas National Guard.

CRITICS BASH SCOTUS DECISION ALLOWING FEDS TO CUT RAZOR TEXAS INSTALLED TO STEM ILLEGAL BORDER CROSSINGS

The Supreme Court this week found in the administration’s favor when it granted an emergency appeal to allow agents to keep cutting border wire set up by Texas along the border. The state answered by publishing images of it strengthening physical barriers along Eagle Pass. 

The administration has also sued over a recently-signed law that allows Texas state and local officials to arrest illegal immigrants. The administration has accused Texas of interfering with federal control over immigration and border security, and said it is putting both agents and migrants in danger.

“Governor Greg Abbott is using the Texas National Guard to obstruct and create chaos at the border,” Castro posted to X on Tuesday. “If Abbott is defying yesterday’s Supreme Court ruling, @POTUS needs to establish sole federal control of the Texas National Guard now.”

TEXAS AG PAXTON PROMISES ‘FIGHT IS NOT OVER’ AFTER SCOTUS RULE ON BIDEN ADMIN’S RAZOR WIRE CUTTING 

Former Rep. Beto O’Rourke, D-Texas, who is running for governor in the state, also called out Abbott for “using the Texas Guard to defy a Supreme Court ruling.”

“When Gov. Orval Eugene Faubus did this in 1957, [President] Eisenhower federalized the Arkansas Guard to ensure compliance with the law,” O’Rourke tweeted. “Biden must follow this example of bold, decisive leadership to end this crisis before it gets worse.”

DOJ RENEWS SCOTUS PUSH TO ACT AFTER TEXAS SEIZES BORDER AREAS, BLOCKS BORDER PATROL FROM ENTERING 

Abbott is not alone, though, in his fight for his state’s right to bolster protection along the border between Mexico and Texas.

In fact, former Republican presidential candidate and current Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said his state will continue assisting Texas.

“If the Constitution really made states powerless to defend themselves against an invasion, it wouldn’t have been ratified in the first place and Texas would have never joined the union when it did,” DeSantis posted on X. “TX is upholding the law while Biden is flouting it. FL will keep assisting…”

SUPREME COURT SIDES WITH BIDEN IN TEXAS BORDER WIRE CASE; BORDER PATROL UNION BLASTS THE DECISION

Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt, also a Republican, re-posted a video on X of the Texas National Guard marching.

“Oklahoma stands with Texas,” Stitt wrote.

Abbott made many arguments in his statement on Wednesday, which are unlikely to dissuade the administration, which has cited Supreme Court precedent for federal control over the immigration and border authority.

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The administration also claims it is following immigration law, while pointing to numbers of removals since May that outpace all of FY 2019. 

Instead, the administration says it needs additional funding from Congress and comprehensive immigration reform to correct what it claims is a “broken” system.

Fox News Digital’s Adam Shaw contributed to this report.

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre touted President Biden’s Tuesday speech in Virginia on abortion as “fiery” despite a much-noticed flub and the near-constant interruptions by protesters concerning his administration’s handling of the war between Israel and Hamas.

Her defense of the speech came as she was pressed by multiple reporters during the White House briefing on whether Biden was “frustrated” he wasn’t able to deliver it as intended, and whether he was braced for more protests at future public events.

“I mean, look, the president, from my view — and I think your colleagues have written about this — it was a fiery speech. It was a deeply, deeply impactful speech. You heard how the crowd reacted to the speech. It was a speech that I think landed in the way that talked about how this president, and his entire administration, is going to fight for women,” Jean-Pierre said.

HUNTER HAS TIES TO NEARLY 2 DOZEN CURRENT, FORMER BIDEN OFFICIALS AS FEDERAL CHARGES, HOUSE PROBES LOOM

She added that Biden believes Americans have the right to have their voices heard “as long as they do it peacefully.” “We respect that,” she said.

Despite her claims, Biden was ripped on social media for one instance during the speech in which he slurred a nearly incoherent line about former President Donald Trump and women in America.

“We’ll teach Donald Trump a valuable lesson: Don’t mess with the women of America unless you want to get the benefit!” Biden appeared to say. He was subsequently blasted by critics over his age and cognitive ability, a common critique of the president, even from within his own party.

RECORD GOP TURNOUT, CALLS FOR HALEY TO LEAVE RACE ROUND OUT TOP 5 MOMENTS FROM THE NEW HAMPSHIRE PRIMARIES

Biden was interrupted multiple times during the speech as he shared the stage with Vice President Kamala Harris and their respective spouses, first lady Jill Biden and second gentleman Doug Emhoff.

Throughout the time he was speaking, multiple protesters interrupted by shouting critiques of his administration’s handling of Israel’s ongoing ground offensive against the terrorist group Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

Immediately after beginning his remarks, a male protester with a Palestinian flag shouted, “How many kids have you killed?” The protester was drowned out by the crowd chanting “four more years” as security escorted the protester out.

HUNTER BIDEN’S ART DEALER LASHES OUT AFTER TESTIMONY, SAYS CONGRESS IS WHERE ‘REAL’ INFLUENCE PEDDLING HAPPENS

Biden began his remarks again but was soon interrupted by another protester, a woman who shouted, “Israel kills two mothers every hour.”

The second protester was also escorted out as the pro-Biden crowd again shouted “four more years.” 

Biden plowed ahead with his remarks and was continually interrupted. By the end, around a dozen protesters interrupted the president, shouting slogans like “Stop funding genocide” and “Genocide Joe has got to go.”

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“This is going to go on for a while; they got this planned,” Biden said as the protesters were escorted out one by one.

Rep. Dean Phillips of Minnesota, the Democratic presidential underdog, fell just short of his stated goal in the New Hampshire primary.

With 95% of votes accounted for, Phillips — who previously said “getting in the 20s would be an extraordinary accomplishment” — received 19.5% of the state.

President Biden secured victory with approximately 55% of the vote.

DEAN PHILLIPS FIRES BACK AT REPORTERS: ‘YOU’RE NOT ASKING QUESTIONS AMERICANS GIVE A S–T ABOUT’

Phillips got a lucky break going into the second primary election: Biden voters were forced to write in the president’s name after his campaign failed to register him on the ballot.

More than a year ago, the president proposed a nominating calendar for the 2024 election cycle that booted New Hampshire from its traditional leadoff primary position and replaced it with South Carolina, a much more diverse state where Black voters play an outsized role in Democratic politics.

The Democratic National Committee (DNC) a year ago overwhelmingly approved the calendar change proposed by the president, but New Hampshire leapfrogged South Carolina to honor a longtime state law that mandates that the Granite State holds the first primary.

BIDEN CHALLENGER DEAN PHILLIPS BLASTS PRESIDENT AS ‘UNELECTABLE AND WEAK’ AS BIDEN SET TO SKIP NEW HAMPSHIRE

With the state holding an unsanctioned Democratic contest, the president’s re-election campaign last autumn announced that Biden wouldn’t file to place his name on the New Hampshire ballot.

Phillips says he’s invested $5 million of his own money in his White House bid.

“A lot more than I intended,” he noted in an interview with Fox News Digital. But he said his investment may be starting to pay off as “grassroots donors are really starting to pop up.”

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While the president is the commanding front-runner for his party’s 2024 nomination, polls indicate that many Americans — including plenty of Democrats — don’t want Biden to seek a second term in the White House.

Those same surveys show that voters are not thrilled with the likely prospect of a rematch between Biden and the candidate he defeated in 2020: former President Trump.

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

A border proposal still being hammered out by Senate negotiators would include a Title 42-type authority that would only be mandated if numbers at the southern border exceeded 5,000 migrant encounters a day — part of a package already drawing fierce criticism from some conservatives in the chamber, with one GOP lawmaker branding it a “stinking pile of crap.”

Talks have been ongoing for months as lawmakers have tried to find a deal over a fix to the southern border as part of talks for supplemental spending that includes aid to Ukraine and Israel. The Biden administration is seeking over $100 billion in funding, including $14 billion for the border. But Republicans have demanded limits on migrant releases into the interior, including the use of parole, and negotiators have been attempting to find a compromise. 

Multiple sources familiar with the proposal tell Fox News Digital that the proposal would tighten the language of the initial credible fear standard for asylum screenings. One source said that those briefing lawmakers had predicted it could lead to the majority of migrants going through the screenings being removed. 

Linked to that would be a Title 42-style expulsion authority to quickly remove migrants at the border similar to the COVID-19-era authority. Multiple sources said that the use of that authority would be mandated only if there was a 7-day rolling average of above 5,000 encounters a day.

BORDER DEAL PRICE TAG LIKELY TO COST MORE THAN $14 BILLION, BUT GOP LAWMAKERS GROW RESTLESS TO SEE BILL TEXT

Daily encounters between 4,000 and 5,000 would allow for discretionary expulsions, and any single day where there were over 8,000 encounters, expulsions would be mandated even if the 7-day average was lower. Those expulsions would also be exempted from judicial review.

The use of humanitarian parole at the border by the administration would also be restricted, but migrants could still be paroled in if they cite humanitarian reasons. Those restrictions are not expected to include parole programs in which migrants are flown in, such as those for Afghans and Ukrainians, as well as the Cuban Haitian, Nicaraguan and Venezuelan (CHNV) parole program — which allows 30,000 migrants to fly in to be paroled each month, as part of the administration’s “expanded lawful pathways.”

One source familiar with the proposal said that the time asylum seekers would need to wait for a work permit would be cut from 180 days to 90 in some cases. Also expected to be in the bill is a proposal to grant work permits to children of legal temporary visa holders, including H-1B workers, who turn 21 while in the country. Those foreign nationals have been dubbed “Documented Dreamers” by activists, and it could affect up to a quarter of a million people.

Other additions include an increase in ICE detention beds to 55,000, as well as funding for facilities and additional border officers — something the Biden administration has requested — as well as legal assistance to unaccompanied children in the country.

While the provisions of the bill are still fluid, negotiators have said they are hoping to have a bill text soon — indicating that the provisions, while fluid, are close to being solid. Similar provisions were reported earlier this month, and Sen. James Lankford, R-Okla.,one of the negotiators, urged caution about believing those reports.

SEN. MARSHALL URGES GOP TO SAY ‘HELL NO’ TO SUPPLEMENTAL FUNDING REQUEST WITHOUT TIGHTER BORDER SECURITY

“I encourage people to read the border security bill before they judge the border security bill. I also advise people not to believe everything you read on the internet….,” he said.

The proposal, even if it were to pass the Senate, would likely hit a buzzsaw of opposition in the House — where the Republican majority has said it wants the inclusion of the entirety of the House border security bill passed last year as part of any supplemental spending bill. It also would face considerable opposition in the Senate. A source close to negotiations told Fox News Digital they believed it would make the crisis worse.

“This expensive, back room deal is packed full of quotas making the crisis a norm, quasi-amnesty provisions, and billions of dollars for corrupt NGOs and sanctuary cities—all of which will fuel the invasion at our border, not stop the flow,” they said. “Senate offices are quickly realizing the parole and asylum provisions aren’t just window dressing reforms, but will make things worse now and in the future.”

 On Tuesday, a sign of the anger over the potential deal was on display in public when a group of Senate conservatives tore into the proposals in no uncertain terms, while expressing anger that they didn’t have the full text of the bill yet.

“[This bill] is a kamikaze plane in a box canyon with no exits headed for a train wreck,” Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas said at a press conference, later calling it a “stinking pile of crap bill.”

“This bill is not designed to fix the problem. This bill normalizes 5,000 people a day coming in,” he said. “5,000 people a day is over 1.8 million a year. That’s called an invasion by the way. Under Joe Biden we’ve had 9.6 million. So the great Republican compromise is we’re for two thirds of Joe Biden’s open borders. We’ll let in 6 million instead of 9 million.”

He predicted it would have a 0% chance of passing the House.

“This bill represents Senate Republican leadership waging war on House Republican leadership. It’s not designed to secure the border and it won’t secure the border,” he said.

Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., expressed concern about tying the hands of a future Republican president, and the risk of allowing up to 5,000 people a day into the country.

“The thing is, we’re hopefully going to have a new president. When we get a new Republican president, we should make sure we don’t pass a bill that’s going to impact their ability to secure the border. [Former President] Trump was able to secure the border with the existing laws. Let’s make sure we don’t pass something that makes it harder for him to do that.

Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., shared similar concerns.

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“Part of my problem with the 4,000 threshold that’s discretionary and then the 5,000 mandatory shutting down the border — my first question is how are you going to do that? Do you have the personnel to actually shut down the border? And do you contemplate that hasn’t been answered, but the 4,000 discretionary level, is that going to hinder the next president?” he said.

Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, said lawmakers must be given time to read and process the bill.

“If they can have access to what they’re doing for four months. Three weeks is not too much to ask,” he said.

FIRST ON FOX: Arizona Senate candidate Kari Lake’s campaign is pushing back on a claim by the now-former state GOP chair that he was “set-up” by the conservative firebrand in a leaked audio recording allegedly containing what she says was an attempt to “bribe” her against running for Senate this year.

Arizona Republican Party Chair Jeff DeWit resigned with a lengthy resignation letter on Wednesday, one day after the audio recording was leaked and first reported on by the Daily Mail. In the letter, he claimed the recording was a “deceptive tactic” by Lake and accused her of being “on a mission to destroy” him.

“The tape speaks for itself: The Arizona GOP Chairman Jeff DeWit attempted to bribe Kari Lake. Thankfully, Kari is an extremely ethical person who rejected DeWit’s multiple attempts to offer her money and corporate board seats in exchange for Kari not running for public office,” campaign senior advisers Caroline Wren and Garrett Ventry told Fox News Digital.

RECORD GOP TURNOUT, CALLS FOR HALEY TO LEAVE RACE ROUND OUT TOP 5 MOMENTS FROM THE NEW HAMPSHIRE PRIMARIES

“She will be an incredible Senator for Arizonans. No one from the Kari Lake campaign threatened or blackmailed DeWit. It is unfortunate that Dewit hasn’t recognized how unethical his behavior was and still hasn’t apologized to Arizona Republicans. DeWit’s false claims are just par for the course. The Arizona GOP must be relieved to have his resignation. Now we can focus on getting ethical leadership and win big in 2024,” they added.

Fox News has obtained the audio recording, but did not independently authenticate it. It appears to show DeWit asking Lake if there is “any number” that would entice her to “take a pause for a couple of years.” However, Lake pushed back on the notion that she “can be bought.” 

“This is not about money, it’s about our country,” Lake said.

TIM SCOTT SETS CROWD ALIVE WITH ONE-LINER AFTER TRUMP SAYS HE ‘MUST REALLY HATE’ HALEY

In his resignation letter, DeWit acknowledged it was him in the recording and claimed Lake released a “selectively edited audio recording” of a more than 10-month-old private conversation between the two, and that it was “taken out of context.”

“Contrary to the notion of me being an enemy of Lake’s, this conversation was recorded while I was actually employing Lake in my private company. In fact, for over a year and a half we had many conversations where I was looking out for her financial interests,” DeWit wrote.

“Contrary to accusations of bribery, my discussions were transparent and intended to offer perspective, not coercion. Our relationship was based on friendship, and the conversation that is now being scrutinized was an open, unguarded exchange between friends in the living room of her house. I genuinely believed I was offering a helpful perspective to someone I considered a friend,” he added.

FREEDOM CAUCUS REVOLTS IN SOUTH CAROLINA OVER CLAIMS GOP PLANS TO ‘MUZZLE’ LEGISLATIVE POWERS, BOOST DEMS

DeWit was elected to chair the Arizona GOP last year, replacing former chairwoman and Senate candidate Kelli Ward. 

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Fox News Digital has reached out to the Republican National Committee for comment.

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

Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders – while not totally ruling out potentially serving as former President Donald Trump’s running mate – is making it clear that she plans to run for re-election in 2026.

“I love Arkansas and I feel like I just got started here with one year in office,” Sanders said Monday while delivering remarks at the Arkansas Christian Schools Summit. “There’s a long list of things I want to make happen.”

With Trump being the commanding frontrunner in the Republican presidential race – winning both the Iowa caucuses and New Hampshire primary – anticipation is growing over who the former president would pick as his running mate. Sanders often appears in speculative lists.

VOTERS SHARE TOP RUNNING MATE CHOICES FOR TRUMP IF ELECTED: ‘IT HAS TO BE SOMEONE YOUNGER’

Sanders, the daughter of Fox News host and former longtime Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, was White House press secretary in Trump’s administration. 

TRUMP SAYS NIKKI HALEY ‘PROBABLY’ NOT HIS CHOICE FOR VICE PRESIDENT

Now serving as Arkansas’ first female governor and a prominent GOP political figure, she’s considered to be one of many names on a long list of potential running mates for Trump.

Sanders has openly endorsed Trump and is campaigning on his behalf, but amid rumors of rejoining his administration, affirmed her plans to run for re-election as governor.

A source in the governor’s political orbit also told Fox News on Wednesday that “she is very, very happy with what she’s doing.”

On Monday, Sanders also said, “I’m very biased in what I hope happens in the election. I’m going to do everything within my power to see that Donald Trump gets re-elected, but I look forward to serving as governor for seven years.”

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Trump said he already decided on his 2024 running mate during a recent Fox News townhall, but did not give any hints as to who that might be. 

Among the other rumored VP picks are Gov. Kristi Noem, R-S.D., Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, and Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y.

MANCHESTER, NEW HAMPSHIRE – Former President Trump’s daughter-in-law Lara Trump on Tuesday said she believes skeptical GOP voters will coalesce around the former president in November and said former Ambassador Nikki Haley’s path to the nomination is essentially “impossible.”

“I think so I don’t see any world in which someone who loves this country, who wants to see this country succeed again, who wants to see people basically return to a time when they could achieve their American dream, I don’t see any of those people ever voting for Joe Biden,” Trump told Fox News Digital in New Hampshire Tuesday when asked if she thinks Republicans who didn’t support Trump in the primary will support him in November.

“We know, of any candidate who has been running in this election for president of the United States, there is only one who has done it successfully, It’s Donald Trump and maybe you don’t like every tweet, maybe you don’t like his personality at times, but he kept us safe,” Trump continued. “He kept us strong. He made people prosperous. He really reinvigorated the American spirit and, man, do we need that now more than ever. I don’t see anyone who really considers himself someone who loves this country ever voting for Joe Biden.”

Lara Trump spoke to Fox News Digital hours before Trump’s record third New Hampshire primary victory and talked about Haley’s chances of winning in South Carolina next month.

TRUMP RAN UP THE SCORE WITH THESE VOTERS IN NEW HAMPSHIRE PRIMARY WIN, FOX NEWS VOTER ANALYSIS REVEALS

“Polling for Nikki Haley does not indicate that she would likely win her home state,” Trump said. “I think you look at New Hampshire, you have Nevada coming up as well, she’s not even registered right now for the caucuses there. That’s the only way you actually earn delegates from the votes there.” 

“So I think the path to victory seems small, if not negligible and impossible for her at this point. Politically, I don’t know that it would be the greatest move for her to stay in this election.“

DONALD TRUMP WINS AGAIN, AS FORMER PRESIDENT QUICKLY BEATS NIKKI HALEY IN NEW HAMPSHIRE GOP PRIMARY

Trump added, “The reality is we have to target our enemy. The enemy is Joe Biden. We have to take back the White House. We want to take back the Senate. We want more folks in the House from the Republican side of the aisle because we really do have a country to save at this point. I don’t think it’s hyperbolic to say that if Joe Biden wins this election in 2024, I don’t believe we will have the same country after another term of Joe Biden as president that we started with when Donald Trump left office.”

If disgruntled Republicans do unite behind former President Trump in November, Lara Trump told Fox News Digital that Biden is handing a victory to Republicans by doing a “masterful” job campaigning for them with his unpopular policies. 

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“That’s not to say that we don’t have our work cut out for us,” Trump said. “We know that we deal majorly with a hostile mainstream media who does not like Donald Trump, certainly, and is always in the pocket of the liberals, who are basically the marketing arm for the Democrat Party at this point. 

“We’re up against a lot and we take nothing for granted so I do think we’re going to have to work. But man, when it comes to Joe Biden, he certainly has served it up to us on a silver platter.”

A Texas mother who went to court to obtain an illegal abortion will attend the State of the Union address in March as a guest of first lady Jill Biden.

President Biden and the first lady spoke to Kate Cox on the phone Sunday as Biden seeks to make abortion rights a signature issue of his re-election effort. Cox, a 31-year-old mother of two, made national headlines after she asked the Texas Supreme Court for permission to obtain an abortion when her unborn child was diagnosed with a fatal condition. She was denied and later left the state to abort her baby elsewhere. 

The Bidens “thanked [Cox] for her courage in sharing her story and speaking out about the impact of the extreme abortion ban in Texas,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters on Wednesday.

“The first lady invited Kate to join her as a guest at the State of the Union and Kate accepted,” she said.

TEXAS SUPREME COURT RULES AGAINST PREGNANT WOMAN HOURS AFTER SHE LEAVES STATE TO OBTAIN ABORTION

The Biden campaign put abortion in the spotlight this week with a “Reproductive Freedom” rally in Virginia to commemorate what would have been the 51st anniversary of the Supreme Court’s Roe v. Wade decision. The court overturned Roe in 2022, ending federal protections for abortion and permitting states to regulate the procedure as lawmakers see fit. 

Since then, 14 states, including Texas, have banned abortion at all stages of pregnancy, with some exceptions, and two others have banned abortion once a fetal heartbeat is detected, which is around six weeks of gestation.

Cox’s baby had a condition known as trisomy 18, which is when a baby has an extra copy of chromosome 18. The diagnosis has a very high likelihood of miscarriage or stillbirth, and a low survival rate. 

Cox’s lawsuit against Texas, which cited doctors, argued that continuing the pregnancy jeopardized both her health and her ability to have more children. 

BIDEN CALLS TRUMP ‘MOST RESPONSIBLE’ FOR ‘STRIPPING AWAY’ ABORTION, VOWS TO VETO ANY NATIONWIDE BAN

Trisomy 18 occurs in approximately 1 in 2,500 diagnosed pregnancies, according to the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine. There is no live birth in about 70% of pregnancies involving the diagnosis that proceeds past 12 weeks gestational age, according to a legal filing that the two groups submitted to the court.

Texas’ abortion ban makes narrow exceptions when the life of the mother is in danger, but not for fetal anomalies. Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton argued that Cox had not shown that any of the complications in her pregnancy rose to the level of threatening her life.

The court battle and Cox’s defeat have become a rallying cry for Democrats nationally, who say Republican-backed abortion restrictions deny women health care and take away their rights. 

At his rally in Manassas, Virginia, on Tuesday, President Biden said former President Trump is “most responsible” for the Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade and blamed his predecessor (and likely general election opponent) for “stripping away” abortion rights.

BIDEN CALLS ON CONGRESS TO RESTORE ROE V. WADE ABORTION PROTECTIONS AS FEDERAL LAW: ‘THIS IS NOT OVER’

The president said women are “being turned away from our emergency rooms, forced to travel hundreds of miles to get basic health care, forced to go to court to plead to help to protect themselves, and the ability to often have children in the future.”

“The cruelty is astounding and it’s a direct affront to a woman’s dignity to be told by extreme politicians and judges to wait to get sicker and sicker before anything can happen, even to the point where, as you heard your life had been determined to be in danger, or the idea that a woman should have to carry a fetus after she’d been raped or the victim of incest,” Biden said. “It’s outrageous.”

“Or the idea a woman receives competent medical advice that the fetus she’s carrying won’t live and will impact on her ability to have children in the future and she still can’t get medical care,” he continued in apparent reference to Cox’s story. “I think it’s unconscionable that anyone thinks that this is where America is going in 2024.”

“Let there be no mistake: the person most responsible for taking away this freedom in America is Donald Trump,” he said. “Trump says he’s proud that he overturned Roe v. Wade.”

The White House said Biden will continue to share the stories of women who have been impacted by abortion restrictions since Roe v. Wade was undone. 

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“It is important for Americans to hear the horror stories that we’re hearing from women of their experiences across the country,” Jean-Pierre told reporters, explaining why Cox was invited to the State of the Union address on March 7, 2024. 

“The Biden-Harris administration is standing with a majority of Americans on this. With a majority of Americans. And Republican elected officials are just not,” she added.

Fox News Digital’s Brooke Singman, Bradford Betz and Danielle Wallace contributed to this report.

President Biden’s newly anointed campaign chair previously had a few choice words about Republicans, calling them a “bunch of fu–ers” while praising Biden’s calls for unity.

Biden’s team announced on Tuesday that Jennifer O’Malley Dillon, Biden’s deputy chief of staff, would pivot from her White House role to his re-election campaign to help steer its operations. The team also said Mike Donilon, a senior White House adviser, would shift to his political arm as its chief strategist. 

O’Malley Dillon was not shy about her thoughts on Republicans during a December 2020 interview with Glamour after coming off her stint as Biden’s campaign manager.

BIDEN’S TOP OUTSIDE GROUP HAULS IN OVER $200M TO AID UPHILL RE-ELECTION FIGHT

“The president-elect was able to connect with people over this sense of unity,” O’Malley Dillon said at the time. “In the primary, people would mock him, like, ‘You think you can work with Republicans?’ I’m not saying they’re not a bunch of f—ers. Mitch McConnell is terrible. But this sense that you couldn’t wish for that, you couldn’t wish for this bipartisan ideal? He rejected that.”

“From start to finish, he set out with this idea that unity was possible, that together we are stronger, that we, as a country, need healing, and our politics needs that too,” she continued.

O’Malley Dillon has also projected extreme views on firearms on social media, previously saying all guns should be taken off the street while responding to a tweet from failed Texas senatorial, gubernatorial and presidential candidate Beto O’Rourke regarding a baby shot in the face.

“My son is 17 months old, which shouldn’t fu–ing matter,” she wrote in September 2019. “But thinking of that baby with shrapnel is his face almost broke me. GET EVERY ONE OF THOSE G–DAMN GUNS OFF OUR STREETS.”

DEMOCRAT LAWMAKERS SOUND THE ALARM OVER BIDEN’S CAMPAIGN: ‘NOT REAL COMFORTABLE’

The announcement comes as former President Trump has firmly positioned himself as the dominant GOP force after his showings in Iowa and New Hampshire.

The moves, however, are unlikely to receive fanfare from Democrat strategists who have been openly critical of Biden’s campaign operations. O’Malley Dillon has overlooked the campaign’s path from D.C. for months, while Donilon has been involved with its strategy, according to the New York Times, which first reported the news and expressed the actions are more formal than anything. 

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“I’m thankful to Mike and Jen both for their service in the White House these last three years, and I am grateful that in rejoining the campaign, they are stepping up one more time to ensure we finish the job for the American people,” Biden told the Times.

Biden’s campaign did not immediately respond to a Fox News Digital request for comment.

MANCHESTER, N.H. – Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel has stayed neutral since the very start of the 2024 GOP presidential nomination race.

While McDaniel and the national party committee are still not taking sides in the 2024 battle between former President Trump and former U.N. ambassador and former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, the RNC chairwoman appears to be sending a signal.

“I’m looking at the math and the path going forward, and I don’t see it for Nikki Haley,” McDaniel told anchors Bret Baier and Martha MacCallum in a Fox News Channel interview late on Tuesday night.

HALEY LIVES TO FIGHT ANOTHER DAY, BUT FACES A ‘CHALLENGING’ ROAD AHEAD

“I think she’s run a great campaign, but I do think there is a message that’s coming out from the voters, which is very clear,” McDaniel emphasized.

She urged that “we need to unite around our eventual nominee, which is going to be Donald Trump, and we need to make sure we beat Joe Biden.”

TRUMP TOPS HALEY IN NEW HAMPSHIRE, BUT DOESN’T DELIVER KNOCKOUT BLOW

McDaniel was interviewed hours after the former president won a second straight double-digit victory, but he did not land a knockout blow in New Hampshire’s Republican presidential primary, as his last remaining major rival in the GOP nomination race vowed to keep on fighting.

“This isn’t the RNC speaking, this isn’t the establishment speaking, this is voters speaking,” McDaniel said.

When asked by MacCallum if she was suggesting that Haley needed to suspend her campaign, McDaniel would only say that Haley and her team needed to “reflect” about the upcoming contests in Nevada and South Carolina and to consider “what’s the most important thing going forward.”

In a speech to supporters Tuesday night in New Hampshire after Trump’s primary victory was quickly projected, Haley said, “You’ve all heard the chatter among the political class. They’re falling all over themselves saying this race is over. Well, I have news for all of them: New Hampshire is first in the nation. It is not last in the nation. This race is far from over.”

Haley now heads back to her home state, which holds the next major contest in the Republican nominating calendar on Feb. 24.

A rally Wednesday night in Charleston, South Carolina, is the first in a series scheduled over the coming days. Additionally, the campaign launched a new $4 million ad blitz in South Carolina on Wednesday.

Trump, in an interview with Fox News Digital’s Brooke Singman, argued that it was time for Haley to suspend her campaign so he could begin targeting President Biden in what is expected to be a general election rematch.  

CLICK HERE FOR THE LATEST RESULTS IN NEW HAMPSHIRE’S PRESIDENTIAL PRIMARY

“She should because, otherwise, we have to keep wasting money instead of spending on Biden,” the former president emphasized. “If she doesn’t drop out, we have to waste money instead of spending it on Biden, which is our focus.” 

Trump’s victory in New Hampshire came eight days after he captured a majority of the vote and crushed the competition in Iowa’s low-turnout Republican presidential caucuses. It came two days after Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis suspended his campaign, making the race a two-candidate contest between Trump and Haley.

New Hampshire – where independent voters who make up roughly 40% of the electorate can vote in either major party’s contest and have long played an influential role in the state’s storied presidential primary – was considered fertile ground for Haley. She spent plenty of time and resources in the state, and secured the influential endorsement of popular Republican Gov. Chris Sununu of New Hampshire.

Pundits viewed New Hampshire’s primary as Haley’s best and possibly last chance to slow down or derail the former president’s march toward renomination.

The former president’s nearly 12-point margin over Haley was below what most of the final public opinion surveys conducted ahead of the primary had suggested.

Sununu pushed back against McDaniel in a “Fox and Friends” interview on Wednesday morning.

“With all due respect to Ronna McDaniel, to say that we’re just going to call it after two states, 40 states to go, the head of the Republican Party saying, we don’t want to hear from the all the other Republicans in the nation because it’s getting too close, that’s nonsense,” the New Hampshire governor emphasized. “You got to let the voters decide, not a bunch of political elites out of D.C.”

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A Republican source said there did not appear to be any conversations between the RNC and Haley’s campaign.

McDaniel, in a Fox News Digital interview on Monday, highlighted the benefits of the GOP nomination race coming to an early conclusion.

“Obviously, it’s helpful from an organizational standpoint, from a fundraising standpoint,” McDaniel said. “The Democrats have the White House. They’re using the power of Joe Biden having the White House to raise a huge amount of money and the sooner we can merge our operations and be focused on him and not on each other is always good for the party.”

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

Americans for Prosperity Action, the political wing of the influential and deep-pocketed fiscally conservative network founded by the billionaire Koch Brothers, admitted that GOP presidential candidate Nikki Haley has a “steeper road ahead” facing former President Trump in South Carolina. 

Reacting after Trump clinched his second straight victory in the New Hampshire primaries Tuesday, Americans for Prosperity Action Senior Advisor Emily Seidel said the results in New Hampshire “show that Nikki Haley is closing the gap and that she is the clear alternative for voters who are ready to close the book on the toxic Biden-Trump political era.”

“This is still an uphill battle. Now all eyes turn to South Carolina, where she has a steeper road ahead,” Seidel said in a statement obtained by Fox News Digital. “For the past several months, we’ve been engaged in races for the U.S. House, U.S. Senate, and presidential levels to prevent a scenario where one party progressive rule comes to Washington, D.C. at a time when our country can least afford it. If Republicans nominate Donald Trump, we risk a repeat of the past three elections and the very real threat of full progressive control increases dramatically.”

Seidal went on to say of Trump, “This is why Joe Biden and the Democrats want him to be the nominee. The stakes for our country simply couldn’t be higher.”

RAMASWAMY: ‘SINISTER FORCES AT PLAY’ IF HALEY DOESN’T DROP OUT OF PRESIDENTIAL RACE: ‘THAT GETS UGLY’

“Our teams will continue talking to South Carolina voters in support of Nikki Haley. We are laser focused on electing the candidates who can be the firewall preventing one party progressive rule of the federal government. We have three ways to win the Senate, the House, and the presidential primary. Through our multi-pronged effort we are prepared to get this done. I’m proud of our activists’ ongoing efforts. Despite challenging conditions, their support shows that AFP Action consistently takes principled and tough action when our country needs it most.” 

A conservative group with powerful grassroots outreach, Americans for Prosperity Action endorsed Haley in November and pledged to spend tens of millions of dollars to help push the GOP past Trump. 

After knocking out most of the field with a commanding win in Iowa, Trump achieved another victory in New Hampshire, but Haley still vows to stay in the race. She is set to campaign in the U.S. Virgin Islands and in South Carolina on Wednesday as the race for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination moves beyond the first two voting states.

HALEY LIVES TO FIGHT ANOTHER DAY AGAINST TRUMP, BUT FACES ‘CHALLENGING ROAD’ AHEAD IN GOP PRESIDENTIAL RACE

Trump flew back to Florida on Tuesday night after a strong performance in New Hampshire. It was his third straight New Hampshire primary victory, tying a record previously held by Richard Nixon, who won the event in 1960, 1968 and 1972. Trump is the first presidential candidate to win three consecutive New Hampshire primaries.

The next primary is scheduled for Feb. 3 in South Carolina on the Democratic side, while the South Carolina Republican primary is Feb. 24. 

Despite Haley previously serving as South Carolina’s governor, the current governor, a slew of statewide officials and four out of the six Republican U.S. House members from the Palmetto State are backing Trump, as well as both the state’s U.S. senators, Sen. Lindsey Graham and former GOP presidential rival Sen. Tim Scott. 

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President Biden, who also won his respective primary in New Hampshire, said it was “now clear” Trump would be the Republican nominee and that the “stakes could not be higher.” 

Fox News’ Paul Steinhauser and The Associated Press contributed to this report. 

MANCHESTER, N.H. – Donald Trump won again.

But the former president didn’t land a knockout blow in New Hampshire’s Republican presidential primary, as his last remaining major rival in the GOP nomination race vowed to keep on fighting.

“You’ve all heard the chatter among the political class. They’re falling all over themselves saying this race is over. Well, I have news for all of them: New Hampshire is first in the nation. It is not last in the nation. This race is far from over,” Nikki Haley stressed, as she spoke to supporters after the New Hampshire race was quickly called for Trump.

The former two-term South Carolina governor who later served as U.N. ambassador in the Trump administration now heads back to her home state, which on Feb. 24 holds the next major contest in the Republican nominating calendar.

TRUMP TOPS HALEY IN NEW HAMPSHIRE, BUT DOESN’T DELIVER KNOCKOUT BLOW

A rally Wednesday night in Charleston is the first in a series scheduled over the coming days. And the campaign said they’re launching a new $4 million ad blitz in South Carolina this week.

Trump, in an interview with Fox News Digital’s Brooke Singman, argued that it was time for Haley to suspend her campaign, so he could begin targeting President Biden in what’s expected to be a general election rematch.  

CLICK HERE FOR THE LATEST RESULTS IN NEW HAMPSHIRE’S PRESIDENTIAL PRIMARY

“She should because, otherwise, we have to keep wasting money instead of spending on Biden,” the former president emphasized. “If she doesn’t drop out, we have to waste money instead of spending it on Biden, which is our focus.” 

Trump’s victory in New Hampshire came eight days after he captured a majority of the vote and crushed the competition in Iowa’s low-turnout Republican presidential caucuses. And it came two days after Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis suspended his campaign, making the race a two-candidate contest between Trump and Haley.

New Hampshire – where independent voters who make up roughly 40% of the electorate can vote in either major party’s contest and have long played an influential role in the state’s storied presidential primary – was considered fertile ground for Haley. And Haley spent plenty of time and resources in the state, and secured the influential endorsement of popular Republican Gov. Chris Sununu of New Hampshire.

Pundits viewed New Hampshire’s primary as Haley’s best and possibly last chance to slow down or derail the former president’s march towards renomination.

And the former president’s nearly twelve point margin over Haley was below what most of the final public opinion surveys conducted ahead of the primary had suggested.

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Trump, who praised his opponents in his victory speech in Iowa a week ago, set a very different tone in his New Hampshire address.

He argued that Haley “ran up to the stage all dressed up nicely” and delivered “a speech like she won. She didn’t’ win. She lost.”

“Let’s not have somebody take a victory when she had a very bad night. She had a very bad night,” Trump emphasized.

But seasoned Republican strategist Colin Reed emphasized that Haley “was wise to get out there quickly and make it clear that this race was going to continue and end that narrative in its tracks before it got any traction.”

“Now she’s got to sharpen her message… she’s got a month to make her case,” noted Reed, who is once again neutral in the GOP nomination after helping to steer a super PAC that was supporting former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie’s  unsuccessful 2024 campaign.

A source in Haley’s political orbit, speaking to Fox News, argued that there are “now two states where Trump got barely half the vote. That’s incredibly weak for an incumbent.”

And Haley, in her speech, spotlighted that “we still have ways to go, but we still keep moving up.”

Haley’s campaign told Fox News Digital on Tuesday morning that they hauled in $1.5 million in fundraising since DeSantis dropped out of the race. And they noted that they’re planning major fundraisers in the days ahead.

Longtime New Hampshire-based Republican consultant Jim Merrill said that “the reality is Haley overperformed expectations.”

“Donald Trump wanted a narrative out of New Hampshire that this race was over. And New Hampshire didn’t give it to him,” Merrill, a veteran of numerous GOP presidential campaigns, noted.

Merrill, who remains neutral in the 2024 GOP nomination race, said that “it’s a challenging road for Haley that lays ahead, but I think she’s earned the right to make that journey.”

But Mike Dennehy, another longtime New Hampshire-based GOP strategist, hinted that the end of the Republican race appeared near, as he pointed towards the exit polls.

“The bottom line is she only won 25% of registered Republicans. There is no good news coming out of New Hampshire for her.”

And Mike Biundo, a New Hampshire-based Republican consultant who is neutral again after heading up a super PAC that was backing Vivek Ramaswamy’s unsucessful White House campaign, told Fox News that “Last night was Nikk’s best and only opportunity to make a lasting impact on this race.”

Pointing to a “potential humiliating loss in her home state just 30 days away,” Biundo argued “there is no secure landing for her campaign. If I were advising her, I would suggest making a strong case that it’s time for her to save herself for 2028 and beyond and to back Trump before it’s too late for her career.”

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

An attempt to state that Georgia’s appointed State Election Board has the legal power to investigate Republican Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger’s handling of elections blossomed into a constitutional showdown Tuesday, with a lawyer for Raffensperger saying board members can’t legally oversee him.

“There is no precedent for an unelected board of political appointees to have oversight over members of the executive branch,” wrote Charlene McGowan, Raffensperger’s general counsel. “Giving a board of unelected bureaucrats unchecked power over the state’s executive branch is a dangerous policy proposal.”

But the Senate Ethics Committee disagreed, voting to advance Senate Bill 358. The proposal would remove Raffensperger from his nonvoting post on the board, allow the board to hire election investigators instead of solely relying on those working for Raffensperger and clearly give the board power to investigate the secretary of state.

TRUMP GA PROSECUTOR IN RELATIONSHIP WITH DA BLASTED FOR ‘INADEQUATE’ INFO ON DRUG, ALCOHOL USE: DIVORCE DOCS

“We’re looking to empower the State Election Board so that they can have oversight responsibility and that there’s no confusion about where that oversight responsibility is vested,” said Ethics Committee Chairman Max Burns, a Sylvania Republican.

It’s only part of a push by Republican lawmakers for changes in how elections are run in Georgia.

Raffensperger’s steadfast defense of Georgia’s 2020 election, which Democratic President Joe Biden narrowly won, and his rejection of a call by Donald Trump to “find” more Republican votes made him a national figure. But Raffensperger is also a pariah among many Republican activists, who continue pushing Trump’s false claims that Georgia’s 2020 results were marred by fraud and that Trump was the rightful winner. And those activists continue to exert pressure on Republican Georgia lawmakers, who face election this year.

Activists have been pushing the State Election Board to investigate whether Raffensperger mishandled his audit of Fulton County’s 2020 results, motivated by unproven claims of fraud. The board deadlocked 2-2 in December on whether it had such authority, and two board members asked lawmakers to clarify the law.

A lawyer who works for the legislature told committee members Tuesday it’s “an open question under Georgia constitutional law” whether the State Election Board can regulate the secretary of state, but said the measure wouldn’t affect Raffensperger’s duties as outlined in the constitution. Supporters said they can go forward because most of Raffensperger’s election responsibilities are outlined in state law, not the Georgia Constitution.

“They’re all in general law that the Georgia General Assembly has passed over the course of time in our state history,” said Senate Majority Leader Steve Gooch, a Dahlonega Republican. “So we can change them, amend them in any way we want, through the legislative process.”

McGowan warned that lawmakers are aiding people who want to overturn legitimate election results and could empower the board to obstruct certification of Georgia’s 2024 presidential results.

“In fact, this proposal is being pushed by a small group of activists who continue to seek de-certification of the 2020 presidential election results, with the apparent intent of giving the State Election Board the ability to interfere with or even prevent the secretary from certifying the results of the 2024 presidential election,” McGowan wrote.

Lawmakers also want Raffensperger to remove computer codes used to count most Georgia ballots, to move more quickly to patch voting machine software vulnerabilities, and include more ballot security features.

Neither Raffensperger nor any of his staff appeared during the Tuesday Senate committee meeting, a contrast with testimony Raffensperger deputy Gabriel Sterling gave to a House Governmental Affairs subcommittee Tuesday on other bills.

Sterling said Raffensperger supports a bill to stamp ballots with a watermark to ensure voters know they aren’t forged. He also voiced support for a measure proposing more and stricter after-election audits to guarantee machines count ballots correctly. And Governmental Affairs Chairman John LaHood, a Valdosta Republican, agreed to amend a bill calling for high-resolution scans of ballots to be released for public inspection after Sterling said current scanners only produce lower-resolution images.

LaHood has also proposed a bill backed by Republican House Speaker Jon Burns that would mandate Georgia stop using QR codes to count ballots by July 1. Opponents say voters can’t be sure the computer codes match the choices printed on their ballots.

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“Every one of our committee members said their citizens do not trust the QR code. So let’s go ahead and get rid of it,” Sen Brandon Beach, an Alpharetta Republican, said recently.

Raffensperger told lawmakers last week that he supports a move to scan “human readable text,” the names printed on ballots, to count votes. But he said it was impossible to make such a change before the November presidential election.

Eliminating QR codes would cost $15 million to buy more than 32,000 ballot printers statewide, Raffensperger’s office has estimated.

The House subcommittee didn’t hear testimony Tuesday on the bill to ban QR codes. LaHood said afterwards he was hopeful Raffensperger’s office might propose a new solution using optical character recognition software.

Former President Trump Georgia prosecutor Nathan Wade, who is allegedly in a relationship with Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, was slammed by his wife’s lawyers in new divorce documents for giving “inadequate” answers about his alcohol, drug and medication use.

Wade has been involved in a contentious split from Joycelyn Wade, his wife of 26 years, since filing for divorce in 2021. He had filed papers for divorce the day after Willis appointed him special prosecutor in the Trump election interference investigation. Willis has recently come under fire for her alleged secret relationship with Wade.

But despite seeking an end to his marriage, Mr. Wade has repeatedly failed to answer basic questions and provide documentation asked for by his wife, whose lawyers claimed in court papers that Mr. Wade gave information that was “so woefully inadequate so as to be useless.”

The court papers from February 2023 were unsealed by a judge on Monday.

GEORGIA SENATE REPUBLICANS CONSIDER SPECIAL PANEL TO INVESTIGATE FANI WILLIS MISCONDUCT ALLEGATIONS

Mrs. Wade asked her estranged husband to provide information about his alcohol usage, the brands of alcohol he drank and if he ever drove within an hour of drinking. He replied, “Red wine once a week at home with dinner,” according to the court filing.

When asked whether he used any legal or illegal drugs, Mr. Wade said, “no illegal drug use ever,” an answer Mrs. Wade’s lawyers say failed “to address any legal or prescription drug use at all.”

Her lawyers said Mr. Wade revealed he had taken pain medications and antibiotics after a surgery in April 2020 but did not disclose “which medications, the duration of the prescription, the dosage, the prescribing authority, nor whether he took the drug as prescribed.”

Mr. Wade is not accused in the court filings of abusing drugs or alcohol.

JUDGE IN TRUMP PROSECUTOR’S DIVORCE CASE CUTS OF DA FANI WILLIS LAWYER DURING HEARING: ‘LET ME INTERRUPT YOU’

The prosecutor’s wife had first requested answers to questions about his drug and alcohol use and his finances in November 2021, so she could negotiate a fair divorce settlement. But her lawyers say in court papers that Mr. Wade has since repeatedly failed to cooperate by refusing to disclose basic information.

In August, Mr. Wade faced a civil contempt order for not complying with a judge’s order to hand over discovery to his wife’s lawyers, court papers show.

The lawyers filed another motion in September arguing he was avoiding turning over financial records. He had claimed to have received more than half a million dollars working on the Trump investigation without having produced “one single document evidencing this income.”

Mr. Wade “has knowingly obfuscated this civil litigation to his own ends,” his wife’s lawyers said. “Furthermore, while earning such substantial sums, [Mr. Wade] has provided nearly nothing to [Mrs. Wade] for her support and survival as her own bank account is often in overdraft.”

His wife’s lawyers served Willis with a subpoena for her to be deposed in the divorce case amid allegations of him having a relationship with the district attorney. But a judge on Monday put that deposition on hold at least until he can hear from Wade, who has also not been deposed.

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Superior Court Judge Henry Thompson also unsealed the divorce case on Monday over the recent rise in interest because of the misconduct allegations against Mr. Wade and Willis.

Additionally, Thompson ruled Monday that Mrs. Wade has the right to uncover any alleged affair by her husband.

Willis’ lawyer argued she should not be deposed in the divorce case because it is about dividing marital assets that she “has nothing to do with” and that any alleged affair is irrelevant in the case.

Mrs. Wade’s lawyer, however, told the judge Monday, “I want to know how [Mr. Wade] has been spending his money. I have reason to believe he is spending it on another woman and that’s my client’s money.”