NationalWatch

Former President Trump’s stop in the blue bastion of San Francisco turned out to be fruitful in more than one way.

Not only did the presumptive Republican presidential nominee haul in roughly $12 million at a fundraiser on Thursday evening, he also officially landed the endorsement of a major tech investor.

The fundraiser was hosted by David Sacks and Chamath Palihapitiya, two of the heaviest hitters in Silicon Valley and co-hosts of the hot “All-In” podcast.

And it was held at Sacks’ multimillion-dollar home in the tony Pacific Heights neighborhood of San Francisco.

TRUMP HEADS TO BLUE BASTION TO RAISE CAMPAIGN CASH

Tickets at the sold-out event ranged from $50,000 per person to get in the door all the way up to $500,000 per couple for special access and a photo with Trump.

A couple of hours before the fundraiser, Sacks took to social media to formally endorse Trump.

“I give to many, but endorse few. But today I am giving my endorsement to our 45th President, Donald J. Trump, to be our 47th President. My reasons rest on four main issues that I think are vital to American prosperity, security, and stability – issues where the Biden administration has veered badly off course and where I believe President Trump can lead us back,” Sacks wrote on X.

THIS IS HOW MUCH A TOP PRO-TRUMP SUPER PAC HAULED IN LAST MONTH

Sacks said that “the voters have experienced four years of President Trump and four years of President Biden. In tech, we call this an A/B test.”

“With respect to economic policy, foreign policy, border policy, and legal fairness, Trump performed better. He is the President who deserves a second term,” he argued.

According to sources familiar with the fundraising dinner on Thursday, Sacks reiterated his praise for Trump and explained why he’s supporting the presumptive GOP nominee in his 2024 election rematch with President Biden.

While his official endorsement came on Thursday, Sacks first signaled his support for Trump during a March meeting that he had with Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, and Donald Trump Jr., the former president’s eldest son, in Washington, D.C.

The impromptu meeting at the Conrad Hotel, held hours after Trump clinched the 2024 GOP presidential nomination, was first reported by The New York Times and confirmed by Fox News. It was at that meeting that Sacks indicated he was all-in for Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign.

TRUMP GUILTY VERDICT IN CRIMINAL TRIAL FIRES UP HIS FUNDRAISING 

Vance, who is a Trump ally and a potential 2024 running mate who is close to Trump Jr., spent time a few years back in the San Francisco area working for hedge funds in the tech sector. Sources say he was instrumental in putting the top-dollar fundraiser together.

According to sources, Sacks said at the fundraiser that “this all started with JD Vance calling and asking if we could host an event for President Trump. Without JD’s advice and encouragement, this would never have happened.”

Trump heads south to Beverly Hills for a Friday fundraiser and a Saturday finance event in Newport Beach in Orange County.

President Donald Trump speaks at a campaign rally at HoverTech International, Monday, Oct. 26, 2020, in Allentown, Pa. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon) (AP)

The trip doesn’t mean the Trump campaign thinks overwhelmingly blue California may be in play. 

Instead, Trump’s appearances — like those of two sold-out fundraisers in the Bay Area on Wednesday headlined by Vice President Harris and President Biden’s San Francisco area fundraisers last month — are the latest proof that the Golden State remains a crucial ATM for campaign cash.

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Trump’s campaign on Monday said it and the Republican National Committee (RNC), fueled in part by the former president’s guilty verdicts in his criminal trial, hauled in a stunning $141 million in fundraising in May.

Trump was found guilty of all 34 felony counts in the first trial of a former or current president in the nation’s history.

The former president’s campaign highlighted that in the first 24 hours following last week’s verdict, it and the RNC brought in nearly $53 million in fundraising, which counted toward May’s total. 

President Biden speaks during a campaign event in Philadelphia on May 29. (Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images)

The Biden campaign has also been fundraising off of the Trump verdict, and a source familiar told Fox News that “the 24 hours after the verdict were one of the best fundraising 24 hours of the Biden campaign since launch.”

Trump has been aiming to close his fundraising gap with Biden. In April, his campaign and the RNC for the first time outraised the Biden campaign and the Democratic National Committee. 

Fundraising, along with public opinion polling, is a key metric used to measure the strength of candidates and their campaigns. Money raised can be used to build up grassroots outreach and get-out-the-vote operations, staffing, travel and ads, among other things.

Fox News’ Chris Pandolfo contributed to this report

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

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., clarified his choice to join House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., in extending an invitation to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu after the move prompted backlash by progressive Democrats.

“I have clear and profound disagreements with the Prime Minister, which I have voiced both privately and publicly and will continue to do so,” Schumer prefaced in a statement late Thursday night.

“But because America’s relationship with Israel is ironclad and transcends one person or prime minister, I joined the request for him to speak,” he said.

BIDEN ADMIN ACCUSED OF PLAYING POLITICS WITH FLORIDA FUNDING IN PRO-UNION PUSH

Schumer clarified his decision to join the invitation to Netanyahu to address Congress after progressives expressed displeasure.  (Getty Images)

The majority leader’s statement came on the heels of a date being announced for Netanyahu’s joint address to Congress. The Israeli leader will deliver remarks to the lawmakers on July 24, ahead of the August recess. 

The invitation was accepted by Netanyahu, who said, “I am very moved to have the privilege of representing Israel before both Houses of Congress and to present the truth about our just war against those who seek to destroy us to the representatives of the American people and the entire world.”

TRUMP VP CONTENDER LEADS GOP EFFORT TO REACH BLACK VOTERS AS BIDEN LOSES GRIP

Schumer signed the invitation alongside bipartisan leaders in both chambers.  (Getty Images)

Prior to Schumer’s clarifying statement, progressive lawmakers made their disapproval known, with some revealing their plans not to attend Netanyahu’s address. 

“It is a very sad day for our country that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been invited – by leaders from both parties – to address a joint meeting of the United States Congress,” Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., said in a recent statement, also slamming Netanyahu as a “war criminal.”

OBAMA STRESSES CRITICAL DEM SENATE MAJORITY FOR APPOINTING PREFERRED JUDGES

Sen. Bernie Sanders, right, said he won’t attend Benjamin Netanyahu’s, left, joint address to Congress. (Getty Images)

The International Criminal Court (ICC) requested warrants last month for both Hamas and Israeli leaders, including Netanyahu. The body suggested that all parties had committed “war crimes.” The ICC decision has been widely criticized by Democrats and Republicans, including President Biden. 

Sanders said he would not be attending the address. 

MCCONNELL TAKES AIM AT ‘ISOLATIONIST’ COLLEAGUES IN SCATHING D-DAY ESSAY

AOC, left, said she might not attend the remarks. (Left: Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images; Right: Photo by ABIR SULTAN/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)

“I don’t plan to attend, and I will plan to participate in whatever advocacy is being done to push for Netanyahu and Hamas to agree to a ceasefire,” Rep. Greg Casar, D-Texas, told Fox News Digital.

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., suggested she may not go either, recently saying, “I certainly do not approve of it, potentially may not attend.”

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Schumer’s office did not provide comment when asked whether his statement was a direct response to displeased progressives.

The majority leader called on Israel to hold new elections earlier this year, specifically urging the country to replace Netanyahu as its prime minister. At the time, Schumer claimed the Israeli leader had “lost his way by allowing his political survival to take precedence over the best interests of Israel.” 

Fox News Digital’s Elizabeth Elkind contributed to this report. 

President Biden’s Cabinet members circled the wagons in response to an alarming Wall Street Journal article portraying Biden as mentally “slipping.” 

The piece, which ran Tuesday, included examples of gaffes and instances of low energy during private meetings. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm was direct, telling Fox News Digital, “The article was BS.”

“The president is utterly on his game,” she added. “He is the wisest, most knowledgeable person in the room.  He asks the toughest questions and has the keenest insights on the complex questions brought to him. He is sharp, thoughtful and wise.”

Fox News Digital contacted every member of the cabinet and many were quick to respond for this article.

Earlier this year, a report from Biden’s own Department of Justice’s special counsel called him an “elderly man with a poor memory” at the end of an investigation into his mishandling of classified documents dating back to his Senate tenure, which ultimately saved him from having charges brought against him by Special Counsel Robert Hur.

At 81, Biden is the oldest sitting president, and his critics say his age has caught up with him cognitively. If he is re-elected in November, he will be 86 when his second term ends.

TRUMP RIPS BIDEN AS ‘INCOMPETENT TO STAND TRIAL’ IN DOCUMENT PROBE: DON’T WANT ‘THAT KIND OF EXONERATION’

Biden has been prone to gaffes going back to when he was vice president, but the frequency and nature of his verbal missteps in recent years appear to be more significant. 

In May, Biden seemed to have a break with reality when he confused the timing of the COVID pandemic by a factor of years when he said, “And when I was vice president, things were kind of bad during the pandemic, and, what happened was Barack said to me: ‘Go to Detroit — and help fix it.’” The pandemic happened years after Biden’s time as vice president.

The president has, on several occasions, referenced dead people as being alive. In 2022, at a White House event, Biden called out former Rep. Jackie Walorski during a speech, “Jackie, are you here? Where’s Jackie?” Walorski had died in a car crash the previous month.

At a campaign rally in February, Biden told the audience, “Right after I was elected, I went to a G7 meeting in southern England. And I sat down and said, ‘America is back!’ and Mitterand from Germany — I mean France — looked at me and said, ‘How long you back for?'” Mitterand was president from 1981 to 1995 and died in 1996.

In 2021, Biden claimed he had spoken with the late German Chancellor Helmut Kohl, who had died in 2017, while recalling past conversations during fundraising events.  

Late Tuesday night, the Wall Street Journal published a report detailing instances in which the president has demonstrated a lack of clarity in private meetings with staff and members of Congress.

Many of those who work most closely with the president are coming forward to say the Wall Street Journal got it all wrong.

‘NATIONAL SECURITY ISSUE’: EX-WH DOCTOR RAISES ALARMS ON BIDEN’S MENTAL HEALTH AFTER BOMBSHELL REPORT

President Biden, second from right, holds a meeting with his cabinet in Washington, D.C., January 5. (Bill O’Leary/The Washington Post via Getty Images)

Officials at the highest levels of government echoed Granholm’s sentiment, like Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

“I’ve worked for President Biden for 22 years,” Blinken told Fox News Digital. “Now as then — in strategy discussions and in meetings with foreign leaders — his depth of knowledge, fluency with policy and politics and ability to cut to the chase and argue his case are exceptional. He’s invariably one step ahead of us.”

BIDEN’S STATE OF THE UNION SPEECH REINFORCED MENTAL ACUITY AND AGE CONCERNS, REPUBLICANS SAY

Attorney General Merrick Garland vouched for the president’s mental acuity on domestic issues.

“I have complete confidence in the president,” Garland said. “As a member of the president’s Cabinet and the National Security Council, I have consistently seen firsthand his ability to navigate issues of extraordinary complexity that are of the utmost importance to our national security.

“I have also seen him tackle domestic policy issues, clearly and decisively guiding us through complicated questions to reach results that benefit the American people.”

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen also objected to the assertion that the president is in a state of mental decline, telling Fox News Digital in a statement, “Both in Washington and in meetings with world leaders around the globe — including during strenuous negotiations with President Xi — I’ve always seen President Biden to be extremely well-informed, in command of the facts and very effective in advancing American interests.”

President Biden arrives with U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland, right, during a Medal of Valor ceremony in the East Room of the White House in Washington, D.C., May 17, 2023. (Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas pushed back on the narrative, too. 

“I strongly disagree with the characterization in the story,” Mayorkas said. “I come fully prepared for my meetings with President Biden, knowing his questions will be detail-oriented, probing and exacting. In our exchanges, the president always draws upon our prior conversations and past events in analyzing the issues and reaching his conclusions.” 

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin concurred with Mayorka’s assessment, saying, “As someone who has watched President Biden make tough national security decisions and seen his commitment to keeping our troops safe, I have nothing but total confidence in our commander-in-chief.”

Gina Raimondo, the former Rhode Island governor and current commerce secretary, came out in full support of her boss, saying, “I’ve spent countless hours with President Biden, discussing everything from our strategic competition with China to the technical aspects of the CHIPS for America program, and in every conversation he’s been sharp, focused and insightful. I could not disagree more with the false portrayal of the president in that article. There is nobody I’d rather have leading our country today.”

FOREIGN OUTLETS PULL NO PUNCHES OVER BIDEN ‘CONFUSION’ AND ‘RAGE’ AFTER SURPRISE PRESS CONFERENCE

President Biden speaks as Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo, Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg and Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas listen during a cabinet meeting in the Cabinet Room of the White House November 12, 2021, in Washington, D.C. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

VA Secretary Denis McDonough also came to Biden’s defense.

“President Biden is not only as sharp and incisive as ever, he’s holding VA accountable every day — he’s holding me accountable every day — to deliver for veterans,” McDonough said, “That article is completely inconsistent with the man I’ve been serving for 12 years.” 

Education Secretary Miguel Cardona said in a statement, “I have been in dozens of personal and larger meetings with President Biden, and I always note that his ability to simultaneously handle difficult issues is astounding.

“President Biden has always had a depth of understanding of policies at every level and always remembers to bring the policies back to how they are helping the American people.”

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Former President Trump and President Biden.  (Associated Press )

It is not surprising that President Biden’s most senior advisers are countering the narrative that the president’s mental acuity may be waning. But the talk of his decline started well before The Wall Street Journal article. Former President Trump and his supporters have sustained a long attack on Biden’s cognitive state. Trump has referred to his opponent as “Sleepy Joe” since 2019.

Those attacks may have been effective in shaping public opinion. According to a Pew Research poll released in late April, just 21% of respondents are extremely or very confident in Biden’s mental fitness to act as president, with 16% somewhat confident and 62% having little or no confidence.

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

FIRST ON FOX: The Democrat running in what could be one of this year’s top Senate races is being accused of “pandering” to Black voters with taxpayer-funded reparations.

The conservative Win it Back PAC announced Friday its launch of a new ad, part of a massive seven-figure media buy, targeting Rep. Colin Allred, the Democratic nominee for Senate in Texas, specifically calling him out for what it says are his ties to the movement for reparations for Black Americans.

The ad will begin running Friday in the El Paso media market amid the Texas Democratic Convention, which is taking place in the city and will target Hispanic voters, a group research shows is largely opposed to reparations. The ad will run in both English and Spanish.

FOLLOWING TRUMP’S GUILTY VERDICT, FIRST SWING STATE POLL REVEALS HOW IT IMPACTS VOTERS’ DECISIONS

Rep. Colin Allred, D-Texas, arrives at the U.S. Capitol for the last votes of the week on Thursday, April 20, 2023. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)

“My grandparents came in the sixties in search of the American Dream. They were farmworkers. My grandma would always say, ‘con tanto sacrificio,’” a Hispanic woman named Sonia says in the ad, citing a Spanish phrase meaning “with much sacrifice.”

“Like, nobody gave me this, and nobody is going to take it away. Colin Allred would take our tax dollars to pay for reparations. I’m not okay with it — to take away from one group to pander to another group. I grew up poor, and I’ve worked really hard, and I don’t feel like it’s fair for me to have to pay for that. It’s all pandering. Collin Allred is not fighting for us,” she adds.

A majority of Hispanic voters (58%) say they do not support repaying the descendants of slaves in America with cash or land, according to a 2022 study published by the Pew Research Center.

TRUMP ENDORSEMENT TAKES CENTER STAGE IN BRUTAL SWING STATE PRIMARY AS ACCUSATIONS OF ‘DISLOYALTY’ FLY

Democrat Texas Rep. Colin Allred (left) and Republican Texas Sen. Ted Cruz (right). (Getty Images)

Fox News Digital has reached out to Allred’s campaign to ask for his position on reparations, as well as his response to the ad.

Allred has served in groups with pro-reparations positions, including as Vice Chair on the Board of the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation, as well as being a member of the Congressional Black Caucus.

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What little polling has been done on the race suggests that Allred trails incumbent Texas Sen. Ted Cruz in the November general election and has a lot of ground to make up in the traditionally Republican-leaning state.

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

The first full day after the announcement of President Biden’s executive order restricting asylum for most illegal immigrants appeared to have no immediate impact on the massive number of migrants coming across the southern border.

Customs and Border Protection (CBP) sources tell Fox News that Border Patrol apprehended about 4,000 illegal immigrants between ports of entry at the southern border on Wednesday. That is about on par or a little bit higher than what the averages have been in recent weeks, which is usually in the mid to high 3,000s or around 4,000.

Overall, there were roughly 5,600 CBP encounters on Wednesday, which includes the 4,000 illegal crossings and CBP One App releases at ports of entry.

‘IT IS INSULTING’: BIDEN BORDER ORDER TAKES HEAT FROM DEMOCRATS AND REPUBLICANS

Migrants line up at the southern border in San Diego on June 6, 2024.

On top of that, data show that more than 1,000 illegal immigrants were released into the U.S. yesterday in the San Diego sector alone, meaning that the practice of “catch and release” is continuing.

Biden announced the order on Tuesday and said he was “moving past Republican obstruction and using executive authorities available to me as president to do what I can on my own to address the border.”

The presidential proclamation will temporarily suspend the entry of migrants across the southern border once the number of average border encounters exceeds 2,500 a day over seven days, officials said. It is accompanied by a rule from DHS and DOJ that will increase standards for asylum.

However, the rule comes with a series of significant exceptions. In addition to not applying to legal immigrants, it also does not apply to unaccompanied children or to those judged to be “victims of severe forms of trafficking.” It also doesn’t apply to those who schedule an appointment on the CBP One app at a port of entry, where about 1,500 enter each day.

There is also an exception for those who are allowed to enter “based on the totality of the circumstances, including consideration of significant law enforcement, officer and public safety, urgent humanitarian, and public health interests that warrant permitting the noncitizen to enter.”

BIDEN ORDER TO BLOCK MOST ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS WHEN CROSSINGS SURGE AS ELECTION NEARS

President Biden talks about his executive order limiting asylum during remarks at the White House on June 4, 2024. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)

Meanwhile, internal DHS guidance obtained by Fox News Digital shows that officials will be restricting the time migrants can see a lawyer to four hours from 24 and will not ask migrants individually if they wish to request an asylum screening. Forms of the guidance have gone out to CBP, Immigration and Customs Enforcement and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS.)

However, agents have been told to look out for behavior that may indicate fear of being returned to their home country, including “non-verbal” actions including shaking, unusual behavior and an “unusual level of silence.”

Agents have been told to post signs in detention centers and run accompanying videos telling migrants about their ability to be referred to an asylum officer.

Democrats have slammed the move as a return to Trump-era policies.

CLICK HERE FOR MORE COVERAGE OF THE BORDER SECURITY CRISIS

“This attempt to shut down the border to asylum seekers uses the same section of U.S. immigration laws that convicted felon Donald Trump used to implement the Muslim Ban and in attempts to cut off all access to asylum,” Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., said in a statement. “While there are some differences from Trump’s actions, the reality is that this utilizes the same failed enforcement-only approach, penalizes asylum seekers, and furthers a false narrative that these actions will ‘fix’ the border.” 

Republicans said the move was too little, too late, and conservative critics pointed to the new ICE guidance as proof it lacked teeth.

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“It’s bad enough that smugglers and taxpayer-funded NGOs coach illegal aliens on how to get released into the country, but now CBP and ICE are being instructed to coach them, too,” Lora Ries, head of the Heritage Foundation’s Border Security and Immigration Center, told Fox News Digital. “Biden has defrauded the American people and our entire immigration system.”

The Arizona House of Representatives approved a bill Wednesday that will allow voters to decide on the fate of the state’s border security.

Patterned after a Texas law, HCR 2060, titled the Secure the Border Act, passed the state House on a party-line vote, with Republicans holding a slim one-vote majority in the chamber.

The bill, which already passed through the Senate, would make it a crime to enter Arizona illegally and would allow local law enforcement to enforce federal immigration laws while also allowing state judges to deport people convicted of breaking the new law.

SWING STATE GOP LOOKS TO GO AROUND DEM GOVERNOR, PUT TEXAS-STYLE BORDER BILL BEFORE VOTERS

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

“Nothing good comes from open borders,” Arizona House Speaker Ben Toma said in a statement to the New York Post. “Only crime, deadly drugs, violence, unsafe communities, and an unending financial drain on American taxpayers. Yet, Democrat leaders fiercely oppose doing anything about it.”

Arizona Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs vetoed similar legislation earlier this year and has signaled opposition to the new effort, though this time the Republican bill will bypass the governor and be put in front of voters in November for approval.

“On the contrary, it will be harmful for businesses and communities in our state and a burden for law enforcement personnel,” Hobbs said in a statement about the legislation. “I know there’s frustration about the federal government’s failure to secure our border, but this bill is not the solution.”

BORDER STATE GOP PUSHES TO DEFY WHITE HOUSE, ADOPT TX-STYLE IMMIGRATION LAW

But Arizona Senate President Warren Petersen has argued the bill, which was modeled after Texas’ controversial SB 4 legislation, is the right solution to secure the state’s border while also noting that it is not similar to an Arizona law known as SB 1070 that was partially struck down by the Supreme Court.

“This is not SB 1070,” Petersen told Fox News Digital last month as the bill made its way through the state’s Senate. “We’re truly just dealing with the border… this is truly a border security bill. It’s not an immigration bill.”

Immigrants walk along the U.S.-Mexico border barrier on their way to await processing by the Border Patrol on Dec. 30, 2022 in Yuma, Arizona. (Qian Weizhong/VCG via Getty Images)

The new Arizona effort will now be put to voters on the same ballot they will decide between former President Trump and President Biden in this year’s election. 

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Arizona, a critical swing state narrowly won by Biden in 2020, promises to be close again. According to the Real Clear Politics polling average in the state, Trump currently holds a four-point lead over Biden.

President Biden on Tuesday introduced executive actions to limit asylum claims at the southern border, but emerging details of the move show that the block contains significant exceptions that critics say you can “drive a truck through.”

“Today, I’m moving past Republican obstruction and using executive authorities available to me as president to do what I can on my own to address the border,” Biden said in a speech on Tuesday afternoon.

The presidential proclamation will temporarily suspend the entry of migrants across the southern border once the number of average border encounters exceeds 2,500 a day over seven days, officials said.

‘IT IS INSULTING’: BIDEN BORDER ORDER TAKES HEAT FROM DEMOCRATS AND REPUBLICANS

Migrants at the front of the line are processed for entry by U.S. Customs and Border Protection. (Jon Michael Raasch/Fox News Digital)

That will stay in effect until 14 days after there has been a seven-day average of less than 1,500 encounters along the border. It is accompanied by an interim final rule from the departments of Homeland Security and Justice. That rule will also apply a higher standard migrants must meet for initial asylum screenings. The move brought criticism from Democrats as well as Republicans and a threat of a lawsuit from the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU).

However, the rule comes with a series of significant exceptions. In addition to not applying to legal immigrants, it also does not apply to unaccompanied children or to those judged to be “victims of severe forms of trafficking.” It also doesn’t apply to those who schedule an appointment on the CBP One app at a port of entry, where about 1,500 enter each day. There is also an exception for those who are allowed to enter “based on the totality of the circumstances,” which includes urgent humanitarian or law enforcement considerations.

BIDEN ORDER TO BLOCK MOST ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS WHEN CROSSINGS SURGE AS ELECTION NEARS

Finally, it allows for the entry of noncitizens “due to operational considerations that warrant permitting the noncitizen to enter.”

Those exceptions sparked additional concern from Republicans, who were already sour on the order and believed it was too little too late.

President Biden walks off after speaking about an executive order at the White House on June 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)

“The exceptions to Biden’s new EO are broad enough to drive a truck through,” Republicans on the House Homeland Security Committee said on X, formerly known as Twitter.

“So, the message to the cartels and the smugglers is you have the greenest of green lights to smuggle trafficked children into this country, into various forms of servitude, slavery, sex trafficking, labor trafficking, other forms of abuse, imprisonment and torture,” former senior Trump White House official Stephen Miller said in response to the exception for unaccompanied minors.

DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas challenged that assertion on “Your World” when he was asked by Neil Cavuto if this was a green light for smugglers. He called the cartels “unscrupulous.”

“They exploit individuals of all different types of vulnerabilities. We are taking it to the cartels. We exempted unaccompanied children from this asylum bar because of the compelling humanitarian picture they present,” he said.

The Biden administration has also embraced those exceptions as a way in which the order differs from the Trump-era use of the authority used by Biden.

‘IT IS INSULTING’: BIDEN BORDER ORDER TAKES HEAT FROM DEMOCRATS AND REPUBLICANS

“The action will not ban people based on their religion. It will not separate kids from their mothers. There are also narrow humanitarian exceptions to the bar on asylum, including for those facing an acute medical emergency or an imminent extreme threat to life or safety. And the Trump administration’s actions did not include these exceptions,” a senior administration official told reporters on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, the action tightens policy for when officials seek to remove an illegal immigrant quickly under “expedited removal.” They previously asked each migrant if they feared persecution in their home country, and if they said yes, they would be given a “credible fear” screening. Now agents will no longer ask individually but will provide general notice to migrants and be on the lookout for verbal and nonverbal signs that someone may be fearful of being deported.

Behaviors officials are told to look out for include explicit statements expressing fear from migrants but can also self-harm and “non-verbal actions,” including hysteria, shaking, unusual behavior, “incoherent” speech patterns and an “unusual level of silence.” The guidance says that if an agent determines that a migrant is showing such a fear, they must first provide them with information and refer them to an asylum officer. 

As a result, signs will be posted in detention centers that say: “If you are hungry or thirsty, need medical care, fear persecution or torture if removed from the United States, have been a victim of abuse, have been a victim of a sexual assault, have witnessed a crime, tell an Officer. Your claim will be heard. You may be referred to a medical professional, an asylum officer, or other law enforcement professional.”

Translations will be made available in Arabic, Bengali, French, Haitian Creole, Hindi, K’iche’/Kxlantzij, Portuguese, Punjabi, Romanian, Russian, Simplified Chinese, Turkish, and Vietnamese. The guidance also says that a video explaining the circumstances should be played every two hours on a daily basis. 

Conservative critics said the guidance shows that, despite the rollout, little will change.

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“The guidance basically spells out that if an illegal alien claims fear they have to be referred to the USCIS (U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services) rubber stamp without question, which means nothing really changes, except CBP (U.S. Customs and Border Protection

 and ICE doesn’t ask them out the gate if they are scared to return home,” RJ Hauman, president of the National Immigration Center for Enforcement (NICE) and a visiting fellow at the Heritage Foundation told Fox News Digital. “Traffickers and cartels are sure to quickly adapt to this political gimmick. They will immediately instruct everyone to claim fear immediately upon arrest instead of waiting to be asked.”

WILMINGTON, Del. — Hunter Biden’s sister-in-law-turned-girlfriend, Hallie Biden, took the stand in the first son’s criminal trial on Thursday, walking the jury through the ex-couple’s use of crack cocaine and events surrounding the disappearance of Hunter’s Cobra Colt .38.

“It was a terrible experience I went through, and I was embarrassed and ashamed. … I regret that period of my life,” Hallie Biden told the court on Thursday about her use of crack cocaine. 

Hallie Biden is Beau Biden’s widow, and she began a relationship with Hunter Biden in 2015, following her husband’s death from brain cancer. The pair had an on-and-off romantic relationship until about 2019, with Hunter Biden living in her home in Wilmington as well as the pair sharing a home in Annapolis, Maryland.

She testified that Hunter Biden introduced her to crack cocaine in 2018, noting that she deeply regretted her dalliances with the addictive drug and has since become sober. 

HUNTER BIDEN TRIAL ENTERS DAY 4 AFTER WILD TESTIMONY FROM EXES ON RAMPANT DRUG USE, TRASHED HOTEL ROOMS

Hunter Biden arrives at the J. Caleb Boggs Federal Building in Wilmington, Delaware, on June 6, 2024, as his trial on felony gun charges continues. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)

Hallie Biden is a key figure in the trial: She was the one to toss Hunter Biden’s gun in a trash can outside a Wilmington supermarket, which led to police involvement ahead of the indictment last year. She also provided further insight into his addiction to crack cocaine during the year he purchased the gun.

Prosecutors are working to prove that Hunter Biden lied on a federal firearm form, known as ATF Form 4473, in October 2018 when he ticked a box labeled “No” when asked if he is an unlawful user of a firearm or addicted to controlled substances. Hunter Biden purchased the gun from a store called StarQuest Shooters & Survival Supply in Wilmington.

HUNTER BIDEN TRIAL ENTERS 3RD DAY WITH CROSS-EXAMINATION OF FBI AGENT

Hunter Biden’s defense team does not deny the first son’s issues with addiction, which are well documented in his memoir, “Beautiful Things,” they instead argue that at the time of the gun purchase, Hunter did not consider himself a user of illegal substances. 

Hunter Biden is facing charges of making a false statement in the purchase of a gun, making a false statement related to information required to be kept by a federally licensed gun dealer, and possession of a gun by a person who is an unlawful user of or addicted to a controlled substance.

A court sketch depicts Hallie Biden testifying on the stand during Hunter Biden’s trial in Wilmington, Delaware, on June 6, 2024. (William J. Hennessy Jr.)

He pleaded not guilty in the case.

The total maximum prison time for the three charges could be up to 25 years. Each count also carries a maximum fine of $250,000 and three years of supervised release.

Hallie Biden was matter-of-fact in her responses to prosecutors on Thursday as they peppered her with questions about her relationship with Hunter Biden, how she learned Hunter Biden was a crack cocaine user, and the events surrounding her tossing out his gun in a panic in October 2018.

“I found [crack] and googled it because I didn’t know what it was,” Hallie Biden told the court of the first time she saw the drug in her home. “[Hunter Biden] told me what it was, crack cocaine.”

‘LIKE A SON’: FORMER TOP BIDEN ADVISER WITH DEEP BUSINESS TIES TO CHINA SPOTTED INSIDE HUNTER BIDEN GUN TRIAL

Hallie Biden, who testified under immunity, said she smoked crack cocaine and even accompanied Hunter Biden on drug deals. She became sober by August 2018.

The widowed mother of two was joined in court by her husband, John Hopkins Anning, who she married just last weekend.

She was grilled by both prosecutors and the defense team surrounding her discovery of Hunter Biden’s gun in the console of his truck on her property in Wilmington. She explained that after not seeing Hunter Biden for a while, he visited her home late Oct. 22, 2018, or early Oct. 23 and that he looked “tired, exhausted” and “could have been” on drugs. 

After dropping her children off at school on the morning of Oct. 23, Hallie Biden went over to clean out Hunter Biden’s truck to rid it of any potential drugs or alcohol in an effort to help his sobriety.

A court sketch depicts Hallie Biden testifying on the stand during Hunter Biden’s trial in Wilmington, Delaware, on June 6, 2024. (William J. Hennessy Jr.)

“Aside from trash and clothes, I found remnants of crack cocaine, paraphernalia – oh, and the gun, obviously,” she said. 

Hallie Biden said she “panicked” when she found the gun, which was accompanied by a box of ammunition and a couple of loose bullets, and placed anything that appeared related to the firearm in a leather pouch she also found in the truck. She then placed the pouch in a shopping bag.

HUNTER BIDEN’S WIFE LASHES OUT AT FORMER TRUMP AIDE DURING COURT APPEARANCE: ‘PIECE OF S—‘

“I panicked, and I wanted to get rid of them,” she said of the pistol and box of ammo. “I didn’t want him to hurt himself or [for] my kids to find it and hurt themselves.”

She then drove to a nearby grocery store, called Janssen’s Market, and tossed the gun in a trash can located outside the store. The court was presented with surveillance footage of her dropping the bag containing the pouch and gun into the receptacle.

She told the court that she was “flustered” after discovering the firearm and now realizes it was a “stupid idea” that she made when she “panicked.” 

An evidence photo presented by the prosecution shows the gun that Hunter Biden purchased. (U.S. Government Exhibit)

Hallie Biden walked the court through her messages and phone calls with Hunter Biden after she disposed of the gun. 

“I was just going to pretend like it wasn’t me,” she said, before Hunter Biden discovered his firearm was missing and texted her: “Did you take that from me?”

The first son apparently became angry with her actions regarding the gun, demanding she return to the market and “look for it.” She said that after her attempts to locate the pistol in the trash can, Hunter Biden told her to contact police and file a report.

HUNTER BIDEN’S DRUG USE: WHAT THE PROSECUTION NEEDS TO PROVE AND WHAT WE ALREADY KNOW

The jury was presented with video footage of her outside the market searching for the gun.

Hallie Biden’s testimony, when questioned by defense attorney Abbe Lowell, became confusing Thursday as he repeatedly questioned her on the timeline of events that day. Hallie Biden repeatedly used the phrase “I don’t recall,” and even remarked she was “confused” by his questions.

“There are just some things you remember and many things you don’t,” Lowell shot back.

Attorney Abbe Lowell arrives at federal court during Hunter Biden’s trial in Wilmington, Delaware, on June 5, 2024. (Reuters/Kevin Lamarque)

In addition to the court hearing testimony from the first son’s sister-in-law-turned-romantic partner, jurors heard continued testimony in the morning from the gun shop employee who sold Hunter Biden the gun in 2018, Gordon Cleveland; Delaware State Police Trooper Joshua Marley, who responded to Janssen’s Market when Hallie Biden filled a police report; former Delaware State Police Lt. Millard Greer; and an elderly man, Edward Banner, who discovered Hunter Biden’s discarded gun in the trash can.

Gordon Cleveland leaves federal court in Wilmington, Delaware, on June 5, 2024. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)

HUNTER BIDEN TRIAL: 9 KEY FIGURES WHO MAY TESTIFY

Banner, an 80-year-old man who is hard of hearing, elicited chuckles and laughter from the court for his responses to both prosecutor Derek Hines and Hunter Biden’s attorney, Lowell, on Thursday. The elderly man took the stand with the assistance of presiding Judge Maryellen Noreika, who hopped out of her leather chair to help seat Banner.

Hunter Biden and wife Melissa Cohen Biden arrive at the J. Caleb Boggs Federal Building in Wilmington, Delaware, on June 6, 2024. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)

Hines and Lowell both questioned Banner from just feet away from the witness stand, as he could not hear them otherwise. Banner, a former employee of General Motors and a Navy veteran, recounted to the court that he has long gone through trash bins looking for materials to recycle in an effort to make money – “especially now with gas prices,” he quipped. 

Surveillance footage was played in court that showed Banner retrieving the gun from the trash can outside of Janssen’s Market. He said he remembered finding the gun, though not the exact day. He took the gun to his home and stored it in a box with another firearm he said he received from a former GM employee. He told the court he also remembered when a police officer, Greer, tracked him down and ultimately took the pistol into custody.

US V HUNTER BIDEN: OPENING STATEMENTS TO BEGIN IN FIRST SON’S FEDERAL GUN TRIAL AFTER JURY SEATED

Banner was an apparent delight to the jury, who chuckled at his remarks throughout the testimony, including when Hines asked him how long he’s been married. Banner said he believes he’s been married 11 years but that his wife would “know better than I do.” Hunter Biden was also seen smiling as Banner spoke before the court.

After Banner wrapped his testimony, Noreika joked with the attorneys that their up-close and personal questioning of the man at the witness stand was “not like in the movies.”

“No, it’s not the same as when Perry Mason did it,” Lowell joked in response.

Hunter Biden and wife Melissa Cohen Biden arrive at federal court in Wilmington, Delaware, on June 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)

Hunter Biden was attentive throughout court proceedings, as he has been each day this week, taking notes, chatting with his defense team and making a beeline to his wife, Melissa Cohen Biden, when court took breaks. He was seen planting a kiss on the top of his wife’s head ahead of court kicking off on Thursday.

First lady Jill Biden was not in court on Thursday, the first time so far this trial, instead traveling to Normandy, France, to join President Biden for the 80th anniversary of D-Day. She is expected back in the Wilmington, Delaware, court on Friday before flying back to France.

HUNTER BIDEN’S CRIMINAL TRIAL ON FEDERAL GUN CHARGES BEGINS WITH JURY SELECTION

Prosecutors said – after the jury left court for the day – that they will call their final two witnesses Friday: forensic chemist Jason Brewer and DEA Special Agent Joshua Romig. They anticipate resting by mid-Friday morning.

Lowell told the court he anticipates calling two to three witnesses, including making a determination tomorrow if he will call their own expert chemist. He said they could rest by Monday.

Hunter Biden’s former wife, Kathleen Buhle, leaves the federal courthouse after taking the stand during his trial on June 5, 2024. (Reuters/Kevin Lamarque)

It is unclear if the defense team will call Hunter Biden to testify.

Court resumes Friday at 9 a.m. and concludes for the week at 4:30 p.m.

Zoe Kestan, former girlfriend of Hunter Biden, leaves federal court after testifying in his trial on June 5, 2024. (Reuters/Kevin Lamarque)

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The trial previously included testimony from Hunter Biden’s ex-girlfriend, Zoe Kestan, who met the first son while working as a stripper in New York City when she was 24 and he was 48, FBI Special Agent Erika Jensen, and Hunter Biden’s ex-wife, Kathleen Buhle. 

A federal judge in Washington, D.C. has ordered Steve Bannon, longtime ally of former President Trump, to report to prison on July 1.

Judge Carl Nichols’ decision revokes Bannon’s bail. Bannon lost an appeal of his contempt of Congress conviction in May. Bannon was sentenced to four months in prison for ignoring a Congressional subpoena to testify regarding the January 6 capitol riot.

Bannon has yet to comment on Nichols’ ruling.

Bannon claimed he acted on the advice of his legal team and did not intend to break the law. Judge Bradley Garcia wrote that an acting on “advice of counsel” defense is “no defense at all.”

HOUSE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE INVESTIGATES ‘MANIPULATED’ EVIDENCE SEIZED BY FBI IN TRUMP CLASSIFIED RECORDS PROBE

A federal judge in Washington, D.C. has ordered Steve Bannon, longtime ally of former President Trump, to report to prison on July 1. (AP)

Bannon was first sentenced in October 2022. The sentence also included a $6,500 fine. DOJ prosecutors in the case had sought a 6-month sentence and a $200,000 fine.

REP. MASSIE PRESSES GARLAND ON CONSTITUTIONALITY OF SPECIAL COUNSEL JACK SMITH’S APPOINTMENT

“I want to say one thing — I respect the judge, the sentence he came down with today is his decision. I’ve been totally respectful to this entire process on the legal side,” Bannon said after the sentencing.

Bannon was first sentenced in October 2022. The sentence also included a $6,500 fine. (Curtis Means-Pool/Getty Images)

Bannon’s defense team had argued that his attorney at the time he received the subpoena, Robert Costello, advised his client that he was not permitted, as a matter of law, in any way to respond to the notice, saying executive privilege had been raised and that it was not his privilege to waive. Costello wrote the committee to inform them that Bannon would comply if the panel worked out any privilege issues with former President Trump or if a court ordered him to comply, Bannon’s current attorney David Schoen said. 

FEDERAL JUDGE POSTPONES TRUMP’S CLASSIFIED RECORDS TRIAL WITH NO NEW DATE

Bannon was convicted for refusing to testify before Congress regarding the January 6 riot. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez, File)

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“In America, we do not criminally prosecute, let alone convict and send to prison people who not only don’t believe their conduct to be wrongful or in violation of the law, but, as in this case, people who follow the advice of their lawyers who tell them that the law does not permit them to comply with a congressional subpoena when executive privilege has been invoked,” Schoen said last month.

This is a developing story. Check back soon for updates.

Virginia Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin has withdrawn the state from a 2021 pact that had mandated adherence to California’s stringent emissions standards – including a ban on internal combustion vehicles by 2035.

Youngkin and legislative Republicans previously failed to repeal the law, which linked Virginia with California’s Air Resources Board (CARB) standards, and Wednesday’s move similarly did not go over well with some state Democrats as of the following morning.

In an interview Thursday, Youngkin bluntly said, “They’re wrong,” when asked about Democratic pushback that he and Attorney General Jason Miyares were overstepping their bounds.

“In fact, the law is very clear and the [Miyares]’ opinion is clear and straightforward. The California Regulatory Framework ACC-1 sunsets on December 31st, 2024.”

YOUNGKIN: EDUCATION IS THE BEDROCK OF THE AMERICAN DREAM

Then-Virginia gubernatorial candidate Glenn Youngkin holds a campaign event in Amherst, Virginia, October 28, 2021. (Charlie Creitz/Fox News)

“The new California framework, ACC-2, we are choosing not to enter into and are exercising our autonomous decision authority to, in fact, place ourselves under the federal government’s guidelines here as opposed to California,” he said.

“There’s no controversy. And once again, these are the exact same legislators that surrendered Virginia’s autonomy in decision-making over this, over this issue to California’s unregulated regulators. And, we’re taking it back.”

In response to the administration’s move, state Sen. Scott Surovell, the number-two Democrat in the chamber, compared Youngkin to Russian strongman Vladimir Putin and accused Miyares of giving Youngkin “cover” to act as such.

Surovell called Youngkin and Miyares’ actions “reckless, illegal and unconstitutional” in comments reported by the Virginia Mercury. 

“[They] are destructive of Virginia’s pro-business reputation,” Surovell said, adding that the American Revolution was fought so that a state executive would never be able to “nullify laws by-press-conference.”

Youngkin appeared unfazed by the Putin allegation, telling Fox News Digital that Virginia simply “declared independence yesterday from California.”

YOUNGKIN VETOES A SLEW OF VIRGINIA BILLS INCLUDING CONTRACEPTION ACCESS MEASURE

“Virginians should be deciding what car they drive, not California’s unelected regulators. These misguided mandates were wrong from the beginning and we are going to liberate Virginia from them.”

He predicted that if the regulatory pact were to remain in place, it would cost Virginians a net $1.2 billion to comply, calling it an unwarranted economic penalty on hard-working residents.

When it comes to the future of U.S. energy production and technology, Youngkin added that it will be American innovation – not bureaucratic whims – that craft it.

In a statement, state Sen. Ryan McDougle, a New Kent County Republican who joined Youngkin’s withdrawal request, said the CARB standards are unique to California and Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom’s own orders.

“Virginia’s laws should not be determined by California politicians. Instead, our laws should be decided by Virginians who are elected to serve Virginia and address issues that face our commonwealth, not a state nearly 3,000 miles away,” McDougle said.

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Miyares said that if the Democratic majority in the General Assembly wants to craft a bill imposing outside control over Virginia residents’ vehicle purchases, he welcomes that debate:

“That’s the beauty of democracy,” he said, calling California’s rules unrealistic and costly: “If you want to purchase an electric vehicle, that is your choice, but, rather than enforcing a one-size-fits-all mandate, I want Virginia consumers to choose the transportation options that best suit their specific needs and circumstances.”

Fox News Digital has reached out to Newsom’s office for comment.

Republican Rep. Byron Donalds of Florida is returning fire after top Democrats took aim at the leading Black surrogate for former President Trump over comments he made earlier this week.

The controversy focuses on what Donalds – who sources indicate is on Trump’s short-list for 2024 running mate – said on Tuesday night regarding the quality of life for Black families during Jim Crow-era racial segregation.

Donalds spoke in Philadelphia as he and Rep. Wesley Hunt of Texas, a fellow Black Republican and Trump surrogate, kicked off a series of gatherings titled “Congress, Cognac, and Cigars.”

TRUMP CAMPAIGN SETS UP SHOP IN BLUE PHILADELPHIA IN FIGHT FOR KEY BATTLEGROUND STATE

Republican Reps. Byron Donalds of Florida, left, and Wesley Hunt of Texas headline a Black voter outreach event titled “Congress, Cognac, and Cigars” on June 4, 2024, in Philadelphia. (Fox News – Paul Steinhauser)

The GOP outreach effort by Donalds and Hunt for Black male voters in key battleground states comes as recent public opinion polling suggests Trump is making gains with Black voters and chipping away at President Biden’s once overwhelming lead as the two face off in a 2024 election rematch.

“During Jim Crow, the Black family was together,” Donalds said at the event. “During Jim Crow, more Black people were not just conservative – Black people have always been conservative-minded – but more Black people voted conservatively.”

POLLS INDICATE BLACK SUPPORT FOR TRUMP ON THE RISE

Pointing to welfare polices during the 1960s under Democratic President Lyndon Johnson, Donalds said “you go down that road, and now we are where we are,” he added, referring to welfare policies instituted during the 1960s.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York, the top Democrat in the chamber, on Wednesday took to the House floor to rip Donalds.

“It has come to my attention that a so-called leader has made the factually inaccurate statement that Black folks were better off during Jim Crow. That’s an outlandish, outrageous and out-of-pocket observation,” Jeffries said.

And Jeffries, pointing to the Jim Crow era, emphasized “we were not better off when people could be systematically lynched without consequence…. How dare you make such an ignorant observation. You better check yourself before you wreck yourself.”

SOURCES: DONALDS ON TRUMP’S SHORT LIST FOR RUNNING MATE 

Democratic National Committee chair Jaime Harrison of South Carolina, who is Black, also criticized Donalds.

Donalds posted a video on social media of the comments he made in Philadelphia regarding Jim Crow. And in a separate video posted to social media, he fired back at the Democrats.

He argued that Democrats are “trying to say I said Black people were doing better under Jim Crow. I never said that. They are lying.”

“What I said was you had more Black families under Jim Crow, and it was the Democrat policies under H.E.W., under the welfare state, that did help to destroy the Black family,” Donalds said. “I also said you’re seeing a reinvigoration of Black families today in America, and that is a good thing.”

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And pointing to the House Democratic leader, he wrote “@RepJeffries you need to check your sources and stop lying to the American people because you and @JoeBiden are losing Black men.”

The Biden campaign spotlighted the controversy surrounding Donalds.

“Donald Trump spent his adult life, and then his presidency undermining the progress Black communities fought so hard for – so it actually tracks that his campaign’s ‘Black outreach’ is going to a white neighborhood and promising to take America back to Jim Crow,” Biden-Harris spokesperson Sarafina Chitika said in a statement.

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

FIRST ON FOX: Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is throwing his support behind one of former President Trump’s attorneys in the GOP primary race to serve as Missouri’s chief legal officer.

Paxton said he is “confident” that Will Scharf, who’s working alongside the former president to appeal his conviction on 34 felony counts in New York, is the best person to “protect the freedoms and liberties” of Missouri residents.

“I wholeheartedly endorse Will Scharf for Missouri Attorney General,” Paxton said in a statement shared with Fox News Digital. “I know Will personally, and I am confident that he is the right person to protect the freedoms and liberties of all Missourians. As one of President Trump’s lead attorneys, Will Scharf is relentlessly battling against Biden’s witch hunt into President Trump.”

TRUMP LAWYER SPARS WITH HOST OVER EX-BIDEN DOJ OFFICIAL TAPPED IN NEW YORK HUSH MONEY CASE

Texas AG Ken Paxton said he is “confident” that Will Scharf, inset, is the “right person to protect the freedoms and liberties” of Missouri residents. (Getty Images | Will Scharf campaign)

“If he can defend and fight for President Trump, he most certainly can take on the Republican establishment in Missouri. We need more leaders like Will,” added Paxton, who has served as attorney general for the Lone Star State since 2015.

Offering appreciation for the Republican attorney general’s support, Scharf said in a statement, “Ken Paxton has been on the front lines of the legal fights to secure the border and defend President Trump. It is a great honor to have his endorsement, and I look forward to working with him.”

Scharf is seeking to defeat incumbent Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey in the state’s Aug. 6 primary election. The winner of that primary will move on to the state’s November general election, where they will have an advantage in the GOP-dominated state.

Scharf received his undergraduate degree from Princeton University, his law degree from Harvard University, clerked for two federal appeals court judges and has worked at CRC Advisors, a conservative public relations firm.

Former President Trump is shown with Will Scharf (Will Scharf)

EXCLUSIVE: MISSOURI AG TORCHES KANSAS CITY’S ‘RETALIATION’ AGAINST CHIEFS KICKER EXPRESSING CHRISTIAN BELIEFS

In addition to being one of Trump’s lawyers, Scharf has worked as an assistant U.S. Attorney in St. Louis, and worked on the campaign and later in the office of then-Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens.

Bailey has spent nearly his entire career in Missouri. The Army veteran received his undergraduate and law degrees at the University of Missouri, worked in the state attorney general’s office, and he was an assistant county prosecutor and a state government lawyer before joining the office of Gov. Mike Parson, who eventually appointed him as attorney general.

In recent weeks, prominent conservative groups from outside Missouri have spent millions backing Scharf.

Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey (Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call via Getty Images/File)

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The Republican Attorneys General Association, which normally supports GOP attorney general incumbents, has stayed out of the Missouri primary. Some of the association’s biggest contributors, however, are backing Scharf. They’re doing so by making contributions to a Missouri arm of Club for Growth, a major funding power that focuses on aiding fiscally conservative candidates and that, in turn, is airing ads to boost Scharf and criticize Bailey.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

A Pew Research Center survey reveals that supporters of President Biden and former President Trump are sharply divided over topics described as “culture war” or “woke” issues, including gender identity, the toughness of the American criminal justice system and illegal immigration. 

The polling, which was conducted between April 8-14 and involved 8,709 U.S. adults, comes as both candidates are gearing up for what is anticipated to be a hotly contested election this November. 

The Pew findings show that 90% of Trump supporters believe gender is determined by sex assigned at birth, compared to just 39% of Biden supporters. Nearly 60% of those who support Biden say gender can be different from the sex assigned at birth, compared to only 9% of Trump backers. 

When it comes to the criminal justice system, 81% of Trump supporters said it’s not tough enough on criminals, compared to just 40% of Biden supporters who felt the same way. 

NEW POLL REVEALS BIDEN LOSING SUPPORT FROM THIS KEY DEMOGRAPHIC MONTHS BEFORE ELECTION DAY 

A new Pew Research Center survey has found that those who support Joe Biden and Donald Trump sharply disagree on cultural issues. (Getty Images)

Voters also were split on the need to deport undocumented migrants from the U.S. 

Sixty-three percent of Trump supporters signaled in the Pew Research Center survey that they are in favor of a national law enforcement effort to deport undocumented migrants currently living on American soil, compared to only 11% of Biden supporters. 

The survey also found that only 27% of registered voters who support Trump believe the legacy of slavery affects the position of Black people in the U.S. today, while 73% say it has little to no impact, according to the Pew Research Center. 

When Biden supporters were asked the same question, 79% said the legacy of slavery is still making an impact on the standing of Black people, compared to 20% who said it doesn’t have much of an effect. 

HILLARY CLINTON COMMEMORATES D-DAY WITH POST SUGGESTING TRUMP IS COMPARABLE TO HITLER 

Republican presidential candidate and former President Donald Trump speak during a campaign rally in the south Bronx, in New York City, on Thursday, May. 23. (AP/Yuki Iwamura)

Despite their differences, there are some areas where both Biden and Trump supporters find common ground. 

The Pew Research Center says the survey found 59% of Trump supporters and 51% of Biden supporters believe increased use of artificial intelligence in daily life is bad for society. 

President Biden speaks during a campaign rally at Girard College on May 29 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.  (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)

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It also says 94% of Biden supporters and 79% of Trump supporters believe people openly discussing mental health and well-being is a good thing for society. 

President Biden on Thursday claimed to have known Vladimir Putin for “over 40 years,” despite the Russian leader having served as a KGB agent dating back to the 1980s. 

The flub came during an ABC News interview with anchor David Muir as the president was visiting the Normandy American Cemetery in France to commemorate the 80th anniversary of D-Day.

“I’ve known him for over 40 years. He’s concerned me for 40 years,” Biden said. “He’s not a decent man. He’s a dictator and he’s struggling to make sure he holds his country together while still keeping his assault going,” referring to Russia’s war in Ukraine. 

BIDEN TAKES HEAT OVER GAFFE URGING AMERICANS TO ‘CHOOSE FREEDOM OVER DEMOCRACY’

President Biden on Thursday said he’s known Russian President Vladimir Putin for 40 years during a TV news interview.  (AP)

Putin began working as an intelligence officer for the then-KGB in 1975 after attending Leningrad State University. He was in the East German city of Dresden in 1985 where he witnessed the collapse of a communist state first-hand in 1989.

He then began a career in government that catapulted him to the upper echelon of Russian politics. Putin has held continuous positions as president or prime minister since 1999.

Biden’s comments came amid another round of gaffes and slip-ups at public events that left critics questioning his cognitive performance. Most recently, he raised eyebrows when he said last month at the White House Rose Garden that American-Israeli Hersh Goldberg-Polin, who is currently being held captive by Hamas, was in attendance. 

“My administration is working around the clock to free the remaining hostages, just as we have freed hostages already. And here with us today is Hersh Goldberg-Polin,” Biden said, before quickly correcting himself. 

“And still he is not here with us, but he’s still being held by Hamas,” Biden then said, recognizing the 23-year-old’s parents, who were in attendance that day. 

TRUMP THREATENED WITH JAIL IF HE MISSES HUSH MONEY TRIAL AS BIDEN CAMPAIGNS IN PENNSYLVANIA

On May 19, Biden claimed at a Michigan campaign event that he was vice president during the COVID pandemic and that former President Obama dispatched him to Detroit to help battle the disease. 

“And when I was vice president, things were kind of bad during the pandemic,” he said. “And, what happened was Barack said to me: ‘Go to Detroit — and help fix it.’” 

At a trade union conference in Washington, D.C., in April, he read the instructions on the teleprompter out loud.

“I see an economy that grows from the middle out and bottom up, where the wealthy pay their fair share, so we can have childcare, paid leave and so much more and still reduce the federal deficit and increase economic growth. Folks, imagine what we can do next, four more years, pause,” Biden said.  

President Biden once faced criticism on social media over an apparent gaffe when he claimed that Russian President Vladimir Putin is currently “losing the war in Iraq.” (JIM WATSON/AFP via Getty Images)

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That same month, he urged Americans to “choose freedom over democracy” by reelecting him. The White House recently issued nine corrections to Biden’s gaffe-filled speech to the NAACP in May. 

The Republican National Committee (RNC) research division posted several videos on X that appeared to show President Biden in “a perpetual state of confusion” following his speech in Normandy on Thursday to commemorate the 80th anniversary of D-Day.

The RNC research account, which is managed by former President Trump’s campaign and the RNC, rattled off several posts on X of the president in Normandy, with one video showing Biden bending down at one point, seeming to be uncertain whether it was time to sit down.

“Awkward,” the RNC captioned the video. 

BIDEN WHITE HOUSE URGED DEMOCRATS TO CALL BACK WALL STREET JOURNAL AS IT REPORTED ON PRESIDENT’S MENTAL ACUITY

The Republican National Committees research division posted several videos on X Thursday that appeared to show President Biden in a “perpetual state of confusion.”

In part of Biden’s speech to D-Day veterans, he appeared to misspeak while urging allies to support Ukraine in its war against Russia, saying that hundreds of thousands of Russian military personnel were killed in Ukraine.

“They’ve suffered tremendous losses with Russia – the numbers are staggering, 350,000 Russian troops dead or wounded,” he said.

Later, Biden claimed in an ABC interview with David Muir that he’s known Vladimir Putin “for over 40 years,” notwithstanding the fact that Putin served as an undercover KGB intelligence officer for the Soviet Union throughout the entire 1980s.

“I’ve known him for over 40 years. He’s concerned me for 40 years. He’s not a decent man,” Biden told Muir.

BIDEN DISPLAYS SIGNS OF DECLINE IN PRIVATE MEETINGS WITH CONGRESSIONAL LEADERS: REPORT

An improvised airfield built quickly after D-Day and used by American and Allied forces in Normandy, France, in June and July 1944. (ullstein bild/ullstein bild via Getty Images)

Another video showed Biden walking off with his wife, Jill, as the president of France, Emmanuel Macron, continued to greet and chat with World War II veterans. In a hot mic moment, Biden appeared to say to Macron, “My advance team said I gotta be the first one to leave,” in another video capturing the interaction. 

Questions about Biden’s mental acuity circulated this week after The Wall Street Journal’s bombshell report that interviewed 45 lawmakers and administration officials about Biden’s mental performance.

Biden, 81, is the oldest person to hold the presidency and has faced skepticism from voters and Republican lawmakers about his ability to do his job. Many Republicans and even some Democrats said the president showed his age in private meetings.

Most of the people interviewed by the outlet who were critical of Biden’s performance were Republicans, although some Democrats said the president showed his age in several exchanges. These interviewees participated in meetings with Biden or were briefed on them contemporaneously, including administration officials and other Democrats who did not express concerns about how the president handled the meetings.

EX-BIDEN STAFFER CALLS OUT DEMOCRATS FOR ‘FAUX OUTRAGE’ OVER WSJ ARTICLE ABOUT PRESIDENT’S MENTAL SHARPNESS

President Biden speaks during a campaign event at the Martin Luther King Recreation Center in Philadelphia on April 18, 2024. (Hannah Beier/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

White House officials, however, dismissed many of the accounts from people who have met with the president or been briefed on those meetings, saying such criticisms were motivated by partisan politics.

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“Congressional Republicans, foreign leaders and nonpartisan national-security experts have made clear in their own words that President Biden is a savvy and effective leader who has a deep record of legislative accomplishment,” White House spokesman Andrew Bates said. “Now, in 2024, House Republicans are making false claims as a political tactic that flatly contradict previous statements made by themselves and their colleagues.”

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

South Carolina Republican Sen. Tim Scott’s aligned PAC is spearheading a campaign to reach Black voters ahead of the election as concerns grow over President Biden’s popularity with the demographic credited with winning him the presidency in 2020. 

The Great Opportunity PAC unveiled a $14.3 million plan to court Black and Hispanic voters in battleground states ahead of the general election. 

“The Republican Party has, I think … a good sense and a good marketing machine and, frankly, a good microphone and someone who is good at speaking into that microphone,” Scott said of former President Trump, the presumptive 2024 Republican presidential nominee.

OBAMA STRESSES CRITICAL DEM SENATE MAJORITY FOR APPOINTING PREFERRED JUDGES

Scott is being considered as a running mate for Trump.  (Getty Images)

“We have a real strong opportunity to make this election unlike the previous election,” he emphasized in a briefing on the strategy. 

PAC Executive Director Jennifer DeCasper outlined in a memo Thursday that “Control of the White House, Senate and House could come down to less than 100K votes across a half dozen states.”

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Black voters have become a concern for Democrats. (Erin Kirkland/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

She noted that, over time, there have been natural and incremental shifts in the voting behavior of Black and Hispanic voters. However, she claimed, “We have not made the investment necessary to earn and win this vote.”

This comes as Biden’s campaign grapples with trying to maintain its minority supporters, a significant number of whom are dissatisfied with the current economic climate. A recent Fox News Poll showed the president with the support of 72% of Black voters. While the number is an increase from 66% in February, it is still below the 79% he had prior to getting elected in 2020. 

The campaign has appeared to acknowledge this issue, launching initiatives to specifically target minority voters and courting them across the country. 

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Scott’s PAC revealed that its new campaign will be a “full-scale, 360-degree communications and voter contact plan targeting swing and low-propensity Black and brown voters.” 

The group’s largest investment — $9 million — will go toward direct voter contact. The plan also includes significant spending on earned and paid media, survey research, data and analytics, operations and legal. 

With this initiative, DeCasper said the goal is to “target, persuade, and turnout low-propensity and swing Black and Hispanic voters in target Presidential and Senate states.”

The plan will incorporate various events with influential surrogates, such as elected officials. It will also rely on “canvassing, digital marketing, direct mail and targeted paid advertising.”

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Trump traveled to the Bronx in New York City for a rally. (Bing Guan/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

According to DeCasper, if Trump raised his margin with non-college-educated voters by two points and non-white voters by just three points, “he’d win five additional states, bringing him to a 297-241 victory in the Electoral College.”

She also said the change would affect several key Senate races. 

Scott, right, has been a top surrogate for Trump.  (Getty Images)

“President Trump has done a really good job of trying to figure out how to get in front of voters in unique ways and unique places that has not been done before,” Scott explained. 

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“I’ve been talking about this for years, that we have to go where we’re not invited. We have just not had enough candidates doing that in the party.”

Scott is notably on Trump’s short list of potential running mates in the November presidential election. 

“Thanks to Bidenflation and Bidenomics, Black voters are worse off today than they were under President Trump,” DeCasper wrote in the memo. “But this is not enough for us to automatically break historic voting patterns.”

Biden campaign senior spokesperson Sarafina Chitika told Fox News Digital in a statement, “Donald Trump is running his campaign the way he’s lived his life: not giving a damn about Black people or our communities.”

“Trump entered public life by falsely accusing five black men of murder and political life trying to delegitimize the first Black president as the architect of birtherism. It’s why the first thing he did after taking over the RNC was shut down its minority outreach centers, and it’s why he’s now trotting out backbenchers and C-listers in a last-ditch effort to defend his racist agenda. President Biden is on the campaign trail showing up – himself – to earn, and not ask for, Black Americans’ support. That is what leadership looks like,” she continued. 

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

An elderly woman from Massachusetts was recently sentenced to prison following a 2020 pro-life demonstration at an abortion clinic.

Kingston resident Paula “Paulette” Harlow, 75, was handed a two-year prison sentence May 31 over an October 2020 incident that involved her and fellow pro-life activists blocking an abortion clinic. According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia, Harlow and 10 other pro-life activists were charged with “civil rights conspiracy and Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act violations.”

“[The defendants] forcefully entered the clinic and set about blockading two clinic doors using their bodies, furniture, chains, and ropes,” the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia said. “Once the blockade was established, they live-streamed their activities.

“As the evidence at trial showed, the defendants engaged in a conspiracy to create a blockade at the reproductive health care clinic to prevent the clinic from providing, and patients from receiving, reproductive health services.”

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Paulette and John Harlow are hoping for mercy as the DOJ plans to imprison the ailing 75-year-old over a pro-life event in 2020. (Paulette Harlow)

Blocking abortion clinics is a violation of the FACE Act, which was signed into law by President Clinton in 1994. In an interview with Fox News Digital, Harlow explained that she has been on house arrest in recent weeks and expects to know soon if she needs to surrender to authorities.

Harlow said the 2020 incident took place at a clinic run by Dr. Cesare Santangelo, a doctor who has been accused of conducting late-term abortions. She described the demonstration as peaceful.

“We were there to intervene, to put our lives on the line, to intervene … between the death of the child and the abortionist, peacefully,” she said. “[We were] there trying to talk to the mother. … They feel forced into it for whatever their circumstances are. So, we need to try to surround them with love, with support.”

Harlow, a Catholic, explained that she became pro-life when she saw Lennart Nilsson’s photograph of an 18-week-old fetus published in Life magazine in 1965.

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Paulette’s husband, John Harlow, called the prosecution of his wife “devastating.” At left, the couple is pictured renewing their vows at Cana of Galilee. (Paulette Harlow)

“I saw the light [when] I saw the pictures in Life magazine that Nilsson did,” she said. “The children, they have no voice, and they’re hidden. That is as poor as you can get. You can’t even protect your own life.

“We have to make them visible and make them heard.”

Speaking to Fox News Digital, Paulette’s husband, John Harlow, said he was distraught over the legal situation.

“It’s devastating, what they’re doing — the whole trial and sentence and everything,” he said. “But my wife doesn’t want the focus to be on her. The real outrage is the fact that children are being aborted.

“We’re all concerned about her. I told the judge I’d go to jail for her if I could. … But we’re in this together, and we wish the outcome had been different. But it is what it is.”

Harlow told Fox News Digital her sister Jean (left) is in jail over the same incident. (Paulette Harlow)

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Harlow, who has extensive medical issues, worries incarceration could further cause her health to decline.

“I’m 76, and I have a lot of conditions,” she said. “Incarceration would be detrimental because I won’t have access to the things I have now. And I won’t have John, who’s here just helping me with everything.

Paulette Harlow became pro-life when she saw Lennart Nilsson’s 1965 photo of an 18-week-old fetus in Life Magazine. (Paulette Harlow//Getty Images)

“There’s a lot to take care of.”

Harlow also told Fox News Digital her sister Jean is in jail over the same incident.

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“I consider it an incredible honor,” she said. “And I considered going to court an incredible honor. And I was really very grateful when I came out of court because not everybody has the opportunity to do that. And it was wonderful.”

Paulette and John Harlow on a cruise in 2019. (Paulette Harlow)

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Fox News Digital reached out to the DOJ for comment, but officials did not respond.