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Sen. Bill Hagerty, R-Tenn., returning from a trip to the U.S.-Mexico border in Texas, is warning of an “epic crisis” that is still ongoing due to the historic numbers of migrants flooding across the border, and he’s accusing Democrats of attempting a “sheer power grab” to gain electoral influence by tolerating the “carnage and mayhem” at the southern border.

“We’re seeing what’s happening out here, though, and I’ve been to California to our border crossing at San Ysidro,” Hagerty told Fox News Digital in an interview. “I’ve been to Arizona. I’ve been to Texas multiple times now. This is the worst I’ve ever seen it. And it is just an epic crisis.”

Hagerty visited Eagle Pass, which is one of the hardest hit areas of the border and has become the epicenter of the fight between Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and the Biden administration over border security.

7.2M ILLEGALS ENTERED THE US UNDER BIDEN ADMIN, AN AMOUNT GREATER THAN POPULATION OF 36 STATES

Hagerty spoke with ranchers who had seen the crisis on a daily basis, and retold a story of a rancher who said he woke up one night to find 20 military-age males in his kitchen eating out of the fridge.

SPEAKER JOHNSON HIGHLIGHTS 100 STORIES OF ‘DANGERS AND DESTRUCTION’ OF ‘BIDEN BORDER CATASTROPHE’ 

“Americans should not have to live like this,” Hagerty said.

Hagerty praised the actions of Abbott, who has built a border wall, seized a key park in Eagle Pass and is battling the administration on multiple fronts in court over the border crisis.

He said the area of Shelby Park has now been cleared out, and he believes that’s why numbers are increasing along other parts of the border, including San Diego.

“They’re going to other places along the border though. So now they’ve lost control of Arizona, according to what I’ve learned. In California, they’ve had a record number of Chinese coming across the border now.“

CHINESE ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION ON PACE TO BREAK RECORDS AT US SOUTHERN BORDER

Hagerty and many other Republican lawmakers have repeatedly blamed the historic migrant crisis – which saw record encounters in FY 23 and in December, where there were over 300,000 encounters – on the policies of the administration.

Hagerty cited the rolling back of Trump-era policies such as border wall construction and the Remain-in-Mexico policy, which conservatives believe largely ended the migrant crisis. 

The administration has said it needs more funding and comprehensive immigration reform from Congress to fix what it says is a historic crisis, and has pointed to what it says are total removals and returns of illegal immigrants since May that have exceeded every full fiscal year since 2015. The administration, along with many Democrats, have slammed Republicans for not agreeing to a bipartisan border bill that they say would have ended the crisis and provided more staffing and funding at the border. Conservatives said the legislation would have normalized an unacceptably high level of illegal immigration.

Hagerty noted how the crisis has a knock-on effect in other states, affecting not only his state of Tennessee but also sanctuary cities like Chicago and New York City. He said such jurisdictions are vocal with their complaints but do not appear to be changing policy.

ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION COULD HAVE MAJOR IMPACT ON HOUSE SEATS, ELECTORAL COLLEGE: EXPERTS 

“What I don’t see them doing is changing their policy. They’re not saying we’re no longer going to be a sanctuary city, we’re no longer going to be a magnet for this. They’re just complaining that they need more ‘resources’ to be able to accommodate all this,” he said.

He said he believes the best and simplest explanation for what he sees as tolerance for the crisis is an attempt to gain power by Democrats, and that they are hoping to gain greater representation in the House of Representatives and Electoral College by redistricting, whereby the migrants coming into blue cities and states could subsequently increase their representation – something some experts have warned about. Hagerty has introduced an amendment to the recent border bill that would count only legal citizens in congressional districts. 

“They are seeing people leave their state. They’re seeing the potential of the next census to lose congressional districts and electoral votes. I think most people in America are shocked to find out that we count the presence of illegal immigrants in determining the allocation of congressional districts and electoral votes,” Hagerty said.

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“But if you think about the motives for the crime that’s taking place at our southern border, that is it. That’s what the Democrats are trying to do,” he said. 

“Joe Biden promised he was going to transform America. This is part of that transformation. And it’s a sheer power grab. It’s cynical as hell, and it’s actually the most straightforward explanation of why they would tolerate this carnage and mayhem. It’s in order to retain and gain power.”

Fox News Digital reached out to the White House for comment.

A reparations task force appointed by Fulton County, Georgia, officials says the county was “complicit” in stealing land from Black residents in the decades after slavery.

The Fulton County Reparations Task Force is currently in its research phase and will soon present its findings and recommendations to Fulton County leaders, FOX 5 Atlanta reported. Chair Dr. Karcheik Sims-Alvarado said the panel has collected a mountain of evidence showing the county benefited from slavery and the disenfranchisement of Black people during Jim Crow. 

“We believe that we are creating the blueprint to make a very strong argument for reparations,” Sims-Alvarado told FOX 5 Atlanta.

Fulton County commissioners approved the creation of the task force with a $250,000 budget to research the county’s ties to slavery, what properties the county may have confiscated illegally from Black owners and the use of illegal prison labor from the county’s confinement facilities.

ATLANTA REPARATIONS TASK FORCE HOLDS FIRST PUBLIC MEETING: ‘REPARATIONS ARE MEANT TO REPAIR’

Over the course of two years, the task force gathered documents like land leases, prison records and relied on private citizens coming forward with family documents to build their case for reparations to the Black community.

“What we found was that Fulton County was complicit in declaring eminent domain on its residents, particularly within the Buckhead area,” Sims-Alvarado told FOX 5 Atlanta. “Some individuals moved to — if they were fortunate — they were able to buy another home in Dixie Hill, but some individuals wind up becoming residents in housing projects.”

Elon Butts-Osby, a task force member and resident of Bagley Park, said land belonging to her grandparents was forcibly taken from them by the county.

“Forced out of Forsyth County during the racial cleansing, somewhere between 60 and 84 acres were stolen from my grandfather,” Butts-Osby told FOX 5 Atlanta.

CALIFORNIA LAWMAKERS INTRODUCE REPARATIONS PACKAGE WITH FORMAL APOLOGY FOR SLAVERY

She said her grandfather was able to purchase land and resettle the family in northwest Atlanta, but the property value is not nearly worth what the land they used to own in Bagley Park is worth today. 

“The real value was shocking compared to what my grandfather paid for the six lots that he purchased,” Butts-Osby said.

CALIFORNIA VOTERS ISSUE STRONG REBUKE TO DEM PLAN TO OFFER CASH REPARATIONS: POLL

Her family’s story is one of three case studies the reparations task force is using to justify payments to Fulton County’s Black residents.  

“People need to pay … the city and the county … they need to pay,” Butts-Osby said.

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The task force meets on the first Thursday of each month and members of the public are encouraged to share their opinions, concerns or requests during public comment. The next meeting is scheduled for Thursday, March 7, 2024.

A final report with recommendations to Fulton County leaders is expected in October 2024.

Fox News Digital’s Nikolas Lanum contributed to this report.

President Biden this week attacked the Republican Party as worse than segregationists, prompting backlash from party leaders.

Biden made the remarks at a fundraiser on Wednesday, saying the current GOP is worse than the “real racists” he served alongside in the 1970s.

“I’ve been a senator since ’72. I’ve served with real racists. I’ve served with Strom Thurmond. I’ve served with all these guys that have set terrible records on race,” Biden told the crowd at the fundraiser, according to the White House press pool.

BIDEN CAMPAIGN TROLLS TRUMP’S ‘WEAKEST OPERATION IN RECENT HISTORY’ AMID LAGGING CAMPAIGN CASH

The president continued, “But guess what? These guys are worse. These guys do not believe in basic democratic principles.”

Biden’s words sparked backlash from GOP leaders — specifically Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, who called the president “desperate” and “underwater in the polls.”

“Outrageous,” Johnson said on social media in reaction to the president’s remarks. “The least popular President to seek re-election is now so desperate and so underwater in the polls he’s playing the race card from the bottom of the deck.”

Strom Thurmond was a South Carolina senator and “Dixiecrat” presidential candidate who supported segregation. 

CNN REPORTER ASKS BIDEN IF NAVALNY’S BLOOD IS ‘ON THE HANDS OF HOUSE REPUBLICANS’ FOR BLOCKING UKRAINE AID

The president’s choice to mention Thurmond was notable due to his noted relationship with the Dixiecrat, whom he eulogized following his death.

In his eulogy more than 15 years ago for Thurmond, who later became a Republican, Biden said that while their “differences were profound,” he got to know him and “watched him change, oh so subtly.”

“I went to the Senate emboldened, angered and outraged at age 29 about the treatment of African-Americans in this country, about everything for a period in his life Strom represented. But then I met the man,” Biden said at the time.

Last year, Biden also claimed to have “literally” convinced Thurmond to vote for the Civil Rights Act — when he was just 21 years old.

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“I was able to — literally, not figuratively — talk Strom Thurmond into voting for the Civil Rights Act before he died,” the president said at an event for the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law.

Biden was born on Nov. 20, 1942. The Civil Rights Act passed the Senate on June 19, 1964.

While Thurmond and Biden were contemporaries in the Senate, the president would have been 21 at the time of the landmark legislation’s passing — and nowhere near the Senate seat he won at 29 years old.

Fox News Digital’s Alex Pappas and Houston Keene contributed to this report.

President Biden has called Russian President Vladimir Putin a “crazy SOB” at a California fundraiser, prompting a flurry of angry responses from the Kremlin and Putin’s allies. 

Biden made the comment Wednesday at a campaign event in San Francisco while speaking about climate change. 

“This is the last existential threat, it is climate. We have a crazy SOB that guy, Putin others. And we always have to be worried about a nuclear conflict,” Biden said. “But the existential threat to humanity is climate.” 

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov responded Thursday by saying that Biden’s comment was “probably some kind of attempt to look like a Hollywood cowboy,” according to Reuters. 

WHITE HOUSE REPORTERS FEEL HEAT FROM ADMINISTRATION OVER COVERAGE OF BIDEN, TRUMP: ‘NAGGING AND COMPLAINING’ 

“The use of such language against the head of another state by the president of the United States is unlikely to infringe on our president, President Putin,” Peskov added. “But it debases those who use such vocabulary.” 

“Has Mr Putin ever used one crude word to address you? This has never happened. Therefore, I think that such vocabulary debases America itself,” Peskov also told Reuters. 

The news agency reports that former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said the existential threat to the world is from “useless old geezers, like Biden himself” and that the “senile” president is “ready to start a war with Russia.” 

HALEY ACCUSES TRUMP OF SIDING WITH A ‘DICTATOR AND A TYRANT’ AS SHE BLASTS HIM OVER LACK OF PUTIN CRITICISM 

Biden also criticized Putin and his allies last week following the mysterious death of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny in prison. 

Biden said Friday that there is “no doubt” it was a “consequence of something that Putin and his thugs did.” 

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“People across Russia and around the world are mourning Navalny today, because he was so many things that Putin was not,” Biden continued. “He was brave, he was principled, he was dedicated to building a Russia where the rule of law existed and where it applied to everybody. Navalny believed in that Russia, that Russia, he knew it was a cause worth fighting for and obviously even dying for.” 

Fox News’ Kaitlin Sprague contributed to this report. 

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange’s hearing at the British High Court in London for his possible final appeal challenging his extradition to the U.S. concluded on Wednesday. The court is not expected to make a decision on the Australian publisher’s fate until at least next month.

The two-day appeal hearing before a panel of two judges wrapped up after U.S. lawyers delivered arguments, as they seek to have Assange, 52, sent to the U.S. to face espionage charges for publishing classified U.S. military documents 14 years ago.

Lawyer Clair Dobbin, representing the U.S. government, claimed the case is based on “law, on evidence” and “not political inspiration,” pushing back on accusations that Assange’s prosecution is politically motivated.

“Julian is a political prisoner, and he has to be released,” Assange’s wife, Stella, said in a speech outside the court.

UK HIGH COURT HEARS ARGUMENTS IN ASSANGE’S US EXTRADITION CASE WITHOUT HIM PRESENT DUE TO HEALTH REASONS

The judges overseeing the case, Victoria Sharp and Jeremy Johnson, said Wednesday they would take time to come to a verdict, and a ruling on Assange’s fate is not expected until March at the earliest.

While the hearing could be Assange’s final appeal attempting to block his extradition to the U.S., a full appeal hearing could come in the future if he wins in court this week. If he loses this appeal, Assange’s only remaining option would be at the European Court of Human Rights, but his supporters fear he could be flown to the U.S. before that happens because the British government has already signed an extradition order.

Dobbin purported that Assange put innocent lives at risk and went beyond journalism in his efforts to obtain and publish classified U.S. government documents. She claims Assange encouraged and helped U.S. Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning steal diplomatic cables and military files that WikiLeaks published, and that doing so jeopardized lives.

But there is no evidence that WikiLeaks put anyone in danger by publishing the documents. It is also a common practice among journalists to ask a source to provide more material.

Dobbin claimed that Assange damaged U.S. security and intelligence services and “created a grave and imminent risk” by publishing hundreds of thousands of documents. She said these risks could harm and lead to the arbitrary detention of innocent people, including many who lived in war zones or under repressive regimes.

She said Assange encouraging Manning and others to hack into government computers and steal material meant that the WikiLeaks founder was “going a very considerable way beyond” a journalist gathering information.

Assange was “not someone who has just set up an online box to which people can provide classified information,” she said. “The allegations are that he sought to encourage theft and hacking that would benefit WikiLeaks.”

Lawyers for Assange argued during day one of the hearing on Tuesday that U.S. authorities are seeking to punish him for WikiLeaks’ “exposure of criminality on the part of the U.S. government on an unprecedented scale,” including torture and killings.

If he is extradited to the U.S., lawyer Edward Fitzgerald warned, there is “a real risk he may suffer a flagrant denial of justice.”

EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT URGES UK TO RELEASE ASSANGE AS POSSIBLE FINAL APPEAL CHALLENGING US EXTRADITION BEGINS

Dobbin said the First Amendment does not grant immunity to journalists who break the law and that media outlets that went through the process of redacting the documents before publishing them are not being prosecuted.

Journalists located outside of England and Wales, including from Fox News Digital, were denied access to observe the hearing remotely. Journalists who were permitted access, either remotely or in person, had trouble at times hearing lawyers during Wednesday’s arguments.

Should he be extradited to the U.S. after exhausting all his legal appeals, Assange would face trial in Alexandria, Virginia, and could be sentenced to up to 175 years in an American maximum-security prison. His supporters have long argued that he would not receive a fair trial if he is extradited.

“We’ve essentially heard nothing new from the U.S. government’s legal representation in this hearing,” international nonprofit Reporters Without Borders said in a statement Wednesday. “Rather than addressing the compelling new arguments made by Assange’s defence, they have doubled down on their longstanding claims that Assange’s actions do not qualify as journalistic activity and that he will be given a fair trial in the U.S.”

“The facts of the matter remain: the publication by WikiLeaks in 2010 of the leaked classified documents exposed information that was in the public interest and informed journalism around the world,” the statement continued. “The prosecutor and other US officials have stated that as a foreign national, Assange will not be afforded First Amendment protections. Combined with the fact that the Espionage Act has no public interest defence, that means he cannot get a fair trial.”

Assange was absent from court on Tuesday and Wednesday because of health issues. His family has raised concerns about his physical and mental health, with Stella Assange telling reporters that her husband’s life is at risk every day he remains in prison and that she believes he will die if he’s extradited to the U.S.

Earlier this month, U.N. Special Rapporteur on Torture, Alice Jill Edwards, called on the U.K. government to halt the possible extradition of Assange over concerns that he would be at risk of treatment amounting to torture or other forms of ill-treatment or punishment.

BIPARTISAN CONGRESSIONAL RESOLUTION CALLS ON US OFFICIALS TO DROP CHARGES AGAINST ASSANGE

Last month, a group of Australian lawmakers wrote a letter to U.K. Home Secretary James Cleverly demanding Assange’s U.S. extradition be halted over concerns about his safety and well-being, urging the U.K. government to instead make an independent assessment of Assange’s risk of persecution.

Assange is facing 17 charges for allegedly receiving, possessing and communicating classified information to the public under the Espionage Act, and one charge alleging a conspiracy to commit computer intrusion.

The charges were brought by the Trump administration’s Justice Department over WikiLeaks’ 2010 publication of cables leaked by Manning detailing war crimes committed by the U.S. government in Iraq, Afghanistan and the Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, detention camp. The materials also exposed instances of the CIA engaging in torture and rendition.

WikiLeaks’ “Collateral Murder” video showing the U.S. military gunning down civilians in Iraq, including two Reuters journalists, was also published 14 years ago.

Assange has been held at London’s high-security Belmarsh Prison since he was removed from the Ecuadorian Embassy on April 11, 2019, for breaching bail conditions. He had sought asylum at the embassy since 2012 to avoid being sent to Sweden over allegations he raped two women because Sweden would not provide assurances it would protect him from extradition to the U.S. The investigations into the sexual assault allegations were eventually dropped.

AUSTRALIAN MPS PEN LETTER URGING UK GOVERNMENT TO STOP JULIAN ASSANGE’S US EXTRADITION, CITING HEALTH CONCERNS

A U.K. District Judge rejected the U.S. extradition request in 2021 on the grounds that Assange was likely to kill himself if he was held under harsh U.S. prison conditions. Higher courts later overturned that decision after receiving assurances from the U.S. about his treatment, and the British government signed an extradition order in June 2022.

One of Assange’s lawyers, Mark Summers, said Tuesday there was evidence showing that there had been a plan to kidnap or murder Assange while he was in the Ecuadorean Embassy and former President Trump had requested “detailed options” to kill him.

“Senior CIA officials requested plans, the president himself requested on being provided with options on how to do it and sketches were even drawn up,” Summers said.

The CIA under the Trump administration allegedly had plans to kill Assange over the publication of sensitive agency hacking tools known as “Vault 7,” which were leaked to WikiLeaks, Yahoo reported in 2021. The agency said the leak represented “the largest data loss in CIA history.”

The agency was accused of having discussions “at the highest levels” of the administration about plans to assassinate Assange in London and allegedly followed orders from then-CIA director Mike Pompeo to draw up kill “sketches” and “options.” The CIA also had advanced plans to kidnap and rendition Assange, and had made a political decision to charge him, according to the Yahoo report.

While he was in the embassy, the CIA was exposed for spying on Assange and his lawyers. A judge recently ruled that a lawsuit brought against the CIA for spying on his visitors can move forward.

“They’re putting Julian into the hands of the country and of the people who plotted his assassination,” Stella Assange said.

The Obama administration in 2013 decided not to indict Assange over WikiLeaks’ 2010 publication of classified cables because it would have had to also indict journalists from major news outlets who published the same materials, which has been described as “The New York Times problem.” Former President Obama also commuted Manning’s 35-year sentence for violations of the Espionage Act and other offenses to seven years in January 2017, and Manning, who had been imprisoned since 2010, was released later that year.

But the Justice Department under former President Trump later moved to indict Assange under the Espionage Act, and the Biden administration has continued to pursue his prosecution.

UK HIGH COURT SETS DATE FOR JULIAN ASSANGE’S FINAL APPEAL CHALLENGING US EXTRADITION

No publisher had been charged under the Espionage Act until Assange, and many press freedom groups have said his prosecution sets a dangerous precedent intended to criminalize journalism.

In 2022, the editors and publishers of U.S. and European outlets that worked with Assange on the publication of excerpts from the more than 250,000 documents he obtained in the Cablegate leak – The Guardian, The New York Times, Le Monde, Der Spiegel and El País – wrote an open letter calling for the U.S. to drop the charges against Assange.

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An editor for The Guardian also published an editorial on Sunday saying that the outlet opposes Assange’s U.S. extradition because doing so would be a threat to both the WikiLeaks founder and journalism. 

There have also been multiple efforts made by lawmakers in the U.S. and Australia in the last year to demand Assange’s freedom, including a vote last week in which the Australian Parliament overwhelmingly supported calling on the U.S. and U.K. Governments to end Assange’s prosecution and a resolution introduced last month in the U.S. House calling for him to be released.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

NORTH AUGUSTA, S.C. – Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley is turning up the volume in her attacks on rival Donald Trump over the former president’s hesitance to criticize Russian leader Vladimir Putin.

“Trump sided with an evil man over our allies who stood with us at 9/11,” the former two-term South Carolina governor who later served as U.N. ambassador in the Trump administration charged at a rally on Wednesday, as she pointed towards Putin.

And minutes later, in a Fox News Digital interview outside of her campaign bus in North Augusta, South Carolina, Haley stressed “I can’t comprehend in any world where a candidate for president would side with a dictator and a tyrant who kills his political opponents. Who arrests American journalists and holds them hostage. And who’s made no bones about the fact that he wants to destroy America.”

TRUMP ACKNOWLEDGES HIS SHORT LIST FOR RUNNING MATE

“That’s a total lack of moral clarity. And that’s what happens whenever he looks away from the teleprompter,” Haley claimed as she took verbal shots at Trump.

Haley started sharpening her blows against Trump last month, when she became the final rival standing against the former president – who is the commanding frontrunner in the GOP nomination race as he bids a third straight time for the White House.

TRUMP CALLS NAVALNY’S DEATH ‘HORRIBLE THING’ BEFORE COMPARING IT TO HIS OWN LEGAL SITUATION

For over a week, Haley’s been blasting Trump over the former president’s controversial comments that he would not stand in the way of Moscow if Putin attacked a NATO member country that failed to pay its full share of dues.

And following the death of a high-profile Russian opposition leader and political prisoner Alexi Navalny last week in a Siberian prison – which many across the globe are blaming on Putin – Haley slammed Trump for not speaking out.

Trump did bemoan Navalny’s death when asked about it by host Laura Ingraham during a Fox News town hall Tuesday in Greenville, South Carolina.

“Navalny — a very sad situation,” Trump said. “It’s a horrible thing.”

But Trump doubled down on comparing his criminal indictments to the circumstances surrounding Navalny.

“It’s happening in our country, too,” Trump argued, as he pointed to his slew of court cases, including two stemming from his efforts to reverse his 2020 election loss to President Biden. 

Trump charged that the U.S. is “turning into a communist country in many ways.” 

But the former president didn’t mention Putin in connection with Navalny’s death. 

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Asked about those comments, Haley told Fox News Digital that, “You talk about Navalny, you should be talking about what a hero he is. You should be talking about what a thug Putin is. But the thing, what does Donald Trump do – he goes and compares himself to Navalny, based on his court cases. Everything becomes about Trump. Everything. He’s obsessed with himself. I need a president who’s going to be obsessed with the American people. He seems incapable of doing that.”

Trump, touting his tough stance against the Russian leader, reiterated at the town hall that “Putin took land from every president of our last five except the one – me.” 

But Trump has a history dating back to his years in the White House of occasionally complimenting Putin. And his latest comments come as Republicans in the House of Representatives have refused to provide more military funding to Ukraine in its two-year-long war with Russia.

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

The likely Democrat nominee — in what is expected to be one of the most consequential Senate races this year — is taking heat over his past “support” for illegal immigrant amnesty and sanctuary cities as the migrant crisis continues to spiral.

Since taking office in 2015, Arizona Senate candidate Ruben Gallego, a congressman who represents a deep-blue district in the Phoenix area, has co-sponsored and voted for various pieces of legislation that many critics, including his top Republican opponent, have said are evidence of his support for “open border policies,” something his campaign denies.

“Ruben Gallego has been in Congress for over a decade and Arizona has become less safe and secure because of it,” Kari Lake, the Republican front-runner in the race, told Fox News Digital.

BIDEN FACING ABYSMAL APPROVAL RATING ON IMMIGRATION AS AMERICANS REACT TO SPIRALING BORDER CRISIS

“He repeatedly voted against finishing the border wall, supported ending Title 42, which allowed the border patrol to quickly expel migrants, has done nothing to stop the cartels from bringing crime and drugs into our communities,” Lake added. “Arizonans know Ruben has rubber-stamped all of Joe Biden’s open border policies. I will work to secure the border and bring safety to our communities.”

The National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC), the group tasked with winning a Senate majority for the GOP, has also taken aim at Gallego, placing blame on him and his Democrat colleagues for the current state of the border.

“Ruben Gallego has spent his career in Congress backing the radical open-border policies that created the crisis on our southern border today. Ruben might have just noticed that the border is out of control, but he shouldn’t be surprised; he’s responsible for it,” NRSC spokesman Tate Mitchell told Fox.

GOP SENATOR FUMES OVER BIDEN ADMIN PROVIDING VETERAN MEDICAL RESOURCES TO ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS

Some of the legislation driving the criticism of Gallego includes H.R. 748, a 2017 bill he co-sponsored that would have banned the withholding of federal funds from sanctuary cities and states that refuse to comply with detainer requests from homeland security officials, or notifying officials when an individual being held on a detainer is released.

In 2018, Gallego co-sponsored H.R. 6193, a bill that would have required the federal government to establish an office dedicated to the study of crimes committed against illegal immigrants in the year following their removal from the U.S., and in 2021, he voted for the failed Build Back Better Act, which, in its original form, would have granted temporary amnesty to roughly 6.5 million people non-citizens, many of whom were in the country illegally, according to the Congressional Budget Office.

Also in 2021, Gallego introduced H.R. 4815, a bill that would have made DACA recipients, also known as “Dreamers,” eligible for federal financial college aide, and required schools to offer them in-state tuition rates if they qualified as a citizen of that state.

BIDEN’S $200K PAYMENT FROM BROTHER RECEIVES RENEWED SCRUTINY AFTER REPORT DETAILING FAILED HOSPITAL VENTURE

Additionally, Gallego has supported due process for illegal immigrants in opposition to border policies under the Trump administration, and has been a sharp critic of Title 42, a policy ended by the Biden administration that allowed U.S. officials to turn away migrants attempting to enter the country because of health concerns related to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Rep. Gallego has a long record of supporting additional resources to the border to keep Arizonans safe, and he supports the bipartisan border bill to secure the border and stop the flow of fentanyl into our country,” Gallego campaign spokeswoman Hannah Goss told Fox News Digital, referencing the controversial bipartisan Senate border deal being largely opposed by Republicans in both houses of Congress.

“Kari Lake rejected a bipartisan border deal — backed by border patrol agents and called the ‘most conservative border bill in decades’ — because she puts scoring political points ahead of standing up for Arizonans every single time,” Goss added.

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Despite his support of the previously mentioned legislation, Gallego has also voted in favor of a number of bills, including the Biden administration’s massive 2021 infrastructure bill, that provided funds to construct and modernize land ports of entry and other equipment at the border, as well as provided funding to hire more Border Patrol agents and officers to handle skyrocketing asylum claims — something he has strongly supported.

Fox News Digital has reached out to the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee for comment.

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

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

What’s Happening? 

– Trump reveals VP shortlist

– 100 stories of ‘Biden Border Catastrophe’

– Johnson pressured to make move on Ukraine aid

‘Never’ involved?

James Biden testified Wednesday that his brother, President Biden, “has never had any involvement or any direct or indirect financial interest” in his business ventures, according to his opening statement first obtained by Fox News Digital has learned.

“I have had a 50-year career in a variety of business ventures,” James Biden said in his opening statement. “Joe Biden has never had any involvement or any direct or indirect financial interest in those activities. None.”

James Biden said that Joe Biden “played no role, was not involved with, and received no benefits” from his work with Chinese energy company CEFC, or the healthcare company Americore.

House Republicans have heard testimony from a number of the first son’s former business associates — including Tony Bobulinski, who testified before the committees earlier this month that Joe Biden was involved in the family’s business ventures. Bobulinski also testified that he personally met with Joe Biden. 

White House

‘STRIKING INACCURACIES’: Biden’s team ramping up press criticism following Special Counsel report …Read more

‘DOESN’T SEEM VERY AMERICAN’: Ex-USDA official blasts ‘mind-boggling’ Biden regulations on farming, menthol …Read more

Capitol Hill

‘DANGERS AND DESTRUCTION’: Speaker Johnson highlights 100 stories of ‘dangers and destruction’ of ‘Biden Border Catastrophe’ …Read more

STRONG WARNING: Rand Paul: ‘Never, ever let Gavin Newsom anywhere near the White House’ …Read more

CLASH WITH MCCONNELL?: Trump teases fight with McConnell in Fox News town hall: ‘I don’t know that I can work with him’ …Read more

WAR ZONE: Pressure grows on Johnson to make a move on Ukraine aid as Russian invasion nears 2-year mark …Read more

‘GREEN BAD DEAL’: Republicans probing banks over climate coordination impacting farmers …Read more

Tales from the Campaign Trail

VP SHORTLIST REVEALED: Trump reveals VP shortlist includes DeSantis, Scott, Ramaswamy, Noem, Donalds, Gabbard …Read more

CONFLICTING ACCOUNTS: Dem House candidate was arrested in prostitution sting, but his story doesn’t match police records …Read more

DEFENSE FUND: Trump leadership PAC spent nearly $3M in January on legal expenses, FEC filing shows …Read more

‘TOUGH’: Biden campaign trolls Trump’s ‘weakest operation in recent history’ amid lagging campaign cash troubles …Read more

BIG MONEY: Nikki Haley’s campaign against Trump has siphoned thousands of ‘large dollar’ donors away from Biden …Read more

INFIGHTING: Republican Party infighting escalates in Ohio as March primary nears …Read more

‘WE ARE PREPARED’: Letitia James ready to seize Trump’s assets if he is unable to pay $354 million fraud fine …Read more

Across America

ON THE BOOKS: California lawmakers introduce reparations package with formal apology for slavery …Read more

ELDER-IN-CHIEF: Pelosi clashes with reporter over Biden being ‘too old’ to be president, slams ‘unfair’ special counsel report …Read more

‘IT’S EDUCATION’: Kentucky Republican says early childhood education is the answer to workforce, childcare crises …Read more

LIBRARY PROPOSAL: Georgia proposal for parental oversight of library books advances, critics cry censorship …Read more

HAPPY HOUR: Indiana lawmakers vote to lift nearly 40-year ban on restaurant happy hours …Read more

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Former President Donald Trump is throwing his support behind ex-House Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s chosen successor for his empty seat in Congress.

Vince Fong, a California Assembly member who worked as McCarthy’s district director for almost a decade, is one of nine candidates running to replace him in Central Valley for his House seat.

One of his opponents, Tulare County Sheriff Mike Boudreaux, has courted the endorsements of former Trump officials like former acting Director of National Intelligence Richard Grenell and ex-chief deputy, Kash Patel.

TRUMP SPARKS EMOTIONAL REACTIONS FROM CROWD IN SURPRISE VISIT TO SNEAKER CONVENTION

“I am proud to join California’s Republican Congressional Delegation, and give Vince Fong my Complete and Total Endorsement!” Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social. “Vince was one of only 6 Republicans in the State Assembly to stand with me, and reject the Second Impeachment Hoax. In Congress, Vince will work with me to Grow the Economy, Lower your Taxes, Cut Burdensome Regulations, Champion American Energy, and Protect and Defend the Second Amendment, which is under siege by the Radical Left.”

Endorsing Boudreaux last month, Grenell and Patel described him as the anti-establishment, America First choice. “Sheriff Mike Boudreaux is an America First patriot who has proven he is a principled fighter for freedom,” Grenell said, The Porterville Recorder reported at the time. “California needs leaders with courage to stand up to Washington bureaucrats. His record proves he is the right choice for the Valley.”

TULARE COUNTY SHERIFF MIKE BOUDREAUX ON THE CARTEL STYLE HIT THAT KILLED SIX PEOPLE

Patel said, “Sheriff Boudreaux is the kind of leader we need in Congress, one with the courage to stand up and fight, not back down, and put American first,” The Recorder reported.

Patel declined to comment further when reached Wednesday by Fox News Digital. Grenell did not immediately respond.

McCarthy resigned from the House of Representatives on Dec. 31, nearly three months after he became the first speaker in history to be ousted from the job.

It’s a deep-red district, anchored in Bakersfield, and Fong’s Republican opponents have already been fighting to appeal to Trump’s MAGA base.

Another of his opponents, Kyle Kirkland, is a business owner and nonprofit animal rescue operator who is attempting to portray himself as an outsider. His website proudly declares he’s “not a career politician.”

Trump’s endorsement of Fong is likely to give him a boost with voters who may have been wary over his years-long ties to the GOP establishment. Fong wrote on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, soon after the former president’s announcement, “Thank you… for your endorsement! Let’s get to work to secure the border, improve our economy, and defend our water and energy resources!”

Fox News Digital reached out to Fong for further comment. 

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The election to replace McCarthy is scheduled for May 21. Before that, the pool of nine candidates will get whittled down to two in a March 19 primary. 

Rather than holding party-specific primaries to nominate candidates for the general, California’s election laws mandate a single “jungle primary” where the top two vote-getters, regardless of party affiliation, advance to the general election.

McCarthy is widely held as an establishment Republican who also worked to become a staunch Trump ally.

Just before a group of eight hardline GOP lawmakers voted with all House Democrats to oust McCarthy, the former president wrote on Truth Social, “Why is it that Republicans are always fighting among themselves?”

Former President Donald Trump is edging President Joe Biden in a hypothetical general election rematch, according to new polling that reveals growing concerns over the president’s physical health.

A new Quinnipiac University poll found that Biden currently leads in a hypothetical race against Trump by four points, locking in 49% support of likely voters over 45% who said they would vote for the former president.

The results reflect a slight narrowing in the race, after a January 31 poll found Biden leading Trump by 6 points, 50% to 44%.

Trump remains the frontrunner in the Republican presidential primary, securing support from 80% of Republican-identifying respondents, while only 17% said former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley is their preferred GOP nominee.  

TRUMP REVEALS VP SHORTLOST INCLUDES DESANTIS, SCOTT, RAMASWAMY, NOEM, DONALDS, GABBARD

Amid growing concerns over the president’s fitness, a large majority of voters, 67%, said they believe Biden is too old and not physically capable of completing another four-year term as president.

On the flip side, 57% of voters think Trump is not too old to serve another term as president.

ROGAN SAYS DEMOCRATIC PARTY IS ‘SETTING UP GAVIN NEWSOM’ FOR 2024 PRESIDENTIAL RUN AMID BIDEN SCANDALS

The survey also noted that nearly twice as many voters believe Trump to be more physically fit than Biden.

“A Biden-Trump split decision on physical and emotional fitness leaves both looking vulnerable,” Tim Malloy, Quinnipiac University Polling Analyst, said in a statement. “Yes, Trump wins walking away on the age and stamina question, but voters have more confidence in Biden’s empathy toward them and his emotional stability to handle the job,”

Only 40% of voters said they approve of Biden’s handling of the presidency.

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The polling results come just weeks after Special Counsel Robert Hur released his report on Biden’s handling of classified documents and described the president as “a sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory.” 

Americans in the nation’s capital shared the most important issues impacting their 2024 election vote, with most telling Fox News that the economy was among their top priorities.

“I think people are really concerned about the economy,” Sibusiso, a New Yorker, told Fox News. “Just make sure that the economy is in great shape. I think that that’s what everybody needs right now.”

WATCH MORE FOX NEWS DIGITAL ORIGINALS HERE

Over the summer, President Biden started touting Bidenomics — a term created to promote his administration’s work to rebuild the economy following the pandemic. But despite recent job growth numbers and cooling inflation after hitting a 40-year high in June 2022, 55% of registered voters preferred former President Trump to handle the economy compared to 33% favoring Biden, according to an NBC News poll of 1,000 registered voters published on Feb. 4. 

‘TIME THAT MAYBE HE STEP DOWN’: AMERICANS GRADE BIDEN AFTER CHARLAMAGNE BRANDS HIM AN ‘UNINSPIRING CANDIDATE’

Inflation is “too high, and everybody’s broke,” Reginald, of Los Angeles, said. “It’s like we’re going back to the ‘20s and ’30s again. This is not making America great again, that’s for sure.” 

High costs have remained a concern for some Americans, particularly as prices rose in January, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Prices climbed 3.1% from the same time last year, and inflation remained above the Federal Reserve’s 2% target. 

AMERICANS GRADE PRESIDENT BIDEN ON HIS HANDLING OF THE ECONOMY. WATCH:

Others told Fox News women’s rights, border security and climate change were among their top voting issues. 

“Our border is an issue,” Lori, a Texas native, told Fox News. “I feel like our border is not secure, and we need to secure that.”

NEW YORK TWIN BROTHERS GO VIRAL ON TIKTOK FOR HILARIOUS VIDEOS ON INFLATION: ‘YOU GOT TO WORK HARD’

Sarah, from Boston, said abortion access was a top factor in her voting decisions.

“The most important issues are just to keep everybody’s rights intact,” Sue, also from Boston, said. “I think women’s rights, reproductive rights, are hugely important.”

Several voters told Fox News they prioritized a functioning government when considering their 2024 election decisions. 

I want “sanity,” Katherine, from Virginia, said.

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Allie, of Washington, D.C., shared a similar sentiment. 

“I’m just looking for stability,” she said. “We need to keep things operating and functioning.”

Former Republican presidential candidate Asa Hutchinson called former President Donald Trump “offensive” for comparing himself to deceased Russian activist Alexei Navalny.

Hutchinson reacted to the former president’s words in an interview with CNN’s John Berman, saying the comment lacked “common decency.”

“Well, it’s offensive to me. And there should be common decency, first of all. A respect for Alexei Navalny, that gave his life for freedom and fighting against a dictator. There should be respect for that,” said Hutchinson.

WATCH: TRUMP CONDEMNS ALEXEI NAVALNY’S DEATH AS ‘HORRIBLE THING’ AFTER FACING SHARP BACKLASH FROM HALEY

Hutchinson continued, “And there should also be a clear understanding that Putin is responsible, and that Putin is bad for Russia. He’s bad for anybody that loves freedom, and the United States should be having a clear voice.”

Trump wrote on social media following the news of Navalny’s death that the mysterious passing “has made me more and more aware of what’s happening in our country. It is a slow, steady progression with crooked radical left politicians and prosecutors and judges.”

The comment received strong backlash from those inside and outside the Republican Party, with many calling the remarks tone deaf.

HALEY CONDEMNS TRUMP’S REACTION TO NAVALNY DEATH: HE ‘PUT US ALL IN DANGER’

Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley claimed Trump’s comments were intentionally and obviously self-serving.

“This is on the heels of Trump saying that he would encourage Putin to invade any NATO countries that didn’t pull their weight – and now the only comment he’s going to make about Navalny is not hitting Putin for murdering him, not praising Navalny for fighting the corruption that was happening in Russia. But instead he’s going to compare himself to Navalny and the victim that he is in his court cases?” she said.

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Trump again addressed the suspicious death while participating in a Greenville, South Carolina, town hall hosted by Fox News’ Laura Ingraham just days ahead of the state’s Republican presidential primary – striking a more sympathetic tone.

“Navalny – a very sad situation. He was very brave because he went back [to Russia] when he could have stayed away,” Trump said when asked about the outrage from world leaders surrounding Navalny’s death, as well as claims by his opponents that he doesn’t care about human rights and freedom.

Fox News Digital’s Charles Creitz, Brandon Gillespie, and Paul Steinhauser contributed to this report.

FIRST ON FOX: President Biden’s re-election campaign is pulling no punches in trolling former President Donald Trump following its “historic” cash-on-hand announcement and massive fundraising haul for the month of January.

The Biden campaign said Monday it raised more than $42 million last month and has $130 million in cash-on-hand across all of its joint-fundraising committees — a figure the president’s re-election team is touting as “the highest total amassed by any Democratic candidate in history” at this point in the election cycle.

Those numbers compare to just $30 million cash-on-hand reported by the Trump campaign at the end of January, although his campaign has not yet released its fundraising numbers for the month.

TRUMP EXPECTED TO HAUL IN $6M AT SOUTH CAROLINA FUNDRAISER: ‘THE PRIMARY IS OVER’

“It’s been a tough couple of weeks if you are Donald Trump and also like money,” Biden campaign official Ammar Moussa told Fox News Digital. “The RNC had its worst fundraising year in decades, is hemorrhaging cash, and now Trump enters the general election with the weakest operation in recent history.” 

“While Trump and the RNC burn cash paying for Trump’s …challenges, our campaign is proud of its historic war chest whose funds are going to reach the voters who will decide this election this November,” he added, referencing Trump’s numerous legal defenses being waged in Washington, D.C., Miami and Atlanta courtrooms.

Last year, Trump’s campaign fundraising apparatus shelled out $50 million to cover the cost of those legal bills, contributing to Biden’s financial upper-hand. 

WATCH: TRUMP CONDEMNS ALEXEI NAVALNY’S DEATH AS ‘HORRIBLE THING’ AFTER FACING SHARP BACKLASH FROM HALEY

However, Trump’s campaign is pointing to his edge in early general election polls that show him leading or statistically tied with Biden, as well as what they say is the inflow of money from everyday Americans ready for a change.

“President Trump’s campaign is fueled by small dollar donors across the country from every background who are sick and tired of Crooked Joe Biden’s record-high inflation, wide open border invasion, crime and chaos,” Trump campaign national press secretary Karolina Leavitt told Fox News Digital.

“Voters don’t want four more years of misery and destruction, and that’s why President Trump is dominating Biden in every single battleground poll,” she added.

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Biden’s cash advantage also comes just weeks after Fox News Digital reported on the cash problems and swing-state disarray being faced by the Republican National Committee (RNC) as its rival, the Democratic National Committee (DNC), held nearly three times the cash-on-hand to start the election year.

Fox News’ Brooke Singman and Paul Steinhauser contributed to this report.

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

FIRST ON FOX: House Speaker Mike Johnson is highlighting 100 news stories that he says show the “dangers and destruction” of the “Biden Border Catastrophe,” including crime, violence, fentanyl smuggling and national security threats, which he blames on the actions and policies of the Biden administration – as Republicans and the administration feud over who is responsible for the crisis.

“The mass release of illegal immigrants into our country is wreaking havoc on families, communities, and law enforcement. These 100 stories show how the Biden administration’s open door to illegal immigration is flooding America with fentanyl, human trafficking, and increased violence, bankrupting municipalities, and killing our citizens,” Johnson said in a statement to Fox News Digital.

The stories include dozens of instances of migrant-committed crime, including recent instances of Venezuelan and other migrants committing crime in New York City, where tens of thousands have traveled since being released into the U.S.

CHINESE ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION ON PACE TO BREAK RECORDS AT US SOUTHERN BORDER

It also highlights reports of migrants draining resources at the state and city level, including in Denver, New York City and Chicago, as well as reports of the enormous impact the crisis has had on housing, hospitals, schools and state budgets.

Other stories include the impact of the fentanyl crisis, which has afflicted the U.S. for years but has surged in recent years. The illicit drug, which is primarily smuggled across the U.S. border after its production in Mexico, can be fatal in small doses.

Other stories include how the border crisis has fueled smuggling across the border, making it a multibillion-dollar industry for cartels, and the impact it has had on Border Patrol agents on the frontlines. Separately, the 100 stories include national security threats and those on the terror watch list who have been encountered coming across the border.

Republicans have sought to pin the blame on the crisis on the policies of the administration, including increased “catch-and-release,” reduced interior enforcement and deportations, the halting of border wall construction and the reversal of a number of Trump-era policies, including the Remain-in-Mexico policy.

Last week, the House voted to impeach DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas on articles accusing him of having “refused to comply with federal immigration laws” and of having violated “public trust.” The matter now goes to the Senate for a trial.

“President Biden and Homeland Security Secretary Mayorkas have inflicted a colossal failure of leadership and refused to defend our homeland. They have the power to stop the catastrophe and secure the border right now, but they simply will not do so,” Johnson said in the statement to Fox News Digital.

HOUSE SPEAKER SAYS SENATE BORDER BILL ‘DEAD ON ARRIVAL’ IF IT REACHES CHAMBER: ‘EVEN WORSE THAN WE EXPECTED’

The Biden administration has pushed back, arguing that it needs funding and comprehensive immigration reform from Congress and calling for the Senate and House to pass a bipartisan deal that would have provided $20 billion in funding for the border while limiting asylum as part of a broad sweep of immigration measures. The White House said that the increased staffing and other measures would help secure the border and protect against fentanyl smuggling, arguing a vote against it was a vote “for fentanyl.” 

Conservatives have said that it did not go far enough and would have normalized high levels of illegal immigration. They called for the House GOP’s border bill to be passed as part of a supplemental spending agreement instead.

The administration has denied claims it has opened the door to illegal immigration and has pointed to statistics that show total removals and returns of illegal immigrants since May have exceeded every full fiscal year since 2015, and that DHS has seized more fentanyl and arrested more smugglers for fentanyl-related crimes than in the last five years combined. It has also said that its apprehension rate of illegal immigrants has remained broadly the same as the Trump administration’s.

Biden himself took aim at Republicans for impeaching Mayorkas, which he called “baseless,” while renewing calls for them to pass the border legislation.

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“We will continue pursuing real solutions to the challenges Americans face, and House Republicans have to decide whether to join us to solve the problem or keep playing politics with the border,” he said in a statement last week.

Fox News Digital reached out to the White House for comment.

Nikki Haley’s Republican presidential campaign has succeeded in siphoning thousands of donors away from President Biden.

The Haley campaign’s Tuesday fundraising report, first obtained by Politico, showed that more than 5,200 donors who gave to Biden’s 2020 campaign have donated to Haley this election cycle. That number includes over 1,600 who gave more than $500,000 to Biden, the outlet reported.

Haley’s report says the campaign received “large dollar” donations of $200 or more from 55,000 individuals in the month of January.

Haley has also siphoned some donors away from Trump. More than 10,000 donors who previously supported Trump in 2020 have donated to her campaign this election cycle, and 3,000 in January alone, according to Politico.

TRUMP HOLDS LARGE DOUBLE-DIGIT LEAD OVER HALEY AHEAD OF CRUCIAL SHOWDOWN

Haley has indicated she is determined to stay in the GOP primary race as long as she can. Trump remains dominant in polling, and he is expected to secure a commanding victory over Haley in her home state of South Carolina this weekend.

LAST RIVAL STANDING: HALEY FACES BIG CHALLENGE IN HER HOME STATE AGAINST TRUMP

“I refuse to quit. South Carolina will vote on Saturday. But on Sunday, I’ll still be running for president. I’m not going anywhere,” Haley said during a Tuesday campaign event.

“I have no fear of Trump’s retribution,” she stated.

Haley seems intent on holding her ground through at least Super Tuesday on March 5, when 15 states will hold their primaries and award some 800 delegates. Meanwhile, Florida, Illinois and Ohio will hold winner-take-all primaries on March 19, likely to be major victories for Trump.

HALEY SPOTLIGHTS TRUMP CHAOS’ AS JUDGE SETS FORMER PRESIDENT’S HUSH MONEY TRIAL DATE

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While South Carolina is home for Haley, the former president enjoys the backing of the state’s governor, nearly the entire congressional delegation, and scores of state lawmakers and local officials.

Fox News’ Paul Steinhauser contributed to this report.

Former President Trump appeared to tease a fight could take place between him and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell should he win the White House in November.

Trump made the comments during a Fox News town hall with host Laura Ingraham on Tuesday night. Trump and McConnell have maintained a fractious relationship since McConnell held nothing back in condemning Trump for the storming of the U.S. Capitol in January 2021.

“He’ll probably end up endorsing me. I don’t know that I can work with him,” Trump told Ingraham. “He gave away trillions of dollars that he didn’t have to, trillions of dollars. He made it very easy for the Democrats.”

A number of other members of Congress have speculated about how a second Trump administration will play out if McConnell remains in control of the Senate.

TRUMP HOLDS LARGE DOUBLE-DIGIT LEAD OVER HALEY AHEAD OF CRUCIAL SHOWDOWN

Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, told FOX Business’ Maria Bartiromo he was not even sure that McConnell would run for re-election if Trump wins the White House.

HALEY VOWS ‘I REFUSE TO QUIT’ IN CHALLENGE AGAINST TRUMP FOR GOP PRESIDENTIAL NOMINATION

“Obviously, there’s a lot of bad blood between Mitch McConnell and Donald Trump. Mitch will have to make that decision,” Cruz said on Sunday. “What I want to see is, I want to see Republicans in the Senate stand and lead and fight. I believe November is going to be a very good election. I think we’re going to see Donald Trump reelected as president of the United States.”

Trump also used his town hall appearance to once again challenge President Biden to a debate. Trump remains skeptical that Biden will accept the challenge, however.

TRUMP CAMPAIGN PREDICTS ‘A—KICKING’ FOR HALEY IN KEY PRIMARY

“I think you have an obligation in this case, you really have an obligation to debate, Trump emphasized. “As many as necessary. I could do it starting now.”

Trump went on to say, “I don’t think he’s going to debate. I really don’t think so.”

The path toward a debate between Trump and Biden remains murky. The Republican National Committee withdrew from the Commission on Presidential Debates in 2022, and Trump himself has called the organization “corrupt.”

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The debate commission has so far scheduled three general election debates, though neither Trump nor Biden have publicly agreed to them. The debates are scheduled for Sept. 16 at Texas State University in San Marcos; Oct. 1 at Virginia State University in Petersburg; and Oct. 9 at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City.

Fox News’ Paul Steinhauser and Brandon Gillespie contributed to this report.

FIRST ON FOX: Democrat-run states and cities across the country that have been inundated with illegal immigrants in recent months previously earmarked tens of millions of dollars in COVID-19 financial assistance programs to support “undocumented residents.”

According to a Fox News Digital review of state and local programs, Democrat governors and mayors earmarked at least $517 million for the programs, which generally consisted of providing cash payments to individual illegal immigrants. The funding reviewed by Fox News Digital was drawn from the American Rescue Plan (ARP), the $1.9 trillion federal COVID-19 stimulus package President Biden signed into law in March 2021.

“This means the Biden Administration directly subsidized ‘undocumented’ immigration under the guise of COVID-19 pandemic relief,” a recent report from the Economic Policy Innovation Center stated, pointing to how federal ARP funds were diverted to illegal immigrants in Washington state.

Overall, in addition to Washington, Fox News Digital identified such a funding mechanism in Illinois and New Jersey, and the cities of Washington, D.C., Chicago, Denver and Boston. The jurisdictions, in particular, used funding from the ARP’s Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery Fund, which was designed to help local governments recover from the pandemic.

ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION COULD HAVE MAJOR IMPACT ON HOUSE SEATS, ELECTORAL COLLEGE: EXPERTS

Economic Policy Innovation Center President and CEO Paul Winfree told Fox News Digital this month that the Biden administration has been “actively encouraging illegal immigration by using COVID money” from the recovery fund.

Washington’s government crafted the largest such program, allocating $340 million in ARP funding for the so-called “COVID-19 Immigrant Relief Fund” program. According to state and federal filings, the program consisted of sending one-time cash grants worth $1,000 each to immigrants with unauthorized citizenship status.

In a report last year, the Washington state Department of Social and Health Services said more than 100,000 undocumented residents received payments of $3,075 under the program. The state’s legislature approved the program in legislation passed in April 2021.

REPUBLICANS PROBE DHS SECRETARY MAYORKAS OVER ROLE IN HOUSING MIGRANTS ON FEDERAL LANDS

“The COVID-19 Immigrant Relief Fund was highly publicized and repeatedly funded by the Legislature. It ran from 2020 to 2023,” Mike Faulk, a spokesperson for Washington Gov. Jay Inslee, told Fox News Digital. “Folks would do well to familiarize themselves with the disparate health impacts that faced communities of color and immigrants during the pandemic.”

“All Washingtonians were impacted by COVID regardless of where they came from, and our state was proud to help as many of our residents as possible during an unprecedented disaster,” he added.

In Illinois, the state government allocated $71.8 million in ARP funds for cash payments made “to households that were not eligible to receive Economic Impact Payments… due to immigration status.” Chicago’s government earmarked another $14.7 million for its “resiliency fund” which sent $500 cash transfers to tens of thousands of “previously excluded residents and domestic workers.”

A notice issued as part of the program states that “no questions will be asked in regards to citizenship or immigration status” of applicants.

Meanwhile, both Chicago and Illinois broadly have experienced a massive surge in migrants, straining taxpayer-funded government services designed for citizens.

REPUBLICANS ACCELERATE PROBE INTO BIDEN ADMINISTRATION’S ACTIONS TO HOUSE MIGRANTS ON FEDERAL LANDS

“States and cities cannot indefinitely respond to the subsequent strain on state and local resources without Congressional action,” Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker and eight fellow Democrat governors wrote in a letter to President Biden and congressional leaders last month.

Among the other governors to sign the letter — which further characterized the surge of migrants as a “humanitarian crisis” — was New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy, whose administration earmarked $60 million in ARP funds for the “Excluded New Jerseyans Fund,” which sent cash payments to illegal immigrants.

MAYOR’S OFFICE AVOIDS SAYING WHETHER IT BACKS NONCITIZENS VOTING AFTER WARNING MIGRANT CRISIS WILL DESTROY NYC

State filings show the state sent cash payments worth $2,000 per individual or up to $4,000 per household to tens of thousands of households. The state government defined “excluded New Jerseyans” as “undocumented individuals, residents re-entering from the justice system, and other individuals otherwise excluded from pandemic-related financial help.”

Washington, D.C., Denver and Boston allocated $26 million, $3 million and $1 million, respectively, for ARP-funded programs to give cash aid to illegal immigrants. Those cities have recently seen some of the largest surges in immigrants seeking government services and resources.

For example, in 2022, Washington, D.C., Mayor Muriel Bowser declared a public emergency in response to the surge, stating at the time that the city was “not a border town.”

And Denver and Boston have been forced to divert critical city resources to support migrants and build shelters for those lacking homes.

REPUBLICANS FUME AT BIDEN FOR VACATIONING AS BORDER CROSSINGS EXPLODE: ‘DERELICTION OF DUTY’

“Today, we began making the hard decisions to reduce department budgets and begin reducing migrant services,” Denver Mayor Mike Johnston said this month. “Denverites have done their part, the city will do our part. The federal government failed to do their part. Addressing this crisis will require shared sacrifice, but we will continue to work together to meet this moment.”

Johnston’s remarks came after he slashed the budgets of city agencies amid the rise in migrants.

Meanwhile, in January, the federal government reported more than 156,000 migrant encounters at the U.S. southern border, a slight year-over-year uptick, but a decrease compared to the month prior. In December, more than 302,000 migrants were encountered crossing the border, by far the largest single-month figure ever recorded.

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The December figures brought the fiscal 2024 first-quarter level to 785,000 encounters, the highest number ever recorded.

Former President Trump’s leadership PAC spent another $2.9 million on legal bills last month, according to a campaign finance filing Tuesday. 

The leadership PAC, Save America, spent about $50 on Trump’s legal expenses last year, Politico reported. Save America received another $5 million from the pro-Trump super PAC MAGA Inc., according to Tuesday’s filing with the Federal Elections Committee (FEC). 

The money went to covering Save America’s $2.9 million in legal spending in January – less than the leadership PAC has spent on legal bills in recent months, though the amount still accounted for most of Save America’s spending. At the end of January, Save America said it had $6.3 million left in the bank. 

MAGA Inc. sent $42 million to Save America last year to help cover legal expenses. 

BIDEN CAMPAIGN BRINGS IN $42 MILLION IN JANUARY, TOUTS ‘HISTORIC’ CASH-ON-HAND

Trump’s web of political committees spent more than they raised collectively last year, according to Politico. 

Over the last two years, Trump’s Save America political action committee, his presidential campaign and his other fundraising organizations have devoted $76.7 million to legal fees, according to the Associated Press, and campaign finance experts expect the current GOP front-runner to spend PAC money to defray the cost of his judgments in some way. 

After spending more money on ads and legal expenses than it received from donors, Trump’s campaign cash holdings dropped to just over $30 million at the end of January – down from about $33 million in December, the campaign’s FEC filing shows, according to Reuters. But last month, he did successfully sweep GOP primary contests in Iowa and New Hampshire. 

The Trump campaign said it spent more than $11 million and raised more than $8 million in January. As the Democratic incumbent faces a less competitive primary contest, the Biden campaign reported in its FEC disclosure that it ended January with about $56 million in cash – an increase from the $46 million in December. 

Trump’s legal expenses might now exceed half a billion dollars, according to the AP. 

New York Judge Arthur Engoron ordered Trump and his companies Friday to pay $355 million in fines, plus interest, after ruling that he had manipulated his net worth in financial statements in a case brought by New York Attorney General Letitia James. 

The stiff penalty comes just weeks after Trump was ordered to pay $83.3 million to the columnist E. Jean Carroll for damaging her reputation after she accused him of sexual assault and defamation. A separate jury last year awarded Carroll $5 million from Trump for sexual abuse and defamation.

Trump has adamantly denied wrongdoing and pledged to appeal, a process that could take months or even years.

Between Friday’s ruling and the two judgments in Carroll’s case, Trump would be on the hook for about $542 million in legal judgments.

Trump owes another $110,000 for refusing to comply with a subpoena in the civil fraud case and $15,000 for repeatedly disparaging the judge’s law clerk in violation of a gag order. As part of Friday’s ruling, the judge also ordered both of Trump’s adult sons to pay $4 million apiece.

BIDEN CAMPAIGN AIMS TO USE STATE OF THE UNION ADDRESS AS RESET AFTER DAMNING SPECIAL COUNSEL CLAIMS: REPORT

Trump’s court-ordered debts don’t end there. Last month, he was ordered to pay nearly $400,000 in legal fees to The New York Times after suing the newspaper unsuccessfully. He is currently appealing a judgment of $938,000 against him and his attorney for filing what a judge described as a “frivolous” lawsuit against Hillary Clinton.

Though it is not uncommon for the size of judgments, particularly high-dollar amounts, to be reduced on appeal, Trump has already deposited $5 million owed to Carroll for the first defamation case into a court-controlled account, along with an additional $500,000 in interest required by New York law. Carroll will not have access to the funds until the appeals process plays out.

Trump may soon be forced to do the same for the $83.3 million judgment in the second Carroll case. Alternatively, he could secure a bond and pay only a portion up front — though that option would come with interest and fees and likely require some form of collateral. Trump would have to find a financial institution willing to front him the money.

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In the civil fraud case, it will be up to the courts to decide how much Trump must put up as he mounts his appeal. He may be required to pay the full sum immediately after the appellate court rules, which could come as soon as this summer, University of Michigan law professor Will Thomas told the AP. 

The Associated Press contributed to this report.