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COLUMBIA, S.C. — Two top Republicans likely didn’t get the welcome they expected from the crowd gathered to celebrate former President Donald Trump’s victory in the South Carolina Republican primary on Saturday.

After being recognized by Trump during his speech, South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham and state GOP chair Drew McKissick were showered with boos that the former president couldn’t even quell.

“No. No. No. No. Remember —” Trump said, laughing, as he attempted to quiet the crowd’s disdain for Graham. “I love him. He’s a good man,” he added, telling Graham to come over to the microphone. 

TRUMP SAYS SOUTH CAROLINA IS A ‘BIGGER WIN THAN WE ANTICIPATED,’ LOOKS FORWARD TO SAYING ‘JOE, YOU’RE FIRED’

The crowd continued to boo as Graham approached the podium and began to speak. He briefly praised Trump for his victory, and the boos continued, albeit more quietly, as he went back to his spot on the stage.

A few minutes later, Trump recognized McKissick to another round of boos, which appeared to surprise Trump.

“We have a highly opinionated group of people,” he said, laughing. “I’ll tell you, they turned very positive on you very quickly, Lindsey,” he added.

TRUMP WINS SOUTH CAROLINA PRIMARY AGAINST HALEY IN HER HOME STATE, MOVES CLOSER TO CLINCHING GOP NOMINATION

McKissick was re-elected party chair last year, but has dealt with waves of infighting in recent years, while Graham still faces sharp criticism from within his party for what some see as him abandoning Trump in the final days of his term following the Jan. 6 protests at the U.S. Capitol, which turned violent.

Graham was one of the earliest elected officials to endorse Trump and has advocated the former president choosing his Senate counterpart, fellow South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott, as his vice presidential running mate.

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New York Jets owner and billionaire businessman Woody Johnson stood in support behind former President Trump in South Carolina on Saturday night after Trump was quickly projected the winner of the state’s primary.

Johnson, who served as U.S. ambassador to the United Kingdom during the Trump administration, was on stage alongside his wife Suzanne behind Trump as the former president delivered a speech after his quick victory in the Palmetto State primary on Saturday.

Johnson, a member of the founding family of Johnson & Johnson, has previously expressed support for the former president during the 2024 campaign. 

“Americans remember how good it was or how much better it was on the border, and inflation, and gas prices, and grocery prices, all that, during the Trump administration, and they want to get back there,” Johnson told News’ Sunday Morning Futures with Maria Bartiromo earlier this month. 

JETS’ OWNER WOODY JOHNSON TAKES SHOT AT ZACH WILSON, PUTS OFFENSE ON NOTICE: ‘WE’VE GOT TO PRODUCE THIS YEAR’

“So I think the most important thing is getting the former president back in the White House, which looks like it’s happening.”

Fox News Digital reached out to Johnson’s representatives but did not immediately receive a response.

WATCH: TRUMP RALLYGOERS REVEAL WHOM THEY WANT AS VICE PRESIDENT

Trump’s rapidly-called victory on Saturday over former U.N. ambassador and former two-term South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley in her home state moves the former president another step closer to clinching the 2024 GOP nomination. 

“It’s an early evening and a fantastic evening,” Trump told a crowd of supporters gathered at the South Carolina state fairgrounds in Columbia, the state capitol, just minutes after polls closed and he was declared the victor.

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“Celebrate for 15 minutes, but then we have to get back to work,” he added, referencing next week’s Michigan primary, and Super Tuesday the following week.

Fox News Digital’s Paul Steinhauser contributed to this report

Former President Trump touted a “bigger win than we anticipated” in the South Carolina Republican Primary Saturday night, saying he looks forward to looking at President Biden in November and saying: “Joe, you’re fired.”

The primary was called for the former president and 2024 GOP frontrunner just moments after polls closed Saturday night, defeating former two-term South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley in her home state, and bringing him another step closer to clinching the 2024 GOP nomination. 

TRUMP WINS SOUTH CAROLINA PRIMARY AGAINST HALEY IN HER HOME STATE, MOVES CLOSER TO CLINCHING GOP NOMINATION

“This is really something. This was a little sooner than we anticipated and an even bigger win than we anticipated,” Trump said. “And I was just informed that we got double the number of votes that has ever been received in the great state of South Carolina.” 

Trump then began highlighting the “horror” of the “millions and millions of people coming across the border illegally.”

“We don’t know where they come from, they come from jails and they come from prisons — they come from all sorts of places,” Trump said. “We’re not going to stand for it — you have terrorists coming in.”

Trump vowed to “straighten things out.”

“The border is the worst it’s ever been,” he said. “We’re going to fix it — fix it very quickly.” 

He added: “Our country is going to be respected again. Respected like never before.” 

Trump went on to predict he’ll win the general election in November. 

“We’re going to be up here on November 5th, and we’re going to look at Joe Biden and he’s destroying our country and we’re going to say, Joe, get out, Joe, you’re fired,” Trump said. “Joe, you’re destroying our country.” 

He added: “And we’re going to I just wish we could do it quicker. Nine months is a long time. I just wish we could do it quicker.

Trump said he has “never seen the Republican Party so unified as it is right now– it’s never been like that.”

HEAD HERE FOR LIVE FOX NEWS UPDATES ON THE SOUTH CAROLINA GOP PRESIDENTIAL PRIMARY

Trump was on stage with his family— his wife, former First Lady Melania Trump; his sons Barron, Donald Jr., Eric; his daughters Ivanka and Tiffany; his sons-in-law Jared Kushner, and Michael Boulos; his daughter-in-law Lara Trump; and Donald Trump Jr.’s fiancée, Kimberly Guilfoyle.

Trump was also joined on stage by South Carolina GOP Senators Tim Scott, who has been rumored to be a potential pick for vice president, and Lindsey Graham. 

Trump described Scott, R-S.C., as “a dynamo” and a “wonderful, great advocate,” and a “very special man.”

Scott declared South Carolina “Trump Country,” with Graham saying Trump is “the most qualified man to be president, the United States.”

South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster was also on stage with the former president. 

The former president also gave a shout-out to Michael Whatley, the North Carolina Republican Party chairman. Trump has endorsed Whatley to be the chair of the Republican National Committee. 

“We gave him our endorsement and he looks to me like he’s going to be going on to the National Republican Party as the boss,” Trump said, adding that he would be working with “Lara [Trump],” and said “we may be putting Kellyanne [Conway] in the group too.” 

TRUMP CAMPAIGN PREDICTS ‘A**-KICKING’ FOR HALEY IN HER HOME STATE, BUT SHE SAYS ‘I REFUSE TO QUIT’

“We like Kellyanne,” Trump said of his former senior counselor and 2020 campaign manager. 

Meanwhile, Trump, looking ahead, pointed to next week’s Michigan Primary, where he predicted a victory because “the auto workers are going to be with us 100% because they got sold out by this country.” 

“We have Super Tuesday, we have more coming,” he said. 

“We have a country that is a failing nation, but we’re not going to have a nation very long,” he said. “We’re not going to allow this to happen. We love our country. We love it dearly. We’re going to fight for our country. We’re in a fight for our rights. We’re not going to let this go on because it is not sustainable as a country.” 

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Trump added that Election Day, November 5, “is going to be the most important date, perhaps, in the history of our country.” 

Trump has three times as many delegates as Haley already, and he will win up to 50 more tonight, according to the Fox News Decision Desk. Haley could not convert her hometown advantage into a win. She told supporters this week that she was not dropping out of the race.

COLUMBIA, S.C. – Former President Donald Trump has won the South Carolina Republican presidential primary, Fox News Decision Desk projects.

Trump’s rapidly-called victory on Saturday over former U.N. ambassador and former two-term South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley in her home state moves the former president another step closer to clinching the 2024 GOP nomination. 

The Fox News Decision Desk projected Trump’s primary just after polls closed at 7 p.m. ET in the Palmetto State.

“We’re going to have a gigantic victory here in South Carolina,” Trump predicted on the eve of the primary, as he spoke Friday to roughly 5,000 supporters at a large rally in Rock Hill, in the northern part of the state.

HEAD HERE FOR LIVE FOX NEWS UPDATES ON THE SOUTH CAROLINA GOP PRESIDENTIAL PRIMARY

Trump has three times as many delegates as former Haley already, and he will win up to 50 more tonight, according to the Fox News Decision Desk. Haley could not convert her hometown advantage into a win. She told supporters this week that she was not dropping out of the race.

Looking ahead to his all-but-certain general election rematch with President Biden, Trump said “we’re going to show crooked Joe Biden and the radical left Democrats that we are coming like a freight train in November.”

Trump said that the end was near for Haley’s White House bid.

“She’s getting clobbered,” Trump emphasized at a recent rally in North Charleston, S.C., as he pointed to his last remaining major rival for the Republican nomination. “She’s finished.”

And on Tuesday, at a Fox News town hall in Greenville, S.C,. Trump emphasized that “you’re not supposed to lose your home state. It shouldn’t happen,” before added that “she’s losing it bigly.”

The Trump campaign earlier this week predicted an “ass-kicking in the making in South Carolina” for Haley, and that “the end is near” for her presidential run due to “a very serious math problem” she has in the race to lock up enough delegates to win the 2024 GOP nomination.

TRUMP CAMPAIGN PREDICTS ‘A**-KICKING’ FOR HALEY IN HER HOME STATE, BUT SHE SAYS ‘I REFUSE TO QUIT’

But Haley remained defiant, and addressed the calls for her to drop out in a major speech minutes after the release of the Trump campaign memo.

“Some of you — perhaps a few of you in the media — came here today to see if I’m dropping out of the race. Well, I’m not. Far from it,” said the former two-term South Carolina governor who later served as U.N. ambassador in the Trump administration.

“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 emphasized.

She added that “I have no fear of Trump’s retribution.”

On the campaign trail in the closing days of the South Carolina primary, Haley told supporters that “I will take the bruises. I will take the cuts. This is going to be messy and I’ll take the hurt because I believe nothing good comes easy. Sometimes we have to feel pain to appreciate the blessing.”

Haley also turned up the volume this month in her verbal attacks on Trump, from his legal entanglements to his controversial comments on NATO, the death of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, and Trump’s mocking her husband — who is overseas on a military tour of duty.

Trump grabbed a majority of the votes last month in Iowa caucus and New Hampshire primary victories, and won by a landslide earlier this month in the Nevada and U.S. Virgin Island caucuses.

HALEY ACCUSES TRUMP OF SIDING WITH A DICTATOR AND TYRANT’

Trump only made a handful of stops in South Carolina this month, while Haley campaigned relentlessly. But the final public opinion surveys indicated the former president maintaining a large double-digit lead.

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

Veteran South Carolina-based Republican consultant Dave Wilson pointed to Trump’s “groundswell” in the state and highlighted the former president’s “ground forces.”

Wilson, who remains neutral in the primary, also noted that “Nikki Haley is reintroducing herself to South Carolina” because “almost a million people have moved into the state since she was governor.”

South Carolina holds open primaries, which means Republicans, independents, and even Democrats could vote in the GOP presidential nominating contest, as long as they didn’t cast a ballot in the Feb. 3 Democratic presidential primary.

TRUMP RUNNING MATE AUDITIONS ON THE SOUTH CAROLINA CAMPAIGN TRAIL

Independents helped fuel Haley’s 43% showing in New Hampshire, where she lost to Trump by 11 points. 

But while independent voters have long played a crucial and influential role in the first-in-the-nation primary, they are much less of a factor in South Carolina’s more conservative electorate, where evangelical voters enjoy prominence in GOP contests.

Regardless of the results in South Carolina, Haley in recent weeks repeatedly pledged to stay in the Republican presidential nomination race at least through March 5, when 15 states hold contests on Super Tuesday.

“We are focused on every state before us. Now it’s South Carolina on Saturday. Then it will be Michigan [which holds a primary on Tuesday, Feb. 27], then it will be Super Tuesday states and we’ll take it from there,” Haley told Fox News Digital in an interview on Wednesday in North Augusta, S.C. “Our goal is that we’re giving voices a chance to be heard.”

And on Friday, Haley’s campaign announced they were going up with a multi-million dollar national cable ad blitz ahead of Super Tuesday.

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Nearly 800 delegates are up for grabs on Super Tuesday, with over 150 at stake over the following two weeks. Among the states holding contests on Super Tuesday are delegate-rich California and Texas, and other big states like Florida, Illinois and Ohio will hold winner-take-all primaries on March 19. Polling in many of those states indicates Trump holding large leads over Haley.

The Trump campaign predicted in their memo that the former president would secure the nomination on March 19, even under a “most-generous model” for Haley.

“Let’s see if it happens,” Haley quickly responded when asked by Fox News what she would do if Trump clinches the nomination next month.

Fox News’ Kirill Clark and Deirdre Heavey contributed to this report

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

ROCK HILL, S.C. – Supporters of former President Donald Trump attending his final rally ahead of Saturday’s South Carolina Republican presidential primary shared who they’d like to see as his vice presidential running mate in the November general election.

Fox News Digital spoke with just a few of the nearly 6,000 supporters who showed up to Winthrop University’s campus in Rock Hill, South Carolina on Friday, waiting for hours in line to see and hear the former president bash President Biden, as well as his Republican rival Nikki Haley, a name not uttered once by those listing a number of others they said would make a good second-in-command.

“I like Kari Lake a lot. I think she’d be great,” one supporter told Fox, referencing the conservative firebrand and likely Republican nominee in the race to flip Arizona’s Senate seat. 

KRISTI NOEM OFFERS 5 REQUIREMENTS TO SERVE AS TRUMP’S VP

A number of others suggested Lake, as well as former presidential candidate and entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, both of whom are strong backers of Trump’s bid to retake the White House.

“I think Vivek … I like what he’s said,” one supporter told Fox, citing Ramaswamy’s “refusal” to bash Trump in the earlier days of the primaries, unlike the other candidates previously vying for the nomination. “He’s also a minority, so it’s not like it’s just another White person who supports him, so I think that’s a big thing.”

Some suggested Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem, neurosurgeon and former Trump official Ben Carson and Rep. Byron Donalds, R-Fla., but one name stood out more than all the others: South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott.

NIKKI HALEY SAYS NO CHANCE OF BEING TRUMP VP, SAYS SHE ‘WOULD’VE GOTTEN OUT ALREADY’

“I like his Christian values, the way he stands for Trump, the way he loves Trump, and I believe he’s good support from Trump,” one supporter said of Scott, while another praised his record as a conservative senator.

Trump revealed at least a few names on his shortlist for a running mate while participating in a Fox News town hall earlier this week. The list included Scott, DeSantis, Noem, Ramaswamy, Donalds and former Hawaii Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, a Democrat turned independent who became nationally known after her run for the presidency in 2020, as well as for her sharp criticism of Biden.

Haley, who many considered a potential choice for Trump’s vice president earlier in the campaign cycle, acknowledged to Fox this week there was zero chance she would be selected as his running mate, a view likely solidified by her refusal to leave the race despite being a heavy underdog with little chance of becoming the Republican nominee.

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“I wouldn’t be doing this if I was worried about a political future,” she said. “I would’ve gotten out already. I’m doing this trying to wake up our country.”

After providing the names on his shortlist, Trump also ruled out any suggestion Haley would end up his running mate.

Fox News’ 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

Nikki Haley’s team has given its strongest indication yet that the former ambassador plans to stay in the race for the Republican nomination through Super Tuesday by announcing a seven-figure ad-buy in various states. 

“We know that the math is challenging, but this has never just been about who can win a Republican primary,” Haley’s campaign manager Betsy Ankney said Friday on a call with reporters, according to NPR. “This battle is about who can win in November, defeat the Democrats and finally get our country back on track.”

Former President Donald Trump continues to lead as voters head to the polls in Haley’s home state of South Carolina, with Haley trying to prove her viability with a competitive finish. Polling ahead of the primary indicated Trump has commanding double-digit lead. 

Haley made clear in the days ahead of the primary that she planned to stay in no matter the outcome of Saturday’s primary, saying she would “refuse to quit” and that “on Sunday, I’ll still be running for president. I’m not going anywhere.”

NIKKI HALEY SAYS NO CHANCE OF BEING TRUMP VP, SAYS SHE ‘WOULD’VE GOTTEN OUT ALREADY’

In a separate interview this week with NPR, Haley once again raised her concerns about Trump as president, arguing that Trump brought “chaos” and “division.” She made clear that she has “even more concerns about Joe Biden being president.” 

Her fight has brought her significant financial backing, with her campaign managing to pull around 5,200 donors who had backed President Biden in the 2020 election, including over 1,600 donors who gave more than $500,000 to Biden, according to Politico.

HALEY COURTS INDEPENDENTS, DEMOCRATS AS SHE AIMS TO AVOID A BLOWOUT TO TRUMP ON HER HOME TURF

Haley’s campaign highlighted the “large dollar” donations of $200 or more from over 55,000 individuals in January alone as proof of her backing. She also siphoned more than 10,000 donors who had supported Trump in 2020. 

Haley’s refusal to back down has infuriated the Trump campaign: A memo from the campaign argued that Haley would face an “a—kicking in the making in South Carolina” and predicted “the end is near” for her campaign.

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

Lara Trump, daughter-in-law to former President Trump, blasted Haley in an interview with Fox News Digital for staying in despite “obvious” proof that Haley has “no path.” 

“Why stay in the race? Why fight against the Republican nominee, the person who is leading the party?” Lara Trump said. She also suggested that Haley might bank on Trump’s legal struggles to hinder his ability to run. 

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“I will say that any person who is not standing up and fighting back in the face of that, calling it out for exactly what it is – election interference – should not be running for President of the United States,” Lara Trump said. 

Nikki Haley’s campaign team did not respond to a Fox News Digital request for comment by time of publication. 

Fox News Digital Remy Numa and Paul Steinhauser contributed to this report. 

Former President Donald Trump claims that his wife Melania is expected to make more regular public appearances on the campaign trail.

Trump made the remarks during his interview at a Fox News townhall earlier this week with host Laura Ingraham. 

“It’s funny, she was a very successful model, very, very successful, and yet she was a private person. She’s going to be out a lot. Not because she likes doing it, but she likes the results,” he said Tuesday. “She wants to see this country really succeed. She loves the country.”

TRUMP SAYS IT’S ‘CRAZY’ HOW CHRISTIANS, PEOPLE OF FAITH CAN VOTE FOR DEMOCRATS

“You know, a lot of first ladies would go out — they want to be everywhere. They get angry at their husband because he’s not introducing them,” Trump continued. “If I didn’t introduce Melania, she’d be very happy about it. She’s just a different kind of a person.”

Melania has been largely absent from her husband’s 2024 presidential bid thus far, making few public appearances and staying out of the media.

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

Her absence, until recently, has been explained by the passing of her mother, Amalija Knavs, earlier this year. But as the campaign season becomes more intense, political commentators have questioned whether she will step back into efforts supporting Trump.

Trump also expressed appreciation that Melania has been dedicated to raising their son, Barron Trump.

“Her life revolves around that boy. It’s so important to her,” Trump said. “At the same time, it also revolves around our country and the success of our country. She’s raised a lot of money for charity. She’s a private person.”

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“And she loves the country,” Trump added. “She’s going to be out a lot, but she does it for the good of the country, not for her. She’s somebody with a lot of confidence. She doesn’t need that.”

Trump’s Fox News town hall came four days before South Carolina’s Republican presidential primary, which commences Saturday. 

The latest public opinion polls indicate that he maintains a very large double-digit lead over former U.N. ambassador and former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, his last major rival for the GOP nomination.

CHARLESTON, S.C. – FIRST ON FOX — Republican South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott slammed what he called a “two-tiered standard” concerning President Biden mulling executive action to handle the border crisis, and how former President Trump was treated during his presidency when he attempted to do the same thing.

“Well, there’s no question that there’s a two-tiered standard in our national media. The way they cover President Trump versus the way that they use kid gloves to cover Joe Biden. There’s no question about that,” Scott said during a Thursday interview with Fox News Digital when asked about reports that Biden is weighing executive action to crack down on asylum-seeking.

“More important, however, is that when we had President Trump in office, we actually had a basically sealed southern border. Crossings were around a thousand a day. Under President Biden in December, we had 10,000 crossings on average per day,” he added. “That contrast should be what the media is covering.”

TRUMP VP AUDITIONS: SCOTT RAMASWAMY HIT TRAIL IN SOUTH CAROLINA ON BEHALF OF FORMER PRESIDENT

An administration source told Fox earlier this week that Biden is considering executive action to restrict the ability of migrants to claim asylum amid historic numbers of border crossings facing the country, but that it’s one of “several” plans being looked at.

An administration official also stressed that there have been no final decisions on what actions, if any, could be taken and that exploring policy options does not mean they will come to pass.

One of the options reportedly on the table is use of 212(f) of the 1952 Immigration and Nationality Act, which allows the president to restrict certain categories of foreigners who are deemed “detrimental to the interests of the United States.” Trump attempted to use it but was blocked by a federal court, a ruling later upheld by the Supreme Court.

HISPANIC HOUSE DEMS ACCUSE BIDEN OF LEAVING THEM IN DARK ON POSSIBLE EXECUTIVE ACTION AT BORDER

The former president also faced sharp criticism from Democrats and members of the liberal media for attempting to use executive action on immigration, including being called “xenophobic” and “racist.”

Biden has yet to face the same widespread level of criticism, although some of the more progressive Democrats have lashed out at the idea of Biden reverting to the previous administration’s approach.

“Democrats CANNOT solve immigration problems by adopting Trump-like policies,” Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., wrote in a post on X, while Rep. Jesús García, D-Ill., claimed, “President Biden would be making a grave mistake if he moves forward with this policy.”

DEMOCRAT IN CRUCIAL SENATE RACE UNDER FIRE FOR PAST AMNESTY, SANCTUARY CITY ‘SUPPORT’ AS BORDER CRISIS SPIRALS

The possible executive action by Biden comes just under two weeks after the House of Representatives narrowly voted to impeach Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas over his handling of the border crisis.

During a gaggle with reporters after casting his vote in the South Carolina primary earlier in the day, Scott told Fox that he “certainly” supported Mayorkas’ impeachment, and he praised the House for having the “courage” to take such action. However, he admitted the task likely wouldn’t go anywhere in the Democrat-controlled Senate.

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“The best way to eliminate Mayorkas being the secretary is to actually fire Joe Biden,” he said. “If we really want to change the trajectory of the country as it relates to immigration — illegal immigration — we have to do so by having someone, a commander-in-chief, who respects our borders, who wants to close our borders.”

Fox News’ Adam Shaw and Paul Steinhauser contributed to this report.

Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley says there is zero chance of her becoming the vice presidential nominee alongside former President Donald Trump.

Speaking with Fox News’s Bret Baier in Mt. Pleasant, South Carolina, during the final days of her campaigning in the state.

“We’re gonna see what happens tomorrow,” Haley told Baier. “But look, the problem when people say, ‘Why is she doing this? Why is she doing that?’ At first, they were like, ‘She’s doing this because she wants to be vice president.’ I think ’we’ve pretty much settled that. I’ve said it for months, it’s done.” 

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

“I wouldn’t be doing this if I was worried about a political future,” she added. “I would’ve gotten out already. I’m doing this trying to wake up our country.”

Trump previously acknowledged during a Fox News townhall that Ron DeSantis, Tim Scott, Vivek Ramaswamy, Kristi Noem, Bryon Donalds and Tulsi Gabbard are on his running mate shortlist. 

Trump has many times reiterated that he has ruled out Haley as his running mate, despite some Republicans who had hoped for a combined ticket.

TRUMP EXPECTED TO MOVE CLOSER TO CLINCHING GOP PRESIDENTIAL NOMINATION WITH LIKELY BIG WIN OVER HALEY IN SC

Asked on Friday if she would be willing to drop out of the Republican primary in order to team up with Democratic candidate Rep. Dean Phillips on a unity ticket, Haley said no.

“I’m running as a Republican. I’m running trying to wake people up that, if they nominate Donald Trump in this primary, we will lose a general election,” Haley said.

The Trump campaign predicted an “a**-kicking in the making in South Carolina” for Haley, and that “the end is near” for her presidential run due to “a very serious math problem” she has in the race to lock up enough delegates to win the 2024 GOP nomination.

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South Carolina is Haley’s home state, where she previously served as governor.

Haley has already lost the Iowa caucuses and New Hampshire primary to Trump, but has said she has no plans to get out of the race. 

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

Russian President Vladimir Putin responded with a joke when asked by the press for reaction to recent jabs from President Biden.

The U.S. president made national headlines this week when he called Putin a “crazy SOB” during a speech about climate change at a fundraising dinner in California.

“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.” 

PUTIN CLAIMS HE PREFERS ‘MORE PREDICTABLE’ BIDEN OVER TRUMP

Asked for comment on Thursday regarding Biden’s “SOB” comment, Putin referred to a previous endorsement he gave of Biden over rival and former President Donald Trump.

“He can’t of course say to me: ‘Volodya, well done, thank you [for the endorsement], you’ve helped me a lot?'” Putin said sarcastically, according to a translation from Agence France-Presse.

“Volodya” is an endeared, familiar version of the Russia president’s name, “Vladimir” — similar in American English to “Bobby” for “Robert.”

BIDEN CALLS PUTIN A ‘CRAZY SOB’ AT CALIFORNIA FUNDRAISER

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

Putin recently said in an interview on state television that he would prefer the “more predictable” Biden winning the upcoming U.S. presidential election compared to Trump. 

Putin made the remark after being asked by an interviewer about who between Biden and the Republican frontrunner for the nomination would be a better choice from Russia’s point of view. 

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP 

“Biden, he’s more experienced, more predictable, he’s a politician of the old formation,” Putin responded. “But we will work with any U.S. leader whom the American people trust.” 

Putin also commented on Biden’s mental state following the release of Special Counsel Robert Hur’s report last week, calling him a “sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory.” 

“When I met with Biden in Switzerland — true, that was several years, three years ago — people were already saying he wasn’t up to it. I didn’t see anything of the kind,” Putin said, according to Reuters. 

Fox News Digital’s Greg Norman contributed to this report.

Voters are casting ballots today in South Carolina, the last of the major early states to choose a Republican nominee for president before Super Tuesday.

Former President Donald Trump has maintained a consistent and commanding polling lead, while the state’s former governor, Nikki Haley, will try to prove that she is a viable candidate with a competitive performance.

She will need to win at least in Charleston and Richland to clear that bar, while Trump will be looking to sweep the rest of the state.

Greenville and Spartanburg are battlegrounds to watch

Two counties in upstate South Carolina, Greenville and Spartanburg, add up to about 16% of the registered voter population of the state.

Like the overall region, these two counties are also heavily White and evangelical.

As we saw in Iowa, these voters favor Trump by wide margins, and the latest polling in South Carolina suggests they will vote similarly here today.

When Trump first ran for president in 2016, he had two major competitors in the Palmetto State: Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio.

Both candidates put up a serious fight in these two counties. In Greenville, they took 24.5% of the vote each; Trump won overall with 26.7%.

TRUMP CAMPAIGN PREDICTS ‘A– KICKING’ FOR HALEY IN SOUTH CAROLINA PRIMARY

Cruz, who courted the evangelical vote throughout his run, took 24.5% in Spartanburg, while Rubio received 22.9%. Trump won with 32.6%.

The results from recent primaries and polling suggest that most of the Cruz voters have found a new home with Trump. 

Therefore, to win the state, Trump will look to take home at least a similar share of the vote in the upstate region as the combined share that he and Cruz took in 2016. For a performance in line with polling expectations, and with all other things being equal, he’ll look for something in the area of 65-75%.

With such an evangelical tilt, Haley is not likely to be very competitive here.

Charleston and Richland should be more favorable to Haley than other parts of the state

In line with her strategy in New Hampshire, Haley will look to win in highly populated urban and suburban areas. 

Charleston and Richland, which make up about 16% of the overall statewide vote, are at the top of the list.

Charleston County is home to the city of the same name, which is also the most populated city in the state. Richland County contains Columbia, the state’s capital and home of the University of South Carolina.

In 2016, these were the only counties where Rubio eked out a win.

They are also more affluent than most other parts of the state, and have more voters with a college degree; two of Haley’s key constituencies. 

Polling shows Haley running behind Trump but remaining competitive in these cities. The former hometown governor will need to do better than that to make this a race.

The better Haley does in these areas, the greater the chance that Haley will leave South Carolina with at least some delegates. That’s because, in addition to 29 statewide delegates, the state awards three delegates to the winner of the vote in each of its seven congressional districts.

Trump continues to dominate in rural areas

Some of Trump’s best performances in the 2016 Republican primary came from very small, rural counties.

He received more than 40% of the vote in 13 counties, ten of which had populations of less than 50,000 people.

NIKKI HALEY SAYS TRUMP ‘WILL NOT WIN THE GENERAL ELECTION’ AHEAD OF SOUTH CAROLINA PRIMARY

Look to places like Lee County, in central South Carolina, where Trump took home 47% of the vote, beating closest rival Cruz by 25 points. Lee County’s population is about 16,000 people and dropping.

Head south to Allendale County, home to less than 8,000 South Carolinians. Trump received 44% there, beating the second place candidate, Rubio, by 19 points. Its population is also declining.

He received between 30% and 40% of the vote in another 27 counties, about half of which had populations of less than 50,000.

And that was in a race with two popular challengers, at a time when Trump had not yet persuaded the base that he had the right conservative credentials.

Collectively, these rural areas represent a powerful part of the overall statewide vote in South Carolina.

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To win, Trump will look to bring out as many votes as possible.

Special coverage begins at 7PM ET on Fox News Channel

All polls close in South Carolina at 7 p.m. ET. Expect to see an early vote reported first in most areas; that vote will likely favor Haley.

Special coverage on Fox News Channel also begins at 7, anchored by Bret Baier and Martha MacCallum. 

Stay tuned for insights from our best-in-class Fox News Voter Analysis and the Fox News Decision Desk, which will call this race.

CHARLESTON, S.C. — Nikki Haley is looking to prevent what Donald Trump’s presidential campaign predicts will be an “a– kicking” in her home state of South Carolina Saturday by courting independent voters.

“This is an open primary,” Haley emphasized in a “Fox and Friends” interview this week.

The former two-term Palmetto State governor who later served as U.N. ambassador in the former president’s administration notes that “anybody can vote in the primary, as long as you didn’t vote in the Democrat primary on February 3rd in South Carolina.”

Trump is the 2024 GOP frontrunner as he bids a third straight time for the White House. He grabbed a majority of the votes last month in Iowa caucus and New Hampshire primary victories and won by a landslide earlier this month in the Nevada and U.S. Virgin Island caucuses to close in on locking up the nomination.

HALEY ON WHETHER TRUMP WILL WIN THE NOMINATION NEXT MONTH: ‘LET’S SEE IF IT HAPPENS’

The final polls in South Carolina showed Trump maintaining a large double-digit lead over Haley, the last remaining major rival challenging the former president.

Independents helped fuel Haley’s 43% showing in New Hampshire, where she lost to Trump by 11 points. But while independent voters have long played a crucial and influential role in the first-in-the-nation primary, they are much less of a factor in South Carolina’s more conservative electorate, where evangelical voters enjoy prominence in GOP contests.

TRUMP CAMPAIGN PREDICTS ‘A**-KICKING’ FOR HALEY IN HER HOME STATE, BUT SHE SAYS ‘I REFUSE TO QUIT’

A Monmouth University poll about South Carolina’s primary conducted last weekend had Trump with a 72%-to-25% lead among Republicans questioned, similar to how he performed with GOP voters in New Hampshire. Haley, meanwhile, held a narrow 53%-46% advantage among independents.

The problem for Haley is nearly two-thirds of those sampled by the survey indicated they were Republicans, with only 28% identifying as independents.

Longtime South Carolina-based Republican consultant Dave Wilson, who remains neutral in the primary, noted “there is no party registration in this state.”

“They’re targeting what would be considered independent or swing voters. There’s just not that many in South Carolina. You’re either an R or a D in this state,” Wilson said, addressing Haley’s campaign efforts. 

He added the Haley campaign and aligned groups are “trying to find people who are so against Donald Trump that they’re willing to step into a Republican booth and choose her name just to vote against Trump.”

Haley’s allies are also making a pitch for Democrats who didn’t cast a ballot in the party’s relatively low turnout presidential primary earlier this month to vote in the GOP contest.

HALEY ACCUSES TRUMP OF SIDING WITH A DICTATOR AND TYRANT’

“If you did not vote in the February 3rd Democratic primary, you are eligible to vote on February 24th.” a mailer sent to Democratic voters by the Haley-aligned super PAC SFA Fund states.

“Your vote can make a difference,” the mailer emphasized. “Please participate by voting for Nikki Haley and make your voice heard.”

Haley has repeatedly vowed to march on regardless of her finish on Saturday. Michigan, on Tuesday, holds the next contest, and it’s also an open primary.

In early March, nearly 800 delegates are up for grabs on Super Tuesday, and over 150 will be at stake over the ensuing two weeks. Among the states holding contests on Super Tuesday are delegate-rich California and Texas, and other big states like Florida, Illinois and Ohio will hold winner-take-all primaries March 19. Polling in many of those states indicates Trump holding large leads over Haley.

But Haley’s campaign notes that 11 of the 16 Super Tuesday contests aren’t limited to registered Republicans. 

Campaign manager Betsy Ankeny in a recent memo highlighted that the upcoming open primaries contain “significant fertile ground for Nikki.”

Trump and his allies have repeatedly blasted Haley over the courting of independents and even some Democrats.

“The Democrats are giving her money, and she’s playing into the game. And I think she just can’t get, she just can’t get herself to get out. She is doing poorly in the polls. Look, if she was doing well, I’d understand it, but she’s doing very poorly,” Trump said Tuesday in a Fox News town hall in Greenville, South Carolina.

Haley, in an interview the next morning on Fox News’ “America’s Newsroom,” fired back.

TRUMP RUNNING MATE AUDITIONS ON THE SOUTH CAROLINA CAMPAIGN TRAIL

“He can keep saying I have big Democrat donors. At the same time, look at his disclosures. But I don’t ask donors whether they’re Republican, Democrat or independent,” she said.

“We’re fighting for the Republican primary, but there are a lot of independents who left the Republican Party because of Donald Trump. We are pulling them back. … We’re pulling Reagan Democrats back. And Republicans need to remember this is not about pushing people out of our party. And that’s why I do well with everybody, not just Republicans, not just independents.”

Seasoned Republican strategist and communicator Ryan Williams pointed out that “it’s up to each state to choose its process. … That’s generally been a principle of states’ rights that Republicans have long supported.”

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Williams, a veteran of Mitt Romney’s 2008 and 2012 presidential campaigns, noted that when Romney won the nomination a dozen years ago “we were essentially the establishment and tried to draw in independents to offset what seemed to be a rotation of conservative challengers.

“We courted independent voters, and we had an eye on the general election too,” Williams recalled. “We wanted to make sure we were drawing independents to vote for us in the primary who would hopefully stick around for the general election.”

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

CHARLESTON, S.C. — Former President Donald Trump predicts the end is near for rival Nikki Haley.

“She’s getting clobbered,” Trump emphasized at a recent rally in North Charleston, South Carolina, as he touted his formidable lead over Haley in Saturday’s Republican presidential primary in the Palmetto State. “She’s finished.”

“You’re not supposed to lose your home state. It shouldn’t happen,” Trump added Tuesday at a Fox News town hall in Greenville. “She’s losing it bigly.”

The expected win in South Carolina would move Trump a step closer to clinching the Republican nomination, and his campaign, in a memo earlier this week, argued that Haley’s White House bid will end “fittingly, in her home state.”

HALEY ON WHETHER TRUMP WILL WIN THE NOMINATION NEXT MONTH: ‘LET’S SEE IF IT HAPPENS’

The Trump campaign predicted an “a**-kicking in the making in South Carolina” for Haley, and that “the end is near” for her presidential run due to “a very serious math problem” she has in the race to lock up enough delegates to win the 2024 GOP nomination.

TRUMP CAMPAIGN PREDICTS ‘A**-KICKING’ FOR HALEY IN HER HOME STATE, BUT SHE SAYS ‘I REFUSE TO QUIT’

But Haley, the last major Trump challenger for the nomination left standing, remains defiant.

“Some of you — perhaps a few of you in the media — came here today to see if I’m dropping out of the race. Well, I’m not. Far from it,” the former two-term South Carolina governor who later served as U.N. ambassador in the Trump administration said in a major speech minutes after the release of the Trump campaign memo.

“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 emphasized.

And she added that “I have no fear of Trump’s retribution.”

On the campaign trail in the closing days, Haley told her supporters, “I will take the bruises. I will take the cuts. This is going to be messy and I’ll take the hurt, because I believe nothing good comes easy. Sometimes we have to feel pain to appreciate the blessing.”

Haley has also turned up the volume this month in her verbal attacks on Trump, from his legal entanglements to his controversial comments on NATO and the death of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, as well as his mocking of her husband, who is overseas on a military tour of duty.

Trump grabbed a majority of the votes in Iowa caucus and New Hampshire primary victories in January, and won by a landslide earlier this month in the Nevada and U.S. Virgin Island caucuses, as he moves toward locking up the nomination.

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

Trump has only made a handful of stops in South Carolina this month, while he has campaigned relentlessly. But the final polls indicate the former president maintains a very large double-digit lead.

While South Carolina is home to 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.

Veteran South Carolina-based Republican consultant Dave Wilson pointed to Trump’s “groundswell” in the state and highlighted the former president’s “ground forces.”

Wilson, who remains neutral in the primary, also noted that “Nikki Haley is reintroducing herself to South Carolina” because “almost a million people have moved into the state since she was governor.”

But pointing to her undefeated electoral record, Wilson said, “Never underestimate Nikki Haley. Never count Nikki Haley out.”

South Carolina holds an open primary, which means Republicans, independents and even Democrats can vote in the GOP presidential nominating contest, as long as they didn’t cast a ballot in the Feb. 3 Democratic presidential primary.

TRUMP RUNNING MATE AUDITIONS ON THE SOUTH CAROLINA CAMPAIGN TRAIL

Independents helped fuel Haley’s 43% showing in New Hampshire, where she lost to Trump by 11 points. 

But while independent voters have long played a crucial and influential role in the first-in-the-nation primary, they are much less of a factor in South Carolina’s more conservative electorate, where evangelical voters enjoy prominence in GOP contests.

Regardless of the results in South Carolina, Haley has repeatedly pledged to stay in the Republican presidential nomination race at least through March 5, when 15 states hold contests on Super Tuesday.

“We are focused on every state before us. Now it’s South Carolina on Saturday. Then it will be Michigan [which will hold its primary on Tuesday], then it will be Super Tuesday states and we’ll take it from there,” Haley told Fox News Digital in an interview on Wednesday in North Augusta, S.C. “Our goal is that we’re giving voices a chance to be heard.”

On Friday, Haley’s campaign announced it was going up with a national cable ad blitz ahead of Super Tuesday.

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Nearly 800 delegates are up for grabs on Super Tuesday, with over 150 at stake over the following two weeks. Among the states holding contests on Super Tuesday are delegate-rich California and Texas, while other big states like Florida, Illinois and Ohio will hold winner-take-all primaries on March 19. Polling in many of those states indicates Trump holding large leads over Haley.

The Trump campaign predicted in its memo that the former president would secure the nomination on March 19, even under a “most-generous model” for Haley.

“Let’s see if it happens,” Haley quickly responded when asked by Fox News what she would do if Trump clinches the nomination next month.

Fox News’ Kirill Clark and Deirdre Heavey contributed to this report.

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

Washington state Republican Chair Jim Walsh has called having voters write their party affiliation on the outside of their mail-in ballot a “questionable design decision” as some Washingtonians have raised concerns. 

Walsh told Fox News Digital on Friday the requirement to declare one’s party is “codified in law” and is only for the primary, not the general election. 

“The design where the attestation, the declaration is on the outer part of the envelope, that is not state law, that is a guideline, an administrative decision made by the Washington Secretary of State in conjunction with local county level election officials,” he said. 

Walsh added, “That is not statutory, that’s just a questionable design decision by the Secretary of State working in conjunction with the local county elections people.” 

RNC FILES AN ELECTION INTEGRITY LAWSUIT IN MISSISSIPPI CHALLENGING BALLOT COUNTING DEADLINES

Walsh said state Republicans have been trying since 2016 to change the law requiring voters to declare their party “so that people can choose to be unaffiliated,” but have been blocked by the Democrat-led legislature.

One X user snapped a photo of their ballot envelope, showing where voters must declare themselves as Democrats or Republicans, writing on Thursday, “New Washington State envelopes for mail-in ballots. NEVER had to disclose my party declaration on the OUTSIDE of my ballot before. Don’t feel really good about this.” 

Cartoonist Scott Adams reposted it, writing, “How can this be real?” and X owner Elon Musk responded, “What!?”

VIRGINIA DROPS LAST REMAINING CHARGE AGAINST DC-AREA ELECTIONS OFFICIAL

Another voter wrote, “QUESTION- Why am I REQUIRED to list party affiliation on the outside of the envelope to VOTE?”

A third X user posted a picture of their envelope, writing, “Washington State Presidential Primary Ballot … you have to declare on the outside of the envelope?!? Also no option for independents! This is how ballots get tossed before they can even be counted!”

“We’re not keen on the law, but we understand it is the law and that we do need to comply both with state law and with some national and with some national party rules,” Walsh told Fox News Digital of the requirement to declare a party. 

He said the “spirit of the law” is to keep voters from people from “gaming the system, being part of one party and trying to vote in the other party’s primary” but he felt there could be genuine security concerns with the declaration being on the outside of the ballot. 

He told Seattle-area radio host Jason Rantz this week that he suggests voters take their ballot to a ballot box rather than mailing it in. 

“Deliver it to a ballot box. Or give it to a trusted person to deliver,” he said.

But Rantz noted in an opinion piece, that “Fraud at the primary stage doesn’t make a whole lot of sense this election cycle. Donald Trump will be the nominee and it’s unlikely any other candidate would come close enough for stealth fraud to take place. And while fraud (and mistakes) obviously occur, there’s been no recent evidence of widespread fraud that would be enough to change national elections. But voters rightly remember the scandal around the recount between then-gubernatorial candidates Dino Rossi (R) and Christine Gregoire (D).”

The Washington Secretary of State’s Office has included examples of protests voters wrote on their ballots in 2016 — in showing voters the correct way to mark their ballot — that included statements such as, “Actually I’m an Independent but if it makes you happy,” “Don’t tell me what I need to be … the voters are furious” and “I feel like I am being forced to choose a party and that’s not fair.” 

The voter’s party declaration choice is removed after 60 days, according to the secretary of state’s office, noting on its website, for the “Presidential Primary only, the major political parties require voters to mark and sign the party declaration. If you choose to participate, your choice of party will not affect how you may vote in future elections. You must mark and sign the political party declaration (box) on your envelope for your vote to count.” 

The office has not clarified why the declaration is on the outside of the ballot. Fox News Digital has reached out to the secretary of state’s office. 

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Fox News Digital has also reached out to the Washington Democratic Party for comment. 

Washington’s presidential primary is on March 12. 

Nikki Haley asserted two days ahead of the South Carolina Republican primary that former President Trump “will not win the general election.” 

“What I’m trying to tell all Republicans and anybody – Independents as well – anybody that’s voting in those primaries is if you want a change in the country, which I think the entire country wants a change, is we won’t get a change if we don’t win an election,” the former South Carolina governor told CNN’s Jake Tapper on Thursday. 

She proclaimed, “Donald Trump will not win the general election. You can have him win any primary you want, he will not win a general election. We will have a female President of the United States: It will either be me or it will be Kamala Harris. But if Donald Trump is the nominee, you can mark my words, he will not win a general election.”

Some general election polls have shown Haley could fare better against President Biden than Trump, but the former president has a decisive lead heading into the Palmetto State’s Saturday primary. 

HALEY VOWS TO STAY IN RACE, ‘TAKE THE BRUISES’ AHEAD OF SOUTH CAROLINA PRIMARY AGAINST TRUMP

Haley further warned, “Don’t complain about what happens in a general election if you don’t vote that in this primary.”

“We can do better,” she added, noting that Trump and Biden are the “two most disliked politicians in America.” 

She added that a majority of Americans have said they feel both men are “too old” to hold the office again. 

“We need someone who can work eight years straight of hard work, day and night, fully disciplined with no drama, no vendettas, just results or the American people,” she said. 

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Haley has already lost the Iowa caucuses and New Hampshire primary to Trump, but has said she has no plans to get out of the race. 

The Haley and Trump campaigns did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.

A key group of Hispanic House Democrats is complaining about being left in the dark over reports that President Biden is looking at taking executive action to crack down on the border crisis.

The Congressional Hispanic Caucus (CHC), led by Rep. Nanette Barragán, D-Calif., released a statement Thursday evening saying it was “unbelievable” that Biden would consider acting unilaterally to limit the number of asylum-seekers trying to cross the border.

“We understand how frustrating it is that Republicans in Congress continue to block any funding requested by President Biden to address the Southern Border. But it is unbelievable to hear that the White House would consider Executive Actions to prevent or restrict migrants from seeking asylum,” Barragán said.

She compared it to “the same methods as former President Trump.”

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

“CHC opposes unilateral attempts by the White House to change our asylum system and put human lives at risk,” her statement continued.

Barragán said CHC “has not been briefed or consulted on any executive actions being considered by the Administration.”

It is not the first time Biden has angered CHC members by effectively sidelining them in congressional border negotiations. 

BIDEN ADMIN WEIGHS EXECUTIVE ACTION ON BORDER CRISIS, DRAWING FIRE FROM LEFT AND RIGHT 

When bipartisan Senate negotiators were working with the White House on a now-defunct border security and supplemental aid package, progressive members of CHC criticized the measures that were being leaked while also demanding meetings to discuss the talks.

“Our votes matter. And so sometimes that means withholding votes,” Barragán said at a press conference earlier this month. “It is completely unacceptable that the Hispanic Caucus would not be at the table on the issue that we lead on, which is immigration.”

CHC Whip Sylvia Garcia, D-Texas, bashed the deal for not including anything for Dreamers, young adults who were brought into the U.S. illegally when they were young and face deportation despite many not having been to their country of origin since fleeing.

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

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“The level of anxiety and uncertainty is at a peak right now, particularly when we saw that the Senate bill did not include Dreamers. And of course, for many of us, that’s a nonstarter,” Garcia said.

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the latest statement.

Nathan Wade appears to have made far more visits to the neighborhood of Fulton County, Georgia, District Attorney Fani Willis than previously admitted in court. 

A Friday filing from the attorney of former President Trump claims to show at least 35 visits by Wade to the Hapeville neighborhood before he was hired.

Wade testified last week that he did not visit Willis’ condo more than 10 times before being hired in November 2021. Willis and Wade maintain that their relationship began in early 2022.

JUDGE IN TRUMP GEORGIA CASE IN ‘UNENVIABLE POSITION’ AS FINAL ARGUMENTS LOOM

Willis hired Wade in 2021 to help prosecute her sweeping racketeering case against Trump. Trump co-defendant Michael Roman alleged in court filings last month that Willis should be disqualified from the case, claiming she financially benefited from hiring Wade because of their personal relationship.

The date when the two lawyers’ relationship began is key to the ongoing dispute brought by Trump’s attorneys, who argue that their romantic fling compromised the integrity of the case.

The defense is trying to prove the existence and extent of any financial benefit to Willis from Wade from their relationship, which is the crux of their argument that Willis should be disqualified. 

5 EXPLOSIVE MOMENTS FROM FANI WILLIS’ HEATED TESTIMONY IN TRUMP FULTON COUNTY CASE: ‘IF THIS HAPPENS AGAIN…’

Cellphone data also seems to show that Wade twice traveled to Willis’ apartment late at night without leaving until the next morning. 

Wade and Willis have both testified that they did not sleep together at the Hapeville condo.

“We are required to respond to the filing via the court, and we are preparing a response now,” a spokesperson for Willis said of the Friday filing, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

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The Friday affidavit asserts that cellphone data shows Willis and Wade sharing more than 2,000 phone calls and just under 12,000 text messages in the first 11 months of 2021.

Judge Scott McAfee will now need to decide whether to admit the Friday affidavit and the cellphone data it contains into evidence. 

Fox News Digital’s Andrew Mark Miller contributed to this report.

President Biden faces Jimmy Carter-like approval ratings as he barrels towards the end of his first term and Election Day in November.

Biden’s job approval rating stands at 38%, just one point above his all-time low and far below the 50% rating typical of presidents who are re-elected, according to a new Gallup survey. 

“Biden’s overall job rating has slipped to 38%, and his ratings on immigration, the Israel-Hamas situation, foreign affairs and the economy are even lower,” said Megan Brenan, a research consultant at Gallup. 

“He has lost some ground among his party in recent months on immigration and the situations in the Middle East and Ukraine, though his overall rating hasn’t dropped among Democrats.” 

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

Biden’s numbers are reminiscent of modern one-term presidents, including Carter, who averaged a record-low 37.4% after his third year in office. Former President Donald Trump, whom Biden defeated in 2020, left office in January 2021 with a personal all-time low 34% approval rating. 

A clear majority of Americans, 59%, disapprove of how Biden has performed in office, according to the poll. 

The president has negative numbers on major issues facing the U.S., but his worst issue by far is immigration. Only 28% of survey respondents approve of how the president has handled the border, while a walloping 67% disapprove.

Americans have also soured on the president’s handling of foreign affairs, with 62% disapproval of his leadership amid the Israel-Hamas war; 53% disapproving of Biden’s record on Ukraine; and 62% disapproving of his handling of foreign affairs in general.

BIDEN’S RELIANCE ON NOTECARDS TO ANSWER QUESTIONS AT FUNDRAISERS WORRIES SOME DONORS: REPORT

“Biden’s approval rating has not risen above 44% since August 2021, and his 39.8% average rating for his third year in office was the second worst among post-World War II presidents elected to their first term,” Brenan observed.

If there is a silver lining for the president, it’s that Americans are slightly more upbeat about his handling of the economy. Low unemployment, stabilizing inflation and record-high stock market numbers have contributed to a four-point increase in his approval ratings on the economy to 36%, up from 32% in the last Gallup survey. 

That incremental increase was buoyed by independents, who moved six points in Biden’s direction to 30% approval on the economy. 

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

The survey results show Biden has some work to do to recapture support from Democrats on immigration and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. While about three-quarters of Democrats approve of his handling of the economy, only 55% approve of Biden’s job on immigration, and 51% rate him positively on situations in the Middle East.

Overall, Biden’s approval rating among Democrats stands at 82%, but is still lower than the near-unanimous approval Gallup recorded during his first 11 months in office, Brenan said. 

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Republicans unsurprisingly rate Biden poorly, giving him just 3% approval on immigration and 4% on the economy. 

Independents give Biden a 32% approval rating, which is largely unchanged from previous Gallup surveys.

The Gallup survey was conducted by telephone interviews from Feb. 1-20, with a random sample of 1,016 American adults living in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. The poll has a margin of error of +/- 4 percentage points at the 95% confidence level. 

A Manhattan jury in the civil corruption case brought by New York Attorney General Letitia James against the National Rifle Association (NRA) and its former CEO found the organization liable for financial mismanagement.

The jury determined that Wayne LaPierre’s violations of his duties cost the NRA $5,400,000, but he had already paid roughly $1 million back to the organization.

LaPierre was ordered to repay the group $4,351,231.

The New York jury said that the NRA’s CEO for three decades misspent millions of dollars of the group’s money on luxury personal purchases.

The decision came at the end of five days of deliberations. 

NEW YORK AG OFFICE, EX-NRA OFFICIAL REACH SETTLEMENT DAYS BEFORE TRIAL AGAINST GUN ADVOCACY GROUP’S LEADERSHIP

James brought forth the lawsuit in 2020, and named the NRA, LaPierre, former CFO Wilson “Woody” Philips and general counsel John Frazer as defendants. The attorney general’s office argued the executives used millions in company funds on luxury personal purchases and trips, including hundreds of thousands of dollars on LaPierre’s trips to the Bahamas, according to the AG’s office. 

The NRA, however, has long said the case was politically motivated by an attorney general who campaigned for the office by vowing to investigate and take on the group. James was elected to office in November 2018 and publicly slammed the NRA in the lead-up to her becoming New York’s chief law officer. While on the campaign trail, James called the group “an organ of deadly propaganda” and vowed to investigate whether the NRA could keep its charity status.

NEW YORK AG CASE AGAINST NRA LEADER FACES TRIAL AFTER COURT AGAIN REJECTS GUN GROUP’S CLAIM OF POLITICAL PROBE

“The NRA is an organ of deadly propaganda masquerading as a charity for public good,” James wrote in a campaign press release back in July 2018. “Its agenda is set by gun-makers who think arming teachers is a better idea than making it harder for kids to get military grade guns.”

Weeks before her election, she described the NRA as “a terrorist organization” in comments to Ebony magazine, and “a criminal enterprise” in remarks to local New York media.

In August 2020, she filed a dissolution lawsuit aiming to break up the NRA over alleged corruption. A New York Supreme Court justice ultimately blocked James’ effort to dissolve the organization in a 2022 decision, saying the suit did not meet the requirements of ordering a “corporate death penalty” on the group. The judge did allow the suit against the NRA’s top officials to proceed. James accused officials at the NRA of “years of illegal self-dealing” that provided a “lavish lifestyle.”

WAYNE LAPIERRE ANNOUNCES RESIGNATION AS NRA CHIEF

At the trial, which began last month, LaPierre and the three other defendants were accused by Assistant Attorney General Monica Connell of getting caught “with their hands in the cookie jar” and argued the four were trying to deflect and downplay the use of the funds. 

“They’re going to try to get you to think about anything except what happened to those cookies,” she said. “They’re going to blame anyone else but themselves.”

State attorneys argued during the trial that LaPierre spent roughly $11 million of NRA funds on private flights and about $500,000 on a handful of trips to the Bahamas, as well as “appearing to dole out lucrative no-show contracts to former employees in order to buy their silence and continued loyalty.”

NEW YORK AG CASE AGAINST NRA LEADER FACES TRIAL AFTER COURT AGAIN REJECTS GUN GROUP’S CLAIM OF POLITICAL PROBE

LaPierre, who stepped down as NRA CEO and executive vice president last month after serving since 1991, said earlier in the trial he had made governance changes within the organization since 2021 and had paid about $300,000 back to the group. LaPierre’s attorney argued during the trial that the former NRA chief’s use of private flights was necessary for safety reasons, due to his prominent national stature amid the acrimonious gun debate. 

“This is a story made up by a person with an agenda that wanted him off the field,” LaPierre’s attorney Kent Correll said Thursday in closing arguments. 

“If this case was so important, why wouldn’t she be here?” he added, referring to James’ absence from the courtroom Thursday. 

JUDGE ORDERS NEW YORK TO DOLE OUT NEARLY HALF A MILLION IN LEGAL FEES TO NRA AFTER SUPREME COURT VICTORY

The NRA’s legal team argued during the trial that the organization worked to address any potential corruption when such issues were first raised by internal complaints. 

“When the fraud was discovered, it dug in. It turned over the rocks it was told not to overturn,” attorney Sarah Rogers said. “The NRA left no stone unturned.”

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“If this was a case about corruption,”she added, “it wasn’t by the NRA.”

Former President Trump broke his silence on a controversial Alabama Supreme Court ruling that frozen embryos created during fertility treatments can be considered children under state law.

“Under my leadership, the Republican Party will always support the creation of strong, thriving, healthy American families,” Trump posted on Truth Social on Friday. “We want to make it easier for mothers and fathers to have babies, not harder! That includes supporting the availability of fertility treatments like IVF in every State in America.”

“Like the OVERWHELMING MAJORITY of Americans, including the VAST MAJORITY of Republicans, Conservatives, Christians, and Pro-Life Americans, I strongly support the availability of IVF for couples who are trying to have a precious baby,” Trump continued. “Today, I am calling on the Alabama Legislature to act quickly to find an immediate solution to preserve the availability of IVF in Alabama. The Republican Party should always be on the side of the Miracle of Life – and the side of Mothers, Fathers, and their Beautiful Babies. IVF is an important part of that, and our Great Republican Party will always be with you, in your quest, for the ULTIMATE JOY IN LIFE!”

Justices, citing anti-abortion language in the Alabama Constitution, ruled last week that an 1872 state law allowing parents to sue over the death of a minor child “applies to all unborn children, regardless of their location.”

AUBURN’S BRUCE PEARL SUPPORTS IVF TREATMENTS AFTER ALABAMA SUPREME COURT RULING: ‘THIS MAKES NO SENSE’

“Unborn children are ‘children’ under the Act, without exception based on developmental stage, physical location, or any other ancillary characteristics,” Justice Jay Mitchell wrote in the majority ruling.

The decision was in response to two wrongful death cases brought by three couples whose frozen embryos had been destroyed in an accident at an Alabama fertility clinic. 

The Supreme Court decision led to a halt in IVF services at some locations and caused a firestorm between pro-life groups and abortion advocates. 

UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMA AT BIRMINGHAM PAUSES IN VITRO FERTILIZATION FOLLOWING STATE SUPREME COURT EMBRYO RULING

Pro-life advocacy group Live Action reacted to the decision in a statement.

“Each person, from the tiniest embryo to an elder nearing the end of his life, has incalculable value that deserves and is guaranteed legal protection,” Lila Rose, president and founder of Live Action, said in the statement.

President Biden issued a statement that called the Alabama decision a “direct result of the overturning of Roe v. Wade.” And Vice President Kamala Harris, in the middle of her “Fight for Reproductive Freedoms” tour, accused Republicans of hypocrisy.

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“On the one hand, the proponents are saying that an individual doesn’t have a right to end an unwanted pregnancy and, on the other hand, the individual does not have the right to start a family,” she told an audience in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

Fox News Digital’s Melissa Rudy and The Associated Press contributed to this report.