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House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., is urging President Biden to use his executive authority to impose strict measures to combat the ongoing migrant crisis at the U.S. southern border.

“The wide-open border has caused unspeakable human tragedy for migrants and certainly for our own citizens. During FY2023, CBP seized ‘enough fentanyl to kill the entire U.S. population,’ and fentanyl poisoning is now the leading cause of death for Americans aged 18-45. Countless children and adults have been victims of human trafficking and cartels have been emboldened and enriched,” Johnson wrote.

“Local communities have been devastated and terrorists and dangerous criminals have entered illegally and dispersed across our country. We are now more vulnerable to a terrorist attack on our homeland than ever.”

UNION PACIFIC WARNS BORDER CROSSING CLOSING DUE TO MIGRANT CRISIS HURTS CROSS-BORDER TRADE AS CHRISTMAS NEARS 

Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officials warned this week that the thousands of migrants coming across the border daily was straining their resources to critical levels, as communities along the border continue to also be stretched thin.

“All of this is the direct result of your administration’s policies,” Johnson wrote. “You have clearly undermined America’s sovereignty and security by ending the Remain in Mexico policy, reinstating catch-and-release, suspending asylum cooperative agreements with other nations, ignoring existing restraints on the abuse of parole, and halting border wall construction.”

5,000 ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS RELEASED EVERY DAY INTO US, ADMIN OFFICIALS PRIVATELY TELL LAWMAKERS

He called on Biden to impose an executive order empowering border agents to “turn back or detain all illegal aliens encountered between ports of entry,” as well as vastly narrowing parole authority for migrants.

Johnson also demanded that Biden reinstate the Trump administration’s controversial Remain in Mexico policy, strengthen expedited removal processes and resume construction of the border wall.

SOUTHERN BORDER HIT BY RECORD NUMBER OF MIGRANT ENCOUNTERS IN A SINGLE DAY AS THOUSANDS FLOOD INTO TEXAS

Republicans in the House and Senate have forced the White House to the negotiating table on border security by holding up Biden’s $110 billion supplemental aid package for Ukraine, Israel and other causes. The bill also includes funding for the border, but GOP lawmakers argued that the money is meaningless without significant policy changes.

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Johnson has maintained both in public and in private that House Republicans would not agree to Ukraine funding unless the Senate takes up their marquee border security bill known as H.R. 2.

When asked for a response, a White House spokesperson pointed to instances of Biden requesting additional funding for border security and arguing that “House Republicans have refused to fund our border security at the levels we need.”

“They refused to provide the resources we requested in 2022 and in 2023. For example, in Fiscal Year 2022 and 2023, President Biden requested additional funds to hire more Border Patrol agents, House Republicans voted against those measures. In August 2023, House Republicans refused to take up the President’s emergency funding request for border security – instead, they put forward a CR that would have cut 800 CBP agents. When President Biden presented Congress with another supplemental request for border security in October, House Republicans refused to take it up. Instead, Speaker Johnson and House Republicans decided to go home in mid-December,” the spokesperson told Fox News Digital in a statement after publication.

“If Speaker Johnson and House Republicans had their way, there would be 2,000 fewer CBP agents and officers at the border – just look at the bill they voted for in May 2023.”

Referencing the ongoing negotiation between Senate Republicans and the White House, the spokesperson said Biden was “working to find a bipartisan agreement that will make a real difference at the border.”

Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. blasted the California lieutenant governor for calling on the state’s secretary of state to “explore legal options” to remove former President Trump from the ballot.

Kennedy blasted Golden State Lt. Gov. Eleni Kounalakis in a tweet after her Wednesday orders to Secretary of State Shirley Weber to look into “legal options” to take Trump off the ballot.

“Someone needs to explain to Lt. Governor Kounalakis that in democracy, we choose candidates by VOTING,” Kennedy wrote. “Not by legal maneuvers to get them off the ballot.”

CALIFORNIA LT. GOV CALLS FOR STATE TO ‘EXPLORE EVERY LEGAL OPTION’ TO REMOVE TRUMP FROM ’24 BALLOT

“Kounalakis has close ties to Gavin Newsom (of course), Kamala Harris, and Nancy Pelosi. She isn’t just an individual with an agenda,” he continued. “She is deep in the Democratic party establishment.”

Kennedy wrote that in “so-called banana republics and authoritarian countries, voters can only choose from a slate of officially approved candidates” and warned it’s “starting to look like that here too.”

“We can restore real democracy,” Kennedy said. “Electing me President is one step, but what it will take is a full mobilization of an engaged citizenry.”

“Democracy doesn’t come when the elites who have usurped it finally relent,” he added.

Fox News Digital reached out to Kounalakis’ office for comment.

A day after the Colorado Supreme Court disqualified Trump from appearing on the state’s ballots in 2024, Kounalakis asked California’s secretary of state to “explore every legal option” to do the same.

Kounalakis sent a letter to Weber dated Wednesday, Dec. 20, and referencing Colorado’s recent ruling, which stated Trump was ineligible to appear on the state’s ballot as a presidential candidate because of his role in “inciting an insurrection” at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

“This decision is about honoring the rule of law in our country and protecting the fundamental pillars of our democracy,” Kounalakis, who launched a campaign to run for California governor in 2026, wrote. “Specifically, the Colorado Supreme Court held in Anderson v. Griswold (2023 CO 63) that Trump’s insurrection disqualifies him under section three of the Fourteenth Amendment to stand for presidential re-election. Because the candidate is ineligible, the court ruled, it would be a ‘wrongful act’ for the Colorado Secretary of State to list him as a candidate on that state’s presidential primary ballot.”

The gubernatorial candidate told the secretary of state that California “must stand on the right side of history,” and is “obligated to determine” if the former president is ineligible to be on the ballot for the same reasons he was deemed ineligible in Colorado.

Kounalakis said Colorado’s decision could be the basis for California’s decision.

“The constitution is clear: you must be 35 years old and not be an insurrectionist,” Kounalakis wrote, though in an earlier version of the letter that hit social media, she wrote, “you must be 40 years old…”

She also said this is not a matter of political gamesmanship, but instead is a “dire matter that puts at stake the sanctity of our constitution and our democracy.”

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Colorado’s disqualification was made under the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution and tied to the Capitol riot on Jan. 6, 2021.

The 4-3 ruling is stayed until Jan. 4 because of likely appeals. Three justices on the Colorado Supreme Court dissented.

Fox News Digital’s Greg Wehner contributed reporting.

In a move that’s sure to spark more speculation about a potential 2024 presidential run, Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia will return next month to the state that for a century has held the first presidential primary in the White House race.

Manchin, who for months has openly flirted with making a third-party White House run next year, will return to the New Hampshire Institute of Politics on Jan. 12 to headline Politics and Eggs, a must stop for potential and actual presidential contenders.

The announcement of Manchin’s visit – by Saint Anselm College and the New England Council, which co-host Politics and Eggs – also noted that a new organization founded by the senator to “empower moderate voices around the country… is launching a listening tour in January starting in New Hampshire.”

Manchin’s visit is sure to grab plenty of media coverage, as it comes three days before the Iowa caucuses kick off the Republican presidential nominating calendar and less than two weeks before New Hampshire’s primary, which is the second contest in the GOP schedule.

MANCHIN: ‘I’D NEVER BE A SPOILER’

Manchin has plenty of fellow Democrats terrified that the moderate from West Virginia will unintentionally hand the White House over to former President Donald Trump if he runs.

But Manchin dismisses such warnings, rejecting claims from fellow Democrats that a third party run would hurt President Biden’s chances of re-election in a likely rematch next year with Trump, who remains the commanding frontrunner for the GOP nomination.

DEMOCRATS WORRY ABOUT MANCHIN THROWING THE 2024 ELECTION TO TRUMP

“I would never be a spoiler for anybody, and I don’t agree with… the analysis that they’ve come up with,” Manchin told Fox News’ host Brett Baier on “Special Report” last month.

And he reiterated that “I would never be a spoiler” in an interview last week on Fox News’ “Hannity.”

Manchin has said he worries that the 81-year-old Biden, saddled with deeply underwater approval ratings, isn’t up to the task of defeating Trump next year. And Manchin has repeatedly warned, “I believe that Donald Trump being elected again would destroy democracy as we know it.” 

WATCH: WHAT JOE MANCHIN SAID IN HIS FOX NEWS’ ‘SPECIAL REPORT’ INTERVIEW

Manchin made national headlines last month by announcing that he wouldn’t seek re-election next year in the Senate, striking a major blow to the Democrats’ hopes of holding their razor-thin majority in the chamber in 2024.

He also teased a potential third-party presidential campaign and in the ensuing days told NBC News that he’d “absolutely” consider a White House run and CBS News that there’s “plenty of time” to make a decision. 

In a CNN interview last weekend, he said, “There is no timeline,” on when he would make a decision.

Manchin argues that national politics has increasingly become too polarized, leaving millions of voters in the middle of the ideological spectrum without much of a voice in the nation’s capital.

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And much of the speculation surrounding a possible Manchin national run focuses on No Labels, the influential centrist group that’s seriously mulling supporting a bipartisan, third-party presidential ticket, if Biden and Trump are the major party nominees in the 2024 election.

The visit to the New Hampshire Institute of Politics next month will be Manchin’s second in less than a year.

The former No Labels chair grabbed plenty of national attention in July as he served as honorary co-host of the group’s “Common Sense” town hall at the institute, where they unveiled their policy proposals.

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

Claims that former President Donald Trump and the GOP pose a grave “threat to democracy” have become a key Democrat talking point ahead of the 2024 elections, but several prominent Republicans and experts say it is really President Biden’s party that is working overtime to undermine the vote.

To make their case, they point to Democrats’ efforts to keep Trump off the ballot, imprison him, stifle free speech on social media, and rewrite election laws while fighting measures designed to protect ballot integrity. Those ongoing efforts, they say, are a much bigger threat to democracy than the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot Biden and Democrats frequently cite.

Biden summed up those efforts in a speech last year about saving the “soul of the nation” from Trump and his fellow Republicans, claiming they represented “an extremism that threatens the very foundations of our republic,” were “a threat to American democracy,” and “a clear and present danger” to all Americans.

Most recently, Democrats have thrown their weight behind state-level legal efforts to prevent Trump from appearing on 2024 presidential ballots, including in Colorado, where the state Supreme Court ruled 4-3 earlier this week that the former president violated the Constitution’s 14th Amendment when he “engaged in insurrection” concerning Jan. 6, and should be disqualified.

TRUMP CALLS CLAIMS HE’S A THREAT TO DEMOCRACY A ‘HOAX,’ SAYS BIDEN IS THE REAL THREAT: ‘I WILL SAVE DEMOCRACY

“Democrats cynically used the COVID-19 pandemic to radically undermine long-standing election laws on the fly and then started pushing for non-citizens to vote in U.S. elections,” Republican National Committee (RNC) Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel told Fox News Digital. “Now the left is working to remove political opponents from the ballot in a shocking display of disregard for the American people’s right to choose their candidates.”

“These attacks on the democratic process drive down voter confidence and trust in the electoral system. Meanwhile, the RNC and our partners are fighting to make sure the American people choose their presidential candidates, not the courts,” she said, adding that the RNC was trying to protect election integrity by fighting for policies to ensure only American citizens vote in elections.

Legal expert and Fox News contributor Jonathan Turley agreed, calling the Colorado court’s ruling “the most anti-democratic opinion in decades,” and arguing that Democrats’ claims about protecting democracy “would be more compelling if they were not supporting the effort to block voters from being able to vote for Trump and canceling primaries in states like Florida.”

VETERANS SHAME DEMOCRAT IN TOP 2024 HOUSE RACE FOR WEARING ARMY UNIFORM DURING EVENT DESPITE NEVER SERVING

“It is also difficult to claim the mantle of the defender of democracy when your party is actively fighting for the censorship and blacklisting of those with opposing views,” Turley added. “The best way to defend democracy is to practice it by supporting both the right to vote and to free speech in others, including those who hold opposing viewpoints.”

Turley’s reference to censorship concerns accusations the Biden administration engaged in efforts to violate Americans’ First Amendment rights by working with Big Tech platforms to police controversial social media posts pertaining to the COVID-19 pandemic and the president’s son, Hunter Biden.

The Supreme Court agreed in October to review a court-ordered ban on certain communications between the Biden administration and Big Tech after state attorneys general from Missouri and Louisiana accused high-ranking government officials of working with social media companies “under the guise of combating misinformation.” 

COLORADO KICKING TRUMP OFF BALLOT SHOWS DEMOCRATS WAKE UP EVERY MORNING ACTING LIKE IT’S JANUARY 6: CONWAY

Democrats challenging Biden for the party’s presidential nomination, including author Marianne Williamson, Rep. Dean Phillips, D-Minn., and now-independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., all fault the Democratic National Committee for silencing them by refusing to hold primary debates.

Prior to shifting to running as an independent, Kennedy also faced the wrath of his fellow Democrats at a July House hearing on the “weaponization” of the federal government intended to address censorship.

Democrats on the committee unsuccessfully attempted to halt the hearing and instead use it to blast comments previously made by Kennedy that they said were anti-Asian and antisemitic.

“This is an attempt to censor a censorship hearing,” Kennedy said in response.

Despite their actions, recent polling has shown Democrats hold an advantage in swing states when it comes to which party is most trusted on the issue of protecting democracy.

FORMER TRUMP ADVISER KELLYANNE CONWAY LEADS CHARGE TO OVERHAUL GOP ABORTION STRATEGY, END DEMS’ 2024 ADVANTAGE

According to Republican strategist Garrett Ventry, that advantage is attributed to Democrats’ “obsession” with talking about “threats to democracy” in place of issues where they fail to win over the American people, such as the economy, prices and jobs.

“They know they can’t talk about those issues because the American people know that they’ve handled those in a very abysmal way. The border is wide open, inflation has been very high over the last couple of years, the economy is stagnant and people feel like their financial situation is worse,” he told Fox.

“There is no greater threat to democracy in our republic than the Democrat Party,” Ventry said. “When Donald Trump was sworn into office, he never went after Hillary Clinton. He didn’t go after Barack Obama. He didn’t go after his political opponents. We didn’t have state attorneys general and state secretaries of state and district court judges trying to get Joe Biden off the ballot.”

Ventry pointed to Biden’s Department of Justice targeting other individual Americans, including Catholic church-goers, parents attending school board meetings to express concern over what was being taught to their children, and lower-income Americans through the hiring of 87,000 new IRS agents.

BIDEN APPROVAL RATING SINKS TO ALL-TIME LOW IN NEW NATIONAL POLL

“They’ve used every lever of government, whether it be the federal government, or state courts, to try to attack their political opponents here. And you’re not seeing Republicans do the same across the country,” he added.

Former Sen. Kelly Loeffler, R-Ga., a strong advocate for ballot reform and voter turnout since leaving the Senate in 2021, told Fox that Democrats call Republicans “election deniers,” and attempt to silence them whenever they object to their anti-democratic actions.

“Democrats fight commonsense safeguards to prevent voter fraud, encourage activist DAs to throw leading political opponents in jail, and empower unelected judges who interfere in presidential elections,” she said, adding that she was working in Georgia, a state expected to be competitive in 2024, to “actively pushing back against the Left’s work to undermine election integrity.” 

“To prevent the further takeover of our elections, it’s imperative that every state remains vigilant in defending actual democracy rather than just protecting Democrat rule,” she said.

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Loeffler argued that Democrats would “rather gain power by moving the goalposts than by defending their policies and track records,” and that they know they’ll “have a lock on elections and government power” if they abolish voter ID laws, restore voting rights for felons, allow ballot harvesting, and legalize same-day voter registration.

“It’s the number one reason they look away while the U.S. breaks records for illegal immigration: non-citizen voting is at the top of their wish lists this Christmas,” she said before adding that the Colorado court’s ruling to keep Trump off the ballot was just the latest example of Democrats’ “non-stop work to undermine democracy and interfere in the 2024 elections.”

As the 2024 election draws closer, the latest efforts by Democrats to stop Trump by any means necessary have begun to give pause to some of the party’s thought leaders, including former Biden official Tim Wu, now a professor at Columbia University.

“This may be an unpopular post, but I think we need to realize that using undemocratic means to fight candidate Trump increases the odds of losing democracy itself,” he wrote Thursday.

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

Fox News’ Alexander Hall contributed to this report.

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

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

What’s Happening? 

-Harvard finds more evidence of plagiarism 

-Sen. Mike Lee moves to gut Biden admin’s pause on gun export licenses

-Mexican President mulls fight over Texas immigration law

Christmas Crush

Migrant encounters at the southern border have already surged past the 200,000 mark for December, with an average of well over 10,000 encounters a day, Customs and Border Protection (CBP) sources told Fox News — with still more than a week to go until January.

Sources told Fox that already since December there have been over 200,000 encounters. The record for monthly encounters was set in September, with over 269,000. October saw over 240,000 encounters and the numbers have not yet been released for November.

Last December saw over 252,000 encounters, which was then a monthly record. That number could easily be eclipsed if agents continue to encounter 10,000 migrants a day between now and the end of the month.

White House

‘RELENTLESS REGULATION’: Republicans highlight 2023 wins against Biden climate agenda …Read more

PHONE LINE REOPENS: US, China military leaders hold highest-level call since before Pelosi’s Taiwan visit …Read more

FLY ME TO THE MOON: VP Harris says US, along with ‘international astronaut,’ will land on lunar surface this decade …Read more

Capitol Hill

‘DETER AND COUNTER’: Bipartisan group of senators wants Biden to have a ‘forceful’ response to Iran-backed militia attacks on US troops …Read more

CLICK, CLICK, BOOM: Mike Lee moves to gut Biden admin’s pause on gun export licenses …Read more

Tales from the Campaign Trail

‘STOLEN VALOR’: Veterans shame Democrat in top 2024 House race for wearing Army uniform during event despite never serving …Read more

Across America

FOLLOW THE MONEY: Major Biden donors steer group that brought anti-Trump Colorado lawsuit …Read more

COPY MACHINE: Harvard finds even more instances of Harvard president using ‘duplicative language’ amid plagiarism claims …Read more

CROSS-BORDER BATTLE: Mexican president mulls legal fight over Texas immigration law …Read more

FRESH ACCUSATIONS: House widens probe into Harvard President as plagiarism accusations mount …Read more

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

The board chairs of the group that brought the lawsuit leading to former President Trump’s removal from the 2024 Colorado ballot had previously donated large sums to President Biden’s campaign and victory fund, filings reviewed by Fox News Digital show.

The Colorado Supreme Court disqualified Trump from the ballot on Tuesday under the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution over the Jan. 6, 2021 Capitol riots.

“We do not reach these conclusions lightly,” the court’s majority wrote. “We are mindful of the magnitude and weight of the questions now before us. We are likewise mindful of our solemn duty to apply the law, without fear or favor, and without being swayed by public reaction to the decisions that the law mandates we reach.”

Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), a self-identified “nonpartisan” watchdog group, brought the Colorado lawsuit against Trump on behalf of “six Republican and unaffiliated Colorado voters including former state, federal and local officials,” the group wrote on its website in early September.

DEM-APPOINTED COLORADO JUSTICE SAYS TRUMP BALLOT BAN UNDERMINES ‘BEDROCK’ OF AMERICA IN FIERY DISSENT

CREW’s leaders, meanwhile, have showered Biden with thousands of dollars in donations when he previously went head-to-head against Trump.  

Beth Nolan, a former general counsel at George Washington University who also served as counsel to former President Clinton, steers CREW’s board as its chair. According to Federal Election Commission records, Nolan sent $2,800 to Biden’s campaign and $3,000 to the Biden Victory Fund in 2020.

In addition to Nolan, CREW’s vice chair, Wayne Jordan, donated substantial amounts to Biden’s presidential apparatus by pushing $300,000 to the Biden Victory Fund in 2020. Jordan is married to Democrat megadonor Quinn Delaney, who added $650,000 to Biden’s victory fund during the last election cycle, records show. 

RFK JR. ISSUES STARK WARNING AFTER COLORADO COURT BLOCKS TRUMP FROM BALLOT: ‘COUNTRY WILL BECOME UNGOVERNABLE’

Neither Nolan, Wayne nor CREW responded to Fox News Digital’s request for comment. 

Despite its self-identified “nonpartisan” status, CREW has long been viewed as a left-leaning organization. David Brock, founder of the liberal groups Media Matters for America and American Bridge, previously ran the group as its board chair.

In early 2017, Brock huddled with donors at a posh resort in Florida to map out how his constellation of organizations would “kick Donald Trump’s a–” throughout his presidency, according to documents obtained by the Washington Free Beacon.

Brock had ostensibly stepped away from his position as CREW’s board chair at the time of the gathering. However, the documents detailing the upcoming goals and efforts of how his groups would attack Trump during his presidency include the watchdog group. 

The documents specified how CREW would hit Trump with “a steady flow of damaging information, new revelations, and an inability to avoid conflicts issues.” These actions, in turn, would force the Trump administration to defend “illegal conduct in court.”

CREW has also received vast sums from major Democratic donors, including George Soros. Between 2017 and 2021, two nonprofits in the Soros-funded Open Society Foundations network combined to give CREW $2.85 million in funding, which largely went towards general operating support, according to its grant database.

CREW’s involvement on behalf of the six voters ultimately led to Tuesday’s Colorado Supreme Court ruling to remove Trump from appearing on the state’s ballots. The watchdog group’s website states Tierney Lawrence Stiles LLC, KBN Law LLC, and Olson Grimsley Kawanabe Hinchcliff & Murray LLC were also involved with the effort. 

“We just won before the Colorado Supreme Court in our challenge to keep Donald Trump off the ballot as disqualified under the 14th amendment for engaging in insurrection,” CREW President Noah Bookbinder said on X following the ruling. “A huge moment for democracy. More to come soon.”

In a 4 to 3 ruling, the court argued that under section 3 of the 14th Amendment, Trump is “disqualified” from holding the office of president in connection to his alleged role on Jan. 6, 2021, and therefore, would not appear on the 2024 ballot.

According to the 14th Amendment, no person shall hold public office who has taken an oath to support the Constitution and “engaged in insurrection or rebellion.” The Colorado justices argued Trump violated this clause. 

“No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice-President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any state, who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any State legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any State, to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof. But Congress may by a vote of two-thirds of each House, remove such disability,” the amendment reads.

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Justice Carlos Samour, one of the three Democrat-appointed justices who dissented, wrote that the decision “risked chaos in the country” and urged that “there must be procedural due process before we can declare that individual disqualified from holding public office.” Trump’s campaign has vowed to “swiftly” appeal the Colorado court’s decision to the U.S. Supreme Court, where observers largely believe it will be overturned.

Vice President Kamala Harris announced Wednesday that the United States will land an “international astronaut” along with Americans on the moon by the end of the decade.

Speaking at the third convening of the U.S. National Space Council under the Biden administration, Harris addressed the “importance of international collaboration on human space exploration,” noting how the Artemis program “is the most ambitious space exploration effort in generations.” 

“For the first time in more than half a century, the United States will return astronauts to the lunar surface. We will establish the first lunar base camp and the first station in lunar orbit — all of this in collaboration with our allies and partners,” Harris said. “For example, the service module that will help carry Artemis astronauts to the Moon was built by the European Space Agency.  And Europe, Japan, and Canada will make significant contributions to the lunar space station.”

“Today, in recognition of the essential role that our allies and partners play in the Artemis program, I am proud, then, to announce that alongside American astronauts, we intend to land an international astronaut on the surface of the moon by the end of the decade,” the vice president said. “This announcement and this meeting of our National Space Council is further demonstration of our belief in the critical importance of international partnership… I believe we are all here together because we agree space is a place of extraordinary opportunity. So, our task – dare I say our duty – as nations must be to work together to make that opportunity real and to preserve it for future generations.” 

WHAT’S INSIDE THE MOON? MYSTERIES THAT ARE STILL BEING DECODED

The council made no mention of who the international moonwalker might be or even what country would be represented, according to The Associated Press. A NASA spokeswoman later said that crews would be assigned closer to the lunar-landing missions, and that no commitments had yet been made to another country.

The move comes as the United States believes China is preparing for potential battles in orbit, according to Politico. 

NASA has long stressed the need for global cooperation in space, establishing the Artemis Accords along with the U.S. State Department in 2020 to promote responsible behavior not just on the moon, but everywhere in space. Representatives from all 33 countries that have signed the accords so far were expected at the space council’s meeting in Washington.

“We know from experience that collaboration on space delivers,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken said, citing the Webb Space Telescope, a U.S., European and Canadian effort.

Blinken also noted that “new challenges have arisen, including from our strategic competitors,” but he did not specify countries. 

The establishment of the Artemis Accords is viewed as a challenge to China’s International Lunar Research Station project, which aims to establish a coalition of nations to build a permanent base on the moon next decade. Russia and Venezuela are among the several countries that have signed on. 

Russia is a partner with NASA in the International Space Station, along with Europe, Japan and Canada. Even earlier in the 1990s, the Russian and U.S. space agencies teamed up during the shuttle program to launch each other’s astronauts to Russia’s former orbiting Mir station.

NASA has included international astronauts on trips to space for decades. 

THE SPACE SHUTTLE CHALLENGER DISASTER OF 1986 SHOOK THE FOUNDATIONS OF SPACE EXPLORATION

Canadian Jeremy Hansen will fly around the moon roughly a year from now as part of the Artemis II mission with three U.S. astronauts. Another crew would actually land; it would be the first lunar touchdown by astronauts in more than a half-century. That is not likely to occur before 2027, according to the U.S. Government Accountability Office.

All 12 moonwalkers during NASA’s Apollo program of the 1960s and 1970s were U.S. citizens. The space agency’s new moon exploration program is named Artemis after Apollo’s mythological twin sister. Including international partners “is not only sincerely appreciated, but it is urgently needed in the world today,” Hansen told the council.

Wednesday was also the fourth anniversary of the establishment of the U.S. Space Force. Former President Trump established it as the first new branch of the armed services since 1947. 

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During Wednesday’s meeting, Harris also announced new policies to ensure the safe use of space as more and more private companies and countries aim skyward. Among the issues that the U.S. is looking to resolve: the climate crisis and the growing amount of space junk around Earth. A 2021 anti-satellite missile test by Russia added more than 1,500 pieces of potentially dangerous orbiting debris, and Blinken joined others at the meeting in calling for all nations to end such destructive testing.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

The political arena in 2023 brought some standout courtroom moments, with cases involving a former president, the current president’s family, and sitting members of Congress.

With the ramifications of each case still looming ahead of the 2024 presidential year, let’s look back to the top four political courtroom moments of 2023. 

Hunter Biden plea deal falls apart

President Biden’s son Hunter left federal court on July 26, 2023 after his pre-arranged plea deal with the Justice Department fell apart. The dissolution of the deal followed surprising revelations that Hunter Biden is still under investigation for possible Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) crimes. 

Under the agreement, Hunter Biden would have pleaded guilty to misdemeanor tax charges and avoided a full prosecution on a gun charge if he stayed out of trouble for two years. He’s accused of having a gun for 11 days in 2018, a period where he has acknowledged using drugs, despite a law prohibiting “habitual drug users” from owning guns.

FEDERAL INVESTIGATORS FLOATED SEX TRAFFICKING CHARGES AGAINST HUNTER BIDEN, DOC SHOWS

Judge Maryellen Noreika did not accept the plea agreement, questioning its constitutionality and the broad immunity Hunter Biden would have received, leading Hunter Biden to plead “not guilty” instead. 

Since the dissolution of that deal, federal prosecutors have filed three felony gun counts in Delaware and, in December, nine tax counts in California alleging he schemed to avoid paying $1.4 million in taxes between 2016 and 2019.

Trump takes the stand in civil trial stemming from New York Attorney General Letitia James lawsuit

Former President Trump took the stand on Nov. 6, 2023, in the non-jury civil trial stemming from New York Attorney General Letitia James’ lawsuit alleging he defrauded banks and inflated the value of his assets. The 2024 GOP front-runner has repeatedly cast James’ years-long investigation and lawsuit as a “disgrace” and an attack on his business and his family.

Taking the stand, Trump deemed the case “a political witch hunt,” insisting that he was worth billions more, not less, than his financial statements said. Trump said that any misstatements were immaterial mistakes and that disclaimers effectively told recipients not to count on the numbers. The disclaimers said, among other things, that the statements weren’t audited.

“This is not a political rally,” Judge Arthur Engoron bristled at Trump at one point, complaining that Trump was giving speeches instead of answering questions and urging defense lawyers to “control” the former president.

TRUMP VISITS MANHATTAN COURT TO BLAST NYAG CASE, PRAISES APPELLATE RULING IN HIS FAVOR

The trial neared its conclusion after more than 10 weeks when testimony from 40 witnesses wrapped up in early December. Closing arguments are set for Jan. 11. 

The suit threatens Trump’s real estate empire and is attempting to stop him from doing business in his native state, alleging he overvalued real estate holding including his  Trump Tower penthouse in New York and Mar-a-Lago residence and resort in Florida, as well as golf courses, hotels, a Wall Street office building and more. 

The trial included testimony from three of Trump’s adult children: Donald Jr., Eric and their sister Ivanka, who was their fellow executive vice president at the Trump Organization before she left the company for the White House. Former Trump fixer-turned-foe Michael Cohen took the stand for James’ office.

George Santos charged in federal court

Then U.S. Rep. George Santos, R-N.Y., pleaded not guilty on May 10, 2023, in the Eastern District of New York, hours after an initial 13-count indictment was unsealed against him. 

Santos faces a host of charges that he defrauded donors to his campaign, lied to Congress about his wealth, received unemployment benefits while employed and used campaign contributions to pay for personal expenses like designer clothing. 

“The reality is, it’s a witch hunt,” Santos told reporters outside the courthouse afterward, accusing President Biden and his family of receiving deposits from foreign destinations without legal consequences. 

Santos pleaded not guilty again in October to additional charges that he made tens of thousands of dollars in unauthorized charges on credit cards belonging to some of his campaign donors. He was ultimately expelled from Congress on Dec. 1, 2023, after a damning House ethics report, and a special election has been scheduled for Feb. 13, 2024, to choose his replacement. Democrats have put forward Former U.S. Rep. Tom Suozzi, while Republicans named former IDF soldier Mazi Melesa Pilip as their candidate. 

Bob Menendez indictment

Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., his wife Nadine, and three New Jersey businessmen were charged in September in connection to a years-long corruption scheme in which the high-ranking Democrat allegedly agreed to use his position to benefit the Egyptian government in exchange for hundreds of thousands of bribes, including gold bars, cash and a luxury convertible.

A defiant Menendez has refused calls from his own party members – from Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy to local officials – to resign, and has pleaded not guilty to those charges, filed in the Southern District of New York, as well as additional charges of acting as a foreign agent tacked on by the Justice Department in October. 

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Authorities who searched Menendez’s home last year found more than $100,000 worth of gold bars, as well as over $480,000 in cash — much of it hidden in closets, clothing and a safe, prosecutors say. Photos in the indictment show cash that was stuffed in envelopes in jackets bearing Menendez’s name. Investigators also say they discovered a Google search by Menendez for the value of a “kilo of gold,” and DNA of one man prosecutors say bribed him on an envelope filled with thousands of dollars.

Fox News’ Brianna Herlihy, Jake Gibson, Brooke Singman and the Associated Press contributed to this report.

A group of Michigan veterans are calling on a Democrat running for Congress to apologize for wearing part of a U.S. Army-issued uniform during a Veterans Day event despite having never served in the military.

Fox News Digital has obtained a letter signed by 28 veterans and addressed to former Michigan state Sen. Curtis Hertel, the likely Democrat nominee for the state’s competitive 7th Congressional District, accusing him of giving the impression that he served in the military and committing an act of “stolen valor” by wearing the jacket.

The letter specifically focused on Hertel’s attendance at a Nov. 11 wreath laying ceremony at the Michigan Veterans Memorial in Lansing, when he wore a now-retired U.S. Army-issued physical fitness jacket while speaking at the event despite not being listed in its programming.

CONSERVATIVES LASH OUT AT TRUMP AFTER HE ATTACKS CHIP ROY, CALLS FOR HIM TO FACE PRIMARY CHALLENGE: ‘IDIOTIC’

“We, the undersigned veterans of U.S. military service, write to you today to express our deep concern over your conscious decision to wear an official U.S. Army-issued uniform while speaking at a Veterans Day event last month in Lansing, despite not having served in the Army or any other branch of the U.S. military,” the letter read.

“We respectfully request that you publicly apologize to all American veterans, in Michigan and elsewhere, and pledge not to repeat the offense,” it read.

“As you must be aware, wearing official military-issue attire, especially at a ceremony honoring those who have served, leaves the clear and unmistakable impression that you personally served in uniform. As a public servant who has frequently professed to support veterans and veterans’ issues, you must also know that this brand of ‘stolen valor’ is frowned upon,” it added. 

BIDEN SCRAMBLES TO WIN OVER SWING STATE BLACK VOTERS AS SUPPORT FROM THE TRADITIONALLY BLUE BLOC FALTERS

The letter stated that Hertel never clarified to those in attendance that he never actually served in the military, and noted that although the jacket is a retired uniform and no longer in use by the Army, it “is intrinsically linked to the Global War on Terror era of military service,” and is a period Hertel was eligible to serve, based on his age, but did not.

“Additionally, because you were not issued the jacket by the Army, you must have obtained it from someone who was, which means you were aware of its status as an official uniform when you acquired it,” it added.

According to U.S. Army regulations, the physical fitness uniform is not considered appropriate for “social or official functions off the installation, such as memorial services, funerals, weddings, inaugurals, patriotic ceremonies, and similar functions.” Additionally, retirees are authorized to wear the physical fitness uniform, but not as part of such a ceremony or gathering.

NIKKI HALEY TAKES AIM AT GOP RIVAL FOR CAMPAIGNING WITH ‘ANTI-ISRAEL’ MEMBER OF CONGRESS

When reached for comment, Hertel told Fox News Digital the jacket was a gift from his brother-in-law, who serves as a U.S. Army officer.

“My brother-in-law, an army major who is about to retire, gave me that jacket as a Christmas present. I wore it on Veterans Day to honor him and the other members of my family who served,” he said.

Vietnam veteran Jack Devine, an organizer on veterans’ issues in the Lansing area and across Michigan who was also a speaker at the Veterans Day event attended by Hertel, defended the candidate in a statement to Fox. 

FORMER TRUMP ADVISER KELLYANNE CONWAY LEADS CHARGE TO OVERHAUL GOP ABORTION STRATEGY, END DEMS’ 2024 ADVANTAGE

“Curtis has always been a relentless advocate for veterans. It is ridiculous that he is getting attacked for supporting his family and other members of the military on Veterans Day,” he said.

Additionally, Hertel’s campaign pointed to the now-retired jacket being available for purchase by the public, and touted his record on veterans’ issues as a state senator, including sponsoring a bill to create a new veterans’ cemetery, supporting legislation to make it easier for Michigan’s service members serving overseas to vote, and supporting a bill that made it easier for disabled veterans’ spouses to receive a property tax exemption.

The race for Michigan’s 7th Congressional District is expected to be one of the most closely watched in 2024 as Republicans aim to grow their narrow majority in the House, and Democrats hope to flip the chamber.

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The seat is currently held by Democrat Rep. Elissa Slotkin, who is running for Senate to replace retiring Democrat Sen. Debbie Stabenow.

Hertel will likely face off in the general election with former Republican state Sen. Tom Barrett, who served in the U.S. Army for more than 20 years. Barrett was the Republican nominee for the district in 2022, but lost to Slotkin 52%-46%.

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

Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., plans to introduce a bill that would ban federal tax dollars from going to state election authorities that improperly apply a section of the 14th Amendment, which disqualifies candidates who have engaged in insurrection against the U.S.. 

The legislation comes after the Colorado Supreme Court disqualified former President Donald Trump from appearing on the state’s ballot in 2024, citing the Capitol riots on Jan. 6, 2021, as purported evidence to invoke the 14th Amendment. 

“Regardless of whether you support or oppose former President Donald Trump, it is outrageous to see left-wing activists make a mockery of our political system by scheming with partisan state officials and pressuring judges to remove him from the ballot,” Tillis said in a press release. “American voters, not partisan activists, should decide who we elect as our president.”

The legislation, called the Constitutional Election Integrity Act, would also establish that the Supreme Court has sole discretion in adjudicating claims stemming from the 14th Amendment. 

COLORADO SUPREME COURT DISQUALIFIES TRUMP FROM 2024 BALLOT 

It’s being introduced as an amendment to the Help America Vote Act of 2002, which was designed to modernize election systems, providing federal funds to upgrade voting equipment, and create minimum standards for voter identification and registration. It was signed into law by President George W. Bush.

The Colorado Supreme Court disqualified Trump, the 2024 GOP presidential front-runner, from appearing on the state’s ballot in a 4-3 ruling on Tuesday.

“We do not reach these conclusions lightly,” the court’s majority wrote. “We are mindful of the magnitude and weight of the questions now before us. We are likewise mindful of our solemn duty to apply the law, without fear or favor, and without being swayed by public reaction to the decisions that the law mandates we reach.”

POLL SHOWS BIDEN HITTING RECORD LOW APPROVALS, FALLING BEHIND AGAINST TRUMP IN 2024 MATCHUP

In a previous ruling, Colorado District Judge Sarah B. Wallace allowed Trump to stay on the ballot, but found that he “engaged in insurrection” for his role in the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.

Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold said in a statement that she would “continue to follow court guidance on this important issue.”

DEMOCRATS DROP ‘BIDENOMICS’ AS SOME VOTERS COMPLAIN IT’S ‘TONE-DEAF’: REPORT

Other GOP lawmakers slammed the court’s decision Tuesday, as well. 

“Liberal activist judges in Colorado are following the same playbook as Maduro and Castro,” Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., wrote on X. “Democrats’ gross attempts to silence or disenfranchise American voters will never stand.”

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Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, wrote on X that the court’s “nonsensical ruling only adds to the preexisting chaos of the 2024 election. The biggest ‘threat to democracy’ is to deny voters their choice.”

“This ruling must be reviewed by the Supreme Court,” he wrote. 

Fox News’ Bill Mears and Adam Sabes contributed to this report. 

FIRST ON FOX: Top Border Patrol sector chiefs expressed concern about the number of illegal immigrants evading detection at the southern border, saying the potential threat coming across the border “keeps us up at night” during interviews with the House Homeland Security Committee throughout the year.

Fox News Digital obtained excerpts from transcripts of interviews with the committee taken during the year as part of its work on the ongoing migrant crisis, which has set multiple records this year. 

Then-Chief Patrol Agent Jason Owens, now head of the Border Patrol, told lawmakers that a major concern for the agency is the impact the humanitarian crisis has on the border security mission.

SOUTHERN BORDER HIT BY RECORD NUMBER OF MIGRANT ENCOUNTERS IN A SINGLE DAY AS THOUSANDS FLOOD INTO TEXAS

“And our true adversary, the smugglers, while we’re tied up with this humanitarian effort, what are they doing around the bend that we can’t be there to respond to?” he told the committee in May. “Is that where they’re crossing dangerous narcotics? Is that where they’re crossing convicted felons? That is what keeps us up at night.”

“Gotaways” are illegal immigrants who evade Border Patrol detection but are sometimes caught by other forms of surveillance. Fox reported this month that officials told lawmakers that there were around 670,000 known gotaways in FY23. 

There have been increased concerns about gotaways given the ongoing migrant crisis, where agents are being diverted to processing duties rather than out in the field. In some areas, agents have been outnumbered 200:1 by migrants. FBI Director Christopher Wray said in November that gotaways are a source of “great concern” for the FBI.

Tucson Sector Chief Patrol Agent John Modlin, in July, said that when agents are aware of large groups of migrants, “then the primary goal becomes the humanitarian mission of, of course, apprehending them, but also making sure that they’re not out there in the heat. We try to get them out as soon as possible. So then the border security mission suffers at that point.”

Owens said that those who are seeking to evade Border Patrol, rather than turning themselves in for processing as many do every single day, are more likely to have something to hide.

“If a person is willing to put themselves into harm’s way crossing through very remote, very dangerous conditions to evade capture, you have to ask yourself why. What makes them willing to take that risk? That’s of concern to me,” he said. “What’s also of concern to me is I don’t know who that individual is. I don’t know where they came from. I don’t know what their intention is. I don’t know what they brought with them. That unknown represents a risk, a threat. It’s of great concern to anybody that wears this uniform.”

Then-El Paso Chief Patrol Agent Gloria Chavez was asked in September what types of crimes and allegations are among those seeking to evade detection.

“So there’s a variety that are encountered. Many times it’s gang members. Other times, there are criminal records of sex offenders, homicide, burglaries, etc.,” she said, according to the excerpts.

However, El Centro Sector Chief Patrol Agent Gregory Bovino said his concerns were broader than just the gotaways.

5,000 ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS RELEASED EVERY DAY INTO US, ADMIN OFFICIALS PRIVATELY TELL LAWMAKERS

“Any gotaway or any illegal alien for that matter presents a threat to national security or a threat to the taxpayer of the United States,” he said.

House Homeland Security Chairman Mark Green said in a statement that officials have warned that the true number of gotaways could be higher due to those who are evading detection as well as agents.

“We know nothing about the people entering our country uncaught, and we don’t know their intentions or possible malign ambitions. We do know that many gotaways pay the cartels extra to avoid apprehension, which should make us all wonder — why?” he said. “Why give up the prospect of likely release into the interior of the country after turning yourself in to the Border Patrol, being released to a local NGO, and given a paid-for bus or plane ticket to the destination of your choice — unless you have something to hide?”

Sector chiefs also talked about how they have been forced to pull resources from CBP checkpoints, including shutting them down, to focus on the physical land border itself.

San Diego Chief Patrol Agent Aaron Heitke said in May that in 2021 and 2022, his San Diego Sector pulled resources “off of the maritime side and then the checkpoint side and focused on the actual physical land border.” Other officials said the migratory surges made it “more challenging to keep checkpoints, through which illegal entrants can be arrested, open.”

Republicans have blamed the policies of the Biden administration for the migrant crisis, including the roll-back of Trump-era policies. DHS has said it is dealing with a hemisphere-wide crisis and is expanding legal pathways for entry while increasing consequences for illegal entry and targeting smugglers. It says it needs more funding and immigration reform from Congress to fix a “broken” system. A $14 billion funding request is being debated in Washington as lawmakers struggle to find agreement on the supplemental spending bill. 

A DHS official told Fox that there have been 400,000 removals between May and the end of November — nearly the number of removals in all of FY19. The official also noted that the supplemental funding request includes funding for 1,300 additional agents in addition to the 20,000+ funded in the FY24 budget, and 300 Border Patrol Processing Coordinators among other staff.

Democrats on the committee have highlighted other parts of the interviews, including one in which Chavez stressed the importance of Border Patrol processing coordinators.

“They are an added value to the workforce, especially in the central processing centers. Their input and their contribution to the processing has been exemplary,” Chavez said, adding that 52-64% of personnel are now able to handle enforcement in the field.

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She also said that the surge in troops to the border by the Pentagon around the ending of Title 42 “releases our agents from those responsibilities so that they can go and do patrol and interdiction duties on the front line.”

Owens, meanwhile, was asked if processing coordinators had helped get Border Patrol agents back in the field.

“Absolutely. Anything and everything is going to help,” he said.

Officials have also said that detection capability has increased, which allows more gotaways to be detected: “Because we have gotten more detection capability, because we have…more on the way, we’ve got the additional processing coordinators, we are in a better situation than we were in years past,” he said.

A day after the Colorado Supreme Court disqualified former President Donald Trump from appearing on the state’s ballots in 2024, California Lieutenant Gov. Eleni Kounalakis is asking the Golden State’s Secretary of State to “explore every legal option” to do the same.

Kounalakis sent a letter to Secretary of State Shirley Weber, dated Wednesday, Dec. 20, and referencing Colorado’s recent ruling which stated Trump was ineligible to appear on the state’s ballot as a presidential candidate because of his role in “inciting an insurrection” on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

“This decision is about honoring the rule of law in our country and protecting the fundamental pillars of our democracy,” Kounalakis, who launched a campaign to run for California governor in 2026, wrote. “Specifically, the Colorado Supreme Court held in Anderson v. Griswold (2023 CO 63) that Trump’s insurrection disqualifies him under section three of the Fourteenth Amendment to stand for presidential re-election. Because the candidate is ineligible, the court ruled, it would be a ‘wrongful act’ for the Colorado Secretary of State to list him as a candidate on that state’s presidential primary ballot.”

The gubernatorial candidate told the Secretary of State that California “must stand on the right side of history,” and is “obligated to determine” if the former president is ineligible to be on the ballot for the same reasons he was deemed ineligible in Colorado.

COLORADO SUPREME COURT DISQUALIFIES TRUMP FROM 2024 BALLOT

Kounalakis said Colorado’s decision could be the basis for California’s decision.

“The constitution is clear: you must be 35 years old and not be an insurrectionist,” Kounalakis wrote, though in an earlier version of the letter that hit social media, the Lt. Gov. wrote, “you must be 40 years old…”

POLL SHOWS BIDEN HITTING RECORD LOW APPROVALS, FALLING BEHIND AGAINST TRUMP IN 2024 MATCHUP

She also said this is not a matter of political gamesmanship, but instead is a “dire matter that puts at stake the sanctity of our constitution and our democracy.”

Colorado’s disqualification was made under the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution and tied to the Capitol riot on Jan. 6, 2021.

The 4-3 ruling is stayed until Jan. 4 because of likely appeals. Three justices on the Colorado Supreme Court dissented.

DEMOCRATS DROP ‘BIDENOMICS’ AS SOME VOTERS COMPLAIN IT’S ‘TONE-DEAF’: REPORT

“We do not reach these conclusions lightly,” the court’s majority wrote. “We are mindful of the magnitude and weight of the questions now before us. We are likewise mindful of our solemn duty to apply the law, without fear or favor, and without being swayed by public reaction to the decisions that the law mandates we reach.”

In a previous ruling, Colorado District Judge Sarah B. Wallace allowed Trump to stay on the ballot but found that Trump “engaged in insurrection” for his role in the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.

Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold said in a statement that she would “continue to follow court guidance on this important issue.”

CALIFORNIA LT. GOV. ELENI KOUNALAKIS ANNOUNCES GUBERNATORIAL BID FOR 2026

“The Colorado Supreme Court has ruled that Donald Trump is barred from the Colorado ballot for inciting the January 6 insurrection and attempting to overturn the 2020 Presidential Election. This decision may be appealed,” Griswold wrote.

The 14th Amendment states: “No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice-President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any state, who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any State legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any State, to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof But Congress may by a vote of two-thirds of each House, remove such disability.”

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Disqualification lawsuits relating to Trump’s appearance on the ballot are pending in 13 states, including Texas, Nevada and Wisconsin.

Bill Mears and Adam Sabes of Fox News Digital contributed to this report.

President Biden told reporters Wednesday that there is “no question” that former President Donald Trump supported an insurrection on Jan. 6, 2021, following Tuesday night’s court ruling that disqualified the former president from appearing on Colorado’s ballots. 

Biden, speaking on the tarmac after landing in Milwaukee, declined to comment on the Colorado case. 

However, when asked if Trump is an insurrectionist, Biden said “we saw it all.” 

“Now whether the 14th Amendment applies, let the court make that decision. But he certainly supported an insurrection. No question about it. None. Zero,” Biden responded. “And he seems to be doubling down on about everything.” 

TRUMP DECISION SPLITS COLORADO SUPREME COURT ALONG ELITE EAST COAST LAW SCHOOLS, DENVER LAW LINES 

Biden is in Wisconsin to highlight his administration’s support for Black-owned businesses. 

Tuesday’s 4-3 ruling in Colorado is stayed until Jan. 4 because of likely appeals. Three justices on the Colorado Supreme Court dissented. 

“We do not reach these conclusions lightly,” the court’s majority wrote. “We are mindful of the magnitude and weight of the questions now before us. We are likewise mindful of our solemn duty to apply the law, without fear or favor, and without being swayed by public reaction to the decisions that the law mandates we reach.” 

DEMOCRAT-APPOINTED COLORADO JUSTICE SAYS TRUMP BALLOT BAN UNDERMINES ‘BEDROCK’ OF AMERICA IN FIERY DISSENT 

In a previous ruling, Colorado District Judge Sarah B. Wallace allowed Trump to stay on the ballot, but she found that he “engaged in insurrection” for his role in the Jan. 6 Capitol riot. 

Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold said in a statement that she would “continue to follow court guidance on this important issue.” 

“The Colorado Supreme Court has ruled that Donald Trump is barred from the Colorado ballot for inciting the January 6 insurrection and attempting to overturn the 2020 Presidential Election. This decision may be appealed,” Griswold wrote. 

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The 14th Amendment states, “No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice-President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any state, who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any State legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any State, to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof But Congress may by a vote of two-thirds of each House, remove such disability.” 

Fox News’ Bill Mears and Adam Sabes contributed to this report. 

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

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What’s Happening? 

-Trump’s Republican rivals rally around him in Colorado ruling

-Progressive Dem blasted for asking cops to patrol home after calls to defund police

-CAIR scrubs Democrat praise for organization after leader’s pro-Hamas comments

Chaos in Colorado

The Colorado Republican Party is planning to withdraw from the state’s primary election and move to a caucus system if the ruling against former President Donald Trump stands.

A state GOP spokesperson made the remark on social media following a video posted by GOP candidate Vivek Ramaswamy, in which he pledged to withdraw if the Colorado Supreme Court’s Tuesday disqualification of Trump is sustained.

“I pledge to withdraw from the Colorado GOP primary ballot until Trump is also allowed to be on the ballot, and I demand that Ron DeSantis, Chris Christie, and Nikki Haley do the same immediately — or else they are tacitly endorsing this illegal maneuver which will have disastrous consequences for our country,” Ramaswamy said in the video.

The Colorado Republican Party replied to the candidate’s video, assuring him, “You won’t have to because we will withdraw from the Primary as a Party and convert to a pure caucus system if this is allowed to stand.”

White House

‘EXTREME’ CRITICISM: Biden admin, Texas clash over law marks latest border battle …Read more

‘WAR ON NATURAL GAS’: Biden admin is throwing $1B at cities to decarbonize buildings …Read more

Capitol Hill

POLICY SHIFT: Dean Phillips endorses progressives’ ‘Medicare-for-All’ bill amid challenge to Biden …Read more

Tales from the Campaign Trail

RALLYING AROUND TRUMP: Trump’s Republican White House rivals rally around the former president in ballot battle …Read more

GREAT EXPECTATIONS: Trump’s polls could point to a problem even in victory …Read more

BALLOT BATTLE: Dem-appointed Colorado justice warns of repercussions of state Supreme Court ruling in fiery dissent …Read more

Across America

‘FRAUD’: Progressive Dem who voted to defund police blasted for asking cops to patrol his home …Read more

‘NO BUSINESS IN OFFICE’: Soros-backed DA blasted after man kills 2 people in 7th DUI, released on bond …Read more

COVERING THEIR TRACKS: CAIR quietly scrubs Democrat praise for group after blowback over leader’s pro-Hamas comments …Read more

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

With less than four weeks to go until the first votes in the 2024 White House race, a new national poll indicates that former President Donald Trump remains the commanding front-runner for the Republican nomination.

And a Quinnipiac University public opinion survey released on Wednesday is also the latest to spotlight that former ambassador to the United Nations and former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley is now tied with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis for a distant second place behind Trump.

Trump holds the support of two-thirds (67%) of Republican and GOP-leaning voters questioned in the poll, with Haley and DeSantis each drawing 11% support. 

Multi-millionaire entrepreneur and first-time candidate Vivek Ramaswamy grabs the backing of four percent, with former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who’s making his second presidential bid, at three percent.

RAISING THE STAKES: ARE TRUMP’S EXPECTATIONS IN IOWA TOO HIGH?

Trump’s support is the highest in Quinnipiac polling this cycle, as is Haley’s, with DeSantis reaching a new low.

“DeSantis continues his yearlong slide. Haley gains momentum. The battle for second place heats up, but it’s unlikely it will send a holiday chill through MAGA world,” Quinnipiac University polling analyst Tim Malloy emphasized.

WHAT THE LATEST FOX NEWS POLLING IN THE PRESIDENTIAL RACE SHOWS

The Quinnipiac poll – which was conducted Dec. 14-18 – is in-line with other national polls in the Republican nomination race also released in recent days. Among those surveys is a Fox News poll conducted Dec. 10-13 that indicated Trump at 62% support, DeSantis at 12%, and Haley at 9%.

A New York Times/Siena College survey in the field Dec. 10-14 put Trump at 64%, Haley at 11% and DeSantis at 9%.

Trump made history earlier this year as the first former or current president to be indicted for a crime, but his four indictments — including in federal court in Washington, D.C., and in Fulton County court in Georgia on charges he tried to overturn his 2020 presidential election loss — have only fueled his support among Republican voters.

DeSantis for months was solidly in second place in the GOP nomination race, but his numbers have slipped in recent months.

TRUMP CAMPAIGN LAUNCHES ‘EXTREMELY AGGRESSIVE OPERATION’ IN IOWA 

Haley has enjoyed plenty of momentum in the polls this autumn, thanks in part to well-received performances in the first three Republican presidential primary debates. She leapfrogged over DeSantis for second place in New Hampshire, which holds the first primary and votes second after Iowa. And she’s in second place in her home state, another crucial early voting state that holds the first southern contest.

Haley’s also working to make a fight of it in Iowa – whose Jan. 15 caucuses lead off the GOP nominating calendar – as she’s pulled closer to DeSantis.

The new Quinnipiac national poll is the latest to indicate that Trump voters are much more firmly set on their choice for the nomination, compared to those backing other Republican contenders. Only 37% of Trump supporters said they may change their mind. That percentage soars to 82% for those supporting Trump’s rivals.

AS FRONT-RUNNER TRUMP RETURNS TO IOWA, RIVALS HALEY AND DESANTIS TURN UP THE VOLUME — ON EACH OTHER

In the 2024 Democratic primary, President Biden stands at 75% support, with author Marianne Williamson, who’s making her second straight White House run, at 13% and Rep. Dean Phillips of Minnesota at five percent.

In a likely general election matchup next November, the poll puts Biden at 47% and Trump at 46%, a virtual tie.

But when the November 2024 field expands to include third party and independent candidates, Trump gains a slight edge over the president.

The poll indicates Trump at 38%, Biden 36%, with environmental activist and high profile vaccine skeptic Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who is a scion of arguably the nation’s most famous family political dynasty, at 16%. Progressive university scholar Cornell West stands at three percent, along with Green Party candidate Jill Stein.

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But both Kennedy and West now face uphill climbs to obtain ballot access in states across the country.

The Quinnipiac poll is the latest to find Biden’s approval rating below 40%. He stands at 38% approval and 58% disapproval, basically unchanged from a month ago.

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

Former President Trump‘s legal team has filed its written response to Special Counsel Jack Smith’s request that the U.S. Supreme Court hear Trump’s immunity claims in the election interference criminal case against him. 

In their brief, the Trump team urged the high court not to rush things and accept the issue before the lower courts have heard the matter.

“This appeal presents momentous, historic questions,” the brief states. “An erroneous denial of a claim of presidential immunity from criminal prosecution unquestionably warrants this Court’s review. The Special Counsel contends that “[i]t is of imperative public importance that respondent’s claims of immunity be resolved by this Court.” 

“That does not entail, however, that the Court should take the case before the lower courts complete their review. Every jurisdictional and prudential consideration calls for this Court to allow the appeal to proceed first in the D.C.”

TRUMP DECISION SPLITS COLORADO SUPREME COURT ALONG ELITE EAST COAST LAW SCHOOLS, DENVER LAW LINES

Smith is expected to file a final written rebuttal in the next few days to urge the court to quickly accept the case on its merits. The justices will then privately consider whether to review the case. 

DEM-APPOINTED COLORADO JUSTICE SAYS TRUMP BALLOT BAN UNDERMINE ‘BEDROCK’ OF AMERICA IN FIERY DISSENT

Smith has made his request for the high court to act quickly to prevent any delays that could push back Trump’s trial until after next year’s presidential election. 

A federal judge previously ruled the case could go forward, but Trump said he would ask the federal appeals court in Washington to reverse that outcome. Smith is attempting to bypass the appeals court – the usual next step in the process – and have the Supreme Court take up the matter directly.

“This case presents a fundamental question at the heart of our democracy: whether a former President is absolutely immune from federal prosecution for crimes committed while in office or is constitutionally protected from federal prosecution when he has been impeached but not convicted before the criminal proceedings begin,” prosecutors wrote.

Trump faces charges accusing him of working to overturn the results of the 2020 election in which he lost to President Biden before the violent Jan. 6, 2021 protest by his supporters at the U.S. Capitol. He has denied any wrongdoing.

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Should the justices decline to step in, Trump’s appeal would continue at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. Smith has asked for quick review there too, but said even a rapid appellate decision might not get to the Supreme Court in time for review and final word before the court’s traditional summer break.

Fox News Digital’s Bradford Betz contributed to this report. 

Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., who is running as an independent for president in 2024, issued a warning after Colorado’s Supreme Court blocked former President Trump from the ballot over Jan. 6. 

“If Trump is kept out of office through judicial fiat rather than being defeated in a fair election, his supporters will never accept the result. This country will become ungovernable,” Kennedy, who initially launched a Democratic primary challenge to President Biden in April before switching to an independent 2024 bid in October, wrote on X. 

“It’s time to trust the voters. It is up to the people to decide who the best candidate is. Not the courts. The people. That’s Democracy 101,” Kennedy said. “When any candidate is deprived of his right to run, the American people are deprived of their right to choose.”

Calling for a swift reversal, RFK Jr. said the 4-3 Colorado decision deeming Trump ineligible for the White House under the U.S. Constitution’s insurrection clause, “contributes to the perception that the elites are picking the President by manipulating the legal system, and through other interventions.”

“Every American should be troubled by the Colorado Supreme Court’s decision to remove President Trump from the ballot,” Kennedy wrote on X. “The court has deprived him of a consequential right without having been convicted of a crime. This was done without an evidentiary hearing in which he is given the basic right of confronting his accusers.”

TRUMP DECISION SPLITS COLORADO SUPREME COURT ALONG ELITE EAST COAST LAW SCHOOLS, DENVER LAW LINES

In an earlier thread, Kennedy argued the U.S. would condemn foreign governments if they acted the way the Colorado Supreme Court has. 

“When a court in another country disqualifies an opposition candidate from running, we say, ‘That’s not a real democracy.’ Now it’s happening here,” Kennedy said. “I’m not a Trump supporter (if I were, I wouldn’t be running against him!) But I want to beat him in a fair election, not because he was kicked off the ballot. Let the voters choose, not the courts!” 

Speaking to Fox News Digital, Mark Gorton and Tony Lyons, co-founders of Americas Voice 2024, a super PAC supporting Kennedy’s 2024 presidential campaign, highlighted similarities between the Colorado Trump ruling and efforts to censor Kennedy and block the longtime Democrat from the Democratic ticket.

“Generally, these kinds of tactics to keep somebody off the ballot are the same kinds of tactics that the DNC used against him when he was campaigning in New Hampshire. And they were saying that they were going to penalize him in Georgia and South Carolina,” Lyons told Fox News Digital, describing efforts he says the DNC is taking to block third-party candidates from ballots on a state-by-state basis. 

NEW POLL SHOWS RFK JR. BEATING TRUMP AND BIDEN AMONG YOUNG AMERICANS IN SWING STATES

“They’re going to do everything in their power to keep Bobby Kennedy off the ballot because they don’t want him on the stage with Joe Biden. And the RNC doesn’t want Bobby on the stage with Donald Trump because he has better ideas, better arguments and better policies,” Lyons said. “They’re using these tactics as a way to avoid dialog and debate, to disenfranchise the American public, to, you know, take away voting rights that have been, you know, hard fought for 50 or 60 years. All of these tactics are anti-democratic tactics. And so I think that Bobby Kennedy is absolutely right to stand up for the right of even an opponent when he believes that what’s being done is not the right thing and unconstitutional.”

Noting how Kennedy is not a Trump supporter, Gorton echoed those sentiments, describing RFK Jr. as “a man of principle” working against the “dirty games” of the political establishment. 

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“The DNC is not just trying to do one thing to stop one candidate. They’re throwing the kitchen sink at every, you know, every Democratic letter. And whether it’s voting or rules for how you run the primary or ballot access or censoring people, it’s the same, you know, large scale organization or large scale network of people that instead of putting forth a candidate and letting the people choose, are constantly trying to corrupt and manipulate the system,” Gorton told Fox News Digital. “The DNC – it’s amazing because they run around and are constantly talking about threats to democracy. Yet they’re the ones who are saying the American people shouldn’t get a choice and they’re manipulating the system and they’re censoring people. And that’s the ethic of the people in D.C. today, where they feel like they’re entitled to rule and that anything they do in the service of their own power is acceptable.”

A federal judge is ordering Republican Rep. Scott Perry of Pennsylvania to turn over more than 1,600 texts and emails to FBI agents investigating efforts to keep President Donald Trump in office after his 2020 election loss and illegally block the transfer of power to Democrat Joe Biden.

The ruling, late Monday, came more than a year after Perry’s personal cellphone was seized by federal authorities. The decision, by U.S. District Judge James Boasberg, is largely in line with an earlier finding by a federal judge that Perry appealed to the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Washington, D.C.

Boasberg, in a 12-page decision, said that, after viewing each record, he decided that Perry, a top Trump ally, can withhold 396 of the messages under the constitution’s speech and debate clause that protects the work of members of Congress.

FREEDOM CAUCUS CHAIR SAYS SPEAKER JOHNSON MUST ‘REASSERT AUTHORITY’ AMID GOP INFIGHTING OVER SPENDING PLAN

However, the other 1,659 records do not involve legislative acts and must be disclosed, Boasberg ruled. That includes efforts to influence members of the executive branch, discussions about Vice President Mike Pence’s role in certifying the election and providing information about alleged election fraud.

Perry’s lawyer, John Rowley, did not immediately respond to a query about whether he will appeal. In the past, Rowley has said that government officials have never described Perry to him as a target of their investigation.

Perry is chairman of the Freedom Caucus, a hardline faction of conservatives. Perry has not been charged with a crime and is the only sitting member of Congress whose cellphone was seized by the FBI in the 2020 election investigation.

Perry’s efforts to protect the contents of his cell phone have proceeded largely in secret, except in recent weeks when snippets and short summaries of his texts and emails were inadvertently unsealed — and then resealed — by the federal court.

Those messages revealed more about where Perry may fit in the web of Trump loyalists who were central to his bid to remain in power.

Making Perry a figure of interest to federal prosecutors were his efforts to elevate Jeffrey Clark to Trump’s acting attorney general in late 2020.

Perry, in the past, has said he merely “obliged” Trump’s request that he be introduced to Clark. At the time, Trump was searching for a like-minded successor to use the Department of Justice to help stall the certification of Biden’s election victory.

But the messages suggest that Perry was a key ally for Clark, who positioned himself as someone who would reverse the Department of Justice’s stance that it had found no evidence of widespread voting fraud.

GOP REP. TORCHES REPORTER CLAIMING AMERICANS SEE NO EVIDENCE FOR BIDEN IMPEACHMENT: ‘YOU DON’T REPORT ON IT’

To that end, Clark had drafted a letter that he suggested sending to Georgia saying the Department of Justice had “identified significant concerns that may have impacted the outcome of the election in multiple states, including the state of Georgia,” according to the August indictment in that state accusing Trump, Clark and 17 others of trying illegally to keep him in power.

At the time, Clark was the assistant attorney general of the Environment and Natural Resources Division and served as the acting head of the Civil Division.

The showdown over Clark brought the Justice Department to the brink of crisis, prosecutors have said, and Trump ultimately backed down after he was told that it would result in mass resignations at the Justice Department and his own White House counsel’s office.

Clark is now described in the federal indictment of Trump as one of six unnamed and unindicted co-conspirators in an effort to illegally subvert the 2020 election.

The Colorado Republican Party is planning to withdraw from the state’s primary election and move to a caucus system if the ruling against former President Donald Trump stands.

A state GOP spokesperson made the remark on social media following a video posted by GOP candidate Vivek Ramaswamy, in which he pledged to withdraw if the Colorado Supreme Court’s Tuesday disqualification of Trump is sustained.

“I pledge to withdraw from the Colorado GOP primary ballot until Trump is also allowed to be on the ballot, and I demand that Ron DeSantis, Chris Christie, and Nikki Haley do the same immediately — or else they are tacitly endorsing this illegal maneuver which will have disastrous consequences for our country,” Ramaswamy said in the video.

The Colorado Republican Party replied to the candidate’s video, assuring him, “You won’t have to because we will withdraw from the Primary as a Party and convert to a pure caucus system if this is allowed to stand.”

CRITICS SLAM COLORADO SUPREME COURT FOR REMOVING TRUMP FROM STATE’S 2024 BALLOT: ‘A MOCKERY’

Republicans and other allies of the former president are slamming the Colorado Supreme Court for removing him from the state’s 2024 ballot. 

The divided court declared that Trump was ineligible for the White House under the U.S. Constitution’s insurrection clause and removed him from the state’s presidential primary ballot, setting up a likely showdown in the nation’s highest court to decide whether the front-runner for the GOP nomination can remain in the race.

COLORADO SUPREME COURT DISQUALIFIES TRUMP FROM 2024 BALLOT

The decision from a court whose justices were all appointed by Democratic governors marks the first time in history that Section 3 of the 14th Amendment has been used to disqualify a presidential candidate.

The court stayed its decision until Jan. 4, or until the U.S. Supreme Court rules on the case. 

Colorado officials said the issue must be settled by Jan. 5, the deadline for the state to print its presidential primary ballots.

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“We do not reach these conclusions lightly,” wrote the court’s majority. “We are mindful of the magnitude and weight of the questions now before us. We are likewise mindful of our solemn duty to apply the law, without fear or favor, and without being swayed by public reaction to the decisions that the law mandates we reach.”

Fox News’ Bradford Betz, Bill Mears and Adam Sabes and The Associated Press contributed to this report.