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President Biden on Tuesday told supporters he’s not sure if he would be seeking a second term in the White House in 2024 if former President Donald Trump wasn’t trying to win back his old job.

“If Trump wasn’t running, I’m not sure I’d be running. But we cannot let him win,” the president said at a fundraiser at a private home near Boston, Massachusetts, according to a pool report.

Biden’s candid comments about his reasons for running for re-election came as he reiterated what he and Democrats have emphasized is the threat Trump poses to American democracy if he wins back the White House. 

“Trump’s not even hiding the ball anymore. He’s telling us what he’s going to do. He’s making no bones about it,” Biden warned.

WILL THESE SIX BATTLEGROUND STATES COST BIDEN THE WHITE HOUSE IN 2024?

The president also once again spotlighted Trump’s recent renewed calls to scrap the Affordable Care Act, the sweeping health care law passed during Biden’s tenure as vice president during then-President Obama’s administration.

The fundraiser, one of three the president was headlining in the Boston area on Tuesday, comes as the president kicked off a fundraising sprint to close the year, to build resources for what will certainly be an expensive re-election effort in 2024.

The president’s remark suggests that Biden may not have run for another four years in the White House if Trump had decided against a 2024 bid.

BIDEN FACES A BIGGER POLLING DEFICIT NOW THAT OBAMA DID A YEAR BEFORE THE 2012 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION

Trump remains the commanding front-runner for the GOP presidential nomination as he makes his third straight White House run. Trump holds a large double-digit lead over the rest of the shrinking field of Republican rivals for the nomination.

Biden made history in 2020 as the oldest person elected president, as he defeated Trump. 

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The now 81-year-old Biden has long viewed himself as the Democrats’ best shot at keeping Trump from winning back the White House.

But Biden continues to suffer from underwater approval ratings among many Americans and faces concerns – not just from Republicans and independents but also from Democrats – over his physical and mental stamina.

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

Those same surveys spotlight that voters are far from thrilled with the likely prospect of a rematch between Biden and Trump.

Fox News’ Kate Sprague and Kelly Phares contributed to this report

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

Department of Justice (DOJ) Special Counsel Jack Smith claimed in new court documents filed Tuesday that former President Donald Trump specifically “sent” his supporters to the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021 to obstruct the certification of the 2020 presidential election results.

The documents, filed in the Washington, D.C. federal court overseeing the case against Trump related to Jan. 6 and alleged efforts to overturn the election, detailed the evidence Smith’s team will be using in the former president’s upcoming trial, which is scheduled to begin on Mar. 4.

“Evidence of the defendant’s post-conspiracy embrace of particularly violent and notorious rioters is admissible to establish the defendant’s motive and intent on January 6—that he sent supporters, including groups like the Proud Boys, whom he knew were angry, and whom he now calls ‘patriots,’ to the Capitol to achieve the criminal objective of obstructing the congressional certification,” Smith wrote.

FEDERAL JUDGE DENIES TRUMP’S CLAIM OF PRESIDENTIAL IMMUNITY IN SPECIAL COUNSEL JACK SMITH’S JAN. 6 CASE

“In addition, his statements in this time period agreeing that he then held, and still holds, enormous influence over his supporters’ actions is evidence of his knowledge and intent to obstruct the certification, as he chose not to exercise that influence to mitigate the violence on January 6,” he wrote. 

Smith said that Trump’s “embrace” of those participating in the Jan. 6 riot was “evidence of his intent” because they “acted as he directed them to act.”

Additionally, Smith listed Trump’s “refusal to commit to a peaceful transition of power,” and his “motive, intent and plan to interfere with the implementation of an election result with which he was not satisfied,” as evidence. 

TRUMP IS NOT IMMUNE FROM CIVIL LAWSUITS RELATED TO JAN. 6 FEDERAL APPEALS COURT RULES

He also wrote he would introduce evidence to establish Trump’s “plan of silencing” those speaking out against his claims of a fraudulent election, and that his public criticism of other officials, such as former Vice President Mike Pence, “could foreseeably lead to threats, harassment, and violence.”

Trump’s campaign responded to Smith’s documents by blasting them as an act of desperation.

“Crooked Joe Biden, Deranged Jack Smith, and the rest of the Hacks and Thugs attempting to interfere in the 2024 election are getting so desperate to attack President Trump that they are perverting justice by trying to include claims that weren’t anywhere to be found in their dreamt up, fake indictment,” Trump campaign spokesman Steven Cheung said.

BIDEN TROLLS DESANTIS, HALEY, TRUMP WITH GIANT BILLBOARDS AHEAD OF FOURTH GOP PRESIDENTIAL DEBATE

“President Trump will not be deterred and will continue speaking truth to corrupt, weaponized power and law enforcement,” he added.

Trump is charged with conspiracy to defraud the United States, conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding, obstruction of and attempt to obstruct an official proceeding and conspiracy against rights.  

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Trump pleaded not guilty to all four federal charges.

Fox News’ Jake Gibson and Brooke Singman contributed to this report.

PROGRAMMING ALERT: Watch the “Hannity” Town Hall with former President Trump on Fox News Channel at 9 pm ET.

Fox News’ Sean Hannity will sit down with Former President Donald Trump tonight at 9 p.m. ET for a one-hour interview. The exclusive town hall event will appear on “Hannity” and was pre-taped in Davenport, Iowa.

Viewers can expect the former president to touch on issues that are important to the American people and could vary from immigration and border security to abortion, Obamacare and healthcare. Additionally, the former president’s looming indictments are a concern to many Americans and others believe they have been politically motivated.

TRUMP SAYS TAKING MUGSHOT WAS ‘NOT A COMFORTABLE FEELING, ESPECIALLY WHEN YOU’VE DONE NOTHING WRONG’

In August, Hannity questioned the timing of Trump’s indictments, saying, “They want you to focus only on Trump indictments, court proceedings, January 6, documents, anything other than Joe Biden. And we went through the timeline last night. If Joe Biden gets bad news, the next day there’s another Trump indictment. Shocking.”

Viewers can anticipate mention of some or all of his 2024 GOP presidential rivals and opponents, including Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson and the campaign trail leading up to November.

Former Vice President Mike Pence, U.S. Senator Tim Scott, political commentator Larry Elder, American author Perry Johnson, former U.S. Representative Will Hurd and Mayor of Miami Francis Suarez have all dropped out of the fight for GOP nominee in the 2024 presidential election. North Dakota Gov., Doug Burgum, is the latest candidate to withdraw himself from the campaign trail.

In a post on Instagram Monday, Burgum wrote: “Today, we have made the decision to suspend our campaign for President of the United States.”

“Our decision to run came from a place of caring deeply about every American and our mission to re-establish trust in American leadership and our institutions of democracy,” Burgum added.

DESANTIS STOPS IN ALL 99 IOWA COUNTIES, BUT WILL IT HELP HIM CLOSE THE GAP WITH TRUMP, STAY AHEAD OF HALEY?

In a June interview with FOX & Friends’ Brian Kilmeade, Burgum said of Trump’s indictments that “You cannot have a democracy where people don’t trust what’s going on.”

Trump, the GOP frontrunner, has opted out of GOP presidential debates during this campaign cycle thus far. The former president has skipped the first, second and third debates and is expected to sidestep the fourth debate on Wednesday, Dec. 6 in Alabama.

Hannity hosted Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and California Gov. Gavin Newsom in a red vs blue state debate on Nov. 30. The political rivals went at it during a prime-time event over topics and issues including taxes, transgenderism, COVID-19, education, the Biden administration and more.

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A Washington state couple’s nearly $15,000 tax bill was debated by the Supreme Court on Tuesday, in a case the Biden administration says could have “far-reaching consequences,” potentially costing the government more than $5 trillion.

At issue is whether Congress has authority to tax people and companies for sums that have not yet been received, or “realized,” as income.

The current case may be relatively small in scope, but the high court was told its eventual ruling could have an enormous impact on taxing the wealthiest Americans who shield their earnings through a variety of investment loopholes.

SUPREME COURT DISMISSES CASE IMPACTING ACCESSIBILITY INFORMATION ON HOTEL WEBSITES

In a lively two hours of oral arguments, the high court heard claims that its decision would cause financial chaos, upend much of the federal tax code, and derail a so-called “wealth tax” that has been promoted by some Democrats, but has not yet been enacted.

The justices appeared cautious about issuing a sweeping ruling, and instead seemed ready to uphold the current tax on unrealized foreign income.

“We don’t have to agree with you on that for you to prevail,” said Justice Brett Kavanaugh on the implications of a sweeping decision, telling Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar that the government could win on narrow grounds.

“Why is it that you think we can decide for you without putting any of those kinds of very established taxation schemes at risk?” Justice Elena Kagan asked the lawyer for the investors.

Charles and Kathleen Moore, a retired couple from Redmond, Washington, are challenging taxes on their 13% minority shareholder stake in KisanKraft, an Indian corporation that supplies power tools to small farms in that Asian country.

The married couple says the company reinvested its earnings to expand the business rather than distribute dividends or payments to its stakeholders, and therefore should not be considered taxable income.

“If you haven’t received any income, how can you be required to pay income taxes?” Charles Moore says in a video from the Competitive Enterprise Institute, a libertarian group representing the couple in court. “It seemed, to both of us, unconstitutional.”

The specific provision in question was part of a massive 2017 corporate tax overhaul passed by Congress and signed into law by then-President Trump.

A one-time levy – known as the “mandatory repatriation tax” – is imposed on deferred earnings of American shareholders in foreign corporations, even any gains that have not been “realized” or passed on to them. It was imposed as an offset to other tax benefits.

SUPREME COURT HEARS ARGUMENTS IN $6 BILLION PURDUE PHARMA SETTLEMENT THAT WOULD GRANT IMMUNITY TO SACKLERS

The IRS says that provision could reap the government $340 billion over ten years.

The provision was designed to address one of several workarounds investors have relied on for years to access unrealized investment property, before receiving it and paying taxes on it.

Groups supporting the government say while the Moores may not have received any actual money, their initial $40,000 foreign investment has increased over the years to more than a half-million dollars.

More broadly, groups like the U.S. Chamber of Commerce supporting the Moores’ situation say this case could be applied as a preemptive strike against any wealth tax on the assets of the richest Americans, including stocks that are only taxed when they are sold.

Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) has championed such a tax for years. Just last week, Senate Finance Committee Chairman Ron Wyden (D-OR) led a group of 15 fellow Democrats to introduce the Billionaires Income Tax.

And President Biden has suggested a version of a “billionaire’s tax” on U.S. households worth more than $100 million to pay a minimum of 25% on capital gains each year, whether those assets were sold for a profit or still held by them.

But none of the justices publicly expressed enthusiasm about venturing down that path, suggesting any consideration of a wealth tax or other IRS provisions is off the table.

The arguments focused instead on how a narrow ruling could be crafted, with Justice Sonia Sotomayor saying, “I don’t fault the parties for shooting for the stars but I guess the tenor of the questions is that nobody’s happy with anybody’s definition of anything, okay?”

The Moores’ appeal prompted one of the largest series of amicus briefs filed with the high court from a variety of interest groups and lawmakers.

Concerns were expressed over how a ruling would affect other longstanding tax provisions – including business partnerships, real estate investments, and charitable and philanthropic donations.

An underlying ethics question has dogged the Supreme Court’s consideration of the tax case.

Senate Judiciary Committee Democrats urged Justice Samuel Alito to recuse, because lawyer David Rivkin representing the Moores also co-conducted four hours of Wall Street Journal opinion page interviews with the justice.

Alito in a four-page statement in September refused to step aside.

“There is no valid reason for my recusal in this case,” he wrote. “We are required to put favorable or unfavorable comments and any personal connections with an attorney out of our minds and judge the cases based solely on the law and the facts. And that is what we do.”

Alito was an active questioner in the Moore case.

“I am quite concerned by the potential implications” of the Moores’ position, he said to the Justice Department lawyer. “You say that if we rule in petitioners’ favor, then large, important pieces of the Tax Code will also logically fall. And I think that’s a fair argument. But I think it’s also a fair argument to do the same thing with your position, and I want to understand the limits of your position.”

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The case is Moore, Charles v. U.S. (22-800), and a decision is expected by early summer 2024.

EXCLUSIVE: President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris aren’t sitting idly by this week and letting Republican presidential hopefuls dominate the airwaves with multiple prime-time events without having their own say.

In coordination with the Democratic National Committee (DNC), the Biden-Harris campaign is doing a bit of its own trolling by erecting giant billboards across Tuscaloosa, Alabama, the site of Wednesday’s fourth Republican presidential debate, targeting the top-tier GOP challengers on their healthcare policies.

“No to healthcare repeal. No to slashing Medicare and Medicaid, No to extreme abortion bans,” the billboards read, alongside unflattering photos of either former President Donald Trump, the front-runner for the Republican nomination, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, or former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley.

KEVIN MCCARTHY, MATT GAETZ TRADE JABS AS FIERCE RIVALRY CONTINUES: HE ‘BELONGS IN JAIL’

The billboards went up early Tuesday morning across Tuscaloosa, near the University of Alabama where the debate will be held, and will remain in place through the debate on Wednesday night.

The effort by the Biden-Harris campaign and the DNC aims to shine light on the expressed opposition by those candidates to the Affordable Care Act (ACA), commonly known as “Obamacare,” which Democrats say would leave more than 40 million Americans uninsured and millions more facing higher healthcare costs.

The campaign also wants to highlight that Alabama, a reliably Republican state, is one of only 10 states that has not expanded Medicaid under the ACA.

BIDEN USES TRUMP’S OWN WORDS AGAINST HIM IN BID TO RECAPTURE THIS MAJOR VOTING BLOCK FOR DEMS IN 2024

“Tomorrow’s debate is a reminder of the choice facing voters next November: President Biden’s plan to protect Americans’ health care and their fundamental freedoms, or the extreme MAGA agenda that would rip away health care coverage, jack up families’ health care costs, and ban abortion across the country,” DNC National Press Secretary Sarafina Chitika told Fox News Digital. 

“Let’s be clear: If Donald Trump and the other 2024 Republicans had their way, they’d implement an extreme, unpopular agenda to end the ACA’s protections for preexisting conditions, kick young people off their parents’ health insurance, and strip reproductive freedom away from as many women as possible,” she added.

According to one DNC aide, the effort to tackle Republicans’ healthcare policies head-on is a continuation of the Biden campaign’s focus on what it says is Trump’s vision for America in 2025, the year he would take office if victorious over Biden.

ERIC ADAMS’ FATE RESTS WITH FELLOW DEMS AMID BREWING POLITICAL STRUGGLES REMINISCENT OF ANDREW CUOMO: EXPERT

The aide added that the debate is an opportunity to frame Alabama as ground zero for what another Trump term would look like, including no Medicare expansion, hundreds of thousands of Americans without healthcare as a result, near-total abortion bans and laws that make it easier for criminals to carry firearms.

They added that the campaign would be focused on that message throughout Republican debate, as well Trump’s appearance in a Fox News town hall, which will be hosted by Sean Hannity and will air Tuesday at 9:00 p.m. ET.

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A number of Biden surrogates will also be in Tuscaloosa on the day of the debate to make the administration’s case, including principal deputy campaign manager Quentin Fulks, former Sen. Doug Jones, D-Ala., and Democrat Alabama state Sen. Barbara Drummond.

Trump will not be participating in Wednesday’s debate. Haley and DeSantis will be joined at the debate by entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy and former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie.

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

A remote Arizona border crossing is being overrun by a massive surge of mainly adult male migrants from across the globe, including countries in Africa and the Middle East — just as the state’s Tucson Sector has seen record numbers of crossings in recent days.

Fox News was on the ground in Lukeville, Arizona, where Customs and Border Protection (CBP) have been forced to close the local port of entry due to the surge in illegal entries. Fox footage showed that, as of Tuesday morning, hundreds of single military-age men camped out against the border wall waiting to be processed into the U.S, and not a single woman or child among them. 

Of those camped out, there were a large number of Africans from countries Senegal, Guinea, Mauritania, Egypt and elsewhere waiting to be processed and potentially released into the U.S. Others were from the Middle East and Asia.

ARIZONA LAWMAKER CALLS FOR NATIONAL GUARD DEPLOYMENT TO HANDLE TUCSON MIGRANT SURGE: ‘OVERRUN AND UNDERMANNED’

One man told Fox that he paid $10,000 to a smuggler to travel from Mauritania via Colombia, while a man from Guinea said he was planning to head to New York City if he was released into the U.S.

The Tucson Sector saw nearly 3,000 encounters in a single day and has seen 17,500 encounters in a single week, the highest weekly total ever recorded.

Meanwhile, Fox cameras caught a moment when migrants exploited gaps in the border wall — which were being repaired by federal contractors — and rushed through the gap and into the United States before it could be fixed. 

The situation has sparked outrage from local lawmakers. Rep. Juan Ciscomani , R-Ariz., last week called for the deployment of the Arizona National Guard to the border, urging Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas to recommend such action to the Pentagon.

“Tucson Sector is leading in encounters and our agents and officers are overrun and undermanned,” Ciscomani says in a letter to DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas. “The situation is far past a breaking point and those on the frontlines of this crisis are in need of immediate support.”

US SUSPENDS, REDUCES VEHICLE PROCESSING ALONG SOUTHERN BORDER AT SELECT TEXAS AND ARIZONA PORTS OF ENTRY

CBP has been surging resources and personnel to the Tucson Sector — which typically sees less traffic than other sectors like the Rio Grande Valley– and has been focusing on transporting migrants laterally to other parts of the border combined with a greater use of expedited removal as an alternative to them being released into the U.S. 

The Biden administration has promised to increase the use of the expedited removal authority — and has requested resources to do so as part of its $14 billion supplemental request to Congress for border operations, including staffing and non-custodial housing. Negotiations are ongoing in Congress over that supplemental, with Republicans wanting to see stricter asylum standards and limits on the administration’s use of humanitarian parole. However, some Senate Democrats have said that they would only agree to such policy changes if they were tied to an amnesty for millions of illegal immigrants already in the U.S.

SENATE DEMS SAY ANY CHANGES TO ASYLUM SYSTEM MUST BE COUPLED WITH AMNESTY FOR ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS

The Biden administration has said it is dealing with a Hemisphere-wide crisis and needs Congress to act to provide more funding for the border processes, while since 2021 it has been calling on Republicans to support a comprehensive immigration bill it unveiled on day one of the administration. That too would include a sweeping amnesty for millions of illegal immigrants.

Republicans have rejected that legislation, and instead introduced a bill of their own which would increase border security funding while increasing limits on asylum and the use of humanitarian parole. Republicans have blamed the ongoing crisis on the policies of the administration — including its rollback of Trump-era policies.

Similarly, the Border Patrol union has repeatedly blamed the administration, putting the surge in Lukeville down to an “open invitation” by the Biden administration.

“It takes a toll on the men and women [of Border Patrol] that are out there putting their lives on the line each and every day,” The National Border Patrol Council’s Art Del Cueto told Fox News.

But whatever the cause, the border remains in a historic crisis with records being broken at every turn. There were more than 2.4 million migrant encounters in FY 23, a new record. September saw a record for encounters at the southern border, while October saw a record for encounters in October — with more than 240,000 encounters border-wide.

Fox News’ Aubrie Spady contributed to this report.

 

Special Counsel David Weiss blasted Hunter Biden’s recent request to subpoena former President Trump and other former officials in a court filing on Tuesday.

Weiss submitted the filing in Delaware federal court, arguing Biden’s request “is meritless and should be denied.” President Biden’s son had requested subpoenas against Trump, former Attorney General Bill Barr and two other former Trump administration officials, arguing his gun crimes charge had originated in a vindictive Justice Department.

“Not only does defendant’s motion fail to identify any actual evidence of bias, vindictiveness, or discriminatory intent on the Special Counsel’s part, his arguments ignore an inconvenient truth: No charges were brought against defendant during the prior administration when the subpoena recipients actually held office in the Executive Branch,” Weiss wrote.

“Instead, every charge in this matter was or will be brought during the current administration—one in which defendant’s father, Joseph R. Biden, is the President of the United States and Merrick B. Garland is the Attorney General that was appointed by President Biden and who personally appointed the Special Counsel. Defendant has not shown, nor can he, how external statements by political opponents of President Biden improperly pressured him, his Attorney General, or the Special Counsel to pursue charges against the President’s son,” the filing continues.

HUNTER BIDEN PLEADS NOT GUILTY TO FEDERAL GUN CHARGES OUT OF SPECIAL COUNSEL DAVID WEISS’ PROBE

Biden attorney Abbe Lowell had argued last month that the investigation into the president’s son arose only due to “incessant, improper, and partisan pressure” during the Trump administration.

HUNTER BIDEN INVESTIGATORS LIMITED QUESTIONS ABOUT ‘DAD,’ ‘BIG GUY’ DESPITE FBI, IRS OBJECTIONS: WHISTLEBLOWER

Biden’s gun crimes trial is not set to begin until after January 2024. He faces up to 25 years in prison if convicted on all charges. He faces one count of making a false statement in the purchase of a firearm; another of making a false statement related to information required to be kept by a federal firearms licensed dealer; and one other count of possession of a firearm by a person who is an unlawful user of or addicted to a controlled substance.

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This summer, Biden agreed to plead guilty to misdemeanor tax charges and would have also avoided prosecution on the gun charges had he stayed out of trouble for two years. That deal collapsed under scrutiny from a judge.

Read Special Counsel David Weiss’ full filing below:

 

California Democrat Rep. Adam Schiff has officially filed to run for the late Sen. Dianne Feinstein’s, D-Calif., open Senate seat.

Schiff, who was censured by the House earlier this year for his claims that former President Trump colluded with Russia to win the 2016 election, officially entered the race on Monday night, announcing the move on X, formerly Twitter.

“It’s official – I just filed my paperwork and will be on the ballot to be California’s next United States Senator,” Schiff wrote.

ANTI-TRUMP DEM ALLEGEDLY CLAIMED MARYLAND HOME AS PRIMARY RESIDENCE DESPITE RUNNING FOR SENATE IN CALIFORNIA

“92 days until the March 5th primary – see you on the campaign trail!” he added.

The California congressman entered into a crowded election that’s seeing him face off against fellow House Democrat Reps. Katie Porter and Barbara Lee, as well as Republican attorney Eric Early.

Schiff’s censure has helped him, at least financially, with his voter base – the California Democrat raked in over $8 million in campaign donations after being formally criticized by Congress’ lower chamber.

However, Schiff does face a different problem: he has allegedly claimed a primary residence in Maryland for years despite his goal to represent Golden State residents in the Senate.

All while owning a 3,420-square-foot home in Maryland, Schiff has reportedly taken a homeowner’s tax exemption on a smaller 650-square-foot condo he owns and designates as his primary residence in Burbank, California.

By claiming his California home as his primary residence, Schiff was able to receive a $7,000 reduction in his property assessment – an estimated $70 in annual savings from property taxes, according to a CNN report. In California, each county collects a general property tax equal to 1% of the assessed value. Schiff, who announced his Senate ambition in January, did not take a similar exemption on his Maryland home.

Tax records reviewed by the outlet revealed Schiff paid his property taxes in California with a personal check featuring his Maryland address in 2017. The outlet’s review of past records and comments from the lawmaker, as well as photos shared to social media in recent history, also indicated Schiff has made his Maryland home his full-time residence.

Deed records also revealed Schiff designated his Maryland home as his primary residence in 2003, the year he bought it. Additionally, Schiff reportedly refinanced his mortgage and indicated that his Maryland home was his primary residence in 2009, 2010, 2011 and 2012.

Los Angeles County deed records for Schiff’s California condo, which was purchased in 2009 for a little less than $300,000, were notarized in Maryland, the outlet highlighted.

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Schiff will have to navigate the tumultuous waters of the robust Senate candidate field while promoting his accomplishments in the House.

However, it remains to be seen how his censure will truly affect his candidacy. 

Fox News Digital’s Kyle Morris contributed reporting.

Residents in Washington, D.C. have begun receiving notices to appear for a jury screening process for what appears to be former President Donald Trump’s election interference trial, according to NBC News.

At least one DC resident shared photos with the outlet showing a notice to appear for a “pre-screening” questionnaire on February 9. The photos went on to indicate that the jury was for a trial on March 4. While the notification does not name the trial, both of those dates line up with the schedule for Trump’s court case.

“The date’s public and the length is suspicious,” the individual who received the notice told NBC. “You can easily infer what it’s regarding.”

Trump’s election interference case is one of four indictments currently leveled against him. The former president is already combating civil fraud allegations in New York, but he also faces accusations of mishandling classified documents in Florida and another election interference case in Georgia, in addition to the one in DC.

BIDEN JUSTICE DEPARTMENT SAYS TRUMP CAN BE SUED BY POLICE, DEMOCRATS OVER JAN. 6 RIOT

Trump has pleaded not guilty in relation to all the charges.

A federal appeals court also ruled late last week that Trump is not immune to facing civil lawsuits relating to the Jan. 6, 2021 storming of the U.S. Capitol.

APPEALS COURT REINSTATES GAG ORDER IN TRUMP FRAUD CASE

Capitol Police officers and members of Congress who were at the U.S. Capitol that day have submitted cases seeking civil damages “for harms they allege they suffered arising from the riot,” with the sole defendant in the lawsuits being Trump.

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Meanwhile in New York, Trump has accused both NY Attorney General Letitia James and Judge Arthur Engoron of political bias in his fraud case. His rhetoric lead to the imposition of a gag order relating to court staffers.

“They are defending the Worst and Least Respected Attorney General in the United States, Letitia James, who is a Worldwide disgrace, as is her illegal Witch Hunt against me. The Radical and Unprecedented actions of Judge Engoron will keep BUSINESSES and JOBS forever out of New York State,” Trump wrote in a recent social media post.

PROGRAMMING ALERT: Watch the “Hannity” Town Hall with former President Trump on Fox News Channel at 9 p.m. ET.

Donald Trump heads back to Iowa on Tuesday with just under six weeks to go until the state’s caucuses kick off the Republican presidential nominating calendar.

The former president – the commanding frontrunner in the GOP nomination race as he makes his third straight White House run – returns to sit down with Fox News’ primetime opinion host Sean Hannity for a town hall in Davenport, Iowa.  

The town hall, which will be pre-taped in front of a live audience, will air at 9 p.m. ET on Fox News’ “Hannity.”  

The town hall is being held on the eve of the fourth GOP presidential nomination debate, which will take place at the University of Alabama. Trump is once again skipping the debate, and instead will be in Florida to headline a fundraiser for his campaign and aligned political groups.

DESANTIS STOPS IN ALL OF IOWA’S 99 COUNTIES, BUT WILL IT HELP HIM CLOSE THE GAP WITH TRUMP?

Hannity’s town hall also comes less than a week after he hosted a well-watched and contentious debate between Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis of California, who is a Trump rival for the 2024 GOP nomination, and Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom of California, who is a high-profile surrogate for President Biden’s 2024 re-election campaign.

Trump enjoys a very large double-digit lead in the most recent public opinion surveys in Iowa’s GOP caucuses over DeSantis and former ambassador to the United Nations and former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, who are fighting for second place in the Republican race in the Hawkeye State.

“President Trump is taking his message directly to the people, like he’s always done,” Trump campaign senior adviser Chris LaCivita told Fox News. 

LaCivita touted, “That’s why he’s dominating in every single poll across the country.”

GAME ON IN IOWA WITH THE CAUCUSES CLOSING IN 

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.

“Bring as many people as you can to vote, and do the caucus like nobody’s ever done the caucus before,” Trump told a crowd of supporters at a caucus organizing event Saturday in Ankeny, Iowa. “And we’re going to win.”

Trump is aiming for a big victory next month in the caucuses to bring the nomination race to an early conclusion, so he can focus on a rematch with President Biden, who defeated him in the 2020 election.

“The more we win, they’re going to see that signal for the November election,” Trump said this past weekend.

THIS CANDIDATE REMAINS IN THE DRIVER’S SEAT AS THE FIRST VOTES IN THE GOP PRESIDENTIAL RACE NEAR

As Trump made two stops Saturday in Iowa, his campaign began ramping up their ad buys in the state in the final weeks ahead of the caucuses.

The former president didn’t have Iowa to himself this past weekend. DeSantis fulfilled his goal of stopping in all of Iowa’s 99 counties.

At his stop Saturday in Jasper County, he was joined by popular Iowa Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds, who endorsed him in early November.

Also teaming up with DeSantis was Bob Vander Plaats, president and CEO of The Family Leader, an influential social conservative organization in a state where evangelical voters play an outsized role in Republican politics. Vander Plaats endorsed DeSantis the weekend ahead of Thanksgiving.

DeSantis has repeatedly vowed he’ll pull off an upset by winning Iowa.

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DeSantis is hoping to follow in the footsteps of former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee (2008), former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum (2012) and Texas Sen. Ted Cruz (2016), who stopped in all 99 counties en route to Iowa caucus victories. But none of those three won the GOP nomination.

While Trump has hosted roughly 20 events in Iowa this year, the Florida governor has made around 130 stops, many of them hosted by the DeSantis-aligned super PAC Never Back Down. Additionally, the super PAC has spent millions to put together a formidable ground game in Iowa.

However, what once appeared to be a two-candidate fight for the nomination is now a three-way battle.

Haley, who has enjoyed momentum in the polls in recent months, thanks in part to well-received performances in the first three GOP presidential primary debates, has leapfrogged DeSantis for second place in New Hampshire, which holds the first primary and votes second in the Republican nominating schedule, and her home state, which holds the first southern contest.

She aims to make a fight of it in Iowa, where she is pulling even with DeSantis in some of the latest polls.

Last week, Haley landed the backing of Americans for Prosperity Action, the political wing of the influential and deep-pocketed fiscally conservative network founded by the billionaire Koch Brothers. AFP Action has pledged to spend tens of millions of dollars and mobilize its formidable grassroots operation to boost Haley and help push the Republican Party past Trump.

“Trump’s already in the finals,” said longtime Republican consultant David Kochel, a veteran of numerous presidential and statewide campaigns in Iowa.

And he highlighted that DeSantis and Haley are “trying to construct some plausible path to get a one-on-one shot with Trump that everybody agrees is essential to any notion that he can be derailed from getting the nomination.”

Seasoned Iowa-based Republican strategist and communicator Jimmy Centers cautioned that “everyone needs to be clear-eyed that former President Trump will win the Iowa caucus on Jan. 15.”

“The question is whether Gov. DeSantis or Amb. Haley come in a strong enough second place finish where they put a sizable gap between themselves and whomever comes in third to be able to say to Republicans in New Hampshire and beyond that this is a two-person race,” he spotlighted.

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

PORTSMOUTH, N.H. – Rep. Dean Phillips says he plans to “under promise” and “overdeliver” as he runs a long-shot primary challenge against President Biden for the Democratic nomination.

Phillips, one of the wealthiest members of Congress, launched his campaign for the White House in late October. He’s focusing most of his time and resources on New Hampshire, where the president’s name won’t be on the ballot in the state’s unsanctioned Democratic primary on Jan. 23.

“Do I have to win? No. Absolutely not. Do I think I’m going to? No, I don’t. I bet you’ve never heard that from a politician before,” Phillips answered when asked by Fox News Digital where he needed to finish in the New Hampshire primary to continue his presidential quest.

Phillips acknowledged, “I’m a long shot, a dark horse, and that‘s fun. That’s fine. Because I feel what’s happening in the country and what’s happening right here.”

PHILLIPS TARGETS BIDEN, FELLOW DEMOCRATS, OVER BORDER POLICIES AS HE LAUNCHES PRIMARY CHALLENGE AGAINST PRESIDENT

“I think we will surprise and from there it’s game on,” he predicted as he was interviewed following a campaign event in this heavily Democratic city in New Hampshire’s Seacoast.

Phillips, citing the 81-year-old president’s age, has repeatedly criticized Biden for “not passing the torch” to the next generation of Democratic leaders and urged that a serious primary contender challenge the president for the party’s 2024 nomination. Biden continues to suffer from underwater approval ratings among many Americans and faces concerns – not just from Republicans and independents but also from Democrats – over his physical and mental stamina.

WHY DEAN PHILLIPS IS SCOLDING FELLOW DEMOCRATS 

When no other major Democrats considered running against Biden, the multimillionaire businessman and co-founder of a gelato company turned three-term House Democrat from Minnesota launched his own campaign.

While the president is the commanding frontrunner for his party’s 2024 nomination, polls indicate that many Americans – including plenty of Democrats – don’t want the president to seek a second term in the White House. Those same surveys spotlight that voters are not thrilled with the likely prospect of a rematch between Biden and the candidate he defeated in 2020, former President Donald Trump.

“The country’s being very clear right now. They do not want Joe Biden to be the president. And they don’t want Donald Trump to be the president,” Phillips emphasized as he addressed the crowd huddled to see him. “Whichever party breaks that logjam will win the White House, the Senate and the House.”

And Phillips told Fox News that his mission is “to demonstrate that Americans are sick and tired of the nonsense. That we have a crisis that cannot be addressed by either Donald Trump or frankly, President Biden, and it’s time for change.”

PHILLIPS APOLOGIZES FOR CRITICIZING VICE PRESIDENT HARRIS

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

Biden came in a dismal fifth in the 2020 New Hampshire primary, but a few weeks later won South Carolina in a landslide. The victory boosted the former vice president toward the Democratic nomination and eventually the White House. 

The Democratic National Committee (DNC) earlier this year overwhelmingly approved the calendar change proposed by the president. But New Hampshire leapfrogged South Carolina to honor a longtime state law that mandates the state holds the first primary. With the state holding an unsanctioned Democratic contest, the president’s re-election campaign earlier this autumn announced that Biden wouldn’t file to place his name on the New Hampshire ballot.

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Top Democrats in New Hampshire launched a write-in campaign for Biden in order to prevent any electoral embarrassment in the state’s presidential primary. Support for the write-in effort was heavily on display Friday night at the state Democratic Party’s annual fundraising gala, which Phillips also attended.

Speaker after speaker encouraged those attending the function, many who were wearing “write-in Joe Biden” stickers, to do just that.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., who headlined the event, topped his speech by saying “there’s an important primary next month.” He then held up a pen to hammer home his point that voters should write in the president’s name on the ballot.

Asked about the reception he received at the dinner, Phillips told Fox News, “I got a lot of cold shoulders.”

And pointing to the move last week by the Florida Democratic Party to keep Phillips – as well as best-selling author and spiritual adviser Marianne Williamson, who is making her second straight White House run – off their presidential primary ballot, he charged, “What we’re seeing in Florida, what we’ve seen in the past from the GOP, is disenfranchising, it’s causing division and anger and I think risk to the country that we have to solve fast.”

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

Members of Congress are fleeing Capitol Hill at the end of next year, making for a 2024 election cycle with at least three dozen open seats.

There are 36 lawmakers not running for reelection to Congress in 2024, including seven members of the Senate and 29 members of the House, according to data aggregator Ballotpedia. 

On the House side, the 29 who are either retiring or seeking another office include 20 Democrats and 9 Republicans.

“Retirements can take many forms. Members seek another office or another career opportunity, or they simply get tired with the job after doing it for many years,” Derek T. Muller, professor of law at Notre Dame Law School, told Fox News Digital.

WHY SEN TIM SCOTT ENDED HIS REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL BID

“Partisan bickering can make the job more exhausting, and gridlock can make it seem that efforts are wasted. It’s hard to be away from one’s family so many weeks of the year. And many members of Congress are aging out. It’s no surprise to see high levels of turnover this cycle,” Muller said.

The nonpartisan Cook Political Report projects five open House seats as possible Democrat pickup opportunities while none are listed for the GOP. 

THIS GOP PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE IS CURRENTLY HAVING A MOMENT

A majority of House lawmakers who are leaving are departing safe red or blue districts.

But the Republican Party has been forced to grapple with underwhelming back-to-back performances in 2022 and 2023 amid fallout from the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade last year. Most recently, Democrats in Virginia made blocking the GOP’s proposed 15-week abortion limit a cornerstone of November’s statehouse elections – and retained control. 

Meanwhile, the “partisan bickering” Muller referenced has reached historic highs in the 118th Congress.

Less than three months ago, eight Republicans joined all House Democrats in a majority vote to oust the speaker of the House for the first time in U.S. history. It paralyzed Congress for three weeks as a GOP conference fraught with divisions sought a new speaker.

However, Democrats are not facing a clean sweep in 2024 – their own intraparty divisions have been brought back to the surface in the wake of Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on Israel.

FINAL COUNTDOWN: TRUMP HOLDS COMMANDING LEAD WITH 50 DAYS TO GO UNTIL IOWA CAUCUSES 

Progressives have revolted against Democrats’ traditional pro-Israel stance, threatening to withhold support from candidates supporting Tel Aviv.

That could make it harder for a moderate Democrat without an incumbency advantage to win a primary and, therefore, make it easier for a Republican candidate in a general election. 

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A Fox News poll published Oct. 12 showed widespread disapproval for Congress across the parties, though Republicans fared slightly worse.

GOP lawmakers’ approval rating is just 30%, seven points lower than Democrats. Their disapproval rating, 66%, is 6% higher than their liberal counterparts in Congress.

Every December seemingly has a deadline on Capitol Hill.

To impeach the President.

To fund the government.

To avoid the fiscal cliff.

To raise the debt ceiling.

To approve a payroll tax cut.

To pass tax reform.

To allow drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

To pass Obamacare.

To undo Obamacare.

But things are a little different around Capitol Hill this December.

CONGRESS AIMS TO HOLD VOTE TO INITIATE BIDEN IMPEACHMENT INQUIRY

There’s no single, sweeping issue that is consuming Congress. Sure, there are lots of things to do. In fact, big things — which we’ll outline shortly. But the feeling this Christmas at the Capitol is different. No government shutdown is looming (talk to us about that in January and February). And while Congress has faced concrete deadlines before, there is no absolute, drop-dead date to complete anything.

Except there is a cutoff point. It’s the same as every other year: December 25th.

Lawmakers have three weeks to handle lots of things.

But it’s unclear if they’ll crank through them. And that’s why there’s the potential for Congress to linger in Washington and maybe — just maybe — still slam into the December 25th deadline.

Let’s start with impeachment.

No, the House is not going to impeach President Biden before Christmas. You might remember that December is kind of “impeachment month” on Capitol Hill. The House impeached President Clinton on Dec. 19, 1998, for obstructing justice and lying after his affair with Monica Lewinsky. The House impeached former President Trump — the first time — on Dec. 18, 2019, for abusing his power and obstructing justice as it pertained to Ukraine.

Notice a pattern?

While those votes were actual resolutions to impeach the President, House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., is just pushing a plan to formalize an impeachment inquiry. FOX is told the goal is to pass the impeachment probe resolution next week.

HITCHHIKER’S GUIDE TO HOW THE SANTOS EXPULSION WILL AMPLIFY PRESSURE ON DEMOCRATS TO DEAL WITH MEN

House Republicans have nibbled around the edges of impeachment for months. But the House never adopted a measure officially authorizing impeachment.

“Now we’re being stonewalled by the White House because they’re preventing at least two to three DOJ witnesses from coming forward,” said Johnson on FOX. “So a formal impeachment inquiry vote on the floor will allow us to take it to the next necessary step. And I think it’s something we have to do at this juncture.”

Plus, Johnson needs to notch a political and legislative win.

Johnson hasn’t had much to crow about since he first clasped the Speaker’s gavel in October. He quickly passed a bill to boost Israel in its fight against Hamas. But since then, Johnson has presided over a House majority that encountered multiple stumbles in efforts to pass their own spending bills. The highlight of Johnson’s short tenure may have been the expulsion of former Rep. George Santos, R-N.Y. — which Johnson and other GOP leaders opposed.

But impeachment could boost the GOP — especially as Congress stares at the possibility of dual government shutdowns over the winter.

“If it goes to the floor, we’re going to pass it. There’s no question,” said House Majority Whip Tom Emmer, R-Minn., about an impeachment inquiry vote.

It’s about the math.

Republicans can only lose three votes on their side and prevail and still open an impeachment investigation. For months, moderates resisted an impeachment vote. Former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., initiated an impeachment inquiry — without an official vote — because he never had the votes. Moreover, McCarthy needed to do something to move the needle on his side of the aisle when GOP spending bills began stalling on the floor and conservatives grew restless over his debt ceiling pact with President Biden.

But votes to potentially launch an impeachment inquiry began to fall into place over the past few weeks. House Republicans believe things changed over Thanksgiving — after lawmakers were marooned in Washington for nearly 11 consecutive weeks since late summer.

“They met people in Walmart and people on Main Street, and they’re like, ‘What in the world did the Bidens do to receive millions and millions of dollars from our enemies around the world? And did they not pay taxes on it?’ So they heard from their constituents,” said House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, R-Ky.

Democrats accuse Republicans of a political diversion ahead of an election year.

GOOD TIDINGS AND CHEER, UNLESS YOU’RE IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

“This is all part of a phony effort by extreme MAGA Republicans to distract the American people because they have no track record of accomplishment,” said House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y.

But impeachment isn’t what is most vexing to many on Capitol Hill this December.

Major issues loom over passing the annual defense policy bill. But it faces a dispute over declassifying some information related to Unidentified Aeriel Phenomena (UAPs). Renewing the foreign surveillance counter-terrorism program known as “FISA.” And then there is the big one: President Biden’s international aid package for Israel, Ukraine and Taiwan. The status of that bill is much harder to read because there’s no hard deadline — except Christmas. And the end of the year. And then when the focus pivots in January to averting a government shutdown.

To some, it would be hard to see Congress leaving town before the holiday without addressing Israel and Ukraine. Republicans insist that Democrats attach a robust border security plan to the package. However, Republicans aren’t even in agreement on what those border provisions might look like. But, if the plan blows up, Republicans hope to blame Democrats who are getting hammered politically for not tackling the border.

White House Budget Director Shalanda Young sent an urgent letter to lawmakers Monday, saying Congress was about to “kneecap” Ukraine by not passing the aid.

Talks over the border went sideways in recent days, perhaps scuttling the supplemental spending plan.

And if Congress doesn’t pass the international aid bill?

“You can bet Vladimir Putin is watching. Hamas is watching. Iran, President Xi, North Korea, all of our adversaries. They’re watching closely,” said Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y. “If Congress fails to defend democracy in its hour of need because of border policies inspired by Donald Trump or Stephen Miller, the judgment of history will be harsh indeed.”

But Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., lashed his colleagues across the aisle.

“Democrats appear to be hell-bent on exhausting every half-baked idea before they get serious about actually fixing our border,” said McConnell. “Senate Republicans know that national security begins with border security. And we’ve made it crystal clear that in order to pass the Senate, any measure we take up in the coming days must include serious policy changes designed to get the Biden Administration’s border crisis under control.”

So it’s unclear if the fight over the border and the international aid package could keep Congress here close to Christmas this year — entering the special legislative pantheon of five-alarm fires which have screwed up other holiday seasons on Capitol Hill.

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But things are a little different around the Capitol this December.

And even if Congress abandons Washington without finishing everything, no one will be celebrating.

The House of Representatives could be faced with a decision on whether to impeach President Biden in the first half of next year, Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, suggested on Monday.

“We want to talk with those last several witnesses, but we want to make that happen as quickly as possible. We think we can do that relatively quick,” Jordan said when asked by Fox News Digital about a timeline for drafting articles of impeachment.

“That’ll be a key focus when we come back. We hope to get a couple done here in December, and then a couple more in January and make a decision as a body if we move forward with actual articles.”

It comes as House GOP leaders are strongly considering holding a vote to formalize the ongoing impeachment inquiry into the president.

COMER DEFENDS PRIVATE DEPOSITION OF HUNTER BIDEN, VOWS TO RELEASE TRANSCRIPT AND HOLD PUBLIC HEARING

Jordan, along with Oversight Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., and Ways & Means Chairman Jason Smith, R-Mo., is investigating whether Biden and his family profited off of his time as vice president. A cornerstone of Jordan’s probe is Biden’s push to firde a former Ukrainian prosecutor who was investigating Burisma, an energy company for which his son Hunter Biden served on the board of.

During a sit-down with reporters to discuss the investigation, Jordan would not directly answer whether he would seek comments from the president himself.

HOUSE REPUBLICANS ANTICIPATE VOTE TO FORMALIZE BIDEN IMPEACHMENT INQUIRY ‘SOON’

“We want to talk to the people who were directly in business with Hunter Biden,” Jordan said, listing off various business associates of the president’s son like Tony Bobulinsky and Eric Schwerin, as well as the president’s brother James Biden and Kevin Morris, a Los Angeles lawyer who reportedly lent millions of dollars to Hunter. 

The Judiciary Committee is expected to hear from Lesley Wolf, a prosecutor who was involved in the Justice Department’s criminal probe of Hunter Biden, in a closed-door deposition later this month.

Jordan did tell reporters that he expects a decision “one way or another” on whether to impeach Biden happening before mid-2024, an election year.

HOUSE GOP DISCUSSING VOTE TO FORMALIZE BIDEN IMPEACHMENT INQUIRY

“Oh yeah, I think there’ll be a decision one way or the other before that,” he said when asked by Fox News Digital about getting articles of impeachment together in the first six months of next year. “I think plenty of time before that.”

Jordan then distanced himself from concerns over whether it would be perceived as a repeat of Democrats’ first impeachment of former President Donald Trump in early 2020.

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“I don’t think about the politics of it…I’ve said all along, we’re an impeachment inquiry. We will look at the facts, the evidence, follow the Constitution. And if articles are warranted, then we will take that step,” Jordan said. “It shouldn’t be driven by politics…we’re going to look at the facts, and I think the facts are pretty compelling.”

Fox News Digital reached out to the White House for comment but did not immediately hear back.

• A judge has dismissed felony charges against former Prince William County, Virginia Registrar Michele White.
• Corrupt conduct and false statement charges against White were dismissed Friday.
• White still must stand trial on a misdemeanor willful neglect of duty charge next month. 

A Virginia judge has dismissed felony charges against a former county elections official accused of misconduct in the 2020 election, a decision made after state prosecutors said a key witness changed his story.

At the prosecutors’ request, the judge on Friday dismissed a felony charge of corrupt conduct and one for making a false statement, both of which had been levied against former Prince William County Registrar Michele White. She still faces trial next month on a misdemeanor charge of willful neglect of duty.

Very little has been publicly revealed about exactly what prosecutors believe White did wrong. Court records merely indicate that the case revolves around 2020 election returns, including the presidential race.

IOWA ELECTED OFFICIAL’S WIFE CONVICTED OF VOTER FRAUD IN BALLOT-STUFFING SCHEME

Prince William election officials have previously said that White’s successor reported “discrepancies” in results to state officials, but that those discrepancies would not have affected the outcome of any race.

The case was brought by Republican Attorney General Jason Miyares last year. Shortly after his office obtained the indictment against White, it launched an election integrity unit. The move prompted critics to accuse Miyares of pandering to supporters of former President Donald Trump, who falsely blamed his defeat on election fraud.

In White’s case, Assistant Attorney General James Herring filed a motion ahead of Friday’s hearing in which he alleged that an elections worker “conveniently and quite surprisingly provided a different version of events” than the witness had previously recounted.

JESSE WATTERS: LOCAL ELECTION SYSTEMS ACROSS AMERICA ARE WEAK AND VULNERABLE

“As a consequence, the Commonwealth is confronted with significant inconsistent statements,” Herring wrote.

White’s lawyer, Zachary Stafford, said he interviewed the same witness and found nothing inconsistent in his statements. The election worker, “rather filled in a hole that the initial investigation did not address” about who asked him to make changes in the state voter registration system, Stafford said in a statement. The system is being replaced after an audit questioned its reliability and functionality.

Stafford said the witness has reported that White didn’t ask him to make the changes now under scrutiny and that it was “a poor choice of words” for prosecutors to refer to the witness’ updated testimony as “convenient.”

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Attorney General Miyares’ office declined to comment beyond the court filing, citing the ongoing misdemeanor case.

Six months after launching a dark-horse bid for the 2024 Republican presidential campaign, North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum is suspending his White House bid.

In a statement and video released Monday morning, Burgum emphasized that he and his wife “are deeply grateful for each and every person who supported us with their ideas, prayers, advocacy, encouragement and enthusiasm. Kathryn and I will always remain committed to fighting for the people who make our nation so exceptional.” 

Burgum, a multi-millionaire former software company CEO turned two-term North Dakota governor, took aim at the Republican National Committee as he dropped out of the race. 

After making the stage at the first two GOP presidential debates, Burgum failed to qualify for the third showdown, and was unlikely to reach the increasingly higher thresholds mandated by the RNC to make the stage at this week’s fourth debate.

FLASHBACK: BURGUM ‘UNDAUNTED’ AS HE LAUNCHES 2024 REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN

The RNC is expected on Monday evening to announce which candidates qualified for the fourth debate.

DESANTIS STOPS IN ALL 99 IOWA COUNTIES, BUT WILL IT HELP HIM CLOSE THE GAP WITH TRUMP OR STAY AHEAD OF HALEY?

“The RNC’s clubhouse debate requirements are nationalizing the primary process and taking the power of democracy away from the engaged, thoughtful citizens of Iowa and New Hampshire,” Burgum charged in his statement, as he pointed to the first two states to vote in the GOP presidential nominating calendar.

“The RNC’s mission is to win elections. It is not their mission to reduce competition and restrict fresh ideas by ‘narrowing the field’ months before the Iowa caucuses or the first in the nation New Hampshire primary. These arbitrary criteria ensure advantages for candidates from major media markets on the coasts versus America’s Heartland,” he argued. “None of their debate criteria relate to the qualifications related to actually doing the job of the president. This effort to nationalize the primary system is unhealthy for the future of the party, especially for a party that proclaims to value leadership from outside of Washington.”

Burgum poured millions of his own money into his White House bid. That included offering $20 gift cards to people who donated at least a dollar to his campaign. The gimmick helped the candidate make the stage at the first debate, a Fox News-hosted showdown in August in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

GAME ON IN IOWA WITH THE CAUCUSES CLOSING IN 

But Burgum’s two debate appearances, including a feisty performance at the second showdown, a FOX Business co-hosted event at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, California, in late September, did little to boost his campaign.

Burgum – little known outside of North Dakota – was unable to see his poll numbers rise above the single digits as he struggled to compete against rivals with much higher national name recognition.

After failing to make the stage in the third debate, Burgum pledged to stay in the race through the Jan. 15 Iowa caucuses and Jan. 23 New Hampshire primary. Burgum had campaigned heavily in the two states.

In ending his bid, Burgum emphasized that “while this primary process has shaken my trust in many media organizations and political party institutions, it has only strengthened my trust in America.” 

Burgum centered his campaign on the economy, energy and national security, and repeatedly warned that China was the “number one threat” to the U.S.

“We’re running because we want to unleash the American economy and we want to improve every American life and the way we do that, of course, is to get our economy really rolling. To get our economy really rolling we’ve got to make sure we’ve got an energy policy that’s 180 degrees different than the one we have under the Biden administration. When we fix energy policy, then we have an opportunity to really stabilize the world,” he emphasized in a Fox News Digital interview as he announced his candidacy.

On Monday, Burgum argued that “just six months after our campaign launch, we’ve elevated the importance of an intelligent energy policy that grows jobs and our economy, reduces inflation, is good for the environment and – unlike Joe Biden’s fantasy green energy plan – stops enabling and empowering our adversaries, specifically China, Russia, Iran, Venezuela and North Korea.”

Burgum also spotlighted his small-town North Dakota roots and his success in the private sector as central themes in his White House bid.

THIS CANDIDATE REMAINS IN THE DRIVER’S SEAT AS THE FIRST VOTES IN THE GOP PRESIDENTIAL RACE NEAR

But unlike some of his rivals, Burgum mostly avoided any direct criticism of former President Donald Trump, who remains the commanding frontrunner for the GOP nomination as he makes his third straight White House run.

Burgum ruptured his Achilles tendon the day before the first debate while playing a basketball game with his staff. He was able to appear at the debate the next night, and used a scooter to get around on the campaign trail as he recovered from the injury.

Florida GOP Chairman Christian Ziegler says he will not resign over a woman’s allegation that he raped her, telling supporters in an email that he is innocent.

Ziegler sent the statement to state Republicans on Saturday, saying that he and his wife, Bridget Ziegler, are being targeted because they are “such loud political voices,” according to The Associated Press. 

“We have a country to save and I am not going to let false allegations of a crime put that mission on the bench as I wait for this process to wrap up,” wrote Ziegler, 40. A longtime GOP activist, Ziegler ascended to the state party’s top post in February.

A complaint against Ziegler was filed with the Sarasota Police Department on Oct. 4, stating that the alleged sexual battery occurred inside a woman’s Sarasota home on Oct. 2. 

DEMOCRATS CALL FOR RESIGNATION OF FLORIDA GOP CHAIRMAN CHRISTIAN ZIEGLER AMID SEXUAL BATTERY ALLEGATIONS

The accuser reportedly “told him over Instagram messages that she was distraught and ‘terrified’ of him after their encounter and unable to work,” according to Politico. 

However, Ziegler’s wife, who co-founded the conservative group Moms for Liberty which has led a campaign with Gov. Ron DeSantis dealing with education in Florida schools, told police that she, the victim and her husband had consensual sex together over a year before the alleged crime occurred, Politico states.

According to text messages cited in the affidavit, the woman and the Zieglers had planned to again have group sex on Oct. 2, but the woman backed out after Bridget Ziegler “couldn’t make it.”

FLORIDA TEACHER’S ASSISTANT ARRESTED AFTER ALLEGEDLY SLAPPING MIDDLE SCHOOLER INSIDE CLASSROOM

The woman said she found Ziegler in her apartment’s hallway later that day and that he pushed her inside and then raped her.

In text and phone conversations monitored by investigators, Ziegler offered the woman “financial help” before becoming suspicious that they were being recorded.

In a Nov. 2 interview with detectives, Ziegler said the sex was consensual and that he had recorded it. He said he deleted the video, then recovered it after the rape allegation surfaced.

DeSantis said last week that while Ziegler is innocent until proven guilty, he should resign to avoid becoming a distraction to their party.

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Ziegler’s attorney, Derek Byrd, previously released a statement to FOX 13 Tampa Bay acknowledging the reports of the investigation, saying that Ziegler has fully cooperated with the police requests. 

“We are confident that once the police investigation is concluded that no charges will be filed and Mr. Ziegler will be completely exonerated,” Byrd said in a statement.

No charges have been filed against Ziegler, but the Sarasota Police investigation remains open.

Fox News’ Stepheny Price and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

President Biden is kicking off December with a series of top-dollar fundraising events with celebrities across the country.

Biden will start with a concert fundraiser featuring James Taylor in Massachusetts on Tuesday, with front-row tickets selling for $7,500 per seat. After two more events in Boston, Biden will fly to Los Angeles for another concert fundraiser, this one featuring Lenny Kravitz.

Director Steven Spielberg is expected to be among the hosts for the Los Angeles event, in addition to Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., Barbra Streisand and a slew of other celebrities.

Biden’s campaign has yet to announce the official location for the James Taylor event, with announcements saying the location would be revealed “36–48 hours before the event.”

‘BAD OMEN’ FOR BIDEN THAT MOST DEMOCRATIC VOTERS UNHAPPY WITH ECONOMY: REPORT

The Los Angeles event will be at the home of interior designer Michael Smith and his partner James Costos, who had served as former President Obama’s ambassador to Spain.

“We are overwhelmed by the enthusiasm. We don’t do many events, but when we do, we do it out of a great passion,” Smith told The Associated Press.

BIDEN’S SUPPORT FROM GEN Z ERODES AS AGE BECOMES CRITICAL ISSUE: ‘HE’S OUT OF TOUCH WITH BASICALLY EVERYBODY’

Biden also has fundraising stops in Maryland and Pennsylvania, where he will appear with Gov. Wes Moore and Gov. Josh Shapiro, respectively. Several of the events are expected to rake in millions for Biden’s campaign on their own.

As of the last fundraising reporting deadline at the end of September, Biden and his party reported $91 million cash on hand. He is helped by the fact that, as the party’s leader, he has entered into a joint fundraising agreement with the Democratic National Committee, as well as state parties.

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Biden, now 81, faces a major lack of enthusiasm from Democratic voters. Rep. Dean Phillips, D-Minn., announced his candidacy in a symbolic challenge to Biden. Biden’s age is a concern for Democratic voters, with his support dwindling especially among young voters.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

In the nearly three weeks since Sen. Tim Scott suspended his campaign for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, there’s been a push by some of the remaining GOP White House hopefuls to land the senator from South Carolina’s endorsement.

Scott was pretty clear as he ended his 2024 presidential bid that he had no immediate plans to support another candidate.

“The best way for me to be helpful is to not weigh in,” he said in a live interview on Nov. 13 on Fox News’ “Sunday Night in America with Trey Gowdy.”

But a source familiar with Scott’s thinking told Fox News that the senator’s been approached for an endorsement from some of his former rivals.

WHY SEN TIM SCOTT ENDED HIS REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL BID

The source added that Scott remains open to backing a candidate but that any potential endorsement would not happen until after the start of the new year.

Meanwhile, there’s no letup in the race to secure the senator’s top dollar donors and GOP lawmakers – officials in the crucial early voting state of South Carolina who had endorsed Scott – and top staffers on this campaign.

THIS GOP PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE IS CURRENTLY HAVING A MOMENT

Scott’s departure came as fellow South Carolinian Nikki Haley, a former two-term governor of the state who later served as ambassador to the United Nations in former President Trump’s administration, battles Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis for a distant second place behind Trump, who remains the commanding front-runner for the GOP nomination.

In the days after Scott dropped out, two prominent donors who were backing him switched their support to Haley.

“I’m on board with Nikki Haley. She’s got a lot of good attributes. She was always my second choice. Unbelievably good on foreign policy, her view on abortion is close to mine,” metals magnate Andy Sabin told host Charles Payne on Fox News’ “Your World.” 

Sabin, who has donated millions to conservative candidates and causes the past couple of election cycles, was backing Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis earlier this election cycle before switching his financial support to Scott, the only Black Republican in the Senate.

Eric Levine, a New York-based donor who was raising money for Scott, is holding a fundraiser to support Haley next week. 

Meanwhile, billionaire hedge fund founder Ken Griffin has said he’s considering financially backing Haley after remaining on the sidelines in the GOP primary. 

THE FINAL COUNTDOWN: TRUMP HOLDS COMMANDING LEAD WITH 50 DAYS TO GO UNTIL IOWA CAUCUSES 

And Home Depot co-founder and billionaire Ken Langone plans to meet with Nikki Haley next week in New York.

“The only person I see who can give Trump a run for his money is Nikki Haley,” Langone said in a CNBC interview on Monday.

South Carolina is a crucial early voting state in the GOP presidential nominating calendar. It holds the first southern contest and votes fourth overall, after Iowa, New Hampshire and Nevada. And Scott’s departure from the race made his endorsers in the state valuable free agents.

DeSantis quickly picked up the backing of 10 state and local lawmakers and officials who had previously endorsed the senator.

“Ron DeSantis is the leader we need for this exact moment,” state Rep. Tom Hartnett Jr. said in a statement. “He not only is the only candidate who I know can win, but he will be a president who will follow through on his promises to reverse the decline of our country.”

Separately, a newly formed DeSantis-aligned super PAC named Fight Right grabbed Blake Harris, who served as a Scott campaign senior political adviser, to helm its operations.

Alex Stroman, a South Carolina Republican operative and former state GOP executive director who is currently unaligned in the 2024 race, pointed out that “Haley’s locked up a lot of Tim Scott donors.” 

Many who endorsed Scott are moving to endorse Haley, Stroman said: “I think Haley’s done the best since Scott got out.”

But Stroman also noted that “Trump’s locked up some of Scott’s electoral supporters. He’s had some of the senator’s endorsers come his way.”

Trump remains leagues ahead of Haley and the rest of the field in the latest South Carolina polls.

Trump returned to South Carolina last weekend, the state where he’s long enjoyed the backing of Sen. Lindsey Graham and Gov. Henry McMaster, Haley’s successor.

The former president drew plenty of cheers, as well as some boos, as he walked onto the field during the South Carolina-Clemson Palmetto Bowl game.

Two days later, Haley drew roughly 2,500 people to her first town hall in her home state since Scott dropped out of the race.

Longtime South Carolina-based Republican consultant Dave Wilson told Fox News that the Trump stop in the state and Haley’s campaign event “show that two of them are deciding that South Carolina is competitive ground between them.”

DeSantis returned to South Carolina on Friday, but he’s been concentrating his efforts on Iowa, whose Jan. 15 caucuses kick off the GOP presidential nominating calendar.

DeSantis last month landed the high-profile endorsement of Gov. Kim Reynolds, who remains very popular with Iowa Republicans. And two weeks later, he won the backing of Bob Vander Plaats, the president and CEO of The Family Leader, an influential social conservative organization in a state where evangelical voters play an outsized role in Republican politics.

Haley recently won the backing of Americans for Prosperity Action, the political wing of the influential and deep-pocketed fiscally conservative network founded by the billionaire Koch Brothers. AFP Action has pledged to spend tens of millions of dollars and mobilize its formidable grassroots operation to boost Haley and help push the Republican Party past Trump.

While it appears to be a three-person fight, there are other candidates still in the race.

Multimillionaire biotech entrepreneur and first-time candidate Vivek Ramaswamy is basing his campaign in Iowa for the final stretch as he barnstorms across the state. Ramaswamy’s also continuing his campaign efforts in New Hampshire, which holds the first primary and votes second in the Republican calendar.

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North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, who failed to make the stage at the third GOP presidential primary debate, is also spending plenty of time in Iowa and New Hampshire.

Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who is running for the White House a second time, is avoiding Iowa as he once again concentrates much of his firepower in New Hampshire, where his support is in the double digits.

Former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson, who registering at less than 1% in the polls, also remains in the race.

As the first contest on the GOP presidential nominating calendar, Iowa always plays a crucial role in winnowing the field.

“I think Iowa’s going to be more determinative than ever as to who’s going to have momentum going into New Hampshire and South Carolina,” longtime Republican strategist David Kochel predicted.

Kochel, a veteran of numerous presidential and statewide campaigns in Iowa, emphasized that “Trump already has a ticket. There’s maybe two more and maybe one more” coming out of Iowa.”

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

The Biden administration has made limited exceptions to sanctions on a Venezuelan airline to help facilitate deportation flights from Canada and Latin America of Venezuelan illegal immigrants to the socialist country.

The Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control has authorized transactions for Conviasa, a Venezuelan national airline, to allow otherwise-sanctioned transactions, including repairs, for aircraft belonging to the state airline for deportation flights.

The airline was sanctioned by the Trump administration, with officials saying the Maduro regime uses the airline “to shuttle corrupt regime officials around the world to fuel support for its anti-democratic efforts.” The sanctions include anyone who interacts with the airline.

The move by the Treasury Department does not lift those sanctions, and the airline remains sanctioned, but the authorization does allow a limited exception for “all transactions ordinarily incident and necessary to the repatriation of Venezuelan nationals from non-U.S. jurisdictions in the Western Hemisphere to Venezuela,” per the Office of Foreign Assets Control. The move was first reported by the Miami Herald.

VENEZUELAN MIGRANTS SURPRISED TO LEARN THAT THEY WILL BE RETURNED TO MEXICO UNDER NEW BIDEN POLICY

It’s part of a more aggressive push by the administration to curb illegal migration from Venezuela, which has been one of the top sources of migrants in recent years. The Department of Homeland Security announced in October that it was starting deportation flights directly to Venezuela as the U.S. deals with a surge in encounters of Venezuelan migrants at the southern border.

Previously, the U.S. had an agreement with Mexico whereby some Venezuelans could be repatriated to Mexico. The Herald reported last month that around 650 migrants have so far been returned on the flights.

DHS says that since May, when the Title 42 public health order ended, the U.S. has repatriated over 12,000 Venezuelans.

The direct deportations to Venezuela drew criticism from immigrant activists, who warned that the country is not safe – something DHS itself acknowledged when it extended deportation protections to nearly 500,000 Venezuelans already in the U.S. in September.

DHS TO OFFER WORK PERMITS, DEPORTATION PROTECTION TO OVER 470,000 VENEZUELANS AMID NEW BORDER SURGE

“Temporary protected status provides individuals already present in the United States with protection from removal when the conditions in their home country prevent their safe return,” said DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas in a press release in September. “That is the situation that Venezuelans who arrived here on or before July 31 of this year find themselves in.”

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The agency says that individuals have an opportunity to raise protection concerns and are not returned to Venezuela if they are determined to be at risk of persecution or torture on their return. It has also noted that the U.S. already removes non-citizens to other countries with temporary protected status designations. 

The U.S. also allows in Venezuelan migrants via a humanitarian program for nationals from four countries. Up to 30,000 nationals are allowed to fly into the U.S. via parole each month as part of the administration’s expanded “lawful” pathways. But Republicans have accused the administration of abusing the parole authority and are seeking to limit it.