Donald Trump Poll News

Voters in the 2020 battleground state of North Carolina lean toward former Presiden Trump in 2024 by a 5.4 point margin over incumbent President Biden, a new poll conducted after Super Tuesday shows. 

The statewide poll conducted by Cygnal from March 6-7 and published by the Carolina Journal on Tuesday found that 45.2% of likely voters said they are planning to vote for Trump, while 39.8% said they plan to vote for Biden. 

A substantial amount – 9.4% – of likely voters indicated that they plan to vote for “someone else.” If that actualizes, as the Journal noted, that would be a marked increase from the less than 1.5% of North Carolina votes cast in 2020 for a third party candidate. 

“Trump’s lead is somewhat unsurprising given that he won the state in 2016 and 2020, by 3.6% and 1.3%, respectively. However, it’s still 238 days to November 5, and we’ll be watching to see how this fluctuates,” Carolina Journal publisher and John Locke Foundation CEO Donald Bryson said. 

NORTH CAROLINA SCHOOLS CHIEF LOSES REPUBLICAN PRIMARY TO HOME-SCHOOLING PARENT CRITICAL OF ‘RADICAL AGENDAS’

As for the state’s gubernatorial race, 43.8% of likely voters said they’d cast their ballots for Republican Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson, a sizable 4.8-point lead over the 39.0% who said they’d vote for Democratic Attorney General Josh Stein. The poll showed that a majority of rural voters, 53%, indicated that they planned to vote for Robinson. 

A plurality of suburban and urban voters, 46% and 47%, respectively, said they’d vote for Stein. 

“Both Josh Stein and Mark Robinson have shown the ability to win statewide races and raise money – the race for the Executive Mansion is the one to watch in North Carolina,” Bryson said. 

MARK ROBINSON WINS GOP NOMINATION FOR NC GOVERNOR, SAYS ‘UNDERDOG’ STORY ‘JUST LIKE NORTH CAROLINA HERSELF’

The Journal noted increased support for Republican candidates in every race polled. 

In a recent shakeup noteworthy for Trump’s influence on politics in the Tar Heel State, Republican newcomer Michele Morrow, a home-schooling parent critical of public schools’ “radical agendas” on race and gender ideology, recently won in the state GOP primary against current Republican North Carolina Superintendent of Public Instruction Catherine Truitt. The new poll published Tuesday found 40.8% of likely voters support Morrow, while 39.1% said they planned to vote for Democrat Maurice “Mo” Green to hold the top North Carolina schools position in November.

“Superintendent Catherine Truitt’s primary election loss and four open seats make 2024 a volatile year for the North Carolina Council of State,” Bryson said. “Aside from the drama of these individual races, there is also the question of whether Republicans can maintain their majority on the Council, which also makes policy decisions.” 

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The poll found immigration was the top issue for voters statewide overall. 

• Voters in a Georgia state House district near Augusta selected Columbia County Commissioner Gary Richardson of Evans to fill a vacancy.
• Gary Richardson won about 60% of the vote, defeating conservative commentator C.J. Pearson of Grovetown.
• The vacancy arose when Republican Rep. Barry Fleming resigned to become a superior court judge.

Voters in a Georgia state House district near Augusta have chosen a county commissioner to fill a vacancy created when the former representative stepped down to become a judge.

In state House District 125, Columbia County Commissioner Gary Richardson of Evans beat conservative commentator C.J. Pearson of Grovetown on Tuesday, with Richardson winning about 60% of the vote with all precincts reporting, according to unofficial results.

Richardson and Pearson were vying to replace Republican Rep. Barry Fleming, who resigned to become a superior court judge. They advanced to a runoff after finishing first and second in February, besting Republican and farmer James Steed of Grovetown, Democrat and cosmetologist Kay Turner of Grovetown and Libertarian and software developer John Turpish of Grovetown.

SENATE REPUBLICANS INTRODUCE LAKEN RILEY ACT, URGE IMMEDIATE CONSIDERATION OF ‘COMMONSENSE’ BILL

Pearson and Richardson will face off again in the May Republican primary, seeking a full two-year term.

The district covers parts of Columbia and McDuffie counties.

GEORGIA HOUSE APPROVES ‘SWATTING’ CRACKDOWN FOLLOWING ATTACKS ON LT. GOV., REP. GREENE

Richardson, a car wash owner who can’t run again for county commission because of term limits, touted his experience in public service.

Pearson overcame a residency challenge while winning endorsements from hard-right conservatives and campaigning on a Trump aligned-platform. The 21-year-old Pearson has been opposed by Gov. Brian Kemp’s political organization after Pearson helped manage the primary campaign of Kemp challenger Vernon Jones in 2022.

FIRST ON FOX: Two Senate Republicans introduced the Laken Riley Act, a measure requiring federal immigration authorities to arrest and detain illegal immigrants charged with local theft or burglary, in the upper chamber Tuesday evening.

Introduced by senators Katie Britt, R-Ala., and Ted Budd, R-N.C., the bill serves as the Senate companion to H.R. 7511, originally introduced in the House by Georgia GOP Rep. Mike Collins.

The measure would require U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to arrest illegal immigrants who commit theft, burglary, larceny or shoplifting offenses and mandate that those who commit such crimes are detained until they are removed from the United States, so they cannot break the same law or commit further crimes.

Additionally, the bill would ensure that states have standing to bring civil actions against federal officials who refuse to enforce immigration law or who violate the law.

HOUSE PASSES LAKEN RILEY ACT REQUIRING ICE TO DETAIN MIGRANTS ARRESTED FOR THEFT

The measure is named after 22-year-old Laken Riley, a college nursing student recently killed on the campus of the University of Georgia. Jose Antonio Ibarra, the illegal immigrant from Venezuela charged in the murder, was arrested in New York prior to the murder but was not detained by ICE.

Before being charged with felony murder, Ibarra was once arrested in New York for endangering a child, and he was cited in Georgia for misdemeanor shoplifting in October 2023 along with his brother, Diego Ibarra, according to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

“Make no mistake, Laken Riley’s heartbreaking murder was a direct, preventable consequence of willful open border policies by President Biden and his administration. This commonsense legislation would ensure ICE detains and deports criminal illegal aliens, so more innocent American families do not have to face this kind of unimaginable tragedy,” Britt told Fox News Digital. 

“I am grateful for Rep. Collins’ strong leadership and for Sen. Budd’s partnership in introducing this Senate companion bill. Sen. Schumer should bring this bill to the Senate floor immediately.”

JOHNSON CHASTISES BIDEN FOR ‘REGRET’ ON CALLING LAKEN RILEY MURDER SUSPECT ‘ILLEGAL’: ‘WHAT AN EMBARRASSMENT’

“States should be able to protect their citizens from the Biden administration’s lawless, open border policies by seeking relief in federal court,” Budd told Fox. “That’s why I am joining Sen. Britt to introduce the Senate version of the Laken Riley Act.

“We simply cannot tolerate any more senseless tragedies like this one. What happened to Laken Riley should never happen to any American citizen.”

Collins, who has urged the Senate to take up the legislation immediately to “ensure justice for Laken and give ICE more tools to detain and deport criminal illegal aliens before they commit more serious crimes,” said in a statement shared with Fox he’s “grateful” the “vital” legislation has been introduced in the Senate.

TRUMP MET WITH LAKEN RILEY’S FAMILY BACKSTAGE BEFORE GEORGIA RALLY: ‘PROFOUNDLY HONORED’

“The Laken Riley Act passed the House of Representatives overwhelmingly and on a bipartisan basis,” Collins said. “I am grateful to Sen. Britt for taking the lead on getting this vital legislation through the Senate, so we can put Laken Riley’s name on Joe Biden’s desk and take a step toward preventing this from happening to another American.”

Collins’ measure was passed by a 251-170 vote last week by the House. All 170 no votes were Democrats. However, 37 Democrats joined Republicans to advance the bill.

Collins, who represents Georgia’s 10th Congressional District of Athens, where the fatal attack happened Feb. 22, said the murder of Riley is a “wake-up call” for America and that the measure seeks to combat the “illegal crime wave” that he attributes to the ongoing border crisis.

In the days following Riley’s death, President Biden faced scrutiny for his comments on the subject.

At the urging of Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., Biden, during an off-script moment in his State of the Union address last week, decried Riley’s killing by “an illegal.” The president later backtracked during an interview with MSNBC’s Jonathan Capehart, saying he should have instead used the word “undocumented” to describe Ibarra.

“I shouldn’t have used illegal, I should’ve … it’s undocumented,” Biden told Capehart. “And, look, when I spoke about the difference between Trump and me, one of the things I talked about on the border was his — the way he talks about vermin, the way he talks about these people polluting the blood. I talked about what I’m not going to do, what I won’t do. I’m not going to treat any, any, any of these people with disrespect. Look, they built the country.”

The White House said Monday Biden “did not apologize.”

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“First of all, I want to be really clear about something: The president absolutely did not apologize. There was no apology anywhere in that conversation,” principal deputy press secretary Olivia Dalton told reporters aboard Air Force One. “He did not apologize. He used a different word.”

The companion measure in the Senate included more than 30 original GOP co-sponsors, including Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky.

Fox News’ Greg Norman, Aubrie Spady, Thomas Phippen, and Danielle Wallace contributed to this report.

It seems like trust – in politicians, in celebrities, in institutions – is fading fast around the globe.

Some of this has to do with new technology, as it’s easier than ever to manipulate facts, sound and images. But it’s also rooted in old-fashioned lying and deception that have been around roughly forever.

The royal uproar over Princess Kate altering a photo might seem like much ado about little, except that it has blown a hole in the family’s credibility, even though she’s one of its most popular members. At least she had the good sense to apologize.

HOW LEFT AND RIGHT JUSTICES FOUND COMMON GROUND IN RESTORING TRUMP TO THE BALLOT

Kate hasn’t been seen since Christmas, when she underwent abdominal surgery, unspecified because Buckingham Palace provided no details. Since there were concerns about her health, she put out a gorgeous photo of herself and her three kids, which ran around the world, for British Mother’s Day. 

But major photo services, led by the AP and Reuters, quickly retracted the picture after discovering it had been digitally altered. This may not have been the dreaded AI, but a simple Photoshop job.

The Princess of Wales posted that “like many amateur photographers, I do occasionally experiment with editing. I wanted to express my apologies for any confusion the family photograph we shared yesterday caused.”

But come on. Kate knows full well that she was trying to reassure the British public about the state of her health and instead accomplished exactly the opposite. 

The Washington Post describes the reaction of veteran photographer Paul Clarke: 

“What was up with Princess Charlotte’s hand, which seemed distorted by the cuff of her sleeve? Why were her mother’s fingers so blurry against the crisp knit of Prince Louis’s sweater? Were those glints of professional catchlights in the family’s eyes, in a photo supposedly snapped by Prince William? The photo, Clarke noted in a social media post that quickly went viral, contained ‘numerous … manipulations easily visible.’”

“He added: ‘What *were* they thinking?’”

No one can quite figure that out. Yes, the picture looked too perfect, but was it intended to hide something more damaging?

There is, to be sure, a clash of cultures here. As the paper puts it, “On one side, the ever-heightening expectations of celebrity perfection — smooth faces and cellulite-free thighs, best achieved with a little Photoshopping. On the other, certain ideals of journalistic transparency and integrity that are increasingly under assault as artificial intelligence deepfakes and cries of ‘fake news’ have wormed their way into culture.”

Even Clarke is quoted as saying this wasn’t so bad: “We all want photos of our children smiling.” 

LIBERAL PUNDITS, URGING BIDEN TO WITHDRAW, PUSHING CONVENTION SCENARIO

But the rules are different when your husband is heir to the British throne and your own health is suspect because of your desire, and that of the palace, to release as little information as possible.

At the same time, what Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin did was far worse–he refused to tell the public, or his boss Joe Biden, that he’d secretly checked into the hospital for prostate cancer surgery.

That brings us to Katie Britt. The Alabama senator had the unenviable task of delivering the response to the State of the Union, and while her presentation from her kitchen was rather awkward, I was appalled by the incessant piling on that reached a Mean Girls level.

But the Republican lawmaker made a blatant miscalculation that she has not acknowledged.

Britt was lambasting Biden’s border policies when she said a Mexican woman had told her a story of being held in sexual slavery. The unmistakable impression was that the president was to blame for the border crisis, which is of course a Democratic albatross, and this was a prime example.

But it quickly turned out that the woman, Karla Jacinto, had nothing to do with Biden or even the United States.

She now says that her years being sexually trafficked were between 2004 and 2008, long before Biden was president and even before he became vice president. He was just one of 100 senators.

What’s more, everything happened in Mexico. Jacinto has never been to the U.S. She has never applied for asylum in the U.S. She was kidnapped in Mexico and rescued in Mexico four years later.

When pressed by Shannon Bream on “Fox News Sunday,” Britt refused to concede an inch. She said the timing of her story had been clear and that it was fair to invoke the president’s policies.

Jacinto, now an activist working with sex trafficking victims, disputed the senator’s account on CNN later that day.

She said she had not been abducted by a Mexican drug cartel, as Britt had claimed.

She said she met the senator at an event with activists and lawmakers, not in a one-on-one discussion with her, as Britt had said.  

People who are really trafficked and abused, as she [Britt] mentioned. And I think she [Britt] should first take into account what really happens before telling a story of that magnitude.

“I hardly ever cooperate with politicians, because it seems to me that they only want an image. They only want a photo — and that to me is not fair,” Jacinto said.

She added that “people who are really trafficked and abused, as [Britt] mentioned. And I think she should first take into account what really happens before telling a story of that magnitude.”

If Britt had just said she didn’t mean to leave a misleading impression and needed to clarify things, the story wouldn’t have gotten worse for her every day.

Now there is a long and illustrious history of lying and deceiving politicians and other famous people.

Biden himself dropped out of his first White House campaign, in 1987, after admitting that he had plagiarized British political figure Neil Kinnock in his speeches.

SUBSCRIBE TO HOWIE’S MEDIA BUZZMETER PODCAST, A RIFF ON THE DAY’S HOTTEST STORIES

Bill Clinton was lying when he said “I did not have sexual relations with that woman, Miss Lewinsky,” as it turned out he was peddling an absurdly narrow definition of such relations.

Actor Jussie Smollett made up a story about being attacked on the street by pro-Trump thugs when in fact he had staged the whole thing.

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But now, in the era of artificial intelligence, such things will be harder than ever for the average person to detect – with high tech making it exponentially more difficult to rely on your own eyes and ears.

House Republicans released a report claiming the Jan. 6 select committee “deleted” records and hired “Hollywood producers” to promote a political narrative while investigating the circumstances surrounding supporters of former President Donald Trump breaching the Capitol in 2021. 

“For nearly two years, former Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s January 6th Select Committee promoted hearsay and cherry-picked information to promote its political goal – to legislatively prosecute former President Donald Trump,” Rep. Barry Loudermilk, R-Ga., chairman of the Committee on House Administration’s Subcommittee on Oversight, said in a statement accompanied by his “Initial Findings Report” on Monday. 

“It was no surprise that the Select Committee’s final report focused primarily on former President Trump and his supporters, not the security failures and reforms needed to ensure the United States Capitol is safer today than in 2021.”‘

Loudermilk’s oversight subcommittee of the House Administration Committee released an 81-page report Monday that investigated “the security failures of January 6th which House Democrats failed to investigate in the 117th Congress.” 

JAN 6 COMMITTEE ALLEGEDLY SUPPRESSED TESTIMONY SHOWING TRUMP ADMIN PUSHED FOR NATIONAL GUARD PRESENCE: REPORT

Among its key findings, the report stated that the House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol was designed “to promote a political narrative” reportedly at the direction of then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif.

“Pelosi made the unprecedented decision to refuse to appoint minority members chosen by the minority to the Select Committee. They hired Hollywood producers to assist with their primetime hearings. They refused to adopt rules, allowing them to operate without limits, to project their predetermined narrative to the world,” the report’s key findings page states. 

LIZ CHENEY CALLS SPEAKER JOHNSON ‘DANGEROUS’ FOR HELPING TRUMP ‘UNDERMINE OUR REPUBLIC’

Within the report, it details that the Jan. 6 committee “enlisted the help of Hollywood producers to edit USCP closed circuit television (“CCTV”) footage, as well as videos of depositions and transcribed interviews, for use at public hearings.” 

LIZ CHENEY CALLS SPEAKER JOHNSON ‘DANGEROUS’ FOR HELPING TRUMP ‘UNDERMINE OUR REPUBLIC’

The Jan. 6 committee was founded in July 2021 to investigate the breach of the U.S. Capitol earlier that year by supporters of Trump ahead of President Biden officially taking office on Jan. 20. The Jan. 6 committee’s investigation was carried out when Democrats held control of the House. 

The committee concluded its 18-month investigation last year, when Republicans regained control of the House, and sent referrals to the Justice Department recommending Trump be criminally prosecuted for his involvement in the lead-up to supporters breaching the Capitol. 

The committee was composed of seven Democrats and two Republican lawmakers, Reps. Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger, both of whom are no longer in office. Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., chaired the committee, while Cheney served as vice chair. 

Loudermilk’s report argued that Cheney’s position was reserved for a Democrat, and that she should not have served as vice chair. 

“Cheney was not the minority ranking member but served as Vice Chair of the Select Committee – a position under House Rules for a member of the same party as the Chair. Pelosi appointed Cheney to the Select Committee as one of Pelosi’s eight majority appointments to the Select Committee. Former Select Committee staff members spoke out against Cheney’s insistence that the Select Committee focus on President Trump,” the report’s key findings found. 

Republicans have long claimed that the committee was improperly constructed, including in a court case in 2022, when a federal judge appointed by Trump validated the Jan. 6 committee’s investigative pursuits, including allowing the committee to obtain Republican National Committee’s marketing email data in the lead up to Jan. 6. 

LIZ CHENEY CALLS SPEAKER JOHNSON ‘DANGEROUS’ FOR HELPING TRUMP ‘UNDERMINE OUR REPUBLIC’ 

Loudermilk’s report also asserted that the committee “deleted records and hid evidence” ahead of Republicans taking the House majority during the 2022 election cycle. 

“THE SELECT COMMITTEE DELETED RECORDS AND HID EVIDENCE – Reps. Thompson and Cheney failed to turn over video recordings of witness interviews and depositions despite using these recordings in their high-profile, primetime hearings. The Subcommittee recovered over one hundred deleted or password-protected files, including some files that were deleted days before Republicans took the majority. They also hid multiple transcribed interviews of witnesses who had firsthand knowledge of Trump‘s actions on January 6,” the report found. 

Trump has repeatedly claimed the committee deleted and destroyed evidence, including this year in a Truth Social post singling out Cheney. 

“Why did American Disaster Liz Cheney … ILLEGALLY DELETE & DESTROY most of the evidence, and related items, from the January 6th Committee of Political Thugs and Misfits. THIS ACT OF EXTREME SABOTAGE MAKES IT IMPOSSIBLE FOR MY LAWYERS TO PROPERLY PREPARE FOR, AND PRESENT, A PROPER DEFENSE OF THEIR CLIENT, ME. All of the information on Crazy Nancy Pelosi turning down 10,000 soldiers that I offered to to [sic] guard the Capitol Building, and beyond, is gone,” Trump posted on Truth Social on Jan. 1, 2024.

LIZ CHENEY ADDRESSES CRITICISM OF HER CRITIQUES OF TRUMP AND BIDEN

Cheney responded to the report early on Tuesday morning on X, arguing the report works to “cover up” Trump’s actions in 2021. 

“If your response to Trump’s assault on our democracy is to lie & cover up what he did, attack the brave men & women who came forward with the truth, and defend the criminals who violently assaulted the Capitol, you need to rethink whose side you’re on. Hint: It’s not America’s,” Cheney tweeted Tuesday. 

Last week, Loudermilk’s office released transcripts of a “withheld” committee interview with a Trump administration official, White House deputy chief of staff Anthony Ornato, that reportedly undermines the committee’s report that they did not have evidence showing the Trump White House requested National Guard assistance for Jan. 6. 

Ahead of serving as White House deputy chief of staff, Ornato served decades in the Secret Service. 

REP LOUDERMILK BLASTS JANUARY 6 COMMITTEE FOR TARGETING HIM: ‘THERE IS A WAR ON THE TRUTH IN THIS COUNTRY’

The interview, which was first reported by The Federalist, shows Ornato told the committee that he overheard then-White House chief of staff Mark Meadows asking D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser to request as much protection for the city as she needed for Jan. 6. 

Cheney spokesperson Jeremy Adler told Fox News Digital on Sunday that The Federalist’s report is “flatly false.” 

“The Federalist report is flatly false. No transcripts were destroyed, and as this letter (which has long been public) describes in detail, the Committee adhered to its obligations to allow the Secret Service to protect sensitive security information for interviews of its agents before preserving that testimony in the archives,” Adler said in a statement.

The 2022 letter, sent by Cheney and Thompson to the general counsel of the Department of Homeland Security, detailed that it adhered to rules surrounding sensitive testimony from Secret Service agents, and preserved such testimony in archives that were then placed into the control of the National Archives. 

“Also, relevant content of the Secret Service transcripts was summarized in multiple places in the report… This is all a continuation of efforts to lie about and cover up Donald Trump’s culpability for January 6th,” Adler added on Sunday. 

TRUMP SAYS FILES DELETED BY JAN 6 COMMITTEE ‘EXONERATED ME COMPLETELY’

Among its other key findings, the Loudermilk report alleged that Thompson and Cheney “promoted” a “star” witness’ “sensational revised” testimony and “hid” other testimony that contradicted the star witness. The report also alleged that the Jan. 6 committee “colluded” with Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis to prosecute Trump in Georgia for alleged election racketeering. 

“Fulton County District Attorney wrote to the Select Committee seeking assistance with her prosecution of President Trump. Select Committee staff met with representatives from her office,” the initial findings report states. 

Pelosi’s office declined comment Tuesday morning when contacted by Fox News Digital on Loudermilk’s report. Fox News Digital also reached out to Thompson’s press secretary, but did not immediately receive a response. 

Thompson did respond to the report in a statement published to his X account, calling the report “dishonest.”

“Loudermilk is merely trying to deflect from Donald Trump’s responsibility for the violence of January 6th and his own refusal to answer the Select Committee’s questions,” his statement added. 

Loudermilk said in comments Monday that the report’s release “is just the beginning” in his efforts to “uncover the facts about January 6.” 

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“The American people deserve the entire truth about what caused the violent breach at the United States Capitol on January 6, 2021. It is unfortunate the Select Committee succumbed to their political inclinations and chased false narratives instead of providing the important work of a genuine investigation. In my committee’s investigation, it is my objective to uncover the facts about January 6, without political bias or spin. My report today is just the beginning,” Loudermilk said. 

FIRST ON FOX: North Carolina Republican Sen. Thom Tillis will introduce two bills Tuesday aimed at holding sanctuary cities accountable for what he calls lax policies toward illegal immigration and refusal to cooperate with Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

The first bill, titled the Justice for Victims of Sanctuary Cities Act, would create a private right for victims of rape or other felonies and their family members to sue states and districts if they refuse to honor detainer requests from the Department of Homeland Security. In order to qualify for federal grants, local governments and states would have to give up their immunity against this legal action. 

THE GENERAL ELECTION COULD START TODAY, HERE IS WHAT TO KNOW

The second measure, known as the Immigration Detainer Enforcement Act, would give the DHS secretary, rather than the attorney general, the authority to issue detainer requests for illegal immigrants. It would further remove language dictating that an illegal immigrant must be considered at risk of escaping before a warrant can be issued in order for a detainer to be sought. The bill would also allow DHS to compensate local and state jurisdictions for claims against them due to their enforcement of ICE detainers. 

SPECIAL COUNSEL HUR TO TESTIFY AT HOUSE JUDICIARY AFTER BIDEN CLASSIFIED RECORDS REPORT

“For too long, we have watched local jurisdictions in North Carolina and across the country ignore the lawful notification and detainer requests made by ICE agents and instead release dangerous criminals back into their communities and put innocent lives at risk,” Tillis said in a statement to Fox News Digital. “It is time for Congress to step in and put an end to this madness by holding sanctuary cities accountable and empowering ICE to gain custody of criminal illegal immigrants so they can’t cause more harm and violence.”

Both of the bills are being co-sponsored by Sens. Ted Budd, R-N.C., Tim Scott, R-S.C., Steve Daines, R-Mont., Pete Ricketts, R-Neb., Mike Rounds, R-S.D., Kevin Cramer, R-N.D., and Tom Cotton, R-Ark. 

Sens. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and Roger Marshall, R-Kan., are co-sponsors of the Justice for Victims of Sanctuary Cities Act.

DEFYING TRUMP, HOUSE GOP PLANS TO FORGE AHEAD WITH TIKTOK BILL THAT COULD BAN APP

“Sanctuary states and cities that refuse to enforce the law make Americans less safe,” Ricketts also told Fox News Digital in a statement. “Adding incentives for cooperation with ICE will get dangerous criminals off our streets. These two bills would bring needed accountability to those who facilitate illegal immigration and bring justice for the victims of sanctuary policies.”

The new legislation is being introduced in the wake of the death of 22-year-old nursing student Laken Riley on the University of Georgia campus. The suspect in her killing is a Venezuelan man who illegally immigrated to the U.S. in 2022. Jose Antonio Ibarra, 22, is being detained without bond on a variety of charges, including malice murder, felony murder, aggravated battery, kidnapping, and several others. 

TRUMP LEGAL TEAM’S NEW STRATEGIC MOVE IN BRAGG’S HUSH MONEY TRIAL

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Riley’s death last month captured national attention. President Biden even appeared to succumb to pressure from congressional Republicans, mentioning her in his State of the Union address on March 7. Many Republican members of Congress donned pins with Riley’s name on them to the event. 

Former President Trump is officially the presumptive Republican presidential nominee.

Trump clinched his party’s 2024 nomination Tuesday when Georgia, Mississippi and Washington state held primaries.

With no major challengers left, both Trump and President Biden, who locked up his party’s nomination earlier in the evening, were on course to collect all or nearly all the delegates up for grabs in Tuesday’s contests, putting each of them over the top and making them the Democratic and Republican presumptive presidential nominees.

WHERE THE 2024 PRESIDENTIAL NOMINATION RACES STAND

Trump and his successor in the White House will formally become the two major party nominees this summer, as the Republicans and Democrats host their national nominating conventions in July and August, respectively.

Trump had 1,078 delegates at the start of the day. He needed 1,215 to lock up the nomination.

BIDEN, TRUMP, SWEEP SUPER TUESDAY CONTESTS AS THEY MOVE CLOSER TO CLINCHING NOMINATIONS

Fifty-nine GOP delegates were up for grabs in Georgia, with 40 at stake in Mississippi and 43 in Washington state. Nineteen more delegates are up for grabs in Hawaii, which holds a Republican presidential caucus later in the evening. 

Trump swept 14 of the 15 GOP Super Tuesday primaries and caucuses last week, which moved him closer to officially locking up the 2024 Republican presidential nomination. And Trump’s last rival for the nomination, Nikki Haley, dropped out of the race the day after Super Tuesday.

The November rematch between Biden and Trump is the first in the race for the White House since 1956, when Republican President Dwight D. Eisenhower defeated former Democratic Gov. Adlai Stevenson of Illinois when they faced off a second time.

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Trump, a businessman, real estate mogul and reality TV star, won the White House in 2016 by upsetting Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton. But he was defeated by Biden four years later when he ran for re-election.

Trump launched his third White House bid in November 2022. Trump last year made history as the first president or former president to face criminal charges.

The former president faces four major criminal trials and a total of 91 indictments, as well as a $355 million civil fraud judgment that Trump is appealing. But Trump’s legal entanglements over the past year have only fueled his support among Republican voters, boosting him far ahead of his one-time rivals for the nomination.

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

Americans have more trust in former President Donald Trump to lead the United States as commander in chief than President Biden, according to a poll released before the two candidates are expected to be officially named their party’s 2024 nominees.

When asked who Americans would trust more to lead the United States as president between the two, a new ABC/Ipsos poll found that more respondents trust Trump, 36%, over Biden, who received 33%. About 30% of respondents said they would trust neither candidate.

The survey also revealed that voters approve of Trump’s handling of more issues than Biden’s.

Specifically, more respondents approved of Trump’s handling of inflation, crime, the southern border crisis, gun violence, and the economy over that of the current administration.

LOCKING IT UP: TRUMP, BIDEN, EXPECTED TO CLINCH GOP, DEMOCRAT PRESIDENTIAL NOMINATIONS IN TUESDAY’S PRIMARIES

On immigration, a key issue going into 2024, 45% of respondents said they approve of how Trump handled the issue while president, with only 29% supporting how Biden is handling the crisis at the southern border.

Only 37% of respondents approve of Biden’s handling of the economy, while 49% said they approve of the way Trump handled the issue while president.

BIDEN VS. TRUMP IS FORCING AMERICANS TO CONFRONT THE AGE ISSUE. BUT NO ONE WILL ANSWER ONE BIG QUESTION

The plurality of respondents, 45%, also approved of Trump’s handling of crime over Biden.

Additionally, respondents said they prefer former Trump’s handling of gun violence over Biden’s, 37% to 34%. 

Biden was viewed as handling only two issues better than Trump: abortion and climate change.

About 47% of respondents approve of how Biden is handling the issue of abortion, while 35% support how Trump handled the issue during his presidency. 

On climate change, 42% of respondents prefer how Biden is handling climate change over 33% who had a positive view of how Trump handled the issue.

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The ABC/Ipsos poll was conducted March 8 to 9, with a margin of error of plus or minus 4.5 percentage points.

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

What’s happening? 

-Biden and Trump continue to mop up the remaining primaries 

-Trump declares himself ‘not a Conservative’ in news interview

-Fetterman slams Democrats for not taking action against Menendez 

Can’t Let Hur Go

The newly released transcript of Special Counsel Robert Hur’s interview with President Biden has confirmed the president’s frequent memory lapses, as well as contradicted his claims surrounding their exchange over his son Beau’s death, a Fox News Digital review of the transcript has found.

Hur took fiery questions — from both sides of the aisle — during a fiery hearing Tuesday. He explained that he did not bring charges against the president despite the willful retention of classified records about military and foreign policy in Afghanistan and other countries, among other records related to national security and foreign policy, which Hur said implicated “sensitive intelligence sources and methods.”

However, Hur affirmed that he identified evidence that “pride and money” were “strong” motivating factors for President Biden to retain classified records, as the former vice president sought to keep materials to use for a memoir he wrote that brought him $8 million.

Hur insisted that a frequent Democratic characterization of the report was false. Multiple Democrats parroted that Hur’s report “exonerated” Biden, but Hur repeatedly told the House panel that was incorrect. When asked again if his report is a “total and complete exoneration,” Hur maintained “that is not what the report says.” 

Democrats took aim at Hur for the potential damage done to President Biden. Rep. Hank Johnson, D-Ga. used his allotted time during the hearing to take jabs at the Federalist Society and suggested Hur would gain personally from a Trump victory in November.

“Despite clearing President Biden from being prosecuted, you used your report to trash and smear President Biden because he said in response to questions over a five-hour interview that he didn’t recall how he got the documents,” Johnson said. 

“Congressman, I reject the suggestions that you have just made. That is not what happened. Partisan politics played no part whatsoever in my work. My work was independent and fair,” Hur hit back, speaking over Johnson as he attempted to interrupt Hur’s response.

Capitol Hill

‘SLEAZEBALL IN THE SENATE’: Fetterman slams Senate Dems for not kicking Menendez out …Read more

‘SHOCKED AND DISMAYED’: Nancy Mace reacts on Fox to viral Stephanopoulos interview: ‘Tried to bully me’ …Read more

COST OF WOKE: House GOP exposes ‘woke’ items hidden in Biden’s $7.3T budget plan …Read more

‘SERIOUS QUESTIONS’: Senate Republicans turn up the heat on probe into alleged killer of Laken Riley …Read more

Tales from the Campaign Trail

BIDEN BOOSTERS: Colbert hosting lavish fundraiser with Democrat heavyweights Biden, Clinton, Obama …Read more

PRIMARY DAY: Primaries kick off for Mississippi’s four US House seats, one Senate seat …Read more

THE COACHING GOVERNOR: West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice balances coaching girls basketball, pursuing US Senate seat …Read more

HEATING UP THE HEARTLAND: Trump preps for combat in key Midwest battleground state …Read more

‘NOT CONSERVATIVE’: Trump discusses his political ideology in wide-ranging interview …Read more

Across America

‘WE ARE FRUSTRATED’: NC Republicans want answers over new migrant intake shelter …Read more

‘COMMON SENSE’: Kansas judge rules in favor of conservative AG, continues to prevent sex-changes on ID cards …Read more

‘FABRIC OF AMERICAN FREEDOM’: NRA slams Biden’s anti-gun SOTU tirade …Read more

BACKTRACKING: Andrew Cuomo slams NYC for policy he supported, says ‘plan is for city taxpayers to pay’ for ‘migrant crisis’ …Read more

BIG DEMANDS: Gun rights groups ask Supreme Court to strike down Illinois ‘assault weapons’ ban …Read more

LOSING SUPPORT: San Francisco Asian Americans increasingly denouncing mayor over crime concerns …Read more

‘TRUTH CAN GET YOU FIRED’: Anti-lockdown and vaccine mandate skeptic says he was ‘fired’ by Harvard …Read more

‘DON’T LIKE EACH OTHER’: Bill Maher ‘vindicated’ following Katie Porter’s loss in CA Senate race …Read more

‘THEIR OWN FREE WILL’: NY Mag presents ‘moral case’ for allowing trans kids to ‘change their bodies’ …Read more

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Democrat Rep. Adam Schiff sparred with former Special Counsel Robert Hur during a contentious House hearing on Tuesday as the California congressman accused Hur of playing politics with his report on President Biden’s handling of classified documents, which earned pushback from Hur.

“I want to go back to your opening statement in which you said that you did not disparage the president, your report, but of course, you did disparage the president,” Schiff told Hur during Tuesday’s hearing.

“You disparaged him in terms you had to know would have a maximal political impact. You understood your report would be public, right?”

“I understood, based on comments that the attorney general had made, that he had committed to make as much of my report public, as consistent with legal policy and legal requirements,” Hur responded.

ADAM SCHIFF FACT-CHECKED ON SOCIAL MEDIA AFTER CLAIMING HOUSE SPEAKER COUNTS PRESIDENTIAL ELECTORAL VOTES

Schiff then suggested that Hur “could have” simply commented on instances where Biden could not remember information about certain documents rather than make a “generalized statement” about his memory, referencing the much talked-about section of the report in which Hur characterized Biden as an “elderly man with a poor memory.”

“Congressman, I could have written my report, theoretically, in a way that omitted references to the president’s memory,” Hur explained. “But that would have been an incomplete and improper report and that it did not reflect my analysis.”

Schiff continued to press Hur and accused him of knowing he would start a “political firestorm” with the language he used, to which Hurr said “politics played no part whatsoever” in the investigation.

“What you did write was deeply prejudicial to the interests of the president, you say it wasn’t political, and yet you must have understood,” Schiff said. “You must have understood the impact of your words. You must have understood the impact of your decision to go beyond the specifics of a particular document, to go to the very general, to your own personal prejudicial, subjective opinion of the president, one you knew would be amplified by his political opponent. When you knew that would influence a political campaign, you had to understand, and you did it anyway. You did it anyway.”

PRO-PALESTINIAN PROTESTERS INTERRUPT ADAM SCHIFF’S VICTORY SPEECH, DEMAND CEASE-FIRE IN GAZA

Schiff then attempted to discuss allegations against former President Trump, at which point Hur, a registered Republican, went back and again addressed the notion that his report was influenced by politics.

“I need to address something that you said in your prior question of what you were suggesting is that I needed to provide a different version of my report that would be fit for public release,” Hur said. “That is nowhere in the rules. I was to prepare a confidential report that was comprehensive and thorough.”

“What is in the rules, Mr. Hur?” Schiff said. “What is in the rules is you don’t gratuitously do things to prejudice the subject of an investigation when you’re declining to prosecute you don’t gratuitously add language that you know will be useful in a political campaign. You were not born yesterday. You understood exactly what you were doing. It was a choice.”

“You certainly didn’t have to include that language. You could have said vis a vis the documents that were from the university. The president did not recall. There is nothing more common. You know this. I know this. There is nothing more common with a witness of any age when asked about events that are years old to say, I do not recall. Indeed, they’re instructed by their attorney to do that if they have any question about it. You understood that you made a choice. That was a political choice. It was the wrong choice. Mr. Chairman, I yield back.”

During the next line of questioning, Hur went back and addressed Schiff. 

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“Congressman, what you are suggesting is that I shape, sanitize, omit portions of my reasoning, an explanation to the attorney general for political reasons,” Hur said. 

“No,” Schiff shot back. “I suggest that you do not shape [a] report for political reasons, which is what you did.”

“That did not happen, Congressman, that did not happen,” Hur said back before the next line of questioning began.

It was never in doubt, but President Biden is officially the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee.

Biden formally clinched his party’s 2024 nomination Tuesday, as Georgia, Mississippi and Washington state held primaries.

With no major challengers remaining, Biden and former President Trump were on course to collect all or nearly all the delegates up for grabs in Tuesday’s contests, putting each of them over the top and making them the presumptive Democratic and Republican presidential nominees.

WHERE THE 2024 PRESIDENTIAL NOMINATION RACES STAND

The president and his predecessor in the White House will formally become the two major party nominees this summer, as the Republicans and the Democrats host their national nominating conventions in July and August, respectively.

Biden had 1,872 delegates as of Tuesday morning. The president, who swept 14 of 15 contests last week on Super Tuesday, needed 1,968 to clinch renomination.

BIDEN, TRUMP, SWEEP SUPER TUESDAY CONTESTS AS THEY MOVE CLOSER TO CLINCHING NOMINATIONS

Georgia, where polls closed at 7 p.m., has 108 delegates up for grabs. Thirty-five Democratic delegates are at stake in Mississippi, with another 92 in Washington state.

Trump, who is expected to clinch the GOP nomination later Tuesday evening, had 1,078 delegates at the start of the day. He needs 1,215 to lock up the nomination.

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Fifty-nine GOP delegates are up for grabs in Georgia, with 40 at stake in Mississippi and 43 in Washington state. Nineteen more delegates are up for grabs in Hawaii, which holds a Republican presidential caucus later in the evening. 

Trump swept 14 of the 15 GOP Super Tuesday primaries and caucuses, which moved him much closer to officially locking up the 2024 Republican presidential nomination. And Trump’s last rival for the nomination, Nikki Haley, dropped out of the race the day after Super Tuesday.

Biden, who served nearly four decades as a senator from Delaware before stepping down to assume the vice presidency for eight years under President Obama, defeated Trump four years ago to win the White House.

The November rematch between Biden and Trump is the first in the race for the White House since 1956, when Republican President Dwight D. Eisenhower defeated former Democratic Gov. Adlai Stevenson of Illinois when they faced off for a second time.

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

FIRST ON FOX: Rep. August Pfluger, R-Texas, has introduced a measure to prevent noncitizens from serving as election administrators ahead of the 2024 presidential election.

Named the “No Foreign Persons Administering Our Elections Act,” the measure, if successful, would prohibit state and local jurisdictions from hiring individuals who are not U.S. citizens, including illegal immigrants, to administer an election for federal positions.

“Foreign agents have no place overseeing our sacred democratic process,” Pfluger, a member of the House Homeland Security Committee, told Fox News Digital.

“My legislation aims to ensure that only American citizens have the honor and responsibility of serving as election administrators,” he added. “No foreign influence should taint the integrity of our voting system.”

GOP EFFORT TO STOP ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS BEING COUNTED FOR HOUSE DISTRICTS, ELECTORAL COLLEGE SHOT DOWN IN SENATE

Pluger’s bill comes after Kelly Wong, an immigrant from Hong Kong who is not a U.S. citizen, was appointed to serve on the San Francisco Elections Commission. Wong’s appointment to the position was made possible after San Francisco passed a measure in 2020 removing the citizenship requirement to serve on city boards, commissions and advisory bodies.

Wong, an immigrant rights advocate who came to the U.S. from Hong Kong in 2019 to pursue a graduate degree, was sworn in at a ceremony in San Francisco City Hall.

San Francisco Election Commission President Robin Stone recently told Fox News Digital, “I support the Board of Supervisors’ authority and decision to appoint Kelly Wong to the Elections Commission. What’s more, as public officers of the City, we respect the law and will of San Francisco voters, who removed the citizenship requirement for commissioners in 2020.”

‘SHOCKING’ CALIFORNIA BILL TO PROTECT VIOLENT ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS FROM DEPORTATION DRAWS FIERCE BACKLASH

The Republican crackdown on the influence noncitizens may have on U.S. elections is an effort that Democrats have largely defeated in recent history.

Earlier this month, a move by Senate Republicans to stop noncitizens, including illegal immigrants, from being counted on the census for the purposes of apportionment for House seats and the Electoral College was shot down after the measure failed to gain the support of a single Democrat.

Sen. Bill Hagerty, R-Tenn., moved to include an amendment, attached to the $460 billion spending package, that would require the Census Bureau to include a citizenship question in any future census, and then bar anyone who isn’t a U.S. citizen from being counted for purposes of congressional district and Electoral College apportionment.

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While the bill would also exclude legal immigrants on temporary visas and green cards from the census, the move has been undertaken explicitly to stop illegal immigrants from being counted amid millions of new arrivals at the southern border. It’s similar to a Trump-era effort to include a citizenship question on the 2020 census. Trump’s effort sparked widespread criticism and condemnation from Democrats and left-wing immigration groups who argued that a citizenship question was unlawful and was designed to help Republicans in future elections.

Fox News’ Gabriel Hays and Adam Shaw contributed to this report.

A House GOP lawmaker targeted former Special Counsel Robert Hur over what he called a “perverse implication” that the current prosecution of former President Donald Trump at least partially factored into Hur’s decision not to recommend charges for President Biden.

Hur testified before House lawmakers on Tuesday in a lengthy and, at times, heated hearing on his report — the product of a monthslong investigation into Biden’s handling of classified documents. 

Rep. Kevin Kiley, R-Calif., took issue with a part of Hur’s report that downplayed the “deterrent effect” of charging Biden, both because of “little risk he will reoffend” and that “future presidents and vice presidents are already likely to be deterred by the multiple recent criminal investigations, and one prosecution, of current and former presidents and vice presidents for mishandling classified documents.”

HUR TESTIFIES BIDEN ‘WILLFULLY RETAINED CLASSIFIED MATERIALS,’ BUT PROSECUTORS ‘HAD TO CONSIDER’ MENTAL STATE

Kiley argued during the hearing, “The perverse implication here is that the administration, by the very terms of your analysis, actually made it less likely that the president would face charges by [Special Counsel Jack Smith] bringing an indictment [against Trump].”

“I’ll stand by the way and the specific terms in which I characterize my assessment of deterrence value of a case under the principles of federal prosecution,” Hur told him just minutes earlier.

Kiley stood by his argument in a brief interview with Fox News Digital on Tuesday afternoon, explaining, “It’s the implication that is perverse, because it means that Biden sort of lowered his chances of facing charges when the administration brought charges against former President Trump.”

Trump has pleaded not guilty to multiple charges stemming from Smith’s federal investigation into alleged election interference. The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to review whether Trump has presidential immunity from prosecution in the case.

BIDEN RETAINED RECORDS RELATED TO UKRAINE, CHINA; COMER DEMANDS ‘UNFETTERED ACCESS’ AMID IMPEACHMENT INQUIRY

“I think there’s a lot here that’s fairly troubling,” Kiley said. “That’s why I wanted to sort of bring it to light. I didn’t know, maybe, even if Mr. Hur had really thought that through, that particular implication.”

“I think that really, broadly, the report was well done. I think that particular factor was not thought through as carefully as it should be.”

Meanwhile, Fox News contributor and Georgetown University law professor Jonathan Turley argued that the section of the report suggesting Biden himself was at “little risk” of reoffending is not an accurate conclusion on deterrence. 

SPECIAL COUNSEL CALLS BIDEN ‘SYMPATHETIC, WELL-MEANING, ELDERLY MAN WITH A POOR MEMORY,’ BRINGS NO CHARGES

“The finding seems inherently in conflict with the acknowledgment that Joe Biden continued to remove classified material over 40 years since he was a senator,” Turley said. “There was no evidence of deterrence despite repeated warnings given to him by counsel and staff. If anything, that record shows a certain habitual violation of well-known rules on the handling of classified material.”

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Hur found that Biden did willfully mishandle classified materials but did not recommend charges, citing, in part, that he came off “as a sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory,” and that “it would be difficult to convince a jury that they should convict him — by then a former president well into his eighties — of a serious felony that requires a mental state of willfulness.”

Fox News Digital reached out to the Justice Department but did not immediately hear back.

The push by voters in the Democratic presidential primaries protesting President Biden over the bloodshed in Gaza moves Tuesday to Washington state.

That’s where the “uncommitted” vote may once again reach double digits, as a form of protest against the president’s support of Israel in its six-month war with Hamas.

After the “uncommitted” ballot box discontent reached 13% in Michigan late last month, and topped out at 19% in Minnesota and 29% in Hawaii last week, activists have been urging voters in Washington state to keep the pressure on Biden to reach a cease-fire to end the fighting in Gaza.

CLICK HERE FOR THE LATEST FOX NEWS REPORTING, ANALYSIS, AND OPINION ON THE ISRAEL-HAMAS WAR

Washington state, along with Georgia and Mississippi, hold Democratic and Republican presidential primaries on Tuesday. But Washington is the only one with an “uncommitted” option on the ballot.

And while Washington doesn’t have a large Arab American population similar to Michigan and Minnesota, it’s long been one of the centers of the anti-establishment progressive movement.

BIDEN, TRUMP, EXPECTED TO FORMALLY LOCK UP MAJOR PARTY PRESIDENTIAL NOMINATIONS ON TUESDAY

The war in Gaza was triggered on Oct. 7, when Hamas terrorists, in a brutal attack, killed over 1,200 Israelis, including women and children. Israel responded by attacking Gaza, which Hamas has long controlled, with airstrikes and an ensuing ground invasion. Hamas says over 31,000 Palestinians, including women and children, have been killed in the fighting.

While Washington has supported Israel since the fighting first erupted, Biden in last week’s primetime State of the Union address turned up his pressure on Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu to allow increased humanitarian assistance into Gaza and pursue a two-state solution once the war was over.

But it’s likely that many ballots in Washington – which votes by mail – were already cast ahead of the president’s address last Thursday.

It may be a while before the final vote in Washington’s primary is tabulated.

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Election officials say they expect about half of the vote to be counted and reported when polls close on Tuesday night. But it may take until the end of the week for the final vote to be reported.

The Biden campaign, in response to the “uncommitted” vote in recent weeks, has highlighted that “the President believes making your voice heard and participating in our democracy is fundamental to who we are as Americans.”

And the campaign has noted that Biden “shares the goal for an end to the violence and a just, lasting peace in the Middle East. He’s working tirelessly to that end.”

Both Biden and former President Donald Trump are all but certain to officially clinch their respective party presidential nominations on Tuesday night.

With no major challengers left, both Biden and Trump are expected to collect all or nearly all the delegates up for grabs in Tuesday’s contests, putting each of them over the top and making them the Democratic and Republican presumptive presidential nominees.

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

Garrett Ziegler, a one-time aide to former President Trump who is being sued by Hunter Biden for publishing the contents of his infamous laptop, is seeking to have a judge who was appointed by President Biden removed from the case. Ziegler argues that the outcome of the lawsuit not only has implications for the congressional impeachment inquiry, but also the 2024 election. 

In a recent motion in U.S. District Court for Central California, Ziegler’s attorney, Robert Tyler, requested that Judge Hernán D. Vera recuse himself from the case because his “impartiality will be reasonably questioned.” Vera made donations to Joe Biden’s campaign for president in 2020. He also was appointed to his position by President Biden just three months before Hunter Biden filed the lawsuit against Ziegler and one day after then-House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., announced a presidential impeachment inquiry had commenced in Congress. 

Tyler emphasized that he is not arguing against Vera’s integrity and assumes the court system assigned the judge to Hunter Biden’s lawsuit at random. 

“But there’s something called forum shopping that lawyers do,” he told Fox News Digital. “And here’s a case where our client resides in Illinois, he has no contact with California such that California should have any jurisdiction over this case, yet Hunter Biden’s lawyers filed this lawsuit to the Central District of California just shortly after Judge Vera’s appointed.” 

Fox News Digital reached out to Biden’s legal team for comment on Tuesday.

HUNTER BIDEN SUES FORMER WH AIDE FOR ALTERING, PUBLISHING ‘PORNOGRAPHIC’ PHOTOS FROM LAPTOP HE DENIES IS HIS

The relief requested in Hunter Biden’s complaint would prevent and inhibit the public, media and Congress from accessing highly relevant evidence to the impeachment inquiry of President Biden, the motion says. Ziegler’s attorney further argued that Vera must recuse himself from the case “because the district court rulings in this case may affect the impeachment inquiry along with the future presidency of Joseph Biden, toward which Judge Vera made a financial investment and for which Judge Vera has an obvious interest and affinity.” 

“The availability of the information from the Hunter Biden laptop is incredibly important so that we don’t have 2020 all over again where somehow the Biden laptop is brushed under the rug and ignored or worse yet, it’s censored,” Tyler told Fox News Digital on Tuesday, referring to how the Hunter Biden laptop story was dismissed as “Russian disinformation” by a large portion of the media and suppressed by social media platforms. “That’s important I think not only to the presidential impeachment inquiry but also to the election.” 

Tyler’s motion criticizes how Hunter Biden filed the lawsuit against Ziegler, his company – Marco Polo USA – and 10 unidentified associates in September 2023, in the middle of his father’s re-election campaign and nearly three years after the dissemination of files emanating from the laptop he “abandoned” at a Delaware computer repair shop. The repair shop owner turned the laptop over to the FBI on or around October 2019 after discovering its “disturbing materials,” the motion notes.

Hunter Biden’s lawsuit accused Ziegler and others of spreading “tens of thousands of emails, thousands of photos, and dozens of videos and recordings” that were considered “pornographic” on the laptop. The lawsuit describes Ziegler as a “zealot who has waged a sustained, unhinged and obsessed campaign” against the entire Biden family for over two years to “advance his right-wing agenda” and spent hours “accessing, tampering with, manipulating or copying” Hunter Biden’s data with his associates.

GOP REP SPOTLIGHTS 3 KEY PIECES OF EVIDENCE THAT THE BIDEN FAMILY ‘CONTRADICTED’ THEIR BUSINESS COVERUP

The lawsuit seeks a jury trial based on the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act and California’s Comprehensive Computer Data Access and Fraud Act. 

Ziegler’s attorney counters that the former Trump aide and associates “prepared a credible investigative report,” known as the “Report on the Biden Laptop,” not to wage a campaign against Hunter Biden, but to “expose instances of foreign compromise” by Hunter Biden and his father, President Biden, which are “matters of great public interest and concern.” In preparing the report, Ziegler relied on copies of files from the laptop that “had already been widely circulated since at least October 2020 to numerous media outlets,” Tyler wrote. 

The motion states that Ziegler’s website with the Biden laptop report has been accessed by over 5 million Americans since its inception in June 2023 and more than 8 million Americans have accessed the free digital version of the report made available in November 2022. 

“Millions upon millions of visitors have come to this website for information,” Tyler said. “The information on this website is not altered except to the extent to black out genitals. Other than that, the content of the website, according to my client, has not been altered or manipulated, and so this information is critical, I believe, to the availability for the public, for the media and for Congress itself to be able to access and determine whether or not this president is one we should bring back in 2024, 2025.”

Tyler noted how Marco Polo provided background research to the House Oversight, Judiciary and Ways and Means Committees related to the Biden impeachment inquiry. 

During a recent House Oversight and Accountability Committee hearing related to Hunter Biden’s refusal to attend a congressional deposition pertaining to his father’s impeachment inquiry, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., presented exhibits of evidence she received directly from Ziegler and other defendants, the motion says. 

Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., then requested that the Democrats on the committee be provided the Biden laptop files. Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla., interjected that she can provide every Democrat a copy because “Marco Polo has the actual, entire publication.” 

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“You mentioned you wanted to read some stuff, that would probably be something good to read, the Marco Polo Report,” Chairman Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., added. “It’s public record.” 

FIRST ON FOX: Sen. Joni Ernst, a Republican from Iowa, will introduce a bill on Tuesday that seeks to bar government agencies from concealing details about reported transactions by mislabeling them as “other transaction agreements.” 

The legislation, titled, the Stop Secret Spending Act of 2024, seeks to prevent bureaucratic agencies from using the term “OTA” in reporting their spending to the Government Accountability Office. 

FORMER SPECIAL COUNSEL TESTIFIES ‘I DID NOT EXONERATE’ BIDEN

OTA’s are defined as “legally binding agreements other than standard contracts and grants that allow for flexible arrangements,” according to the GAO. 

According to the latest data, the current U.S. national debt stands at roughly $34.4 trillion and is increasing by about $1 trillion every 100-day period. 

The legislation would insert the phrase “other transaction agreement” into the list of terms considered “federal awards,” thus requiring various disclosures about the transaction such as the entities involved and the amounts. 

REPUBLICANS EXPOSE ‘WOKE’ ITEMS HIDDEN WITHIN BIDEN’S MASSIVE $7.3 TRILLION BUDGET

Ernst’s new measure geared toward increasing government spending transparency comes during 2024’s Sunshine Week, which celebrates and recognizes the importance of openness in government and the dangers of excessive confidentiality. National Freedom of Information Day falls on March 16. 

In a statement to Fox News Digital, Ernst described it as “disappointing” to need to address this issue during Sunshine Week. 

“Once again, Biden is hiding billions by not disclosing the details about the dollars his deputies are doling out using loosely defined deals referred to as ‘other transaction agreements,’ or OTAs,” she explained. 

GUN RIGHTS GROUPS ASK SUPREME COURT TO STRIKE DOWN STATE’S ‘ASSAULT WEAPONS’ BAN

These agreements amount to “sweetheart deals,” the Iowa senator said. 

In fiscal years 2020-2022, the GAO found that more than $40 billion was reported by agencies under the term’s umbrella. The office further noted that about $10 billion was seemingly related to the COVID-19 pandemic, but that the expenditures weren’t reported to the GAO as such. It also detailed that agencies appeared to use different strategies in reporting transactions as OTAs. Per the GAO, “Policymakers and the public will continue to lack complete spending information and transparency of OTAs,” until they are considered federal rewards and held to that reporting standard. 

FDNY UNION BOSS BREAKS SILENCE ON STAFF CHEERING TRUMP, BOOING LETITIA JAMES

Ernst slammed the Treasury Department, in her statement to Fox News Digital for suggesting that OTA spending should not be reported to USASpending.gov because it isn’t currently defined as a federal award. 

She cited the Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act of 2006, noting that it states “federal financial assistance and expenditures” totaling more than $25,000 should be reported. 

SENATE REPUBLICANS DEMAND DOCS, INFO ON ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT CHARGED WITH LAKEN RILEY’S MURDER

“Seems pretty clear to me!” Ernst said. 

Because of this, she said she plans to give the department her monthly “Squeal Award.” The purpose of the recognition is to identify and call out “wasteful” expenses. 

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President Joe Biden’s fiscal year 2025 budget, which was released Monday, includes borrowing $16.3 trillion. According to the White House, the amount would be partially offset by taxes raised on corporations and the nation’s highest earners. The Biden administration has said his budget proposal would actually lower the national deficit by $3 trillion over 10 years. 

Former President Donald Trump heads to Ohio on Saturday to support the Republican Senate candidate he’s endorsed in the state’s increasingly contentious GOP primary.

The former president – who is expected to sweep Tuesday’s four Republican presidential primaries and caucuses and formally become his party’s 2024 presumptive nominee – on Saturday will headline a rally in Dayton, Ohio, for businessman Bernie Moreno. 

Trump’s trip will come three days before the March 19 primary. The rally was announced Monday night by a pro-Moreno group titled Buckeye Values PAC.

The move came hours after state Sen. Matt Dolan – one of the two other major contenders, along with Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose, in the Senate primary – was endorsed by two-term Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine, a former longtime U.S. senator and state attorney general.

SIX KEY SENATE SEATS REPUBLICANS AIM TO FLIP IN NOVEMBER 

Late last week, Dolan – a former top county prosecutor and Ohio assistant attorney general whose family owns Major League Baseball’s Cleveland Guardians – also landed the backing of former Sen. Rob Portman. DeWine and Portman are considered top members of Ohio’s Republican old guard or establishment.

LOCKING IT UP: TRUMP, BIDEN, EXPECTED TO CLINCH PRESIDENTIAL NOMINATIONS TUESDAY

“Matt Dolan has a vision for the future. He listens. He fights. And, he knows how to get results for Ohio,” DeWine said in endorsing Dolan.

Dolan, who along with Moreno is making his second straight bid for the Senate in Ohio, has highlighted that he’s a supporter of Trump’s policies but not the former president’s personality.

Moreno, an immigrant who arrived in the U.S. legally from Colombia who later became a successful Cleveland-based businessman and luxury auto dealership giant, was endorsed by Trump in December.

Trump’s endorsement of now-Sen. JD Vance just ahead of the 2022 Ohio GOP Senate primary helped boost Vance to victory. Vance last year backed Moreno, which was seen as a prelude to the eventual Trump endorsement.

Andy Surabian, a senior Moreno campaign adviser who’s close to Trump’s political orbit, emphasized in a social media post that “the Ohio Senate race is officially Team America First vs Team RINO.”

RINO is a term used to insult some in the GOP as “Republicans in name only.”

There’s been a dearth of public polling in the Republican Senate primary and the three major campaigns are treating the race as a dead heat ahead of next week’s primary. Millions have been spent by the campaigns and aligned super PACs to flood the airwaves with negative attack ads.

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The winner of the GOP primary will face off in November against longtime Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown.

Brown, who is the only Democrat to win statewide in Ohio over the past decade, is being heavily targeted by Republicans in a state that was once a premiere battleground before shifting red.

Democrats currently control the U.S. Senate with a 51-49 majority, but Republicans are looking at a very favorable Senate map in 2024, with Democrats defending 23 of the 34 seats up for grabs. Three of those seats are in red states that Trump carried in 2020: Ohio, Montana and West Virginia, where Democrat Sen. Joe Manchin is not running for re-election.

Five others seats are in key swing states narrowly carried by President Biden in 2020: Arizona, Michigan, Nevada, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.

As Trump locks up the GOP presidential nomination, he’s once again exerting increasing control over the Republican Party. 

On Friday, a top Trump ally and the former president’s daughter-in-law were installed as chair and co-chair of the Republican National Committee. On Monday, the new regime at the RNC pushed roughly 60 current staffers out the door.

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

Ex-Special Counsel Robert Hur testified Tuesday that President Biden “willfully retained classified materials,” but said he “had to consider” the president’s “memory and overall mental state” when determining whether to bring charges against him.

Hur, who testified publicly before the House Judiciary and Oversight Committees Tuesday, explained that he did not bring charges against the president despite the willful retention of classified records about military and foreign policy in Afghanistan and other countries, among other records related to national security and foreign policy, which Hur said implicated “sensitive intelligence sources and methods.”

BIDEN RETAINED RECORDS RELATED TO UKRAINE, CHINA; COMER DEMANDS ‘UNFETTERED ACCESS’ AMID IMPEACHMENT INQUIRY

“My team and I conducted a thorough, independent investigation,” Hur testified. “We identified evidence that the President willfully retained classified materials after the end of his vice presidency, when he was a private citizen.” 

“This evidence included an audiorecorded conversation during which Mr. Biden told his ghostwriter that he had ‘just found all the classified stuff downstairs.’ When Mr. Biden said this, he was a private citizen speaking to his ghostwriter in his private rental home in Virginia,” Hur continued. “We also identified other recorded conversations during which Mr. Biden read classified information aloud to his ghostwriter.”

He added, though, that “we did not, however, identify evidence that rose to the level of proof beyond a reasonable doubt. Because the evidence fell short of that standard, I declined to recommend criminal charges against Mr. Biden.” 

But Hur said he “needed to explain why” he declined prosecution. 

“I had to consider the president’s memory and overall mental state, and how a jury likely would perceive his memory and mental state in a criminal trial,” Hur testified. “These are the types of issues prosecutors analyze every day. And because these issues were important to my ultimate decision, I had to include a discussion of them in my report to the attorney general.”

SPECIAL COUNSEL CALLS BIDEN ‘SYMPATHETIC, WELL-MEANING, ELDERLY MAN WITH A POOR MEMORY,’ BRINGS NO CHARGES

Hur, in his report, described Biden as a “sympathetic, well-meaning elderly man with a poor memory” — a description that has raised significant concerns for Biden’s 2024 re-election campaign.

“The evidence and the President himself put his memory squarely at issue. We interviewed the President and asked him about his recorded statement, ‘I just found all the classified stuff downstairs.’ He told us that he didn’t remember saying that to his ghostwriter,” Hur said. “He also said he didn’t remember finding any classified material in his home after his vice presidency. And he didn’t remember anything about how classified documents about Afghanistan made their way into his garage.” 

Hur defended himself, though, saying his assessment in the report “about the relevance of the President’s memory was necessary and accurate and fair.” 

“Most importantly, what I wrote is what I believe the evidence shows, and what I expect jurors would perceive and believe. I did not sanitize my explanation. Nor did I disparage the President unfairly,” Hur testified. “I explained to the Attorney General my decision and the reasons for it. That’s what I was required to do.” 

Hur’s opening statement came after House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan began the hearing by playing a video of Biden speaking about the former special counsel’s report the day it was released. 

“Mr. Hur produced a 345-page report. But in the end, it boils down to a few key facts. Joe Biden kept classified information,” Jordan said. “Joe Biden failed to properly secure classified information. And Joe Biden shared classified information with people he wasn’t supposed to. 

“We’re going to play a short video of President Biden’s press conference after your report was released,” Jordan added. “Because there’s things in this press conference that the United States says that are directly contradicted by what you found in your report.” 

A transcript of President Biden’s interviews with Robert Hur appears to contradict Biden’s claim that the former Special Counsel had asked him about the date of Beau Biden’s death. 

BIDEN FUZZY ON DATES, FUMBLED DETAILS IN INTERVIEWS WITH SPECIAL COUNSEL HUR

But Ranking Member Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., blasted former President Trump — who was charged by Special Counsel Jack Smith related to his alleged mishandling of classified records. Trump pleaded not guilty. 

The former president and presumptive 2024 GOP nominee posted on Truth Social before Hur’s testimony, saying the Justice Department gave Biden a “free pass.” 

“Big day in Congress for the Biden Documents Hoax,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social account. “He had many times more documents, including classified documents, than I, or any other president, had. He had them all over the place, with ZERO supervision or security. He does NOT come under the Presidential Records Act, I DO.”

“The DOJ gave Biden, and virtually every other person and President, a free pass. Me, I’m still fighting!!!” Trump added.

Trump, on the other hand, was charged out of Special Counsel Jack Smith’s investigation related to his retention of classified materials. Trump pleaded not guilty to all 37 felony charges out of Smith’s probe. The charges include willful retention of national defense information, conspiracy to obstruct justice and false statements. 

Nadler played a video of clips of Trump speaking, putting into question his “mental state.” 

“That is a man who is incapable of avoiding criminal liability. A man who is wholly unfit for office… a man who, at the very least ought to think twice before accusing others of cognitive decline,” Nadler said of Trump, adding that Hur’s report “represents the complete and total exoneration of President Biden.” 

Meanwhile, House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., in his opening statement reminded that his panel has subpoenaed ex-White House counsel Dana Remus, and tied Hur’s testimony into the larger House impeachment inquiry against the president. 

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Comer, for months, has been demanding answers on whether the classified records Biden improperly retained were related to countries that his family did business with. 

House Oversight Committee Ranking Member Jamie Raskin, D-Md., though, piggy-backed Nadler’s opening statement, bringing the conversation back to Donald Trump. 

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates. 

FIRST ON FOX — A gun rights group representing over 2 million members and activists has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to decide whether Illinois’ strict rifle ban is constitutional.

Gun Owners of America (GOA) and its sister organization, the Gun Owners Foundation, on Monday filed a petition for certiorari with the Supreme Court in their challenge to the Protect Illinois Communities Act (PICA). The groups, representing Illinois gun owners, argue the law imposes an unconstitutional, sweeping ban on hundreds of commonly owned and lawfully used rifles and ammunition magazines. 

“GOA has been at the forefront of this challenge since before the bans even took effect, and while our goal was never to have to end up before the Supreme Court, we were fully prepared to do so,” said Erich Pratt, senior vice president of Gun Owners of America. 

“We urge the Justices to hear the pleas of millions of Americans in Illinois and several other states nationwide who cannot purchase many of the commonly owned semiautomatic firearms available today because of the unconstitutional laws passed by anti-gun politicians,” Pratt said. 

ILLINOIS GUN GROUPS REPORT CONFUSION, ‘CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE’ AFTER DEADLINE PASSES TO REGISTER ‘ASSAULT’ WEAPONS

The strict gun control law, signed by Democratic Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker last year, carries penalties for anyone who, “Carries or possesses… Manufactures, sells, delivers, imports, or purchases any assault weapon or .50 caliber rifle.”  

Those who legally possess a banned weapon under the law must register it with the Illinois State Police.

The law also includes statutory penalties for anyone who “sells, manufactures, delivers, imports, possesses, or purchases any assault weapon attachment or .50 caliber cartridge.”

Any kit or tools that are used to increase the fire rate of a semiautomatic weapon are also banned, and the legislation includes a limit for purchases of certain magazines.

ILLINOIS ENACTS 320 NEW STATE LAWS, INCLUDING BAN ON SEMI-AUTOMATIC WEAPONS AND INDOOR VAPING

A federal judge in the Southern District of Illinois had initially ruled in favor of the plaintiffs, finding PICA did not respect the Second Amendment rights of Illinois residents. District Judge Stephen Patrick McGlynn, a Trump appointee, blocked the state from enforcing the “assault weapons” ban, finding it not only restricted the right to self-defense, but in some cases, “completely obliterated that right by criminalizing the purchase and the sale of more than 190 ‘arms.’” 

But the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals overturned McGlynn’s ruling on May 5, 2023, and permitted the law to take effect on Jan. 10, 2024. 

Law-abiding gun owners faced a Jan. 1 deadline to register their so-called assault weapons with the state police. However, Illinois Second Amendment groups reported mass confusion from gun owners and large rates of noncompliance. 

ILLINOIS ASSAULT WEAPONS BAN BACK IN EFFECT AS COURTS PLAY PING PONG WITH GUN CONTROL

Of the over 2.4 million Firearm Owner Identification (FOID) cardholders, there have only been 112,350 disclosures filed as of Dec. 31, 2023, according to state police data. Another 29,357 disclosures were in the process of being completed as of Jan. 6.

Gun rights activists previously told Fox News Digital that apparent high rates of noncompliance came from a mix of ignorance of what the law requires and civil disobedience.

Now, they hope the Supreme Court will weigh in on their side. 

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“JB Pritzker and his colleagues in the Illinois General Assembly openly defied the Supreme Court and the Constitution when they passed their ‘emergency’ bill to ban so-called ‘assault weapons,'” said Sam Paredes, a board member of the Gun Owners Foundation.

“We are optimistic the justices will choose to hear the case and make clear once and for all that ‘assault weapons’ bans on tens of millions of commonly owned rifles are wholly out of line with the Second Amendment.”  

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

Mississippians head to the polls with party primaries for all four of the state’s U.S. House seats and one U.S. Senate seat.

Polls are open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. CDT Tuesday. If runoff elections are needed, they will be held April 2. The general election is Nov. 5.

Here’s a look at the candidates who are vying for the nominations.

MISSISSIPPI CITY, POLICE DEPARTMENT UNLAWFULLY JAILING PEOPLE OVER UNPAID FEES THEY CAN’T AFFORD: DOJ

HOUSE DISTRICT 1

Rep. Trent Kelly is unopposed for the Republican nomination in north Mississippi’s 1st Congressional District. He is a former district attorney and has been in the House since winning a 2015 special election. Kelly is a member of the House Armed Services Committee.

Dianne Dodson Black and Bronco Williams are competing in the Democratic primary.

Black is a business owner and was the Democratic nominee in the 1st District in 2022. She says she wants to support President Joe Biden’s economic policies, restore abortion rights and limit access to semi-automatic rifles.

Williams, a theater and Spanish teacher, says he wants the U.S. to invest in alternative energy sources, improve transportation and increase access to health care.

HOUSE DISTRICT 2

Rep. Bennie Thompson is unopposed for the Democratic nomination in the 2nd Congressional District, which encompasses most of the city of Jackson and rural areas in the Delta and along the Mississippi River. Thompson has been in the House since he won a 1993 special election. He is the ranking Democrat on the House Homeland Security Committee.

The three candidates in the Republican primary are Ron Eller, Andrew Scott Smith and Taylor Turcotte.

Eller is a military veteran and physician assistant who ran unsuccessfully for the Republican nomination in the 2nd District in 2022. He says he supports construction of a U.S.-Mexico border wall and expansion of domestic energy production.

Smith has worked in farming and commercial real estate. He says he wants to rejuvenate agriculture, rebuild infrastructure, reinforce the southern U.S. border and require more transparency in government.

Turcotte has worked in advertising and as a regional sales manager for a vacuum cleaner company. She says she is running because she wants to secure the U.S. borders.

HOUSE DISTRICT 3

Republican Rep. Michael Guest is unopposed in the primary and the general election in central Mississippi’s 3rd Congressional District. Guest is a former district attorney who was first elected to the U.S. House in 2018. He is chairman of the House Ethics Committee and vice chairman of the Homeland Security Committee.

HOUSE DISTRICT 4

Rep. Mike Ezell faces two challengers in the Republican primary in south Mississippi’s 4th Congressional District.

Ezell is a former sheriff and was first elected to the House in 2022. He has voted to impeach Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas and to end U.S. military assistance to Ukraine. Former President Donald Trump endorsed him this year.

Carl Boyanton and Michael McGill are challenging Ezell in the Republican primary.

Boyanton has owned a produce distribution company. He ran unsuccessfully for the Republican nomination for the 4th District U.S. House seat in 2020 and 2022. He says he wants to enact term limits, eliminate some federal agencies and limit government spending.

McGill is a military veteran. He says he wants to improve power grids, highways and other infrastructure, increase funding for mental health services and eliminate pay disparities between women and men.

Craig Elliot Raybon is unopposed for the Democratic nomination in the 4th District.

SENATE

Sen. Roger Wicker faces two challengers in the Republican primary — Ghannon Burton and Dan Eubanks.

Wicker was appointed to the Senate in 2017 by then-Gov. Haley Barbour after fellow Republican Trent Lott stepped down. Wicker is an attorney and served in the Mississippi state Senate before winning a U.S. House seat in north Mississippi in 1994. He is the ranking member of the Armed Services Committee and has pushed to expand shipbuilding for the U.S. military. He has been endorsed by Trump.

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Burton is a military veteran. He says he believes the 2020 presidential election was rigged, and he criticizes Wicker for voting to certify the results. Burton says he wants to close the U.S. border but he believes “globalists want it open.” Burton says he believes COVID-19 vaccines are poison.

Eubanks is a state representative and a Presbyterian pastor. He says he believes “J-6ers” — people charged in the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol — have been denied due process and are “rotting away in jail.” Eubanks says he wants to reduce federal spending and he believes Wicker’s record is “anything but conservative.”

Ty Pinkins is unopposed for the Democratic nomination. He is an attorney and ran unsuccessfully for Mississippi secretary of state in 2023. He says he wants to fight poverty and improve access to health care.