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The New York City Fire Department (FDNY) issued a scolding to firefighters it says brought “discredit” to the department after booing New York Attorney General Letitia James and cheering for former President Trump at a promotion ceremony last week, warning those who took part to protest on their own time, according to a report.

The department handed out a memo at firehouses across New York City on Sunday that said the FDNY’s Bureau of Investigations and Trials (BITS) is combing through video to identify those who took part in the behavior, the New York Post reported.

Firefighters “should understand that BITS is gathering video and identifying members that brought discredit … to the department,” read the memo obtained by the Post. “We want the members to come forward. They will come to HQ to be educated [on] why their behavior is unacceptable.”

The memo also advised firefighters not to express their political views while on duty.

FDNY ‘LOOKING INTO’ STAFF WHO BOOED NY AG LETITIA JAMES, CHEERED FOR TRUMP AT CEREMONY

“When you’re not on duty, feel however you want about politicians,” the memo said. “Vote. Protest. That’s your right. But don’t do it on the job’s time, on other members’ time, or on their families’ time. Do it on your own time.”

Fox News Digital reached out to FDNY for comment, but they did not immediately respond.

The controversy began after booing erupted as James walked up to the podium to honor the swearing-in of the first Black female chaplain of the FDNY, the Rev. Pamela Holmes, as well as other first responders at a promotion ceremony on Thursday at the Christian Cultural Center in Brooklyn.

“Oh, c’mon, we’re in a house of God. Simmer down,” James told the rowdy crowd. “Thank you for getting it out of your system.” 

As James continued her remarks, the crowd repeatedly chanted “Trump!”

NEW YORK OFFICIAL FIRES BACK AT STATE AG AMID FIGHT OVER TRANS ATHLETE LAW: ‘THIS IS NOT TRANSPHOBIC’

James led the civil fraud case against Trump in New York City that resulted in Judge Arthur Engoron finding Trump liable for more than $350 million in damages and barring him from operating his business in New York for three years.

The department also claimed in the memo that it is at risk of losing the cultural center as a venue after the incident hurt its reputation with the host.

Meanwhile, FDNY spokesman Jim Long told Fox News Digital in an email on Sunday morning that the department’s investigation was “about professionalism at an official event,” and “has nothing to do with politics.”

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“Nobody is hunting anyone down,” Long said. “We’re looking into those who clearly broke department regulations.”

The Jan. 6 congressional committee allegedly falsely claimed it did not have evidence showing former President Donald Trump’s administration requested National Guard assistance, according to a report detailing a “hidden transcript” that was recently released. 

“The former J6 Select Committee apparently withheld Mr. Ornato’s critical witness testimony from the American people because it contradicted their pre-determined narrative. Mr. Ornato’s testimony proves what Mr. Meadows has said all along: President Trump did in fact offer 10,000 National Guard troops to secure the U.S. Capitol, which was turned down,” Georgia Republican Rep. Barry Loudermilk said in a statement on Friday. 

Loudermilk released a transcript of former White House deputy chief of staff Anthony Ornato’s interview with the congressional committee investigating Jan. 6 on Friday, following the Federalist’s Mollie Hemingway, also a Fox News contributor, reporting, “Former Rep. Liz Cheney’s January 6 Committee suppressed evidence” that the Trump administration pushed for 10,000 National Guard members to be on the streets. 

Ornato’s interview was conducted in January 2022, and attended by Cheney, among other members on the committee. In addition to serving as deputy chief of staff under Trump, Ornato served in the Secret Service for decades. 

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

The committee, which included seven Democrats and two now-former Republican Congress members, Cheney and Adam Kinzinger, concluded that it found “no evidence” that the Trump administration called for 10,000 National Guard members to Washington, D.C., to protect the Capitol. 

Trump has long claimed that he requested the National Guard but that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., failed to act on the request. Amid and following the congressional committee’s investigation, media outlets such as the Washington Post “debunked” Trump’s comments, repeatedly awarding him “Four Pinocchios.”

HOUSE JAN. 6 COMMITTEE DELETED MORE THAN 100 ENCRYPTED FILES DAYS BEFORE GOP TOOK MAJORITY: SOURCES

Loudermilk on Friday released a transcript of Ornato’s interview with the committee detailing that he overheard then-White House Chief of staff Mark Meadows asking D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser to request as much protection for D.C. as she needed. 

“When it comes to the National Guard statement about having 10,000 troops or any other number of troops, do you recall any discussion prior to the 6th about whether and how many National Guard troops to deploy on January 6th?” a staffer with the committee asked Ornato. 

“I remember he had – he was on the phone with [Bowser], and we – I had walked in for something, and I was there, and he was on the phone with her and wanted to make sure she had everything that she needed. Because I think it was the concern of anti and pro groups clashing is what I recall. And not anywhere near the Capitol, this was just out on the mall area or at the event; and wanted to know if she needed any more guardsmen,” Ornato responded, according to the transcript reviewed by Fox News Digital. 

Ornato went on to cite the “10,000” guardsmen number, according to the transcript, arguing Trump wanted “to make sure that you have enough.”

“And I remember the number 10,000 coming up of, you know, the President wants to make sure that you have enough. You know, he is willing to ask for 10,000. I remember that number. Now that you said it, it reminded me of it. And that she was all set. She had, I think it was like 350 or so for intersection control and those types of thing not in the law enforcement capacity at the time. And then that’s the only thing I recall with that number 10,000 National Guard guardsmen,” he continued. 

HOUSE INVESTIGATION INTO ‘WHAT REALLY HAPPENED ON JANUARY 6’ ENTERING ‘NEW PHASE’ WITH SPEAKER JOHNSON SUPPORT

Bowser ultimately asked for just over 300 National Guard members, who she requested would not be armed and only work to assist the local police department. 

Ornato said in his interview with the committee that after Bowser refused additional National Guard members, the White House requested the Defense Department have a “quick reaction force” on hand. 

“The only thing I remember with DOD and the National Guard was even though the mayor didn’t want any more National Guard in D.C., that a request was made to have kind of a, lack of better term, a quick reaction force out at Joint Base Andrews being that it was a military installation,” Ornato said in his interview, according to the transcript. 

“I remember Chief Meadows talking to DOD about that, I believe. I remember Chief Meadows letting me know that, ‘Hey, there was going to be National Guard that’s going to be at Joint Base Andrews in case they’re going to need some more, we’re going to – the Mayor would need any, we’re going to make sure they’re out there.'”

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Cheney’s spokesman Jeremy Adler told Fox News Digital on Sunday morning 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. 

“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,” he added, providing links to summarized Secret Service transcripts. 

Cheney also took to X this weekend and referred to the report as “BS” while responding to a tweet posted by Mark Levin. 

Levin responded to Cheney on X, saying: “I wrote it, moron. You’re a pathetic disgrace and demagogue. And have exposed yourself for all time. Funny how you avoid public debates with your detractors, including me. Coward. You should consider professional help.”

Meadows was reportedly worried about the crowd size ahead of Jan. 6, including from left-wing protesters, according to the Federalist’s report, which pointed to Ornato’s transcript detailing members of the Trump administration wanted to ensure there were enough troops on the streets. 

“And, again, the crowd sizes were, you know, the organizers were saying, you know, there may be 50,000 here. So that’s where it started, I think, to scare the chief a little bit of how many people were coming in for this event, and wanted to make sure that they would be able to bring in National Guard if needed for this size of this many people inside D.C.,” Ornato said.

When supporters of former President Trump ultimately breached the Capitol, Ornato said in his interview that the White House called on acting Secretary of Defense Christopher Miller to deploy assistance. 

“So then I remember the chief saying, ‘Hey, I’m calling secretary of defense to get that [quick reaction force] in here,'” Ornato said. 

“[T]he constant was, you know, where is the National Guard? Why isn’t – you know, we’ve got to get control of this,” Ornato added.

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“But, you know, [Meadows] understood the urgency, that’s for sure. And he kept, you know, getting Miller on the phone, wanting to know where they were, why aren’t they there yet,” he later added. 

Hemingway detailed in her report that Ornato’s testimony matched what former Trump administration aide Kash Patel said during testimony amid Colorado’s failed efforts to boot Trump from the ballot over claims his 2024 presidential run violates the 14th Amendment. 

“Mayor Bowser wrote a letter herself on approximately Jan. 4.… declining further requests for National Guard services outside of the 346 National Guardsmen already authorized,” Patel said late last year in testimony. 

“The authorization came in beforehand. It was relayed to the appropriate officials in D.C. and the Capitol Police. It was declined, and we acted when their request finally came in on January 6,” he continued.

The judge in the Colorado case determined Patel was not a credible witness. 

Mark Hemingway, senior writer at Real Clear Investigations, also responded to Cheney’s tweet to Levin this weekend, saying Cheney was using “disingenuous circular logic” by citing Patel is not being a credible witness. 

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

Last year, a group of Colorado voters brought a lawsuit arguing Trump should be deemed ineligible from holding political office under a Civil War-era insurrection clause and that his name should thus be barred from appearing on the 2024 ballot. The group said Trump’s actions on Jan. 6, 2021, when supporters breached the U.S. Capitol, violated a clause in the 14th Amendment that prevents officers of the United States, members of Congress or state legislatures who “engaged in insurrection or rebellion” against the Constitution from holding political office.

The case was appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court, which unanimously ruled in Trump’s favor, allowing him to remain on the Colorado ballot and squelching other states’ efforts to remove the former president from their ballots. 

Ornato said the Trump White House on Jan. 6 continually asked, “What’s taking so long?” to deploy assistance to the city, but the rollout was allegedly riddled with hangups. 

“Every time [Meadows] would ask, ‘What’s taking so long?’ It would be, like, you know, ‘This isn’t just start the car and we’re there. We have to muster them up, we have to’ – so it was constant excuses coming of – not excuses, but what they were actually doing to get them there,” he said. “So, you know, ‘We only have so many here right now. They’re given an hour to get ready.’ So there’s, like, all these timelines that was being explained to the chief. And he relayed that, like, you know – he’s like, ‘I don’t care, just get them here,’ you know, and ‘Get them to the Capitol, not to the White House.'”

The Jan. 6 report detailed that Gen. Mark Milley said Vice President Mike Pence had called acting Secretary Miller at least two times calling for National Guard presence, while Meadows had allegedly called to “kill the narrative that the Vice President is making all the decisions.”

“In contrast, according to General Milley, Chief of Staff Meadows called and said, ‘We have to kill the narrative that the Vice President is making all the decisions. We need to establish the narrative, you know, that the President is still in charge and that things are steady or stable,’ or words to that effect. I immediately interpreted that as politics, politics, politics,’” the report states. 

The report states Trump did not personally make a call. 

Just days before Jan. 6, 2021, an op-ed penned by former defense secretaries, including Liz Cheney’s father Dick Cheney, argued against involving the military in election disputes. Hemingway cited a report in her piece that Liz Cheney “organized” the op-ed and had allegedly “‘secretly orchestrated’ a pressure campaign to prevent the Defense Department from deploying resources on January 6, 2021.”

Trump has meanwhile previously claimed that Cheney “deleted” evidence that his administration wanted a greater presence of National Guard members. 

“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. 

The committee’s final report determined that Trump “never gave any order to deploy the National Guard.” 

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

“President Trump had authority and responsibility to direct deployment of the National Guard in the District of Columbia, but never gave any order to deploy the National Guard on January 6th or on any other day. Nor did he instruct any Federal law enforcement agency to assist. Because the authority to deploy the National Guard had been delegated to the Department of Defense, the Secretary of Defense could, and ultimately did deploy the Guard,” the report states. 

In his Friday statement and transcript release, Loudermilk claimed the committee “hid” Ornato’s testimony. Loudermilk is chairman of the House Administration’s Subcommittee on Oversight, which is looking into the Jan. 6 committee’s handling of the investigation. 

“This is just one example of important information the former Select Committee hid from the public because it contradicted what they wanted the American people to believe. And, this is exactly why my investigation is committed to uncovering all the facts, no matter the outcome,” Loudermilk said in his statement. 

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Fox News Digital reached out to Bowser, Loudermilk and the Trump campaign for additional comment on the matter, but did not immediately receive responses.

Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., is asking President Biden and his administration to clarify their stance on Hamas, following Biden’s State of the Union address. 

In a conversation with NBC’s Kristen Welker on “Meet the Press” that aired Sunday, Graham pointed to a line in the speech when Biden said about Hamas, “If you release the hostages, the war will be over.”

“I literally about fell out of my seat,” Graham said. “Is the president saying that if the hostages are released by Hamas, they can stay in power? That ends the conflict?” Graham noted that former President Trump, who will likely be Biden’s opponent in November’s election, “believes it’s non-negotiable when it comes to Hamas: they have to be destroyed militarily, they can’t be in charge.”

“I’m challenging the Biden administration today to clear this up,” Graham said. “You cannot allow Hamas to stay in power. You can’t allow them to have six brigades to do October 7th again.”

VOTERS DON’T CARE ABOUT THE STATE OF THE UNION AS MUCH AS THE MEDIA DOES: KEVIN CORKE

Welker said Biden has stated in the past that he stands behind this position as well.

Graham also criticized Biden for “missing the boat” by focusing on what Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu should be doing, and not Hamas or their backer Iran. 

“Israel is not killing American soldiers,” Graham said. “Iran is through their proxies. So I would urge President Biden to hold the Great Satan, Iran, accountable for killing soldiers in Jordan and attacking shipping. So yeah, I think he’s got it backwards.”

HAMAS TERROR ATTACK EXPOSES AL JAZEERA FOR WHAT IT REALLY IS

Graham says the United States should be “all in and helping Israel” while not saying or doing anything that would “empower our enemy.”

President Biden on Saturday said the U.S. does not have a “red line” with Israel over its actions in the war with Hamas that would leave the Middle Eastern country unprotected. 

“I am never going to leave Israel,” the president told MSNBC’s Jonathan Capehart in a wide-ranging interview. “The defense of Israel is still critical. There’s no red line [where] I’m going to cut off all weapons, so they don’t have the Iron Dome to protect them.”

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Biden was clarifying a hot mic comment from Thursday night after delivering the State of the Union address in which he was caught saying he planned a “come-to-Jesus” talk with Netanyahu over his handling of the war. 

Fox News’ Brie Stimson contributed to this report. 

House Speaker Mike Johnson blasted President Biden as an “embarrassment” for seemingly apologizing to Laken Riley’s accused killer instead of to the slain student’s family. 

“The president is cowering to his base and showing deference to a man who deserves none. This man is an illegal immigrant who brutally murdered Laken Riley. President Biden should be apologizing to Laken’s family. What an embarrassment,” Johnson wrote on X on Sunday, responding to Biden’s interview with MSNBC’s Jonathan Capehart that aired Saturday.

At the urging of Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., Biden, during an off-script moment in his State of the Union address on Thursday, decried Riley’s killing by “an illegal.” The president later backtracked during his interview with Capehart, saying he should have instead used the word “undocumented” to describe Jose Ibarra, a Venezuelan national charged with murdering Riley, an Augusta University nursing student who was out for a run on the University of Georgia campus last month. 

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement confirmed that Ibarra illegally crossed the border near El Paso, Texas, and was released into the U.S. for further processing in September 2022. He was later arrested and released in New York City for allegedly endangering a child about a year later.

BIDEN TORCHED FOR CLAIMING ‘UNDOCUMENTED’ IMMIGRANTS ‘BUILT THIS COUNTRY’ AFTER SAYING SAME OF MIDDLE CLASS

The Athens-Clarke County Police Department confirmed Ibarra and his brother had been cited for shoplifting in Georgia in October 2023, months before Riley’s slaying. 

Ibarra is charged with the felonies of malice murder, murder, kidnapping, false imprisonment, aggravated assault, aggravated battery and concealing the death of another, as well as the misdemeanor of physically hindering a 911 call, according to the affidavit filed on Feb. 23. According to charging documents, Ibarra is accused of “disfiguring” Riley’s skull. 

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“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.”

Notably, former President Trump, the GOP presidential nomination front-runner, slammed Biden’s apology at a rally. Torching Biden for mixing Riley’s first name up with USC head football coach Lincoln Riley, Trump said Biden “went on television and apologized for calling Laken’s murderer an illegal,” drawing boos from the crowd. 

Trump, who spoke to Riley’s parents backstage at the rally, doubled down on his choice of language. 

“They have a new name that’s even worse. You know what the new name is? Neighbor,” Trump said. “A newcomer to our country … are we going crazy or what? Is this country going crazy? How about that one, ‘newcomer’ … no, he was an illegal. And I say he was an illegal alien. He was an illegal immigrant. He was an illegal migrant. And he shouldn’t have been in our country, and he never would have been under the Trump policy.”

Biden addressed Riley’s parents during the State of the Union address while also asking, “How many thousands of people are being killed by legals?”

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“To her parents, I say: My heart goes out to you. Having lost children myself, I understand,” he said. 

The FDNY pushed back on a report that it was “hunting” down firefighters and staffers who booed New York Attorney General Letitia James and shouted, “Trump! Trump! Trump!” during a promotion ceremony last week, saying that it is simply looking into those who broke department regulations.

“Nobody is hunting anyone down,” FDNY spokesman Jim Long told Fox News Digital in an email on Sunday morning. “We’re looking into those who clearly broke department regulations. It has nothing to do with politics. It’s about professionalism at an official event held in a house of worship.”

The New York Post first reported that FDNY Chief of Department John Hodgens wrote in an email to department brass that the FDNY’s Bureau of Investigation and Trials was investigating the incident and “will figure out who those members are.”

“I recommend they come forward. I have been told by the commissioner it will be better for them if they come forward and we don’t have to hunt them down,” Hodges said in the email obtained by the Post.

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The booing erupted as James walked up to the podium to honor the swearing-in of the first African American woman chaplain of the FDNY, the Rev. Pamela Holmes, as well as other first responders. 

“Oh, c’mon, we’re in a house of God. Simmer down,” James told the rowdy crowd. “Thank you for getting it out of your system.” 

As James continued her remarks, the crowd repeatedly chanted “Trump!”

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Following the ceremony, Hodgens admonished the rowdy behavior of the firefighters. 

“Today’s ceremony was about one thing: the accomplishments of the members being promoted,” he said. “The members whose behavior distracted from that celebration were an embarrassment and not befitting of the world’s best fire department.”

James led the months-long civil trial against Trump in New York City that alleged the former president had inflated his assets and committed fraud.

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Judge Arthur Engoron handed down his ruling last month, finding Trump liable for more than $350 million in damages and barring him from operating his business in New York for three years.

Fox News’ Bradford Betz contributed to this report.

President Biden received criticism online for claiming in a recent interview that “undocumented” immigrants built this country.

The statement came as he apologized for using the term “illegal” to describe Jose Ibarra, the Venezuelan national accused of killing Augusta University nursing student Laken Riley. The president drew backlash on social media for crediting illegal immigrants for having “built” the U.S. – something he had previously credited to the American middle class.

“In his SOTU speech he said unions and the middle class built this country, now he says ‘undocumented’ immigrants built the country. Any guess as to who he will say built the country the next time he’s speaking to an African-American audience?” journalist Jeff Gremillion wrote on X. 

Sitting down with MSNBC’s Jonathan Capehart for a wide-ranging interview that aired Saturday, Biden said he should not have used the term “illegal” for Ibarra, 26, who illegally crossed the border in Texas but was still released for parole into the U.S. before being charged with murdering Riley. 

Biden stressed to Capehart that he should have used the word “undocumented” – instead of “illegal” – when citing Riley’s accused murderer during an off-script moment at the State of the Union address last week.

BIDEN SAYS HE REGRETS USING ‘ILLEGAL’ TO DESCRIBE LAKEN RILEY MURDER SUSPECT DURING STATE OF THE UNION

“And I shouldn’t have used illegal, I should’ve… It’s undocumented,” Biden said. “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 reason our economy is growing, we have to control the border and more orderly flow.” 

During his State of the Union address, Biden – while acknowledging his endorsement by United Auto Workers President Shawn Fain – said, “Wall Street didn’t build America. They’re not bad guys. They didn’t build it, though. The middle class built the country, and unions built the middle class.” 

The juxtaposition also drew condemnation from another X user, who wrote, “Did president @JoeBiden just say the illegal’s, I mean undocumented immigrants built this country? The @WhiteHouse needs to explain this…. My great grand parents [were] born in this nation in slavery!”

LAKEN RILEY MURDER SUSPECT’S SECOND BROTHER WAS TWICE DEPORTED BEFORE SETTLING IN GEORGIA

Former President Trump, the presumptive GOP nominee, slammed Biden’s apology at a rally. Torching Biden for mixing Laken’s name up with USC head football coach, Lincoln Riley, Trump lamented that Biden “went on television and apologized for calling Laken’s murderer an illegal,” drawing boos from the crowd. 

“They have a new name that’s even worse. You know what the new name is? Neighbor,” Trump said. “A newcomer to our country… are we going crazy or what? Is this country going crazy? How about that one, newcomer… no, he was an illegal. And I say he was an illegal alien. He was an illegal immigrant. He was an illegal migrant. And he shouldn’t have been in our country, and he never would have been under the Trump policy.” 

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., who had challenged Biden during the State of the Union to say Riley’s name, also criticized Biden’s apology for the term “illegal.” 

“Disgusting. Joe Biden just apologized to the illegal alien animal who brutally murdered Laken Riley,” Greene wrote on X. 

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Trump met with Riley’s parents at his rally Saturday, the same day Biden’s interview apology aired. 

Comedian Dana Carvey recently pulled out a new impression of a bumbling President Biden flip-flopping on the border crisis with spot-on Biden-isms, a push-up challenge and nonsensical words.

Carvey delivered the impression during an episode of his podcast “Superfly” with fellow comedian David Spade, who tweeted a clip of the bit. The impression was two parts, beginning with Biden denying the crisis at the border shortly after he is elected, followed by the president recently acknowledging the crisis amid public outcry.

“I started with Biden, ’cause the border is all the rage now, everyone’s crazy for the border,” Carvey begins. “So I did Biden three years ago, he’s at a press conference, you know.”

Carvey says a member of the press asks the president how he’s going to handle the crisis at the border when Biden calmly responds, “First of all, let’s get our facts straight. There’s no crisis at the border. C’mon.”

FEDERAL COURT BLOCKS BIDEN ADMIN FROM DIVERTING FUNDS FROM BORDER WALL

Carvey continues: “And [the press goes], ‘How do you know, sir?’”

“Cause it says so on the piece of paper!” Carvey’s Biden replies as he holds up a sheet of paper. “Says it on the paper right there.”

“And then recently,” Carvey says, setting up the next part of the impression, “everyone wants to close the border. Everyone’s screaming and Biden’s up there, ‘I’ll close the border harder than anyone’s ever closed the border! ‘Cause I know how to close the border. C’mon Jack!’”

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As the press, Carvey replies, “But last time …”

“Get your facts straight! I’ll beat the hell outta ya,” Carvey’s now-fiery Biden responds before going into exaggerated Biden-isms. “Whattaya dog pace pony shoulder? C’mon! Let’s do some push-ups! I’ll close the border like nobody’s ever closed the border – the border patrol – the border – can’t believe it’s not butter!”

Both Spade and a producer off-screen can be heard laughing as Carvey ends the bit.

Biden used his first term to end many of the border and immigration policies of former President Trump’s administration, actions Republicans argue have led to the ongoing crisis at the southern border.

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A recent Monmouth poll showed Biden’s approval ratings slipping concerning his handling of immigration, while a recent Fox News poll shows that a majority of voters believe the situation at the southern border is at least a major problem, if not an emergency. 

Donald Trump is taking another step toward formally locking up the Republican presidential nomination. 

The Associated Press on Saturday projected that the former president would win the GOP nominating caucuses in American Samoa, a U.S. territory in the Pacific Ocean.

Trump on Wednesday became his party’s 2024 presumptive presidential nominee, after his last remaining rival in the primary race – former U.N. ambassador and former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley – suspended her campaign.

CLICK HERE FOR THE LATEST PRIMARY AND CAUCUS RESULTS

The former president won 14 of the 15 Republican nominating contests that were held on Super Tuesday, and heading into Friday’s contest, stood at 1,031 delegates to this summer’s Republican National Convention. 

Nine delegates are at stake in the American Samoa caucuses.

Trump is expected to reach the 1,215 delegates needed to clinch the Republican nomination on Tuesday, when four states – Georgia, Hawaii, Mississippi and Washington – hold GOP nominating contests.

The Republican National Convention is scheduled to begin on July 15, 2024, and wrap up on July 18, 2024. It will be held in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

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American Samoa held its Democratic presidential caucuses on Tuesday, and made plenty of news, as President Biden suffered his first defeat in his overall easy road to renomination.

Biden was edged by extreme long-shot candidate and entrepreneur Jason Palmer. 

The two candidates split the six Democratic delegates up for grabs.

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

A woman was arrested after allegedly tossing a red liquid onto Vice President Kamala Harris’ motorcade during a campaign visit to Phoenix.

Anasilvia Gomez-Zamora, 30, was taken into custody in connection with the incident, which happened at around 6 p.m. on Friday near 7th Street and Southern Avenue. 

She was charged with aggravated assault on a police officer, endangerment and resisting arrest.

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The woman was standing on a sidewalk near where the motorcade was driving when she threw a red liquid, according to Phoenix Police. The liquid landed on eight Phoenix Police officers on motorcycles.

“The motor officers were able to continue the motorcade as they progressed through their route. Other officers in the area were able to locate and arrest the woman responsible,” Sgt. Phil Krynsky told Fox 10.

Police said the liquid was determined to be non-hazardous.

VP KAMALA HARRIS DODGES QUESTION WHETHER SHE’D DEBATE TRUMP RUNNING MATE

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Gomez-Zamora was booked into jail in Maricopa County on Saturday but has since been released.

Harris was visiting Phoenix to campaign on her “Fight for Reproductive Freedoms” tour in support of abortion access for women in the U.S., her fourth trip to Arizona as vice president.

Republicans are gearing up for what could be an epic showdown for majority control of the Senate with several contentious elections around the country later this year.

Democrats control the U.S. Senate with a 51-49 majority, but Republicans are looking at a favorable Senate map in 2024, with Democrats defending 23 of the 34 seats up for grabs. Three of those seats are in red states former Donald Trump carried in 2020 — West Virginia, Montana and Ohio.

Five other seats, one of which is held by an independent, are in key swing states narrowly carried by President Biden in 2020 — Arizona, Michigan, Nevada, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.

Texas and Florida, where incumbents Ted Cruz and Rick Scott, respectively, are seeking re-election, appear to be the only potentially competitive GOP-held seats up for grabs next year.

‘TOUGHEST UPHILL CLIMB’: RACE FORECASTER REVEALS SHIFT TOWARD GOP IN TOP 2024 SENATE RACE

Ohio

Longtime Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown is the only member of his party to win a non-judicial, statewide election in Ohio in the past decade. As Brown runs in 2024 for a fourth six-year term representing Ohio, he is facing heavy targeting by Republicans in the state that was once a premier general election battleground but has shifted red over the past six years.

Trump carried Ohio by eight points in his 2016 presidential election victory and his 2020 re-election defeat. Last year, Trump’s handpicked Senate candidate in Ohio, Sen. JD Vance, topped longtime Democratic Rep. Tim Ryan by six points despite Ryan running what political experts considered a nearly flawless campaign.

Brown, who has served as a congressman, state lawmaker and Ohio secretary of state during his nearly half-century career in politics, has reportedly raked in $5.7 million in the first two months of 2024, giving his campaign $13.5 million on hand.

Two Republicans who ran unsuccessfully against Vance for the 2022 GOP Senate nomination in Ohio — state Sen. Matt Dolan and businessman Bernie Moreno — are in the race to oust Brown.

Dolan, a former top county prosecutor and Ohio assistant attorney general, launched his campaign in January 2023. Dolan, whose family owns Major League Baseball’s Cleveland Guardians, shelled out millions of his own money to run ads for his 2022 Senate bid.

He surged near the end of the primary race, finishing third in a crowded field of Republican contenders, winning nearly a quarter of the vote.

Moreno, a successful Cleveland-based businessman and luxury auto dealership magnate, declared his candidacy in April. An immigrant who arrived in the U.S. legally from Colombia with his family as a 5-year-old boy, Moreno also shelled out millions of his own money to run TV commercials to try and boost his first Senate bid. But he suspended his campaign in February 2022 after requesting and holding a private meeting with Trump.

In July, Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose joined the race, launching a much-anticipated Senate campaign. The state’s primary election is scheduled for March 19.

Montana

Democrats breathed a sigh of relief when Sen. Jon Tester of Montana announced earlier this year that he would seek re-election in 2024 in a state Trump carried by 16 points in the 2020 presidential election. The Democratic incumbent, who’s running unopposed, had hauled in a formidable $15 million in fundraising as of the end of 2023.

Tim Sheehy, a former Navy SEAL and Purple Heart recipient who notched more than 200 missions in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and elsewhere around the globe, launched a Republican Senate bid in late June.

Sheehy, the CEO of Bridger Aerospace, a Montana-based aerial firefighting and wildfire surveillance services company, enjoys the National Republican Senatorial Committee’s (NRSC) backing and received an endorsement from Trump last month.

Sheehy will face off against four other GOP hopefuls, including former Montana Secretary of State Brad Johnson, in the state’s June 4 primary election.

Rep. Matt Rosendale, a hard-right congressman, had initially launched a bid for the Senate seat before withdrawing from the race.

Following his withdrawal, Rosendale, who narrowly lost to Tester in the 2018 Senate election, said he would seek re-election in Montana’s 2nd Congressional District. That plan, however, was halted last week when Rosendale announced he was suspending his House campaign, citing “current attacks” against him.

West Virginia

With Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., not seeking re-election, the race for the Senate in West Virginia is looking brighter for Republicans as they seek to flip the seat from blue to red.

Last year, NRSC Chairman Sen. Steve Daines said, “We like our odds in West Virginia.”

Right now, the main action is in the Republican Senate primary, where popular Democrat-turned-Republican Gov. Jim Justice has the backing of the NRSC and Trump. Among Justice’s six Republican challengers, the leading rival for the GOP Senate nomination is GOP Rep. Alex Mooney, who represents the state’s 2nd Congressional District and has received support from the fiscally conservative Club for Growth.

The first Democrat to jump into the race following Manchin’s departure was 32-year-old Zachary Shrewsbury, a native West Virginian and Marine Corps veteran. Two other Democrats — Don Blankenship and Glenn Elliott — are also running.

Manchin announced in November he would not be seeking re-election to his post in the upper chamber, saying in a video posted to X he believes he “accomplished what I set out to do for West Virginia” during his tenure in the Senate. Manchin, who previously served as governor of the state, was first elected to the Senate to represent West Virginia in a 2010 special election.

The state’s primary election is slated to take place May 14.

Wisconsin

In Wisconsin, incumbent Sen. Tammy Baldwin, D-Wisc., is looking to retain her post in the upper chamber and clinch a third term in office.

Baldwin, who announced her candidacy in the race last April, has represented the Badger State in the Senate since 2013. She previously served in the Wisconsin State Assembly and represented the state’s 2nd Congressional District in the House from 1999 to 2013.

Running unopposed, Baldwin has received strong support from her party on a state and national level. However, Republicans are eager to make an attempt to win the seat this cycle.

GOP businessman and real estate mogul Eric Hovde launched his bid for the Senate in February and quickly became a target for Democrats as the party seeks to maintain control of the seat.

The Senate Majority PAC went up with a $2 million ad buy last week targeting Hovde as a “multi-millionaire California banker.” The ad attempted to portray Hovde as an “out-of-touch carpetbagger” whose interests don’t align with those of the Wisconsin constituency.

Recognizing the ad campaign, Mike Berg, the communications director for the NRSC, wrote on X: “How bad are @TammyBaldwin and @SenSchumer panicking about @EricHovde?”

Hovde previously ran in 2012 but lost in the GOP primary to former Gov. Tommy Thompson. Baldwin went on to win the general election that year.

Arizona

With Democrat-turned-independent Sen. Kyrsten Sinema’s announcement that she won’t seek re-election, the spotlight for the Senate race in the battleground state of Arizona has shifted to two prominent candidates — Rep. Ruben Gallego, a Democrat who represents the state’s 3rd Congressional District, and Republican Kari Lake, who previously made a run for governor of the state in 2022.

It was reported earlier this year that Gallego, the top Democrat seeking the Senate seat, had raised $3.3 million in the fourth quarter of 2023. Since launching his bid for the seat in January 2023, Gallego’s campaign reported raising $13 million earlier this year.

Lake, a former TV news anchor who has been endorsed by several leading Senate Republicans and Trump, instantly became the GOP frontrunner when she jumped into the race last October.

Politico reported in January that Lake had “raised $2 million in the roughly 11 weeks after she entered the race, but she quickly spent nearly half that haul,” leaving her with a “little over $1 million in the bank — and $308,000 in debt” to start 2024.

Prior to Lake entering the race, Mark Lamb, a Republican who serves as sheriff for Pinal County, filed paperwork to run for the seat last April. Seven other Republicans are also seeking their party’s nomination for the seat in the state’s July 30 primary election.

Pennsylvania

The Keystone State, a perennial general election battleground, will likely live up to its reputation once again in 2024 as it holds what will arguably be one of the most competitive and expensive Senate races in the country.

Sen. Bob Casey, a Democrat who served a decade as the state’s auditor general and then treasurer before first winning election to the Senate in 2006, is seeking a fourth six-year term in office.

Casey, who is not expected to face any serious Democratic primary challenge, is the son of a popular former governor.

Republicans appear united behind Dave McCormick, who is making his second straight Senate run. McCormick narrowly lost the state’s 2022 GOP Senate primary election to Dr. Mehmet Oz, who went on to lose in the general election to former Braddock Mayor John Fetterman.

McCormick, a former hedge fund executive, West Point graduate, Gulf War combat veteran and Treasury Department official in former President George W. Bush’s administration, was endorsed by the Pennsylvania GOP in late September, soon after he entered the race.

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Axios reported in January that McCormick had raised $5.4 million in his first quarter as a candidate. Casey’s campaign announced at the beginning of the year that it had raised more than $3.6 million in the fourth quarter of 2023.

McCormick had been courted by national and state Republicans to run, and his candidacy gives the GOP a high-profile candidate with the ability to finance his own race.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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

Dueling campaign appearances in Georgia Saturday and a high-profile murder that has become a symbol of the border problem provided a sharp contrast between President Joe Biden and his presumptive Republican challenger, former President Donald Trump.

The death of Laken Riley, a 22-year-old nursing student allegedly killed by an illegal migrant on the campus of University of Georgia, has become a rallying cry for Republicans, a tragedy that they say encompasses the Biden administration’s handling of the border crisis. While Biden botched her name in Thursday’s State of the Union speech, Trump on Saturday met with her family.

“I met her beautiful mother and family backstage,” Trump told rallygoers in Rome, Georgia on Saturday. “They said she was like the best. She was always the best to us. They admit that she was the best, and she was the first in her class. She was going to be the best nurse. She was the best nursing student. She was always the best. She was the brightest light in every room, they told me.”

He added, “She was the whole world to her parents and to her sister and just to the whole family.”

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

Trump said that he was “profoundly honored” to have Riley’s family and friends at the rally.

“They’re so incredible,” he continued. “The hearts of hundreds of thousands and indeed millions and millions of Americans and people worldwide, they’re shattered alongside of your beautiful hearts. We share your grief. We share your grief. Thank you, darling. Thank you. Thank you very much. We appreciate it.”

LAKEN RILEY’S MOTHER BLASTS BIDEN AS PATHETIC FOR GETTING DAUGHTER’S NAME WRONG DURING SOTU

In a viral picture, the former president is seen hugging Riley’s parents before the rally.

Riley’s stepfather, John Phillips, was seen wearing a bright red, “Make America Great Again” hat at the rally.

Meanwhile, Biden, who also held a campaign event Saturday, told MSNBC in a pre-recorded interview that he regrets using the term “illegal” during his State of the Union address to describe Riley’s suspected killer. The term “illegal immigrant” angers liberals who prefer to call people who enter the country illegally “undocumented.”

“I shouldn’t have used illegal, it’s undocumented,” he told MSNBC’s Jonathan Capehart.

“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,” Biden said. “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 reason our economy is growing, we have to control the border and more orderly flow. But I don’t share his view at all.”

When asked if he regrets his word choice, Biden replied “yes.” 

His remorse came after an off-the-prompter moment at his State of the Union address got him in hot water with some in his party.

Biden first mistakenly referred to Riley as “Lincoln Riley,” and then called her alleged killer an “illegal.”

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Biden initially defended his use of “illegal” before eventually retracting it during a conversation with Capehart.

Fox News Digital’s Brie Stimpson contributed to this report.

President Biden was interrupted at an Atlanta rally on Saturday by a pro-Palestinian protester who called him “genocide Joe.”

At the Pullman Yards rally in Georgia’s capital city, Biden was quickly interrupted shortly after he began his speech by a screaming protester.

“What are you going to do, genocide Joe,” the protester yelled. “Tens of thousands of Palestinians are dead.”

SOCIAL MEDIA ROILED AS BIDEN ADMITS TO OLD AGE IN BRAND NEW CAMPAIGN AD: ‘I’M NOT A YOUNG GUY’

Before Biden was able to deliver a response to the protester, rally-goers began chanting, “Four more years! Four more years!”

TRUMP-BIDEN: THE GREAT GRUDGE REMATCH

According to FOX 5, the protester was dragged out by Secret Service personnel.

After the crowd settled down, Biden said that he does not “resent his passion.”

“Look, I don’t resent his passion,” the president said about the protester. “There’s a lot of Palestinians who are being unfairly victimized.”

The protesters’ comments come after Biden came out in support of a two-state solution in his State of the Union Address on Thursday.

In his address, Biden asserted that “as we look to the future, the only real solution is a two-state solution.”

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“I say this as a lifelong supporter of Israel and the only American president to visit Israel in wartime,” he said.

“There is no other path that guarantees Israel’s security and democracy. There is no other path that guarantees Palestinians can live with peace and dignity. There is no other path that guarantees peace between Israel and all of its Arab neighbors, including Saudi Arabia,” Biden said.

Former President Donald Trump said he met with the family of Laken Riley backstage before speaking at a rally in Georgia on Saturday.

“I met her beautiful mother and family backstage,” Trump told the crowd in Rome. “They said she was like the best. She was always the best to us. They admit that she was the best, and she was the first in her class. She was going to be the best nurse. She was the best nursing student. She was always the best. She was the brightest light in every room, they told me.”

He added, “She was the whole world to her parents and to her sister and just to the whole family.” 

Riley, a 22-year-old nursing student in Georgia, was allegedly killed by a Venezuelan migrant in the country illegally while she was on a jog on Feb. 22. 

LAKEN RILEY’S MOTHER BLASTS BIDEN AS PATHETIC FOR GETTING DAUGHTER’S NAME WRONG DURING SOTU

Trump laid the blame for Riley’s death on President Biden. 

“Biden has implemented a formal policy that illegal aliens who intrude into the United States are granted immunity from deportation,” Trump said. “Thus, when this monster showed up at our border, he was set free immediately under the program. That crooked Joe created it.” 

He added that they were “profoundly honored” to have Riley’s family and friends at the rally. 

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“They’re so incredible,” he continued. “The hearts of hundreds of thousands and indeed millions and millions of Americans and people worldwide, they’re shattered alongside of your beautiful hearts. We share your grief. We share your grief. Thank you, darling. Thank you. Thank you very much. We appreciate it.”

Vice President Kamala Harris will not commit to debating former President Donald Trump’s eventual running mate.

Harris dodged the question of a vice-presidential debate during a Friday interview with NBC News.

“We just got through the State of the Union. And I’m just so excited about what we accomplished last night and our president,” Harris told NBC. 

KAMALA HARRIS DODGES WHEN ASKED WHETHER BIDEN WILL DEBATE TRUMP: ‘WE’LL GET TO THAT AT SOME POINT’

The vice-president’s evasion of the question is far from unique — the question of whether anyone in the White House will go toe-to-toe with the Trump campaign this fall has been a long-unanswered question.

The question of President Biden’s health and mental fitness has been a long-standing concern of both Republicans and Democrats. A presidential debate is traditionally seen as an opportunity to assess candidates’ ability to think on their feet and speak under pressure.

Harris similarly refused to give a straight answer on Friday when asked whether Biden would debate Trump himself before the 2024 election.

BIDEN BORDER VISIT UNDERSCORES KAMALA HARRIS’ SHRINKING ROLE IN HANDLING MIGRANT CRISIS

Trump, the 2024 GOP frontrunner and presumptive nominee, posted his offer to debate Biden on Wednesday afternoon — just hours after his final GOP challenger Nikki Haley suspended her campaign.

Referencing Trump’s challenge, ABC News correspondent Mary Bruce asked Harris whether Biden would commit to debating his likely rival.

Harris instead pivoted to a discussion of Thursday night’s State of the Union address and claimed that Biden had successfully portrayed himself as “passionate” and “principled.”

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“But given what you argue is at stake here, will you take the chance to show voters more of what they saw last night to take on Trump directly in debates?” Bruce pressed.

“We’ll get to that at some point, and we’ll deal with that,” Harris replied. “But the point is, right now, on this day after the State of the Union, I think the president laid down the facts for the American people in terms of what’s at stake. And I thought he did an extraordinary job.”

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

A federal court on Friday temporarily blocked the Biden administration from diverting $1.4 billion in funding appropriated by Congress away from border wall construction, one of a number of legal battles between Texas and the federal government.

The ruling stems from a January 2021 proclamation by President Joe Biden that terminated the Trump-era national emergency at the southern border, and ordered a pause on the construction of the border wall. The funds obligated to go to border wall funding in fiscal 2020 and 2021 appropriations were put on pause while agencies reviewed the matter.

“It shall be the policy of my administration that no more American taxpayer dollars be diverted to construct a border wall. I am also directing a careful review of all resources appropriated or redirected to construct a southern border wall,” Biden said.

MAYORKAS CITES ‘IMMEDIATE NEED’ TO WAIVE REGULATIONS, BUILD BORDER WALL IN TEXAS AS IMMIGRATION SURGES

In June of the same year, the Department of Homeland Security issued a plan canceling most border wall projects and would in 2022 amend the same plan to include remediation and the addition of barrier system upgrades such as lighting, cameras and detection.

Missouri and Texas sued, arguing that the reappropriation of funding was illegal and violated the separation of powers, also arguing also that the states will be harmed by more illegal immigration into their states and leading to more costs to them. Texas Land Commissioner George P. Bush also sued, and the two lawsuits eventually consolidated.

MAYORKAS CALLS POLICY TO LET 30K MIGRANTS FLY IN EACH MONTH A ‘KEY ELEMENT’ OF BORDER PLAN AFTER LEGAL WIN 

DHS argued that Texas had not established that the failure to build more wall would result in more illegal immigration, claiming that migration increases can be caused by social, economic and political factors.”

U.S. District Judge Drew Tipton, a Trump appointee who had found in favor of the Biden administration in a separate case, ruled in favor of Texas and Missouri and put a temporary injunction on the redirecting of funds.

“Texas has shown injury-in-fact through costs that it has incurred in administering driver’s licenses, education, and healthcare to a rising number of illegal aliens,” he wrote in his ruling. “Traceability is met because Texas has sufficiently demonstrated that the failure to build more physical barriers will reduce the number of apprehensions that otherwise would have occurred. And finally, this controversy is redressable because it is likely that a favorable judicial decision would reduce the financial harms that Texas otherwise would incur.” 

In a statement, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton accused Biden of acting improperly “by refusing to spend the money that Congress appropriated for border wall construction, and even attempting to redirect those funds.”

“His actions demonstrate his desperation for open borders at any cost, but Texas has prevailed,” he said. Fox reached out to DHS and the White House for comment.

HOUSE REPUBLICANS ZERO IN ON BORDER CHAOS WITH VIDEO SERIES ON ‘FACES OF BIDEN’S STATE OF THE UNION IN CRISIS’

The administration has consistently said it disapproves of border wall construction, although it has engaged in a number of wall-related projects. In October, DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas waived regulations in order to go ahead with projects appropriated in FY 19 funding.

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“We have repeatedly asked Congress to rescind this money, but it has not done so and we are compelled to follow the law,” Mayorkas said.

“This Administration believes that effective border security requires a smarter and more comprehensive approach, including state-of the-art border surveillance technology and modernized ports of entry. We need Congress to give us the funds to implement these proven tools.”

An effort by Senate Republicans to stop non-citizens, including illegal immigrants, from being counted on the census for the purposes of apportionment for House seats and the Electoral College was shot down later Friday 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.

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.

SEN HAGERTY SAYS DEMS ENGAGING IN ‘SHEER POWER GRAB’ BY TOLERATING BORDER ‘CARNAGE’

Hagerty told Fox News Digital last month that he believes that Democrats in “sanctuary” cities and elsewhere are accepting of the effects of the migrant surge because they are hoping to gain greater representation in the House of Representatives and Electoral College by redistricting. 

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

“But if you think about the motives for the crime that’s taking place at our southern border, that is it. That’s what the Democrats are trying to do,” he said. “And it’s a sheer power grab. It’s cynical as hell, and it’s actually the most straightforward explanation of why they would tolerate this carnage and mayhem. It’s in order to retain and gain power.”

Some conservative experts have warned about the potential of the migrant surge on House apportionment in particular. The Heritage Foundation’s Lora Ries published an essay alongside R.J. Hauman, the president of the National Immigration Center For Enforcement, warning that illegal immigration is triggering a “warped representation” in Congress.

WHITE HOUSE CALLS FOR SANCTUARY CITIES TO COOPERATE WITH ICE AMID FUROR OVER ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT CRIMES

“Barring the Census from including non-citizens in apportionment is critical in making sure that American citizens — the only population who can and should vote in U.S. elections — are picking America’s leaders,” Ries and Hauman wrote, warning that the crisis is “distorting the representation that states have in the House, and how many electoral votes they have in presidential elections.”

However, Hagerty’s amendment failed after 51 Democrats and Independents voted against the measure or were not present. One Republican, Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, also voted against the measure. All other Republicans either voted for the measure or were not present. The vote was 51-45 against. 

The mostly united Republican support for the measure suggests that it could pass in the GOP-controlled House.

In a statement, Hagerty said that the Democratic opposition “confirms that they’re using illegal aliens and sanctuary cities to increase their political power.”

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

The vote comes as immigration remains a red redhot political issue. President Biden visited the southern border last week and on Thursday at the State of the Union renewed his appeals for Congress to pass a bipartisan border bill.

“Look, folks, we have a simple choice: We can fight about fixing the border, or we can fix it.  I’m ready to fix it. Send me the border bill now,” Biden said.

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The bill would increase staffing to the border and funding for cities and NGOs receiving migrants. It would also place a limit on border entries, but conservatives say the 5,000-a-day trigger would normalize already-excessive levels of illegal immigration.

Fox News’ Thomas Catenacci contributed to this report.
 

Just one day after President Biden delivered a State of the Union address many liberals said put to rest questions about his mental fitness, the president raised eyebrows with several gaffes in Pennsylvania.

Biden visited Strath Haven Middle School in Delaware County on Friday for his first swing state campaign stop after outlining his agenda to a joint session of Congress. There, he pitched his plans for a second White House term, promising to protect abortion rights, defending his economic record and calling for new gun control laws. He also made some unforced errors in his speech, which were ridiculed by Republicans. 

“Pennsylvania, I have a message for you: Send me to Congress!” Biden shouted at one point, appearing to mix up the office he’s running for. He was a six-term U.S. senator representing Delaware in Congress before he became vice president in 2008. 

Later in his remarks, Biden said, “we cut the deficit and we added more to the national debt than any president in his term in all of history, than under Donald Trump.” 

BIDEN ASSAILS ‘PREDECESSOR’ TRUMP, GOP IN SHARPLY PARTISAN STATE OF THE UNION SPEECH

Both comments were picked up by the Republican National Committee’s opposition research account and shared far and wide on X. 

At another point, Biden mistakenly referred to the Jan. 6, 2021 Capitol riots as taking place on “July 6th,” and then corrected himself. 

The gaffes illustrate how Biden, 81, must continue to fight off criticisms of his age and mental fitness from Republicans as the general election heats up.

The president did earn praise from many liberals for his “energetic” State of the Union performance on Thursday. 

BIDEN’S STATE OF THE UNION SPEECH REINFORCED MENTAL ACUITY AND AGE CONCERNS, REPUBLICANS SAY

Former CNN journalist John Harwood, known as one of the most sycophantic Biden White House boosters in the media, mocked the president’s critics for saying they were worried about his vitality.

“[T]hose Dems complaining that Biden lacks vigor and fight getting splash of cold water in the face right now,” he wrote, later adding that the “people yapping for so long about Biden not being up to the job look pretty dumb this morning.”

“My fellow Americans the issue facing our nation isn’t how old we are it’s how old our ideas are? Hate, anger, revenge, retribution are among the oldest of ideas,” CNN analyst Juliette Kayyem wrote, quoting from Biden’s speech. “It would seem Biden has landed on a perfect framing for the age issue.” 

Left-wing New York Times columnist Paul Krugman wrote, “A thought: the whole Biden-is-too-old thing was kind of a bubble, in the sense that people were buying it mainly because other people were buying it. Did Biden just burst that bubble?”

LIBERAL JOURNALISTS REJOICE OVER BIDEN PERFORMANCE AT SOTU, CLAIM IT PUTS AGE QUESTIONS TO REST

Republicans saw the speech differently. They questioned why Biden kept shouting to emphasize his points and noted that he spoke very fast at times and slurred his words.

“A lot of the time it was hard to understand what he was saying,” said House Freedom Caucus Chairman Bob Good, R-Va. “He was kind of mumbling and slurring.” 

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“We couldn’t understand him. He was so mad,” agreed Sen. Roger Marshall, R-Kan. “The volume was up and down.”

Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, remarked the president’s annual address was “reminiscent of an old, angry man standing on his porch screaming ‘get off my front lawn.’”

Fox News Digital’s Jeffrey Clark, Julia Johnson, Elizabeth Elkind and Charles Creitz contributed to this report.

Former President Donald Trump met with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and received his endorsement, sparking outrage from President Biden.

Orbán traveled to Florida to visit Trump at his Mar-a-Lago resort on Friday.

The duo discussed “a wide range of issues affecting Hungary and the United States, including the paramount importance of strong and secure borders to protect the sovereignty of each nation,” according to the Trump campaign.

HUNGARY’S ORBAN TO MEET WITH TRUMP, NOT BIDEN, ON VISIT TO US COURTING FOREIGN POLICY

“There’s nobody that’s better, smarter or a better leader than Viktor Orban. He’s fantastic,” Trump said. “He’s a noncontroversial figure because he said ‘This is the way it’s gonna be,’ and that’s the end of it. He’s the boss.” 

The Hungarian leader endorsed Trump following the meeting, claiming the former president is one of the few world leaders who can bring peace.

“It was a pleasure to visit President [Donald Trump] today. We need leaders in the world who are respected and can bring peace,” Orbán said on social media. “He is one of them! Come back and bring us peace, Mr. President!”

HUNGARY PM RIPS WESTERN EUROPEAN IMMIGRATION POLICIES, SAYS HE DOESN’T WANT ‘MINI GAZAS IN BUDAPEST’

Orbán, who has been in office since 2010, has promoted what he calls “illiberal democracy” and has been criticized by international human rights observers, including the U.S. State Department. 

He has received intense scrutiny for leading an increasingly autocratic system in Hungary, including allegations that he has rolled back minority rights, seized control of the judiciary and media and manipulated the country’s election system to remain in power, according to The Associated Press. 

Biden decried the meeting during a campaign stop in Pennsylvania — characterizing the pair as enemies to democracy.

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“You know who he’s meeting with today down in Mar-a-Lago? Orbán of Hungary, who’s stated flatly that he doesn’t thinks democracy works, he’s looking for dictatorship,” Biden claimed.

He added, “I see a future where we defend democracy, not diminish it.”

Fox News Digital’s Danielle Wallace contributed to this report.

Billionaire Elon Musk attempted to correct the record on his immigration views after he claimed the press had wrongly labeled him as “anti-immigrant.” 

“Because I am raising concerns about the flood of unvetted illegal immigrants overwhelming American cities, the press will often characterize me as ‘anti-immigrant,’” Musk wrote on X Thursday. 

“As an immigrant myself, nothing could be further from the truth,” he said. 

“I am very much in favor of increased and expedited legal immigration for anyone who is talented, hard-working and honest,” Musk continued. 

ELON MUSK EXPLAINS WHY HE’S RINGING THE ‘ALARM BELL’ ON ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION: ‘CRUSHING THE COUNTRY’

“It is bizarrely difficult and agonizingly slow to immigrate to the USA legally, but trivial and fast to enter illegally! This obviously makes no sense.”

Nearly 7.3 million migrants have illegally crossed the southwest border under President Biden’s watch, a number greater than the individual population of 36 states, a Fox News analysis found.

The Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) report for fiscal 2023 shows that the number of illegal immigrants on the non-detained docket has soared from 3.7 million in FY 2021 to nearly 4.8 million in FY 2022 to nearly 6.2 million in FY 2023.

Musk, who legally immigrated to the U.S. from South Africa, has ramped up his scorching criticism of Biden’s border policies in recent months. He visited the U.S.-Mexico border at Eagle Pass, Texas, in September, when he declared the “situation is beyond insane and growing fast.” 

ELON MUSK SLAMS TANKED BORDER BILL, SAYS PEOPLE WHO RELY ON LEGACY MEDIA ‘LIVE IN A FAKE ALTERNATE REALITY’

When a bipartisan group of senators introduced compromise border security legislation last month, Musk was among the bill’s critics who argued it would have normalized high levels of illegal immigration.

Last week, he called the legislation “diabolical” and argued the failed bill “deserved to die,” while mocking legacy media coverage of the issue.

Musk responded to an X post from the Biden-Harris re-election campaign, which shared a clip from ABC News’ “Good Morning America” that discussed the bill. The ABC News reporter said the tanked bipartisan deal included some of the “toughest reforms in decades” but “Trump pressured Republicans to kill that bill to deny President Biden a political win.” 

Musk disagreed and ripped how the ABC News story framed the issue.

SENATE TANKS IMMIGRATION, FOREIGN AID SPENDING PACKAGE AFTER GOP BACKLASH AGAINST BORDER PROVISIONS

“People who get their news from legacy TV live in a fake alternate reality. Those so-called ‘toughest reforms’ would have made invasion-level migration permanent. That diabolical ‘Border Bill’ deserved to die and shame on those who supported it,” Musk posted on X. 

The bipartisan border bill included an “emergency border authority” to mandate Title 42-style expulsions of migrants when migration levels exceed 5,000 a day over a seven-day rolling average. 

It also would have narrowed asylum eligibility while expediting the process from years to months, provide immediate work permits for asylum seekers and fund a massive increase in staffing at the border and more immigration judges. In addition, it included increased numbers of green cards, extra funding for NGOs and cities receiving migrants, $650 million for border wall funding and $450 million for countries to take back and re-settle illegal immigrants.

While Biden endorsed the deal as a tough but fair way to give him the authority to solve the border crisis, Republicans in the House immediately declared it a non-starter and conservative opposition in the Senate quickly stacked up.

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Musk has unambiguously sided with conservatives on the migrant crisis and accused Democrats of permitting high levels of illegal immigration so that they will vote blue in the future. He has also said Democrats are reluctant to deport illegal aliens who commit crimes since it would be akin to losing potential voters.

“Dems won’t deport, because every illegal is a highly likely vote at some point,” Musk posted on Feb. 26. “That simple incentive explains what seems to be insane behavior.”

Fox News Digital’s Brian Flood, Michael Dorgan and Eric Revell contributed to this report.