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Senate Republicans pointed to Alabama’s recent law to protect in vitro fertilization (IVF) providers from civil and criminal liability as proof of states’ capacity to self-correct and the reason Democrat-led federal legislation to protect the fertility procedure isn’t necessary.

“Basically every state I know of supports IVF,” said Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., a doctor.

Other Republican senators who spoke to Fox News Digital agreed.

Following a controversial decision by Alabama’s Supreme Court ruling frozen embryos were legally children, the state’s legislature quickly sprung into action to protect IVF. Several clinics conducting IVF shut down their procedures after the court’s decision, but once the state passed a law releasing them from liability, some of the centers began to reopen. 

REP. MATT ROSENDALE SAYS HE’S NOT RUNNING FOR RE-ELECTION: ‘TAKEN A SERIOUS TOLL ON ME’

GOP LAWMAKERS RALLY AROUND GOLD STAR DAD ARRESTED AFTER HECKLING BIDEN DURING SOTU

Cassidy cited Alabama’s fast legislative work in his explanation against federal legislation on IVF. 

“Once you get the federal government involved, it’s going to open the door to some mischief that goes far beyond what you originally wanted to,” he said. 

“The issue that brought this debate was happening in Alabama, and they’ve dealt with it in legislation,” added Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla. 

According to Rubio, a larger conversation is necessary “about what’s right and appropriate and legal and protected when it comes to discarding the extra human embryos that are not going to be used.”

“It’s legal in all 50 states,” said Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., who introduced a resolution this week affirming support for IVF. 

TRUMP INSTALLS TOP ALLY AND DAUGHTER-IN-LAW TO STEER REPUBLICAN NATIONAL COMMITTEE

Scott’s resolution expresses support for IVF and families looking to expand but doesn’t carry the weight of a bill or make changes to the law. 

Sen. Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., who spearheaded a bill to enshrine protections for IVF into law, slammed the resolution.

“They’re covering their a—s,” Duckworth said of her Republican colleagues. “That’s what they’re trying to do. A resolution doesn’t do anything.” 

DID BIDEN PASS OR FAIL? FORMER PRESIDENTIAL SPEECHWRITERS GRADE THE STATE OF THE UNION ADDRESS

Duckworth attempted to force a vote last week on her IVF bill, asking for unanimous consent to move it to the floor. However, Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith, R-Miss., objected to it. 

Duckworth said Republicans had not been approaching her to negotiate a potential bipartisan measure either. 

And its unclear whether Democrats would be willing to make concessions to work with their Republican colleagues on a bill. 

“The Duckworth bill is a perfect bill,” said Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va. “Her bill is just a person has a right to access IVF, and a provider has a right to provide IVF. It’s not a mandate. It just protects the patient, protects the provider.”

COMER INVITES HUNTER BIDEN, BUSINESS ASSOCIATES TO TESTIFY PUBLICLY MARCH 20 AMID IMPEACHMENT INQUIRY

Scott notably didn’t rule out legislation to protect the procedure in the future. 

“I think we’re gonna do everything we can to make sure it continues to be legal,” he said. 

Other Republicans similarly left the door open. 

A federal bill to protect the fertility procedure is “certainly a discussion we can have, but at this point it’s protected in every state,” said Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas. 

“If it ever became an issue, I would consider it,” added Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah. “But there’s not a state in the country that does not protect IVF.”

TOP TAKEAWAYS FROM BIDEN’S WILD WEEK

According to Romney, it doesn’t require “federal addressing at this stage.”

“If there was a point there needed to be federal action on it, I would definitely be supportive,” agreed Sen. Markwayne Mullin, R-Okla. 

“I believe that way Alabama handled it was good.”

A number of Democratic senators were critical of their GOP colleagues‘ claims federal protections aren’t needed now. 

“I think that’s wrong,” claimed Sen. Tina Smith, D-Minn. “Absolutely, we need to protect people’s capacity to access” IVF. 

SEN. SCHMITT SAYS BIDEN FAILED TO ADDRESS KEY ISSUES DURING ‘DIVISIVE,’ ‘BIZARRE’ SOTU ADDRESS

Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., expressed skepticism over Alabama’s new law, telling Fox News Digital legal scholars believe “it raises as many questions as it answers.”

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“Without the protection of Roe v. Wade, the states can do what the Alabama court did and effectively end IVF in the state,” she warned. 

According to Warren, if congressional Republicans were “truly committed to protecting IVF,” they would be in favor of a bill to do so federally. “But, so far, they are not.” 

Nikki Haley made it clear when she exited the Republican presidential nomination race earlier this week that she intends to keep speaking out.

“While I will no longer be a candidate, I will not stop using my voice for the things I believe in,” Haley emphasized as she announced on Wednesday that she was suspending her White House campaign after former President Donald Trump swept 14 of 15 GOP nominating contests on Super Tuesday.

Haley also made clear this week that a third-party run on a potential No Labels presidential ticket was not in the cards.

“What I will tell you is I’m a conservative Republican. I have said many, many times, I would not run as an independent. I would not run as No Labels because I am a Republican, and that’s who I’ve always been,” she reiterated in a “Fox and Friends” interview.

GOP TAKEOVER: TRUMP INSTALLS TOP ALLY AND HIS DAUGHTER-IN-LAW AT TOP TWO POSITIONS AT RNC

But how much of a voice she has among Republicans and what kind of future she has in the GOP depends very much on Trump, who has dominated the party since he first won the White House eight years ago.

The former two-term South Carolina governor who later served as U.N. ambassador in the Trump administration 13 months ago became the first major candidate to challenge Trump for the 2024 nomination. And before she dropped out, she was the last rival standing.

Haley, who had turned up the volume on the former president over the past six weeks, refused to endorse Trump as she bowed out of the race.

HALEY DOESN’T ENDORSE TRUMP AS SHE ENDS 2024 BID

And Haley, who captured a quarter to over a third of the vote in a handful of the Republican contests after scoring 43% in New Hampshire’s late January primary, highlighted that “it is now up to Donald Trump to earn the votes of those in our party and beyond it, who did not support him, and I hope he does that.”

“At its best, politics is about bringing people into your cause, not turning them away. And our conservative cause badly needs more people. This is now his time for choosing,” Haley said.

Haley’s support in the primaries spotlighted Trump’s weakness among moderates and suburban voters. But even before she finished her speech on Wednesday, Trump made it clear he wasn’t extending an olive branch to his former rival.

“Nikki Haley got TROUNCED last night, in record setting fashion,” Trump wrote in a social media posting as he trashed her.

Haley has a big decision to make in the days or weeks ahead – does she hold out against Trump – or endorse the former president.

New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu – a vocal GOP Trump critic who endorsed Haley and was one of her top surrogates – on Friday in a handful of interviews endorsed the former president but said he stood by his past criticism.

Much of Haley’s fate going forward rests with Trump, who on Friday installed top allies to run the Republican National Committee.

“She needs to step back and take stock of where things stand and pay attention to what President Trump says and does,” longtime GOP strategist David Kochel told Fox News.

Kochel, a veteran of numerous Republican presidential campaigns, said that a lot will depend on November’s presidential election results.

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Haley repeatedly argued on the campaign trail that a Republican Party with Trump at the top of the ticket was headed for trouble in November and that she would be a more effective standard-bearer to take on President Biden.

Koch said that “if Trump loses in November, Haley’s going to be proven right,” but that conversely, a victory by the former president would likely spell trouble for Haley’s GOP future.

Haley in many ways ran as a Reagan Republican – from promoting a muscular foreign policy to advocating fiscal restraint – in a party Trump and his populist America First movement has transformed.

That transformation of the GOP – as well as her vocal criticism of Trump – could make any future Haley White House run extremely complicated.

“Haley is a conservative from the old mold,” longtime Republican strategist and communicator Ryan Williams said. “The party continues to drift further to the right and even if Trump isn’t a candidate in the future, you’ll see more candidates in the mold of Trump running for national office.”

Williams predicted “that leaves Nikki Haley in a position that’s on the outskirts of where the party’s headed….It indicates she may not have a future as a national candidate in the Republican Party.” 

Kochel agreed that “the party isn’t going back.”

“It’s definitely a different party. It’s more populist .. It’s more anti-establishment and anti-elite,” he said. “But i don’t think we know yet what the party’s going to look like.”

And Kochel emphasized that “Trump is unique. I don’t think there can be another Trump.”

He said the party may once again take a sharp turn.

“If you can go from Mitt Romney [the senator from Utah and 2012 GOP presidential nominee] to Donald Trump in four years, you can go from Donald Trump to something very different,” Kochel argued.

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

Rep. Matt Rosendale, R-Mont., will not seek re-election in Montana’s 2nd Congressional District, pointing to “current attacks” against him as the reason for deciding to exit the race. 

Rosendale entered the Montana Senate race in February, but suddenly dropped out less than a week after his announcement. 

The congressman then filed to run for re-election in his Montana district, but he announced Friday he will not be running for another term.

“Since that announcement, I have been forced to have law enforcement visit my children because of a death threat against me and false and defamatory rumors against me and my family,” Rosendale said in a statement announcing his campaign suspension. “This has taken a serious toll on me, and my family. Additionally, it has caused a serious disruption to the election of the next representative for MT-02.”

DONALD TRUMP ENDORSES ‘AMERICAN HERO’ TIM SHEEHY IN BATTLEGROUND SENATE RACE

“To me, public service has truly always been about serving, not titles or positions of power. The current attacks have made it impossible for me to focus on my work to serve you,” Rosendale continued. “So in the best interest of my family and community, I am withdrawing from the House race and will not be seeking office.”

MONTANA CONSERVATIVE FIREBRAND WITHDRAWS FROM SENATE RACE AFTER TRUMP ENDORSES OPPONENT

Rosendale added that “it has been my honor to serve you and may God bless each and every one of you.”

Rosendale’s exit leaves the Montana seat open in 2025, as Republicans attempt to hold onto their already slim majority in the House.

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In the running for Rosendale’s now-open Montana seat include State Auditor Troy Downing, Superintendent of Public Instruction Elsie Arntzen, former Montana State Sen. Ric Holden and former DEA agent Stacy Zinn.

Fani Willis, the Fulton County District Attorney behind the high-profile election-interference case in Georgia against former President Trump that she also risks disqualification from, has drawn Democratic and Republican challengers in her re-election bid this fall. 

Christian Wise Smith, a former Fulton prosecutor and Atlanta city solicitor who lost out to Willis in the 2020 race, announced on X Friday that he has “officially qualified” to run for the position again. 

Attorney Courtney Kramer, who the Atlanta Journal-Constitution says worked as a litigation consultant for President Trump’s legal team, has also launched a Republican bid for the role. Kramer, the newspaper reports, has described Willis as turning the district attorney’s office into a “clown show.” 

“The moment she decided to indict President Trump and 19 other defendants was the moment I said I had enough,” Kramer was quoted by the newspaper as saying. “The resources that were used in that investigation could’ve been used for many other things and been much more beneficial for the citizens of Fulton County.” 

JUDGE IN TRUMP’S GEORGIA CASE FACES ELECTION CHALLENGE FROM CIVIL RIGHTS ATTORNEY 

Willis is facing allegations that her affair with special prosecutor Nathan Wade benefited her financially and should disqualify her from the case against Trump.  

Willis and Wade have both denied the allegations and have claimed that their romantic involvement started after Wade was hired in 2021. Willis claimed in court testimony that she would always reimburse Wade for her portion of their shared travels in cash. There are no receipts for those reimbursements, and one witness claimed that their relationship had started as early as 2019.  

FULTON COUNTY ETHICS BOARD WON’T HEAR COMPLAINTS AGAINST FANI WILLIS 

In the last primary in 2020 for the Fulton County District Attorney position, Wise Smith received around 23% of the Democratic vote, running on a platform that included commitments to no longer seek the death penalty, end cash bail and decriminalize the possession of drugs, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. 

When asked earlier this week about challengers, Willis told the newspaper “This is a democracy that we live in, so people have a right to run for office. 

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“But they should come prepared for a fight,” she added. “They should know that my heart is still in this work. My heart will continue to be in this work.” 

Fox News’ Brianna Herlihy contributed to this report. 

HOUSTON – The Republican Party is once again completely under the thumb of former President Donald Trump.

The former president’s picks to serve as chair and co-chair of the Republican National Committee (RNC) – Trump ally and North Carolina GOP chair Michael Whatley and daughter-in-law Lara Trump – were unanimously confirmed on Friday by voice votes as the RNC held a recently planned general session.

“Over the next eight months, the RNC will work hand in glove with President Trump,” Whatley declared in his acceptance speech.

And Lara Trump, speaking minutes later, emphasized that “we have one goal. The goal on November 5th is to win. And as my father-in-law says, bigly.”

WHO IS NEW TRUMP-BACKED RNC CHAIR MICHAEL WHATLEY?

Whatley, who was the RNC’s general counsel, succeeded longtime chair Ronna McDaniel, whom Trump picked to steer the national party committee after he won the White House in 2016. Her departure on Friday came after Trump earlier this year repeatedly urged changes at the committee – after lackluster fundraising last year and his opposition to the RNC’s presidential primary debates – which essentially pushed McDaniel out the door.

“The state of our party is strong,” McDaniel declared in her departure speech.

And pointing to the RNC’s fundraising rebound in January and February, McDaniel touted “the best two months of fundraising the RNC has ever had when we didn’t occupy the White House.”

TRUMP MEETS WITH MCDANIEL, THEN CALLS FOR CHANGES AT THE RNC

While fundraising will be a major focus going forward, as the Trump campaign and the RNC aim to compete with the rival Democratic National Committee and President Biden’s campaign, continuing and beefing up already existing RNC programs dedicated to election integrity will also be a top priority.

“Everyone in this room and every voter across the country knows that we must protect the sanctity of their vote,” said Whatley, who’s been a strong supporter of Trump’s unproven claims that his 2020 election loss to Biden was due to massive voter fraud.

After highlighting that he “worked closely with Chairwoman McDaniel to build our election integrity program from scratch,” Whatley stressed “we will do more.”

Trump also installed campaign adviser Chris LaCivita as RNC chief of staff. LaCivita, a longtime Republican strategist and RNC veteran, will continue to keep his role as one of the two top advisers steering Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign.

“The RNC today. It’s not going to look the same next week. There’s obviously going to be changes,” LaCivita told reporters ahead of the gathering. But he declined to get into details.

The RNC gathering came in the same week Trump swept 14 of the 15 GOP primaries and caucuses on Super Tuesday – which moved him much closer to officially locking up the 2024 Republican presidential nomination. It also comes just two days after Trump’s last rival for the nomination – former U.N. ambassador and former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley – dropped out of the race.

“He’s the presumptive nominee. He’s going to be our nominee. He’s going to be the guy to beat Joe Biden, and it’s normal for the presumptive nominee of the party to run the RNC,” longtime RNC committee member from Mississippi, Henry Barbour, told Fox News on the eve of the meeting.

New Hampshire GOP chair and former RNC committee member Chris Ager, who attended the meeting, emphasized that “Donald Trump is the presumptive nominee and this is the party of Trump.”

“The people at the RNC know and like Mike Whatley, so he’s a good choice and Lara Trump is a trusted adviser to the president, so why not give him the tools he needs to get the job done. If he trusts those people, let’s give him what he needs to get that win in November,” Ager told Fox News ahead of the meeting.

Trump’s takeover of the RNC is far from controversial. It is traditional, as a presidential election cycle moves from the primaries to the general election for the presumptive nominee of the party out of power, to take control and merge operations. 

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Barbour emphasized that while “there’s always some drama” at RNC meetings, “it’s really important that the party pull together… and we need the former president leading us on that, bringing us together as a party so we can win not just the White House but the Senate, the House, state, local.”

However, there was some controversy in recent weeks over concerns that the cash-strapped RNC would be forced to pay some of Trump’s massive legal bills. 

The former president faces four major criminal trials and a total of 91 indictments, as well as a $355 million civil fraud judgment which Trump’s appealing. A political action committee affiliated with the former president has shelled out nearly $80 million in the past two years to pay Trump’s many lawyers.

The RNC paid some of Trump’s legal bills when he was in the White House and after he left office. However, McDaniel said two years ago that the committee would stop paying those bills once Trump became a candidate again.

LaCivita said in recent days that the RNC would not be paying the bills. The Trump campaign told Fox News on Wednesday that the committee would  “absolutely not” be providing any of its funds to alleviate Trump’s legal costs.

“Hard no. Absolutely not. Asked and answered,” a spokesperson reiterated.

RNC STARTS 2024 WITH FUNDRAISING SURGE AFTER LACKLUSTER 2023

Barbour recently proposed a non-binding resolution stating that RNC funds could not be used for Trump’s legal bills. However, the resolution was nixed after Barbour was unable to earn the support of RNC members from at least 10 states.

“A small group of us offered a resolution to the committee that essentially said that the number one job and the only job of the RNC is to win elections. And if that’s our job, we need to spend our money on that and not on paying anybody’s legal bills,” Barbour told Fox News.

He emphasized that “while we came up short… it was an important conversation and the Trump campaign has confirmed indeed that they have no plans to spend any RNC dollars on it and will not do it.”

“We appreciate that very much,” he noted.

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

Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has not ruled out a chance to serve under former President Donald Trump for a second time should he become the Republican presidential nominee and come out victorious in November.

Pompeo served as Trump’s director of the CIA and secretary of state during his first term. 

On Friday, he was asked about serving under Trump for a second time during a Friday appearance on “Your World with Neil Cavuto.”

TRUMP CALLS FOR DEBATES WITH BIDEN ‘ANYTIME, ANYWHERE, ANYPLACE’

“I don’t often comment on jobs I’ve not been offered,” he said. “If I get a chance to serve and think that I can make a difference, I’m almost I’m almost certainly going to say yes to that opportunity to try and deliver on behalf of the American people,” he told Cavuto. 

Cavuto noted that Trump in the past has demanded strict loyalty from those working under him. 

“I’m confident President Trump will be looking for people who will faithfully execute what it is he asked them to do,” Pompeo replied. “I think as a president, you should always want that from everyone.”

“I must say, as secretary of state, I certainly wanted my team to do what I was asking them to do, and was enormously frustrated when I found that I couldn’t get them to do that,” he added.

TRUMP CONSOLIDATES POWER OVER RNC

Some of Trump’s most ardent supporters when he came into office have turned against him in recent years. Former Vice President Mike Pence drew Trump’s ire when he refused to abide by Trump’s wishes that he reject the certification of some electoral votes during a joint session of Congress held on Jan. 6, 2021.

Last year, he briefly mounted an unsuccessful campaign against Trump to win the Republican presidential nomination. 

Former national security adviser John Bolton called Trump “unfit” to be president in a new memoir. In a January interview with ABC News’ “Good Morning America,” he described what he thinks a second Trump term would look like.

“I think if you look at what Trump did in his first term — which I try and describe in the original book — you can extrapolate from that what a second term will be like, and basically it will be the same except worse,” Bolton told George Stephanopoulos.

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Trump has not made any mention of potential running mates or cabinet nominations for his second White House bid. 

No Labels took another step toward forming a bipartisan presidential ticket in November’s general election, as the centrist group’s delegates huddled during a virtual gathering on Friday.

No Labels announced that the roughly 800 delegates who took part in the meeting voted to give a thumbs up to fielding what No Labels has described as a “unity ticket” in the presidential election.

“They voted near unanimously to continue our 2024 project and to move immediately to identify candidates to serve on the Unity presidential ticket,” No Labels national convention chair Mike Rawlings said in a statement.

But the move comes as some high-profile potential candidates for the No Labels ticket have taken their names out of contention.

NO LABELS CHARGES OPPONENTS ARE TRYING TO KEEP IT OFF THE BALLOT

For over a year, No Labels has mulled a third party ticket, as it pointed to poll after poll suggesting that many Americans were anything but enthused about a 2024 election rematch between President Biden and former President Donald Trump.

And No Labels had long said that it would decide whether to launch a presidential ticket following Super Tuesday, when 15 states from coast to coast held nominating primaries and caucuses.

Trump is now considered the presumptive Republican nominee after winning 14 of the 15 GOP nominating contests on Tuesday. Trump’s last remaining rival — former U.N. ambassador and former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley — dropped out of the 2024 race on Wednesday.

Biden also ran the table on Super Tuesday, winning 14 of the 15 Democratic contests. And Rep. Dean Phillips of Minnesota — one of the two long-shot challengers to the president — suspended his White House bid on Wednesday.

CLICK HERE FOR THE LATEST 2024 ELECTION RESULTS FROM FOX NEWS

Both Biden and Trump will formally clinch their party nominations in the next week or two, and their campaigns have now moved into general election mode.

No Labels — as expected — didn’t name its presidential and vice presidential picks on Friday but instead voted to kick off a formal selection process that would lead to the naming of candidates in the coming weeks.

But former two-term Republican Gov. Larry Hogan of Maryland, a former No Labels leader who was considered a potential contender for the group’s ticket, recently took his name out of contention as he announced a run this year for an open Senate seat in his home state.

And moderate Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia, who is not seeking re-election and who flirted with a White House run, has also said he won’t launch a presidential bid.

There was plenty of speculation that Haley would consider running on a No Labels ticket if she were to drop her Republican White House bid. No Labels had expressed interest in her earlier this year.

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But Haley repeatedly nixed joining a No Labels ticket, most recently on Tuesday in an interview on “Fox and Friends.”

“What I will tell you is I’m a conservative Republican. I have said many, many times, I would not run as an independent. I would not run as No Labels, because I am a Republican, and that’s who I’ve always been,” she reiterated.

No Labels said it is already on the ballot in 16 states and currently working in 17 other states to obtain access. 

There’s been a chorus of calls from Democrats warning that a No Labels ticket would pave a path to victory for Trump in November, but the group dismisses that criticism.

“That’s not our goal here,” Lieberman told Fox News Digital late last year. “We’re not about electing either President Trump or President Biden.”

Following the No Labels meeting on Friday, Matt Bennett, a co-founder of the moderate Democratic group the Third Way, said in a statement following Friday’s No Labels meeting, “What part of ‘No’ is so hard to understand? Time and again, voters, candidates and election experts have told No Labels that a third-party presidential ticket can’t win and would help Trump.”

But Rawlings praised his group’s proceedings. He emphasized that “earlier today, I led a discussion with the 800 No Labels delegates from all 50 states. These citizen leaders have spent months discussing with one another the kind of leadership they want to see in the White House in 2024. These are some of the most civic-minded, thoughtful, and patriotic Americans I have ever met. They take their responsibility seriously.”

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

FIRST ON FOX: Sen. Eric Schmitt, R-Mo., said President Joe Biden’s “divisive” and “bizarre” State of the Union speech did not address key issues that are important to the American people.

“I thought it was the most divisive State of the Union from the most out-of-touch president in American history. I thought it was bizarre,” Schmitt told Fox News Digital in an exclusive interview after the speech.

The Republican senator added that the president “didn’t seriously address” illegal immigration, a top issue for voters going into 2024.

“It felt like he was yelling at the time. So the delivery was weird, and then it fell short on substance. He really didn’t seriously address the number-one issue in the minds of the American people, which is illegal immigration.”

BIDEN’S SOTU BLASTED AS ‘NAKEDLY PARTISAN’ CAMPAIGN SPEECH: ‘UTTER DISGRACE’

Biden pointed to Congress for the ongoing crisis at the southern border, repeatedly saying he is waiting on Congress to pass the bipartisan border agreement before taking any serious action. Schmitt, agreeing with many Republicans, said that Biden can secure the border now.

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

Schmitt told Fox that Biden “doesn’t want to secure the border,” however, and that “the American people see through that. Basically, his speech was – don’t believe what your eyes are telling you. And, people have had enough of it.”

“It’s the ultimate head fake, because the same laws that were on the books when President Trump had the lowest level of illegal immigration in 40 years are on the books now. So he could undo his 90 executive actions that created the crisis. If he just did that, if he just went back to where we were in January of 2021 and wanted to enforce our laws, we could secure the border.”

He added that it was “laughable” when the president suggested the U.S. is the safest it has ever been under his administration.

“Ask people whose communities have been ravaged by gang violence and by fentanyl, and ask the families of those who have loved ones who’ve been murdered by illegal immigrants who have come across the border recently,” Schmitt said of the president’s comment regarding crime. “We’re less safe, we’re less secure. We’re less prosperous under Joe Biden’s lack of leadership.”

Biden made several mentions of his “predecessor,” former President Donald Trump, during the speech, as he faces a likely 2020 general election rematch against the former president in the fall.

“This was like a campaign speech,” Schmitt said, adding that the president appeared “really divisive” and “over-the-top partisan.” 

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Schmitt brought Kari Rosbeck, executive director of the Tuberous Sclerosis Alliance, as his guest to the address.

President Biden’s presidential re-election campaign on Friday launched a $30 million ad buy following his State of the Union address Thursday night, as the president heads out on a battleground state tour. 

The ad spending is more than Biden’s campaign spent in all of last year, his deputy campaign manager Rob Flaherty said. 

Flaherty said in a statement on social media that Biden had the best fundraising hours of this cycle after his State of the Union, claiming it set a record for fundraising for an incumbent Democrat without giving numbers. 

“The dumbest thing you can do is underestimate Joe Biden,” Flaherty wrote on his X account. 

BIDEN’S SOTU BLASTED AS ‘NAKEDLY PARTISAN’ CAMPAIGN SPEECH: ‘UTTER DISGRACE’ 

Republicans have slammed Biden’s aggressive speech as “divisive,” “partisan” and an “utter disgrace.” 

BIDEN CAMPAIGN TROLLS TRUMP’S ‘WEAKEST OPERATION IN RECENT HISTORY’ AMID LAGGING CAMPAIGN CASH

“I thought it was the most divisive State of the Union from the most out-of-touch president in American history,” Sen. Eric Schmitt, R-Mo., told Fox News. “I thought it was bizarre.” 

The president visited Pennsylvania on Friday, and also plans swings through Georgia, New Hampshire, Wisconsin and Michigan over the next week as he prepares to face-off against former President Trump. 

Vice President Kamala Harris will travel to Arizona and Nevada. 

“We firmly believe that this race is going to be won on the ground across key states that afford multiple pathways to 270, and everything we are doing this month to kick off the general election is grounded in that premise,” said Biden campaign manager Julie Chavez Rodriguez said, according to Reuters. 

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Fox News Digital has reached out to the Biden campaign for comment. 

Reuters contributed to this report. 

VICTORIA, Texas (AP) — A federal judge in Texas on Friday upheld a key piece of President Joe Biden’s immigration policy that allows a limited number of migrants from four countries to enter the U.S. on humanitarian grounds, dismissing a challenge from Republican-led states that said the program created an economic burden on them.

BLOODTHIRSTY VENEZUELAN GANG TREN DE ARAGUA SETS UP SHOP IN US AS BORDER AUTHORITIES SOUND ALARM

U.S. District Judge Drew B. Tipton in Victoria, Texas, ruled in favor of the humanitarian parole program that allows up to 30,000 asylum-seekers into the U.S. each month from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela combined. Eliminating the program would undercut a broader policy that seeks to encourage migrants to use the Biden administration’s preferred pathways into the U.S. or face stiff consequences.

Texas and 20 other states that sued argued the program is forcing them to spend millions on health care, education, and public safety for the migrants. An attorney working with the Texas attorney general’s office in the legal challenge said that the program “created a shadow immigration system.”

Advocates for the federal government countered that migrants admitted through the policy helped with a U.S. farm labor shortage.

An appeal appeared likely.

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Tipton is an appointee of former President Donald Trump who ruled against the Biden administration in 2022 on an order that determined who to prioritize for deportation.

Indiana Republican Sen. Todd Young told the media on Friday, days after former President Trump’s commanding Super Tuesday performance, that he will not be endorsing the former president.

“Nothing’s changed from my standpoint,” Young told CNN after WWEV 44 News reported that Young will not support Trump due to the former president’s position and comments on Russia’s war in Ukraine.

“I trust the people I represent to make their own decisions on who they’re going to vote for.”

The outlet reported that Young has not decided who he will support in November.

TRUMP SET TO TAKE OVER REPUBLICAN PARTY BY INSTALLING KEY ALLY, DAUGHTER-IN-LAW TO LEAD RNC

Young’s position reiterates comments he has made in the past, including nine months ago when he said he doesn’t “intend to support him.”

“Where do I begin?” Young said when asked what the reasons for not supporting Trump are.

“I think President Trump’s judgment is wrong in this case,” Young previously said, referring to Trump declining to call Putin a “war criminal” in 2023. “Putin and his government have been engaged in war crimes. . . . That’s why I don’t intend to support him for the Republican nomination.”

TRUMP POSTS $91M BOND, APPEALS $83M E JEAN CARROLL JUDGMENT

Young took office in 2017 and was re-elected to the Senate in 2022, beating his Democratic challenger Thomas McDermott Jr. by about 20 points.

Young was one of only four GOP senators Trump did not endorse for re-election that year, according to Politico.

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Young is the third sitting Republican senator to decline to support Trump, along with Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski and Utah Sen. Mitt Romney.

The Trump campaign did not respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital.
 

Laken Riley’s mother slammed President Biden on Friday for saying her daughter’s name incorrectly during his State of the Union speech Thursday night. 

The president seemed to refer to the 22-year-old Georgia nursing student, who was allegedly killed by a Venezuelan migrant in the country illegally last month, as “Lincoln” rather than “Laken” in his speech. 

“Lincoln Riley, an innocent young woman who was killed by an illegal. That’s right. But how many thousands of people are being killed by legals?” the president said in an off-script moment prompted by Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., shouting at Biden, “Say her name!” while he was discussing the border crisis. 

BORDER PATROL UNION BOSS SAYS BIDEN ‘SLAPPED EVERY AMERICAN IN THE FACE’ DURING STATE OF THE UNION

“Biden does not even KNOW my child’s name – it’s pathetic! If you are going to say her name (even when forced to do so) at least say the right name!” Laken’s mother, Allyson Phillips, wrote on Facebook in response after someone noted Biden called her “Lincoln” and said he was trying to “minimize” her murder by invoking his son Beau’s death from cancer. 

LAKEN RILEY’S MOTHER SPEAKS OUT ABOUT ‘AVOIDABLE TRAGEDY’ AFTER DAUGHTER’S FUNERAL 

Former President Trump said late last month while he was at the southern border in Eagle Pass, Texas, that he had spoken to Riley’s parents who are “devastated.”

“The parents are devastated, and they’re incredible people,” he said. “This is a Joe Biden invasion. A Biden invasion. I call him crooked Joe… the most incompetent president we’ve ever had.” 

Trump added, “A beautiful 22-year-old nursing student from Georgia was barbarically attacked. She was on a morning run… she was a beautiful young woman. I spoke to her parents yesterday. They are incredible people. They are devastated beyond belief. She was so beautiful in so many ways.” 

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Trump visited the border on the same day that Biden made a speech in Brownsville, Texas, another border town. 

Riley, a nursing student from Augusta University, was found dead on the University of Georgia campus on Feb. 22, after her roommate reported to authorities that she had not returned home from her morning run. 

President Biden on Friday said his decision on whether to debate President Trump ahead of Election Day is dependent on his opponent’s “behavior.” 

Biden was asked on Friday, the day after his State of the Union address, if he would debate Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee. 

“Depends on his behavior,” Biden said. 

TRUMP CALLS FOR DEBATES WITH BIDEN ‘ANYTIME, ANYWHERE, ANYPLACE’

Biden’s comments come after Trump challenged him earlier in the week to a debate “anytime, anywhere, anyplace.” 

Trump, the 2024 GOP frontrunner and presumptive nominee, posted his offer on his Truth Social on Wednesday afternoon — just hours after former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, his last-standing Republican opponent, suspended her campaign. 

“It is important, for the Good of our Country, that Joe Biden and I Debate Issues that are so vital to America, and the American People,” Trump posted Wednesday. “Therefore, I am calling for Debates, ANYTIME, ANYWHERE, ANYPLACE! The Debates can be run by the Corrupt DNC, or their Subsidiary, the Commission on Presidential Debates (CPD).” 

The Biden campaign fired back shortly after Trump’s invitation on Wednesday. 

“I know Donald Trump’s thirsty for attention and struggling to expand his appeal beyond the MAGA base — and that’s a conversation we’ll have at the appropriate time in this cycle,” Biden campaign communications director Michael Tyler told Fox News Digital. “But if he’s so desperate to see President Biden in prime time, he doesn’t have to wait!” 

TRUMP BLASTS BIDEN AS ‘ANGRY, MENTALLY DISTURBED’ DURING SOTU ADDRESS: ‘HE DID A TERRIBLE JOB’

Tyler invited Trump to watch the State of the Union on Thursday night. 

Trump gave a live play-by-play during Biden’s address, reacting throughout. 

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Biden invoked Trump nearly a dozen times in his State of the Union address, but never by name. He repeatedly referred to him as “my predecessor.” 

Trump told Fox News Digital in an exclusive interview after the address that Biden “suffers from a terminal case of Trump derangement syndrome,” and said the president was “angry” and “mentally disturbed” throughout his speech. 

“He did a terrible job,” Trump said. 

FIRST ON FOX: A House Republican lawmaker is working on a bill to expand access to in vitro fertilization (IVF) for families who cannot afford the procedure.

Rep. Mike Carey, R-Ohio, told Fox News Digital and Fox News Radio that he is working on a bill to lower costs associated with IVF.

“It would give a tax incentive to help people that are less fortunate be able to do IVF, and I do think it’s something that’s important. Because I do think people that want children should be able to have the opportunity to have children, and IVF is [a] way to do it,” Carey said on Thursday.

ALABAMA HOUSE, SENATE PASS PROTECTIONS FOR IVF AFTER COURT RULING

His bill would specifically target low- and middle-income families trying to have a child.

It’s a meaningful step from the GOP, which has so far struggled to coalesce around a broad message on the issue in the wake of an Alabama Supreme Court ruling that triggered three clinics in the state to cease IVF services. Two have said they’ll restart after the Alabama state legislature passed a law protecting access.

Democrats have used the ruling as a political cudgel against the right, claiming that Republicans would crack down on IVF access and reproductive health measures nationwide – an attack that those on the right have denied.

ALABAMA PROVIDERS SUSPEND IVF TREATMENTS AFTER STATE COURT’S RULING AS FERTILITY EXPERTS WEIGH IN

The Alabama ruling prompted a wave of national Republicans to come out in support of IVF, while some conservatives said it’s an issue best left to individual states.

Carey’s bill, which he said is in the “drafting stages,” is not the first piece of legislation that congressional Republicans have put forward since the court decision. 

However, it’s likely the most consequential so far – previous proposals have mostly included resolutions in support of IVF but with no real guardrails on access. 

Just one cycle of IVF treatment could cost between $15,000 and $30,000, depending on the clinic and a person’s medical history.

FOLLOWING IVF RULING, BIDEN TO SEND HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES SECRETARY TO VISIT ALABAMA

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“I’m looking at trying to expand IVF for folks that are on the lower-income scale, because I think anybody that wants to have a child should be able to have a child, and for whatever reason, they may not be able to,” Carey said. “We’re working hard to try to get something through.”

He urged his fellow Republicans to “embrace” IVF access.

“IVF is pro-family,” Carey said. “Growing the family, being pro-child, I think it’s something that we as Republicans need to embrace.”

House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Michael McCaul, R-Texas, called for the charges against the Gold Star father who interrupted President Biden’s State of the Union address to be dropped.

Steve Nikoui, 51, is the father of Marine Corps Lance Corporal Kareem Nikoui, one of the 13 U.S. service members killed when an ISIS-K suicide bomber detonated outside of Hamid Karzai International Airport during the U.S. military’s chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan in August 2021. 

He was arrested by U.S. Capitol Police on Thursday evening after shouting “Abbey Gate” multiple times from the House gallery during Biden’s speech. Abbey Gate was the location of the 2021 attack.

McCaul revealed to reporters on Friday morning that Nikoui told him earlier about his intention to interrupt the address.

DID BIDEN PASS OR FAIL? FORMER PRESIDENTIAL SPEECHWRITERS GRADE THE STATE OF THE UNION ADDRESS

“I talked to Steve prior to his announcement on the floor. I said, look, this is between you and your god and your conscience and your son, and the other families,” McCaul said. “I think they feel that their children have been completely, you know, blown off by this administration, the president’s never called to say ‘I’m sorry.’ And that is why he spoke up.”

The senior Republican warned the Gold Star dad that he would likely be escorted off the House floor if he protested.

“I didn’t encourage him to do it… it was his choice to make, and it was a powerful one,” McCaul said.

HEROES OF KABUL: LANCE CPL. KAREEM NIKOUI BELIEVED AMERICA WAS WORTH FIGHTING FOR, FALLEN MARINE’S MOM SAYS

Law enforcement said Nikoui was arrested on charges of crowding, obstructing or incommoding. He was a guest of Rep. Brian Mast, R-Fla.

McCaul called the charges “petty.”

“I guess he resisted arrest, and I get that, I was a federal prosecutor many years, but in this type of case, I mean, the charges seem a little overbearing given the fact this is a man who lost his son in Abbey Gate to the bombing in a really screwed up situation,” McCaul said.

BIDEN TARGETS TRUMP AND CONGRESSIONAL REPUBLICANS IN STATE OF THE UNION ADDRESS 

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The Texas Republican’s committee has been actively investigating the August 2021 Afghanistan withdrawal and the decisions that led to it.

Fox News Digital reached out to Nikoui, U.S. Capitol Police, Mast’s office and Speaker Mike Johnson’s office, but did not immediately hear back.

Former President Donald Trump posted nearly $92 million for his bond in the defamation case regarding accuser E. Jean Carroll.

A federal court in New York received notice of the bond and Trump’s appeal on Friday morning.

Trump intends to appeal the decision that was handed down in January that found him liable for defamatory statements made while denying the rape accusations made by Carroll. 

TRUMP ORDERED TO PAY $83.3 MILLION TO E JEAN CARROLL BY MONDAY OR POST BOND: JUDGE

A federal jury in January decided Trump must pay Carroll more than $83 million in damages — $18.3 million in compensatory damages, and $65 million in punitive damages.

On Thursday, Judge Lewis A. Kaplan demanded Trump pay the damages by Monday. 

If Trump wins his appeal, the money will be returned to him. If the appeal process fails, the money will be used in the $83 million payout.

TRUMP DEFENDS HIMSELF ON THE STAND, BLASTS E JEAN CARROLL TRIAL: ‘THIS IS NOT AMERICA’

The bond value is higher than the total damages due to a requirement for 110% of the judgment value to be posted during the appeal process.

Federal Insurance Company — based in Chesapeake, Virginia — provided the bond money, according to documents signed by the former president.

Trump’s lawyers said he made statements about Carroll in an effort to “defend his reputation, protect his family, and defend his Presidency.”

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A federal jury in New York City decided last year that Trump was not liable for rape but was liable for sexual abuse and defamation.

The former president was ordered to pay $5 million in that trial.

Fox News Digital’s Brooke Singman contributed to this report.

A Fulton County ethics board scheduled to hear complaints filed against District Attorney Fani Willis on Thursday scrapped those plans after finding it lacked jurisdiction.

The Fulton County Board of Ethics was scheduled to hear two complaints against Willis after a co-defendant of former President Trump in the Georgia election interference case alleged Willis had an improper affair with special counsel Nathan Wade, whom she hired to prosecute Trump. However, days before the board convened on March 7, the meeting agenda was updated to remove consideration of those complaints. 

At Thursday’s meeting, Chairman Daraka Satcher announced the board lacked jurisdiction over the complaints because Willis is a state constitutional officer, not a county official, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported.

“The Fulton County Code of Ethics, our code of ethics, only applies to county officers and employees,” Satcher said in a prepared statement. He said the Georgia State Ethics Commission is the proper body to review the complaints against Willis.

NATHAN WADE’S PHONE DATA SHOWS HE MADE MIDNIGHT TRIPS TO FANI WILLIS’ CONDO BEFORE HE WAS HIRED: ATTORNEY

Last year, Willis indicted Trump and 18 co-defendants, including Michael Roman, a GOP political operative who first filed motions alleging Willis financially benefited from her romantic entanglement with Wade.

A state judge is currently weighing evidence against Willis’ alleged impropriety and whether she and her team should be disqualified from the case. 

At the same time, state lawmakers have formed a special Senate committee with subpoena power to investigate claims against the district attorney. 

The two complaints filed with the ethics board are separate from the disqualification proceedings and the state Senate investigation.

GEORGIA PROSECUTOR ALLEGES FANI WILLIS ASKED BRADLEY NOT TO TESTIFY ON AFFAIR: ‘THEY ARE COMING AFTER US’

Two individuals, Gregory Mantell and Steven Kramer, filed complaints in January and February, respectively, alleging numerous ethics violations by Willis.

Mantell, who founded the Substack blog Investigative News Service, filed his complaint against Willis on Jan. 27. According to Newsweek, Mantelll claims the district attorney’s office improperly denied his records request for expense reports for 2021-2023 and all contracts and payments made to Wade during those years. He had also requested records pertaining to $14.6 million in awards for the Department of Justice, Newsweek reported.

Kramer’s lengthy complaint raises questions about the hiring of Wade, the affair, Wade’s compensation, money spent on dates and trips, the possibility that the relationship created a hostile workplace environment and whether taxpayer dollars paid to Wade might have been better spent, FOX 5 Atlanta reported.

TRUMP LAWYERS MAKE CLOSING ARGUMENTS IN DA FANI WILLIS ‘IMPROPER’ AFFAIR ALLEGATIONS: ‘IRREPARABLE STAIN’

“The extra resources and financial costs for the court and the district attorney’s office, both paid for by Fulton County taxpayers like me, are to deal with this improper relationship,” Kramer wrote in the Feb. 14 complaint. 

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., a staunch Trump supporter, said she also filed two ethics complaints against Willis and was looking forward to the hearing. 

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Had the Fulton County ethics board found Willis to be in violation of the county ethics code, she would have faced a $1,000 fine. 

However, since the board determined Willis is outside its jurisdiction, she will not be reprimanded. 

HOUSTON – The Republican Party on Friday will formally once again become what in reality it has been for eight years – the party of Trump.

That is when the voting members of the Republican National Committee (RNC), who are gathering for a quickly called general session, are expected to overwhelmingly vote to confirm a key ally of former President Trump and Trump’s daughter-in-law to serve as national party committee chair and co-chair.

The RNC gathering, which was scheduled in the last couple of weeks, comes in the same week Trump swept 14 of the 15 GOP primaries and caucuses on Super Tuesday – which moved him much closer to officially locking up the 2024 Republican presidential nomination. It also comes just two days after Trump’s last rival for the nomination – former U.N. ambassador and former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley – dropped out of the race.

“He’s the presumptive nominee. He’s going to be our nominee. He’s going to be the guy to beat Joe Biden, and it’s normal for the presumptive nominee of the party to run the RNC,” longtime RNC committee member from Mississippi Henry Barbour told Fox News on the eve of the meeting.

TRUMP CAMPAIGN PUSHES BACK ON TALK THE RNC WILL BE FORCED TO PAY THE FORMER PRESIDENT’S LEGAL BILLS

Additionally, New Hampshire GOP chair and former RNC committee member Chris Ager, who is also attending the meeting, emphasized that “Donald Trump is the presumptive nominee and this is the party of Trump.”

Longtime RNC chair Ronna McDaniel, whom Trump picked to steer the national party committee after he won the White House in 2016, is stepping down at the meeting. Her departure comes after Trump earlier this year repeatedly urged changes at the committee – after lackluster fundraising last year and his opposition to the RNC’s presidential primary debates – which essentially pushed McDaniel out the door.

TRUMP MEETS WITH MCDANIEL, THEN CALLS FOR CHANGES AT THE RNC

In her place, Trump picked North Carolina GOP chair Michael Whatley to succeed McDaniel. Whatley, the party’s general counsel, is also a Trump ally and strong supporter of the former president’s repeated claims that his 2020 election loss to President Biden was due to massive voter fraud.

The former president also picked his daughter-in-law, Lara Trump, for RNC co-chair. She is expected to focus on fundraising for the committee and on media appearances.

Trump is also installing campaign adviser Chris LaCivita as RNC chief of staff. LaCivita, a longtime Republican strategist and RNC veteran, will continue to keep his role as one of the two top advisers steering Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign.

“The people at the RNC know and like Mike Whatley, so he’s a good choice and Lara Trump is a trusted adviser to the president, so why not give him the tools he needs to get the job done. If he trusts those people, let’s give him what he needs to get that win in November,” Ager told Fox News.

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Trump’s takeover of the RNC is far from controversial. It is traditional as a presidential election cycle moves from the primaries to the general election for the presumptive nominee of the party out of power to take control and merge operations. 

Barbour emphasized that while “there’s always some drama” at RNC meetings, “it’s really important that the party pull together… and we need the former president leading us on that, bringing us together as a party so we can win not just the White House but the Senate, the House, state, local.”

However, there has been some controversy in recent weeks over concerns that the cash-strapped RNC would be forced to pay some of Trump’s massive legal bills. 

The former president faces four major criminal trials and a total of 91 indictments, as well as a $355 million civil fraud judgment which Trump’s appealing. A political action committee affiliated with the former president has shelled out nearly $80 million in the past two years to pay Trump’s many lawyers.

The RNC paid some of Trump’s legal bills when he was in the White House and after he left office. However, McDaniel said two years ago that the committee would stop paying those bills once Trump became a candidate again.

LaCivita has said in recent days that the RNC would not be paying the bills. The Trump campaign told Fox News on Wednesday that the committee would  “absolutely not” be providing any of its funds to alleviate Trump’s legal costs.

“Hard no. Absolutely not. Asked and answered,” a spokesperson reiterated.

RNC STARTS 2024 WITH FUNDRAISING SURGE AFTER LACKLUSTER 2023

Barbour recently proposed a non-binding resolution stating that RNC funds could not be used for Trump’s legal bills. However, the resolution was nixed after Barbour was unable to earn the support of RNC members from at least 10 states.

“A small group of us offered a resolution to the committee that essentially said that the number one job and the only job of the RNC is to win elections. And if that’s our job, we need to spend our money on that and not on paying anybody’s legal bills,” Barbour told Fox News.

He emphasized that “while we came up short… it was an important conversation and the Trump campaign has confirmed indeed that they have no plans to spend any RNC dollars on it and will not do it.”

“We appreciate that very much,” he noted.

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

Civil rights attorney and Atlanta radio host Robert Patillo is planning to challenge Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee, who has been overseeing the high-profile election interference case against former President Trump and the case to disqualify Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, in the upcoming election. 

Patillo, a civil rights attorney, is the former executive director of the social justice group Rainbow PUSH Coalition, which was founded by the Rev. Jesse Jackson, and has previously billed himself as “a conservative Democrat,” according to a report in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Speaking to Fox News Digital, Patillo plans to qualify as a candidate for the position on Thursday. The election is set for May with a possible runoff in June.

McAfee was appointed to the bench by GOP Gov. Brian Kemp last year to fill a vacancy and is up for election after the term ends on Dec. 31, 2024.

NATHAN WADE’S PHONE DATA SHOWS HE MADE MIDNIGHT TRIPS TO FANI WILLIS’ CONDO BEFORE HE WAS HIRED: ATTORNEY

“I’ve always told myself if I had an opportunity to fix it from the inside, I would do so,” Patillo told Fox News Digital. “Our campaign is based on the idea of competency, on compassion and on creating change within the court system.”

“And you have to have an outside voice, someone who’s outside that prosecutor-to-bench pipeline in order to have the ability to make those changes,” Patillo said in a reference to McAfee, a former prosecutor. 

Patillo pointed to Trump’s trial and the recent trial of Atlanta rapper Young Thug as examples of the unequal treatment in the court system.

“We need to have a system that operates the same for all people, a state where you have the rule of law, not the rule of men, that where you get special treatment based upon your celebrity status based upon the amount of money that you have.”

“I think that anybody who’s been through the Fulton County court system would have loved to have had two weeks of hearings on a side issue on your case versus waiting either four or five years for your case to go to trial,” Patillo said, seemingly in a nod to the evidentiary hearings to disqualify Fani Willis.

“I think that we need to have a priority set, when we’re moving cases, we’re getting people processed in and out of custody, where guilty people are being convicted and sent to prison, where innocent people are being allowed to return to their lives. And we’re putting together programs for youthful offenders that keep them out of the system for a lifetime, so we can turn those youthful offenders, instead of lifetime criminals, turn them into carpenters and builders or bus drivers. And then that has to be part of what is on any agenda,” Patillo said. 

Phil Holloway, a conservative legal analyst, posted on X that the Fani Willis “saga just became extra-political.”

McAfee is overseeing the sweeping racketeering case against Trump and 18 co-defendants related to allegations of interference in the 2020 election.

TRUMP LAWYERS MAKE CLOSING ARGUMENTS IN DA FANI WILLIS ‘IMPROPER’ AFFAIR ALLEGATIONS: ‘IRREPARABLE STAIN’

McAfee is also presiding over allegations brought by a handful of co-defendants that Fani Willis hired special counsel Nathan Wade when they were secretly romantic lovers and financially benefited from his hiring.

The bombshell allegations led to a blockbuster evidentiary hearing last month in which Willis and Wade denied the allegations they were in a relationship when he was hired and that Willis never benefited from Wade’s position because she would reimburse him with cash for all the vacations they took together.

FANI WILLIS’ TESTIMONY WAS ‘BELLIGERENT’ AND COULD DAMAGE HER CREDIBILITY, FORMER PROSECUTOR SAYS

McAfee is considering the evidence presented in the hearing and is expected to make a decision whether Willis and her team should be disqualified from the case in the next two weeks.

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McAfee said at the start of the proceedings this month that it’s “clear that disqualification can occur if evidence is produced demonstrating an actual conflict or the appearance of one.”

McAfee could not be immediately reached for comment.

President Biden’s third State of the Union address was filled with political moments, as he chided Republican policies, proposals and repeatedly invoked and blasted his predecessor and GOP opponent for the White House in 2024, former President Donald Trump. 

Biden’s address Thursday night was criticized as resembling a campaign speech as he touched on numerous Democratic political issues and talking points that his campaign has highlighted in its re-election efforts. 

Members of the Democratic caucus in the audience even spent time chanting “four more years.” 

The president began his address by calling for additional funding for Ukraine, while accusing Trump of “bowing down to a Russian leader,” referring to Russian President Vladimir Putin. 

BIDEN SLAMS TRUMP MULTIPLE TIMES IN STATE OF THE UNION ADDRESS

Biden invoked Trump nearly a dozen times throughout his address, but never mentioned him by name. 

The president, before declaring the traditional phrase, “the state of the union is strong,” hit Trump again— this time, on Jan. 6, 2021. Biden, at campaign events this year, has focused on the Capitol riot and tied any “political violence” in the country to Trump. 

“My predecessor and some of you here seek to bury the truth of January 6th,” he said. “I will not do that. This is a moment to speak the truth and bury the lies.”

He added: “And here’s the simplest truth. You can’t love your country only when you win.”

Biden went on to demand lawmakers and Americans “join together and defend our democracy.” 

“Remember your oath of office to defend against all threats foreign and domestic,” he said. 

Biden, in a swipe at Trump, added: “Respect free and fair elections; restore trust in our institutions; and make clear that political violence has absolutely no place in America.” 

BIDEN’S SOTU BLASTED AS ‘NAKEDLY PARTISAN’ CAMPAIGN SPEECH: ‘UTTER DISGRACE’

The president then shifted to the issue of women’s reproductive rights after the Supreme Court, in 2022, ruled to overturn Roe v. Wade. 

Biden invoked Trump on that issue as well and pointed to women voters. 

“In its decision to overturn Roe v. Wade the Supreme Court majority wrote, ‘Women are not without electoral or political power.’ No kidding,” Biden said. “Clearly, those bragging about overturning Roe v. Wade have no clue about the power of women in America.” 

Biden then pointed to the 2022 midterm elections, elections in 2023, and predicted victory for Democratic policies in 2024. 

“They found out though when reproductive freedom was on the ballot and won in 2022, 2023, and they will find out again in 2024,” Biden said. 

The president’s State of the Union address was criticized by conservative commentators as being angry and dark, as opposed to bright and forward-looking. 

But the president did, however, tout his economic policies under his administration, and say that America’s “comeback is building a future of American possibilities, building an economy from the middle out and the bottom up, not the top down, investing in all of America and in all Americans to make sure everyone has a fair shot, and we leave no one behind!” 

“I inherited an economy that was on the brink. Now our economy is the envy of the world,” Biden claimed, celebrating the “15 million new jobs in just three years.” 

Biden also discussed lowering drug costs, and strengthening Medicare. 

“Now, I want to cap prescription drug costs at $2,000 a year for everyone,” Biden announced.

As for healthcare, Biden also announced a plan for $12 billion to “transform women’s health research.” 

The president also discussed an annual tax credit that he said would give Americans $400 a month for the next two years “as mortgage rates come down to put toward their mortgage when they buy a first home or trade up for a little more space.”

Biden also said his administration wants to eliminate title insurance fees for federally backed mortgages, while investing in and building 2 million affordable homes. 

Biden also touched on education and providing access to preschool, and stressed his desire to ensure every child “learns to read by third grade.” 

PRO-PALESTINIAN PROTESTERS ATTEMPT TO DISRUPT SOTU NEAR CAPITOL: ‘BIDEN’S LEGACY IS GENOCIDE’

He then went on to tout his student loan cancelation benefit; urge a 25% tax for billionaires; and more. 

All this before addressing the crisis at the U.S. southern border. 

Biden began that section of the speech by blasting Republicans for failing to pass his border bill. 

He invoked Trump, claiming he demanded lawmakers block the bill from passage, and claimed he needed additional “emergency” power from Congress to shut down the border. 

Biden was heckled by GOP lawmakers on the issue, as they urged him to acknowledge 22-year-old nursing student Laken Riley, who was murdered last month, allegedly by an illegal immigrant.

Biden appeared to call Laken Riley “Lincoln Riley,” but said she was “an innocent young woman killed by an illegal.” 

He also said his “heart goes out” to her parents, “having lost children myself.” 

Meanwhile, Biden went on to address LGBTQ+ issues, urging the passage of the Equality Act.

“My message to transgender Americans: I have your back!” Biden said. 

A former White House speechwriter ripped the speech as an “utter disgrace,” and “the most partisan” in modern history.

“Attacking his opponent directly in the first minutes of his speech is unprecedented and perhaps the most partisan start to a State of the Union address in modern memory,” Marc Thiessen, a Fox News contributor and former speechwriter in President George W. Bush’s administration, said during the address. “As someone who helped write several SOTUs and who reveres this important presidential institution, I’m stunned by this address. It’s an utter disgrace.” 

“This man should never be allowed to take the rostrum of the House and deliver a State of the Union address again,” he added.

Meanwhile, the president also declared that the country is “safer today than when I took office.” 

At that moment, he was interrupted by a Gold Star dad, who yelled: “Abbey Gate, Abbey Gate”—in reference to the terrorist attack outside Kabul Airport during the botched U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan. 

Thirteen soldiers were killed in the attack. 

As for national security and U.S. military involvement abroad, Biden directed the U.S. military to “lead an emergency mission to establish a temporary pier” on the Gaza coast that can “receive large ships carrying food, water, medicine and temporary shelters” as the war between Israel and Hamas rages on. 

“No U.S. boots will be on the ground,” Biden said, while demanding that Israel “allow more aid into Gaza and ensure that humanitarian workers aren’t caught in the crossfire.” 

Biden also stressed the need for “stability in the Middle East,” and said his administration is working to contain “the threat posed by Iran.” 

“I’ve ordered strikes to degrade Houthi capabilities and defend U.S. forces in the region,” he said. “As commander-in-chief, I will not hesitate to direct further measures to protect our people and military personnel.” 

Meanwhile, the president said he wants “competition with China, but not conflict.” 

“And we’re in a stronger position to win the competition for the 21st Century against China or anyone else for that matter,” Biden said. 

Ahead of the president’s address, many opponents and even some supporters signaled concern over his age and performance. The address came just weeks after Special Counsel Robert Hur released a damning report, not bringing any charges against Biden, but describing him as a “sympathetic, well-meaning elderly man with a poor memory.” 

Biden, seemingly addressing the issue of age, at 81, said Thursday night that in his career, he’s been told he’s “too young” and “too old.” 

“Whether young or old, I’ve always known what endures. Our North Star. The very idea of America, that we are all created equal and deserve to be treated equally throughout our lives,” Biden said. “We’ve never fully lived up to that idea, but we’ve never walked away from it either. And I won’t walk away from it now.” 

Biden added: “My fellow Americans, the issue facing our nation isn’t how old we are, it’s how old our ideas are.” 

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“Hate, anger, revenge, retribution are among the oldest of ideas,” he said. “But you can’t lead America with ancient ideas that only take us back.” 

Biden said, “to lead America, the land of possibilities, you need a vision for the future of what America can and should be.” 

Biden said he sees a future “where we defend democracy not diminish it,” “restore the right to choose and protect other freedoms not take them away,” “where the middle class finally has a fair shot and the wealthy finally have to pay their fair share in taxes,” and “where we save the planet from the climate crisis and our country from gun violence.”