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The Office of the Inspector General at the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) has released a report that indicates “multiple” agency officials were at odds with the Biden administration over its decision to build a humanitarian pier off the coast of Gaza.

The office released the report on Tuesday, indicating that “multiple USAID staff” initially expressed concern that implementing the pier could potentially undercut broader efforts to persuade Israel to open “more efficient” land corridors that are “proven methods” for transporting aid. However, the report pointed out, “once the President issued the directive, the Agency’s focus was to use [the pier] as effectively as possible.”

Construction of the $230 million pier came at a time when the U.S. was facing pressure from critics to send aid to those living in Gaza due to concerns that famine was setting in. Although aid was being delivered by air, President Biden aimed to enhance support by giving the green light to the pier project. It was a joint effort between Biden’s Department of Defense (DOD) and the U.S. Agency for International Development, which is tasked with distributing foreign aid for the federal government.

But after just about a week of being up and running, the pier began facing issues. Heavy winds and rough sea waters repeatedly broke the pier apart, and officials working to distribute aid faced hostile actors seeking to loot incoming shipments. Ultimately, the pier operated for 20 days before it was shut down on July 17.

BIDEN’S $230 MILLION GAZA PIER QUIETLY SHUTS DOWN; US SENATOR LABELS PROJECT ‘NATIONAL EMBARRASSMENT’

This image shows the floating pier after it was damaged by rough weather in May. (Dawoud Abo Alkas/Anadolu via Getty Images)

Even before the pier was operational, critics worried there were more efficient and cheaper alternatives to both air drops and the pier. Meanwhile, Republicans blasted the move to build the pier as an effort by Biden to win back support from his progressive base.

“I think he’s worried about losing Michigan in November, so he wants to throw [something] … to Muslim-American voters, particularly in Michigan,” Rep. Pat Fallon, R-Texas, a member of the House Armed Services Committee, told Fox News Digital in March, the same month Biden announced plans for the pier. Meanwhile, other Republican critics blasted the move for putting American troops in harm’s way.

Anti-Israel protesters march near the United Center in Chicago during the recent Democratic National Convention. (Fox News Digital/File)

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Fox News Digital reached out to USAID for comment but did not receive a response.

A spokesperson for Biden’s National Security Council, Sean Savett, told Fox News Digital on Wednesday that the temporary pier – despite all its shortcomings – “had a real impact” and was “part of a comprehensive response to the dire humanitarian situation in northern Gaza.”

Savett noted that prior to being shut down, the pier delivered roughly 20 million pounds of food and water that otherwise would not have made it to the war-torn region, which he insisted was “the highest volume of humanitarian assistance that DOD has ever been able to deliver in the Middle East.”

“From the beginning, we said this would not be easy,” Savett said. “We were honest and transparent about the challenges. But the bottom line is that, given how dire the humanitarian situation in Gaza is, the United States has left no stone unturned in our efforts to get more aid in, and the pier played a key role at a critical time in advancing that goal.”

EXCLUSIVE — Republican Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp insists “the road to the White House is going to run through Georgia” and said he is focused on the future, downplaying former President Donald Trump’s tirade against him earlier this month as a “small distraction that’s in the past.”

Kemp, the popular two-term conservative governor of the crucial southeastern battleground state, emphasized in an exclusive national interview with Fox News Digital that “there’s no path for former President Trump to win or any Republican … to get to 270 [electoral votes] without Georgia.”

Kemp, interviewed Tuesday on the eve of Vice President Harris’ two-day bus swing through Georgia, said his state “should be one that we win if we have all the mechanics that we need. And I’m working hard to help provide those in a lot of ways and turn the Republican vote out.”

“It’s my belief that we cannot afford four more years of [President] Joe Biden and Kamala Harris or Kamala Harris and [Minnesota Gov.] Tim Walz, which I think would probably be worse than even Biden and Harris were,” Kemp said.

2024 COUNTDOWN: TRUMP CRISSCROSSING CAMPAIGN TRAIL WITH 10 WEEKS UNTIL ELECTION DAY

Republican Gov. Brian Kemp of Georgia is interviewed by Fox News Digital on June 3, 2024, in Chalmette, La. (Fox News/Paul Steinhauser)

The governor was interviewed a couple of days after Trump praised Kemp in a social media post “for all of your help and support in Georgia, where a win is so important to the success of our Party and, most importantly, our Country.”

“I look forward to working with you, your team, and all of my friends in Georgia to help MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!” the Republican presidential nominee added.

The comments from Trump were a major change of tune when it comes to Georgia’s governor.

For two years after his 2020 election defeat to President Biden, which included a razor-thin loss in Georgia, Trump attacked Kemp for failing to overturn the election results in his state. 

WASH, RINSE, REPEAT: WHY JD VANCE IS CONCENTRATING ON THESE 3 STATES

Trump toned down the criticism in 2022 after Kemp crushed Trump-backed former Sen. David Perdue in the state’s GOP gubernatorial primary.

Earlier this month, Trump went on a 10-minute tirade against Kemp at a rally in Atlanta just blocks from the Georgia State Capitol. Trump blamed the governor not only for failing to overturn the 2020 vote count but also for not stopping a county prosecutor from indicting the former president for his attempts to reverse the results.

Republican vice presidential nominee Sen. JD Vance of Ohio greets former President Trump, the Republican presidential nominee, during a campaign rally at Georgia State University in Atlanta on Aug. 3, 2024. (AP Photo/John Bazemore)

“He’s a bad guy. He’s a disloyal guy. And he’s a very average governor,” Trump said. “Little Brian. Little Brian Kemp. Bad guy.”

Kemp told Fox News, “I’m not sure exactly what happened going into the rally. I’ve seen a lot of different stories and people’s explanations of what happened.”

“To me, that was a small distraction that’s in the past,” Kemp added.

And Kemp said Republicans “need to stay focused on the future. … We need to be telling people why they should vote for us, what we’re going to do to make things better than they are right now. And there’s a host of issues that I think you could contrast Kamala Harris and her record.

“To me, that’s what we need to stay focused on, not some dustup from two or three weeks ago.”

HEAD HERE FOR THE LATEST FOX NEWS POLLING IN 2024 ELECTION

Asked about Trump’s reversal last Thursday, Kemp said, “You have to ask him those questions. I’ve been consistent for really the last couple of years that I was going to support the ticket, whoever our nominee was, in Georgia. That’s exactly what I’m doing, what I have been doing.”

But Trump’s statement came moments after Kemp appeared on Fox News Channel and reiterated to host Sean Hannity that “we need to send Donald Trump back to the White House.”

Asked Tuesday if he and Trump had connected since last week, Kemp said, “I haven’t talked to him.”

“I’ve talked to a lot of other folks, and I think everybody has a good understanding of where everybody is and understands my position has not changed,” Kemp said. “I have been supporting him and the whole ticket in Georgia, and I’m still doing that and will continue to do that through November.”

Republican strategists agree that to recapture Georgia, Trump will need assistance from Kemp’s well-oiled and funded political machine to turn out GOP voters.

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Kemp said he’s “working hard” to “turn the Republican vote out and make sure that we win this state in November.”

“How that looks and how that goes will really be up to kind of how things play out and what states are in play and who’s going where and when,” Kemp added.

“I’ve got other responsibilities in my duties with the Republican Governors Association, traveling around the country helping to raise money to win North Carolina and hold New Hampshire in our column and also helping our legislative races here.”

Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp, right, joins fellow GOP governors at a Republican Governors Association news conference at an oil refinery in Chalmette, La., on June 3, 2024. (Fox News/Paul Steinhauser)

Kemp also acknowledged that he’s asked for legal advice from the state attorney general on whether he can remove from the state election board three conservative members on the five-person panel who championed and passed a controversial set of new rules that mandate extra requirements for county election boards to certify their results.

“We’ve asked the attorney general for an opinion on that on whether this would be an official complaint, if you will, and I’m waiting to hear back. So, I really wouldn’t be able to comment too much on that since we’re asking for legal advice,” Kemp told Fox News.

Trump, who has been charged in Fulton County, Georgia, with election interference, praised the three members for pushing for the new rules and called them “pit bulls fighting for honesty, transparency and victory.”

Georgia Democrats call the new rules a “concerted effort to subvert democracy” and have challenged them, arguing they could delay election certification and spark major disputes.

Max Flugrath, a spokesman for Fair Fight, a Georgia-based voting rights organization founded by 2018 and 2022 Democratic gubernatorial nominee Stacey Abrams, argued that “Gov. Kemp is trying to pass the buck on protecting the integrity of Georgia elections from the illegal actions of the Election Board members.”

“Georgia law does not state what would be a considered a formal complaint in this instance — Kemp is quibbling with language instead of defending Georgia’s voters,” Flugrath claimed.

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

FIRST ON FOX – Heritage Foundation President Dr. Kevin Roberts on Wednesday unveiled a new website created by the conservative think tank that aims to inform Americans about Vice President Kamala Harris’ “dangerously liberal” policy record, as well as a six-figure text campaign targeting independent voters in key swing states. 

The website, dangerouslyliberal.com, summarizes the Biden-Harris administration’s history of what the organization calls “failed liberal policies” on the border, the economy and inflation, energy, diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI), education and parental rights, “government weaponization,” health care and crime. As Roberts explained to Fox News Digital, the website serves as a resource to fill the gap as the Harris-Walz campaign still has yet to roll out a policy website of their own.

“It tells us everything we need to know about the policy record of the vice president, when her campaign is running away from posting any policy prescriptions on their campaign website,” Roberts told Fox News Digital. “And the reason that the vice president is running away from that policy record is because it’s awful. I thought that I would never live through another presidency as disastrous to Americans as Jimmy Carter’s. But the Biden-Harris administration has been even worse, particularly on the economy, on inflation, on energy, on the border, on foreign policy. Our website calls the balls and strikes. It gives Americans sort of the report card on the vice president’s policy record. And the reason she doesn’t want to talk about it is because that policy record is why Americans are suffering.” 

“The best description, just speaking philosophically, of Vice President Harris’s policy record is dangerously liberal. I actually can’t think of a better phrase to describe it,” he added. 

RFK JR. CANNOT REMOVE NAME FROM BALLOTS IN 2 KEY BATTLEGROUND STATES

Vice President Kamala Harris and running mate Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz on the final day of the Democratic National Convention on Aug. 22, 2024 in Chicago. ( Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

The Harris-Walz campaign, meanwhile, is reportedly planning to roll out an ad blitz Wednesday that will run until Election Day in an attempt to tie former President Donald Trump to the Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025. The project has been billed by the conservative think tank as a blueprint for a future Republican administration to restructure many parts of the U.S. government. The Trump campaign has stressed that it is not affiliated with the project, and Trump himself has gone on record saying he does not agree with all of their positions.

Roberts rejected “mischaracterizations” by the Harris-Walz campaign, which he says has been lacking “a real focus on policy, substance.” The Harris campaign website, which includes pages to buy merchandise, donate and get to know the candidate’s background, remains devoid of any policy plans more than a month after she became the Democratic presidential nominee. 

“Taking a step back from our own ideological perspective, we know that Americans on the political left want to have that conversation, too. And even though we might disagree, in fact we do disagree with many Americans on some of these issues, I think what the American republic needs right now is a real policy conversation,” Roberts told Fox News Digital. “So we were sitting back this summer thinking about all the mischaracterizations by the Harris campaign, by the radical left on our policy projects. And while we welcome an intellectually honest conversation, we also know that that hasn’t been happening.”

“So we decided to launch this website, dangerouslyliberal.com, to focus on the vice president’s policy record. And I think that Americans will really welcome that conversation, because they trust the credibility of the Heritage Foundation and calling balls and strikes about what the vice president has done in her position the last few years, and also what people down ballot might do and for U.S. Senate and U.S. House races.” 

The website, which Fox News Digital accessed before its public roll-out, opens on a message, “The Biden-Harris Administration’s policies have resulted in a wide-open southern border, increased illegal immigration, skyrocketing inflation, higher taxes, lower wages, aggressively woke ‘DEI,’ and much more.” 

The Heritage Foundation said the million-dollar effort aims to provide “fact-based, concise, and informational content to educate millions of Americans to shape policy and share ideas.” 

It outlines the president and vice president’s “extreme policy positions related to the unsecured border, mass amnesty and sanctuary policies for illegals, the Green New Deal energy agenda, disastrous economic stances, Medicare For All, and the desire to advance the left’s DEI and CRT schemes,” the think tank said. 

The Heritage Foundation building on July 30, 2024 in Washington, D.C. (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)

The Heritage Foundation said it will also run two six-figure text message and advertising campaigns across multiple platforms to drive website engagement and “further educate the public on the impact of the Biden-Harris Administration’s radical policy and societal viewpoint for America.” The push to appeal to independent votes comes also as independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr, once a dynastic Democrat, announced Friday he was discontinuing his White House bid and endorsing Trump. Kennedy is unable to remove himself from the ballot, however, in the key swing states of Michigan and Wisconsin. 

PROJECT 2025 LEADER STEPS DOWN AMID CRITICISM FROM TRUMP

“It’s fascinating to me that in the span of about 48 hours, the radical left went from trying to keep Mr. Kennedy off the ballot to now fighting to keep him on the ballot and act because of that, and because he does have a real draw, across the spectrum from the center left to the center right. We’ve seen that at Heritage,” Roberts told Fox News Digital. “Heritage really exists to plug that kind of gap, the gap that exists between what DC elites in power tell you that they’re going to do versus what the American people surmise they have done.” 

“And I think the credibility that we have just in terms of being the policy umpire, which we’re often called in DC and pairing that with this dissemination of this website in the swing states will have a real effect on the knowledge base that voters have to make their decision,” he added. “They will make their decision. Ultimately, they’re the ones. The American voters are the ones who will influence the outcome of the election, to state the obvious. This website can be, I think, a very helpful tool as they sit down and look at all of the resources, all of the information at their disposal, to make an informed decision.”

The website includes an explanation and key statistics about Harris’ record on key issues, including how inflation “has grown by 20% since the Biden-Harris administration took office in 2021.” Heritage assesses that Americans have lost an average of $10,000 per household due to high energy costs since the Biden-Harris administration took office. On the border security and illegal immigration, the website states, “Under Border Czar Harris, there have been over 10.3 million total inadmissible alien encounters recorded by the U.S. Border Patrol, and over 85% of these illegal aliens have been released into the United States.” 

Democratic Michigan state Sen. Mallory McMorrow holds up a Project 2025 book during the DNC in Chicago on Monday, Aug. 19, 2024. (David Paul Morris/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

It also provides examples of Harris’ past statements supporting the think tank’s claim that Harris “has been a long-time supporter of letting biological men compete in female sports” and highlights how the Biden-Harris administration’s changes to Title IX added “gender identity” to the list of sex-based protections in federal law, “consequently allowing men into women’s private spaces, athletics, and educational opportunities.” 

“We have to stay woke,” Harris once said, as the site notes. “Like everybody needs to be woke. And you can talk about if you’re the wokest or woker, but just stay more woke than less woke.”

When Project 2025’s leader, Paul Dans, stepped down in June, the Trump campaign released a statement saying, “reports of Project 2025’s demise would be greatly welcomed,” as the then-Biden campaign tried to use the 900-page conservative plan to steer voters away from another Trump administration. Despite this, Democrats at their national convention in Chicago this month further tried to tie Trump to Project 2025. 

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“His explicit intent to jail journalists, political opponents and anyone he sees as the enemy,” Harris told the DNC of Trump. “His explicit intent to deploy our active duty military against our own citizens. Consider, consider the power he will have, especially after the U.S. Supreme Court just ruled that he would be immune from criminal prosecution. Just imagine Donald Trump with no guardrails, and how he would use the immense powers of the presidency of the United States. Not to improve your life, not to strengthen our national security, but to serve the only client he has ever had: himself.

“We know what a second Trump term would look like. It’s all laid out in Project 2025, written by his closest advisers,” she said. “Its sum total is to pull our country back to the past. But America, we are not going back.” 

Fox News’ Alec Schemmel and Brianna Herlihy contributed to this report. 

FIRST ON FOX: House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, is issuing a subpoena for information on the political work conducted by the daughter of New York State Supreme Court Judge Juan Merchan.

Jordan sent a letter to Michael Nellis, the founder and CEO of Authentic Campaigns — a company that’s done political work for top Democratic clients like President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris — accusing him of failing to comply with House investigators’ demands for any and all documents related to the prosecution of former President Trump.

The committee wrote to Loren Merchan, the company’s president and Judge Merchan’s daughter, earlier this month requesting documents in its probe into Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s case against Trump.

Jordan pointed out in his Wednesday letter that Nellis himself rejected that request as well as a subsequent one later in the month.

JORDAN INVESTIGATES DAUGHTER OF JUDGE IN NY V. TRUMP CASE OVER HER WORK FOR KAMALA HARRIS, DEMOCRATS

House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, is issuing a subpoena in his probe of Trump prosecutions. (Getty Images)

“As such, the Committee is left with no choice but to resort to compulsory process,” Jordan wrote. “Popularly elected prosecutors, such as Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, have engaged in an unprecedented abuse of authority by prosecuting a former President of the United States and current nominee for that office. Of relevance to the Committee’s oversight is the impartiality of Judge Juan Merchan, the presiding trial judge, due to his refusal to recuse himself from the case in light of his apparent conflicts of interest and biases.

“One such conflict is Ms. Merchan’s — daughter of Judge Merchan and President of Authentic Campaigns — work on behalf of President Trump’s political adversaries and the possible financial benefit that Ms. Merchan and Authentic Campaigns received from the prosecution and conviction of President Trump.”

Jordan said public reports indicated to him that both Nellis and Loren Merchan were “closely involved in the presidential campaigns of both President Biden and Vice President Harris.”

‘ELECTION INTERFERENCE’: TRUMP LAWYERS CALL FOR DELAYED SENTENCING IN BRAGG CASE

Judge Juan Merchan’s image imposed over a courtroom. (AP)

“During Ms. Merchan’s employment with the Harris campaign, Authentic Campaigns received over $7 million in compensation for its services. You also worked for then-presidential candidate Harris and it appears you continue to do so. Authentic Campaigns conducted work for the 2020 Biden-Harris campaign and, according to public records, was paid just over $2 million in a one-month period for its work,” he wrote.

The subpoena is narrower in scope than Jordan’s previous request for information. His Aug. 1 letter demanded Loren Merchan hand over documents related to any work for Biden and Harris, in addition to any work that refers to Trump’s prosecution or indictment.

Jordan is giving Nellis until Sept. 13 to comply, according to the subpoena viewed by Fox News Digital.

BRAGG DOES ‘NOT OPPOSE’ TRUMP REQUEST TO DELAY SENTENCING; AWAITS JUDGE MERCHAN’S APPROVAL

Nellis reacted to the subpoena in a post on X on Wednesday afternoon, saying the company was “thoroughly reviewing the subpoena with our legal team and will provide updates as soon as we have more information.”

“Let us be clear: these allegations against our company are completely false and purely politically motivated,” Nellis wrote. “This is a blatant attempt to intimidate us and divert attention from Donald Trump’s conviction. We refuse to be bullied, and we will not allow House Republicans or MAGA extremists to spread lies about our work. We remain steadfast in our mission and are deeply grateful for the unwavering support of our friends and family during this time.”

Loren Merchan did work for Vice President Harris, according to Jordan. (Kenny Holston-Pool/Getty Images)

Republicans have accused Judge Merchan of political bias over his daughter’s political work. Trump’s legal team asked Merchan to recuse himself before the trial began, which he did not.

A New York state ethics panel backed Merchan’s decision in a June 2023 decision.

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Jordan argued in his letter, however, “Judge Merchan’s conflicts of interest and biases in the case against President Trump, the Republican nominee in the upcoming 2024 presidential election, implicate serious federal interests.”

“Congress has a specific and manifestly important interest in preventing politically motivated prosecutions of current and former presidents, especially in venues in which real or perceived biases exist. Among other things, if state or local prosecutors are able to engage in politically motivated prosecutions of Presidents of the United States (current or former) for personal acts, this could have a profound effect on how presidents choose to exercise their powers while in office,” the letter said.

Trump was convicted on 34 counts of falsifying business records in relation to claims he paid an adult film actress to keep quiet about their affair — which the ex-president has denied. His lawyers are appealing that ruling in light of the Supreme Court’s July decision fleshing out presidential immunity. 

His sentencing hearing is currently scheduled for Sept. 18.

Fox News Digital reached out to Authentic Campaigns for comment.

Only days after Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. dropped his presidential bid to join forces with former President Donald Trump, Kerry Kennedy announced she will be publicly stumping against the ticket her brother is party to in a key swing state.

Kerry Kennedy has been one of the most outspoken Camelot brethren against RFK Jr’s political quest, calling his endorsement of Trump “set[ting] fire to [their] father’s memory.”

Kerry Kennedy, who was previously married to former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo for 15 years, will be stumping for the Harris-Walz ticket in Arizona.

She plans to join with Dolores Huerta at several appearances in that particular swing state, according to published reports.

RFK JR RESPONDS TO KENNEDY FAMILY DRAMA FOLLOWING ENDORSEMENT OF TRUMP

From left to right, Kerry Kennedy, Andrew M. Cuomo, Ethel Kennedy and Rory Kennedy. (Dimitrios Kambouris/WireImage via Getty)

Huerta, a labor leader credited with the phrase “Si, se puede [Yes, we can]”, had notably joined former Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy Sr. onstage at his tragic June 5, 1968 Los Angeles campaign event; the night he was assassinated.

After meeting with “Republicans for Harris-Walz” in Arizona on Tuesday, Kerry Kennedy called the presidential race “the most consequential election in our lifetimes.”

“Like we’ve known from day one of this race, this will be decided on the margins, and it’s more important than ever to get everyone engaged, not just Democrats, but Republicans and independents, to work together and elect Vice President Harris and Gov. Tim Walz to move this country forward,” she said.

Fox News Digital also reached out to Kerry Kennedy via her organization, Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights, for further comment.

The Harris campaign directed Fox News Digital to a release announcing an Arizona event with Kerry Kennedy.

In a statement, an official for “Arizona Republicans for Harris” said the group welcomed Kerry Kennedy and highlighted her “commitment to bipartisan collaboration and building a better America for all.”

RFK JR WANTS TO QUESTION BIDEN, TRUMP ON $14T DEBT

Kerry Kennedy looks on as President Biden speaks during a campaign event at Martin Luther King Recreation Center on April 18, 2024 in Philadelphia.

Another high-profile Kennedy, Jack Schlossberg – grandson of former President John F. Kennedy – said he has not been surprised by his cousin’s political behavior.

“RFK JR is for sale [and] works for Trump,” Schlossberg wrote on X, formerly Twitter. “Kamala Harris is for the people.”

Other prominent family members, including U.S. Envoy to Northern Ireland Joe Kennedy III and former Maryland Lt. Gov. Kathleen Kennedy-Townsend, have also denounced RFK Jr.’s move to Team Trump.

Amid RFK Jr.’s presidential run earlier this year, brother Joseph Kennedy II said, “we cannot do anything that in any way strips even one vote from President Biden,” according to the New York Post.

“You put the name ‘Kennedy’ on the ballot and Democrats are going to feel torn.”

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Robert F. Kennedy Jr., left, and former President Donald Trump shake hands during a campaign rally at Desert Diamond Arena. (Rebecca Noble/Getty Images)

The Kennedy family did, however, briefly put politics aside and join together in April to celebrate matriarch Ethel’s 96th birthday.

For his part, RFK Jr. has said he understands some of his family opposes his political moves. 

He told “Fox News Sunday” he is grateful to his actress wife Cheryl Hines for continuing to support him despite commenting his Trump endorsement made her “uncomfortable.”

“I wish this also for the country — love and unity even in the face of disagreement. We will need that in coming times,” he said.

Fox News Digital reached out to the Trump campaign for comment.

A police motorcycle escorting Vice President Harris’s motorcade in Savannah, Georgia crashed shortly after departing a restaurant on Wednesday.

In an email by a reporter from The Christian Science Monitor who was part of the vice-presidential pool, the reporter wrote that the motorcade slowed and went around a police motorcycle that had crashed.

One person was on the ground where blood was visible.

“At least one other person was tending to the person on the ground,” the reporter wrote. “There were two motorcycles stopped and one on the ground. It looked like the single motorcycle had lost control, not collided with something else.”

HARRIS LAUNCHES 2-DAY SWING THROUGH CRUCIAL STATE HYPED BY GOP GOVERNOR AS MUST-WIN FOR TRUMP

Vice President and Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris speaks at the Hendrick Center for Automotive Excellence on the Scott Northern Wake Campus of Wake Tech Community College in Raleigh, North Carolina, on August 16, 2024.  (ALLISON JOYCE/AFP via Getty Images)

Fox News received a report from the pool saying, “At 1917 ET, our van drove by what appeared to be a police officer or trooper who sustained a motorcycle injury [,] and another officer or trooper attending to the victim on the ground.”

According to the pool reporter, the motorcade stopped on the highway at 7:20 p.m. and started rolling again at 7:23 p.m., passing a white bus that was part of the motorcade but had since parked on the side of the road.

Fox News Digital has reached out to the White House and Harris’s campaign team for additional information, including the status of the officer involved.

THIS POPULAR GOP GOVERNOR SAYS HIS STATE’S A MUST WIN FOR TRUMP

US Vice President Kamala Harris exits her motorcade to board Air Force Two at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland. (Photo by KEVIN LAMARQUE/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)

Just before the incident, Harris and her running mate, Wisconsin Gov. Tim Walz made a stop at Sandfly BBQ in Savannah, Georgia, where they greeted the owner of the restaurant, employees and some locals.

On Wednesday, Harris and Walz kicked off a two-day bus swing through the southeastern portion of the key battleground state.

The vice president’s message is that Georgia is once again in play in November’s election.

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Georgia has long been a reliably red state in White House elections, and Joe Biden narrowly edged then-President Trump in 2020 to become the first Democrat in nearly three decades to capture Georgia.

Fox News Digital’s Paul Steinhauser contributed to this report.

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

What’s happening…

-Biden may revive fraudulent asylum program

-Kamala gains on Trump in two key polls

-RFK can’t remove his name from ballots in two key states

What’s the Daughter Up to?

FIRST ON FOX: House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, is issuing a subpoena for information on the political work conducted by the daughter of New York State Supreme Court Judge Juan Merchan.

Jordan sent a letter to Michael Nellis, the founder and CEO of Authentic Campaigns – a company that’s done political work for top Democratic clients like President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris – accusing him of failing to comply with House investigators’ demands for any and all documents related to the prosecution of former President Trump.

The committee wrote to Loren Merchan, the company’s president and Judge Merchan’s daughter, earlier this month requesting documents in its probe into Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s case against Trump.

Jordan pointed out in his Wednesday letter that Nellis himself rejected that request as well as a subsequent one later in the month.

“As such, the Committee is left with no choice but to resort to compulsory process,” Jordan wrote. “Popularly elected prosecutors, such as Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, have engaged in an unprecedented abuse of authority by prosecuting a former President of the United States and current nominee for that office. Of relevance to the Committee’s oversight is the impartiality of Judge Juan Merchan, the presiding trial judge, due to his refusal to recuse himself from the case in light of his apparent conflicts of interest and biases.” …Read more

Former President Donald J. Trump and Rep. Jim Jordan (Getty Images)

White House

RED FLAGS: Biden admin may revive asylum program shut down after ‘mass fraud’ …Read more

Capitol Hill

‘HEINOUS’: GOP lawmaker sounds alarm on key reasons why Walz agenda is ‘not good’ for the country …Read more

‘UNDERMINING SAFETY’: Cruz says radical Biden-Harris policy is weakening airport security …Read more

Tales from the Trail

CLOSER THAN EVER: Kamala gains on Trump on two key issues: poll …Read more

TOO LATE: RFK Jr. can’t remove name from ballots in 2 key states, despite backing Trump …Read more

LOOMING: With 9 days until voting starts, ‘election season’ kicks off sooner than you think …Read more

‘HAS TO BE EARNED’: Major pro-life activist warns Trump needs to change ‘his tune’ on abortion …Read more

RATINGS SHIFT: Harris-Trump showdown: top political handicapper shifts ratings in key states …Read more

CAMELOT FRACTURES: Kerry Kennedy stumps for Harris after RFK joins Trump …Read more

Gov. Tim Walz and Sen. Ted. Cruz. (Getty Images) (Getty Images)

Across America

SCHOOLHOUSE ROCKED: Migrant influx leads to MA controversy …Read more

BRING ON THE HEAT: Tim Walz addresses firefighters union …Read more

NEW DETAILS: FBI provides updated timeline of would-be Trump assassin’s activity …Read more

‘DANGEROUSLY LIBERAL’: Heritage Foundation rips Harris policy record with new website, six-figure outreach to independents …Read more

‘SICK AND TIRED’: Florida sheriff blasts DC over border security after illegal immigrants allegedly steal 9K pounds of berries …Read more

‘DEMILITARIZING OUR SCHOOLS’: Harris called for removing cops from schools ahead of 2020’s violence …Read more

‘NATIONWIDE PROBLEM’: Sanctuary city’s policies push violent migrant gang into suburbs …Read more

‘IT WILL COME TO LIGHT’: Trump shooting victims with life-altering injuries seek accountability …Read more

‘VEIL OF SECRECY’: Blue state’s GOP demands transparency from Dem leaders on cost of migrant crisis …Read more

DREAM ON: California Dream for All passes state senate, gives illegal immigrants home purchasing funds …Read more

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

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SAVANNAH, Ga. — Vice President Kamala Harris appears to be making a statement by choosing Georgia for her first campaign trail swing following last week’s Democratic National Convention.

Harris on Wednesday kicked off a two-day bus swing through the southeastern part of the key battleground state accompanied by her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz.

Walz will head off to North Carolina for a Thursday evening fundraiser while Harris plans on “energizing thousands of Georgians at a rally in Savannah,” according to her campaign.

The vice president’s message is that Georgia is once again in play in November’s election.

THIS POPULAR GOP GOVERNOR SAYS HIS STATE’S A MUST WIN FOR TRUMP

Vice President Kamala Harris greets the crowd during her presidential campaign rally in Atlanta July 30, 2024. (Kyle Mazza/Anadolu via Getty Images)

Georgia has long been a reliably red state in White House elections, and Joe Biden narrowly edged then-President Trump in 2020 to become the first Democrat in nearly three decades to capture Georgia.

Fast-forward to this year’s election, and Trump saw his slight edge in the polls in Georgia over Biden grow to a solid single-digit lead after the president’s disastrous performance in their one debate, a late June showdown in Atlanta.

But in the 5½ weeks since the vice president replaced her boss atop the Democrats’ 2024 ticket, polls indicate that it’s once again a margin-of-error race in the Peach State.

A Fox News poll conducted August 23-26 in Georgia indicates Harris with a razor-thin 50%-48% edge over Trump among registered voters. The most recent Fox News poll in Georgia before Biden dropped out of the race indicated Trump topping the president by six points, 51%-45%.

NEW FOX NEWS POLL NUMBERS IN FOUR KEY BATTLEGROUND STATES 

Georgia’s popular two-term conservative governor agrees that his state’s competitive.

“Certainly this is a battleground state,” Gov. Brian Kemp emphasized in an exclusive Fox News Digital interview Tuesday.

“I’ve been saying for a long time that the road to the White House is going to run through Georgia. And there’s no path for former President Trump to win, or any Republican … to get to 270 without Georgia,” Kemp said.

But he added that Georgia “should be one that we win if we have all the mechanics that we need. And I’m working hard to help provide those in a lot of ways and turn the Republican vote out and make sure that we win this state in November.”

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So are the Democrats.

Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic presidential nominee, poses for a photo with supporters at the Savannah/Hilton Head International Airport in Savannah, Ga., Aug. 28, 2024.   (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

“The Georgia Democratic coordinated campaign is running the largest in-state operation of any Democratic presidential campaign cycle, with over 190 Democratic coordinated campaign staff in 24 coordinated offices across the state,” the Harris campaign touted hours ahead of the vice president’s arrival in Savannah.

This is Harris’ second stop in Georgia since taking over for Biden as the party’s standard-bearer. She previously hosted a large rally in downtown Atlanta.

But this time around, Harris is barnstorming through the southern part of the state, far from Atlanta and its growing suburbs, which make up nearly 60% of Georgia’s population. The traditional route for Democrats to win statewide in Georgia is to concentrate on metropolitan Atlanta. 

But Quentin Fulks, who was principal deputy campaign manager under Biden and has remained in that role with Harris, is following the playbook from two years ago when he steered Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock’s narrow re-election victory over GOP challenger Hershel Walker. The strategy is to not only win big in Atlanta and its suburbs, but also to stay competitive in the rest of the state.

“We have to make sure that we are competing everywhere across the state,” Fulks said Tuesday in an interview on MSNBC. “We’re going to continue to run in rural counties. …. We have to be statewide in that state and even compete in counties that Democrats don’t traditionally go. That is how you win statewide in Georgia.”

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The Harris campaign noted that “campaigning in Southeast Georgia is critical as it represents a diverse coalition of voters, including rural, suburban and urban Georgians — with a large proportion of Black voters and working-class families.”

Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris speaks to marching band members at Liberty County High School in Hinesville, Ga., Wednesday, Aug. 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin) (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

The first stop for Harris and Walz was Liberty County High School in Hinesville, where they met with the school’s administrators, faculty, students and stopped in on the school’s marching band rehearsal.

The vice president said she was in band when she was in high school, according to a pool report,  adding “all that practice makes for beautiful music … and that is a metaphor for everything that you will do in your lives”

The Republican National Committee took aim at Harris as her bus tour got underway.

“While our highly engaged and energetic operation in Georgia is focused on turning out votes across the entire state, Democrats in Georgia are finally learning an important lesson…there is more to Georgia than just Atlanta,” RNC spokesperson Morgan Ackley said.

Ackley emphasized that “Republicans from Catoosa to Camden County and everywhere in between are fired up and ready to re-elect President Donald J. Trump because his message of putting America first again resonates with Americans of all backgrounds.”

But the Harris campaign appears to enjoy a large organizational advantage over Trump’s team in Georgia. And Republican strategists agreed that to recapture Georgia, Trump will need assistance from Kemp’s well-oiled and funded political machine to turn out GOP voters.

Former President Trump, right, is joined by his running mate, Sen. JD Vance of Ohio, during at a campaign rally at Georgia State University in Atlanta Aug. 3, 2024. (AP Photo/John Bazemore)

Trump last week praised Kemp as he worked to patch up differences he’s had with the Georgia governor dating back to the 2020 election.

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Kemp on Thursday will join his wife, Georgia first lady Marty Kemp, and former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who served in the Trump administration, to headline a fundraiser in Atlanta for the former president.

“It’s my belief that we cannot afford four more years of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris or Kamala Harris and Tim Walz, which I think would probably be worse than even Biden and Harris were,” the governor argued.

“I believe Republicans need to stay focused on litigating Kamala Harris and Joe Biden’s record. … We need to be telling people why they should vote for us, what we’re going to do to make things better than they are right now.”

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

Longtime multi-generational California resident Faith Lersey, her husband and four kids packed up and moved to South Carolina to become first-time home buyers in May. The cost of owning a home in California was unattainable, so they set their sights elsewhere.

Now, the Golden State’s progressive legislature is advancing a bill that would give illegal immigrants up to $150,000 in first-time homeownership loans — a bill that, if passed and signed into law, would give first-time homebuyers up to 20% of a home’s value or up to $150,000 as down payment assistance.

“That just, that just seems asinine to me,” Lersey, who moved from Los Angeles County, told Fox News Digital in an interview. 

CALIFORNIA CLOSE TO APPROVING $150K LOANS FOR ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS TO HELP PURCHASE HOMES

California Gov. Gavin Newsom looks on during day one of the Democratic National Convention in Chicago on Aug. 19. (Alyssa Pointer/Reuters)

“Why would you assist a population that is undocumented to attain homeownership in a place where citizens who, like me, had been in an area for a long time, a generational history, they are having enough trouble achieving that milestone,” Lersey said. “It just that really makes me want to question where is the motive coming from for that, whose interest is at heart there, and what is the long-term play?”

Lersey added her current home in South Carolina is three times less expensive than the homes she and her husband were contemplating in California. 

CALIFORNIA WOMAN HEAD NEARLY $500K WORTH OF STOLEN GOOD FROM DRUG STORES: POLICE

A view of the California state capitol building in Sacramento on March 13. (Arturo Holmes/Getty Images for National Urban League)

The bill, AB 1840, would require the California Housing Finance Authority’s home purchase assistance program, or California Dream for All Program, to include illegal immigrants’ applications.

The bill cleared the state Senate on Tuesday.

The California Dream for All program passed despite funds running out just 11 days after being instituted in June, which awarded 1,700 first-time homebuyers at the time. Finding more funding for the program was the prime concern in floor debate this week.

Meanwhile, California remains in billions of dollars of debt, and droves of residents have left the state in the last four years, citing a high cost of living.

5 CALIFORNIA TAXES KAMALA HARRIS COULD USE TO CRUSH THE MIDDLE CLASS

A mover moving boxes. (Kurt “CyberGuy” Knutsson)

A spokesman for California’s Department of Finance confirmed to KCRA 3 on Tuesday that the California Dream for All has no money left to supply the program.

The measure comes amid the backdrop of a national election in which immigration has taken center stage, the report notes, with the Trump campaign attempting to tie Vice President Kamala Harris to Biden administration border policies that have proven unpopular with voters.

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California Gov. Gavin Newsom, who has been one of President Biden’s and now Harris’ top surrogates on the campaign trail, has not said whether he will sign the bill into law if it clears the legislature before the Aug. 31 deadline.

Fox News Digital’s Jasmine Baehr and Michael Lee contributed to this report. 

Ohio Sen. JD Vance told battleground state voters that Vice President Kamala Harris is running a “copycat campaign” after her staffers revealed the Democratic presidential nominee was shifting her stance on several key policies, including an electric vehicle mandate.

Vance held a campaign event in Erie, Pennsylvania, Wednesday to deliver remarks on the American trucking industry, energy policy and the economy.

The Republican criticized electric vehicle mandates and claimed Harris wants to “to raise the price of diesel, raise the price of gasoline and have every trucker in this country drive an electric vehicle.” 

Harris led the Electric Vehicle Charging Action Plan in December 2021, an effort to ensure 50% of car sales were electric vehicles by 2030. Additionally, the Biden-Harris administration finalized one of its latest environmental regulations in 2024 to require half of all new car and truck sales to be electric.

HARRIS DODGING FLIP-FLOP ATTACKS AS FACELESS SURROGATES FLIP KEY POSITIONS: ‘PLAYING POLITICS’

Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, the Republican vice presidential nominee, speaks at a campaign event Aug. 27, 2024, in Big Rapids, Mich. (Al Goldis)

Ammar Moussa, the Harris campaign’s rapid response director, wrote in a “fact check email” Tuesday that the vice president “does not support an electric vehicle mandate” despite her past push for more EV sales.

“If you look at her campaign, the past week and half, she pretends that she agrees with Donald J. Trump on every issue. She is running a copycat campaign,” Vance told the attendees.

Staffers for Harris’ campaign announced over the past several weeks the vice president had changed her stance on several other key issues such as fracking, an automatic weapons buyback program, border wall construction and Medicare for all.

HARRIS CAMPAIGN SAYS DEM NOMINEE ‘DOES NOT SUPPORT’ ELECTRIC VEHICLE MANDATE IN ATTEMPT TO FLIP THE SCRIPT

“We have a vice president, Kamala Harris, who wants to be president, who thinks that our truckers, we ought to put them out of business, and that our truckers should all learn computer code,” Vance said in Pennsylvania. 

“If you force all these great truckers to buy electric trucks instead of the trucks they’re currently using, you’re going to make this inflation crisis way worse than it currently is.”

Israeli citizens speak with Fox News Digital about their views on what a Harris presidency would mean for the people of Israel. (Kenny Holston)

The senator added that a Trump-Vance administration would “stop ridiculous job-killing regulations like the EV mandate.”

“We do not have an economy unless American truckers are able to do what they do so well,” he said.

In response to accusations of copying Trump’s policies, a spokesperson for the Harris campaign highlighted several key policy areas where the two campaigns distinctly differ.

Former President Trump, the Republican presidential nominee, speaks at a campaign rally at the Desert Diamond Arena Aug. 23, 2024, in Glendale, Ariz.  (Evan Vucci)

“Unlike Donald Trump and JD Vance, Vice President Harris supports abortion rights instead of ripping them away, cutting middle-class taxes instead of raising them by nearly $4,000 and bringing Americans together instead of dividing them,” the spokesperson said in a statement to Fox News Digital. “Most importantly, she opposes Donald Trump and JD Vance’s dangerous Project 2025 agenda.”

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Vance’s event in Pennsylvania marks the campaign’s latest battleground state stop, one day after he spoke to rural voters in Big Rapids, Mich.

House Republicans are claiming vindication after Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg admitted his company was pressured by the Biden-Harris administration to “censor certain COVID-19 content” during the pandemic.

“For too long, the Harris-Biden admin pressured social media companies to censor Americans’ views online. This was a deliberate abuse of power to stifle free speech,” Rep. Richard Hudson, R-N.C., chair of the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC), the House GOP’s campaign arm, said on X. 

House Majority Whip Tom Emmer, R-Minn., the No. 3 Republican leader, said on the site, “Mark Zuckerberg’s letter to [the House Judiciary Committee] leaves no room for doubt: this was an intentional assault on our First Amendment rights. This abuse of power must end now.”

TRUMP BLASTS META AND GOOGLE AFTER USERS CLAIM COMPANIES CENSORED ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT SEARCHES

Facebook co-founder and Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg sent a letter detailing pressure by the Biden administration on COVID information. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

Zuckerberg wrote to House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, earlier this week that he wished he and his company had been more outspoken about government censorship concerns in 2021.

“Ultimately, it was our decision whether or not to take content down, and we own our decisions, including COVID-19-related changes we made to our enforcement in the wake of this pressure,” the billionaire Facebook founder said. “I believe the government pressure was wrong, and I regret that we were not more outspoken about it.”

Zuckerberg said the administration “repeatedly pressured our teams for months,” though he noted, “We regularly hear from governments around the world and others with various concerns around public discourse and public safety.”

JORDAN PRESSES FTC CHAIR ON ELON MUSK ‘OBSESSION’ AS TWITTER ASKS COURT TO END GOVERNMENT DATA OVERSIGHT

Rep. Richard Hudson, chair of the National Republican Congressional Committee, was among the Republicans speaking out. (Reuters/Mike Segar)

Jordan has been conducting a monthslong investigation into whether the Biden administration colluded with social media companies to suppress free speech, something the White House has pushed back against.

But Republicans now say Zuckerberg’s letter is proof their suspicions were correct.

“Zuckerberg admitted that the Biden-Harris regime pressured him to censor conservative voices. There must be accountability within the federal government,” Rep. Andy Biggs, R-Ariz., wrote on X.

GOP LAWMAKERS INVESTIGATING META’S NEW THREADS PLATFORM OVER POTENTIAL CENSORSHIP

Zuckerberg accused the Biden administration of trying to censor certain COVID-19 information. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File)

Rep. Vern Buchanan, R-Fla., said, “Wow. If it wasn’t glaringly obvious enough already (it was), Zuckerberg is now coming clean and admitting that Facebook censored information at the request of the Biden-Harris WH. It’s time to finally hold Big Tech accountable for their blatant censorship of conservatives.”

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“When confronted with a deadly pandemic, this administration encouraged responsible actions to protect public health and safety,” the White House said of Zuckerberg’s letter Tuesday.

“Our position has been clear and consistent: We believe tech companies and other private actors should take into account the effects their actions have on the American people, while making independent choices about the information they present.”

Fox News’ Kate Sprague contributed to this report.

Republican vice presidential candidate Sen. JD Vance took aim at Vice President Harris for plagiarizing the policies of former President Trump during an event in Michigan on Tuesday, one of several times the 2024 Republican presidential ticket has knocked their Democrat opponent for seemingly copying them.

“Kamala’s advisers are considering adopting all of Donald Trump’s policies. … I’ve heard that for her debate in a few weeks, she’s going to put on a navy suit, a long red tie and adopt the slogan Make America Great Again,” the Ohio Republican said during the remarks.

The remarks came just a few weeks after a similar critique by Trump during a rally in North Carolina, with the former president accusing Harris of waiting on him to release an economic agenda.

“She is waiting for me to announce it so she can copy it,” Trump said of Harris’ economic plans.

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Vice President Harris and former President Trump (AP Photos/File)

The comments come as Harris continues to be dogged by questions about the specifics of her policy positions and her lack of willingness to be interviewed by the press. 

While Harris has begun to roll out more policy proposals, such as providing $25,000 in down payment assistance for first-time home buyers, a few of her ideas on the trail have been remarkably similar to Trump’s.

NO TAXES ON TIPS

During an Aug. 11 rally in Nevada, Harris announced that she would eliminate taxes on tipped wages.

“It is my promise to everyone here when I am president we will continue to fight for working families, including to raise the minimum wage and eliminate taxes on tips for service and hospitality workers,” Harris said during the event in Las Vegas.

But the pledge came almost exactly two months after Trump promised the same at a June 9 event, which was also held in Las Vegas.

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“When I get to office, we are going to not charge taxes on tips,” Trump said at the time. “We’re not going to do it, and we’re going to do that right away, first thing in office, because it’s been a point of contention for years and years and years.”

Trump spent much of the next few months touting the proposal, a fact not lost on the former president when he heard Harris had announced the same thing two months later.

“This was a TRUMP idea – She has no ideas, she can only steal from me,” Trump wrote on Truth Social, arguing that she took the position for “political purposes.”

Vice President Harris (Kenny Holston-Pool/Getty Images/File)

RAISING THE CHILD TAX CREDIT

During an Aug. 11 appearance on CBS’ “Face the Nation,” Vance proposed boosting the Child Tax Credit to $5,000 per child from the current $2,000.

“I’d love to see a child tax credit that’s $5,000 per child,” Vance said. “President Trump has been on the record for a long time supporting a bigger child tax credit, and I think you want it to apply to all American families.”

2024 COUNTDOWN: HARRIS HAS POST-DNC MOMENTUM BUT TRUMP IS BURNING UP CAMPAIGN TRAIL WITH 10 WEEKS LEFT

Sen. JD Vance of Ohio, the Republican vice presidential nominee, headlines a Trump campaign event in Michigan on Aug. 14, 2024. (Fox News/Paul Steinhauser)

Just five days later, on Aug. 17, Harris released an economic plan of her own, part of which called for providing a $6,000 tax credit to parents of newborns and bringing back a pandemic-era boost to the Child Tax Credit, a policy that saw some taxpayers able to qualify for as much as a $3,600 credit instead of the typical $2,000.

FLIP-FLOPS?

Harris has also been accused of “flip-flopping” on other policy positions, taking positions more similar to Trump’s than she previously held.

One major issue Harris has seemingly reversed her position on is fracking, with her campaign announcing last month that the vice president did not support a ban on the oil extraction technique that enjoys broad support in battleground states like Pennsylvania.

But that position was a 180 from her remarks as a primary candidate during a 2019 CNN town hall event where Harris said there is “no question I’m in favor of banning fracking.”

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“And starting with what we can do on day one around public lands. And this is something I’ve taken on in California. I have a history of working on this issue,” Harris said at the time.

Harris has also seemingly disavowed her support for “Medicare for All” and semiautomatic rifle buyback programs, two issues she publicly touted during her failed primary campaign that the current campaign has said she no longer supports.

Harris has also faced accusations of softening her stance on a wall to protect the southern border, with critics pointing to her support for the bipartisan border legislation that would have required unspent funds to be used on continuing construction of the barrier.

Vice President Harris and running mate Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images/File)

“It requires the Trump border wall,” Sen. James Lankford, R-Okla., told Axios as part of a report on the Harris position. “It is in the bill itself that it sets the standards that were set during the Trump administration. Here’s where it will be built. Here’s how it has to be built, the height, the type, everything during the Trump construction.”

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But the Axios report noted that Lankford’s office estimated that roughly $650 million would be used on a wall instead of the $18 billion requested by Trump in 2018, while the Harris campaign argued that the legislation did not include any new money for construction of a physical barrier and only ensured the use of funds appropriated during Trump’s term.

Reached for comment by Fox News Digital, a Harris campaign spokesperson pointed to the vice president’s history of advocating for an expanded Child Tax Credit, including the Biden administration’s American Rescue plan that expanded the credit to $3,600 for children under 6 and $3,000 for children between the ages of 6 and 17.

“Unlike Donald Trump and JD Vance, Vice President Harris supports abortion rights instead of ripping them away, cutting middle class taxes instead of raising them by nearly $4,000, and bringing Americans together instead of dividing them,” the spokesperson said. “Most importantly, she opposes Donald Trump and JD Vance’s dangerous Project 2025 agenda.”

The Biden-Harris administration may be attempting to “Trump-proof” the Department of Justice (DOJ) by hiring permanent appointees to some federal positions, according to findings from a watchdog group’s public records request. 

Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) documents obtained by Protect the Public’s Trust (PPT) and shared with Fox News Digital show the administration is using an “obscure hiring authority” that bypasses normal hiring processes based on merit to secure DOJ positions that could thwart former President Trump’s agenda if he takes office in 2025. 

The Department of Justice (DOJ) is utilizing Schedule A hiring authority to fill hundreds of attorney and judge positions in career civil service roles without competitive selection, the watchdog group noted. 

HARRIS REPEATS DEBUNKED CLAIM TRUMP WANTS TO ‘BAN’ ABORTION DURING FIRST CAMPAIGN RALLY SINCE BIDEN QUIT RACE

Vice President Kamala Harris and President Biden (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

“The foundation of our democracy or our republic is the Constitution, and the Constitution vests decision making authority in the executive branch and the president, and then also in principal and inferior officers in the government agencies, so they are supposed to be representing the people,” PPT founder and former U.S Department of Education worker Michael Chamberlain told Fox News Digital in an interview. 

“The president is elected by the people. Now attempts to fight, whether it comes from career officials inside the government or others outside the government – especially inside the government – to undermine the ability of those principal and inferior officers to make those decisions, that seems to me to be very undemocratic,” he said.

According to the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), while Schedule A is designed to hire individuals with disabilities or for specific roles like chaplains and scientists, it also secures positions beyond the current president’s term. 

JD VANCE VOWS TRUMP WOULD NOT IMPOSE FEDERAL ABORTION BAN, VETO IT IF IT COMES ACROSS HIS DESK

FBI headquarters on July 3, 2023, in Washington, D.C. (Getty Images)

Although federal law restricts Schedule A appointments from being “policymaking or confidential,” they are being used to staff highly “politicized” offices, such as the Environment and Natural Resources Division (ENRD), which plays a key role in advancing the Biden-Harris administration’s environmental policies and ensuring their continuity even under a potential future administration change.

According to the documents, more than 150 attorneys were placed inside the DOJ’s Anti-Trust Division, and more than 100 immigration judges. Immigration judges determine “whether a noncitizen may remain in the United States or must leave the country,” according to the DOJ.

“Until recently, anti-trust enforcement was a relatively technical and non-partisan division. But the Biden-Harris administration’s increasingly aggressive implementation has sparked complaints of politicized enforcement. The administration is also using Schedule A to install immigration judges – again, outside of the normal merit-based system – who will rule on cases of those in a position to benefit from the administration’s immigration policies,” PPT said in a news release.

BIDEN ADMIN REFUSES TO REVEAL NATIONALITIES OF TERROR WATCHLIST MIGRANTS NABBED AT BORDER

Former President Trump speaks at a campaign rally at the Desert Diamond Arena, Friday, Aug. 23, 2024, in Glendale, Arizona. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

Schedule A was also used to hire attorneys for ENRD, which is responsible for enforcing environmental laws pertaining to the administration’s climate agenda, which includes the “collective pursuit of environmental justice,” and upholding the interests of Native American tribes, according to its website.

“The ENRD is a vital office in advancing the Biden-Harris administration’s energy and climate policies, and the placement of Biden-Harris loyalists is a means to defend those policies even if a future Trump (or other) administration seeks to change them,” PPT said.

“We were struck mainly by the magnitude of the hires rather than by any individual names,” Chamberlain said.

Chamberlain added that certain offices, including ATF, the Office of the Inspector General and the Civil Rights Division, denied sharing records under privacy or related exemptions.

Attorney General Merrick Garland testifies before the House Judiciary Committee in June 2024. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

Earlier this year, the Biden-Harris administration made it harder to fire federal workers. 

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Biden deemed the rule to be “a step toward combatting corruption and partisan interference to ensure civil servants are able to focus on the most important task at hand: delivering for the American people.” 

The Office of Personnel Management, the government’s chief human resources agency, implemented new regulations this year barring career civil servants from being reclassified as political appointees, or as other at-will workers, who are more easily dismissed from their jobs. It comes in response to Schedule F, an executive order Trump issued in 2020 that sought to allow for reclassifying tens of thousands of the 2.2 million federal employees and thus reduce their job security protections, according to The Associated Press. 

Fox News Digital did not hear back from the White House by publication deadline. 

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

FIRST ON FOX: Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, is sounding the alarm about the effect the Biden administration’s “open border policies” are having on airport security — alleging that weaknesses in vetting could be putting safety at risk.

“DHS, particularly TSA, must explain how it is responding to the serious ways in which the administration’s open border policies are undermining airport security and Americans’ safety,” Cruz, who is ranking member of the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee, said in a letter to Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.

Cruz has been quizzing various agencies and airports about the effect that migration has had on the safety and security at airports, including the sheltering of migrants at a number of major U.S. airports.

SENATE COMMERCE REPUBLICANS EXPAND PROBE INTO AIRPORTS IN ‘SANCTUARY’ JURISDICTIONS SHELTERING MIGRANTS

Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, on Capitol Hill on Tuesday, March 12, 2024 in Washington, D.C. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)

In this letter to Mayorkas, Cruz highlighted three ways that he says “the administration’s open border policies are weakening airport security…”

He pointed first to the parole processes for Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans and Venezuelans (CHNV), which allows up to 30,000 migrants from those countries to fly into the U.S. via humanitarian parole. The program was recently paused due to large amounts of fraud in sponsor applications. 

He also highlighted data that those being allowed in via the CBP One app, which is used for both CHNV and entrants at the border via parole, nearly 96% of those who got an appointment were approved.

The Republican senator also pointed to a recent DHS OIG report, which faulted parts of the app and its use of data, finding also that it could not access all biometric data.

“Meanwhile, as these unvetted aliens fly into the country, TSA has deployed a significant number of air marshals—who are supposed to be protecting planes in the sky—to assist CBP with administrative tasks at the southern border, a concern I raised with TSA last October,” he said.

ILLEGAL MIGRANTS ARE SLEEPING IN TERMINALS OF BOSTON AIRPORT ON ‘DAILY’ BASIS AS CRISIS OVERWHELMS SHELTERS

He also reiterated his prior concerns about sheltering migrants at airports in Chicago, Boston and New York since the middle of 2023. Separately, he raised concerns about the release of migrants brought to the U.S. by an ISIS-tied group. Eight people with suspected ISIS ties were arrested across the country earlier this year.

“Airports remain an attractive target for anyone looking to harm this country and its citizens,” he said.

Cruz is requesting all documents related to airport security from illegal immigrants, sheltering, vetting or screening of migrants, as well as fraud found in parole programs.

SENATE COMMERCE REPUBLICANS PROBE MIGRANT SHELTERS AT CHICAGO AIRPORTS

He is also seeking documents related to the shelter of migrants at multiple airports, the numbers of migrants flown into airports, and actions taken to remove illegal immigrants from airports.

The letter comes amid a continued debate over the ongoing border crisis. The Biden administration has said it needs more funding and reforms, while arguing that expanded lawful pathways have been successful in reducing numbers at the border.

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Republicans claim that the crisis was fueled by Biden-era policies and the rolling back of Trump-era measures.

Democratic vice presidential candidate Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz spoke to union firefighters and emergency medical personnel on Wednesday in Boston, insisting that Vice President Kamala Harris – not former President Donald Trump – will fight for their rights to collectively bargain, while protecting their pensions and maintaining funding for federal fire fighting resources. 

The event at the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center was hosted by the International Association of Fire Fighters (IAFF), one of the nation’s largest labor unions that represents roughly 350,000 firefighters and emergency medical workers. 

“I can promise you this,” Walz said as he began his address. “When Vice President Harris and I win this election, we’ll have your back just like you’ve had ours this entire time.” Walz went on to describe the current Harris-Biden administration as “the most pro-labor administration in history.” 

Walz insisted that a future President Harris would bolster unions by signing into law the Protecting the Right to Organize Act, which he said would make it easier for workers to collectively bargain. The act also claims to maintain funding for the Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response grant program and protect any attacks on defined benefit pension plans.

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During the address, Walz slammed Trump over his “right to work stance,” insisting Trump and his running mate, Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance, together want to make it harder for workers to collectively bargain.

“Everybody in this room knows ‘right to work’ means right to work for less, right to work more dangerously, right to work for no pensions,” Walz insisted.

KAMALA HARRIS AND TIM WALZ, ENDORSED BY TEACHERS UNIONS, RECEIVE FAILING GRADE FROM SCHOOL CHOICE GROUP

Democratic vice presidential nominee Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz speaks to a union-friendly crowd in Boston, at the International Association of Fire Fighters Convention. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)

“The only thing [Trump and Vance] know about working people is how to take advantage of them, how to not pay them,” the Minnesota governor said. “Every single chance they’ve gotten, they’ve waged a war on workers and their ability to collectively bargain.”

Walz blamed Trump for blocking overtime benefits for workers, opposing efforts to raise the minimum wage, and slashing funding for federal fire service programs. He also sought to link the former president to the conservative nonprofit Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025, which, according to Walz, aims to “screw the middle class.”

“Donald Trump [is] trying to hide from that Project 2025 plan,” Walz insisted. “They’re going to use it.”

DEM GOVERNOR TIES TRUMP TO PROJECT 2025 EVEN THOUGH HE DISAVOWED IT

The Democratic National Committee projects images on Trump Tower in Chicago on the eve of the Democrats’ national convention on Aug. 18, 2024. (DNC)

Walz concluded his address by imploring everyone to tune in to the upcoming debate between Harris and Trump on Sept. 10. He conceded that many people will probably be more interested in “Monday Night Football” but insisted what is said that night will impact people’s retirement, their kids’ educations and the future of the nation’s infrastructure. 

HARRIS PREPS FOR DEBATE WITH GOOGLE LAWYER, CREATING ‘CONFLICT OF INTEREST,’ TRUMP CAMPAIGN SAYS

“When Republicans used to talk about freedom, they meant it. They meant it. Not anymore, these guys over there, they want government to have the freedom to invade every corner of your life, from our union halls, to our kids, schools, even our doctor’s office,” Walz insisted on Wednesday. “The vice president and I, we got a little bit different vision of this.”

Vice President Kamala Harris and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz celebrate their nomination during the final day of the Democratic National Convention at the United Center in Chicago. ( Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

The Democratic vice presidential nominee’s Wednesday trip to the IAFF’s 57th annual convention marked the second time he has visited Beantown in as many weeks.

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FIRST ON FOX: Former President Trump’s shifting stance on some of his abortion policies to attract independents and some disillusioned Democrats could alienate those who helped get him elected in 2016 – his pro-life base. But his growing support from middle-of-the-road voters could make up for it.

“No one owns the pro-life vote,” leading pro-life organization Live Action founder Lila Rose told Fox News Digital in an interview Tuesday. “It has to be earned.”

Rose stirred controversy on X, formerly Twitter, Monday by reposting a clip from Sen. JD Vance’s recent “Meet the Press” interview, where he pledged that a Trump-Vance administration would likely veto a federal abortion ban.

“If you don’t stand for pro-life principles, you don’t get pro-life votes,” Rose said in the post.

JD VANCE VOWS TRUMP WOULD NOT IMPOSE FEDERAL ABORTION BAN, VETO IT IF IT COMES ACROSS HIS DESK

When asked about the post, Rose said that as of now, Trump doesn’t have her vote – and he could be at risk of alienating others in the pro-life movement. She said she hopes she will be able to vote for him come November.

“We’re over two months out of this election, and Trump has changed his position in the past, as everyone knows, and I think that he’s changing it now to support abortion,” Rose said. “Thankfully, the election is not today, and he has two months to change his tune.”

“I hope that Trump changes course,” Rose said. “I think it’s politically foolish and morally wrong what he’s doing. I think he’s not winning any pro-abortion people to his side. Kamala Harris spent an entire week at the DNC cheerleading for the abortion industry to shore up her base, and then President Trump comes out and throws his base under the bus and tries to cheerlead for Kamala’s base.”

REP. MAXINE WATERS DODGES QUESTION ON CONTROVERSIAL ABORTION PROCEDURE

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and former President Trump shake hands during a campaign rally at Desert Diamond Arena on Aug. 23, 2024, in Glendale, Arizona. (Rebecca Noble/Getty Images)

This election cycle, Trump has countered Democratic attacks by stating he would leave abortion access to the states, as determined by the overturning of Roe v. Wade, and opposes a federal abortion ban. The Republican Party also abandoned its long-standing position of advocating for abortion limits in July. However, Trump has remained opposed to late-term abortions.

“President Trump has long been consistent in supporting the rights of states to make decisions on abortion and has been very clear that he will NOT sign a federal ban when he is back in the White House,” Trump-Vance campaign press secretary Karoline Leavitt told Fox News Digital in a statement. “President Trump also supports universal access to contraception and IVF. Contrarily, Kamala Harris and the Democrats are radically out of touch with the majority of Americans in their support for abortion up until birth and forcing taxpayers to fund it.”

NEWSOM DODGES QUESTION ON HARRIS PRICE CONTROLS: ‘SHE HASN’T PUT OUT THE DETAILS’

Former President Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris (Getty Images)

But Rose says the opposition to not supporting a federal ban is precisely the problem, because “the whole point of the pro-life movement politically, is to restrict abortion to save human lives.”

“Increasingly, his platform and his rhetoric is pro-abortion and that should disturb and concern the pro-life movement as it is,” she said.

To earn her vote, she said, Trump would need to champion pro-life laws and oppose Amendment Four – the right to abortion initiative – in Florida.

On Friday, Trump also upset anti-abortion activists when he posted on his Truth Social platform, “My Administration will be great for women and their reproductive rights.” He has also indicated he would not restrict access to abortion prescriptions. 

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Meanwhile, Trump continues to make gains with independents and former Democrats. On Sunday, former presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. endorsed Trump, and a day later, former Democratic Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard also endorsed the former president. Both politicians are now signed on to Trump’s “transition team,” according to the campaign. 

A top non-partisan political handicapper is shifting three key states toward Vice President Kamala Harris in her 2024 election showdown with former President Donald Trump.

The Cook Political Report is moving North Carolina from leans Republican to toss up. The Tar Heel State is one of seven battlegrounds across the country that will likely determine the outcome of the presidential election.

Former President Barack Obama was the last Democrat to carry the state in the race for the White House, in the 2008 election. 

Four years ago, Trump narrowly edged President Biden in the state. However, following Biden’s disastrous debate performance against Trump in late June, the former president saw his lead in North Carolina grow to the mid single digits.

WASH, RINSE, REPEAT: WHY JD VANCE IS CONCENTRATING ON THESE 3 STATES

Vice President Kamala Harris speaks at the Hendrick Center for Automotive Excellence on the Scott Northern Wake Campus of Wake Tech Community College in Raleigh, North Carolina, on Aug. 16, 2024. (ALLISON JOYCE/AFP via Getty Images)

After Biden ended his 2024 re-election bid on July 21, and Harris replaced her boss at the top of the Democrats’ national ticket, the race in North Carolina tightened to a margin-of-error contest.

“Trump hasn’t lost political ground since July; instead it’s that Harris has improved on Biden’s vote share by seven points,” Cook Political Report publisher and editor-in-chief Amy Walter wrote in explaining her ratings shift.

2024 COUNTDOWN: TRUMP CRISSCROSSING CAMPAIGN TRAIL WITH 10 WEEKS UNTIL ELECTION DAY

“In other words, the race is tightening, not because Harris is cutting into Trump’s vote, but because Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents are coming home,” Walter added.

Trump, determined not to let North Carolina slip from his column, has campaigned in the state three times since Biden dropped out of the race five and a half weeks ago. 

Former President Donald Trump speaks behind bulletproof glass during a campaign rally at the North Carolina Aviation Museum & Hall of Fame in Asheboro, North Carolina, on Aug. 21, 2024. (Photo by PETER ZAY/AFP via Getty Images)

Additionally, the Trump campaign outspent the Harris campaign by $8.3 million to run ads in North Carolina since the president dropped out of the 2024 race, according to the national ad tracking firm AdImpact. However, the Harris campaign currently has $30 million in ad reservations in the state, compared to just $7.3 million for the Trump campaign.

GOP GOVERNOR SAYS TRUMP NEEDS TO CARRY HIS STATE TO WIN WHITE HOUSE

The Cook Political Report now joins another leading non-partisan political handicapper, Sabato’s Crystal Ball at the University of Virginia’s Center for Politics, in classifying North Carolina as a toss up.

Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump. (AP Photos)

Walter also made a shift in two competitive presidential election states that the Democrats have reliably won for decades, moving Minnesota and New Hampshire from lean Democrat to likely Democrat.

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In the weeks after the Biden-Trump debate, polls indicated Trump making gains in Minnesota – where the GOP has not carried the state in a presidential election in over a half century, and New Hampshire, which the Democrats have carried in five straight White House contests.

However, Walter said that “Harris has been able to reconstitute and energize the Democratic coalition…taking states like Minnesota and New Hampshire out of reach for the Trump campaign.”

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

Former President Donald Trump’s edge over Vice President Kamala Harris on the topics of crime and economic policy is slipping, according to a new poll. 

The latest Reuters/Ipsos poll, released on Tuesday, shows Trump now maintains a slim 3% lead against Harris on employment and economic issues — 43% against Harris’s 40%. 

In late July, Trump was leading Harris on economic issues by 11 points in the same poll.

2024 COUNTDOWN: HARRIS HAS POST-DNC MOMENTUM BUT TRUMP IS BURNING UP CAMPAIGN TRAIL WITH 10 WEEKS LEFT

Democratic presidential candidate U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris waits to speak at a campaign rally at United Auto Workers Local 900 in Wayne, Michigan. (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)

The gap is closing between the candidates on other key issues as well.

Trump and Harris are now tied at 40% on the issue of tackling crime and corruption.  Last month, Trump led Harris by 5 percentage points on the issue. 

The margin of error for the August poll is +/- 4%, meaning even Trump’s economic policy advantage is too close to be considered a solid lead.

CURRENT POLLS ACTUALLY SHOULD GIVE HARRIS BACKERS REASON TO WORRY ABOUT HER CHANCES: DEM STRATEGIST

Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump speaks at a campaign rally at the Desert Diamond Arena in Glendale, Arizona. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

Political operatives and pollsters are working desperately to build a reliable model of U.S. voters heading into the November presidential election, but accuracy remains a concern following 2016 and 2020.

Democratic pollsters also fear the prospect of another polling error, even though several of the party’s top firms got together in an attempt to diagnose the problem after the two past elections.

“Every year, we’ve had different curveballs. This is a difficult industry,” John Anzalone, the lead pollster on Biden’s 2020 campaign, told Politico. “Something’s gonna happen in 2024. You and I, right now, don’t know what that is.”

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Rolls of “I Voted” stickers are stored at the Maricopa County Tabulation and Election Center (MCTEC) ahead of the 2024 General elections in Phoenix, Arizona. (PATRICK T. FALLON/AFP via Getty Images)

While Trump won in 2016 and failed to win re-election in 2020, the former president greatly outperformed his polling numbers in two close elections — a fact that is not lost on Democrats heading into the last stretch of 2024.

The Reuters/Ipsos poll was conducted between Aug. 23 and Aug. 25. The group surveyed 1,028 adults, 902 of whom were registered voters.

The poll has a margin of error of +/- 4%.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. cannot remove himself from the ballot in the two key battleground states of Michigan and Wisconsin, despite discontinuing his independent run for president and the dynastic Democrat endorsing former President Trump days ago. 

Kennedy will remain on the ballot in Michigan as a candidate for the Natural Law Party, which nominated him for president during their convention this year. 

“Minor party candidates cannot withdraw, so his name will remain on the ballot in the November election,” Cheri Hardmon, senior press secretary for Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, said in a statement to NBC News. 

The Wisconsin Elections Commission, meanwhile, voted Tuesday to keep Kennedy on the presidential ballot, despite his request to be removed, and also rejected a Democratic attempt to oust independent candidate Cornel West. A move by Democratic elections commissioners to keep Green Party candidate Jill Stein off the ballot also failed. 

TRUMP ADDS RFK JR., TULSI GABBARD TO HIS TRANSITION TEAM AS HE RECRUITS SUPPORTERS ‘ACROSS PARTISAN LINES’

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and former President Donald Trump shake hands during a campaign rally at Desert Diamond Arena on Aug. 23, 2024 in Glendale, Arizona. Kennedy announced that he was suspending his presidential campaign.  (Rebecca Noble/Getty Images)

Trump added Kennedy and former Democrat Tulsi Gabbard to his transition team on Monday. 

Kennedy’s campaign sent the Wisconsin Elections Commission a letter dated Friday asking that his name be removed from the ballot. 

Although Kennedy has said in his speech formally dropping out of the race Friday that he would try to remove his name from the ballot in battleground states where his candidacy could be a spoiler, he added that he wasn’t formally ending his bid and said his supporters could continue to back him in the majority of states, whether red or blue, where they are unlikely to sway the outcome.

“In about 10 battleground states where my presence would be a spoiler, I’m going to remove my name, and I’ve already started that process and urge voters not to vote for me,” Kennedy said. “Our polling consistently showed by staying on the ballot in the battleground states, I would likely hand the election over to the Democrats, with whom I disagree on the most existential issues.” 

Republican members of the commission in Wisconsin pushed to grant Kennedy his wish to no longer be on the ballot after he suspended his campaign last week and endorsed Trump. The commission was deadlocked under opposition from Democrats, who pointed to Wisconsin state law that says once a candidate has filed for office, they must remain on the ballot unless they die.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. listens during a campaign rally for former President Donald Trump at Desert Diamond Arena on Aug. 23, 2024, in Glendale, Arizona.  (Rebecca Noble/Getty Images)

RFK JR RESPONDS TO DRAMA WITHIN KENNEDY FAMILY, WIFE’S DISCOMFORT AFTER TRUMP ENDORSEMENT

“We know Trump and Kennedy are playing games,” Democratic elections commission member Mark Thomsen said, according to the Associated Press. “Whatever games they’re playing, they have to play them with Kennedy on the ballot.”

“The statute literally says, ‘Any person who files nomination papers and qualifies to appear on the ballot may not decline nomination. The name of that person shall appear upon the ballot except in case of death of the person,'” Ann Jacobs, the chair of the commission, said, according to video of the proceedings published by the nonprofit public affairs network known as the WisconsinEye. 

“You’re giving me this touchy-feely: ‘I feel like this shouldn’t be the law.’ The law in this case is crystal clear,” she added. “I don’t disagree with you — it’s weird, but I don’t see we have any discretion here.” 

Former presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. gives remarks at the Renaissance Phoenix Downtown Hotel on Aug. 23, 2024, in Phoenix, Arizona. (Rebecca Noble/Getty Images)

Republican commissioner Don Millis said he struggled with the state law requiring candidates to be on the ballot once they have filed. After his motion to remove Kennedy failed on a 3-3 vote, Millis and one other Republican commissioner sided with all three Democrats in voting to place Kennedy, West and Claudia De la Cruz of the Socialism and Liberation Party on the ballot as independents.

Ultimately, the commission approved eight presidential candidates for the ballot in Wisconsin: Democrat Kamala Harris; Republican Donald Trump; Randall Terry of the Constitution Party; Chase Oliver of the Libertarian Party; De la Cruz, Kennedy, West and Stein.

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The presence of independent and third party candidates on the ballot could be a key factor in a state where four of the last six presidential elections have been decided by between 5,700 votes and about 23,000 votes.

The Associated Press contributed to this report. 

The clock is ticking for Vice President Kamala Harris to schedule the formal interview she and her team promised would happen before the end of the month.

After formally receiving the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination, Harris told reporters on the tarmac in Detroit earlier this month that she wanted to schedule her first formal interview as the party’s nominee before the end of August. Meanwhile, the exact date, time, place and media outlet that will be conducting the interview has remained a mystery, even as Harris’ self-imposed deadline quickly approaches.

With only four days left this month, questions about the interview have been prevalent inside the beltway. Some of those questions include who on the Harris campaign is making the final interview decision, what kind of message Harris will try to send and who will be the figurehead posing the questions to her.

SPECULATION GROWS AS KAMALA HARRIS’ FIRST INTERVIEW AS CANDIDATE STILL UNSCHEDULED WITH SEPTEMBER APPROACHING

Vice President Kamala Harris sits for an interview with late night talk show host Seth Meyers in 2022.

Harris campaign staffers have reportedly been asking journalists who they think the vice president should talk to, according to Politico. The outlet indicated CBS’ Norah O’Donnell and NBC’s Lester Holt were among the frontrunners. There has also reportedly been internal disagreements over how Harris should approach the interview.

With less than a week remaining for Harris to get something on the calendar, some journalists have begun weighing in on the process.

“I understood why Kamala Harris wasn’t doing interviews before – she was getting her policy proposals hammered out behind the scenes before the convention. But now there are no more excuses. She needs to do interviews, a lot of them. We’re picking a president here. It’s important,” said political commentator Cenk Uygur, host of The Young Turks, which describes itself as “America’s largest online progressive news network.”

“The fact that there is so much internal turmoil over doing A SINGLE INTERVIEW is itself deeply revealing,” conservative columnist Marc Thiessen wrote Tuesday morning on X, formerly Twitter. “This is not a ‘big decision.’ It exposes their lack of confidence in her and is making something that should be routine into a high stakes event.”

ON DODGING THE MEDIA, KAMALA HARRIS ‘OWES RESPONSES’ TO THE AMERICAN PUBLIC, SAYS CAMPAIGN ADVISOR

While the pressure on Harris to do an interview is getting greater by the day, some of her supporters have urged her to continue dodging the media. Rick Wilson, former GOP strategist and co-founder of the anti-Trump Lincoln Project, said last week that Harris “has no f—ing necessity to do interviews right now.”

Andrew Ross Sorkin interviews Vice President Kamala Harris during the New York Times’ annual DealBook summit in November 2023. (Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)

The same opinion was echoed by legendary Hollywood director Quentin Tarantino, who told talk show host Bill Maher last Sunday that “sometimes it’s just about f—ing winning.”

“I’m going to vote for her f—ing anyway, no matter what she says in the stupid f—ing interview, so don’t f— s— up,” Tarantino added.

QUENTIN TARANTINO TELLS KAMALA HARRIS TO CONTINUE DODGING INTERVIEWS UNTIL ELECTION: ‘DON’T F— S— UP’

HBO talk show host Bill Maher and legendary Hollywood director Quentin Tarantino (HBO | Getty Images)

Harris has been utilizing a lighter than normal schedule since the Democratic National Convention concluded last week, according to Politico, which reported Harris has been using the time to prepare for her upcoming Sept. 10 debate and map out her future media strategy.

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Fox News Digital reached out to both the Harris and Trump campaigns for comment. The Harris campaign did not provide a response, but the Trump campaign directed Fox News Digital to a Tuesday press release it put out, which called out Harris for going 37 days without an interview.

“Kamala is dodging the press for a reason,” the press release stated. “She doesn’t want to talk about her radical agenda.”