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Vice President Kamala Harris spoke with reporters for the first time Thursday since becoming the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee nearly three weeks ago.

She talked to the media on the tarmac at Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport after a campaign event in Michigan and after former President Trump held a lengthy news conference at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida Thursday afternoon.

Harris responded to criticism about not doing a formal press conference or a wide-ranging interview since she became the presumptive nominee.

“I’ve talked to my team. I want us to get an interview scheduled before the end of the month,” Harris said.

18 DAYS: KAMALA HARRIS HAS NOT HELD A PRESS CONFERENCE SINCE EMERGING AS PRESUMPTIVE DEMOCRATIC NOMINEE

Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic candidate for president, speaks to members of the press before departing from Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport in Detroit Thursday. ( Alex Wong/Getty Images)

The vice president also touched on an agreement with Trump to conduct at least one presidential debate prior to Election Day Nov. 5.

“Well, I’m glad that he’s finally agreed to a debate on Sept. 10,” she said, adding she would be willing to schedule additional debates with the former president. 

Trump said on Thursday that he would participate in a trio of debates on Fox News Channel, NBC and ABC next month.

JD VANCE ROASTS HARRIS ON WISCONSIN TARMAC FOR AVOIDING PRESS, CALLS AIR FORCE 2 HIS ‘FUTURE PLANE’

Trump previously indicated he may not agree to the ABC debate, originally set with President Biden before Harris replaced him as the Democratic presidential candidate nearly three weeks ago.

“I am beyond trying to speculate about how he thinks,” Harris said when asked about Trump backing out of the debate.

Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic presidential candidate, greets audience members at a campaign rally at United Auto Workers Local 900 Thursday, in Wayne, Mich. (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)

Harris also addressed Republicans who questioned Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz’s military record after she named him her running mate Tuesday.

“Listen, I praise anyone who has presented themselves to serve our country,” she said. “And I think that we all should.”

The controversy came after Republicans accused Walz of engaging in “stolen valor garbage” with respect to his military credentials.

Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Trump are expected to debate next month. (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images/Brandon Bell/Getty Images)

Harris’ stop at the tarmac came after Trump attacked the vice president for not taking on-the-record questions from reporters on the campaign trail since becoming the presumptive Democratic nominee. 

“Kamala refuses to do interviews because her team realizes she is unable to answer questions, much like Biden was not able to answer questions, but for different reasons,” Trump posted on Truth Social.

She also failed to appear at the National Association of Black Journalists’ convention in Chicago, where former President Trump made headlines last week for a question-and-answer session.

Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic presidential candidate, waves as she boards Air Force Two prior to a departure from Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport in Detroit. ( Alex Wong/Getty Images)

Harris has gone 18 days without holding a formal press conference since emerging as the presumptive nominee last month. President Biden endorsed her July 21 when he suspended his re-election campaign.

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Since then, Harris has been traveling across the U.S. on the campaign trail and giving informal remarks.

The Harris campaign did not immediately return Fox News Digital’s request for comment. 

The Harris campaign has altered its biography of Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz on its campaign website, making a change to a reference to his military service amid ongoing scrutiny of the 2024 Democratic vice presidential nominee’s military credentials.

Walz’s biography initially said he was a “retired Command Sergeant Major.” 

It has since been updated to say that he “served as a command sergeant major.”

Vice President Kamala Harris announced Walz as her running mate on Tuesday, setting off a series of attacks over his background as Minnesota’s governor, a lawmaker and a member of the National Guard for nearly 25 years.

VETERAN WHO SERVED IN TIM WALZ’S BATTALION ADDRESSES STOLEN VALOR ACCUSATIONS: ‘FAR DARKER THAN PEOPLE THINK’

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz has come under scrutiny over his military service in the National Guard. Walz in his National Guard uniform, right. (Fox News)

When Walz left the Guard, he had achieved the rank of command sergeant major, but he was reduced in rank months after retiring, leaving him as a master sergeant. National Guard officials have said that he retired before fulfilling requirements for the position, including coursework at the U.S. Army Sergeants Major Academy. The subsequent lower rank was due to benefit requirements and a technicality.

However, Republicans have accused Walz of engaging in “stolen valor garbage.”

“Do not pretend to be something that you’re not,” Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, and former President Trump’s running mate, said this week. Vance is a Marine Corps veteran.

“I’d be ashamed if I was saying that I lied about my military service like you did,” he said.

Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic presidential candidate, and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, the Democratic vice presidential candidate, appear on stage together during a campaign event at Girard College in Philadelphia on Tuesday. (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)

Vance accused Walz of having dropped out of the National Guard to avoid serving in the Iraq War.

JD VANCE ACCUSES TIM WALZ OF ‘LYING’ ABOUT MILITARY SERVICE: ‘STOLEN VALOR GARBAGE’

“As a Marine who served his country in uniform when the United States Marine Corps, when the United States of America asked me to go to Iraq to serve my country, I did it. I did what they asked me to do, and I did it honorably,” he said. “When Tim Walz was asked by his country to go to Iraq, you know what he did? He dropped out of the Army and allowed his unit to go without him, a fact that he’s been criticized for aggressively by a lot of the people that he served with.” 

However, the Minnesota National Guard told Fox News that Walz’s unit was not given deployment orders to Iraq until July, and he had submitted retirement papers five to seven months prior to his retirement in May 2005.

Army Lt. Col. Ryan Rossman, the Minnesota National Guard’s director of operations, also explained Walz’s rank at the time of his retirement in a statement to Fox News.

“He was technically a command sergeant major when he deployed to Europe with his battalion but to retire as a CSM you have to go through a final course, which he had not completed. So, from a benefits perspective, the Army retired him as a master sergeant (lower enlisted rank). But, according to National Guard records, he was a command sergeant major technically when deployed. The lower rank was as a result of benefit requirements and a technicality.”

Vance noted comments from Walz on gun control, saying the governor had used his military history in an attempt to push gun restrictions.

“He said, ‘We shouldn’t allow weapons that I used in war to be on America’s streets.’ Well, I wonder, Tim Walz, when were you ever in war? When was this? What was this weapon that you carried into war, given that you abandoned your unit right before they went to Iraq? And he has not spent a day in a combat zone? What bothers me about Tim Walz is the stolen valor garbage,” Vance said.

The Harris campaign has defended Walz’s record.

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“After 24 years of military service, Governor Walz retired in 2005 and ran for Congress, where he chaired Veterans Affairs and was a tireless advocate for our men and women in uniform. And as vice president of the United States, he will continue to be a relentless champion for our veterans and military families,” the campaign said this week.

Fox News’ Jennifer Griffin, Jeffrey Clark and Anders Hagstrom and The Associated Press 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…

-Harris’ role in Afghan withdrawal remains mystery…

-Harris takes +4 lead over Trump in new poll…

-What are Walz’ views on Israel…

Punch for Punch

Standing in front of over 15,000 supporters packed into an airport hanger at the airport in Detroit, Michigan, Vice President Kamala Harris proclaimed that “this election’s going to be a fight.”

“We like a good fight,” added Harris, who rose to the top of the Democratic Party’s 2024 ticket two and a half weeks ago after President Biden suspended his re-election bid and endorsed his vice president as his successor.

Hours earlier, Trump aimed to paint Harris and Walz as ultra-liberals as he called into Fox News’ “Fox and Friends” for an interview.

“You know, nobody knew how radical left she was, but he’s a smarter version of her, if you want to know the truth,” Trump claimed in his Wednesday interview. “He’s probably about the same as Bernie Sanders. He’s probably more so than Bernie Sanders.” And the former president argued that “this is a ticket that would want this country to go communist immediately, if not sooner.” …Read more

Former President Trump is ready to debate Vice President Kamala Harris.  (Photographer: Dustin Chambers/Bloomberg via Getty Images | Photographer: Hannah Beier/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

White House

‘LAST PERSON IN THE ROOM’: Harris’ role in Afghanistan withdrawal remains a mystery despite close proximity to Biden …Read more

Capitol Hill

DC IS NO MARGARITAVILLE: Summer on Capitol Hill explained by ‘yacht rock’ …Read more

QUESTIONABLE CONTRIBUTIONS: House GOP demands FEC probe ‘potentially illegal’ ActBlue fundraising as Dem platform hauls Harris millions …Read more

Tales from the Trail

GAINING GROUND: A new poll shows that Harris has taken a 4-point lead over Trump among likely voters …Read more

‘PERFECT PICK’ FOR HARRIS: Mike Pence’s think tank reacts to Walz as Democratic VP nominee …Read more

REVISED OPINION: Trump is now criticizing Gov. Tim Walz for his response to 2020 riots despite praising him at the time …Read more

HEARTLAND: Walz doesn’t move needle with rural voters, data shows …Read more

HARRIS’ HONEYMOON: Kamala Harris enjoys a favorability bump in 3 battleground states: forecasters …Read more

‘STARK CONTRAST’: Trump to stage Mar-a-Lago press conference as Harris avoids media …Read more

THE FAVORITE: Walz pick moves Harris into betting lead for the first time …Read more

BACKTRACKING?: Harris campaign response to Israel arms embargo speculation …Read more

A NEW VP: What are Walz’s views on Israel? …Read more

‘NEVER WENT TO WAR’: Walz ripped after touting he wants to ban guns he ‘carried in war’ …Read more

DETROIT, MICHIGAN – AUGUST 07: Democratic vice presidential candidate Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz speaks during a campaign event on August 7, 2024 in Detroit, Michigan. Kamala Harris and her newly selected running mate Tim Walz are campaigning across the country this week. (Photo by Andrew Harnik/Getty Images) (Andrew Harnik)

Across America

‘LAUGHABLE’: Republican attorneys general are suing the Biden-Harris administration to prevent free health care to DACA recipients …Read more

BREAKING NEWS: Pennsylvania police release bodycam from Trump assassination attempt …Read more

‘VERY SIMILAR’: Walz in 2010 appeared to endorse Social Security plan for raising retirement age …Read more

CAUSE OF DEATH REVEALED: Coroner shares how Trump assassination attempt victim died …Read more

DEADLY SIGHT: Police to release bodycam video of officer confronting Trump shooter …Read more

HONING HIS SHOT: Records show lengths would-be Trump assassin went to prepare …Read more

‘WE DON’T PLAY GAMES’: Youngkin codifies all paper ballots as part of Virginia election security protocol …Read more

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

Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more on FoxNews.com.

The 2024 presidential race is a “complete contrast campaign” pitting former President Trump’s record against Vice President Kamala Harris’, senior Trump campaign officials said Thursday, while stressing that the new Democrat ticket is “dangerously liberal,” but that “the fundamentals of the race are the same.” 

“Democrats say, ‘We can’t go back,’ but many Americans like the idea of no inflation, affordable food and gas, and low mortgage rates,” a Trump campaign official said. “Hire Trump, Fire Kamala.” 

TRUMP SAYS BIDEN HAD THE ‘RIGHT TO RUN,’ BUT DEM PARTY ‘TOOK IT AWAY’

The campaign official said Trump is the “change” and Harris is the “status quo.” 

The Trump campaign said Harris is going to make an effort to separate herself from Biden. 

“We’re in a suspended reality for a few weeks,” an official said. “It is like Harris has never met Joe Biden and like she has no responsibility for what happened in the administration. But that is not what the voters think.” 

The official added: “But nothing has changed. The fundamentals of the race are the same.” 

The campaign also blasted Harris’ pick of Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, saying he “reinforces the narrative that Harris is a dangerous liberal.” 

“When they start talking about ‘equal outcomes,’ they are essentially talking about communism,” a campaign official said. 

Meanwhile, as the campaign turns into the general election cycle, former President Trump is focused on continuing his efforts to persuade new voters in battleground states—specifically by delivering messages that present the contrasting records and policy stances between Trump and Harris. 

TRUMP STAGES MAR-A-LAGO PRESS CONFERENCE IN ‘STARK CONTRAST’ WITH HARRIS AS SHE AVOIDS MEDIA

Trump campaign officials said they are focused on advertising, direct mail, texting and calling new and traditional Republican voters and more. 

The Trump campaign said that it has made more than 150 million direct voter contacts with prospective voters so far and has mobilized through its “Trump Force 47” effort. 

Fox News Digital first broke the campaign’s “Trump Force 47” grassroots effort to recruit new voters. 

The program, which the campaign says is focused on mobilizing “highly targeted voters in critical precincts across the battleground states and districts,” has already engaged tens of thousands of volunteers. 

TRUMP CAMPAIGN TOUTS ‘TRUMP FORCE 47’ GRASSROOTS RECRUITMENT EFFORT 100 DAYS OUT FROM ELECTION DAY

“Trump Force 47 is highly effective, because it takes traditional voter contact tactics a step further by equipping voters with the skills to persuade their neighbors to vote for President Trump,” Trump campaign national press secretary Karoline Leavitt told Fox News Digital last month. 

The campaign told Fox News Digital that “Trump Force 47” builds on its early-state primary strategy of organizing volunteers at the precinct level, where each volunteer works to attract several specifically targeted voters. 

Former President Trump said he is ready to debate Vice President Kamala Harris.  (Photographer: Dustin Chambers/Bloomberg via Getty Images | Photographer: Hannah Beier/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

The “Trump Force 47” website says it is “the official army of volunteer neighborhood organizers working together to defeat Kamala Harris and the far-left liberal democrats.” 

Potential volunteers can sign up to target voter outreach in their own neighborhoods, call targeted voters, sign up for poll watching, be a “Trump Captain; host a “Trump House Party,” or deliver yard signs to neighbors. 

The Trump campaign said that economic concerns and the border are the issues that drive voters. 

“They are far more sour on the economy,” an official said. “They are more pessimistic about their overall personal finances.” 

As for campaign cash, a senior campaign official said the former president has $327 million cash-on-hand. 

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“We never thought we’d have more than Democrats, but we have enough to do what we need to do,” a campaign official said, adding that they “imagine the Harris honeymoon ends soon.”  

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in a new interview with Time Magazine, apologized for the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas terrorists happening on his watch, and warned that the country now faces a “full-fledged Iranian axis.”

Netanyahu had been prime minister for almost a year when Hamas terrorists launched the attack on southern Israel that left 1,200 people dead and hundreds more taken as hostages in Gaza. 

In an interview conducted on Aug. 4 at the prime minister’s office in Jerusalem, Time asked Netanyahu whether he would apologize for the Oct. 7 attack, noting his 17-year cumulative political career has been built on the argument that he is the best leader to ensure Israel’s safety.  

“Apologize?” Netanyahu asked. “Of course, of course. I am sorry, deeply, that something like this happened. And you always look back and you say, ‘Could we have done things that would have prevented it?’”

ISRAEL ISSUES MESSAGE TO LEBANESE CITIZENS AMID REPORTS OF POTENTIAL PREEMPTIVE STRIKE ON HEZBOLLAH

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addresses a joint meeting of Congress at the U.S. Capitol on July 24, 2024, in Washington, D.C.  (Kent Nishimura/Getty Images)

Ten months after what amounted to the deadliest attack on Jews since the Holocaust, the Biden administration has increasingly grown frustrated with Netanyahu for failing to deliver a plan to end the war and get the more than 100 hostages still held by Hamas home. 

Israel now faces more fronts – in the north with Hezbollah in Lebanon, in the Gulf with the Houthis in Yemen – and now is bracing for an aerial assault from its main enemy, Iran. 

“We’re facing not merely Hamas,” Netanyahu told TIME. “We’re facing a full-fledged Iranian axis, and we understand that we have to organize ourselves for broader defense.”

According to a July poll by Israel’s most watched television station, 72% of Israelis believe Netanyahu should resign now or after the conflict ends. 

Critics, including former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak, have accused Netanyahu of prolonging the war to further his own political ambition. 

“Netanyahu is focused on his longevity in power more than the interests of the Israeli people or the State of Israel,” Barak told Time. “It will take half a generation to repair the damage that Netanyahu has caused in the last year.” 

Netanyahu argued that Israel must demolish every element of Iran’s “axis of resistance” in the region to ensure that Israel is never subjected to future massacres and that Hamas can no longer lay claim to Palestinian territories.

“Being destroyed has bigger implications about Israel’s security,” Netanyahu told Time, describing the war as existential. “I’d rather have bad press than a good obituary.”

Netanyahu delivered a speech to Congress in Washington, D.C., on July 25 to rally support from Israel’s closest ally, but nearly 130 Democrats and Vice President Harris declined to attend. 

“I don’t think that the much-reported erosion of support among some quarters of the American public is related to Israel,” Netanyahu told Time. 

“It’s more related to America,” he added, referencing a Harvard-Harris survey in January showing that 80% of respondents supported Israel, while 20% supported Hamas. 

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Chief of the General Staff of the Israel Defense Forces Herzi Halevi and Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant at an operations center in Jerusalem on July 20, 2024. (Israeli Prime Minister’s Office / Handout /Anadolu via Getty Images)

EXPECT IRAN’S RESPONSE TO EXTEND BEYOND THE MIDDLE EAST: ROBERT GREENWAY

“There’s a problem that America has,” Netanyahu said, noting a significant amount of support for a terrorist organization. “It’s not a problem that Israel has.”

The Biden administration and former President Trump have both expressed a desire for the war to end. Netanyahu has noted in the past that Israel did not start the war, but must be able to end it for its future security.

When U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken flew to Tel Aviv earlier this year, he reportedly told Netanyahu to bring the war to a close, because Israeli forces had already ensured that another Oct. 7 couldn’t happen again. Netanyahu reportedly replied that wasn’t his objective. Instead, he said, the goal was to “completely destroy Hamas’ military and governing capabilities.”

“We’ve gone out of our way to enable humanitarian assistance since the beginning of the war,” Netanyahu told Time, responding to allegations brought by Columbia professor Rashid Khalidi that the Israeli operations amounted to “collective punishment” of civilians for Hamas’ actions. 

President Joe Biden meets with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the Oval Office at the White House on July 25, 2024, in Washington, D.C.  (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)

Time noted how Netanyahu embraced a policy over the past 10 years allowing Qatari funds to flow into Gaza after Hamas rose to power first through elections and later by force. It was meant as an incentive for Hamas to govern peacefully but instead financed miles of terror tunnels under civilian infrastructure. Also in January 2023, Netanyahu led government reforms that curbed judiciary powers, prompting large-scale protests. 

“You are weakening us, and our enemy is going to see it, and we’re going to pay the price,” former Minister of Defense Benny Gantz cautioned Netanyahu at the time. 

The prime minister placed blame on the protesters, many of whom said they would not serve in the Israeli military if the country’s democratic institutions were weakened. 

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“The refusal to serve because of an internal political debate – I think that, if anything, that had an effect,” Netanyahu told Time.

Netanyahu said his biggest mistake, however, was not going to war with Hamas in the past, listening to his security cabinet, which opposed such a move. For years, Israel’s strategy was to respond to Hamas’ attacks periodically by striking back and damaging them to the point of the terror group agreeing to a cease-fire that ultimately kept them in control of Gaza, with the ability to bolster their terror infrastructure that includes a complex network of underground tunnels.

Time reported that when Israel did go to war against Hamas for less than two months in 2014, Israeli officials said the security cabinet brought Netanyahu a plan to end the terror organization. The plan was predicted to lead to the deaths of approximately 10,000 Gazan civilians and 500 Israeli soldiers.

“There was no domestic support for such an action,” Netanyahu told Time regarding that plan. “There was certainly no international support for such an action – and you need both.”

Former President Trump said President Biden had “the right to run” for re-election and the Democratic Party “took it away” from him, while blasting his new opponent Kamala Harris as the “least admired, least respected, and worst vice president in the history of our country.” 

Trump held a press conference at Mar-a-Lago Thursday afternoon after holding off-the-record meetings with major media outlets. The Trump campaign said the Republican presidential nominee wanted to address the media “while they were already in Palm Beach because he’s the most transparent candidate in history.” 

Trump said Thursday that the U.S. is in “the most dangerous period of time I’ve ever seen for our country.” 

“We have somebody that hasn’t received one vote for president, and she’s running, and that’s fine with me, but we were given Joe Biden, and now we’re given somebody else,” Trump said. “I think, frankly, I’d rather be running against somebody else, but that was their choice.” 

TRUMP STAGES MAR-A-LAGO PRESS CONFERENCE IN ‘STARK CONTRAST’ WITH HARRIS AS SHE AVOIDS MEDIA

Both the Trump and Harris 2024 campaigns have put out ads attacking each other for their U.S. southern border policies. (Getty Images)

Trump said Harris is “a radical left person at a level that nobody’s seen,” and said her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, is a “radical left man that has positions that are not even possible to believe they exist.” 

“He’s heavy into the transgender world, heavy into lots of different worlds having to do with safety. He doesn’t want to have borders, he doesn’t want to have walls. He doesn’t want to have any form of safety for our country,” Trump said. “He doesn’t mind people coming in from prisons and neither does she — I guess because she couldn’t care less.” 

Harris formally became the nominee after Biden suspended his re-election campaign and endorsed her amid pressure from within the Democrat Party. The Democratic National Committee formally nominated Harris as their nominee this week. 

“The presidency was taken away from Joe Biden, and I’m no Biden fan,” Trump said. “From a constitutional standpoint, from any standpoint you look at, they took the presidency away, and people are saying he lost after the debate and he couldn’t win.” 

“Whether he could win or he couldn’t, when he had the right to run, and they took it away, and they said they would use the 25th amendment,” Trump continued. 

Trump said the pressure from within the Democrat Party and “what they’ve done” is “pretty incredible.” 

18 DAYS: KAMALA HARRIS HAS NOT HELD A PRESS CONFERENCE SINCE EMERGING AS PRESUMPTIVE DEMOCRATIC NOMINEE

“Now I’m running against somebody else, and we’re leading. We’re leading — so I’m not complaining,” he said. “I’m saying, for a country with a Constitution that we cherish — we cherish this Constitution — to have done it this way is pretty severe, pretty horrible.” 

Trump said he thought Democrats “would have gone out to a vote” or “would have had a primary system.” 

“But just to take it away from him like he was a child?” Trump said, adding that Biden is “a very angry man right now.” 

“I can tell you that he’s not happy with Obama, and he’s not happy with Nancy Pelosi,” Trump said. “He’s not happy with any of the people that told him ‘you’ve got to leave.’ He’s very unhappy, very angry.” 

Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump speaks at the National Association of Black Journalists, NABJ, convention, Wednesday, July 31, 2024, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast)

Trump said he thinks Biden “also blames” Harris. 

“He’s trying to put up a good face, but it is a very bad thing in terms of a country when you do that,” Trump said. “I’m not a fan of his, as you probably have noticed, and he had a rough debate, but that doesn’t mean that you just take it away like that.” 

Trump added: “You go out to a vote, you do something — he had 14 million votes. She had no votes.” 

“And she’s crashing,” Trump said. 

JD VANCE ROASTS HARRIS ON WISCONSIN TARMAC FOR AVOIDING PRESS, CALLS AIR FORCE 2 HIS ‘FUTURE PLANE’

“We have a vice president who is the least admired, least respected, and the worst vice president in the history of our country. The most unpopular vice president,” Trump said of Harris. 

Trump also slammed Harris for not engaging with the media. Harris has been the de facto Democrat nominee for 18 days, and she has not held a formal press conference or sat for a wide-ranging interview. 

Republican vice presidential candidate Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, left, greets Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump during at a campaign rally at Georgia State University in Atlanta, Saturday, Aug. 3, 2024.  (AP Photo/John Bazemore)

“She’s not doing any news conference. You know why she’s not doing it? Because she can’t do a news conference. She doesn’t know how to do a news conference,” Trump said. “She’s not smart enough to do a news conference.” 

Trump said he is “very happy to run against” Harris, and said he “hates to be defending” Biden, but pointed to the Constitution again. 

“We have a Constitution. It’s a very important document, and we live by it. She has no votes, and I’m very happy to run against her. I’m not complaining from that standpoint. And I hate to be defending him, but he did not want to leave. He wanted to see if he could win,” Trump said. “They said, ‘you’re not going to win. After the debate, they said, ‘you’re not going to win. You can’t win. You’re out.'” 

Trump said Democrats, after successfully pressuring Biden to drop out of the race, “just picked a person.” 

US President Joe Biden, left, and Vice President Kamala Harris on the Truman Balcony of the White House in Washington, DC, US, on Thursday, July 4, 2024. (Tierney L. Cross)

Trump, pointing to Harris’ failed 2020 Democratic presidential primary campaign, said she was “the first out.” 

“She was the first loser. Okay. So we call her the first loser. She was the first loser when, during the primary system, during the Democrat primary system, she was the first one to quit, and she quit. She had no votes, no support, and she was a bad debater, by the way, a very bad debater,” Trump said. “And that’s not the thing I’m looking forward to. But she was a bad debater. She obviously did a bad job. She never made it to Iowa then for some reason.” 

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Trump said he thinks Biden “regrets” tapping Harris as vice president. 

“He picked her and she turned on him too. She was working with the people that wanted him out,” Trump said. “But the fact that you can get no votes, lose in the primary system. In other words, you had 14 or 15 people. She was the first one out, and that you can then be picked to run for president.” 

Trump added: “It seems, seems to me actually unconstitutional. Perhaps it’s not.” 

FIRST ON FOX — Rep. Claudia Tenney, R-N.Y., demanded in a letter Thursday that the Federal Election Commission (FEC) investigate recent allegations “of fraudulent, deceptive, and potentially illegal behavior” on the part of ActBlue, the Democratic fundraising platform that’s hauled in millions of dollars in donations for Vice President Harris’ presidential campaign and its affiliated entities. 

Tenney, who co-chairs the House Election Integrity Caucus, cited in the letter addressed to FEC Chair Sean Cooksey and Vice Chair Ellen Weintraub “significant public reporting on anomalous transaction activity involving hundreds of thousands of dollars.” According to the agency’s publicly available data, Tenney wrote, “numerous individuals have allegedly donated to ActBlue thousands of times annually.” However, “it was reported many of these individuals were unaware their names and addresses were being used to make thousands of dollars in political donations.” 

The FEC declined to comment on the letter. Fox News Digital reached out to ActBlue regarding the allegations, but it did not immediately respond.

The letter noted ActBlue did not require a card verification value (CVV) number to complete a transaction, unlike most online platforms engaged in e-commerce. Relative to campaign contributions, Tenney said using CVV numbers “is an effective antifraud measure that prevents unlawful transactions that violate the Federal Election Campaign Act, 52 U.S. Code 30101-30145, and various state election laws.” 

‘SERIOUS LOOPHOLE’: GOP WIDENS PROBE INTO ACTBLUE, DEM FUNDRAISING PLATFORM HELPING HARRIS RAISE MILLIONS

Rep. Claudia Tenney, R-N.Y., is urging the FEC to investigate ActBlue.  (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

“Given the deliberate lack of security in their donation practices, it is unsurprising that ActBlue could be exploited for fraudulent activities,” Tenney wrote. “Recognizing that foreign actors use fake accounts to exploit donation systems lacking robust verification safeguards, most individual campaigns and political action committees (PACs) require CVV numbers to donate online. However, despite its widespread use among its online counterparts, ActBlue deliberately chooses not to require CVV numbers for donations, possibly facilitating fraudulent activities and foreign interference in our electoral system.” 

Tenney specifically urged the FEC to investigate “anomalous transaction activity as it relates to donations to ActBlue,” and answer whether the FEC had already examined anomalous transaction activity or ActBlue’s lax verification processes. If so, the congresswoman asked the FEC to provide “a detailed summary of the results of that investigation.” 

If not, Tenny asked if the FEC would “commit to investigating potential fraudulent donations to ActBlue, as well as the organization’s lack of verification guardrails” 

The letter also asked whether ActBlue is “in compliance with federal rules as it relates to accepting online donations” and whether the FEC will consider the Committee on House Administration’s Aug. 5 request for “emergency rulemaking” to force campaigns to verify online donors’ CVV numbers.

Kamala Harris and the Democratic vice presidential nominee, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, during a campaign event Aug. 6, 2024, in Philadelphia.  (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)

TOP REPUBLICAN CALLS ON DEM FUNDRAISER ACTBLUE TO STOP PROCESSING DONATIONS FOR HAMAS-SYMPATHIZING GROUPS 

“As a founding member of the House Election Integrity Caucus, I take the safety, security, and integrity of our elections very seriously. Public trust in our elections has been eroded to historic lows, and Congress and our federal regulators must take meaningful action to restore this faith,” Tenney wrote. 

On Monday, Rep. Bryan Steil, R-Wis., who chairs the Committee on House Administration, sent a letter to top FEC officials urging them to “immediately initiate an emergency rulemaking to require political campaigns to verify the card verification value (‘CVV’) of donors who contribute online using a credit or debit card, and to prohibit political campaigns from accepting online contributions from a gift card or other prepaid credit cards.” The Aug. 5 request came in response to accusations that ActBlue is skirting campaign donation laws that allow for rampant fraud on the site.

Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic presidential candidate, speaks at Girard College Aug. 6, 2024, in Philadelphia.  (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)

According to his committee, whistleblowers who approached the panel in recent weeks have accused ActBlue of deliberately not using CVV numbers for donations to reduce the bar for verification. 

As of Monday morning, however, a CVV number was required on the page accepting credit card donations for the vice president.

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Whistleblowers have also reported the receipt of a significant number of donations from retirees living on a fixed income, and hundreds of donations of $2.50 from the same individual, according to the committee.

The site has been used to raise millions of dollars for Harris as she takes on former President Trump in November.

Fox News’ Elizabeth Elkind contributed to this report. 

A summer breeze has swept across Capitol Hill over the past two weeks.

Not the “Summer Breeze” Seals and Crofts sing about, but a political summer breeze which made lawmakers “Run Like the Wind” for the exits.

To quote Gino Vannelli, lawmakers from both sides of the aisle declared “I Just Wanna Stop” – and vacated Washington for the summer.

BEWARE THE IDES OF JULY: TRUMP ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT, BIDEN ENDS REELECTION CAMPAIGN IN WILD MONTH

One is wise to embrace this miniature respite in governance. The fall and winter will be a challenge in Congress.

So here’s the “Lowdown.” One can describe much of what unfolds on Capitol Hill in terms of “yacht rock.”

Lawmakers may be counting down the days “Minute By Minute” until they have to return to Capitol Hill in the fall, when election season will be in full swing. (Beata Zawrzel/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

Both bodies of Congress usually adjourn for a four- to six-week period between late July and early September. But this year’s congressional summer breeze has been more like a political gale. Lawmakers barely spent any time in session over the past few months. Both the House and Senate took off a week in the middle of July so Republicans could conduct their convention in Milwaukee. That was after an abbreviated week in Washington just after July 4th. Congress was out of session from late June until after the Fourth. The House ditched town early last month, lopping off one week of its schedule. In fact, the House has only convened for a handful of weeks since May 24.

Yacht rock impresario Rupert Holmes would characterize this as an “Escape.”

Do you really need more of a reason to blend a piña colada?

Expect Congress to accomplish much the rest of the year? Well, that yacht – has sailed. We’re deep into the throes of what is going to be a brutal campaign season for the presidency, control of the House and the Senate. All lawmakers are required to do the rest of the year is figure out a way to avoid a government shutdown in late September. Is Congress capable of much else? Well, doubtful. But in the words of the Doobie Brothers, “What a Fool Believes.”

A cryptocurrency bill? Maybe in the lame duck session, but doubtful. A tax bill – involving credits for parents? Same. How about legislation offered by GOP vice presidential nominee and Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, and Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, to bolster rail safety after the Norfolk Southern crash in East Palestine, Ohio, early last year? Few are on board with that. Democrats don’t want to award Vance a legislative victory just before the election. And Republicans aren’t willing to help Brown. He faces one of the most competitive Senate contests in the country against GOP challenger Bernie Moreno.

Like the Doobie Brothers and James Taylor, Sen. JD Vance is seen “Takin’ It to the Streets” as he delivers remarks during a campaign rally on Aug. 6, 2024, in Philadelphia. (Drew Hallowell/Getty Images)

A farm bill?

Hey. Wrong genre. This is about yacht rock. Talk to John Cougar Mellencamp or Neil Young about that one.

Lawmakers won’t necessarily don their captain hats and recline on the foredeck, catching rays and sipping a mai tai over the next few weeks. Democrats set their GPS for Chicago and their convention in two weeks. There are robust campaigns as Democrats try to cling to control in the Senate and stand a good chance of flipping the House. Democrats are especially enthused about their chances now that President Biden effectively ceded the Democratic nomination to Vice President Kamala Harris. Why did it take so long for Biden to defer to Harris – or anyone else? The Eagles would croon, “I Can’t Tell You Why.” But since it’s “Just the Two of Us,” Democrats were freaked out about bleeding seats down ballot.

“You’re Out to Lose,” as Pablo Cruise might sing, had Democrats stuck with the incumbent.

Republicans contend that 14 million voters cast ballots for Biden in the Democratic primaries earlier this year. They could even assert that Raydio was right when they penned, “You Can’t Change That.” Biden was “Still the One” for several weeks after the debate debacle in Atlanta in late June. But once Biden stepped aside, Democrats quickly courted voters who may have abandoned them. “Baby Come Back,” by Player may have been the Democrats’ theme song as they attempted to woo people who considered sitting things out this fall.

But some pols will welcome the early respite from Capitol Hill. Most House and Senate incumbents lack competitive races this fall. They might not find themselves in “Margaritaville.” But who can blame them if they skip out of the 100-degree heat of Washington for a Caribbean destination?

Former President Trump certainly has a contingent of ultra-loyalists who are happy to campaign on his behalf – or at least want to be seen as advocating for him. They may want to score a potential Cabinet post. Or at least duck the ire of the former president, so they attempt to appeal to his good graces. And many Democrats are now supercharged that Biden won’t be on the ballot. They will likely do all they can for Harris. So these lawmakers face a busy August and early September.

But other lawmakers will coast. In fact, they may secretively “Steal Away” – in the words of Robbie Dupree. Perhaps you will find some of these politicians sipping chardonnay or a dry martini on a yacht somewhere as the sun sets across the water. You’d be lucky to catch them. Of course, you can always leave a message on their “Answering Machine.”

Not that anyone uses an answering machine anymore.

Both Republicans and Democrats will be wishing they had some of Olivia Newton-John’s “Magic” as election campaigns pick up and Donald Trump and Kamala Harris square off for the presidency. (Getty Images)

Yacht rock might not capture all that’s going on in politics right now. One can understand the need to just check out of the political environment this month, especially after the drama involving Biden and the attempted assassination of Trump.

Yacht rock is for summer. But when it comes to elections and governing, that is the season of classic rock.

“There must be some way out of here, said the joker to the thief,” declared both Bob Dylan and Jimi Hendrix in “All Along the Watchtower.”

But Congress will be back in due time in early September. Tens of millions of people will cast their ballots. And no one has addressed this as poignantly as The Who.

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“Meet the new boss. Same as the old boss. We won’t get fooled again,” they sang.

It may be enough for you to let loose one of Roger Daltrey’s signature screams.

Which is why the “yacht rock” period of politics is much more pleasant.

EAU CLAIRE, WI – Standing in front of over 15,000 supporters packed into an airport hanger at the airport in Detroit, Michigan, Vice President Kamala Harris proclaimed that “this election’s going to be a fight.”

“We like a good fight,” added Harris, who rose to the top of the Democratic Party’s 2024 ticket two and a half weeks ago after President Biden suspended his re-election bid and endorsed his vice president as his successor.

Hours earlier in neighboring Wisconsin, another crucial battleground state that will also likely determine the outcome of the presidential election between Harris and former President Trump, the vice president’s newly named running mate took aim at Trump.

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, enjoying what seemed like a hometown crowd at a rally just an hour from his own state, spoke to a sea of supporters – over 12,000 who had waited in line for hours on the roads and farm fields of mostly rural northwest Wisconsin to see Harris and her running mate.

KAMALA HARRIS AND HER NEWLY NAMED RUNNING MATE KICK OFF A BATTLEGROUND STATE SWING

Vice President Kamala Harris is welcomed by Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz before she delivers remarks at a campaign event, Wednesday, Aug. 7, 2024, in Eau Claire, Wisconsin. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast)

Walz charged that the former president “sees the world differently than we see it. He has no understanding of service. Because he’s too busy serving himself again and again and again.”

“This guy weakens our country to strengthen his own hands. He mocks our laws. He sows chaos and division among the people. And that’s to say nothing of the job he did as president,” Walz argued.

Walz, a former high school teacher and football coach before entering politics, showcased his Midwestern roots as he told the “Packers and Badgers fans” in the crowd that he once coached his team to a state championship and touted that he was the “top gun” three years running at the trap shoot during his dozen years representing a mostly rural red-leaning district from southern Minnesota in Congress.

KAMALA HARRIS AND HER NEWLY NAMED RUNNING MATE KICK OFF A BATTLEGROUND STATE SWING

Hours earlier, Trump aimed to paint Harris and Walz as ultra-liberals as he called into Fox News’ “Fox and Friends” for an interview.

“You know, nobody knew how radical left she was, but he’s a smarter version of her, if you want to know the truth,” Trump claimed in his Wednesday interview. “He’s probably about the same as Bernie Sanders. He’s probably more so than Bernie Sanders.”

And the former president argued that “this is a ticket that would want this country to go communist immediately, if not sooner.”

Trump’s team was planning on painting the Democratic ticket as extreme left-leaning regardless of whom the vice president chose as her running mate, a source in Trump’s campaign told Fox News.

But Harris’ naming on Tuesday of Walz, a moderate congressman who shifted to a more progressive governor, over more moderate running mate finalists Gov. Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania and Sen. Mark Kelly of Arizona seemed like a gift to Trump’s team.

“I could not be more thrilled,” Trump said regarding the choice of Walz as running mate. “I was shocked when, when it came down to the final two, that she didn’t pick Shapiro. I was very surprised.”

But the naming of a running mate has been lucrative for the Harris campaign, which highlighted that it had hauled in $36 million in fundraising in the 24 hours since the Walz announcement.

At the rally, Walz once again argued that Trump and running mate Sen. JD Vance of Ohio “are creepy and weird as hell.”

Vice President Kamala Harris and her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, hold a rally in Eau Claire, Wisconsin, on Aug. 7, 2024. (Fox News – Paul Steinhauser)

Vance, at a dueling campaign event just miles away, pushed back on the “weird” label, saying he and Trump are “normal guys who want to make this country great.”

In a viral moment, Vance appeared to try and troll the vice president, as he approached Air Force Two at Chippewa Valley Regional Airport, where the senator’s campaign plane was also parked.

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“I figured that I would come by and get a good look at the plane because hopefully it’s going to be my plane in a few months,” Vance said in front of Air Force Two. 

And once again pointing out that Harris has yet to sit for a major interview or hold a press conference in the two and a half weeks since she replaced Biden at the top of the Democrats’ national ticket, Vance told reporters, “I also thought you guys may get lonely, because the VP doesn’t answer questions from reporters.”

Vance also took aim at Walz, who served nearly a quarter-century in the National Guard, for what he claimed was “stolen valor,” as the Trump campaign launched a full-frontal assault on the governor, accusing him of misrepresenting his rank, his service and charging he abandoned his unit on the eve of its deployment to Iraq.

The charge, if substantiated, could be explosive, as Trump co-campaign manager Chris LaCivita well knows.

He was the mastermind 20 years ago behind the “Swift Boat Veterans for Truth” campaign that aimed to discredit Vietnam War veteran and Purple Heart recipient Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts ahead of his narrow 2004 presidential election loss to GOP incumbent George W. Bush.

But Vance himself never served in combat. While Vance was deployed to the war in Iraq as a Marine, he worked in the public affairs department while on his deployment.

And Trump over the years has faced well-documented allegations that as a young man he dodged the Vietnam War draft by claiming to have bone spurs in his feet, which sidetracked him from service.

It’s no surprise that Harris and Walz so far this week have held rallies in Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Michigan, with Vance holding events nearby to stay in close proximity.

The three states make up the so-called “Blue Wall” that Democrats reliably won in presidential elections for nearly a quarter-century before Trump narrowly carried them in capturing the White House eight years ago.

But in 2020, Biden won back all three states with razor-thin margins as he defeated Trump, and the states remain extremely competitive as Harris and Trump face off in the 2024 presidential election.

The latest polls now show a margin-of-error race in the Blue Wall states, as well as in Georgia, North Carolina, Arizona and Nevada, the other key battleground states.

Vice President Kamala Harris speaks at a campaign rally Wednesday, Aug. 7, 2024, in Romulus, Michigan. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio)

Biden dropped his re-election bid on July 21, after a disastrous debate performance against Trump in late June prompted increased questions over whether the 81-year-old president had the physical and mental abilities to serve another four years in the White House. It also sparked a rising chorus of calls from fellow Democrats for Biden to end his re-election bid.

Harris didn’t mention her boss at a large rally in Atlanta last week, nor did she or Walz reference the president at their rally Tuesday night in Philadelphia.

But Harris, in her sixth visit to Wisconsin so far this year, praised the president at the top of her comments.

“I want to bring greetings from our incredible president, Joe Biden,” Harris said. “He loves Wisconsin, and I know we are all deeply grateful for his lifetime of service to our nation and for all he continues to do.”

After the crowd broke out in a chant of “Thank you, Joe! Thank you, Joe!” the vice president responded, “That’s right. I’m gonna tell him what you said.”

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

Former President Trump is holding a general news conference at Mar-a-Lago Thursday afternoon with members of the press – a move that the campaign says presents a “stark contrast” with Vice President Kamala Harris, who has avoided the media since being tapped as the Democratic presidential nominee. 

“I will be doing a General News Conference at 2:00 P.M. at Mar-a-Lago, Palm Beach. Thank you!” Trump posted to his Truth Social Thursday morning. 

A Trump campaign source told Fox News Digital that the former president and Republican presidential nominee is holding off-the-record meetings with major members of the press Thursday. 

Former President Trump arrives to speak during a campaign rally at Sunset Park in Las Vegas on June 9, 2024. (Jim Watson/AFP via Getty Images)

18 DAYS: KAMALA HARRIS HAS NOT HELD A PRESS CONFERENCE SINCE EMERGING AS PRESUMPTIVE DEMOCRATIC NOMINEE

“President Trump wanted to address them while they were already in Palm Beach because he’s the most transparent candidate in history,” the Trump campaign source told Fox News Digital. 

“Meanwhile, it’s been 18 days since Kamala Harris was installed as the Democrat Nominee, and she has yet to answer a single question from the media,” the source continued. “A stark contrast!” 

Harris has gone 18 days without holding a formal press conference. 

The vice president became the de facto nominee after President Biden endorsed her on July 21 when he suspended his re-election campaign. 

The Democratic National Committee held a virtual roll call vote, and she was offically named the Democratic presidential nominee. 

Since then, Harris has been on the campaign trail, spoken at various events, and given informal remarks to reporters at various points, but has not done a formal press conference or a wide-ranging interview. 

Former President Trump speaks at a campaign rally at Georgia State University in Atlanta, Saturday, Aug. 3, 2024. (AP Photo/John Bazemore)

She also failed to appear at the National Association of Black Journalists convention in Chicago, where Trump made headlines last week with a heated question-and-answer session, although she could make a future appearance with the group.

This week, she made headlines by picking Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz as her running mate, but the two have still not been questioned formally in interviews or press conferences. It’s gotten the attention of GOP vice-presidential candidate JD Vance, who has implored the media to do better on the issue and get Harris to answer questions.

JD VANCE ROASTS HARRIS ON WISCONSIN TARMAC FOR AVOIDING PRESS, CALLS AIR FORCE 2 HIS ‘FUTURE PLANE’

During a Wednesday press conference in Detroit, Vance urged reporters to “show a little bit of self-awareness” and pushed Harris to “do the job of a presidential candidate” by speaking to them.

“Until she does, you guys have got to stop giving her a honeymoon and pretending that she is something she isn’t,” he said. 

Vance on Wednesday also attempted to confront Harris over not answering reporters’ questions while both of their planes were on the tarmac of a Wisconsin airport on Wednesday.

Vance told a press gaggle at Chippewa Valley Regional Airport that he was trying to get a better look at Air Force Two because it’s “going to be my plane in a few months.”

The Republican told reporters that he worried Harris’ press gaggle “might get a little lonely” because Harris doesn’t answer their questions.

JD Vance said he tried approaching Vice President Kamala Harris at a Wisconsin airport on Wednesday. (AP | Getty Images)

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“Hey, guys. How are you?” Vance asked the group as he walked toward them. “I just wanted to check out my future plane, but I also wanted to go say hello to the vice president and ask her why Kamala Harris refuses… why does she refuse to answer questions from the media?”

“And I also thought that the press gaggle following her might get a little lonely,” he added. “I, at least, have enough respect for you all, and for the American people you report to, to come and talk to you and to answer some questions. And so I thought her reporters might actually benefit from that as well.”

Fox News Digital’s Brian Flood contributed to this report. 

Vice President Kamala Harris is gaining ground in several key battleground states that are likely to determine the result of the 2024 presidential election.

Election forecasters at the Cook Political Report and the Center for Politics say poll averages have shifted in Harris’ favor by roughly 3 points. Polls in three states have also shifted toward Democrats, with Georgia moving from “lean Republican” to “toss up,” while Minnesota and New Hampshire shifted from “lean Democratic” to “likely Democratic.”

Harris has gained significant ground on former President Trump since President Biden withdrew from the race, with multiple polls now showing her ahead of Trump in the general election.

While Democratic enthusiasm has surged since Harris became the party’s nominee, many political analysts say the honeymoon period is likely to wear off. Harris is already facing heavy criticism for her lack of transparency to the press, and she has yet to take questions from reporters in the 18 days since Biden dropped out.

HARRIS LAPS TRUMP IN CASH DASH THANKS TO FUNDRAISING SURGE

Vice President Kamala Harris is gaining ground in several key battleground states, forecasters at the Cook Political Report and the Center for Politics say. (Brendan Smialowski/Pool via REUTERS)

KAMALA HARRIS SUPPORTERS UNSURE WHEN ASKED ABOUT VP’S POLICY ACCOMPLISHMENTS

She has been busy on the campaign trail, spoken at various events, and given informal remarks to reporters at various points, but hasn’t done a formal press conference or wide-ranging interview since Biden’s withdrawal.

She also failed to appear at the National Association of Black Journalists’ convention in Chicago, where Trump made headlines last week with a heated question-and-answer session, although she could make a future appearance with the group.

Harris failed to appear at the National Association of Black Journalists’ convention in Chicago, where Trump engaged in a sometimes-contentious question-and-answer session. (Felipe Ramales for Fox News Digital)

This week, she made headlines by picking Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz as her running mate, but the two have still not been questioned formally in interviews or press conferences. It’s gotten the attention of GOP vice-presidential candidate, Sen. JD Vance of Ohio.

KAMALA HARRIS’ TREATMENT OF STAFF UNDER SCRUTINY AS REPORTS OF POOR OFFICE CULTURE RESURFACE

Vance called out the media for their lack of aggression towards Harris. Speaking at a rally in Detroit, he urged reporters to “show a little bit of self-awareness” and called on Harris to “do the job of a presidential candidate” by speaking to them.

Trump’s running mate, Sen. JD Vance, pressed the media to formally interview Harris. (AP Photo/John Bazemore)

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Trump himself has accused Harris of hiding behind her teleprompter even as Biden “hid in his basement.”

Fox News’ Brian Flood contributed to this report.

Former Vice President Mike Pence’s think tank released a strong rebuke to Gov. Tim Walz’s spot on the Democratic Party ticket for the 2024 presidential election.

Advancing American Freedom — the policy institute founded by Pence following his term as vice president under former President Donald Trump – released a memo Wednesday outlining what the organization calls Waltz’s “radical record.”

“Gov. Walz is actually the perfect pick for Vice President Kamala Harris — a hardcore leftist who appeals to the growing Ilhan Omar wing of the Democratic Party,” AAF Executive Director Paul Tellers told Fox News Digital.

FORMER MINNESOTA GOP GOVERNOR SUMS UP TIM WALZ VP PICK: ‘BERNIE SANDERS IN HUNTING GEAR’

Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris and her running mate Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz speaks at a campaign rally in Philadelphia, Tuesday, Aug. 6, 2024. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

The memo accused Walz of “[fanning] the flames of Black Lives Matter riots” during the 2020 unrest in Minnesota, turning the state into a “murder capital” with a 50% spike in homicide rates, and “[cutting] funding for pregnant women” while “[pushing] abortion-on-demand.”

The think tank also blasted Walz for turning Minnesota into a “trans refugee state,” having “signed legislation allowing children to be taken from their parents if parents don’t support their minor child receiving life altering surgeries or supposed medical treatments.”

The selection of the 60-year-old Walz was not a shocker, as his name was believed to be in contention for the two weeks following Harris’s replacement of President Biden as the party’s standard-bearer.

WALZ’S HANDLING OF BLM RIOTS, STRICT COVID RULES UNDER MICROSCOPE AFTER HARRIS VP PICK

Then-Vice President Mike Pence and Minnesota Governor Tim Walz speak to the press after Pence visited 3M World Headquarters in Maplewood, Minnesota. (Glen Stubbe/Star Tribune via Getty Images)

Walz, a former congressman, is in his second term as governor of Minnesota, a state that Democrats have reliably won in presidential elections for decades but that the Trump campaign has aimed at flipping this cycle.

The memo touches on multiple common criticisms being offered against the Democratic vice-presidential nominee, such as exacerbation of the border crisis through sanctuary laws and his treatment of religious institutions during the COVID-19 lockdowns.

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Then-Vice President Mike Pence visits Rock Springs Church to campaign for GOP Senate candidates in Milner, Georgia. (Megan Varner/Getty Images)

Pence has largely remained above the fray of the 2024 presidential election after dropping out late last year.

He previously refused to endorse his former running partner in the 2024 Republican presidential primary. At the same time, he made clear earlier this year that he would never support the Biden re-election campaign.

The vice-president’s think tank has offered a “Biden-Harris Accountability Tracker” on their website through which the group catalogs the administration’s policies and offers examples of consequential negative effects.

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

Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin is ordering all votes for the 2024 presidential election to be cast by paper ballot.

Youngkin issued Executive Order 35 on Wednesday, which codifies election security protocols established under his governance for all future elections.

“The Virginia model for Election Security works. This isn’t a Democrat or Republican issue, it’s an American and Virginian issue,” Youngkin said in an announcement. “Every legal vote deserves to be counted without being watered down by illegal votes or inaccurate machines. In Virginia, we don’t play games and our model for election security is working.”

VIRGINIA SCHOOL DISTRICT LAUNCHES PILOT NO CELLPHONE POLICY USING MAGNETIC POUCH THAT BLOCKS SIGNAL

Glenn Youngkin, governor of Virginia, during the Republican National Convention (RNC) at the Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. (Eva Marie Uzcategui/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

One of the most notable requirements of the security protocol is the exclusive use of paper ballots with a traceable chain of custody, offering a more concrete record of votes cast than widely-used electronic voting machines.

Other aspects of the Virginia voting security protocol include the use of DMV data to verify voter identity, offline counting machines and more.

“We use 100% paper ballots with a strict chain of custody. We use counting machines, not voting machines, that are tested prior to every election and never connected to the internet. We do not mass mail ballots. We monitor our drop boxes 24/7,” Young said. 

HOUSE FREEDOM CAUCUS CHAIR OUSTED BY TRUMP-BACKED CHALLENGER IN REPUBLICAN PRIMARY SHOWDOWN

A voter casts a ballot at a polling location in Fairfax, Virginia.  (Tierney L. Cross/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

The governor added, “We verify the legal presence and identity of voters using DMV data and other trusted data sources to update our voter rolls daily, not only adding new voters, but scrubbing the lists to remove those that should not be on it, like the deceased, individuals that have moved, and non-citizens that have accidentally or maliciously attempted to register.”

Former President Donald Trump celebrated the codification of Youngkin’s protocols, writing on his proprietary social media platform Truth Social that Virginia is “taking a strong lead in securing the election in November.”

“The beautiful Commonwealth of Virginia, superbly led by Governor Glenn Youngkin, IS TAKING A STRONG LEAD IN SECURING THE ELECTION IN NOVEMBER — PROTECTING EVERY LEGAL VOTE AND KEEPING ILLEGAL ALIENS THAT HAVE BEEN LET INTO OUR COUNTRY FROM VOTING. All votes will be on paper ballots and counted safely and fairly, not by machines connected to the internet — A big security risk.”

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Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz speaks to reporters after a meeting with U.S. President Joe Biden at the White House in Washington, D.C.   (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

“We must work hard to make sure the Election is FAIR and SECURE!!! EVERY STATE SHOULD FOLLOW VIRGINIA’S LEAD,” Trump continued. “We need volunteers to watch the polls – So important. The Election on November 5th will be the MOST IMPORTANT ELECTION IN OUR COUNTRY’S HISTORY. Thank you Glenn, GREAT JOB!!!”

Election security is a major concern for both political parties heading into this November’s presidential election.

Over the last few elections, both Republicans and Democrats have made various accusations of illegal manipulation of voters.

Video showing Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz claiming that he carried weapons of war into actual war has surfaced. A Minnesota National Guard response to Fox News disputes the fact that Walz actually went into battle, but rather he skirted any skirmishes and retired instead, leaving his troops behind.

Walz, who’s the chosen vice presidential candidate for Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris, served a quarter of a century in the National Guard. 

A video of Walz making the controversial statement can be seen on X.

“I spent 25 years in the Army and I hunt. I’ve been voting for common sense legislation that protects the Second Amendment, but we can do background checks. We can research the impacts of gun violence. We can make sure those weapons of war, that I carried in war, are only carried in war,” Walz said in his speech, aiming toward voters who don’t want guns on the streets.

VETERAN WHO SERVED IN TIM WALZ’S BATTALION ADDRESSES STOLEN VALOR ACCUSATIONS: ‘FAR DARKER THAN PEOPLE THINK’

Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris is welcomed by Democratic vice presidential nominee Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, before she delivers remarks at a campaign event, Wednesday, Aug. 7, 2024, in Eau Claire, Wisc.  (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast)

Retired Command Sgt. Maj. Thomas Behrends, who said he was a member of Walz’s battalion, blasted the governor’s comments.

“To most people, that would mean that he was actually in combat, carrying a weapon in a combat zone and getting combat pay and in a dangerous and hostile environment where he is getting shot at,” Behrends told the ‘Ingraham Angle’ on Wednesday.

Walz never said which war he fought. During his time in the Guard, there were two wars in Iraq and one in Afghanistan, neither of which show on his military record.

JD VANCE ACCUSES TIM WALZ OF ‘LYING’ ABOUT MILITARY SERVICE: ‘STOLEN VALOR GARBAGE’

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz listens as President Joe Biden speaks at Dutch Creek Farms in Northfield, Minn., Nov. 1, 2023.  (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)

The Minnesota National Guard told Fox News that Walz was part of Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF) while he was stationed in Italy with his unit in 2005, but that he retired before his unit went into battle.

“Walz left the National Guard in May 2005 after 24 years of service. His unit was not given deployment orders to Iraq until July. He had put his retirement papers in 5-7 months prior to his retirement in May,” the Minnesota National Guard said.

“Second, there are questions about whether he served in OEF. His battalion was sent to Europe, in his case Vicenza to train units in artillery – his specialty was artillery. If you are deployed overseas in support of OEF according to the National Guard you officially served in OEF, whether you touched foot in Afghanistan or not. That is in his official military service record below.”

Fox News Digital reached out to Walz’s office for comment and received an automated response.

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Walz was named this week as the running mate with Kamala Harris on the Democratic national ticket. Harris, the current vice president, will look to fill the shoes of President Biden and take on former President Donald Trump in the general election.

Trump’s running mate JD Vance spoke to the media about Vice President Kamala Harris’ choice for her potential Vice President. (Fox News)

Trump’s running mate is J.D. Vance, who served four years in the U.S. Marine Corps. While speaking at an event Wednesday in Michigan, Vance said that Walz deserted his fellow soldiers who were heading off to war.

“You abandoned your unit right before they went to Iraq,” Vance said.

Fox News reporter Jennifer Griffin contributed to this story.

Democratic presidential nominee and Vice President Kamala Harris on Tuesday announced her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, who immediately set social media ablaze as unearthed clips and headlines exposing his “radical” political career went viral.

The Minnesota Democrat, who was being hyped up to Harris by the far-left faction of her party, including lawmakers like Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., accompanied Harris during a Philadelphia campaign rally Tuesday evening kicking off their swing state tour across multiple states.

“One of the things that stood out to me about Tim is how his convictions on fighting for middle class families run deep,” Harris said Tuesday while announcing her VP choice.

Here are five standout remarks by the former lawmaker and potential future vice president, which have been dubbed as “weird” by critics:

Democratic Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (Glen Stubbe/Star Tribune via Getty Images)

“Weird” goes viral

Walz was responsible for an insult that quickly became a viral hit for Democrats across the United States when he described former President Donald Trump and his running mate, Sen. JD Vance as “weird.”

“These are weird people on the other side, they want to take books away, they want to be in your exam room, that’s what it comes down to,” he said on MSNBC last month. “Don’t get sugarcoating this, these are weird ideas.”

It’s a quip that the Harris campaign has embraced, and appears to have stuck to the Trump campaign, which in turn has aggressively redeployed the attack against Democrats by attacking their “radical” proposals.

WALZ BACKED ‘SANCTUARY’ POLICIES, SERVICES FOR ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS AS GOVERNOR: ‘WIN FOR OPEN BORDERS’ 

“You know what’s really weird?” Donald Trump Jr. responded. “Soft on crime politicians like Kamala allowing illegal aliens out of prison so they can violently assault Americans.”

Vance took advantage of the label over the weekend during an Atlanta rally and listed off several policy positions Harris has espoused.

Walz has not backed off using “weird” during public speeches, using it again after being announced as Harris’ running mate on Tuesday during a Philadelphia rally.

“These guys are creepy and yes, just weird as hell,” he said.

Socialism = neighborliness

When many people think of socialism, they think of forced redistribution of wealth, sky-high tax rates, or the worst crimes of regimes like the Soviet Union.

However, Walz recently painted socialism in a positive light by associating it with “neighborliness.”

“Don’t ever shy away from our progressive values,” the Minnesota Democrat said on a “White Dudes for Harris” call last week. “One person’s socialism is another person’s neighborliness.”

The clip immediately ignited backlash on social media.

KAMALA HARRIS’ RUNNING MATE TIM WALZ PICTURED IN 1995 NEBRASKA MUGSHOT AFTER DUI ARREST

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz speaks before President Joe Biden at Dutch Creek Farms, Nov. 1, 2023, in Northfield, Minn.  (AP Photo/Abbie Parr)

“Neighborliness killed members of my family,” journalist Karol Markowicz posted on X. 

“Walz’s statement that socialism is mere ‘neighborliness’ is a lie that disregards the harsh realities countless families have faced under socialist regimes,” Virginia Republican Attorney General Jason Miyares posted on X. 

“Weird,” said Manhattan Institute senior fellow Ilya Shapiro.

“A 30-foot ladder factory”

Walz’s immigration views have been a focus from critics, including his moves to grant driver’s licenses to illegal immigrants and his support for sanctuary policies.

But Walz raised eyebrows by suggesting that, should President Trump attempt to build another wall at the southern border, he would launch his own moneymaking scheme.

“He talks about this wall, I always say, let me know how high it is. If it’s 25 feet, then I’ll invest in the 30-foot ladder factory,” he said on CNN. “That’s not how you stop this.”

The Trump campaign, Republican National Committee, and several conservative critics used the soundbite to attack Harris and pointed to her record as “border czar,” which still haunts her tenure as vice president.

JD Vance criticized Kamala Harris’ running mate selection of Tim Walz. (Getty Images)

“Get off the couch”

Walz appeared to dip his toe in the water of some false claims about Vance on Tuesday, when he talked about his counterpart debating him.

“I can’t wait to debate this guy,” Walz said. “That’s if he’s willing to get off the couch and show up. See what I did there?”

The roar of the crowd, and Harris’ facial expression made it clear they knew to what he was referring to.

VICE PRESIDENT HARRIS NAMES MINNESOTA GOV TIM WALZ AS HER RUNNING MATE

The quip references a false online rumor, debunked by multiple fact checkers, that Vance had claimed in his book “Hillbilly Elegy” to have had sex with a couch.

But despite the repeated debunking, Walz appeared to revel in the false claims and became its most high-profile spreader to date.

Chinese luxury

The New York Post this week unearthed remarks by Walz in 1990 in which he said he praised the living conditions he encountered in China.

“No matter how long I live, I will never be treated that well again,” he told a local outlet.

“They gave me more gifts than I could bring home. It was an excellent experience,” Walz said, adding that he was “treated exceptionally well.”

The remark came in the wake of the Tiananmen Square massacre in 1989 and amid continued and still ongoing mass human rights abuses in the communist regime.

U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris attends an infrastructure event addressing high speed internet in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building’s South Court Auditorium at the White House in Washington, U.S., June 3, 2021.  (REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein)

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Walz wasn’t the only member of his family to face the wrath of social media with unearthed clips. His wife, Minnesota’s First Lady Gwen Walz, set social media ablaze Tuesday and Wednesday when a clip from one of her 2020 interviews went viral.

“Again we had more sleepless nights during the riots,” Walz’s wife told KSTP in July 2020. “I could smell the burning tires, and that was a very real thing. And I kept the windows open as long as I could because I felt like that was such a touchstone of what was happening.”

The comment was dubbed as “weird” and “bizarre” on social media.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Vice President Harris’ running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, said he wants to ban guns he “carried in war” though he never saw combat during his time in the Army National Guard and left the service after being informed that his unit would be deployed to Iraq.

“I spent 25 years in the Army, and I hunt. I’ve been voting for commonsense legislation that protects the Second Amendment, but we can do background checks. We can research the impacts of gun violence. We can make sure those weapons of war that I carried in war are only carried in war,” Walz said in a video posted by the Harris campaign on Tuesday.

Walz joined the Army National Guard in 1981, retiring in 2005 from the 1st Battalion, 125th Field Artillery, where he rose to the rank of command sergeant major. Across his more than two decades of service, he never saw combat, according to an interview with Minnesota Public Radio in 2018.

“I know that there are certainly folks that did far more than I did. I know that,” Walz said, acknowledging that he never saw combat. “I willingly say that I got far more out of the military than they got out of me, from the GI Bill to leadership opportunities to everything else.”

HARRIS, WALZ MADE UNPRECEDENTED ABORTION CLINIC VISIT PRIOR TO PRESIDENTIAL TICKET TEAM-UP

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz speaks at Dutch Creek Farms, Nov. 1, 2023, in Northfield, Minn. (AP Photo/Abbie Parr)

Walz retired months after a warning order was issued to his battalion that it would be deployed to Iraq, the New York Post reported Tuesday. Service member Thomas Behrends went in his place, according to the Post, sparking the veteran to slam Walz as “a traitor” and “coward” for retiring before deploying.

“When your country calls, you are supposed to run into battle, not the other way,” the retired command sergeant major told the New York Post. “He ran away. It’s sad.”

TIM WALZ SLAMMED AS ‘POLITICAL CHAMELEON’ AFTER DITCHING FORMER PRO-SECOND AMENDMENT STANCE

Walz ran for Congress instead, winning his race and subsequently being sworn into office in 2007. Harris’ running mate did train with military weapons, including specializing in heavy artillery, and was awarded ribbons for his proficiency in sharpshooting and hand grenades, Minnesota Public Radio reported.

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (Stephen Maturen/AFP via Getty Images/File)

Critics on social media slammed Walz and the Harris campaign for running the snippet of Walz calling for a ban on guns he allegedly “carried in war,” pointing to his previous remarks that he never saw combat; others called him out for portraying himself as a gun advocate and hunter despite supporting left-wing gun control legislation.

TRUMP CAMP SAYS HARRIS-WALZ ‘DANGEROUSLY LIBERAL’ TICKET IS ‘EVERY AMERICAN’S NIGHTMARE’

While Walz served as a congressman from 2006 to 2019 representing a rural district that typically voted red, he leaned into his support of the Second Amendment and hunting, with pro-gun groups such as the NRA lauding him for his outspoken support of gun ownership. The National Rifle Association awarded Walz an A rating for his commitment to protecting gun ownership, while Guns & Ammo magazine listed him in 2016 as one of America’s 20 top politicians for gun owners.

VICE PRESIDENT HARRIS NAMES MINNESOTA GOV TIM WALZ AS HER RUNNING MATE: AP

Walz has since changed his tune to champion gun control measures and lost his high marks among the Second Amendment community. The NRA slammed Walz as a “political chameleon” in a statement provided to Fox News Digital on Tuesday after Harris officially announced him as her running mate. 

Audience members are shown ahead of Vice President Harris’ rally with her newly chosen vice presidential running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, in Philadelphia on Aug. 6, 2024. (REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque)

“Tim Walz is a political chameleon – changing his positions to further his own personal agenda. In Congress, Walz purported to be a friend of gun owners to receive their support in his rural Minnesota district. Once he had his eyes set on other offices, he sold out law-abiding Minnesotans and promoted a radical gun control agenda that emboldened criminals and left everyday citizens defenseless. Kamala Harris and Tim Walz cannot be trusted to defend freedom and our Constitutional rights,” Randy Kozuch, chair of the NRA Political Victory Fund, said in a statement.

Walz announced in 2017, after the Las Vegas mass shooting, that he was donating the roughly $18,000 he received from the NRA to charity. In the following year, he joined fellow Democrats in calling for gun control measures, including banning so-called assault weapons.

WHO IS TIM WALZ? MEET THE HARRIS RUNNING MATE WHO CALLED REPUBLICANS ‘WEIRD PEOPLE’

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz greets Vice President Harris as she arrives at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport in Saint Paul, Minnesota, on March 14, 2024. (Stephen Maturen/AFP via Getty Images)

Walz wrote in an op-ed in 2018 that his views on guns are “evolving in some ways” but that he’s “always been a reformer.”

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“To finally come together to end gun violence, we’ll need a new approach. We’ll need to build a coalition we haven’t seen before: rural, urban, suburban and exurban folks; gun owners and gun-violence survivors; hunters and advocates and police officers and the young people who are stepping up right now. We’ll need a coalition of folks of good faith who haven’t seen eye to eye but respect the different ways of life in every corner of our state,” he wrote in an op-ed published by the Star Tribune in 2018. 

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

The Heritage Foundation’s advocacy arm will not say if it will heed House Democrats’ demand for a sit-down with its president, Kevin Roberts, about the conservative think tank’s Project 2025.

A Heritage spokesman declined to comment to Fox News Digital on Wednesday when asked about the letter from nearly 40 House Democrats that read, “We write to invite you to meet with Members of Congress to discuss the Project 2025 Presidential Transition Project.”

“The content within this transition plan will permanently damage federal administrative operations and have a direct impact on all our Districts,” reads the letter led by Reps. Jared Huffman, D-Calif., and Ayanna Pressley, D-Mass.

“Our offices are increasingly hearing from constituents worried about the impact of Project 2025 on the future of our nation. Many of them see it as an extreme takeover plan to dismantle checks and balances, amass unprecedented presidential power, and exercise total control over our government and our daily lives.”

AMID HARRIS’ YOUTH POLLING SURGE, LATEST FIGURES SHOW BIDEN DID BETTER WITH BLACK VOTERS

House Democratic Reps. Jared Huffman, left, and Ayanna Pressley, right, led nearly 40 lawmakers in a request for a sit-down with Heritage President Kevin Roberts, center. (Getty Images)

The initiative, a set of proposals outlining right-wing policy goals and recommendations for a new Republican administration, has prompted a political firestorm in the middle of the 2024 presidential election cycle.

Former President Trump and his top campaign aides have criticized and distanced themselves from the plan, but that has not stopped Democrats from using it as a political cudgel to accuse the GOP of embracing extremism.

Project 2025 is broken into four parts – policy recommendations, a “Presidential Personnel Database” with recommendations for open administration jobs, an “academy” to train new political appointees, and a roadmap for a suggested first 180 days in office.

LEGAL EXPERTS CALL BIDEN’S COURT OVERHAUL PLANS A ‘PIPE DREAM’

Former President Trump has disavowed Project 2025. (Donald Trump 2024 campaign)

Among its proposed overhauls is the elimination of the Department of Education, and dismantling the Health and Human Services Department’s Reproductive Healthcare Access Task Force, replacing it with a panel to recommend pro-life changes “to ensure that all of the department’s divisions seek to use their authority to promote the life and health of women and their unborn children,” according to its site.

The Democratic letter accused Roberts of not being forthcoming with the fourth pillar of Project 2025, which details the first 180 days of a GOP administration. The Project 2025 website suggests that details of that portion, however, can be viewed in the Heritage Foundation’s book, “Mandate For Leadership: The Conservative Promise.”

“It is time to stop hiding the ball on what we are concerned could very well be the most radical, extreme, and dangerous parts of Project 2025. If we are wrong about that – if your secret ‘Fourth Pillar’ of Project 2025 is actually a defensible, responsible, and constitutional action plan for the first days of a second Trump presidency – then we hope you will publish it, without edits or redaction. Allow the American people to see it and scrutinize it,” the letter said. 

TRUMP CAMPAIGN REJOICES AFTER HARRIS LEANS IN ON KEY ISSUE HAUNTING HER VICE PRESIDENCY

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“Allow members of Congress to see it, so that we can discuss it with you and with the growing number of our constituents who seek to understand what Project 2025 portends for their government and their lives.”

A separate House Democratic initiative, the Stop Project 2025 Task Force, was panned by Roberts as “unserious.”

“It’s amusing how those on the Left seem surprised that conservative policy organizations advocate for conservative policies. Yet instead of addressing the issues caused by this administration and Congress, House Democrats are dedicating taxpayer dollars to launch a smear campaign against the united effort to restore self-governance to everyday Americans,” Roberts said in June.

FIRST ON FOX: Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., is taking aim at Vice President Kamala Harris in a new ad that ties her to ongoing issues across the U.S. – including inflation, the border crisis and “death to America” protests.

The seven-figure TV ad, called “She Did That,” plays off Harris’ congratulatory call to President Biden in November 2020, where she stated, “We did it, Joe. You’re going to be the next President of the United States.”

“Yep, they did it all right. Now everything is more expensive,” Scott says in the ad, referencing inflation during the Biden administration.

HARRIS TAKES 3-POINT LEAD OVER TRUMP AS SHE GAINS ON KEY ISSUES: POLL

Vice President Kamala Harris and Gov. Tim Walz appear on stage together during a campaign event at Girard College on Aug. 6, 2024, in Philadelphia. (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)

The ad then has Harris repeating “We did it” as Scott highlights images of campus protests that broke out in response to the conflict between Israel and Hamas.

“Yep, now protesters are chanting ‘Death to America’ and burning our flag,” Scott says, before referencing the ongoing crisis at the southern border. 

“They gave money, housing and health care to criminals bringing drugs into our country,” he says.

‘DEATH TO AMERICA’ RAPIDLY EMERGING AS KEY SLOGAN OF ANTI-ISRAEL AGITATORS IN US 

“I’m Rick Scott, they did it, we’re going to undo it,” he said.

The ad will run across Florida in every media market, his campaign said.

Sen. Rick Scott speaks at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, July 16, 2024. (Reuters/Brian Snyder)

“Senator Scott is fighting to undo the destruction of the Biden-Harris administration’s socialist agenda and is leading the fight to hold Biden and Harris accountable for their litany of failures,” his campaign said. “He will continue to remind Floridians how disastrous four more years of Kamala Harris would be for the state and the country.”

The ad represents the latest effort to tie Harris to the policies of the Biden administration, during which she has served as vice president.

In particular, Republicans have dubbed her the “border czar” over her role in handling root causes of migration – an assignment she was given in 2021. 

Harris’ campaign has rejected the border czar title but have embraced what it sees as the successes of the administration, pointing to a strong economy and a recent sharp drop in encounters at the southern border, and promising to do more if she is elected president.

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“We fight for a future with affordable housing, affordable health care, affordable child care, paid leave. We fight for a future where we build a broad-based economy, where every American has the opportunity to own a home, to start a business, and to build wealth,” Harris said in a speech in Philadelphia on Tuesday. “We fight for a future where we bring down prices that are still too high and lower the cost of living for America’s families.”

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

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

The Democratic Socialists of America took a victory lap on social media after Vice President Kamala Harris named Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz as her 2024 running mate. 

“Harris choosing Walz as a running mate has shown the world that DSA and our allies on the left are a force that cannot be ignored. Through collective action, DSA and the US left more broadly have made it clear that change is needed. DSA members organized in our workplaces and unions to realign the labor movement to support Palestinian liberation,” Democratic Socialists of America, the largest socialist group in the U.S., posted to X on Tuesday. 

DSA went on to take credit for pressuring Democrats to allegedly snub other candidates in the running, including one “with direct ties to the IDF.” Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro was reportedly one of the top contenders on Harris’ list of potential veeps and was a volunteer in the IDF in his youth. 

The Democratic Socialists of America has long called for a ceasefire after Hamas launched its attack on Israel on Oct. 7 of last year, with the group failing to condemn Hamas and instead saying the attack was a “direct result of Israel’s apartheid regime.”

HARRIS’ RUNNING MATE FACES RENEWED SCRUTINY AFTER HIS ‘WEIRD’ SOCIALISM COMPARISON RESURFACES

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz speaks to reporters after a meeting with U.S. President Joe Biden at the White House on July 3, 2024, in Washington, DC. Biden met with all of the nations Democratic governors, virtually or in person, in an effort to shore up support following his performance in the first presidential debate against Donald Trump. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

“The Uncommitted movement, in which DSA members played crucial roles nationally and in multiple states, pressured the Democratic establishment into choosing a new candidate and backing down from a potential VP with direct ties to the IDF and who would have ferociously supported the ongoing genocide in Palestine,” the DSA continued in its X thread. 

While celebrating Harris’ choice of Walz, the socialist group hammered that their “demands remain the same” regarding the war that has continued raging in Israel. 

BLACK MALE VOTERS HAVE SURPRISING REACTION DURING MSNBC ROUNDTABLE WHEN ASKED ABOUT COMMUNITY TRUMP SUPPORT

“Harris must call for an immediate ceasefire in Palestine and put in place an embargo on all arms to Israel,” the group wrote. 

Vice President Kamala Harris says her cursing habit has gotten worse since she entered office.  (AP Photo/Morry Gash)

Walz is not a member of the DSA, but has made favorable comments regarding socialism, including last week during a “White Dudes for Harris” campaign call last week that was slammed by conservatives. 

“Don’t ever shy away from our progressive values,” the Minnesota Democrat said. “One person’s socialism is another person’s neighborliness.”

LAURA INGRAHAM: WALZ HAS HELPED TANK LAW ENFORCEMENT IN HIS STATE AND IS ON HIS WAY TO TANKING EDUCATION

Following Harris announcing Walz, former President Donald Trump said he was “thrilled” by the choice, due to Walz’s left-wing policies that he says American voters reject. 

‘NEVER HEARD OF HIM’: HARRIS VP PICK WALZ HAS LITTLE NOTORIETY AMONG TRUMP-VANCE VOTERS IN PA

“If you look at his record with no walls, no security, let everybody in, he’s worse than they are,” he said. “Nobody knew how radical left she was, but he’s a smarter version of her, if you want to know the truth,” “Fox & Friends” co-hosts during an exclusive interview on Wednesday morning. 

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“There’s never been a ticket like this,” he continued. “This is a ticket that would want this country to go communist immediately, if not sooner. We want no security. We want no anything. He’s very heavy into transgender. Anything transgender he thinks is great, and he’s not where the country is on anything.”

Vice President Harris’ running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, brings a track record to the Democrat ticket that could help energize the country’s left-wing base along with several progressive transgender policies aimed at children.

Walz, a former Army National Guardsman and a former teacher, was one of the first governors to sign into law a bill making Minnesota a “sanctuary state” for children seeking transgender surgical procedures and hormone prescriptions. This laid the groundwork for several of his more progressive LGBTQ policies. 

The law tells courts in Minnesota not to follow prosecutions from other states against people who come to Minnesota for treatments like puberty blockers, hormone therapy or surgery. Before the law was passed, Walz had already issued an order in May 2023 to prevent criminalization of transgender procedures in the state.

MEET KAMALA HARRIS’ RUNNING MATE WHO CALLED REPUBLICANS ‘WEIRD PEOPLE’

Democrat presidential nominee Vice President Harris and running mate Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz arrive at a campaign rally in Philadelphia, Tuesday, Aug. 6, 2024. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

As neighboring states like Nebraska, Iowa, North Dakota and South Dakota restrict medical providers from performing transgender medical procedures on children, Minnesota’s sanctuary law has turned the state into a key destination for such services.

Many individuals and families have reportedly moved from more restrictive states to Minnesota. Currently, 26 states have placed limits on doctors providing gender-affirming treatments to minors, with New Hampshire being the latest to join this list.

Walz also signed a controversial bill into law that prevents books, which may include explicit material for children, from being removed from public schools in an effort to clap back at parents who complained about certain LGBTQ+ materials in school libraries. 

WALZ’S HANDLING OF BLM RIOTS, STRICT COVID RULES UNDER MICROSCOPE AFTER HARRIS VP PICK

Transgender activists at a protest.  (AP Photo/Timothy D. Easley)

The bill also made it illegal to remove books written by or about LGBTQ+ and minorities. 

In 2023, Walz signed a law banning “conversion therapy,” which also included prohibiting counselors from withholding recommendations for transgender surgical procedures or hormonal treatments for individuals experiencing gender dysphoria.

Another key component of his transgender policy agenda is a law requiring free menstrual products in all public school bathrooms. Often called the “tampon law” in the media, it mandates that tampons and pads be provided at no cost in public schools for grades 4 through 12 to accommodate transgender students. 

After Harris tapped Walz as her running mate, former President Trump’s campaign and its supporters began referring to him as “Tampon Tim.”

“She actually chose Tampon Tim,” Trump campaign adviser Stephen Miller, posted to X following the announcement.

HARRIS LEANING INTO ‘PRO-HAMAS,’ ‘PROGRESSIVE’ WINGS OF DEMOCRAT PARTY WITH WALZ VP PICK: GOP STRATEGIST

Walz championed many transgender policies.

Walz also opposes the traditional definition of marriage as defined as between one man and one woman, further aligning himself with the progressive flank of the Democratic Party who argue the definition is archaic and discriminatory against non-traditional couples. 

As a U.S. House representative in 2012, Walz opposed a proposed constitutional amendment to define marriage solely as a union between one man and one woman. He argued that restricting rights for any group is unconstitutional, saying, “I think we can do better.”

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Walz additionally played a crucial role in supporting legislation that recognizes sexual orientation and gender identity as protected categories under federal hate crime laws. 

Harris and Walz are now traveling across several battleground states to court voters this week, as the pair have already begun attacking the Trump-Vance campaign.