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Speaker of the House Mike Johnson said President Biden’s recent threat to withhold munitions shipments to Israel was completely unexpected and probably “off script.”

Biden said in a Wednesday CNN interview that his administration will halt munitions shipments to Israel if the nation continues with plans to invade the city of Rafah.

“My reaction honestly was — ‘Wow, that is a complete turn from what I have been told even in, you know, recent hours,” Johnson told Politico in a Wednesday night interview. 

BIDEN VOWS TO WITHHOLD WEAPONS FROM ISRAEL IF NETANYAHU GOES FORWARD WITH RAFAH INVASION

“I mean, 24 hours ago it was confirmed to me by top administration officials that the policy’s very different than what he stated there,” he continued. “So I hope that’s a senior moment.”

The House Speaker said he was already troubled by reports that U.S. support to Israel could be delayed before Biden’s interview. He told Politico that Biden administration officials dismissed his concerns and said delays were occurring with prior tranches of weapons, not aid recently passed by the House.

Johnson speculated that Biden’s comments may have been a “senior moment” and at odds with the rest of the administration’s plans.

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“I believe he’s off script,” Johnson said. “I don’t think that’s something that staff told him to say. I hope it’s a senior moment, because that would be a great deviation in what is said to be the policy there.”

Biden told CNN’s Erin Burnett in the Wednesday interview that civilian deaths in Gaza have given him pause on supplying weapons for the planned Rafah invasion.

“Civilians have been killed in Gaza as a consequence of those bombs and other ways in which they go after population centers,” the president said.

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“I made it clear that if they go into Rafah — they haven’t gone in Rafah yet — if they go into Rafah, I’m not supplying the weapons that have been used historically to deal with Rafah, to deal with the cities — that deal with that problem,” Biden said.

Fox News Digital’s Joseph A. Wulfsohn contributed to this report.

Former President Trump’s son is pushing back on President Biden after the Democrat brushed off concerns about the economy and claimed he inherited 9% inflation when he took office.

“What a clown,” Eric Trump wrote on X, sharing a report of Biden’s remarks.

Biden’s factually incorrect claim came during a rare interview with CNN’s Erin Burnett on Wednesday evening, when he was asked about low consumer confidence about the economy, including housing costs going up, real income adjusted for inflation going down, and weak economic growth since Biden took office.

“No president has had the run we’ve had in terms of creating jobs and bringing down inflation. It was 9% when I came to office — 9%,” the 81-year-old president said on Wednesday, when inflation was just 1.4% when he came into office in Jan. 2021. It grew to 9.1% in June 2022, 17 months later.

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During Wednesday night’s interview, Biden dismissed polls showing voters disapprove of his handling of the economy and said these voters trust Trump more on the issue, claiming the polling was erroneous.

Biden also presented an idyllic view of the economy not shared by those polled.

When asked by Burnett about the current inflation and the extra costs for groceries that Americans have been forced to pay under his leadership, Biden insisted: “We’ve already turned it around.”

“When I started this administration, people were saying there’s gonna be a collapse in the economy. We have the strongest economy in the world. Let me say that again, in the world,” he added.

DAVID AXELROD PUMMELS BIDEN’S DEFIANT STANCE ON ECONOMY FOLLOWING CNN INTERVIEW: A ‘TERRIBLE MISTAKE’

The president then claimed Americans were “personally in good shape” economically.

A Gallup poll on the housing market, published on Thursday morning, suggests Biden was wrong about that too.

Americans expect home prices to rise and most see the current housing market as poor. According to the poll, 68% predict higher prices are still to come while 76% say it is a bad time to buy a house.

During the interview, Burnett pushed back and cited CNN polling data. In response, Biden wrote off the whole network.

“The polling data has been wrong all along. You guys do a poll at CNN, how many folks do you have to call to get one response?” he asked. “The idea that we’re in a situation where things are so bad.”

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He later conceded that inflation is “really worrisome to people,” but again touted his administration’s record on the economy.

Eric Trump is not the only one hitting back on Biden, as former Obama adviser and CNN political analyst David Axelrod also lambasted Biden’s defiant stance on the economy.

On Wednesday, Axelrod called it a “terrible mistake” and said it could cost him the upcoming election.

“It is absolutely true. The world was plunged into an economic crisis and America was plunged into an economic crisis by the pandemic and we’ve come back faster than almost any other country and he’s right about that. But that’s not the way people are experiencing the economy,” Axelrod told Burnett.

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“They’re experiencing it through the lens of the cost of living. And he is a man who’s built his career on empathy. Why not lead with the empathy?” he asked. Axelrod continued, “And I think he’s making a terrible mistake… If he doesn’t win this race, it may not be Donald Trump that beats him. It may be his own pride.”

Fox News’ Joseph A. Wulfsohn and Alexander Hall contributed to this report.

A Republican senator is renewing the call to impeach President Biden following reports of aid to Israel being delayed during its war with the terrorist organization Hamas. 

“The House has no choice but to impeach Biden based on the Trump-Ukraine precedent of withholding foreign aid to help with reelection. Only with Biden, it’s true,” Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., wrote on X on Thursday. 

A recently passed $95 billion supplemental foreign aid package included roughly $26 billion for both Israel and humanitarian aid for areas including Gaza. The aid was encouraged by the Biden administration, which had proposed it nearly six months prior. 

Cotton suggested that Biden should be impeached for delaying an aid shipment to Israel, which he claimed had to do with the president’s re-election bid as he balances a divided Democratic Party on the Israel war. 

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The White House Counsel’s office did not immediately provide comment to Fox News Digital. 

Earlier this week, Israeli officials claimed the U.S. had paused a shipment of ammunition from the U.S., as Axios reported. 

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre maintained that the U.S.’s commitment to Israel is “ironclad,” despite the report. 

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The report was ultimately confirmed by a U.S. official, who said the administration paused shipments of two types of precision bombs to Israel. One shipment would provide 2,000-pound bombs, with 1,800 to be delivered. The second held 500-pound bombs, with 1,700 to be delivered. 

REPUBLICANS KEEP PRESSURE ON NPR AND CONTROVERSIAL CEO AMID POLITICAL BIAS SCANDAL

“The U.S. position has been that Israel should not launch a major ground operation in Rafah, where more than a million people are sheltering with nowhere else to go,” a U.S. official said. 

“We are especially focused on the end-use of the 2,000-lb bombs and the impact they could have in dense urban settings as we have seen in other parts of Gaza. We have not made a final determination on how to proceed with this shipment,” they added. 

Per the official, “None of these shipments have anything to do with the Israel supplemental appropriations passed last month. All are drawn from previously appropriated funds, some many years ago.”

In an interview with CNN on Wednesday, Biden drew a red line for ally Israel. “I made it clear that if they go into Rafah – they haven’t gone in Rafah yet – if they go into Rafah, I’m not supplying the weapons that have been used historically to deal with Rafah, to deal with the cities – that deal with that problem,” he said. 

The White House did not immediately confirm the delayed shipment when prompted by Fox News Digital. 

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The Democratic-led House’s impeachment of then-President Trump in 2019 indicted him on a charge of abuse of power, arguing he withheld aid to Ukraine while asking the country’s leader to investigate his political rivals, including Biden. The Senate acquitted Trump on the House’s charges. 

Cotton argued the same precedent should apply to Biden.

WHITE HOUSE LOOKS TO CONVINCE AMERICANS OF ‘BIDENOMICS’ WITH KAMALA HARRIS TOUR

Trump’s campaign did not immediately provide comment to Fox News Digital. 

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Republicans in the House have appeared eager to impeach the president, heavily investigating Biden’s family’s business ties, particularly his son Hunter Biden. 

House Committee on Oversight and Accountability Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., did not immediately provide comment to Fox News Digital. 

Fox News’ Liz Friden and Jacqui Heinrich contributed to this report. 

Presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. has made some questionable remarks regarding China in recent years, including applauding the country for allegedly using threats of prison or organ harvesting as a means to meet its green energy goals, according to unearthed comments reviewed by Fox News Digital. 

“They take this very seriously,” Kennedy said in 2014, speaking of China and its clean energy agreement that year. “I don’t know whether… the guy ends up in prison with his, you know, organs harvested or what. But they are very, very dead serious.”

Kennedy’s comments, made on “The Ring Of Fire” radio show in 2014, followed the Obama administration announcing in November of that year that it was aiming to lower greenhouse gas emissions by 26% to 28% by 2025 compared to 2005 levels. Simultaneously, China announced it was aiming to increase its non-fossil fuel share of all energy to around 20% by 2030, according to the White House press release at the time.

The green energy plans from the two nations were announced in the lead-up to the Paris climate agreement that was adopted by 195 nations in 2015. 

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Kennedy pledged support for the Paris agreement in his remarks on the 2014 radio show, while lauding President Barack Obama for his climate policies. 

“Well, Obama’s really been extraordinary over the past couple months, as you said, he did the power plant rule, which for the first time will allow the EPA and the states to start regulating CO2,” Kennedy added in his radio show remarks. 

BIDEN RIVAL PROPOSES ‘NO-SPOILER PLEDGE’ IN ORDER TO TAKE ON TRUMP IN NOVEMBER

When asked how China would go about abiding by the agreement, which was non-binding, Kennedy relayed that the workload would be divided between China’s province governors, who would then order their government employees to enforce climate policies. If the government employees failed to carry out the mission, Kennedy speculated they could face jail time or even have their “organs harvested.” 

“The governor of that province is given his share, if there’s a national commitment like this one, the governor of that province is given his share of, you know, whatever his pro rata contribution to that advance he has to implement. He has to figure out a way to implement it within his province,” he said before noting the government officials take their jobs “very seriously” and reportedly aren’t above harming or imprisoning employees who fail. 

“They lose their jobs and they, you know, they get punished… and any kind of advancement they have gets stopped if they don’t fulfill these quotas. And China is already starting down this road. They’ve committed $175 billion to new solar,” he continued. 

Kennedy continued to laud China for its production of solar panels, which drove down prices across the world and “virtually” ended American manufacturing of solar panels. 

RFK JR. CHALLENGES TRUMP TO DEBATE AFTER ‘DEMOCRAT PLANT’ ACCUSATION

“They’re already manufacturing a surplus of solar panels that have flooded the rest of the world with solar panels. And… part of the sort of collateral effect of that is that all of our – the price of solar panels have dropped so low, that it put out of business virtually all the American manufacturers. But it’s created a whole industry in this country for solar installations,” he said. 

“When they [China] do it, it actually gets done,” he added. 

Kennedy, the son of late U.S. Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy, announced his run for president last year as a Democrat, before switching and becoming an Independent candidate in October. The environmental lawyer has stayed in the race as members of the Democratic and Republican parties dropped out one by one this election season, with media and voter attention now focusing on former President Trump, President Biden and Kennedy. 

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“All we need to do is get to 33% to win the election,” Kennedy told Fox News contributor Raymond Arroyo last month on his program “World Over,” which airs on the EWTN Global Catholic Network.

“You don’t need 50%. It’s a three-way race – and it’s really a five-way race,” he added, alluding to independent candidate Dr. Cornel West and Green Party candidate Dr. Jill Stein, who are also running for the White House.

A Quinnipiac poll released last month found Kennedy with 16% support overall, with Trump and Biden each at 37%.

Kennedy also made questionable remarks regarding China last year, arguing that the U.S. should “de-escalate” military tensions with the communist nation. The comments were slammed by experts, including a retired Army colonel, who called the remarks “dangerously naive.” 

“The Chinese cannot and do not want to compete with us militarily,” Kennedy told X owner Elon Musk in a discussion last year. “So it’s kind of a self-fulfilling prophecy that says, ‘Oh, the Chinese want to be our enemy and have a military competition,’ they don’t. What we should be doing is de-escalating military pressure on China.”

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He also argued that the U.S. should let Taiwan and China “work out that issue on their own” and that the U.S. should “back off militarily.” As war rages in Ukraine and then Israel, the world has braced for China potentially invading Taiwan, which operates as an independent country separate from China. 

“We think the world is on our side, but it isn’t. All we’ve got – the only people who are supporting this pugnacious, bellicose relationship with China are Australia, New Zealand, Korea, Japan, Britain, Canada,” he continued in his remarks last year. “We’re pretty much alone in the world. The rest of the world is looking at us and saying, ‘What the heck are you doing? Why are you trying to create a war with China? Why are you fighting them over?'” 

WHO IS ROBERT F. KENNEDY JR. AND WHY IS HE RUNNING FOR PRESIDENT?

​​”They don’t want war, they want peace and they want prosperity, and that cannot happen where there’s a war,” he said. 

John Mills, a retired Army colonel slammed the remarks in a comment to the Epoch Times, saying Kennedy is “almost dangerously naive as to the malign behavior of China.”

“I’m a little puzzled by his comments,” Mills added. “He has strong opinions on the virus and the vaccine. Well, where does he think the virus came from? It’s kind of incongruent.”

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Kennedy’s campaign said Wednesday that the current policy with China is putting Taiwan at “greater risk,” but did not address the 2014 comments on “organ harvesting.”

“The experts are wrong. The current policy of confrontation with China is putting Taiwan at greater risk by making it a pawn in a geopolitical power game,” the campaign said. 

Fox News Digital’s Brandon Gillespie contributed to this report. 

Former Wyoming Congresswoman Liz Cheney has found common ground with former President Trump, who she previously voted to impeach, as they both oppose President Biden’s latest move in Israel.

On Wednesday, the anti-Trump Republican said withholding aid from America’s closest ally in the Middle East “wrong and dangerous.” The comment came just hours apart from Trump tweeting that Biden was helping the Hamas terror group and “taking the side of these terrorists.”

“Withholding aid to Israel is wrong and dangerous. America must not abandon Israel. Doing so would mean victory for Iran and all its terrorist allies,” she wrote.

Both Republicans chided Biden after he vowed to withhold weapons from Israel if Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu goes forward with an invasion of Rafah, the last stronghold for Hamas in Gaza.

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Cheney’s public criticism of Biden comes amid his re-election rematch with Trump, who has called Biden “weak” and said his foreign policies were “leading the world straight into World War III.”

In Trump’s own post, he reminded Biden about Hamas’ terror attack on Israeli border communities on Oct. 7, when 1,200 people were killed, making it the deadliest terror attack in Israel’s history.

BIDEN VOWS TO WITHHOLD WEAPONS FROM ISRAEL IF NETANYAHU GOES FORWARD WITH RAFAH INVASION

“Crooked Joe Biden, whether he knows it or not, just said he will withhold weapons from Israel as they fight to eradicate Hamas Terrorists in Gaza. Hamas murdered thousands of innocent civilians, including babies, and are still holding Americans hostage, if the hostages are still alive,” Trump wrote. “Yet Crooked Joe is taking the side of these terrorists, just like he has sided with the Radical Mobs taking over our college campuses, because his donors are funding them.”

He added: “Biden is weak, corrupt, and leading the world straight into World War III. Remember – this war in Israel, just like the war in Ukraine, would have NEVER started if I was in the White House. But very soon, we will be back, and once again demanding peace through strength!”

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Cheney, the daughter of former Vice President Dick Cheney, was an ally of Trump’s at times when he was in office and ascended to chair of the House Republican Conference.

She then vehemently opposed him after Biden defeated Trump in the 2020 election. She further angered Republicans when she joined the Jan. 6 House Select Committee that investigated the events surrounding the 2021 Capitol riot.

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Upon the Jan. 6 committee, Cheney recommended and ultimately voted to impeach Trump.

As a result, she was defeated in a landslide in her GOP primary race for Wyoming’s at-large congressional seat in 2022.

Florida’s equivalent of a state treasurer wrote a letter to former President Trump, urging him to recoup an estimated $54,000 through the state’s unclaimed property program to help defend against the “very, very nasty people” coming after him.

Florida Chief Financial Officer (CFO) Jimmy Patronis told Trump in the letter that the state is proud to host several Trump properties and count him as a resident and that he admires the real estate mogul as a former small business owner for his attention to the customer.

Patronis said he conducted a search of the state’s public unclaimed property program’s database and found several assets the former president, his family members or his businesses could reclaim. He urged Trump to take action so that the former president can further fund his legal defenses in the multiple ongoing court cases he is facing.

The independently elected state official lambasted the prosecutions of the former president, offering to help personally process unclaimed property requests through his office’s fltreasurehunt.gov portal.

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“There are some very, very nasty people coming after you, and every dollar matters in your efforts to fight back against these radical state attorneys who have weaponized the courts,” Patronis wrote.

“We need you and your team to have every resource possible to get through these BS charges so you can get back to work in Making America Great Again.”

He defined “unclaimed property” as financial assets that are unknown, lost, inactive or abandoned, saying that the most common examples are dormant bank accounts or stocks and dividends. Typically, the property is held by the disbursing entity for several years before being handed over to the state.

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The official also thanked Trump for his contributions to Florida and the nation writ-large, adding that he hopes to hear back from the former president on the matter.

A search by Fox News Digital of the Florida Department of Financial Services web portal returned one result for the Trump Organization totaling $3,000 in cashiers checks from JPMorganChase, and Trump’s name revealed nearly $10,000 in assets divided between an address in Volusia County, an address abutting the Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, and an unstated address.

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There were also several entries under the name Ivana Trump, the former president’s late ex-wife, as well as many others under the names of Trump’s various properties, such as Trump National Doral as well as a resort in Sunny Isles Beach, upon which his name is licensed.

The former president faces several lawsuits against him, including in New York, Atlanta and South Florida, all of which he has characterized as “witch hunts” brought upon him through the machinations of President Biden.

He has also been held in contempt of court and fined $1,000 for each of 10 gag order violations by Judge Juan Merchan in the ongoing NY v. Trump trial.

Patronis’ office told Fox News Digital it has returned $34 million in unclaimed property in April alone and $2.4 billion since Patronis was elected in 2017.

Barron Trump, the youngest child of former President Trump is set to enter the political fray for the first time. 

The 18-year-old was picked by the Republican Party of Florida on Wednesday night as one of the state’s at-large delegates to the Republican National Convention, according to a copy of the results. 

Republican Party of Florida chairman Evan Power said the 18-year-old high school senior will serve as one of 41 at-large delegates from Florida to the national gathering, where the GOP is set to officially nominate his father as its presidential candidate for the November general election. 

TRUMP PERMITTED TO ATTEND SON BARRON’S GRADUATION AFTER RIPPING TRIAL JUDGE FOR DELAYING DECISION

Up until now, Barron Trump has stayed out of the political and public spotlight as he focused on his studies. His name was thrust into the public sphere recently after concerns were raised by his father that he may not be able to attend his son’s graduation due to his ongoing “hush money” trial in New York City. 

However, the judge overseeing the trial said there would be no court on May 17 so that Trump could attend his son’s graduation.

Barron Trump attends a private high school near Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in south Florida. 

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He is the only child the former president and his wife, former First Lady Melania Trump share together. 

Donald Trump Jr., Eric Trump and Trump’s youngest daughter, Tiffany, are also part of the Florida delegation to the convention taking place in Milwaukee from July 15 to July 18.

Eric Trump was selected as delegation chair, meaning he will place his father’s name in for the nomination.

A campaign official told ABC News that Barron “is very interested in our nation’s political process.”

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“We are fortunate to have a great group of grassroots leaders, elected officials, and members of the Trump family working together as part of the Florida delegation to the 2024 Republican National Convention,” Power said in an emailed statement to The Associated Press.

The former president officially became the presumptive Republican presidential nominee on March 12 when Georgia, Mississippi and Washington state held primaries. He called it a “really great day of victory” in a video message to supporters.

The Associated Press contributed to this report. 

FIRST ON FOX: President Biden is getting a boost from a major group of former medical officials who say they are concerned about the “threat” former President Trump poses to public health.

The group of 48 individuals is led by Dr. Andrew Gurman, former president of the American Medical Association (AMA), and includes six other former AMA presidents, a former U.S. surgeon general, four former acting surgeons general, a number of other former deputy and assistant surgeons general and former representatives of the American College of Physicians.

“We write today as people who have dedicated our lives to helping people. As former leaders of national health care and delivery organizations, we have come to understand how policy can impact public health and, just as importantly, the ability of American families to afford the healthcare they need,” the group wrote in a letter addressed to the American People and shared exclusively with Fox News Digital.

WATCH: DEM GOVERNOR SWARMED BY ANTI-ISRAEL AGITATORS WHILE CELEBRATING DAUGHTER’S COLLEGE GRADUATION

“If he is elected president, Donald Trump will make our fears a reality. The price of healthcare for American families under Trump would skyrocket, while millions would lose access to healthcare altogether. While his specific policies are at best ambiguous, his track record and his words make clear the damage he would do.

“We therefore encourage anyone concerned about the price, availability, and safety of healthcare to keep Mr. Trump out of the White House,” they added.

The group argued that because of Trump’s “ambiguity” concerning health care policy, all they could do was “surmise” how the former president might proceed based on his record in office and his remarks on the campaign trail.

WATCH: DEM SENATE CANDIDATE CAUGHT ON VIDEO SCREAMING AT REPORTER OVER CONTROVERSIAL POLICE REMARK

They described what they foresee as “troubling,” including Trump’s expressed desire to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Additionally, the group argued Trump would cut funds from the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), eliminate the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), cut funding for veterans’ health care and try to further restrict abortions.

“I am concerned that, based upon what I saw during the Trump presidency and what I have heard him say during the campaign, that returning Mr. Trump to the Oval Office could have real and negative effects on the health of our country,” Gurman told Fox News Digital ahead of the letter’s release.

“I am concerned that millions might lose access to health care altogether, and that for the rest it might well become much more expensive. I think that people need to hear those concerns, and that’s why I signed the letter.”

Biden campaign communications director Michael Tyler reacted to the letter by telling Fox News Digital “every chance Trump got while in office, he made it his mission to rip health care away from working families.”

“Pushing to ‘terminate’ the Affordable Care Act is just the start for Trump if he’s re-elected. He’s now running to go even further. A second Trump presidency would mean the American people would risk getting sicker, going broke, both or worse with soaring prescription drug costs, the elimination of protections for patients with preexisting conditions and wins for Big Pharma at the expense of working families,” he said. 

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“This November, voters will send President Biden back to the White House because he is the candidate who won’t just protect our health care, but will do everything he can to lower costs and improve our health care.”

Fox News Digital has reached out to Trump’s campaign for comment and a Trump spokesperson, Karoline Leavitt, said the claims were false.

“These claims are outright lies. While President Trump is running to make less expensive healthcare options available for people without eliminating the Affordable Care Act, Joe Biden is destroying Obamacare and the entire healthcare system with his open borders invasion,” said Leavitt. “It was recently announced that Joe Biden is giving free government healthcare to illegal aliens. Every penny of this will be funded by American citizens, taken out of their paychecks and wallets. It will mean higher taxes, higher premiums, higher deductibles, and longer wait times to see a doctor. And it will mean the border invasion Biden launched will become even larger as the world floods over in search of free government benefits. This is all part of Biden’s war on the working class. Day 1 of a Trump Administration we will seal the border, deport the illegals and cut off their government benefits.”

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

The unprecedented criminal trial of former President Trump resumes Thursday morning with continued cross-examination of adult film actress Stormy Daniels after the 2024 presumptive presidential nominee and his attorneys were denied in their motion for a mistrial amid her salacious and “unnecessary” testimony. 

Trump has pleaded not guilty to 34 counts of falsifying business records in the first degree. The charges stem from a years-long investigation by the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office.

The charges are related to alleged payments made ahead of the 2016 presidential election to silence Daniels about an alleged 2006 extramarital affair with Trump.

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg must convince the jury that, not only did Trump falsify business records related to alleged hush money payments, he did so in furtherance of another crime — conspiracy to promote or prevent election, which would be a felony. 

TOP 5 MOMENTS OF TRUMP TRIAL AFTER ‘SALACIOUS’ STORMY DANIELS TESTIMONY

On their own, falsifying business records and conspiracy to promote or prevent election are misdemeanor charges. 

The continued questioning of Daniels will come from Trump defense attorneys, who began their cross-examination of the adult film actress, whose legal name is Stephanie Clifford, Tuesday. 

It is unclear if prosecutors from the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office will continue questioning with a redirect. 

On Tuesday, Daniels testified she met Trump at a celebrity golf tournament in July 2006 in Lake Tahoe and described the meeting as a “very brief encounter.” 

Prosecutor Susan Hoffinger asked what Daniels discussed with Trump. Daniels said it wasn’t very much, and that she was introduced as a director of pornographic films. 

NY V TRUMP: JUDGE DENIES MOTION FOR MISTRIAL AMID STORMY DANIELS TESTIMONY

After that, Daniels said, someone asked her if she wanted to have dinner with Trump. She testified that she discussed the invitation to dinner with her publicist, recalling that he said she should attend, implying it would be good for her career. 

Daniels then testified in detail about the alleged sexual encounter with Trump in a hotel room. 

Trump has denied allegations of a sexual encounter with Daniels. Daniels, in 2018, initially denied that a sexual encounter took place but later changed her story. 

During her lewd testimony, Judge Juan Merchan said “the degree of detail we’re going into is unnecessary” and asked prosecutor Hoffinger to move questioning along. 

BRAGG PROSECUTOR LEADING STORMY DANIELS QUESTIONING IN TRUMP TRIAL DONATED TO JOE BIDEN, DEMOCRATS

Trump defense attorney Todd Blanche blasted Daniels’ testimony as “prejudicial” and motioned for a mistrial. 

Merchan said a mistrial was not warranted but admitted he was doing everything he could to control the witness, including once objecting to Daniels’ testimony himself. 

“I agree that it would have been better if some of these things had been left unsaid,” Merchan said. 

Blanche argued that the prosecution is trying to inflame the jury with Daniels’ testimony, including with evidence that he said is irrelevant. 

Blanche said it is prejudicial testimony and evidence, saying Daniels has been trying to sell her story about an alleged consensual sexual encounter since 2016. 

Blanche said Daniels’ testimony on Tuesday was about “consent and danger” and that was “not the story that she was selling in 2016.” 

NY V TRUMP: JUDGE THREATENS JAIL TIME FOR ‘POSSIBLY THE NEXT PRESIDENT’ FOR FUTURE GAG ORDER VIOLATIONS

He also said Daniels was testifying about consent and said that kind of testimony “makes it impossible to come back from.” 

Blanche said the defense “objected as best we could, but she was able to say what she said.” 

He also questioned how the defense could “come back from this” in a way that could be “fair” to Trump. 

“We believe there should be a mistrial,” he said, “or that this witness’s testimony is excluded and extremely limited.”

Blanche said Daniels’ lurid and explosive testimony “has nothing to do with this case” and is “totally irrelevant.”

He also noted that what Daniels said was “extraordinarily prejudicial testimony” and that there is a “high risk of the jury not being able to focus on the charged conduct.”

But Hoffinger said the defense was fully briefed on Daniels’ testimony in the motions prior to trial and argued that Daniels’ testimony was probative to Trump’s intent. Hoffinger said the defense is attacking Daniels’ credibility and argued there is “no basis for this.”

Fox News Digital first reported Tuesday that Hoffinger, the prosecutor leading Bragg’s questioning of Daniels, donated to Joe Biden’s 2020 presidential campaign. 

NY V. TRUMP: MAYOR ADAMS SAYS RIKERS ISLAND IS ‘PREPARED’ IF TRUMP IS SENTENCED TO JAIL

During a break, the former president and 2024 Republican presumptive presidential nominee posted to his Truth Social account without naming Daniels.

“THE PROSECUTION, WHICH HAS NO CASE, HAS GONE TOO FAR,” he posted. “MISTRIAL!”

During the beginning of cross-examination by Trump defense attorney Susan Necheles, Daniels admitted, for the first time, that she wanted to share her allegations about an affair with Trump to “get the story out and make some money.” 

She was ultimately paid $130,000 by ex-Trump attorney Michael Cohen. 

After hours of listening to Daniels make salacious allegations on the stand about an alleged sexual encounter, which he has denied, Trump spoke to reporters outside the courtroom.

Merchan imposed a gag order on the former president, an order he has ruled Trump to have violated at least 10 times. 

Trump is barred from speaking about witnesses with regard to their potential participation or about counsel in the case – other than Bragg – or about court staff, DA staff or family members of staff.

On Monday, Trump was fined another $1,000, bringing the total to $10,000 in gag order violation fines.

Merchan threatened Trump with jail time if he violates the order in the future.

“The last thing I want to consider is jail,” Merchan said Monday. “You are [the] former president and possibly the next president.” 

Trump, after Daniels’ testimony, followed the gag order and did not mention Stormy Daniels by name or reference her testimony. 

“This was a very big day, a very revealing day as you’ll see their case is totally falling apart,” Trump said.

“They have nothing on books and records and even something that should bear very little relationship to the case is just a disaster … for the Soros-backed DA,” he continued.

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“This whole case is just a disaster,” Trump said.

Trump lamented the trial is preventing him, the presumptive GOP nominee for the 2024 presidential election, from being on the campaign trail.

“I’m stuck. I’m here instead of being in Georgia, instead of being in New Hampshire, instead of being in Wisconsin and all the different states that we wanted to be, and we’re not able to be there because we’re stuck in this trial, which everyone knows is a hoax,” he said.

Throughout his career, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has made controversial, inflammatory and sometimes untrue statements that have ticked off folks on the left and right.

Whether he’s declaring you’re more likely to be murdered in red states or waging his anti-vaccine crusade, the senator’s son is conducting something of an oddball campaign.

Yet with his magic last name, which undoubtedly makes some voters think he’s still a Democrat, he’s polling at about 8 to 10%. That, if it holds up, puts him into serious spoiler territory.

But now it turns out that Kennedy has been hiding serious medical conditions.

STORMY ALLEGES ONE-NIGHT STAND WITH TRUMP, AGREED TO LIE FOR HER $130,000 PAYOFF

When I first saw the New York Times headline on this, I assumed the independent candidate was belatedly disclosing these problems. Nope, not at all. The story was based on digging by reporter Susanne Craig.

Based on a deposition from 2012, RFK Jr. was called by a doctor at New York-Presbyterian Hospital after physicians had noticed a dark spot on his brain scans, and he had complained of memory loss and a mental fogginess. This doctor said he believed Kennedy had a dead parasite in his head.

The abnormality, RFK recalled the doctor telling him, “was caused by a worm that got into my brain and ate a portion of it and then died.”

I don’t know about you, but I’d like to know whether a presidential candidate had part of his brain eaten by a worm.

It’s a stunning bit of information, deeply unsettling, and obviously subject to mockery. He told the Times months ago that he had recovered from the memory loss without treatment.

The cavalier failure to disclose this, and other ailments, raises disturbing questions about hiding health issues from the public.

RFK had contacted some of the same neurologists who had treated or spoken to his uncle, Ted Kennedy, before he died of brain cancer the previous year.

There’s more. Not only has RFK suffered from atrial fibrillation for decades, he’s been hospitalized four times for the irregular heartbeat. He told the Times in that earlier interview that he hasn’t had an A-fib incident for more than 10 years.

BIDEN TAKES ROLE AS BYSTANDER ON BORDER AND CAMPUS PROTESTS, SURRENDERS THE BULLY PULPIT

And Kennedy has also been diagnosed with mercury poisoning. He blamed that on eating too much fish tainted by the metal. That, too, can cause serious neurological issues.

This should not be a one-day story. No one should interview RFK without bringing up the failure to disclose these serious medical problems. 

The Kennedy campaign refused to release his medical records. Unfortunately, the Joe Biden and Donald Trump teams have done the same during this campaign.

The paper notes that RFK goes out of his way to project a vigorous image, skiing with an Olympic gold medalist and lifting weights shirtless. Good for him. But perhaps that masks his real condition.

A spokeswoman for Kennedy, 70, asked if his health problems might make him unfit for office, said “that is a hilarious suggestion, given the competition” – an obvious shot at the 81-year-old Biden and 77-year-old Trump.

RFK JR RE-UPS TRUMP DEBATE CHALLENGE, SUGGESTING VENUE IN ‘PERFECT NEUTRAL TERRITORY’

Some past presidents have hidden serious medical problems, including JFK, who suffered from Addison’s disease, or malfunctioning adrenal glands that produce vital hormones, and debilitating back pain that initially kept him out of the military. But standards have changed and more candor is expected from candidates.

The only reason we know about his nephew’s problems is the deposition that came during his divorce from his second wife. RFK was arguing that his earning ability had declined because of his cognitive problems.

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The question: Is this sort of subterfuge acceptable from a major candidate?

Footnote: Nicole Shanahan, Kennedy’s running mate and a tech entrepreneur picked to help finance the campaign, hasn’t done any interviews since she was tapped. Does this amount to the same kind of secrecy?

A possible Biden administration plan to begin allowing refugees from Gaza into the U.S. has faced significant pushback, with critics calling attention to potential national security risks.

“We demand that your administration cease planning for accepting Gazan refugees until you adequately answer our concerns and focus your attention instead on securing the release of U.S. hostages held by Hamas,” read a letter to President Biden signed by 36 Republican senators last week.

The letter came after CBS News reported that the Biden administration was considering multiple plans to bring Gazan refugees to the U.S., with senior officials discussing the possibility of accepting refugees who have immediate family members already in the U.S., according to documents reviewed by the outlet.

One of the proposals floated by the administration involves using the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program to bring people who have connections to the U.S. to the country after they escape the war-torn area through neighboring Egypt. Another proposal calls for the U.S. to consider welcoming people out of Gaza and processing them as refugees if they have American relatives.

WHITE HOUSE CONSIDERS ACCEPTING SOME PALESTINIANS FROM GAZA AS REFUGEES AMID ISRAEL-HAMAS WAR

Any refugees from Gaza would have to pass a series of medical and security screenings, with those who are eligible being flown to the U.S. with refugee status.

But doubts remain about just how well the U.S. would be able to screen individuals from the war-torn area, raising concerns about the national security implications of such a program.

“One wonders how well thought through such a plan is and how it is good for us,” William Ruger, a Trump administration nominee for ambassador to Afghanistan and president of the American Institute for Economic Research, told Fox News Digital. “Who’s going to do the vetting? Who’s going to pay? What will be the consequences here at home? Is the U.S. meant to deal with and pay for the consequences of the decisions that other actors make in the world simply because we are a powerful country?”

Curt Mills, the executive director of The American Conservative, shared similar concerns, telling Fox News Digital that allowing in refugees from Gaza would cause “a horrendous amount of problems.”

“It would be impossible,” Mills said when asked if refugees from Gaza could be properly vetted. “We just do not know, writ large, what level of commitment or understanding most of the people that come into the United States at these levels have to the American project.”

WHY MIDEAST NEIGHBORS WON’T OFFER REFUGE TO PALESTINIANS STUCK IN GAZA WAR ZONE

Meanwhile, some critics have pointed to the public support Hamas enjoys among many Gazans. Writing in the New York Post, Center for Immigration Studies senior national security fellow Todd Bensman pointed to polling that showed a majority of Gazans support the terrorist group’s Oct. 7 attack on Israel. Bensman also argued that many in Gaza have “long viewed” the U.S. as an enemy, pointing to a 2013 poll that showed 76% of the population view the U.S. as more of an enemy.

“I do not think it’s possible to sufficiently vet most Gazans, even children, who are thoroughly saturated, marinated, indoctrinated, from school, mosque, and summer camp, parents and family, the doctrines of hatred and killing,” Bensman told Fox News Digital.

Bensman also questioned why the U.S. should be the country responsible for taking in Gazan refugees, arguing that there are plenty of other countries in the region that are “perfectly equipped to take on more refugees.”

The 36 Republican senators hit on similar themes in their letter to Biden, warning of the dangers that the possibility of “terrorists entering our homeland is no hypothetical matter.”

“With more than a third of Gazans supporting the Hamas militants, we are not confident that your administration can adequately vet this high-risk population for terrorist ties and sympathies before admitting them into the United States,” the senators wrote. 

URBAN WARFARE EXPERT SAYS ISRAELI MILITARY TAKING UNPRECEDENTED STEPS TO PROTECT GAZA CIVILIANS

Lisa Daftari, the editor-in-chief of the Foreign Desk and a terrorism expert, told Fox News Digital that any plan to bring Gazans to the U.S. as refugees would have to “be done lawfully and with due process.”

“It seems the Biden administration has employed a ‘make-it-up-as-you-go-along’ foreign policy in dealing with fallout from the Gaza/Israel war,” Daftari said. 

Daftari argued that “there are many issues” the White House would have to consider with such a policy, adding that “the main one is concerning U.S. national security.”

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 “The challenge in allowing these individuals into the country is that it is impossible to have proper vetting,” Daftari said. “The mess at our southern border should serve as the cautionary tale, as to date, Border Patrol has encountered over 200 individuals whose names have appeared on the national terror watchlist, and that is not taking into account the dozens or more who have evaded authorities and are currently in this country.”

The White House did not immediately respond to a Fox News Digital request for comment.

The House of Representatives squashed an effort by Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., and Thomas Massie, R-Ky., to force a House-wide vote on Speaker Mike Johnson’s, R-La., ouster.

Greene appeared to catch most congressional watchers by surprise when she moved to force a vote on her motion to vacate the chair, the procedural move that would allow for the vote. She noticed her resolution as “privileged,” meaning House leaders had two legislative days to take it up.

But her bluff was called immediately when House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., rose to call for a vote on tabling Greene’s motion — which effectively kills it before the vote on Johnson’s ouster itself.

Johnson got overwhelming Democratic and Republican support for the table vote, which passed 359 to 43, averting a vote on her motion. Just 11 Republicans voted against tabling the measure, along with 32 Democrats.

MARJORIE TAYLOR GREENE FILES MOTION TO OUST SPEAKER JOHNSON

On the Republican side, Johnson won the support of 196 members, while 163 Democrats also voted to shield him.

The House GOP side of the chamber erupted in cheers when her move was squashed.

“I want to say that I appreciate the show of confidence from my colleagues to defeat this misguided effort. That is certainly what it was,” Johnson told reporters after the vote. “I’ve said from the beginning, and I’ve made clear here every day, I intend to do my job. I intend to do what I believe to be the right thing, which is what I was elected to do. And I’ll let the chips fall where they may.”

Greene declined to say if she planned to force another vote, but accused Johnson of being aligned with Democrats after they helped save his job.

“That’s not something that I’ve said,” she said when asked if she would try a repeat. “I think today it has proven the uniparty is alive as well. And the Democrats now control Speaker Johnson. That was something that everybody suspected all along. They just voted to save him. And I think that’s the message.”

Greene has been threatening to force a vote on taking Johnson’s gavel since late March in protest of his handling of government funding and foreign aid.

Her resolution, known as a motion to vacate the chair, will now have to be voted on or tabled after Greene noticed it as “privileged” on Wednesday night — meaning House leaders have two legislative days to take it up.

The Republican side of the House chamber erupted in boos as Greene listed off her gripes against Johnson, prompting Democrat Rep. Steve Cohen, D-Tenn., to shout, “The House is not in order — and is about to fall into chaos,” prompting some sparse laughs from their side of the chamber.

The vote is expected to be close but ultimately fail, with both Republicans and Democrats voicing opposition to a move that would effectively paralyze Congress until a new speaker is found.

The vote is a culmination of six months’ worth of frustration from the most right-wing conservatives in Johnson’s conference, who have felt sidelined by him on nearly all critical legislation including foreign aid and government funding, during which they demanded he leverage a government shutdown to force the Democrats who controlled the Senate and White House to pass Republican policies.

HOUSE DEMS SAY THEY’LL BLOCK MARJORIE TAYLOR GREENE FROM OUSTING SPEAKER JOHNSON

Greene’s push got two more backers in Reps. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., and Paul Gosar, R-Ariz., after Johnson ushered a foreign aid bill along bipartisan lines that includes $61 billion for Ukraine.

But it’s largely fallen flat among the House GOP, where even Johnson’s critics have shown little appetite for going through another three weeks of chaos like what followed the ouster of ex-Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., in October — particularly six months out from an election.

With just a razor-thin majority of two seats, it would take little dissent for Johnson to lose the top House job if it fell along party lines. Eight House Republicans had voted with all Democrats to oust McCarthy in early October. 

Unlike McCarthy’s case, however, House Democrats have pledged to come to Johnson’s aid by voting to table the resolution if it came up — a vote to table a measure, which essentially kills it, is a procedural hurdle that allows Democrats to block Johnson’s ouster without having to actually vote on whether to fire him.

Johnson’s critics seized on the left-wing support as evidence that the Louisiana Republican was not representing the interests of his own party.

MARJORIE TAYLOR GREENE CALLS JOHNSON’S FOREIGN AID PACKAGE HIS ‘3RD BETRAYAL’ OF AMERICAN PEOPLE

“The entire Democrat Party is lining up behind Mike Johnson. First, it was the entire leadership team for the Democrats. Now, Nancy Pelosi, who impeached President Trump TWICE, has given Johnson her seal of approval. What deal has been made??” Greene wrote on X on Monday, along with a video of Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., backing House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries’ decision to help Johnson.

The move could save Johnson’s job, but could also cost him some Republican support.

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Massie told Fox News Digital last week when asked about how much GOP backing he expected, “I think it’s a kinetic situation. And Hakeem and the entire Democrat leadership team endorsing Mike Johnson is going to cause a lot of people who weren’t with us, to be with us.”

Johnson, for his part, has repeatedly told reporters that he’s not afraid of Greene’s threats and has insisted his focus is on governing.

With the Georgia Appeals Court decision to hear former President Donald Trump’s bid to have Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis disqualified from the case against him, some legal experts say there is little to no chance the case will go to trial before the November election as Willis had hoped. 

On Wednesday, the appeals court agreed to hear arguments by lawyers for Trump and co-defendants in the sweeping racketeering case related to the 2020 election. They argue Willis had an “improper” affair with a subordinate lawyer on her team and should be disqualified. 

Judge Scott McAfee ruled in March that Willlis’ affair gave her team an “appearance of impropriety” and said special prosector Nathan Wade needed to be removed or Willis should step down. Wade resigned shortly following that ruling. 

But Trump and his co-defendants appealed that decision, which will now go before the Court of Appeals. John Malcolm, a former assistant U.S. Attorney in Atlanta, said there’s “not a chance” Trump’s Georgia election interference case will go to trial before November. 

GEORGIA COURT OF APPEALS TO REVIEW TRUMP’S BID TO DISQUALIFY DA FANI WILLIS

“Although the odds of the Georgia case coming to trial quickly were never very good, now that the Georgia Court of Appeals has agreed to consider the recusal issue, there is not a chance the Georgia case is going to go to trial before the November election,” Malcolm told Fox News Digital. 

“There are still lots of pending motions that Judge McAfee will have to consider once (or if) the case is returned to him for further proceedings,” Malcolm noted. He added that the U.S. Supreme Court’s pending decision in the Trump immunity case may have an impact on some of the charges that Willis’ office has brought against the former president.

Malcolm added that “by dramatically overcharging this case and by engaging in an interoffice romance with a prosecutor whom she appointed, Fani Willis has no one but herself to blame for the predicament she is in.” 

FANI WILLIS SUGGESTS SHE WON’T TESTIFY IN ‘UNLAWFUL’ GEORGIA SENATE INVESTIGATION

Georgia State University law professor Anthony Kreis told Fox News in an interview that, according to the court’s rules, the appeals court has to hear and decide a case within two terms. 

“Now that’s a long period of time. We’re basically looking into early 2025 potentially if the court puts it at the end of its docket,” Kreis said. “The Court of Appeals is a pretty busy court. And so, you know, maybe they want to take the [case] sooner, maybe they don’t.” 

Kreis explained that it’s not guaranteed the appeals court will hold oral arguments in the case and could just decide it based on briefings by both parties.

The earliest the appeals court could hear the case is August of this year. 

JUDGE DISMISSES SOME COUNTS AGAINST TRUMP IN FANI WILLIS ELECTION INTERFERENCE CASE

John Shu, a constitutional law expert who served in both the George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush administrations, observed that “the Court of Appeals process will take weeks, and then whichever party loses the interlocutory appeal likely will file a certiorari petition to the Georgia Supreme Court, which, if they grant it, probably would take the process well into November.”

“This mess definitely is of DA Willis’ own making,” Shu added.

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Willis did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment. 

Homeless people who camp on public property in Portland, Oregon, and reject offers of shelter could be fined up to $100 or sentenced to up to seven days in jail under new rules approved unanimously by the City Council on Wednesday.

When shelter is not available, the same penalties apply for blocking sidewalks, using gas heaters or starting fires, or having belongings more than 2 feet (0.6 meters) outside of tents.

CRISIS IN THE NORTHWEST: CITY’S BATTLE AGAINST HOMELESSNESS COULD HAVE DIRE EFFECTS FOR THE NATION

The ordinance takes effect immediately, and enforcement is set to begin in the coming weeks, Mayor Ted Wheeler’s office said.

“Addressing the issue of unsheltered homelessness in our city is a complex and urgent matter, and I believe this ordinance represents a significant step forward in our ongoing efforts to manage public spaces effectively,” Wheeler said in a statement.

Those who accept offers of shelter won’t be cited, according to Wheeler’s office. For those who are cited, the courts will determine whether to waive fines. The ordinance says it encourages diverting people to assessment, emergency shelter or housing instead of jail.

The mayor’s office said the new rules seek to comply with a state law that requires cities to have “objectively reasonable” restrictions on when, where and how people camp in public. A previous, stricter version of the ordinance that banned camping during daylight hours, at risk of fines or jail time, has been put on hold by a judge as a lawsuit challenging the measure filed by advocates on behalf of homeless people makes its way through the courts.

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The measure comes as Portland and other cities across the U.S. West struggle to address a growing number of homeless encampments. Many officials say they need to be able to manage encampments to keep streets safe and sanitary, while advocacy groups say people shouldn’t be criminally punished for lacking housing.

The U.S. Supreme Court, after hearing a case brought by the small Oregon town of Grants Pass, is weighing whether cities can punish people for sleeping outside when shelter space is lacking. It’s the most significant case before the high court in decades on the issue and comes amid record homelessness nationwide.

FreedomWorks, the once influential conservative group that helped spur the tea party movement, is reportedly shutting its doors and blaming the influence of Donald Trump for its demise.

FreedomWorks President Adam Brandon told Politico in an exclusive interview published Wednesday that the group has dissolved, “effective immediately.” Wednesday marked the last day for the organization’s roughly two dozen staff members. 

Fox News Digital has reached out to multiple members, including Brandon, but the outlet reported that FreedomWorks’ board of directors had voted unanimously to shut down immediately. 

The group laid off just under half of its staff last year, and its revenue has plummeted by almost as much since 2022, according to the report. 

TRUMP SUPER PAC TO JOIN TIKTOK WITH @MAGA HANDLE

Brandon said the ideological upheaval of the Trump era ultimately led to FreedomWorks’ demise. He said Trump’s rise created a rift between libertarian-leaning conservatives and the MAGA-style populism of Trump supporters. 

“A lot of our base aged, and so the new activists that have come in [with] Trump, they tend to be much more populist,” Brandon told the outlet. “So, you look at the base that just kind of shifted.” 

The shift, he said, was seen even in FreedomWorks’ own members, which divided into MAGA and “Never Trump factions.” 

EX-CNN REPORTER FRETS OVER DINNER SHE HAD WITH ‘CLOSETED’ TRUMP SUPPORTERS: ‘CONTINUES TO HAUNT ME’

This impacted the group’s ability to raise money, noting that donors are increasingly asking: “What are you doing for Trump today?” Still, others complained that the group was doing too much to help the former president, putting Brandon in an impossible position. 

“[W]e’re not for or against Trump,” said FreedomWorks’ board member Paul Beckner, according to Politico. “We’re for Trump if he’s doing what we agree with, and we’re against if he’s not. And I think we’ve seen an erosion of conservative donors.” 

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Brandon said he has his eyes set on launching a new libertarian-leaning organization focused on politically independent millennials and Gen Z’ers. 

The House of Representatives passed a bill Wednesday evening to add a citizenship question to the next U.S. census, with zero Democrats voting in favor.

“If you are an illegal immigrant, you should not be represented in the U.S. Congress,” House Majority Whip Tom Emmer, R-Minn., told Fox News Digital after the vote. “It’s a shame that House Democrats are allowing their open-borders agenda to get in the way of common sense.”

The legislation is called the Equal Representation Act, led by Rep. Chuck Edwards, R-N.C. In addition to including a question on citizenship status on the census, the bill would also exclude non-citizens from the population count when factoring how many lawmakers in the House of Representatives each state gets, as well as the number of electors for all 50 states.

It passed along party lines with 206 Republicans in favor and 202 Democrats against.

SANCTUARY CITY POLICY ARREST OVER 1K MIGRANTS FROM THIS COUNTRY AS RESIDENTS RAGE AGAINST DEM LEADERS

“Though commonsense dictates that only citizens should be counted for apportionment purposes, illegal aliens have nonetheless recently been counted toward the final tallies that determine how many House seats each state is allocated and the number of electoral votes it will wield in presidential elections,” Edwards said during debate on the bill. “And since the illegal alien population is not evenly distributed throughout the nation, American citizens in some states are losing representation in Congress to illegal aliens in other states.”

There was some uncertainty over whether the bill would pass given near-uniform opposition from Democrats as well as some Republicans.

Two House GOP aides told Fox News Digital earlier Wednesday that Republican lawmakers in New York and California, as well as several other establishment GOP members had reservations about the bill.

And Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., can afford precious little dissent, overseeing just a one-seat majority in the House. 

A majority of House Republicans support the bill, however, citing the record levels of illegal immigrants who have come to the U.S. under President Biden’s tenure.

Including a citizenship question on the U.S. census is not a new idea, however – former President Trump tried to have it added before the 2020 census, but it was blocked by the Supreme Court.

One of the Democrats speaking out against the bill ahead of the Wednesday vote was Rep. Nanette Barragan, D-Calif., chair of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus.

OUTRAGED RESIDENT WARNS WHAT $70M MIGRANT FUNDING WILL DO TO SANCTUARY CITY

“This requirement would deprive tens of millions of immigrants their right to representation,” Barragan said, adding it would have a “chilling effect on participation in the census.”

“Its accuracy would be destroyed,” she said.

Rep. Clay Higgins, R-La., a supporter of the bill, argued it would not negate the census’ intended purpose of counting everyone in the U.S.

“While this bill will continue to count every person in the United States, it adds a simple question – are you a United States citizen?” Higgins posed. “The problem is the level of illegal persons who now live in our country because of President Biden’s failure at the southern border.”

A New York Republican in favor of the bill, Rep. Nick Langworthy, R-N.Y., said on the House floor, “We’re talking millions of people who are not American citizens having a major say in American elections.”

Another lawmaker supporting the bill, Rep. Tim Burchett, R-Tenn., accused Democrats of opposing the bill because it would negatively impact their power in Congress.

CHICAGO CITY COUNCIL APPROVES $70M FOR MIGRANT CARE DESPITE VOTER BACKLASH 

“You could see why my Democratic colleagues would have a problem with this bill. Factoring illegal aliens into the process skews things in their favor,” Burchett said. “If the census does not include the citizenship question, states with more illegal aliens will get more congressional districts and more electoral college votes.”

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Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., the top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee, argued against the bill, “I’m for a whole lot more lawful immigration to America, less unlawful immigration to America…and a lot less demagoguery about who we are as a country.”

He later added, “One should be clear that under this legislation, they’re roping out of reapportionment not just undocumented people, they’re roping out permanent residents…they’re talking about disenfranchising from the reapportionment process, millions of people who are lawfully [in the U.S.].”

Former President Donald Trump called on House Republicans to not vote in favor of Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., saying “this is not the time” to oust House Speaker Mike Johnson.

The House of Representatives on Wednesday killed an effort by Greene and Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., to vote on vacating the chair.

Green appeared to catch most Congressional watchers by surprise when she moved to force a vote on her motion to vacate the chair, which should have allowed for the vote.

Though she has been seen in the past touting a MAGA hat in favor of Trump, the former president called on Republicans to table her motion.

“I absolutely love Marjorie Taylor Greene. She’s got Spirit, she’s got Fight, and I believe she’ll be around, and on our side, for a long time to come,” Trump posted on Truth Social. “However, right now, Republicans have to be fighting the Radical Left Democrats, and all the Damage they have done to our Country. With a Majority of One, shortly growing to three or four, we’re not in a position of voting on a Motion to Vacate. At some point, we may very well be, but this is not the time.”

HOUSE SQUASHES MARJORIE TAYLOR GREENE’S MOTION TO OUST SPEAKER JOHNSON

He continued to say he is leading in the presidential polls, both nationally and in swing states.

Trump said Republicans are doing well in the Senate, and he believed the party would do well in the House.

He then warned about giving off the message that Republicans were not unified.

MARJORIE TAYLOR GREENE FILES MOTION TO OUST SPEAKER JOHNSON

“But if we show DISUNITY, which will be portrayed as CHAOS, it will negatively affect everything,” he wrote. “Mike Johnson is a good man who is trying very hard. I also wish certain things were done over the last period of two months, but we will get them done, together.

“It is my request that Republicans vote for “THE MOTION TO TABLE,” Trump added. “We WILL WIN BIG – AND IT WILL BE SOON!”

Johnson got overwhelming Democratic and Republican support for the table vote, which passed 359 to 43, averting a vote on her motion. Just 11 Republicans voted against tabling the measure, along with 32 Democrats.

HOUSE DEMS SAY THEY’LL BLOCK MARJORIE TAYLOR GREENE FROM OUSTING SPEAKER JOHNSON

On the Republican side, Johnson won the support of 196 members, while 163 Democrats also voted to shield him.

The House GOP side of the chamber erupted in cheers when her move was squashed.

Greene has been threatening to force a vote on taking Johnson’s gavel since late March in protest of his handling of government funding and foreign aid.

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Her resolution, known as a motion to vacate the chair, will now have to be voted on or tabled after Greene noticed it as “privileged” on Wednesday night — meaning House leaders have two legislative days to take it up.

Fox News Digital’s Elizabeth Elkind contributed to this report.

The Biden administration is reportedly planning to announce an asylum regulation as early as Thursday that would allow officials to remove some illegal immigrants earlier in the asylum process. Although it is far short of broader changes envisioned by either the administration or Republicans.

The Department of Homeland Security is planning to issue a regulation that would apply denials to eligibility for those claiming asylum at the initial screening stage at the border rather than during the interview stage, Politico reported.

Should migrants fail to meet those criteria, it would allow officials to expedite their removal. Officials told the outlet it would allow officials to move more quickly on those who are national security or public safety threats.

BIDEN PLAN TO EXTEND OBAMACARE ELIGIBILITY TO ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS GETS PUSHBACK IN CONGRESS: ‘MADNESS’ 

It is unclear to what extent the rule would change the situation at the border. The rule would likely only apply to those who are screened for an asylum claim. The Biden administration last year implemented a broader asylum rule that makes illegal immigrants ineligible for asylum if they have crossed multiple countries without claiming asylum. Since that rule was implemented, the border saw a monthly record for border crossings in December, although numbers have since decreased.

The rule would also be far short of sweeping changes proposed by the Biden administration, which has called on Congress to provide additional funding and a sweeping immigration reform bill it introduced on day one to tackle what it says is a “broken” system.

More recently, it has called for the passage of a bipartisan border agreement that would both provide additional funding and would also implement an expulsion mechanism that would come into play if encounters rose above an average of 5,000 a day. Conservatives rejected the agreement, arguing that it normalized already excessive levels of illegal immigration.

“Look folks, it’s been a simple choice,” Biden said at the State of the Union in March. “We can fight about fixing the border or we can fix it. I’m ready to fix it. Send me the border bill now.”

It has also been reported by multiple outlets that the administration is considering the use of a law known as 212(f), which allows the president to suspend the entry of foreign nationals if he determines it is not in the best interest of the country. 

Republicans have said that the Biden administration can fix the crisis by itself by ending its current policies and re-implementing Trump-era policies they believe largely solved the border crisis. They point to border wall construction, the Remain-in-Mexico policy and increased interior enforcement.

Republicans in the House also passed their own sweeping border security package last year, which includes additional funding as well as measures to shut down parole and the entry of migrants into the interior. But that bill has failed to make progress in the Democrat-controlled Senate. 

House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Mark Green was unimpressed by reports of the rule, and downplayed how effective it would be.

MASSIVE NUMBER OF MIGRANTS FROM THIS FOREIGN ADVERSARY ARE ILLEGALLY ENTERING US

“This rule appears to be an unserious, politically motivated attempt to address a significant problem the Biden administration itself created. The proposed rule will reportedly only apply to illegal aliens who are believed to be either a national security or public safety threat,” he said in a statement. 

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The rule will not impact or reduce the millions of illegitimate asylum claims being filed by economic migrants. The department currently cannot properly vet the vast majority of illegal aliens crossing the border, as numerous tragic reports from our communities make clear. The Biden administration, however, would have us believe that vetting under this rule will somehow be effective,” he said.

“All that migrants will have to do is say the magic words to get to their credible fear interview. Nothing will change.”

Fox News’ Tyler Olson and Bill Melugin contributed to this report.

Get the latest updates on the ongoing border crisis from the Fox News Digital immigration hub.

The wife of an ex-Biden Department of Justice official, who is currently serving as a top prosecutor with Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office targeting former President Trump, donated thousands of dollars supporting President Biden’s 2020 campaign.

Anne K. Small, the wife of Matthew Colangelo and a former Obama White House official, donated $2,800 to Biden’s campaign in 2020, according to FEC records reviewed by Fox News Digital. Small also supported Obama’s successful 2008 campaign and donated $500 to John Kerry’s failed 2004 presidential campaign.

A 2013 press release detailed Small’s career background during the Obama administration, including Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) general counsel, Special Assistant to the President and Associate Counsel in the White House Counsel’s Office. Her legal career was preceded by clerking for now-retired Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer and graduating from Harvard Law School. 

“Ms. Small previously worked at the SEC as Deputy General Counsel for Litigation and Adjudication, helping to oversee enforcement matters, appellate cases, and adjudications,” the press release continued. “She becomes the first woman to be named General Counsel of the SEC.”

NEW REVELATIONS IN FLORIDA DOCUMENTS TRIAL PUT TRUMP ON OFFENSE AGAINST ‘DERANGED’ SPECIAL COUNSEL

Small has been serving on the board of directors at the NAACP’s Legal Defense Fund, which has been vocal against former President Trump, since early 2020, according to an archived version of the left-wing group’s website. In addition to Small, Jonathan Soros, the youngest of liberal billionaire George Soros’s three children from his first marriage, has also been serving on the board.

The NAACP Legal Defense Fund earlier this year filed an amicus brief with the Supreme Court calling for the disqualification of Trump from running for president, citing the 14th Amendment, according to a press release.

“The Fourteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution, which was adopted during the Reconstruction period to safeguard our newly multi-racial democracy from forces who opposed the abolition of slavery and Black citizenship, prohibits government officials who engage in insurrections against the United States from serving again as officers of the United States under Section 3 of that Amendment,” the press release said. “The Colorado Supreme Court determined that this provision disqualifies former President Trump from appearing on that state’s ballot because he engaged in an insurrection in connection with the events of January 6, 2021.”

While the group said the amicus brief wasn’t filed on behalf of any political party, the group’s president and Director-Counsel, Janai Nelson, fumed over the unanimous Supreme Court decision that favored Trump in the Colorado ballot disqualification dispute.

EX-TOP BIDEN DOJ OFFICIAL NOW PROSECUTING TRUMP WAS ONCE PAID BY DNC FOR ‘POLITICAL CONSULTING’

“By not only ignoring the plain text and purpose of the Fourteenth Amendment but proscribing the exact manner in which Congress would have to act in order to ensure ‘oath breaking insurrectionists’ cannot hold office, the Court effectively provided constitutional immunity to insurrectionists, absent legislation from Congress,” Nelson said. 

“This continues a disturbing and dangerous pattern of judicial overreach and activism,” she continued. “At a time of mounting threats to the rule of law and to the preservation of our multi-racial, multi-ethnic democracy, as well as a crisis in public confidence in our judiciary, it is critical that courts adhere to their role in deciding cases and controversies. Today the Court failed to do so.”  

Nelson has also gone as far as opposing Trump’s First Amendment rights on social media, saying his “speech is quite strongly against the public’s interest—especially the interests of our democracy and the specific groups he has targeted that have suffered violent attack and other assaults as a result” after it was reported that his Facebook and Instagram would be reinstated last year. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) said this decision was the “right call,” which was rebuked by Nelson. 

BRAGG PROSECUTOR LEADING STORMY DANIELS QUESTIONING IN TRUMP TRIAL DONATED TO BIDEN, DEMOCRATS

The FEC filings are the latest instance of several ties between the Colangelo family and the Democratic Party. Fox News Digital reported earlier this week that the Democratic National Committee (DNC) paid Colangelo thousands of dollars for “political consulting” in 2018. 

In addition to the payments, Colangelo also donated hundreds of dollars to Obama’s 2008 campaign and held several roles in the Obama administration, a Fox News Digital review found. 

“He has been a Distinguished Lecturer at the Georgetown University Law Center, and served in the Obama administration as a Deputy Assistant to President Obama and Deputy Director of the National Economic Council,” an archived DOJ “staff profile” said. “Prior to that, he served as Chief of Staff to Department of Labor Secretary Tom Perez for three years, and as Deputy Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights at the Department of Justice.”

The DNC consulting payments were disbursed when Colangelo’s former boss, Tom Perez, was the DNC chair.

White House visitor logs from the Obama administration also show Colangelo’s name dozens of times for various meetings with top officials, including several meetings with Biden’s current White House chief of staff Jeff Zients, who was serving as the director of the National Economic Council between 2014 and early 2017 when Colangelo was the deputy director of the NEC.

Susan Hoffinger, another prosecutor from Bragg’s office leading the questioning of adult film actress Stormy Daniels in Trump’s criminal trial, also donated to President Biden’s campaign in 2020. The donations included a number of other Democrat politicians and organizations over the years.

Hoffinger donated $500 to Biden’s presidential campaign in 2020: a donation of $250 in February 2020 and another donation of $250 in March 2020. She donated more than $900 to ActBlue during the 2020 cycle. ActBlue is an online fundraising platform for Democrat candidates, progressive organizations and nonprofits.

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Rep. Lance Gooden, R-Texas sent a scathing letter to the DOJ and Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg late last month demanding answers about the “cesspool of partisanship” in the DOJ, Fox News Digital reported last month.

“The Department of Justice under President Biden has proven to be a cesspool of partisanship, further evident by the hyper-politicized courts that have taken up President Trump’s criminal trials,” Gooden’s letter read. “DA Bragg’s decision to hire Mr. Colangelo, a former DOJ official with close ties to the White House and Attorney General Garland, is yet another example of the unconstitutional approach to President Trump’s trial.”

Gooden asked to receive a response to his questions by May 24, 2024.

Fox News Digital reached out to Small, Colangelo, and the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office.

Fox News’ Aubrie Spady and Brooke Singman contributed to this report.

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

What’s happening? 

-Biden pauses munition shipments to Israel over Rafa operation

-College agitators to be sent to Gaza under new House Bill

-Billionaire’s family financing both Democrat campaigns and anti-Israel protests

Worm in the Membrane

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. claimed in a years-old deposition that doctors told him a parasitic worm had eaten part of his brain before dying in his skull.

Kennedy said he had been experiencing “cognitive problems,” memory loss and brain fog, and feared he was suffering from a brain tumor during a deposition in his 2012 divorce proceedings, the New York Times first reported. RFK’s campaign told the Times he made a full recovery from the brain fog and other symptoms after changing his diet (he also blamed mercury poisoning), and he had no aftereffects from the parasite.

RFK recently reignited his call to debate former President Trump, suggesting “perfect neutral territory” at the upcoming Libertarian Party convention. 

But the Kennedy scion isn’t the only presidential candidate facing questions about cognition. Jon Stewart recently blasted Biden (81) as “so f—ing old” during a comedy set — and pointed out that Trump (77) isn’t much younger. 

“Why are we allowing this?” Stewart asked a Los Angeles crowd at Netflix’s comedy festival on Friday, according to The Hollywood Reporter. “And now we’re going to have a president that’s [one of] the two oldest people that have ever run for the office of the presidency.”

TRUMP ON TRIAL: Top 5 moments of Trump trial after ‘salacious’ Stormy Daniels testimony …Read more

Campus Chaos

FACE OFF: State AG promises to use little-known law for felony charges against anti-Israel agitators …Read more

‘HE’S SO F—ING OLD!’: Jon Stewart says Biden ‘shouldn’t be president’ in shocking comedy set …Read more

ONE-WAY TICKET: Republican wants to send college anti-Israel agitators to Gaza …Read more

ACTION TAKEN: Comer cancels DC antisemitism hearing, after police ‘finally’ dismantled GWU encampment …Read more

ROOT OF ALL EVIL: Billionaire’s family bankrolling both anti-Israel groups and these battleground Democrats …Read more

White House

HOLD: Biden administration confirms paused shipment of bombs to Israel over opposition to operation in Rafah …Read more

Capitol Hill

CRIMINAL REFERRAL: House GOP goes after ‘convicted liar’ Michael Cohen, asks DOJ to investigate most recent lies …Read more

TRUMP CARD: Trump shows support for one of MTG’s key demands amid Johnson ouster threats …Read more

Tales from the Campaign Trail

ON THE VERGE: Wife of Biden’s national security adviser gets ready to run for Congress in key battleground state …Read more

‘SHAMEFUL’: GOP lawmaker says Biden threw Jews ‘under the bus’ to appease one key voting bloc …Read more

BUILD BACK BETTER: Trump says keeping FBI in DC will be ‘centerpiece of my plan’ rebuilding capital city …Read more

‘PERFECT NEUTRAL TERRITORY’: RFK Jr continues push for Trump debate, suggests time and place …Read more

THIS AIN’T TEXAS: Cruz team slams Lone Star Dems for giving ‘radical’ blue state gov keynote slot at convention …Read more

Across America

‘HE’S A PHONY’: Gov Newsom roasted over Golden Gate Bridge tourism video …Read more

HOT WATER: GOP keeps pressure on NPR amid political bias scandal …Read more

‘LEARN THE LAW’: Fani Willis suggests she won’t testify in ‘unlawful’ Georgia Senate probe …Read more

‘SUPERNATURAL PHENOMENA’: Vatican preparing ‘guidelines’ for ‘apparitions’ …Read more

GEORGIA APPEALS: Georgia court of appeals to review Trump’s bid to disqualify DA Fani Willis …Read more

DON’S DEFIANCE: Trump recites line  from 1775 to judge who threatened to jail him for violating gag order …Read more

TIMES UP: New York Times is being punished for not being ‘sufficiently worshipful of Joe Biden’: Taibbi …Read more

‘DISASTROUS’ TESTIMONY: CNN legal analyst taken aback by Stormy Daniels’ admission …Read more

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