Trump at higher risk of assassination than other former presidents thanks to ‘public enemy’ rhetoric: expert
The threat against former President Trump is unique to him and far higher than anything facing the other living former presidents as inflammatory political rhetoric has consistently portrayed him as “public enemy number one for democracy,” a security expert told Fox Digital. Trump has faced a pair of assassination attempts in just over two months – one on July 13 and one on Sept. 15 – with the first incident resulting in a would-be assassin injuring the former president and killing a rally goer, firefighter Corey Comperatore. There have been no known recent attempts on other former presidents: Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, Barack Obama or Jimmy Carter, who has been in hospice care since February 2023. “We’re getting a lot of hatred on both sides, and a lot of these comments that really do – like I said – embolden people to think that they’re going to ‘fix the problem,’” said Gene Petrino, a retired SWAT commander for Florida’s Plantation Police Department for 26 years and an expert on active shooter incidents who spoke to Fox News Digital on Tuesday. “‘They can’t let this happen. We can’t lose our freedoms. We can’t lose this.’ And I’m not picking sides, and I have seen both sides do it. But unfortunately, Trump has been labeled as public enemy No. 1 for democracy.” Petrino added: “He’s just got a higher footprint, so to speak, of who would be assassinated,” among former presidents. Trump was safely escorted from his golf club in West Palm Beach on Sunday afternoon when a man identified as Ryan Routh allegedly directed the muzzle of a rifle through a chain-link fence toward where Trump was located on the green. Routh was arrested shortly after while trying to flee in his car and authorities are investigating the incident as an apparent assassination attempt. TRUMP ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT SUSPECT LAUGHS, SMILES DURING FIRST COURT APPEARANCE IN FLORIDA The incident marks the second attempt on Trump’s life in just a few months. Trump was shot in the ear in July while holding a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. The shooting, which was carried out by 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks, left two rally attendees injured, and Comperatore was fatally shot while protecting his family. Petrino said he has not heard of any plots against the other former living presidents, but that the Secret Service should take the second plot against Trump into consideration as they protect the other presidents. ”Right now, they have had two [attempts] within a couple of months of each other. There’s something going on, and we better really start tightening up what we’re doing across the board. Not just for Trump, but really for everybody,” he said, arguing Harris and Biden are also targets, but that Trump has a “higher footprint” as a target among former presidents, specifically. HOUSE DEM LEADER RAILS ‘WE MUST STOP’ MAGA AMID NEWS OF 2ND TRUMP ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT Fox News Digital reached out to the offices of Clinton, Obama and Bush inquiring if there is any heightened concern following the second attempt on Trump and if their security has increased, but did not receive replies. The Secret Service told Fox Digital that it “elevated” its security around its “protectees” following the first Trump assassination attempt when asked about security measures surrounding the former presidents on Tuesday. “Following the events of July 13, the U.S. Secret Service elevated the protective posture for our protectees and bolstered our protective details as appropriate in order to ensure the highest levels of safety and security for those we protect,” the Secret Service told Fox Digital. “Due to operational security, we cannot comment on the specific means and methods used for our protective operations.” Security expert and former NYPD officer Bill Stanton added during an interview with Fox Digital that the “perfect storm of heightened rhetoric” surrounding the election cycle has made Trump a top target by people who become “self-radicalized” by inflammatory rhetoric. TRUMP BLAMES BIDEN-HARRIS ‘RHETORIC’ FOR LATEST ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT, SAYS HE WILL ‘SAVE THE COUNTRY’ “You have these keyboard warriors. It’s like a drug. They go out, and they spew all their hate and venom online,” he said. “[The internet] has allowed these people, for them to stew in their own psychosis. And then, when that drug doesn’t become enough, now you see it going from like ‘The Matrix’ from the cyber world into the real world.” The morning following the attempt, Trump spoke to Fox Digital and pinned blame for the second attempt on Democrats’ rhetoric. “[The suspect] believed the rhetoric of Biden and Harris, and he acted on it,” Trump said in the interview. “Their rhetoric is causing me to be shot at, when I am the one who is going to save the country, and they are the ones that are destroying the country – both from the inside and out.” “It is called the enemy from within. They are the real threat,” Trump added. Petrino said that in his opinion, the attempts on Trump are “unique” to the 45th president. “[Trump] is the opposite of every politician, and he’s really going against the grain of a lot of people,” Petrino said. “… The divisiveness in our country right now on the political spectrum is way out of control. The rhetoric that is said on both sides has got to stop. It perpetuates these kinds of things from happening and emboldens these people that might not be mentally capable to have any critical thinking on things, to say, ‘Oh, I’m going to be the savior and save democracy.’” RYAN ROUTH, ARMED MAN ARRESTED AT TRUMP GOLF COURSE, POSTED PROLIFICALLY ABOUT TRUMP, POLITICS Fox News Digital pored through Routh’s social media on Sunday evening, before his accounts were suspended, and found that he did parrot some political talking points from Democrats, including declaring: “DEMOCRACY is on the ballot and we cannot lose.” “Your campaign should be called something like KADAF. Keep America democratic and free. Trumps should be MASA… make Americans slaves again
GOP lawmakers wrestle with emergency Secret Service funding amid government shutdown fight
House Republicans are toying with the idea of attaching additional U.S. Secret Service (USSS) funds to a short-term spending patch aimed at avoiding an Oct. 1 partial government shutdown. Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., is teeing up a vote Wednesday evening on his plan to avert a shutdown, a six-month spending patch called a continuing resolution (CR), which is being paired with a measure to require proof of citizenship for voter registration. It’s likely to fail, given significant GOP opposition to any kind of CR and Democrats’ opposition to the Safeguarding American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act. Multiple House Republicans who spoke with Fox News Digital Wednesday signaled they are bracing for a CR with no conservative policies attached, which would only go through December — the position taken by the Senate Democratic majority. SUSPECTED TRUMP GUNMAN PREVIOUSLY ARRESTED FOR HAVING WEAPON OF MASS DESTRUCTION Several GOP lawmakers who spoke with Fox News Digital also suggested that pairing some kind of additional funds for USSS could also get widespread support, particularly after the recent assassination attempts against former President Trump, the GOP presidential nominee. Rep. John Duarte, R-Calif., one of the House GOP’s most vulnerable lawmakers in November’s election, told Fox News Digital he would support such a move if Wednesday’s vote failed. “We’ve had two attempts on the president in the last month or two, and we know how devastating these assassinations could be to the country. So, if things are so heightened that we have to add more Secret Service funding, it’s important for our democracy that we do it,” Duarte said. ‘AN ABSOLUTE DISGRACE’: SENATE REPUBLICANS CONDEMN PALESTINIAN AUTHORITY’S UN BID TO UNDERMINE ISRAEL When asked about the inevitability of a “clean” December CR without conservative policies, one senior House Republican told Fox News Digital, “I mean, when you look at it, that’s the history.” The Republican added it was “highly likely” Wednesday’s vote failing would lead to discussions about additional USSS funds in a backup plan “given everything that’s happened.” Another senior House GOP lawmaker said “there’s appetite to do it” but noted there were logistical questions, like whether additional funding for the USSS could make a difference before the election. “The issue with it is, so you’ve got the funding, how do you hire that quickly?” the senior lawmaker said. “It’s definitely something we’re working through enough to be mentioned, but I haven’t been to any strategy meetings about it.” “I think most of us realize that obviously it’s … not like the Senate’s going to take up our package. So they’re going to bounce it back to us with just a three-month CR,” another House Republican said. “If we don’t take it up, I don’t know what the other options are.” TOP SENATE DEMOCRAT ‘ANGRY’ OVER BIDEN-HARRIS ADMIN ‘STONEWALLING’ AFTER TRUMP ASSASSINATION ATTEMPTS The second GOP lawmaker asserted there was a healthy appetite among House Republicans to add more USSS funding to a short-term spending bill. “We spent all this time on the floor doing appropriations bills we know aren’t going anywhere in the Senate — an incredible amount of floor time. And that’s what’s going to end up happening,” a third House Republican said of a CR without the SAVE Act. Other GOP lawmakers, however, insisted that if that was the case, Congress should not entertain requests to couple a CR with emergency USSS funds. “I’m less worried about budget and more worried about leadership,” Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., told Fox News Digital. House Appropriations Committee member Rep. Andrew Clyde, R-Ga., said, “The Secret Service has a priority problem. I don’t think they have a funding problem.” Rep. Byron Donalds, R-Fla., similarly said USSS’s issues were “organizational” rather than financial. “Some of this is just common sense. Like, why hasn’t this White House just said, ‘You know what? Donald Trump is a former president who is now running for president. You can’t treat him like another presidential candidate,’” Donalds said. Fox News Digital reached out to Johnson’s office for comment. Meanwhile, the House is also voting on a bipartisan bill Friday that would grant Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris the same level of Secret Service protection as President Biden.
Republicans groan at Biden admin’s last-minute request for more time to send unused $6B to Ukraine
Billions of dollars allocated for Ukraine will expire at the end of the month if Congress does not act, according to a warning from the Biden administration. Some 10% of the $61 billion in funding Congress passed for Ukraine in April remains unspent – and the White House has requested Congress extend its Presidential Drawdown Authority (PDA) to offer aid to Ukraine beyond a Sept. 30 deadline. “We have $5.9 billion left in Ukraine Presidential Drawdown Authority, all but $100 million of which will expire at the end of the fiscal year,” Pentagon press secretary Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder said Friday. “The department will continue to provide drawdown packages in the near future and is working with Congress to seek an extension of PDA [presidential drawdown] authorities beyond the end of the fiscal year.” The Biden administration has asked Congress to attach an extension of the authority to a continuing resolution, the last-minute, must-pass spending legislation it is working on to keep the government open and funded in fiscal year 2025. Officials have said they want the authority extended for another year. UKRAINE DRONE STRIKE ON RUSSIA CAUSES EARTHQUAKE-SIZED BLAST The request prompted groans from Republican defense hawks who say there should not be any resources left in the tank for Ukraine – those should have been allocated before the deadline. “There shouldn’t be an extension request. They’ve had five months to spend this money,” Mississippi Sen. Roger Wicker, the top Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee, told Fox News Digital. “This is the latest example of the Biden-Harris administration slow-walking support while Ukraine fights for survival,” a Republican senator said. “Without asking Congress to appropriate a single new cent and with just the stroke of his pen, President Biden could help change the course of the war in favor of our Ukrainian friends. Until then, the drip-drip-drip method of support for Ukraine will only continue to cost time and lives rather than making a meaningful difference on the battlefield.” TOP RUSSIAN OFFICIAL LANDS IN IRAN AMID US, UK CONCERNS OVER ALLEGED NUCLEAR DEAL Congress passed a $95 billion aid package with $61 billion for Ukraine in April. The White House had hoped to allocate that money last year, but divisions in the House GOP delayed the bill’s passing. And while the Pentagon claimed to be working with Congress to get approval to offer aid to Ukraine beyond the end of the fiscal year, Rep. Tom Cole, R–Okla., – the top member in charge of funding packages – said he hadn’t heard from the White House at all on the matter. “We have not [talked about extending drawdown authority],” he said. “Nobody from the White House has called me.” A House congressional aide told Fox News Digital “there are active conversations with committees of jurisdiction regarding PDA authorities in a CR.” But House Speaker Mike Johnson, R–La., faced severe backlash – even a threat to his job – last time he passed funding for Ukraine. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., launched a motion to vacate and got 11 Republicans to join her in attempting to oust the speaker. If Congress fails to extend the PDA, defense officials are working on other ways to use the money. They have said there is some $4 billion in longer-term funding through the Ukrainian Security Initiative that will not expire until September 2025. But that money is used to pay for weapons contracts that would not be delivered for more than a year. Ryder explained that the PDA allows the Pentagon to spend money from its own budget to send military aid to Ukraine, or to reimburse the department for weapons it sends. The administration’s request for more time to spend money on Ukraine is a stark change from last winter when they were pleading for more funds to send there. The U.S. regularly announces new drawdown packages, sometimes two to three a month. Officials told CNN the delay in getting aid to Ukraine is sometimes due to an unwillingness to pull from U.S. stockpiles that could risk domestic readiness. WESTERN NATIONS HAVE BOUGHT $2B IN RUSSIAN OIL THIS YEAR THROUGH SANCTIONS WORKAROUNDS “We’ve authorized $61 billion [for Ukraine],” said Rep. Mark Alford, R-Mo., a member of the Armed Services Committee. “This current weak president squandered his authority to take that money, take those armaments, and get them over in a timely manner for [President Volodymyr] Zelenskyy to actually win this war.” “This is part and parcel of the administration’s really halting view of this war. They don’t trust the Ukrainians, they’re terrified of escalation, even though we’ve blown through many supposed [President Vladimir] Putin red lines with no response from the Russians,” said a senior GOP congressional aide. “The fighting is still heavy, and so this is just unacceptable for the administration to backtrack on what was an implicit agreement between Congress and the administration that we were going to support the Ukrainians at a certain level and pace throughout 2024, which we have not.” “Anyone who’s been to Ukraine recently can tell you how precarious the situation on the frontline is,” one pro-Ukraine expert said. “That aid should have been out the door months ago, and we should have never been in this situation in the first place. But [national security adviser Jake] Sullivan thinks he can ‘escalation manage.’” The Republican-led House is expected to vote on a CR that would extend government funding at 2023 levels for six months on Wednesday, but that bill has widespread opposition from both sides of the aisle. A failure to pass it would send GOP leadership back to the drawing board. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D–N.Y., has been urging Johnson to work with him on a short-term bipartisan CR deal – but has not yet passed any spending deals in the Senate. Schumer would likely prioritize extending Ukraine funding – though he could not be reached for comment on the matter. Senate Foreign Relations and Armed Services Chairs Ben Cardin, D-Md., and
Trump adviser unpacks why former president is holding rally in deep-blue state weeks from election
UNIONDALE, NEW YORK – It’s been 40 years since a Republican nominee has carried New York state in a presidential election. You have to go back to President Ronald Reagan, who won the state as part of his landslide re-election victory in 1984. But that’s not stopping former President Trump from holding a rally Wednesday in his native state, which he has no serious chance of carrying in his election faceoff with Vice President Kamala Harris. Trump’s rally in Uniondale is in Long Island’s Nassau County, a longtime Republican stronghold in the reliably blue state of New York. HEAD HERE FOR THE LATEST FOX NEWS POLLS IN THE 2024 ELECTION And it’s Trump’s second large campaign event this year, after drawing a large crowd in the New York City borough of the Bronx in May. While there was some chatter of New York potentially being in play as President Biden’s poll numbers started cratering following his disastrous late June debate performance against Trump, the conversation was fleeting and quickly dissipated when Harris replaced Biden atop the Democrats’ 2024 ticket. WHAT THE LATEST FOX NEWS POWER RANKING IN THE PRESIDENTIAL RACE SHOW So why – with less than 50 days to go until Election Day and time becoming a very precious commodity – is Trump holding a campaign rally just outside of New York City? “Quite clearly, New York is the biggest media hub in the country,” Trump campaign spokesman Tim Murtaugh told Fox News. Murtaugh emphasized that “when he delivers a message there, it’s piped directly into homes in every market in every battleground state. The most valuable commodity we have is President Trump’s time. And that event is making efficient use of it.” The rally is Trump’s first since this past weekend’s apparent second failed assassination attempt against the former president. And a number of people lined up hours ahead of the rally to see the former president said they were attending to “show support” for Trump. While Trump is extremely unlikely to carry New York in the White House race, the rally may help Republicans down ballot, as they try to hold on to their House of Representatives majority in November’s elections. Several GOP-controlled House seats in New York state are considered vulnerable this year, including one held by Rep. Anthony D’Esposito of Long Island. Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more at our Fox News Digital election hub.
Harris-Trump showdown: New polls indicate who has the edge in the Blue Wall battle
Vice President Kamala Harris is ahead of former President Trump in three crucial 2024 election battleground states, according to a trio of new polls released on Wednesday. According to surveys from Quinnipiac University, the vice president and Democratic nominee leads the former president and Republican standard-bearer 51%-45% among likely voters in Pennsylvania, with Green Party candidate Jill Stein and Libertarian Party candidate Chase Oliver each at 1%. In Michigan, Harris holds a 50%-45% advantage over Trump, with Stein at 2% and all other third-party candidates at less than 1% support. The survey indicates a closer contest in Wisconsin, with Harris at 48% and Trump at 47%, Stein at 1% and everyone else tested grabbing less than 1% support. NEW POLL INDICATES WHETHER TRUMP OR HARRIS HAS THE EDGE IN A KEY BATTLEGROUND Harris’ one-point edge over Trump in Wisconsin is well within the survey’s sampling error. HEAD HERE FOR THE LATEST FOX NEWS POLLS IN THE 2024 ELECTION The three polls were conducted Sept. 12-16, entirely after the first and potentially only debate between Harris and Trump. The surveys were also in the field mostly before and slightly after Sunday’s apparent second assassination attempt against the former president. Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin, along with Georgia, North Carolina, Arizona and Nevada, had razor-thin margins that decided the outcome of the 2020 election between Trump and President Biden. And these seven battleground states will likely determine whether Harris or Trump wins the 2024 presidential election. Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin are also the three Rust Belt states that make up the Democrats’ so-called “Blue Wall.” HARRIS-TRUMP SHOWDOWN ROCKED AGAIN, WITH 50 DAYS TO GO UNTIL ELECTION The party reliably won all three states for a quarter-century before Trump narrowly captured them in the 2016 election to win the White House. Four years later, in 2020, Biden carried all three states by razor-thin margins to put them back in the Democrats’ column and defeated Trump. Both the Democratic and Republican presidential nominees, as well as their running mates, have made repeated stops in the three states this summer. Harris’ six-point lead in Pennsylvania is up from a three-point advantage in Quinnipiac’s August poll. WHAT THE LATEST FOX NEWS POWER RANKING IN THE PRESIDENTIAL RACE SHOW In a hypothetical two-way race, Harris tops Trump 51%-46% in Pennsylvania, up from 50%-47% in August. In Michigan, the vice president leads the former president 51%-46% in a hypothetical two-way matchup. And in Wisconsin, it’s Harris at 49% and Trump at 48% in a hypothetical two-way face-off. The Quinnipiac poll was one of two released in Wisconsin on Wednesday. Harris stands at 48% support among likely voters in Wisconsin, with Trump at 45% in an AARP poll conducted Sept 11-14. The vice president’s three-point margin over the former president is within the poll’s overall sampling error of plus or minus four points. Besides the White House battle, all three states are also home to crucial Senate races that will likely decide whether Republicans can win back the chamber’s majority. The Quinnipiac poll indicates Democratic Sen. Bob Casey leading GOP challenger Dave McCormick 52%-43% in Pennsylvania. According to the survey, Democratic Sen. Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin holds a 51%-47% advantage over Republican challenger Eric Hovde. And in Michigan, in the race to succeed retiring Democratic Sen. Debbie Stabanow, fellow Democrat Rep. Elissa Slotkin holds a 51%-46% lead over former Rep. Mike Rogers, the GOP nominee. Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more at our Fox News Digital election hub.
Harris serves up word salad in DC speech: ‘The children of the community are the children of the community’
Vice President Harris appeared to undercut her own economic plan on Wednesday, saying her administration would crack down on companies who price gouge shoppers before admitting “very few” companies engage in price gouging. Harris delivered the remarks at the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute’s 47th Annual Leadership Conference in Washington, D.C., providing few specific details about the policies she’s running on for president. At one point, Harris spoke about providing families with the necessary resources so that parents can “raise their children well,” though did not say what resources or how they would be provided. “I grew up understanding the children of the community are the children of the community, and we should all have a vested interest in ensuring that children can go grow up with the resources that they need to achieve their God-given potential,” Harris said. POLICY GROUP SAYS HARRIS’ SMALL BUSINESS BREAK GETS DROWNED OUT BY OTHER HIGHER TAXES Harris said she wants to lower the cost of groceries for families struggling at the kitchen table, vowing to take on big corporations who price gouge their customers. But she appeared to undercut her own policy a few moments later, saying that “very few” corporations price gouge. “Many of you who have and are coming from states where we’ve seen extreme weather conditions in California, wildfires in other parts of the country, or even in the pandemic where people are desperate because of these kinds of emergencies, desperate for support, and then some, you know, corporation, and it’s very few of them that do this, but then jack up prices to make it more difficult for desperate people to just get by,” Harris said. “We need to take that on.” TRUMP SAYS HE WILL TAX MEXICAN AUTO IMPORTS BY 200% AND MAKE THEM ‘UNSELLABLE’ IN THE US Harris’ economic plan proposes raising the corporate tax rate to 28% from the current 21%, after she had previously supported a 35% corporate tax rate during her short-lived presidential campaign in the 2020 cycle. While the Harris campaign has described this as a “fiscally responsible way to put money back in the pockets of working people and ensure billionaires and big corporations pay their fair share,” it has drawn scrutiny from some policy groups. The Tax Foundation’s analysis estimates that Harris’s overall plan would increase taxes by $4.1 trillion from 2025-2034, while reducing long-term GDP by 2%, reducing wages by 1.2%, and resulting in the loss of 786,000 jobs over that period. Fox News Digital’s Breck Dumas contributed to this report.
House committee to demand ‘stonewalled’ memo detailing Biden agency’s ‘curious’ voter registration work
EXCLUSIVE: A House committee plans to surprise a top Biden administration official at a Wednesday hearing with a scathing document-request letter after lawmakers said the agency repeatedly failed to comply with a subpoena regarding its swing-state electioneering activities. House Small Business Committee Chairman Roger Williams, R-Texas, said the Small Business Administration (SBA) drafted a “strategic plan” for its voter registration work in Michigan, in compliance with a President Biden executive order, but has claimed it does not exist in its requested form. However, committee sources tell Fox News Digital an SBA response to a separate Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request from an outside organization indicated the existence of such a document. The committee’s Republican majority has pursued the agency for months seeking answers about its work in Michigan amid allegations it has been involved in partisan voter registration outreach in the key swing state. While the agency has contended any work has been done aboveboard and pursuant to Biden Executive Order 14019 – “Promoting Access to Voting,” – the committee noted the edict requires a “strategic plan” to be drafted identifying ways the agency can “promote voter registration and voter participation.” BIDEN ADMIN ACCUSED OF USING TAXPAYER FUNDS TO HELP HIS OWN CAMPAIGN WITH STUDENT VOTER REGISTRATION SCHEME That document, Williams said, is key to the committee’s work investigating whether a deal forged between the SBA and the Michigan Department of State is potentially unconstitutional as well as a misuse of taxpayer dollars. “The Committee is deeply concerned that the SBA has misled the Committee regarding the existence of a document the Committee specifically demanded in the subpoena: the strategic plan the SBA submitted to the White House’s Domestic Policy Counsel in September 2021 under Executive Order (E.O.) 14019,” the letter reads, signed by Williams and Small Business Oversight Subcommittee Chairwoman Beth Van Duyne, R-Texas. “On numerous occasions, the SBA and its staff claimed that this document did not exist before eventually claiming it could not be produced to the Committee…” it read. “In response to the subpoena, SBA officials stated to Committee staff that no responsive document existed. The Committee was skeptical of SBA’s claim, as failing to submit this report would violate the terms of the Executive Order… On two separate occasions, Committee staff further inquired about this document with SBA staff and added context to help the SBA identify the document… the SBA again indicated that no such document exists.” Williams and others in Congress have accused the SBA of using the pact to funnel taxpayer resources to a swing state in a partisan manner during an election year. A source familiar said a FOIA case reportedly initiated by a conservative legal foundation found evidence of at least a draft document. The SBA had been subject to a filing by the conservative Heritage Foundation’s Oversight Project watchdog organization in May. “It’s curious that the Small Business Administration has entered an agreement with the Michigan secretary of state in this context, with the election this year,” Oversight Project attorney Kyle Brosnan said of that case in a prior interview. REPUBLICANS PLAN TO CONFRONT BIDEN’S SMALL BUSINESS CHIEF OVER ELECTIONEERING CONCERNS, COVID LOAN FORGIVENESS “After months of claiming a crucial document relating to SBA’s implementation of the Biden-Harris electioneering executive order doesn’t exist, court filings show that they were not being honest. This revelation calls into question the credibility of the agency and gives our committee all the more motivation to keep demanding answers,” Williams said. The way the MOU has been acted upon is controversial and potentially unconstitutional, Williams has said, as he and others in Congress previously accused the SBA of using it to funnel resources to a swing state in a partisan way. He previously said the SBA is “diverting its resources away from assisting Main Street so it can register Democratic voters” in Michigan. Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, the top Republican on the Senate Small Business & Entrepreneurship Committee, added that the American people “have a right to know what their government is doing with their tax dollars, and I am going to make sure the SBA is held accountable.” In compliance with the White House order, the SBA submitted their strategic plan within the 200-day window, the committee contends. In March, the agency launched what it called a “first of its kind” agreement to assist with registering voters in Michigan. CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP The SBA had claimed in response to the committee’s original demand that the document was not “final,” and therefore not responsive to the request. The committee, however, did request both “interim” and “final” documents. According to a source familiar, the document was withheld from the FOIA suit under an exemption, but the committee has different privileges than private FOIA litigation. “The SBA cannot claim a document doesn’t exist merely because it is potentially privileged,” they said. In August, an SBA spokesperson argued that the agency has provided “extensive testimony, briefings, transcribed interviews, documents and other information in response to congressional inquires, including the Committee’s most recent subpoena.” “We are continuing the work to fulfill the subpoena beyond our initial document production. Any suggestion that the agency is conducting improper work or that its response has been anything other than cooperative is simply not true,” the spokesperson added.
Montana Supreme Court ruling on Green Party candidate could spell trouble for Jon Tester, polling reveals
A new Montana ruling on a third party’s ballot presence could have negative implications for Sen. Jon Tester’s re-election efforts as he clinches on to the Democrat’s Senate majority, recent polling suggests. In August, the Montana Democratic Party sued Secretary of State Christi Jacobsen and the state of Montana in an effort to prevent Green Party Senate candidate Robert Barb from appearing on the November ballot. Democrats claimed in their lawsuit that Barb’s nomination was not valid, after the third-party candidate was named the Green Party’s nominee to replace their original leading candidate who dropped out of the race in August despite winning the primary. A district court rejected the request to deny the Green Party candidate ballot access in early September, but the Montana Democratic Party submitted a writ of supervisory control to the state’s Supreme Court against the lower court ruling. Ultimately, the Montana Supreme Court ruled to uphold the lower court’s decision on Tuesday, solidifying Barb’s name on the 2024 ballot. DEMS POUR $25M INTO GROUND GAME AS GOP INCHES CLOSER TO SENATE MAJORITY “MDP has not convinced us that the District Court erred in its rulings in its September 3, 2024 Order, although we reach the same result as that court under a different analysis. Since we have not concluded that the District Court is proceeding under a mistake of law, this matter is not susceptible to writ of supervisory control,” the court wrote in its 13-page decision. “I’m pleased that the Supreme Court unanimously rejected this Hail Mary attempt to undermine Montana election law,” Jacobsen said in a statement shared with Fox News Digital following the decision. “From the start, this lawsuit was a baseless political game from Washington elites that showed complete disrespect for Montana and our election officials.” TOP HANDICAPPER GIVES GOP’S TIM SHEEHY EDGE AGAINST DEMOCRAT JON TESTER IN MONTANA RACE SHIFT The effort comes just weeks after the Democratic National Committee made a similar attempt to remove Green Party candidate Jill Stein, who in 2016 received more votes than former President Donald Trump’s margin of victory in the state. Recent polling suggests that a third party presence on the November ballot could work against Tester’s re-election aspirations. A recent AARP survey found that Sheehy led by six percentage points in a head-to-head matchup against Tester. However, Sheehy’s lead against Tester widened to eight points in a multi-candidate field that included the state’s Green Party and Libertarian candidates. Top political handicappers recently gave Sheehy an edge in the red state race that is poised to be crucial in determining which party obtains control of the chamber next year. The Cook Political Report, an independent nonpartisan elections’ handicapper, recently shifted the race from “toss-up” to “lean Republican,” while Sabato’s Crystal Ball at the University of Virginia’s Center for Politics moved the race to “leans Republican.”
Atishi to be Delhi’s new CM: LG proposes AAP leader’s swearing-in ceremony on this date
The Delhi LG has also proposed September 21 as the date for swearing in of Atishi as Delhi’s new Chief Minister.
‘Vocally anti-Trump’ FBI agent leading probe of Florida assassination attempt: whistleblower
The Federal Bureau of Investigation’s lead agent probing the second assassination attempt on former President Trump’s life allegedly posted anti-Trump rhetoric on social media, according to a whistleblower’s account to Congress last year – though the bureau calls these claims “demonstrably false.” Jeffrey Veltri is the FBI’s special agent in charge of its Miami bureau, which oversees neighboring areas, such as West Palm Beach, where suspect Ryan Routh was arrested on Sunday after being accused of pointing a gun at the former president and current GOP presidential nominee. Veltri took the podium during a Monday press conference, reassuring the public that the FBI was digging in and investigating thoroughly. “We view this as extremely serious and are determined to provide answers as to what led up to the events that took place,” Veltri said. TRUMP BLAMES BIDEN-HARRIS ‘RHETORIC’ FOR LATEST ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT, SAYS HE WILL ‘SAVE THE COUNTRY’ “I want to emphasize we are just a little over 24 hours into this investigation, so we are going to provide as much as we can publicly while our investigation is ongoing,” he added. “We must also stress the U.S. attorney’s office is pursuing charges, and that limits some details we can publicly disclose.” TRUMP ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT: SECRET SERVICE 400 EMPLOYEES SHORT OF WHAT CONGRESS AUTHORIZED: REPORT But soon after Veltri’s appearance, reports resurfaced on social media outlining an FBI whistleblower’s claims last year to the House Judiciary Committee that Veltri was allegedly ordered by the FBI to delete anti-Trump social media posts. The accusations first emerged in a Washington Times article in November. Veltri was named special agent in charge of the Miami field office in March 2023. “The home of President Donald Trump is located in the area of responsibility of the Miami Field Office. It was well known that Veltri was adamantly and vocally Anti-Trump,” the whistleblower said in the disclosure, the outlet reported last year. “Wray, Abbate and Moore wanted to ensure that Veltri appeared non-political, Veltri was ordered to remove all of his Facebook and Social media posts that were Anti-Trump.” TRUMP REVEALS ‘WEAKNESS’ IN EFFORTS TO KEEP HIM SAFE, SAYS HIS TEAM HAS ‘LONG REQUESTED’ MORE MANPOWER The whistleblower alleged that top FBI brass, including FBI Director Christopher A. Wray, Deputy Director Paul Abbate and Executive Assistant Director Jennifer Moore were involved in directing Veltri to scrub his social media accounts. The person also charged that FBI leaders were not concerned with Veltri’s apparent anti-Trump bias, but whether “information related to Veltri’s political bias can be removed from the public domain.” The 2023 report resurfaced this week as news broke that Trump was targeted in a second assassination attempt at his golf club in West Palm Beach. Conservatives on social media resurrected the article, slamming Veltri for allegedly having a “history of anti-Trump posts” while now leading the investigation into the attempt on Trump’s life. The FBI denied the whistleblower’s claims last year, when headlines first surfaced. TRUMP SHOOTING PLOT SUSPECT ROUTH WAS INTERVIEWED BY NYT ON UKRAINE WAR EFFORTS IN 2023: ‘SOUNDED RIDICULOUS’ “Special Agent in Charge Veltri was selected through a competitive process to lead the Miami field office and is charged with carrying out the FBI mission in a fair and unbiased manner,” the FBI said at the time. “The reported allegations about political bias impacting decisions, the targeting of former military employees, and SAC Veltri’s social media accounts and posts are demonstrably false.” More recently, the agency said it has “full confidence” in Veltri’s leadership overseeing the investigation. An FBI official additionally told Fox News Digital this week that bureau leadership did not ask or require Veltri to remove any alleged social media posts. “The FBI has full confidence in SAC Veltri’s leadership of the Miami Field Office and the investigation of the attempted assassination of former President Trump. This investigation is of the highest priority of the FBI. We are working closely with our partners and have hundreds of personnel from FBI Headquarters, Quantico, and multiple field offices supporting these efforts. All of us in the FBI are committed to conducting this investigation by the book, following the facts where they lead,” the FBI said in a statement to Fox Digital. Veltri was again cited by a whistleblower this year alleging the bureau improperly suspended security clearances for agents with “conservative views.” The whistleblower’s legal representative, Tristan Leavitt, argued the DOJ Inspector General should conduct a full audit of alleged abuse of security clearances, pointing to Veltri specifically. “In light of SecD’s [FBI’s Security Division’s] pattern of abuse of the security clearance process and retaliation against SecD employees who try to stop that abuse, I also request that the OIG conduct a full review of the FBI’s security clearance process, how it has been abused – particularly by Dena Perkins and Jeffrey Veltri – and the role of FBI leadership in allowing these abuses to multiply,” Leavitt wrote in the complaint. RYAN ROUTH, ARMED MAN ARRESTED AT TRUMP GOLF COURSE, POSTED PROLIFICALLY ABOUT TRUMP, POLITICS Veltri joined the FBI in 2002 as a special agent, where he took on assignments such as deploying to Iraq in 2006 to support the Regime Crime Liaison Office, serving as a supervisory special agent with the Cyber Division at FBI Headquarters in 2011 and heading up the agency’s Civil Rights Unit in 2016, according to a press release in 2023 naming him as the new Miami bureau chief. The suspect in the apparent second assassination attempt against Trump this year, 58-year-old Ryan Routh, was arrested after reportedly pointing the muzzle of a rifle through a chain-link fence toward Trump on Sunday afternoon at his West Palm Beach golf club. Trump was not injured in the attack. Routh was arrested in his car on I-95 after fleeing his location near the golf course. FBI WHISTLEBLOWER ALLEGES BUREAU IMPROPERLY SUSPENDED SECURITY CLEARANCE FOR AGENTS WITH ‘CONSERVATIVE VIEWS’ Routh prolifically posted on social media about world events, the war in Ukraine, politics and Trump in the lead-up to