Harris conspicuously absent from public memorials honoring service members killed in Afghan exit she backed
Vice President Kamala Harris issued a statement Monday morning honoring the 13 U.S. service members who were killed during the botched withdrawal from Afghanistan three years ago, but has been conspicuously absent from public memorials or events on the anniversary of their deaths. Harris released a statement early Monday morning naming the 13 U.S. service members who were killed during the terrorist attack at Abbey Gate outside Kabul’s Hamid Karzai International Airport on Aug. 26, 2021, mourning their deaths and calling on Americans to “come together as one nation to honor those who made the ultimate sacrifice three years ago.” “Today and everyday, I mourn and honor them. My prayers are with their families and loved ones. My heart breaks for their pain and their loss. These 13 devoted patriots represent the best of America, putting our beloved nation and their fellow Americans above themselves and deploying into danger to keep their fellow citizens safe,” Harris wrote in the statement. Harris also posted her statement to her vice president X account on Monday. HARRIS LEAVES OUT DEADLY BOTCHED AFGHANISTAN WITHDRAWAL IN SOARING PRO-MILITARY DNC SPEECH Fox News Digital reached out to both Harris’ campaign and her vice presidential office asking if she had plans to honor the service members during live events, whether public or private, but did not receive responses. The anniversary of the tragic military deaths comes after Harris wrapped up in Chicago at the Democratic National Convention last week, where she officially accepted the Democratic Party’s nomination for the Oval Office after President Biden dropped out of the race last month amid mounting concern over his mental acuity. Harris and her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, are slated to visit Georgia next week in their first public event following the DNC, NBC News reported. GOLD STAR DAD SAYS BIDEN-HARRIS ‘DENIED’ SON’S SERVICE AS FALLEN AFGHANISTAN SOLDIERS HONORED IN CALIFORNIA Biden also honored the 13 fallen U.S. service members in an early morning statement. The president is in Delaware at his beach home this week, and has no public events scheduled, Fox Digital reported earlier Monday. 3 YEARS LATER, AFGHANISTAN WAR VETERANS HAVEN’T FORGOTTEN – HAVE YOU? “These 13 Americans—and the many more that were wounded—were patriots in the highest sense. Some were born the year the war in Afghanistan started. Some were on their second or third tour. But all raised their hand to serve a cause greater than themselves—risking their own safety for the safety of their fellow Americans, Allies, and Afghan partners. They embodied the very best of who we are as a nation: brave, committed, selfless. And we owe them and their families a sacred debt we will never be able to fully repay, but will never cease working to fulfill,” Biden wrote in his statement, which also included the 13 names of the service members. During her acceptance speech last week, Harris touted her foreign policy record and support of veterans, but left out any mention of the Biden-Harris administration’s botched withdrawal from Afghanistan. “I will never hesitate to take whatever action is necessary to defend our forces and our interests against Iran and Iran-backed terrorists. And I will not cozy up to tyrants and dictators like Kim Jong Un, who are rooting for Trump. Because they know he is easy to manipulate with flattery and favors. They know Trump won’t hold autocrats accountable — because he wants to be an autocrat,” Harris touted from the DNC’s stage in Chicago Thursday evening. “As president, I will never waver in defense of America’s security and ideals. Because, in the enduring struggle between democracy and tyranny, I know where I stand — and where the United States of America belongs.” GOLD STAR DAD RECALLS KNOCK AT HIS DOOR THAT ‘CHANGED EVERYTHING’ In addition to the deaths of the 13 U.S. service members defending the Kabul airport during the botched withdrawal, hundreds of Americans and tens of thousands of Afghan allies were left in the country under Taliban rule. Critics such as Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, said the withdrawal paved the way for adversaries such as Russia to invade Ukraine. The Taliban ultimately claimed control of Afghanistan following the withdrawal. Harris previously confirmed that she was the “last person in the room” with Biden before he made the decision to withdraw and also told the media that she was “comfortable” with the operation that ultimately turned deadly and chaotic. On the Republican side of the presidential race, former President Donald Trump has repeatedly honored the fallen service members, including families of those killed during the withdrawal, taking the RNC’s stage last month in Milwaukee for 20 minutes in an emotional remembrance. The families also criticized Biden in their remarks from the RNC’s stage, calling on the president to apologize to them. “Look at our faces. Look at our pain, and our heartbreak. And look at our rage. [The Afghanistan withdrawal] was not an extraordinary success,” Cheryl Juels, the aunt of Marine Sgt. Nicole Gee, said. “Joe Biden owes the men and women who served in Afghanistan a debt of gratitude, and an apology.” BIDEN-HARRIS ADMINISTRATION IN ‘DENIAL’ ABOUT BOTCHED AFGHANISTAN WITHDRAWAL, HR MCMASTER SAYS On the anniversary Monday, Trump traveled to Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia for a wreath laying ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, and was again joined by the families of those killed in Afghanistan three years ago. The 45h president was seen listening to taps, laying the wreath at the tomb, and meeting with family members during the solemn ceremony. Trump has consistently slammed the Biden administration for its botched withdrawal from the country in 2021, calling it the “most embarrassing moment” in U.S. history in a Truth Social post on Monday. “This is the third anniversary of the BOTCHED Afghanistan withdrawal, the most EMBARRASSING moment in the history of our Country. Gross Incompetence – 13 DEAD American soldiers, hundreds of people wounded and dead, AMERICANS and BILLIONS OF DOLLARS OF MILITARY EQUIPMENT LEFT BEHIND. You don’t take
Key senator reportedly behind Harris’ rise to power withholds his endorsement for president
Montana’s vulnerable Sen. Jon Tester will not be making an endorsement in the presidential election where Vice President Kamala Harris is running as the Democratic nominee, despite reportedly playing a role in her recruitment to the Senate. Tester previously served as chair of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC) from 2015 to 2017, leading the efforts of the campaign arm to elect Democrats to the chamber when Harris first announced her senatorial aspirations. After Harris launched her California Senate bid, the Los Angeles Times reported in January 2015 that, according to an adviser, Tester was one of the players encouraging her to run. Despite his previous support for Harris, Tester said he will not be making an endorsement in this year’s race because he will be focusing on his own re-election bid. BALANCE OF POWER: TRUMP CAMPAIGN SLAMS SEN TESTER AS ‘RADICALLY OUT OF TOUCH; AFTER ABORTION AD ROLLOUT “I’m not going to endorse for the presidential – and I will tell you why,” Tester said during a recent press conference in Hamilton, Montana. “Two reasons: No. 1, I’m focused on my race. And No. 2, folks have wanted to nationalize this race, and this isn’t about national politics. This is about Montana.” Tester, however, endorsed Harris for vice president after she was tapped as President Biden’s running mate in 2020. “My friend @KamalaHarris is a proven fighter and an excellent pick for Vice President. As VP, I’m confident she will continue to fight for working families across this country. Looking forward to supporting her and @JoeBiden in November,” Tester wrote in an August 2020 post on X, formerly known as Twitter. TESTER, SHEEHY WEIGH IN AFTER PARENTAL CONSENT ABORTION LAW STRUCK DOWN BY MONTANA SUPREME COURT The senator has remained distant from the Democratic ticket for several months, as he seeks re-election in a state former President Trump won by 16 points in 2020. “No matter who is in the White House, Jon Tester always does what’s right for Montana. It’s why Jon has consistently stood up to the Biden-Harris administration on issues like securing the border and protecting Montana from burdensome energy regulations, and it’s why President Trump signed more than 20 of his bills into law,” Monica Robinson, spokesperson for Montanans for Tester, told Fox News Digital. “Jon’s strong record of defending Montana is why Republicans from across the state, from elected officials to business owners to Trump voters, endorsed Jon in his campaign for Senate.” The Montana Democrat was one of the first senators to call on Biden to drop out of the 2024 race in July. Tester was also one of three vulnerable Senate Democrats who did not attend the Democratic National Convention (DNC), where Harris officially accepted the party’s nomination for president. Tester faces opposition in one of the most crucial Senate races of the 2024 cycle from former Navy SEAL Tim Sheehy, who said, “Jon Tester skipping Kamala Harris’ DNC coronation will not hide the fact that he launched her political career by recruiting her to the U.S. Senate and votes with her radical agenda 95% of the time.” “Jon Tester, Kamala Harris and Tim Walz are all loyal America Last Democrats who support open borders, amnesty and checks for illegal immigrants, higher taxes, and Green New Scam energy policies that Montanans will reject in November,” Sheehy said in a statement shared with Fox News Digital. “Come November, Montanans will help send President Trump back to the White House and put an end to the insanity of the disastrous Harris-Tester agenda for good.” The Cook Political Report, a top nonpartisan political handicapper, currently positions Tester’s race as a “toss-up.”
Special counsel Jack Smith appeals dismissal of Trump Mar-a-Lago case
Special counsel Jack Smith on Monday appealed federal Judge Aileen Cannon’s ruling dismissing his classified records Mar-a-Lago case against former President Donald Trump, arguing that his appointment is valid. Cannon, the U.S. District Judge for the Southern District of Florida, last month dismissed Smith’s case against Trump, ruling that it violated “the Appointments Clause of the United States Constitution.” Cannon said Smith’s appointment of special counsel was unconstitutional. But Smith appealed Monday. JUDGE DISMISSES TRUMP’S FLORIDA CLASSIFIED DOCUMENTS CASE “The Attorney General validly appointed the Special Counsel, who is also properly funded,” the filing states. “In ruling otherwise, the district court deviated from binding Supreme Court precedent, misconstrued the statutes that authorized the Special Counsel’s appointment, and took inadequate account of the longstanding history of Attorney General appointments of special counsels.” Smith also argues that he was “properly funded through the congressionally enacted ‘permanent indefinite appropriation’ to ‘pay all necessary expenses of investigations and prosecutions by independent counsel appointed pursuant to’” U.S. code. The Appointments Clause says, “Ambassadors, other public Ministers and Consuls, Judges of the Supreme Court, and all other Officers of the United States be appointed by the President subject to the advice and consent of the Senate, although Congress may vest the appointment of inferior officers in the President alone, in the Courts of Law, or in the Heads of Departments.” Smith, however, was never confirmed by the Senate. CLASSIFIED DOCS CASE DISMISSAL MEANS ‘GREATEST’ LEGAL ‘THREAT’ TO TRUMP IS ‘GONE’: EXPERTS “Upon careful study of the foundational challenges raised in the Motion, the Court is convinced that Special Counsel’s Smith’s prosecution of this action breaches two structural cornerstones of our constitutional scheme – the role of Congress in the appointment of constitutional officers, and the role of Congress in authorizing expenditures by law,” Cannon wrote in her decision last month. “The Framers gave Congress a pivotal role in the appointment of principal and inferior officers. That role cannot be usurped by the Executive Branch or diffused elsewhere – whether in this case or in another case, whether in times of heightened national need or not,” she continued. “In the case of inferior officers, that means that Congress is empowered to decide if it wishes to vest appointment power in a Head of Department, and indeed, Congress has proven itself quite capable of doing so in many other statutory contexts. But it plainly did not do so here, despite the Special Counsel’s strained statutory readings,” Cannon added. “In the end, it seems the Executive’s growing comfort in appointing ‘regulatory’ special counsels in the more recent era has followed an ad hoc pattern with little judicial scrutiny,” she said. Trump had faced charges stemming from Smith’s investigation into his possession of classified materials at his Mar-a-Lago residence. He pleaded not guilty to all 37 felony counts from Smith’s probe, including willful retention of national defense information, conspiracy to obstruct justice and false statements. Trump pleaded not guilty to all charges. This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
Current polls actually should give Harris backers reason to worry about her chances: Dem strategist
Vice President Kamala Harris’ rise to the top of the Democratic ticket has generated momentum in the polls for the party, but some experts aren’t convinced by her new lead. “If the polling errors are anywhere close to what they were in 2016 and 2020, then Trump is in the lead right now,” Democrat strategist Julian Epstein told Fox News Digital. The comments come as the Real Clear Politics polling average shows Harris with a slim 1.5 point lead over former President Trump nationally, a significant shift from the three-point lead Trump held over Biden the day before the president dropped out of the race. BIDEN TO ANNOUNCE SUPPORT FOR MAJOR CHANGES TO SUPREME COURT AMID OUTRAGE OVER RECENT DECISIONS: REPORT But the Harris lead is also a much smaller gap than Trump faced at the same time in 2016 and 2020, when the Republican nominee trailed former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton by 6 points and Biden by 7.1. While Trump won in 2016 and failed to win re-election in 2020, the former president greatly outperformed his polling numbers in two close elections, a fact that is not lost on Democrats heading into the stretch run of 2024. According to a report from Politico last week, recent polls conducted by Democratic firms that show Harris in the lead also contain warning signs, including leads for Trump in characteristics more likely to sway voters. Harris is also essentially tied with Trump across the battleground states, the polls show, meaning the vice president is underperforming her national numbers in states set to decide the election. “It’s still a very tough race, and that feels consistent with everything we know,” said Margie Omero, a partner at the Democratic polling firm GBAO Strategies, told Politico. WALZ VS. VANCE: NEW POLL REVEALS WHICH VICE PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE IS FAVORED AMONG VOTERS Democratic pollsters also fear the prospect of another polling error, even though several of the party’s top firms got together in an attempt to diagnose the problem after 2020. “I spent a ton of time and analysis trying to dig into those problems. And I feel much better educated about those problems,” Nick Gourevitch, a partner at Global Strategy Group who participated in the Democratic “polling autopsy,” told Politico. “I don’t think there’s any pollster in America who can sit here and say… that they’re 100% sure that they fixed any issues in polling. I think that would be silly.” That reality is not lost on Democratic pollsters, who have urged caution despite Harris’ quick rise over the last several weeks. “Every year, we’ve had different curveballs. This is a difficult industry,” John Anzalone, the lead pollster on Biden’s 2020 campaign, told Politico. “Something’s gonna happen in 2024. You and I, right now, don’t know what that is.” Meanwhile, Epstein sees several reasons for Democrats to worry, pointing out that Harris is still “underperforming in the Rust Belt battleground by significant numbers” and “with working class voters and Black voters.” “The idea that Harris doesn’t have to specify policy or go before the news media is a strategy born of conceit and foolhardiness and will ultimately backfire,” Epstein added.
‘You’re fired’: Trump vows pink slips on Day 1 for every official responsible for ‘Afghanistan calamity’
GOP presidential nominee former President Trump on Monday promised that if he were to retake the Oval Office he would demand on Day 1 the resignation of “every single official” responsible for the “Afghanistan calamity.” “The voters are going to fire Kamala and Joe on Nov. 5, we hope, and when I take office I will ask for the resignation of every single official. We’ll get the resignations of every single senior official who touched the Afghanistan calamity to be on my desk at noon on Inauguration Day,” Trump said, speaking to a crowd at the National Guard Association in Detroit. “You know, you have to fire people,” Trump said. “We never fire anybody. You got to fire them, like on ‘The Apprentice.’ You’re fired. You did a lousy job,” he continued, paying homage to his reality TV series. “You did a terrible, terrible disservice to our country. You get fired when that happens. Nobody got fired,” Trump said of the 2021 Afghanistan withdrawal. “Nobody ever gets fired in this administration. It’s amazing, all the bad things that have happened. Nobody ever gets fired.” REPUBLICANS SLAM HARRIS FOR BEING ‘LAST PERSON IN THE ROOM’ WHEN BIDEN MADE CALL TO EVACUATE AFGHANISTAN Monday marks three years since the Aug. 26, 2021, suicide bombing at Hamid Karzai International Airport that killed 13 American service members and more than 100 Afghans. Islamic State terrorists claimed responsibility for the attack. Roughly four months before the tragic terror attack, Vice President Kamala Harris talked about her role during a CNN interview in which she confirmed she was the last person in the room before Biden made the deadly decision to pull U.S. troops out of Afghanistan. That video is making the rounds on social media three years later. CNN anchor Dana Bash asked, “Afghanistan, were you the last person in the room?” “Yes,” Harris responded. “And you feel comfortable?” Bash followed up, to which Harris responded, “I do.” HARRIS’ ROLE IN AFGHANISTAN WITHDRAWAL A MYSTERY DESPITE BEING ‘LAST PERSON IN THE ROOM’ WITH BIDEN Last month, President Biden faced criticism from Gold Star families after falsely claiming during the CNN Presidential Debate that he’s the “only president this century, this decade, that doesn’t have any troops dying anywhere in the world.” Darin Hoover, Gold Star father of Marine Staff Sgt. Darin Taylor Hoover, who was one of those 13 American service members killed in Kabul, had a strong reaction to Biden’s debate claims. “You know, the stumbling, bumbling buffoon that we have in the White House had the audacity to say that, under his watch, that no military members have died,” Hoover said in an interview with Fox News Digital in June. The Gold Star dad added, “The rage, the absolute disgust that I got from hearing him say that. I started yelling back at the TV just out of frustration. He’s never acknowledged, not one time, any of our kids. He’s never said their names. Even to this day, I doubt very seriously that he even knows their names.” Hoover said the Biden administration sent the 13 Afghanistan Gold Star families letters a year after the attack. HARRIS LEAVES OUT DEADLY BOTCHED AFGHANISTAN WITHDRAWAL IN SOARING PRO-MILITARY DNC SPEECH “All the 13 families get a canned letter. It said the same exact same thing. And it looked like it was a photocopy of all of that. It was basically, we’re sorry that your service member had died, and that’s been it. We’ve had absolutely nothing before, nothing since,” Hoover added. Responding to Hoover’s criticism, a White House spokesperson told Fox News Digital in June that the president “cares deeply about our service members, their families, and the immense sacrifices they have made.” “As he said then and continues to believe now: Our country owes them a great deal of gratitude and a debt that we can never repay, and we will continue to honor their ultimate sacrifice,” the spokesperson added. Fox News Digital’s Jasmine Baehr and Brian Flood contributed to this report.
Maharashtra CM Shinde opens up on Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj statue collapse, says, ‘The incident…’
Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde has called the collapse of the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj statue at Rajkot Fort “unfortunate”.
‘Woke War Machine’: New documentary rips Biden-Harris admin’s priorities during botched Afghanistan withdrawal
FIRST ON FOX: Former President Trump is criticizing President Biden’s botched handling of the Afghanistan withdrawal in a new documentary which ties the terror attack at Abbey Gate to a focus on “culture wars” by the Biden administration. The American Principles Project (APP), a conservative think tank, released a trailer for a documentary that will be released next week. The documentary, “Culture War: The Deadly Consequences of a Woke War Machine” looks at the 2021 suicide bombing at Abbey Gate, the third anniversary of which was marked on Monday. The bombing, which occurred during the frantic U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, killed 13 American service members and 180 people in total. The documentary includes interviews with former President Trump, former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, multiple members of Congress, and the families of four service members who were killed in the attack. The documentary alleges that the Biden administration was focused on a “culture war.” The trailer highlights decisions made over COVID-19 vaccinations and recruitment efforts using drag queens. TRUMP EXPECTED TO SLAM HARRIS ON 3RD ANNIVERSARY OF DEADLY AFGHANISTAN ATTACK THAT KILLED 13 AMERICANS Trump, who visited Arlington National Cemetery on Monday to mark the third anniversary of the Abbey Gate terror attack, takes aim at Biden for his handling of the botched withdrawal in the upcoming documentary. “When Biden got in, he didn’t know what he was doing, frankly, and they lost respect for our country. They respected our country when I was here,” Trump said. “We had no killing whatsoever for eighteen months, until that horrible day where they lost so many people. We got out with no dignity, no pride, no strength. It was really a horrible situation,” he continued. American Principles Project President Terry Schilling accused President Biden and Vice President Harris of overseeing a “left-wing social experiment.” “Maintaining a strong military is one of the president’s most important responsibilities. Yet under Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, our armed forces have been turned into a left-wing social experiment, with deadly consequences,” Schilling said. “‘Culture War’ seeks to expose the true destruction that Democrats’ cultural extremism has wrought on our service members. The men and women who died at Abbey Gate deserved far better from our current leadership in Washington,” he continued. “We owe it to them and their families to ensure their stories are told, so that the American people know exactly how we have reached this dangerous point and what needs to be done to avoid such a needless catastrophe in the future.” HARRIS’ ROLE IN AFGHANISTAN WITHDRAWAL A MYSTERY DESPITE BEING ‘LAST PERSON IN THE ROOM’ WITH BIDEN The relatives of some of the 13 American service members who were killed appeared on stage at the Republican National Convention last month, saying Biden had never publicly named their loved ones. Biden and Harris released separate statements on Monday recognizing the three-year anniversary of the Abbey Gate bombing, with each notably listing the names of the 13 fallen troops. “These 13 Americans—and the many more that were wounded—were patriots in the highest sense. Some were born the year the war in Afghanistan started. Some were on their second or third tour. But all raised their hand to serve a cause greater than themselves—risking their own safety for the safety of their fellow Americans, Allies, and Afghan partners. They embodied the very best of who we are as a nation: brave, committed, selfless. And we owe them and their families a sacred debt we will never be able to fully repay, but will never cease working to fulfill,” Biden said. Biden’s statement contradicts his June debate response when he claimed, “Truth is, I’m the only president this century that doesn’t have — this decade — any troops dying anywhere in the world like he did.” Biden’s comment at the time received intense backlash. HARRIS LEAVES OUT DEADLY BOTCHED AFGHANISTAN WITHDRAWAL IN SOARING PRO-MILITARY DNC SPEECH “We also owe their brothers and sisters-in-arms—who served and sacrificed for our freedom and future during America’s longest war. 20,744 American service members were wounded. 2,461 made the ultimate sacrifice. They were sons and daughters, mothers and fathers, spouses and friends. No matter how much time passes, the pain of their loss will remain real and raw. And so will the pride we feel in their service. From the deserts of Helmand, to the mountains of Kunduz, and everywhere in between—these women and men worked alongside our Afghan partners to protect our nation. And deployment after deployment, tour after tour, they dared all, risked all, and gave all to keep us safe,” he continued. The White House did not respond to Fox News Digital’s media inquiry. Fox News’ Cameron Cawthorne and Danielle Wallace contributed to this report.
‘Masterful shapeshifter’ Walz gets pointed message from Minnesota voters at state fair booth
The Minnesota State Fair is in full swing this week, with attendees seen lining up outside a popular anti-Tim Walz booth to win “Never Walz” prizes after the Gopher State governor ascended to the second spot on the 2024 Democratic presidential ticket. “Never Walz,” reads a massive sign on a booth at the state fair, which has attracted long lines of people waiting to receive “Never Walz” fans and T-shirts, Fox News Digital has learned. The booth was set up by conservative nonprofit Action 4 Liberty MN, which allows attendees of the nation’s second-largest state fair to spin a wheel to win “Never Walz” signage and apparel. “Our amazing supporters spin the wheel for a chance at a free T-shirt and a ‘Never Walz’ fan. We’re a nonprofit organization that promotes liberty by exposing the RINOs and Leftists when they betray liberty, and we work to mobilize our grassroots army of supporters and train them on how to wield their individual political power as effectively as possible,” Action 4 Liberty leader and former Republican Minnesota state Rep. Erik Mortensen told Fox News Digital on Tuesday. The Minnesota State Fair, which kicked off on Saturday and will run through Labor Day weekend, is anticipated to attract 2 million visitors. The “Never Walz” booth is a hot attraction on the fairgrounds, with Mortensen saying that even though they aren’t selling famed fair food, “our lines have been longer than most of the food booths.” WALZ FACED ANOTHER ACCUSATION OF MISREPRESENTATION IN UNEARTHED, BLISTERING LETTER: ‘REMOVE ANY REFERENCE’ Walz is currently serving his second term as governor of the Gopher State, after serving in Congress representing Minnesota from 2007-2019. Mortensen, who served in the Minnesota House of Representatives from 2021 to last year, is on Action 4 Liberty’s leadership team and explained that the grassroots group has long been spotlighting how Walz has “destroyed our state.” FLASHBACK: OBAMA WAS ONE OF EARLIEST BIG-NAME DEMS TO ENDORSE WALZ AT DAWN OF HIS POLITICAL CAREER “Action 4 Liberty has been leading the effort in MN for years in exposing Gov. Walz’s thirst for power. In 2021, our state fair booth was themed ‘Never Again’ referring to Walz’ unconstitutional lockdowns, mask mandates and vaccine mandates. The booth was used to promote my ‘Never Again’ bill that would remove the governor’s ability to unilaterally declare an emergency and anoint himself the ‘King of MN.’ We Minnesotans know Walz best. He pretends to be some folksy Midwesterner, but he’s a thin-skinned, power-drunk tyrant that has destroyed our state and has repeatedly violated Minnesotan’s liberties,” Mortensen said when asked about the motivation and history behind the booth. TIM WALZ SLAMMED AS ‘POLITICAL CHAMELEON’ AFTER DITCHING FORMER PRO-SECOND AMENDMENT STANCE Videos spreading across social media show long lines of supporters waiting for their chance to spin the “Never Walz” wheel, with Mortensen saying attendees’ response to the booth has been “overwhelming.” “The state fair representatives and police officers driving the state fair have repeatedly had to ask us to get our line out of the road and get closer to the curb,” he said. “Most people in line tell us, ‘I’ve been trying to find your booth all day long.’” TRUMP CAMP SAYS HARRIS-WALZ ‘DANGEROUSLY LIBERAL’ TICKET IS ‘EVERY AMERICAN’S NIGHTMARE’ Walz moved to the second spot on the Democratic Party’s presidential ticket earlier this month, when Vice President Kamala Harris named him as her running mate. Harris became the party’s nominee after President Biden bowed out of the race last month amid mounting concern over his mental acuity and 81 years of age. Walz joined his party in Chicago last week for the DNC, where he officially accepted the nomination to run alongside Harris, and invoked his Midwestern, veteran and teaching background as he rallied support at the convention. “Growing up in a small town like that, you learn how to take care of each other. That family down the road, they may not think like you do, they may not pray like you do. They may not love like you do. But they’re your neighbors. And you look out for them. And they look out for you. Everybody belongs. And everybody has a responsibility to contribute,” he said of his childhood in Nebraska before moving to Minnesota. “For me, it was serving in the Army National Guard. I joined up two days after my 17th birthday, and I proudly wore our nation’s uniform for 24 years. My dad, a Korean War-era Army veteran, died of lung cancer a couple of years later. He left behind a mountain of medical debt. Thank God for Social Security survivor benefits.” Mortensen did not mince words in comments to Fox Digital about Walz’s track record in Minnesota, slamming him as a “masterful shapeshifter” who “morphs into whatever image he feels he must to increase his political position.” “Walz has signed legislation to strip parents of parental rights if they refuse to allow their minor children to get sex change surgeries. Walz signed the most extreme abortion bill into law that has NO limits on abortion. Because of Walz, 13-year-old girls can now get taxpayer-funded, late-term abortions in Minnesota without even telling their parents,” Mortensen said of Walz’s record. VAN JONES: WALZ NEEDS TO ADMIT HE EXAGGERATED MILITARY RECORD SO DEMS CAN ‘MOVE ON’ Mortensen said that if elected, Walz “rules with an iron fist and seeks to destroy liberties all with a goofy smile on his face.” “Gov. Walz is a dictatorial tyrant that has an insatiable appetite for power. He has made a living amassing that power by being a shapeshifting politician that creates a character he believes will successfully pull the wool over the eyes of voters just long enough to get elected,” he said. Fox News Digital reached out to the Harris-Walz campaign for comment on the booth and Mortensen’s comments, but did not immediately receive a reply. Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more at our Fox News Digital election hub.
Trump lawyers hit back at Fani Willis in disqualification case, citing ‘misconduct’
Former President Trump’s legal team has filed a reply brief to the Georgia Court of Appeals in his case to disqualify Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis. “President Trump’s legal team has filed a reply brief in the Georgia Court of Appeals persuasively rebutting the State’s arguments,” Steve Sadow, counsel for Trump, said in a statement. “The brief makes clear DA Willis should be disqualified, and the case dismissed because her proven false, incendiary racial rhetoric in the church speech was calculated to heighten public condemnation of, and thereby prejudice, the defendants in eyes of potential jurors. Such misconduct violated the Georgia Rules of Professional Conduct, therefore President Trump again calls for dismissal and her removal.” On Dec. 5, the Georgia court will hear the appeal by Trump and his co-defendants to have embattled Willis disqualified from the case due to an alleged “improper” affair with former special prosecutor Nathan Wade. GEORGIA COURT WILL HEAR TRUMP’S CASE TO DISQUALIFY FANI WILLIS ONE MONTH AFTER PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION Willis filed a motion to dismiss the appeal in June, saying the lower court found there was not sufficient evidence to support their claims that Willis has a conflict of interest, and claiming there is “no basis” to appeal Fulton Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee’s March ruling allowing Willis to stay on the case. Trump’s lawyer called the motion a “last ditch effort to stop any appellate review of [her] misconduct.” Trump was indicted in August 2023 along with 18 co-defendants stemming from the yearslong criminal investigation led by Willis and state prosecutors in Georgia into his alleged efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election in the state. The charges include violating the Georgia RICO (Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations) Act; solicitation of violation of oath by a public officer; conspiracy to commit impersonating a public officer; conspiracy to commit forgery in the first degree; conspiracy to commit false statements and writings; conspiracy to commit filing false documents; conspiracy to commit forgery in the first degree; and filing false documents. Since then, Willis has struggled to avoid roadblocks in her efforts to try Trump, the GOP presidential nominee, before the election. GEORGIA PROSECUTOR FANI WILLIS APPEALS AFTER JUDGE DROPS MULTIPLE TRUMP CHARGES Judge Scott McAfee in March dismissed six of the charges and said the state failed to allege sufficient detail for six counts of “solicitation of violation of oath by public officer.” In February, Michael Roman, a GOP operative and co-defendant in the case, dropped bombshell accusations that Willis had an “improper” affair with Wade, whom she hired to help prosecute the case in November 2021. Other co-defendants made similar allegations, and said she financially benefited from her relationship with him by taking lavish vacations together. Both Wade and Willis denied they were in a romantic relationship prior to his hiring and said the couple would split the costs of their shared travels; Willis said she reimbursed Wade for her share of the trips in cash. FANI WILLIS’ EX-STAFFER TESTIFIES SHE WAS FIRED AFTER BLOWING WHISTLE ON DA’S SPENDING After evidentiary hearings in February, McAfee ordered that Wade be removed in order to keep Willis from disqualification in the Trump election interference case. “[T]he established record now highlights a significant appearance of impropriety that infects the current structure of the prosecution team – an appearance that must be removed through the State’s selection of one of two options,” he wrote, adding that Willis and her whole office can choose to step aside, or Wade can withdraw from the case. Wade subsequently resigned from his post as special prosecutor. In his order, McAfee separately took issue with a speech made by Willis at an Atlanta church in January, when she claimed she and Wade were being scrutinized because of their race. McAfee said her racially charged rhetoric of “playing the race card” was “legally improper.” Willis did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.
Chicago cops received more help for DNC than during height of 2020 riots: retired police chief
The $75 million policing budget for the just-concluded Democratic National Convention paid off for Chicago but also shows a stunning contrast with the money devoted at the height of the 2020 George Floyd riots, a retired Illinois police chief tells Fox News Digital. “The security for the DNC is the largest police presence in the history of Chicago, as far as they go back of tracking of all local, state, county, suburban federal agencies, there’s never been a larger police presence ever,” retired Riverside, Illinois, police chief Tom Wetizel told Fox News Digital in an interview. Weitzel recalled that when he was chief during the protests after the death of Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police, the department “was not given the resources that we needed from outside our own agency when we would ask for them, and certainly not anywhere near this level.” DNC IN CHICAGO: WINDY CITY ROCKED BY VIOLENCE EVEN WITH MIGRANT GANGS ON ‘GOOD BEHAVIOR’ “People forget that the Democrats were the party of, and probably still are the party of defund the police, and now the Democratic Party at the Democratic National Convention has the largest police presence in Chicago history. I mean, that kind of strikes me as very strange,” he said. Ahead of the DNC, a local news outlet reported the White House’s Office of Budget and Management allocated $75 million in federal funding for security at the convention, and most of the funds reportedly went to the Chicago Police Department. “It would have a significant impact,” Weitzel said when asked if those resources were provided to departments on the South Side – Chicago’s heavily crime-ridden region – to deter crime. CHICAGO POLICE MAKE ARRESTS AMONG PROTESTERS AT THE DNC Every day during the convention, anti-Israel agitators took to the streets near the DNC to protest against the Democratic ticket’s foreign policies, as well as other left-wing causes. Some were part of pro-Hamas groups and burned the American flag. Others waved Palestinian flags and chanted on bullhorns, “There is one solution, intifada revolution” and “Long live the intifada.” The Chicago Police Department said there were at least 74 arrests over the course of the convention’s four days. “Our city was on display for the world to see,” Superintendent Larry Snelling told reporters last week. “I guarantee the world was watching. We showed again that this was not 1968.” During the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago, approximately 600 people were arrested. The convention was held amid significant social unrest and marked by anti-Vietnam War protests. DNC IN CHICAGO: 12 SHOT, 1 MURDERED IN WINDY CITY SHOOTINGS ON DAY 2 OF CONVENTION “I can tell you with a surety that they are the heroes that they are. Their training has paid off, their patience has paid off, their professionalism has paid off,” Weitzel said of Chicago PD. “The Chicago Police Department [wasn’t] the lead story for the night. The Chicago Police Department [wasn’t] the lead story for abusing or alleged to have abused or overreacted.”