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Harris-Trump showdown: Group of former law enforcement leaders takes sides in presidential election

Harris-Trump showdown: Group of former law enforcement leaders takes sides in presidential election

FIRST ON FOX – A nonpartisan police leadership organization that notes that it is the only national law enforcement advocacy group to endorse political candidates is weighing in on the 2024 White House race between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump. The Police Leaders for Community Safety said Monday that it is endorsing Harris, in an announcement shared first with Fox News. The organization – which says it is led by a diverse group of prominent police professionals who have been at the helm of numerous major national law enforcement leadership groups – highlights that its mission is to champion “policies to make communities and the people in them safer, improve and evolve policing, and safeguard the rule of law.” The backing by the group, which was formed in June, gives Harris support from a major law enforcement group following the endorsement earlier this month of Trump by the National Fraternal Order of Police, the country’s largest police union. And earlier this year, Trump also landed the endorsement of another major law enforcement union – the International Union of Police Associations – as well as the National Association of Police Organizations (NAPO). NATION’S LARGEST AND OLDEST POLICE UNION MAKES AN ENDORSEMENT IN THE 2024 PRESIDENTIAL RACE “This endorsement reflects Vice President Harris’ track record and unwavering commitment to public safety and the rule of law,” Sue Riseling, chair of Police Leaders for Community Safety, said. Police Leaders for Community Safety board member David Mahoney, a former Dane County, Wisconsin, sheriff and past president of the National Sheriffs’ Association, said that Harris “spent her prosecutorial career protecting people, supporting victims and holding accountable those who have harmed others and betrayed the public trust. As a lawmaker, she has fought hard for the critical law enforcement-backed policies needed to fight crime and protect the public.” CASH DASH: THIS PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE HOLDS A SUBSTANTIAL FUNDRAISING LEAD  Additionally, Board Vice Chair Rick Myers, a former police chief in eight communities in multiple states, said that “too many politicians call themselves tough on crime and say they support law enforcement but then don’t have the courage to do what is right to keep us safe…We need a leader who will protect both the 2nd Amendment and our nation from the scourge of gun violence, and that leader is Kamala Harris.”  Regardless of downward trends in many crime categories nationally, crime remains a leading issue on the minds of American voters.  Trump has argued that Harris, a former prosecutor, San Francisco district attorney and California attorney general, is soft on crime and anti-police and has blamed her for persistent crime issues in San Francisco.   WHAT THE LATEST FOX NEWS POLL SHOWS IN THE HARRIS-TRUMP 2024 SHOWDOWN  The former president and GOP nominee has called for more aggressive policing, less oversight by the federal government, and more military equipment for local police departments. Harris has spotlighted Trump’s legal controversies – he made history earlier this year as the first former or current president convicted of a felony – and argues he has been hostile to law enforcement that has investigated him. The vice president and Democratic Party nominee spotlights the Biden-Harris administration’s record on law enforcement funding through pandemic relief funds. She advocates for stronger federal oversight and less military equipment for local police departments. Harris campaign manager, Julie Chavez Rodriguez, in a statement following the endorsement, noted that “as a prosecutor who has stood with law enforcement throughout her entire career, Vice President Harris took a tough and smart approach on crime: increasing conviction rates, holding violent criminals accountable, and keeping communities safe. She also worked tirelessly to make the criminal justice system more fair – especially for communities of color.” She argued that “this November, Americans will choose between someone who spent her career enforcing the rule of law and someone who has been convicted of breaking them.” The Harris campaign notes that the latest endorsement follows the backing of the vice president by 100 law enforcement officials, including officers who protected the U.S. Capitol during the Jan. 6, 2021 attack by Trump supporters, and over 700 national security officials. Editor’s note: This story’s headline has been updated to reflect that Police Leaders for Community Safety is comprised of former law enforcement leaders and not a leading group. Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more at our Fox News Digital election hub.

Harris-Trump showdown: Leading law enforcement group takes sides in presidential election

Harris-Trump showdown: Leading law enforcement group takes sides in presidential election

FIRST ON FOX – A nonpartisan police leadership organization that notes that it is the only national law enforcement advocacy group to endorse political candidates is weighing in on the 2024 White House race between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump. The Police Leaders for Community Safety said Monday that it is endorsing Harris, in an announcement shared first with Fox News. The organization – which says it is led by a diverse group of prominent police professionals who have been at the helm of numerous major national law enforcement leadership groups – highlights that its mission is to champion “policies to make communities and the people in them safer, improve and evolve policing, and safeguard the rule of law.” The group’s backing gives Harris support from a major law enforcement group following the endorsement earlier this month of Trump by the National Fraternal Order of Police, the country’s largest police union. NATION’S LARGEST AND OLDEST POLICE UNION MAKES AN ENDORSEMENT IN THE 2024 PRESIDENTIAL RACE “This endorsement reflects Vice President Harris’ track record and unwavering commitment to public safety and the rule of law,” Sue Riseling, chair of Police Leaders for Community Safety, said. Police Leaders for Community Safety board member David Mahoney, a former Dane County, Wisconsin, sheriff and past president of the National Sheriffs’ Association, said that Harris “spent her prosecutorial career protecting people, supporting victims and holding accountable those who have harmed others and betrayed the public trust. As a lawmaker, she has fought hard for the critical law enforcement-backed policies needed to fight crime and protect the public.” CASH DASH: THIS PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE HOLDS A SUBSTANTIAL FUNDRAISING LEAD  Additionally, Board Vice Chair Rick Myers, a former police chief in eight communities in multiple states, said that “too many politicians call themselves tough on crime and say they support law enforcement but then don’t have the courage to do what is right to keep us safe…We need a leader who will protect both the 2nd Amendment and our nation from the scourge of gun violence, and that leader is Kamala Harris.”  Regardless of downward trends in many crime categories nationally, crime remains a leading issue on the minds of American voters.  Trump has argued that Harris, a former prosecutor, San Francisco district attorney and California attorney general, is soft on crime and anti-police and has blamed her for persistent crime issues in San Francisco.   WHAT THE LATEST FOX NEWS POLL SHOWS IN THE HARRIS-TRUMP 2024 SHOWDOWN  The former president and GOP nominee has called for more aggressive policing, less oversight by the federal government, and more military equipment for local police departments. Harris has spotlighted Trump’s legal controversies – he made history earlier this year as the first former or current president convicted of a felony – and argues he has been hostile to law enforcement that has investigated him. The vice president and Democratic Party nominee spotlights the Biden-Harris administration’s record on law enforcement funding through pandemic relief funds. She advocates for stronger federal oversight and less military equipment for local police departments. Harris campaign manager, Julie Chavez Rodriguez, in a statement following the endorsement, noted that “as a prosecutor who has stood with law enforcement throughout her entire career, Vice President Harris took a tough and smart approach on crime: increasing conviction rates, holding violent criminals accountable, and keeping communities safe. She also worked tirelessly to make the criminal justice system more fair – especially for communities of color.” She argued that “this November, Americans will choose between someone who spent her career enforcing the rule of law and someone who has been convicted of breaking them.” The Harris campaign notes that the latest endorsement follows the backing of the vice president by 100 law enforcement officials, including officers who protected the U.S. Capitol during the Jan. 6, 2021 attack by Trump supporters, and over 700 national security officials. Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more at our Fox News Digital election hub.

New GOP-backed bill would ban aid to Afghanistan to avoid giving US dollars to the Taliban

New GOP-backed bill would ban aid to Afghanistan to avoid giving US dollars to the Taliban

FIRST ON FOX: A group of Republican lawmakers is introducing a new bill that would cease all aid dollars to Afghanistan over concerns of interception by the Taliban. “The Biden-Harris administration’s disastrous withdrawal has plunged the country back under Taliban rule, and now it turns out that our taxpayer dollars are being used to the benefit of the Taliban,” Rep. Josh Brecheen, R-Okla., sponsor of the legislation, told Fox News Digital.  “This legislation is needed so we can ensure that no more of our tax dollars are being irresponsibly used in Taliban-controlled Afghanistan.” The House bill is co-sponsored by Republican Reps. Tim Burchett of Tennessee, Ralph Norman of South Carolina, Nick Langworthy of New York, Barry Moore of Alabama, Erlic Burlison of Missouri, Matt Rosendale of Montana and Randy Feenstra of Iowa.  The U.S. is the largest donor to Afghanistan. It spent a total of $21 billion on the nation and Afghan refugees who have been evacuated since the withdrawal. However, critics say much of that aid ends up in lining the pockets of the Taliban, who they say have taken control of nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) in the country. HOUSE GOP RELEASES SCATHING REPORT ON AFGHANISTAN  The United Nations (U.N.), meanwhile, has flown in some $2.9 billion in U.S. currency cash to Afghanistan since the Taliban seized control, the bulk of that being from funds allocated by the U.S., and at least some of which ends up in the Taliban-controlled central bank, according to the SIGAR report from July.  The Taliban “taxes” this cash at multiple points of distribution.  The bill would prohibit federal agencies from giving any direct cash assistance to Afghanistan and prohibit any taxpayer dollars from going to the U.N. for the purpose of assisting Afghanistan. It also prohibits Federal Reserve Banks from selling U.S. currency to the U.N. for the purpose of direct cash assistance to Afghanistan.  In a briefing to the U.N. Security Council on March 6, Roza Otunbayeva, the U.N.’s special representative for Afghanistan, did not mention the money going to Da Afghanistan central bank but said it was necessary to get medical care and food for Afghans.  The shipments have “injected liquidity to the local economy that has in large part allowed the private sector to continue to function and averted a fiscal crisis,” Otunbayeva told the council.  In a letter provided in response to the SIGAR report, the State Department said the U.N. was in charge of managing the cash transfer program.  “We remain committed to providing critical, life-saving humanitarian assistance to the Afghan people. We will continue to monitor assistance programs and seek to mitigate the risk that U.S. assistance could indirectly benefit the Taliban or could be diverted to unintended recipients,” the letter said. AFGHAN GENERAL SAYS HIS COUNTRY HAS ONCE AGAIN BECOME ‘CRUCIBLE OF TERRORISM’ For 20 years prior to the Taliban takeover, Afghanistan received some $8 billion in foreign assistance per year, representing 40% of its gross domestic product and financing three quarters of the government’s public expenditures. When the U.S. and other foreign entities stopped supplying aid, the country fell into an economic crisis – and aid dollars began flowing once again.  In June, the House passed a bill that would force the State Department to investigate which countries give aid to the Taliban – and also get U.S. assistance themselves.  It would also force the secretary of state to weigh if those countries should keep getting U.S. dollars and develop a strategy to discourage them from continuing aid to the Taliban. However, that bill did not cease all aid to Afghanistan. 

Mike Johnson says Harris is Iran’s ‘preferred candidate,’ demands info on Trump campaign hacks

Mike Johnson says Harris is Iran’s ‘preferred candidate,’ demands info on Trump campaign hacks

FIRST ON FOX: House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., is putting the U.S. intelligence community on the spot after Iranian hackers tried to disseminate private information from former President Donald Trump’s campaign. “Congress is outraged by the Biden-Harris Administration’s inaction and unwillingness to hold Iran accountable for its cyberattacks on the Trump campaign,” Johnson wrote in letters to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the Director of National Intelligence (DNI), and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA). “As you have shared, Iran hacked into the Trump campaign and distributed private information directly to the Biden campaign and to American media, which, like Iran, favors Kamala Harris.” In his letter, he also claimed Harris was Iran’s “preferred candidate” in the race. TOP RUSSIAN OFFICIAL LANDS IN IRAN AMID US, UK CONCERNS OVER ALLEGED NUCLEAR DEAL Last week, the three agencies released a rare joint statement, revealing that “Iranian malicious cyber actors” sent stolen Trump campaign materials to people linked to President Biden’s since-defunct re-election campaign, beginning in June. They also sent non-public materials to U.S. media organizations, the agencies said. However, Johnson told their directors that “several unanswered questions remain.” “The American people must be informed of how the cyberattacks and distribution of information happened, the timeline indicating when the attacks occurred and were verified, and the concrete steps your agencies have taken to deter future attacks,” Johnson wrote. He accused the Biden administration of failing to deter election interference efforts by Iran or other hostile foreign powers and pointed out that Iran has also recently been accused of trying to kill the former president. ISRAELI DEFENSE MINISTER TELLS US ONLY ‘MILITARY ACTION’ CAN RETURN PEOPLE TO HOMES AMID HEZBOLLAH THREAT “To date, the Biden-Harris Administration has not offered or executed any meaningful action to show our enemies such interference will not be tolerated, nor shared what steps, if any, it has taken to deter future attacks on Donald Trump or his campaign,” Johnson wrote. “With less than 45 days until the election, much more needs to be done to protect our nation’s sovereignty and stop Iran from tipping the election in favor of its preferred candidate.” He gave the agencies a deadline of Oct. 4, roughly a month before Election Day. Multiple outlets reported earlier this month that the Justice Department and FBI are planning to file criminal charges against those involved with the Trump campaign hack. SHUTDOWN FEARS MOVE HOUSE REPUBLICANS TO PROTECT MILITARY PAYCHECKS FBI Director Christopher Wray warned in February that foreign adversaries posed a threat to the U.S. having “free and fair elections.” “The U.S. has confronted foreign malign influence threats in the past, but this election cycle, the U.S. will face more adversaries, moving at a faster pace, and enabled by new technology,” he said during a national security forum. Fox News Digital reached out to the Harris campaign, as well as the FBI, CISA and the DNI, for comment.