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Harris-Trump Showdown: Presidential nominees hit key battleground states as election approaches

Harris-Trump Showdown: Presidential nominees hit key battleground states as election approaches

With just over six weeks to go until Election Day on November 5, and early and absentee voting now underway in an increasing number of states, Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Trump are not letting up as they campaign in the key battleground states. After a stop Thursday evening in Michigan, Harris heads to Georgia on Friday afternoon for a reproductive rights event before heading to a rally later in the day in Wisconsin. Trump, who campaigned in Michigan earlier in the week, returns to the campaign trail on Saturday with a rally in North Carolina. TRUMP MAKES A BOLD PREDICTION ABOUT THE 2024 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION  Those four states, along with Pennsylvania, Arizona and Nevada, had razor-thin margins that decided President Biden’s 2020 election victory over Trump. And those seven swing states will likely determine whether Harris or Trump wins the 2024 election and succeeds Biden in the White House. Harris will keep the spotlight on the combustible issue of abortion during her Atlanta area stop. The issue has been a winning one for the Democrats at the ballot box since the conservative majority on the Supreme Court in a blockbuster decision two years ago overturned the landmark nearly half-century-old Roe v. Wade ruling, which had legalized abortion nationwide. WHAT THE LATEST FOX NEWS POLLS SHOW IN THE HARRIS-TRUMP SHOWDOWN “Trump Abortion Bans have criminalized reproductive care,” Harris said on social media Thursday night after spotlighting the issue during a live-streamed forum in Michigan with one of her best known surrogates, Oprah Winfrey. Biden narrowly edged Trump in Georgia four years ago to become the first Democrat to carry the state in a presidential election in over a quarter-century. Harris returns to Georgia after making a campaign swing in the southeastern part of the state earlier this month. Trump, amid strained relations with Gov. Brian Kemp, the state’s popular two-term conservative governor, hasn’t returned to Georgia since holding a large rally in Atlanta on August 5. DOES TRUMP OR HARRIS HAVE THE EDGE IN THESE KEY BATTLEGROUNDS? The latest public opinion polls in Georgia conducted entirely after the first and potentially only debate between Harris and Trump indicate the former president holding a slight lower-single digit edge over the vice president. Harris later on Friday headlines a rally in Madison, Wisconsin, for her fourth visit to the Midwestern battleground since replacing Biden atop the Democrats’ 2024 ticket over two months ago. The most recent surveys in Wisconsin also show a margin-of-error race, with Harris holding a razor-thin lower single digit edge over Trump. Wisconsin, along with Michigan and Pennsylvania, is part of the Democrats’ so-called Blue Wall of Rust Belt states that the party reliably won in presidential elections for a quarter-century until Trump narrowly captured all three states en route to a White House victory in 2016. But four years ago, Biden edged Trump in all three states to win the presidency. Trump on Saturday returns to North Carolina, a state he won by roughly one-point over Biden four years ago. The state is a must-win for the GOP presidential nominee, and his campaign is now spending big bucks to run ads in North Carolina. The latest polls suggest a coin-toss race, with the former president holding the slightest edge. Trump’s visit comes two days after a bombshell report rocked the state’s governor’s race, with allegations that GOP nominee and controversial Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson posted disturbing and inflammatory statements on a forum of a pornographic website. Robinson has denied the allegations. A source familiar with Trump’s rally Saturday in Wilmington, North Carolina, told Fox News that Robinson would not be attending the event. Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more at our Fox News Digital election hub. 

Issa rips State Department for spreading ‘knowingly false’ info on funding migrant counseling to enter US

Issa rips State Department for spreading ‘knowingly false’ info on funding migrant counseling to enter US

EXCLUSIVE: Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., a member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, slammed President Biden’s State Department for being caught with its hands in the “cookie jar” over taxpayer dollars going toward counseling migrants on how to use the asylum process to enter the United States.  “Your department is responsible for giving us knowingly false information,” Issa told Julieta Valls Noyes, assistant secretary for Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration (PRM) at the State Department, during a Thursday hearing, referencing the department’s PRM program funding a nonprofit organization known as the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society (HIAS).  “We were told…PRM has not funded and does not fund legal representation or counseling related to immigration proceedings,” Issa explained, referencing a letter from the State Department to the committee. “Again, later, in December, from the government of Mexico, PRM does not fund legal representation or counseling related to U.S. immigration proceedings and legal assistance provided to those in Mexico is solely for the Mexican legal processes.” Issa continued, “Under the rules of US 18 Title 1001, is that a true statement? Either of those?” EX-BORDER PATROL CHIEF RIPS BIDEN ADMIN FOR ALLEGEDLY SUPPRESSING INFO ON MIGRANTS WITH POTENTIAL TERROR TIES “Congressman, the U.S. funds,” Valls Noyes responded before Issa interjected and said, “It’s a yes or no. It really is.” “Yes,” Valls Noyes responded.  Issa then presented a series of slides from HIAS that showed the group explaining in Spanish the best ways to use the asylum system to enter the United States and detailing the legal process to enter the country. “Are you aware of this packet that was used throughout 2023,” Issa asked, to which Valls Noyes responded, “Yes.” “Does it limit to legal activities in Mexico or does it on pages 9, 10, and 11 clearly advise people on how to get asylum in the U.S.?” Valls Noyes responded by saying “this packet of information was not funded by PRM” and instead by the “U.N. refugee agency.” BIDEN-HARRIS’ RECKLESS RESTART OF A FRAUD-RIDDEN IMMIGRATION PROGRAM “Was this organization at this time under funding from the United States,” Issa asked.  “The organization was, this packet was not,” Valls Noyes responded.  Valls Noyes said that she was not “aware” of the packet until the department was gathering documents to comply with House oversight, but said again that it was “not funded” directly by PRM. “Ma’am, I’m going to make something very clear to you,” Issa said. “The intent of Congress is not to use the fungibility of money to give to an organization that goes out with the people that you are funding and those people and that organization do something inconsistent with what you tell Congress your mandate is.” “Money is fungible. As long as you give to this organization, which I understand you’re still funding around the world, and they have a dual purpose, and they use that dual purpose to do something that Congress clearly doesn’t want. Nowhere in this deck, we’ll call it U.N. funded for a moment just to humor you, nowhere in this deck does it suggest you can seek refuge in Mexico, which under international law you have not only a right to but an obligation to.” Issa went on to explain that the State Department was effectively encouraging migrants to avoid seeking asylum in Mexico and instead enter the United States at the “federal taxpayers expense.” “If you fund the meeting, and you use the deck, how is it that you can say you’re telling us without trickery or any kind of misleading that this wasn’t funded, or at least enabled by the United States government, maam?” Issa asked later in the hearing.  NEARLY 530,000 MIGRANTS CAME TO US ‘LEGALLY,’ PAROLED INTO US UNDER CONTROVERSIAL BIDEN PROGRAM: CBP “Again, congressman, we did not fund the production of the deck, but it is accurate that the deck was used in briefings where we were also informing migrants about the ability to seek asylum in Mexico,” Valls Noyes said.  “You’re a great diplomat,” Issa responded. “Because diplomats tell people to go to hell and make them pack and look forward to the trip I guess because there is no truth to what you just said. It is extremely clear that if a group, I don’t care who printed it or handed it out, a group you were funding waters and transportation and everything else to bring to an event, host the event, under the color of the United States of America. Not the United Nations. And then you say ‘Oh we didn’t fund it. They got the money fungibly from somewhere else.’ Ma’am, there’s not one American that would believe that.” Valls Noyes went on to say that the State Department ceased funding HIAS in 2023 and is in fully in compliance with the law and similar slides are not currently being passed out.  “HIAS is the world’s oldest refugee protection agency, working to provide vital services to refugees, asylum seekers, and other forcibly displaced and stateless persons around the world as a longstanding partner of the U.S. government and the American Jewish community,” a HIAS spokesperson told Fox News Digital. “HIAS complies with U.S. law and our grant agreements, including those applicable to the HIAS project that was discussed at yesterday’s hearing.” Issa spoke exclusively to Fox News Digital after the hearing and said the exchange represented an “outright lie” from the State Department, who as recently as this year, in a letter to committee Chair Matt McCaul, distanced itself from the slides arguing that PRM did not directly fund the creation of the actual slideshow, but acknowledged funding the session it was used at. “When you get caught with your hand in the cookie jar, the first thing you do is to deny the cookie jar,” Issa said. “The next thing you do is deny the hand and that’s really what she did. Confronted with a document that clearly said this organization was advocating on how to circumvent being rejected at the border. She said

Secret Service protection bill passes House unanimously after Trump assassination attempts

Secret Service protection bill passes House unanimously after Trump assassination attempts

The House of Representatives has passed a bipartisan bill increasing U.S. Secret Service (USSS) protections for major presidential and vice presidential candidates after two foiled assassination attempts against former President Donald Trump. It passed with an overwhelming unanimous 405 to 0 vote, a rare show of bipartisanship in Congress. The legislation was introduced by Reps. Ritchie Torres, D-N.Y., and Mike Lawler, R-N.Y., in response to the July 13 shooting at a Trump rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. A 20-year-old gunman was able to open fire on the rally from a rooftop just outside the rally perimeter, killing one attendee and injuring Trump and two others. WATCH ON FOX NATION: THE ATTEMPTED ASSASSINATIONS OF DONALD TRUMP Weeks later, USSS agents arrested a man near Trump’s West Palm Beach golf course who had been waiting for the ex-president during a game on Sunday with an SKS rifle. If passed by the Senate and signed into law by President Biden, the bill would mandate a comprehensive review of USSS protective standards and impose uniform standards for the security of presidents, vice presidents and major White House candidates. “Regardless of how every American feels, regardless of how every American intends to vote, it is the right of the American people to determine the outcome of this election. The idea that our election could be decided by an assassin’s bullet should shake the conscience of our nation, and it requires swift action by the federal government,” Lawler said during debate on the bill Thursday. TRUMP BLAMES BIDEN-HARRIS ‘RHETORIC’ FOR LATEST ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT, SAYS HE WILL ‘SAVE THE COUNTRY’ “It is shocking that it took a second assassination attempt for Donald Trump to get the same level of protective detail from the Secret Service as the president of the United States.” Progressive Rep. Jerry Nadler, D-N.Y., said he is backing the bill but argued it would be meaningless without stronger firearm laws. “I support this legislation because the Secret Service must be able to protect our highest elected officials and candidates. But this legislation will do nothing to make the rest of us any safer, or change the fact that gun violence continues to take the lives of more than 100 Americans every single day,” Nadler said. NEW WHISTLEBLOWER CLAIMS ON FIRST TRUMP ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT ‘HIGHLY DAMAGING’ TO SECRET SERVICE: HAWLEY House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, pushed back on Nadler’s comments and accused him of painting the assassination attempts as “Republicans’ fault.” “Next thing they’re going to say is, oh, some crazy guy on the left tries to assassinate President Trump, and it’s President Trump’s fault. Oh, wait a minute. They said that too. This is ridiculous,” Jordan said. It is not immediately clear how the bill would classify “major” candidates. Following the first attempt against Trump, Biden extended heightened USSS protection to the ex-president, who he was still running against at the time before dropping out of the race. He also granted a request by Robert F. Kennedy Jr., then running as a third-party candidate, for USSS protection.

Mayorkas, top border officials in Biden-Harris admin worth millions: database

Mayorkas, top border officials in Biden-Harris admin worth millions: database

Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas and other top officials dealing with the crisis at the southern border are worth millions, according to a database collecting federal forms — leading a top Trump ally to accuse them of inflicting mass migration on regular Americans while avoiding the consequences. “Inside Biden’s Basement,” which lists the OGE Form 278e of government employees showing financial worth, is an organization stemming from the Transparency Action Fund, a 501(c)4. According to the database, Mayorkas’ estimated net worth is between $3.8 million to $9 million.  NEW ‘INSIDE BIDEN’S BASEMENT’ PROJECT AIMS TO ‘EXPOSE’ OFFICIALS ‘DRIVING AMERICA INTO A DITCH’ Previous reporting identified his worth at around $8 million. Mayorkas’ finances, specifically his salary, came into focus this year when Republicans voted to block his salary. It was an amendment by Rep. Andy Biggs, R-Ariz., for the House’s appropriations bill funding the DHS for fiscal year 2025 that would block funds in the bill from being used to pay Mayorkas. Biggs cited Mayorkas’ impeachment in the House earlier in the year for freezing his salary. Mayorkas was impeached in the GOP-led chamber for his handling of the border crisis, but the Senate did not take up his trial. The DHS had brushed off efforts by Republicans to freeze his salary. “While the House Majority has wasted months trying to score points with baseless attacks, Secretary Mayorkas has been doing his job and working to keep Americans safe,” a spokesperson said last year. “Instead of continuing their reckless charades and attacks on law enforcement, Congress should work with us to keep our country safe, build on the progress DHS is making, and deliver desperately needed reforms for our broken immigration system that only legislation can fix.”  Meanwhile, other officials were also valued as having a high net worth by the website. TOP HOUSE COMMITTEE SHREDS BIDEN-HARRIS ADMIN ON BORDER CRISIS IN NEW REPORT: ‘ASSAULT ON THE RULE OF LAW’  Royce Bernstein Murray, assistant secretary for Border and Immigration Policy, has an estimated net worth of $1.7 million to $6.8 million. Michelle Brane, the immigration detention ombudsman and who previously served as executive director for the department’s Family Reunification Task Force, has an estimated net worth of $1.4 million to $3.3 million. Fox News Digital reached out to DHS for comment on the figures. CLICK HERE FOR MORE COVERAGE OF THE BORDER SECURITY CRISIS While the website shows others in the administration have significantly higher net worth, the numbers from the immigration officials brought criticism from former Trump senior White House official Stephen Miller, who told Fox News Digital that it showed how rich officials have the ability to distance themselves from the policies of the administration. “Leftist elites force intolerable mass migration on an unwilling populace while using their wealth to remove themselves as far as possible from the catastrophe they have inflicted on everyone else,” Miller, who is also the founder of America First Legal, told Fox News Digital. Immigration and the ongoing border crisis has been a top issue in the U.S. ahead of the 2024 presidential election. Republicans have placed the blame for the crisis on the Biden administration’s ending of Trump-era policies. The Biden administration has said its strategy of expanding lawful pathways for migration while implementing consequences at the border is working – pointing to a recent drop in encounters by more than 50% since June when President Biden signed an executive order implementing new restrictions.