Heritage Foundation sues DHS for documents that say ‘Harris’ and ‘border czar’
A conservative think tank is demanding the Department of Homeland Security produce documents that refer to Vice President Kamala Harris as “border czar,” a position the Democratic presidential candidate insists never existed. The Heritage Foundation’s Oversight Project and Mike Howell, its executive director, filed a lawsuit Monday against DHS in a Washington, D.C., federal court, asking the agency to produce “certain records related to Vice President Kamala Harris and her role as ‘Border Czar’ for the Biden-Harris Administration.” AXIOS HIT WITH COMMUNITY NOTE AFTER CLAIMING HARRIS WAS NEVER ‘BORDER CZAR’ The Heritage Foundation submitted the request on July 30, but DHS denied it, saying it was “too broad in scope and did not specifically identify the records which you are seeking,” the lawsuit states. The plaintiffs were asked to specify what records they wanted. Fox News Digital has reached out to the Harris campaign and Homeland Security. “If she wasn’t the border czar then there shouldn’t be any. Amongst other excuses, DHS says this request is too big a burden for them,” the Oversight Project posted on X. Harris’s immigration record has been a major talking point since she announced her candidacy for president after President Biden dropped out of the race. Harris was widely dubbed the “border czar” after Biden tasked her in March 2021 to address the root causes of mass migration from Central and South America. NEW YORK TIMES SPINS KAMALA HARRIS’ PAST WORD SALADS AS ‘CELEBRATORY ARTIFACTS’ WITH CANDIDACY UNDERWAY The term has become a cornerstone of GOP attacks on Harris as she continues her White House bid. The Biden administration has rejected “border czar” as an unofficial title for Harris’s role, but the term was used by her critics and even embraced by multiple news organizations until she ascended to the top of the presidential ticket. Last week, Fox News’ Peter Doocy grilled White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre over claims that Harris never served as “border czar.” “Why are Democrats so sensitive about the vice president and the border?” Doocy asked. “Do you think that the border would be less of a talking point now if there was less migration to the border, say, if somebody had addressed ‘root causes’ of migration sooner?” “We are going to debunk the false characterization of the vice president,” Jean-Pierre replied. “She was not a border czar. And it’s not just us. Independent fact-checkers have said the same thing — that that did not exist, and that is not true.” In July, the House voted mostly along party lines to condemn Harris’s handling of the U.S. southern border. Six Democrats joined all Republicans in voting for the measure, which passed 220-196.
Task force on attempted Trump assassination sets date for first shooting site visit
FIRST ON FOX: The bipartisan House task force investigating the attempted assassination of former President Trump is set to visit the site of the shooting later this month. Task force Chairman Mike Kelly, R-Pa., spoke with Fox News Digital a day after the panel formally kicked off its probe into the deadly July 13 event, where a 20-year-old gunman opened fire during Trump’s speech in Butler, Penn., and killed one rally attendee. The Butler visit, happening the week of Aug. 26, will mark the first time the seven House Republicans and six House Democrats appointed to the task force will meet in person to advance their probe. Kelly said nearly all 13 lawmakers are confirmed to attend. BUTLER DISTRICT ATTORNEY SAYS LOCAL SNIPERS WERE NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR ROOFTOP SHOOTER FIRED FROM “There are other members who have never been there, and so we want them to see the actual physical assets that were there that day. We won’t be able to exactly view the crime scene because it’s all been torn down and moved away, but we will have enough personal time on the grounds so people can look out and say, ‘So there’s the roof that the shooter was on,’ and ‘This is approximately where the podium was set up for former President of the United States,’” Kelly explained. He said they would also meet with local officials while there, something Kelly himself has already done. TRUMP ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT VICTIM SAYS HE IS ‘SAD’ WITH STATE OF ‘POLITICAL DIVISION’ IN US The longtime Pennsylvania Republican lawmaker represents the area where the shooting took place and was at the rally with his family that day. “I thought the president was dead,” Kelly said matter-of-factly when recalling the initial horrifying moments. He also said it brought back memories of living through the assassination of John F. Kennedy in November 1963 – and Kelly vowed Americans would see more transparency now than they did then. IRAN THREAT PROMPTS QUESTIONS ABOUT TRUMP GUNMAN’S UNCRACKED ENCRYPTION “To this day, there’s still people – we never really found out what happened that day, and I don’t want that to ever happen again. We’re going to come up with an answer before the end of the year, and working around election schedules and everything else, we’re still going to get the answers the American people need to have,” he said. Part of that work will also include public hearings when Congress is back in session after Labor Day weekend, Kelly said.
Biden focused on ‘legacy’ in final months, but skeleton schedule ‘signals’ an empty house to rivals: expert
Critics have claimed President Biden’s seemingly light schedule and infrequent public appearances since dropping out of the presidential race will harm America’s image abroad, even as the White House stresses recent policy wins. “Biden has disappeared from view, Harris is campaigning full-time, and won’t meet with the press,” former national security adviser K.T. McFarland told Fox News Digital. “This sends a signal to the world that there is no one in charge in the White House,” McFarland explained. “Our allies wonder whether they can trust us. Our adversaries see this as a wide open window of opportunity, when they can exploit us without risk of consequences.” “They know this window of opportunity will slam shut if Donald Trump is elected,” McFarland argued. “We’re in a period of maximum vulnerability.” BIDEN PUT HIS PERSONAL INTERESTS ASIDE FOR THE GOOD OF THE US: DAN GOLDMAN Biden has made few public appearances and his schedule appears lighter than it had been prior to his decision not to seek a second term. When Fox News correspondent David Spunt last week asked White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre why the American people have not heard from the president, she replied that the White House had put out two readouts that day. Jean-Pierre also stressed that the administration is now in a “different time” and that Americans would “get to see the president… it is certainly the president’s priority, to make sure that we do everything that we can, to protect our national security, right?” The press secretary highlighted the push for a cease-fire deal between Israel and Hamas as well as the administration’s response to Tropical Storm Debby as important issues that have taken Biden’s attention in recent weeks. WHITE HOUSE SAYING THERE’S ‘NO DAYLIGHT’ BETWEEN BIDEN, HARRIS RIDICULED AS ‘TRUMP CAMPAIGN AD’ But concerns about mounting tensions in the Middle East grew more severe this week as Israel revealed intelligence that indicated Iran would launch a significant attack, which would serve as retaliation for the death of Hamas commander Ismail Haniyeh. Top U.S. national security leaders said last week that they and allies are directly pressing Israel, Iran and others to avoid escalating the conflict, even as the U.S. moved more troops to the region and threatened retaliation if American forces are attacked. The White House continued to stress Biden’s focus on a range of issues as proof that he’s not hiding from the public: Biden and the first lady will visit New Orleans this week to highlight the Biden Cancer Moonshot initiative to reduce the cancer death rate by at least half before 2047, NOLA reported. “President Biden is working hard and building on the most successful record of any modern administration by delivering more results for the American people,” White House deputy press secretary Andrew Bates told Fox News Digital. ARIZONA SHERIFF TORCHES KAMALA HARRIS OVER BORDER POLICY BACKTRACK: ‘CONTINUES TO FAIL THE AMERICAN PEOPLE’ Bates cited “an historic return of unjustly detained Americans from Russia, perpetuating the Biden-Harris manufacturing boom, lowering the costs of prescription drugs, and bringing unlawful border crossings to the lowest level in years” as major recent wins for the administration. Bates also leveled criticism at the Republicans for “blocking tough, bipartisan border legislation on behalf of Donald Trump.” Politico reported that Biden will use his final half-year in office to focus on “legacy items” and give Vice President Kamala Harris the lion’s share of the limelight as she seeks to become the first female president of the United States: The White House, for example, will unveil Medicare price negotiation savings this week, which the Biden campaign – and now the Harris campaign – had aimed to focus on as part of the push for votes in November. But the White House is still in the early days of a tumultuous economic situation. The president claimed to have “cured the economy” last week just before the stock market stumbled and raised concerns about the economic health of the country throughout the rest of the year. CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP “The July jobs report is being viewed as a recession warning, and the markets are responding accordingly,” Bill Adams, chief economist at the Dallas-based Comerica Bank, said after the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped over 1,000 points, marking a 2.6% shift and the worst day since September 2022. Fox News Digital’s Danielle Wallace and Fox News Correspondent David Spunt contributed to this report.
Bernie Sanders disagrees, but Trump keeps insisting Harris is more liberal than the Vermont senator
Former President Trump is once again arguing that Vice President Kamala Harris is “worse than Bernie Sanders.” Since Harris replaced President Biden at the top of the Democrats’ 2024 ticket three and a half weeks ago, the Republican presidential nominee, his campaign, and allies, have repeatedly claimed that Harris is an ultra-liberal, as they point to her record as San Francisco district attorney, California attorney general, U.S. senator and vice president. “She is considered more liberal, by far, than Bernie Sanders. She’s a radical left lunatic,” the former president reiterated on Monday night, in a social media interview with Trump backer Elon Musk, the multi-billionaire Tesla CEO, Space X founder, and owner of X, formerly known as Twitter. WHAT THE LATEST POLLS IN THREE KEY BATTLEGROUND STATES SHOW IN THE HARRIS-TRUMP SHOWDOWN It wasn’t the first time Trump had argued that Harris was more liberal than Sanders, the longtime independent senator from Vermont, progressive champion and two-time runner-up for the Democratic presidential nomination. A couple of days after Biden’s blockbuster announcement that he was ending his re-election campaign and endorsing his vice president, Trump tried out the line at a large rally in Charlotte, North Carolina. TRUMP MOVES TO DEFINE HARRIS AS ULTRA-LIBERAL Trump argued that Harris is “more liberal than Bernie Sanders. Can you believe it?” Sanders, in an exclusive national interview with Fox News Digital days after Trump’s comment, disagreed. “I would hope that when he said, ‘Can you believe that?,’ people said no,” Sanders said. “It’’s not true. Once again, Trump is lying,” Sanders emphasized. “Let me just simply say that for better or for worse, Kamala Harris is not more progressive than I am.” During his Fox News interview, Sanders took aim at Trump, who this spring was convicted of 34 felony counts in the first criminal trial of a former or current president in the nation’s history. WHAT BERNIE SANDERS TOLD FOX NEWS ABOUT HOW KAMALA HARRIS CAN WIN “This is the most important election, I think, in our lifetimes. I will do everything that I can to see that Donald Trump is defeated,” the senator stressed. Sanders has been campaigning on behalf of Harris, but he hasn’t formally endorsed the vice president. “I think if the vice president is to win this election, and obviously I want her to win, I think she has to start talking about issues of relevance to the working class of this country, because there are tens of millions of people who are really hurting,” Sanders explained. “They want to know what the next president is going to do for them, and I hope very much that Vice President Harris will make that clear.” “The path toward victory is to talk about issues that are relevant,” he reiterated. Asked what Harris specifically needs to detail, Sanders said, “I hope that the vice president will be talking about the need to substantially lower prescription drug costs… the need to have tax reform so the wealthiest in this country start paying their fair share of taxes, so we can greatly expand child care and affordable housing in this country, and I think we’ve got to be very strong on the issue of climate change and make it clear that we’re going to transform our energy system away from fossil fuel if we’re going to save this planet for future generations.” Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more at our Fox News Digital election hub.
Veterans increasingly calling out Walz’s military record: ‘Shameful’
Veterans are increasingly publicly criticizing Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz over his military record following Vice President Kamala Harris naming him as her 2024 running mate. “When your country calls, you are supposed to run into battle – not the other way,” retired Command Sgt. Maj. Thomas Behrends told the New York Post last week, when Walz was named Harris’ running mate. “He ran away. It’s sad. “He had the opportunity to serve his country, and said ‘Screw you’ to the United States. That’s not who I would pick to run for vice president.” Behrends’ comments were shortly followed by a deluge of news coverage surrounding Walz’s 24 years in the Army National Guard as questions mounted surrounding his service record and claims of “stolen valor” gained traction. Walz served in the Minnesota National Guard’s 1st Battalion, 125th Field Artillery after transferring from the Nebraska National Guard in 1996. He retired as a master sergeant in 2005. FORMER LEADER OF WALZ’S BATTALION PUBLISHES SCATHING MESSAGE AIMED AT GOVERNOR’S MILITARY CAREER: REPORT Criticisms have mounted that Walz retired just months before his battalion deployed to Iraq as war raged in the Middle East following the 9/11 attacks. Walz put in his papers for retirement at least five months before his battalion received deployment orders, according to the Minnesota National Guard. “He subverted the chain of command, and he went around the chain of command. The brigade [sergeant] major had no clue. These are all important facts, and he did it to continually feather his own bed… That was the shameful part of it,” retired Command Sgt. Maj. Paul Herr told Fox News last week. While former Minnesota National Guard Command Sgt. Maj. Doug Julin appeared to bolster criticism that Walz retired as the unit prepared to deploy during an interview with CNN. Julin said the battalion – “including my boss, commander, and the command team” – had multiple meetings to discuss deployment months before Walz sought retirement. WALZ ACCUSATIONS OF ‘STOLEN VALOR’ PROMPT BATTLE BETWEEN HOUSE VETERANS The grieving mom of Sgt. Kyle Miller, who died at the age of 19 in 2006, also issued a scathing response regarding Walz’s retirement just before the 1st Battalion, 125th Field Artillery unit deployed to Iraq. “My son wasn’t even 21 years old. He couldn’t even buy alcohol. Yet he took the step to serve our country while Walz found the best way to run away,” Miller’s mother, Kathy Miller, told the Daily Mail last week. Kyle Miller was killed by a roadside bomb in Iraq while he was deployed by Walz’s former battalion. “It was the coward’s way out.” After retiring, Walz launched a successful congressional campaign, and served as a member of the U.S. House representing Minnesota from 2007 until 2019, when he was then sworn in as the Gopher State’s governor. Harris announced last Tuesday that she selected Walz to join her on the 2024 ticket, after speculation that she would choose Walz, Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro or Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly as her running mate. Walz has subsequently been slammed by a number of veterans for allegedly misrepresenting his service in the military, including identifying himself to the public as a retired “Command Sergeant Major.” Walz was promoted to the command sergeant major rank following a deployment to Italy in 2004, but did not complete coursework with the U.S. Army Sergeants Major Academy to retain the rank in retirement. Walz instead retired as a master sergeant, one pay grade below command sergeant major. JD VANCE ACCUSES TIM WALZ OF ‘LYING’ ABOUT MILITARY SERVICE: ‘STOLEN VALOR GARBAGE’ The battalion commander of Walz’s former Minnesota Army National Guard unit issued a scathing message on Facebook over the weekend, saying it’s “an affront” to the military if Walz continues using a rank he did not retain upon retirement. “By all accounts and on the record, he was a competent Chief of Firing Battery/Gunnery Sergeant and First Sergeant. I cannot say the same of his service sitting, frocked, in the [command sergeant major] chair. He did not earn the rank or successfully complete any assignment as an E9,” John Kolb, retired lieutenant colonel of the 1st Battalion, 125th Field Artillery, wrote on Facebook, according to the Daily Mail. “It is an affront to the Noncommissioned Officer Corps that he continues to glom onto the title. I can sit in the cockpit of an airplane, it does not make me a pilot. Similarly, when the demands of service and leadership at the highest level got real, he chose another path,” Kolb wrote in the reported social media post. Fox News Digital reached out to both the Harris campaign and Walz’s gubernatorial office earlier this week asking why Walz did not complete coursework with the U.S. Army Sergeants Major Academy before retiring from the Minnesota National Guard in 2005, but did not receive comment explaining the decision. Instead, the Harris campaign directed Fox Digital to a Minnesota Public Radio article from 2018, when a public affairs officer for the Minnesota National Guard told the outlet “it is legitimate for Walz to say he served as a command sergeant major.” VP KAMALA HARRIS PICKING GOV. TIM WALZ AS RUNNING MATE MET WITH MEDIA SCORN: ‘SUCH A WEIRD CHOICE’ “[The public affairs officer] said the rank changed because Walz retired before completing coursework at the U.S. Army Sergeants Major Academy along with other requirements associated with his promotion,” the article explained. Last week, the Harris campaign updated its biography for Walz to omit a reference that he is a “retired Command Sergeant Major,” updating the bio to show Walz “served as a command sergeant major.” Walz has also come under fire from veterans who say he misrepresented serving in a combat zone. Walz was deployed to Italy in 2003 to assist U.S. operations in Afghanistan as part of Operation Enduring Freedom, but has never served in a combat zone. In one video shared by the Harris campaign last week, Walz declared he wants to ban guns like the
Casey tied to Chinese firm he claimed McCormick-led company invested in to ‘profit’ off Fentanyl crisis
Pennsylvania Sen. Bob Casey is invested, through several mutual funds, in the same Chinese fentanyl manufacturer that he recently cut an ad attacking Republican candidate Dave McCormick’s company for investing in. The Pennsylvania senator’s campaign claimed McCormick was “profiting off people’s pain” in an ad released earlier this month, slamming his company, Bridgewater Associates, for investing in Humanwell. However, Casey owns stock in the Chinese company as well, according to publicly available financial disclosures. Through his ownership of shares in a college savings plan, which is invested in the Masschusetts College Portfolio, a mutual fund managed by Fidelity, Casey is invested in Humanwell. His ultimate stake in the company is BALANCE OF POWER: TRUMP CAMPAIGN SLAMS SEN TESTER AS ‘RADICALLY OUT OF TOUCH’ AFTER ABORTION AD ROLLOUT The Pennsylvania Democrat’s campaign did not provide comment to Fox News Digital in time for publication. “With his ad, Bob Casey has put his own hypocrisy and lies on display, and it’s proof of why Pennsylvanians are so tired of career politicians,” McCormick said in a statement to Fox News Digital. “Casey has had 18 years to secure our border and prevent fentanyl from killing 100,000 Americans last year alone—under his weakness, this crisis has worsened beyond imagination.” Casey also owns stock in Jiangsu Nhwa Pharmaceutical and Sinopharm Group which are similarly involved in the manufacturing and wholesale of Chinese narcotics, respectively. ‘FEEL BETRAYED’: TOP CONSERVATIVE GROUP BLASTS VULNERABLE DEMS ON INFLATION IN MULTIMILLION-DOLLAR AD BLITZ’: Humanwell, as a pharmaceutical manufacturing company, produces medical-grade opiates. It is not one of the Chinese companies that has been singled out by the U.S. as a producer of lethal fentanyl precursor chemicals that are transported illegally through the southern border. According to the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), “llicit fentanyl, primarily manufactured in foreign clandestine labs and smuggled into the United States through Mexico, is being distributed across the country and sold on the illegal drug market.” Overdose deaths due to synthetic opioids have risen substantially, with the primary cause being illicitly manufactured fentanyl, per the DEA. BLINKEN PRESSURED TO FREEZE AFGHANISTAN AID AFTER REVELATION NEARLY $300M COULD HAVE GONE TO TALIBAN Pennsylvania is shaping up to be one of the most important states in the 2024 election, potentially deciding the presidential race and which party will control the Senate. And one particularly pressing issues in the state is the rapid increase in overdose deaths and substance abuse. In 2022, Pennsylvania had the 14th highest drug overdose death rate in the country. There were a total of 5,169 deaths from drug overdoses, per the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). ‘NEVER HEARD OF HIM’: HARRIS VP PICK WALZ HAS LITTLE NOTORIETY AMONG TRUMP-VANCE VOTERS IN PA Following Casey’s ad hitting McCormick on investing in Humanwell, the Pennsylvania Republican cut his own ad, claiming, “Bob Casey is lying about me.” “I never made any investments in the makers of illegal fentanyl, ever,” he said. “Bob Casey is too weak to close the border and too weak to tell the truth.” Casey’s Pennsylvania Senate seat is considered “Lean Democratic” in the 2024 election, according to non-partisan political handicapper the Cook Political Report. In a recent poll by the New York Times and Siena College, Casey led McCormick 51% to 37% among likely voters and 50% to 36% among registered voters. Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more at our Fox News Digital election hub
Casey tied to Chinese firm he claimed McCormick-led company invested in to ‘profit’ off fentanyl crisis
Pennsylvania Sen. Bob Casey is invested, through several mutual funds, in the same Chinese fentanyl manufacturer that he recently claimed a company that was led by Republican candidate Dave McCormick was “profiting off people’s pain” by investing in. The senator’s campaign claimed McCormick “saw a way to get even richer” in the fentanyl crisis, in an ad released earlier this month slamming the company he led, Bridgewater Associates, for investing in Humanwell. The ad connected the Chinese company to deaths from fentanyl occurring in Pennsylvania, noting that “nearly all” fentanyl starts in China. However, Casey, through his investments, owns shares in a mutual fund that owns stock in the Chinese company as well, according to publicly available financial disclosures. Through his ownership of shares in a college savings plan, which is invested in the Massachusetts College Portfolio, a mutual fund managed by Fidelity, Casey is invested in Humanwell. But, his ultimate stake in the company is minimal. BALANCE OF POWER: TRUMP CAMPAIGN SLAMS SEN TESTER AS ‘RADICALLY OUT OF TOUCH’ AFTER ABORTION AD ROLLOUT Maddy McDaniel, a spokesperson for the Pennsylvania Democrat’s campaign, told Fox News Digital in a statement, “David McCormick will say anything to try and cover up how he sold out Pennsylvanians for profit, but the facts are clear: he directly invested millions in Chinese fentanyl and profited off Pennsylvanians’ pain. David McCormick decided to invest in a Chinese fentanyl company and Bob Casey never did.” As of 2021, Bridgewater Associates had a nearly $1.7 million investment in Humanwell across seven different hedge funds, according to publicly available records with the Department of Labor (DOL). McCormick was CEO of Bridgewater from 2020 to 2022. “With his ad, Bob Casey has put his own hypocrisy and lies on display, and it’s proof of why Pennsylvanians are so tired of career politicians,” McCormick said in a statement to Fox News Digital. “Casey has had 18 years to secure our border and prevent fentanyl from killing 100,000 Americans last year alone – under his weakness, this crisis has worsened beyond imagination.” Casey is also invested through mutual funds in Jiangsu Nhwa Pharmaceutical and Sinopharm Group, which are similarly involved in the manufacturing and wholesale of Chinese narcotics, respectively. ‘FEEL BETRAYED’: TOP CONSERVATIVE GROUP BLASTS VULNERABLE DEMS ON INFLATION IN MULTIMILLION-DOLLAR AD BLITZ’: Humanwell, as a pharmaceutical manufacturing company, produces medical-grade opiates. It is not one of the Chinese companies that has been singled out by the U.S. as a producer of lethal fentanyl precursor chemicals that are transported illegally through the southern border. According to the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), “illicit fentanyl, primarily manufactured in foreign clandestine labs and smuggled into the United States through Mexico, is being distributed across the country and sold on the illegal drug market.” Overdose deaths due to synthetic opioids have risen substantially, with the primary cause being illicitly manufactured fentanyl, per the DEA. BLINKEN PRESSURED TO FREEZE AFGHANISTAN AID AFTER REVELATION NEARLY $300M COULD HAVE GONE TO TALIBAN Pennsylvania is shaping up to be one of the most important states in the 2024 election, potentially deciding the presidential race and which party will control the Senate. And one particularly pressing issue in the state is the rapid increase in overdose deaths and substance abuse. In 2022, Pennsylvania had the 14th-highest drug overdose death rate in the country. There were a total of 5,169 deaths from drug overdoses, per the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). ‘NEVER HEARD OF HIM’: HARRIS VP PICK WALZ HAS LITTLE NOTORIETY AMONG TRUMP-VANCE VOTERS IN PA Following Casey’s ad hitting McCormick on investing in Humanwell, the Pennsylvania Republican cut his own ad, claiming, “Bob Casey is lying about me.” “I never made any investments in the makers of illegal fentanyl, ever,” he said. “Bob Casey is too weak to close the border and too weak to tell the truth.” Casey’s Pennsylvania Senate seat is considered “Lean Democratic” in the 2024 election, according to nonpartisan political handicapper the Cook Political Report. In a recent poll by the New York Times and Siena College, Casey led McCormick 51% to 37% among likely voters and 50% to 36% among registered voters. Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more at our Fox News Digital election hub
Harris campaign dropped ball on one basic task with Walz rollout, Dem and GOP strategists agree
The Harris campaign did not properly prepare for potential attacks on the vice president’s running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, according to political strategists from both sides of the aisle. “The Walz military record story was clearly a failure of ‘reverse’ opposition research by the Harris campaign,” Democratic strategist Julian Epstein told Fox News Digital. The comments come as Walz has continued to face scrutiny over his military record, with critics accusing the vice presidential candidate of “stolen valor” for seemingly misleading statements he has made about his service. Critics have claimed that language Walz has used when describing his time in service had misleadingly suggested that he served in a war zone, including one statement in which he said he would like to ban the kind of weapons he had “carried in war,” despite having never been deployed to a combat zone during his 24 years of service. MINNESOTA MURDER STATS ROSE UNDER WALZ’S LEADERSHIP AS HE TRIES TO TIE VIOLENT CRIME TREND TO TRUMP: DATA In response to the controversy, the Harris campaign said Walz “misspoke” when making the infamous “carried in war” remarks. “In making the case for why weapons of war should never be on our streets or in our classrooms, the Governor misspoke,” campaign spokesperson Lauren Hitt told the media. “He did handle weapons of war and believes strongly that only military members trained to carry those deadly weapons should have access to them, unlike Donald Trump and JD Vance who prioritize the gun lobby over our children.” But the “carried in war” remarks were not the only quotes to raise eyebrows, with critics accusing Walz of being misleading when he boasted of deploying “in support” of Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF), a deployment that was actually to Italy and not to Afghanistan. In another instance, Walz harkened back to his experience in the National Guard during a speech on the 20th anniversary of 9/11 before claiming to have “stood one night in the dark of night at Bagram Air Base” and watched the transfer ceremony of a soldier’s body. While Walz did go to Afghanistan while serving in Congress, he did not deploy to Afghanistan as part of his military duties. Some former members of Walz’s unit, meanwhile, have accused the Minnesota governor of abandoning his troops and retiring to get out of a planned deployment to Iraq. MINNESOTA DEM LAWMAKER DEFENDS WALZ AGAINST ‘RADICAL’ LABEL FROM GOP: ‘COULDN’T DISAGREE MORE’ “When the nation called, he quit. He failed to complete the United States Army Sergeants Major Academy. He failed to serve for two years following completion of the academy, which he dropped out of. He failed to serve two years after the conditional promotion to Command Sergeant Major. He failed to fulfill the full six years of the enlistment he signed on September 18th, 2001. He failed his country. He failed his state. He failed the Minnesota Army National Guard, the 1-125th Field Artillery Battalion, and his fellow Soldiers. And he failed to lead by example. Shameful,” read an open letter penned by two former members of Walz’s unit ahead of his run for governor in 2018 that resurfaced again this year. Walz has also faced claims of being misleading about his rank, at various points saying he retired as a command sergeant major, a rank he obtained and served with but did not retire as due to his decision not to complete the required coursework to keep the rank. The claim that Walz is a “retired command sergeant major” was also featured on the Harris campaign website, which was later changed to state that he “served” as a command sergeant major. Such an oversight is one example of where the campaign failed, Republican strategist David Polyansky told Fox News Digital, noting that a campaign would typically catch such “vulnerabilities.” “I assume part of this is just the abbreviated nature of it,” Polyansky said, referring to the quick timeline between Harris being elevated to the top of the ticket and choosing a running mate. “But the fact of the matter is it’s one of two things, either in their vetting, in their interviews with him, failed to catch some of those potential vulnerabilities, or they knew it and just failed to adequately prepare for the messaging offensive that was about to come.” TIM WALZ HAS TIES TO MUSLIM CLERIC WITH ANTISEMITIC VIEWS, GAVE STATE FUNDING TO HIS GROUP: REPORT “Either way… it put them in a tough position on his rollout, put them on the defensive on a vice presidential pick that should have given them an immediate boost,” Polyansky added. Whether Walz’s military record continues to haunt the Harris campaign will largely be up to former President Trump’s running mate, Ohio Sen. JD Vance, another military veteran who did serve in Iraq and is “comfortable” with his service record, Polyansky said. “You’re going to see [Walz] have to go up on stage and debate against a guy who is pretty comfortable and confident in his military record,” Polyansky said. “I don’t think that’s going to be the final decision-making point for most voters… but the attention it will get in terms of grabbing earned media can cast a little bit of a negative light on Kamala Harris’ decision-making.” While Epstein agrees that Democrats mistakenly overlooked the potential controversy on Walz’s record, he argued that Republicans would be better off avoiding a “tit-for-tat” campaign and focusing instead on Harris’ record. “More than anything else, Democrats want to memory-hole the Biden/Harris record of the last four years,” Epstein said. “They want to memory-hole Harris’ fringe left views from just five years ago.” The Harris campaign did not immediately respond to a Fox News Digital request for comment. Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more at our Fox News Digital election hub.
Anti-Israel protesters handed legal setback in effort to expand DNC rally
Pro-Palestinian demonstrators planning large protests in Chicago at next week’s Democratic National Convention are facing a legal setback. A federal judge ruled against a demand by the demonstrators for a larger protest route that would take them closer to Chicago’s United Center arena, site of the Democratic convention from Aug. 19-22. U.S. District Judge Andrea Wood, in her ruling Monday night ahead of a Tuesday afternoon hearing, stated that the protest route provided by the city adheres to the First Amendment of the Constitution while also addressing significant security and safety concerns. Chicago is designating two public parks and a 1.1 mile parade route outside the United Center’s security zone for protesters. DEMOCRATIC HEAVYWEIGHTS TO SPEAK AT PARTY’S NATIONAL NOMINATING CONVENTION NEXT WEEK However, demonstrators protesting the Biden-Harris administration’s support for Israel in its nearly 11-months-long war with Hamas in Gaza argued they need a larger route, which would take them closer to the convention site, to accommodate the large crowds of demonstrators they are expecting next week. The Coalition to March on the D.N.C., an umbrella group of organizations on the left that is helping to organize the planned protests, said in a social media posting on Sunday that Democratic Party officials “underestimate our rage, our tenacity, and our steadfast commitment to the precious life of every Palestinian person enduring this horrific genocide. We’re fighting back.” Additionally, at a news conference in Chicago on Monday hosted by the Council on American Islamic Relations and allied groups, organizers predicted that “the streets will be flooded with thousands of peaceful protesters from all over the country to condemn the horrifying scenes that have come out of Gaza, which have all been funded and supported by our American government. The people’s voices will be clear and unified.” HARRIS HAULS IN $12 MILLION DURING SAN FRANCISCO STOP AS PELOSI WELCOMES THE VICE PRESIDENT HOME Demonstrators also suffered courtroom setbacks ahead of last month’s Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, as they pushed for closer access to the Fiserv Arena, where the confab was held. Protesters ended up making only a minor splash during the four-day convention. Democratic Party officials are hoping to avoid any type of repeat of their 1968 convention in Chicago, when scenes of fighting among delegates and clouds of tear gas and police batons used to smash protests as divided Democrats brawled over the Vietnam War. While Democrats are divided over the U.S. response to the soaring death toll among Palestinians in the Israel-Hamas war, political pundits say comparisons to the 1968 chaos are not justifiable. While there will likely be scenes of anger and dissent outside the security zone amid the expected pro-Palestinian protests, a mostly unified and now energized Democratic Party will meet inside the United Center. The biggest names in the Democratic Party will be center stage at the convention. Fox News confirmed that President Biden, former Presidents Obama and Clinton and former Secretary of State and 2016 Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton have been confirmed as speakers. The Democrats’ convention comes nearly a month after the president’s blockbuster July 21 announcement that he was suspending his re-election bid and endorsing Vice President Kamala Harris following his disastrous performance against former President Trump, the GOP presidential nominee, in their late June debate. Biden’s rambling and uneven answers at the debate fueled questions over whether the 81-year-old president had the physical and mental abilities to handle another four years in the White House and sparked a chorus of calls from within his own party to end his 2024 campaign. Democrats desperate to keep Trump from returning to the White House quickly coalesced around Harris, who last week was formally nominated by the party in a virtual roll call. Harris has enjoyed a surge in fundraising after replacing Biden three weeks ago atop the Democrats’ 2024 ticket, and her July haul was more than double the funds raised last month by Trump. Additionally, Harris saw another spike in fundraising after naming Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz as her running mate a week ago. The vice president and Walz quickly hit the campaign trail with a swing through the key battleground states of Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Michigan, Arizona and Nevada that drew large crowds at every stop. Even though both Harris and Walz have been officially nominated, convention organizers say there will be ceremonial roll calls next week in Chicago. The vice president and the Minnesota governor will both address the convention in nationally televised speeches next Wednesday and Thursday. Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more at our Fox News Digital election hub.
Close contest between Trump and Harris in this battleground state turned red: poll
A new poll suggests former President Trump holds a slim five-point advantage over Vice President Kamala Harris in the battle for Florida’s 30 electoral votes. Trump, the Republican presidential nominee, stands at 47% support among likely voters in Florida in a USA Today/Suffolk University/WSVN-TV survey released on Tuesday, with Harris, the Democratic Party’s nominee, at 42%. The survey, of 500 likely Sunshine State voters, indicates Democrat turned independent Robert F. Kennedy at 5%, Libertarian Party nominee Chase Oliver at 1%, and Green Party candidate Jill Stein and independent Cornel West registering at less than 1%. HEAD HERE FOR THE LATEST FOX NEWS POLLING IN THE 2024 ELECTION Florida was once the largest of the battleground states in presidential elections. Former President Obama narrowly carried the state in his 2008 and 2012 White House victories, and Trump edged out Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton to win the state in 2016. WHAT THE LATEST POLLS IN THREE KEY BATTLEGROUND STATES SHOW IN THE HARRIS-TRUMP SHOWDOWN But four years ago, in his 2020 re-election defeat, Trump won Florida by 3.3 points over President Biden, which was the biggest winning margin in the state in a presidential contest in 16 years. And in the 2022 midterms, conservatives surged at the state level, with Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis winning re-election by 19 points and GOP Sen. Marco Rubio securing a third term in the Senate by more than 16 points. “While not exactly a flashing red warning light for Trump, the survey is a caution sign for anyone who thinks the race is sure to be a blowout in Florida,” Suffolk University Research Center director David Paleologos said. New voter registration numbers released Monday in Florida indicate Republicans with a one million person advantage over the Democrats. That marks a vast turnaround from four years ago, when Democrats held a slight edge in voter registration. “Given those circumstances, I was surprised that Harris is within striking distance being only five points down,” Paleologos added. HARRIS HAULS IN $12 MILLION DURING SAN FRANCISCO STOP AS PELOSI WELCOMES THE VICE PRESIDENT HOME A Fox News poll conducted in June, when President Biden was still at the top of the Democrats’ 2024 ticket, indicated Trump with a four-point 50%-46% advantage in Florida. But Trump’s polling margins over Biden expanded after the president’s disastrous debate performance against his GOP challenger in late June. Biden’s rambling and uneven answers at the debate fueled questions over whether the 81-year-old president had the physical and mental abilities to handle another four years in the White House and sparked a chorus of calls from within his own party to end his 2024 campaign. Democrats quickly coalesced around Harris after Biden’s blockbuster announcement three and a half weeks ago that he was ending his re-election campaign and endorsing his vice president to succeed him at the top of the party’s ticket. Harris has enjoyed a bump in the polls and a surge in fundraising since taking over as the party’s 2024 standard-bearer. The new poll indicates Harris matching Trump for voter enthusiasm in Florida, with 89% of each group saying they are very or somewhat excited to vote for the candidate they’re supporting. Enthusiasm among Biden voters in Florida stood at just 60% in a USA Today/Suffolk poll from June. The new survey was conducted Aug. 7-11, with a sampling error of plus or minus 4.4 percentage points. Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more at our Fox News Digital election hub.