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Here’s where the vice presidential candidates stand on top issues

Here’s where the vice presidential candidates stand on top issues

The 2024 vice presidential candidates have starkly contrasting views on issues key to voters this election cycle. Former President Donald Trump tapped Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, to join him on the Republican ticket, while Gov. Tim Walz, D-Minn., was selected as Vice President Kamala Harris’ running mate. Walz and Vance share views and policy points that almost mirror those of their running mates, but the two are far apart on major issues affecting most Americans.  Here is where the two dueling candidates stand on top issues. HARRIS VP PICK TIM WALZ’S TOP FIVE ‘WEIRD’ MOMENTS IN THE SPOTLIGHT Walz has long supported a pathway to citizenship for illegal immigrants and has worked to pass legislation allowing them to have more rights in the U.S. Walz appeared to voice support for “sanctuary policies” in 2018, and in 2023 he signed legislation to allow illegal immigrants to obtain state drivers’ licenses. During his tenure as governor, Minnesota passed measures to make illegal immigrants eligible for tuition-free college under the North Star Promise program. Vance supports securing the southern border through resuming construction of the Trump-era border wall. The senator has frequently criticized the Biden administration’s handling of the crisis at the southern border.  “It’s hard to believe, until you see it with your own eyes, just how bad the policies of the Kamala Harris administration have been when it comes to the southern border,” Vance said during a recent visit to the border. In 2021, before joining the Senate, Vance wrote on X, formerly Twitter, that abortion is “the first political issue I can ever remember caring about.” Asked about the issue of abortion during his Senate debate in 2022, Vance said that he supports “some minimum national standard.” He recently told “Meet the Press” that he supports the abortion pill mifepristone “being accessible,” after the Supreme Court ruled against pro-life advocates who sued to end its Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval.  Walz signed the Protect Reproductive Options Act into law in 2023, a bill that codified abortion into the Minnesota state Constitution. The governor has also made efforts to establish protections for people traveling from out of state for an abortion. During his first campaign rally with Harris, Walz emphasized his backing of in-vitro fertilization treatments (IVF), which he said his wife used before her pregnancy. HARRIS CAMPAIGN WALKS BACK WALZ BIO AMID ‘STOLEN VALOR’ CONTROVERSY AS QUESTIONS SWIRL Before joining forces on the 2024 ticket, Harris and Walz visited an abortion clinic together in March. Walz has said that he is a gun owner, but also supports imposing more restrictions on firearms, including enacting an AR-15 ban. The governor signed a bill requiring more extensive background checks and a “red flag” law for gun purchases. Vance, a firearm owner, is a strong 2nd Amendment supporter and frequently pushes back against the Biden administration’s stance on the issue.  After being selected to run with Trump, Vance’s candidacy was praised by the National Rifle Association of America (NRA). Vance has vocalized his support for Israel and continued U.S. funding to the IDF. “As we watch this horrible situation in Israel unfold, Americans must face a stark truth: our tax dollars funded this. Money is fungible, and many of the dollars we sent to Iran are being used to now kill innocent people,” Vance said in an Oct. 7 post on X. “This must stop. Israel has every right to defend itself. I wish our friends well, but most of all, I wish they weren’t fighting against weapons bought with our money.” Walz has also expressed support for Israel and its right to exist, while also sympathizing with those in Gaza. “You can hold competing things: That Israel has the right to defend itself, and the atrocities of October 7 are unacceptable, but Palestinian civilians being caught in this . . . has got to end,” Walz said during an appearance on Minnesota Public Radio in March, according to a report from Al Jazeera. Last year, Walz signed a bill that required schools to provide free menstrual products to students in grades 4 through 12, including in boys’ bathrooms.  Minnesota became a “trans refuge state” after Walz signed an order allowing people, including children, from out of state to receive transgender surgical procedures and hormone prescriptions. Walz also signed a controversial bill into law that prevents books, which may include explicit material, from being removed from public schools. Vance introduced the Protect Children’s Innocence Act in 2023 that sought to make it a felony to perform any gender reassignment surgery on a minor.  The senator is also vocal that “there are only two genders,” introducing legislation to require that passports reflect a person’s biological sex rather than their gender identity. Fox News’ Adam Shaw, Jamie Joseph, and Michael Lee contributed to this report.

Trump legal cases in limbo after SCOTUS immunity ruling, freeing up schedule to campaign

Trump legal cases in limbo after SCOTUS immunity ruling, freeing up schedule to campaign

Former President Trump has had a number of legal victories in recent weeks, putting a pause on a majority of cases and delaying others that could have complicated his campaigning during the general election season.  The Supreme Court ruled in Trump v. United States last month that a former president has substantial immunity from prosecution for official acts in office but not for unofficial acts. The high court left it to the lower court to determine exactly where the line between official and unofficial is. “The President therefore may not be prosecuted for exercising his core constitutional powers, and he is entitled, at a minimum, to a presumptive immunity from prosecution for all his official acts,” the majority opinion written by Chief Justice John Roberts states. “That immunity applies equally to all occupants of the Oval Office, regardless of politics, policy, or party.” The question of presidential immunity stemmed from Special Counsel Jack Smith’s Jan. 6 case against Trump. Trump pleaded not guilty to those charges. That trial was put on hold in a lower court pending the Supreme Court’s ruling, which wiped out any charges related to official presidential acts. That case has been returned to the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. Smith requested a delay to amend and prepare his argument in the case, following the Supreme Court ruling. Judge Tanya Chutkan granted Smith’s request. A joint status report is now due Aug. 30 and a status conference is now set for Sept. 5.  TRUMP IMMUNITY CASE: SUPREME COURT RULES EX-PRESIDENTS HAVE SUBSTANTIAL PROTECTION FROM PROSECUTION The Supreme Court’s ruling then prompted Trump’s lawyers to request that the former president’s sentencing be delayed in New York v. Trump. He was found guilty on all counts of falsifying business records in the first degree after an unprecedented criminal trial stemming from Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s investigation.  TRUMP TOUTS SUPREME COURT’S PRESIDENTIAL IMMUNITY RULING AS ‘BIG WIN FOR OUR CONSTITUTION AND FOR DEMOCRACY’ The sentencing was originally scheduled for July 11, before the Republican National Convention, where Trump was set to be formally nominated as the GOP presidential nominee. Judge Juan Merchan agreed to delay and said a hearing on the matter would take place Sept. 18.  But days later, Trump’s lawyers asked Merchan to overturn the former president’s guilty verdict in New York v. Trump. Trump attorneys cited the Supreme Court ruling, saying the court should “dismiss the indictment and vacate the jury’s verdict based on violations of the Presidential immunity doctrine and the Supremacy Clause.” In the formal motion, Trump lawyer Todd Blanche pointed to the Supreme Court’s immunity decision and argued certain evidence of “official acts” should not have been admitted during the trial. TRUMP REQUESTS NY JUDGE OVERTURN GUILTY VERDICT, INDICTMENT AFTER SCOTUS IMMUNITY RULING Specifically, Blanche argued that testimony from former White House officials and employees was inappropriately admitted during trial.  Blanche argued Bragg “violated the Presidential immunity doctrine by using similar official-acts evidence in the grand jury proceedings that gave rise to the politically motivated charges in this case.”  A ruling on the motion is pending.  JUDGE DISMISSES TRUMP’S FLORIDA CLASSIFIED DOCUMENTS CASE Days later, U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon dismissed Smith’s classified records case against Trump.  Trump had faced charges related to alleged improper retention of classified records at Mar-a-Lago. 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.  But Cannon dismissed the case altogether, ruling Smith was unlawfully appointed and funded, citing the appointments clause in the Constitution.  The appointments clause states, “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. He is appealing the ruling.  TRUMP APPEALS $454M NY CIVIL FRAUD JUDGMENT Meanwhile, in Fulton County, Georgia, District Attorney Fani Willis had charged Trump with crimes related to alleged 2020 election interference. Trump pleaded not guilty to all counts.  The judge in that case dismissed six of the charges against Trump, saying Willis failed to allege sufficient detail.  The case also was thrown into limbo when it was revealed Willis reportedly had an “improper affair” with Nathan Wade, a prosecutor she hired to help bring the case against Trump. Wade later resigned his position. Last month, the Georgia Court of Appeals paused the proceedings until it hears the case to disqualify Willis in October, yet another major setback for Willis.  Last week, the Georgia Court of Appeals said it would hear Trump’s argument to have Willis disqualified on Dec. 5, a month after the 2024 presidential election.  Meanwhile, the Supreme Court ruling could be applied by Trump attorneys in several civil cases he has been fighting.  In the civil defamation case brought against him by columnist E. Jean Carroll, Trump was ordered to pay more than $83 million in damages after he denied allegations he raped her in the 1990s.  Carroll alleged Trump raped her at the Bergdorf Goodman department store across from Trump Tower in Manhattan in 1996.  The jury found Carroll was injured as a result of statements Trump made while in the White House in June 2019.  Trump’s denial came while he was president during a press gaggle at the White House. Trump attorneys could say the denial came as part of an official presidential act.  His denial resulted in Carroll slapping Trump with a defamation suit, claiming his response caused harm to her reputation.  Trump is also appealing the civil fraud ruling that demanded he pay more than $450 million after a lawsuit brought against him by New York Attorney General Letitia James. Trump’s legal team this week filed paperwork with a mid-level appeals court, calling the ruling “unconstitutional.”

Harris hauls in $12 million at San Francisco fundraiser as Pelosi welcomes vice president home

Harris hauls in million at San Francisco fundraiser as Pelosi welcomes vice president home

Vice President Kamala Harris’s homecoming in California’s San Francisco Bay Area proved very lucrative. The Democratic presidential nominee’s campaign says that Harris hauled in over $12 million Sunday at a fundraiser held at San Francisco’s famed Fairmont Hotel atop Nob Hill. Harris has enjoyed a surge in fundraising after replacing President Biden three weeks ago atop the Democrats’ 2024 ticket, and her July haul was more than double that of former President Trump, the GOP presidential nominee. And Harris saw another spike in fundraising after naming Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz as her running mate on Tuesday. WHAT THE LATEST POLLS IN THREE KEY BATTLEGROUND STATES SHOW IN THE HARRIS-TRUMP SHOWDOWN 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. “The energy is undeniable,” Harris told the audience at the fundraiser, as she pointed towards her campaign swing. “The crowds are large. But even better is the fact that, like last night in Las Vegas, attendees are signing up for volunteer shifts by the thousands.” HARRIS AND WALZ TRADE FIRE WITH TRUMP AND VANCE IN BATTLEGROUND STATES FIGHT But the vice president acknowledged that in the race against Trump, “we have a lot of work to do,” and emphasized that “we can take nothing for granted in this critical moment.” Harris was introduced at the fundraiser by former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who has represented San Francisco in Congress for nearly four decades. “This is a good day, when we welcome Kamala Harris home to California,” Pelosi said. “She makes us all so proud. She brings us so much joy. She gives us so much hope.” Comments by Pelosi, who remains a key power broker in the Democratic Party, were considered crucial in persuading Biden last month to suspend his re-election bid and endorse Harris following his disastrous performance against Trump 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 bid. After Biden repeatedly insisted that he was staying in the race, Pelosi’s comments in a high profile TV interview suggesting that the president had not yet decided on whether to keep running or drop out served as a signal for other Democrats to call on Biden to end his campaign. Pelosi, a longtime ally and friend of the president, has praised Biden’s White House achievements while also criticizing his now defunct re-election campaign. Harris was born in nearby Oakland, California and spent the first 12 years of her childhood in the Bay Area. Harris served as a prosecutor in Alameda County and later in San Francisco before winning election in 2002 as the city’s district attorney. California Gov. Gavin Newsom, a longtime Harris ally who was also a top surrogate for Biden before the president dropped his re-election bid, also appeared at Sunday’s fundraiser. Tickets for the event ranged from $3,300 to get in the door all the way up to $500,000, according to an invitation obtained by Fox News. Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more at our Fox News Digital election hub.