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Sen. John Barrasso calls Secret Service conference call a ‘100% cover-your-a–‘ briefing

Sen. John Barrasso calls Secret Service conference call a ‘100% cover-your-a–‘ briefing

Senate lawmakers were left with more questions than answers on Wednesday following a conference call with the U.S. Secret Service on the attempted assassination of former President Trump, with one senator calling it “100% cover-your-a– briefing.” The Secret Service privately briefed the senators as questions still remain about how the gunman who shot Trump was able to get on a roof roughly 200 yards from where he was speaking to supporters.  Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo., said the meeting was a “100% cover-your-a– briefing” as the Secret Service and its director, Kimberly Cheatle, continue to come under scrutiny. His office said “no one has taken responsibility” despite the gunman having been “identified as being suspicious one hour before the shooting.” BIDEN CALLS TO ‘LOWER THE TEMPERATURE’ THEN BASHES TRUMP IN NAACP SPEECH “He had a rangefinder and a backpack. The Secret Service lost sight of him. No one has taken responsibility. No one has been held responsible. Someone has died. The president was almost killed. The head of the Secret Service needs to go,” Barrasso said, referring to Cheatle.  Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., said she was “appalled” after learning the Secret Service knew about a threat prior to Trump walking on stage in Butler, Pennsylvania.  “I have no confidence in the leadership of Director Cheatle and believe it is in the best interest of our nation if she steps down from her position,” she wrote on X after Wednesday’s briefing. COMER SUBPOENAS SECRET SERVICE DIRECTOR TO TESTIFY IN PROBE OF TRUMP ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said the country deserves answers and accountability, while calling for Cheatle to step down.  Meanwhile, more than two dozen Texas lawmakers are calling for the House Oversight Committee to look into “political rhetoric” used against Trump prior to the shooting. Republican State Rep. Ellen Troxclair spearheaded a letter to the committee and Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., on Wednesday, requesting they also look into “grotesque depictions of President Trump and the tens of millions of fellow Americans that support him as ‘enemies’ or ‘threats to democracy’ ahead of the assassination attempt.” “Americans deserve answers,” the lawmakers wrote, first thanking the committee for opening an investigation into the deadly incident. “At minimum, we need to understand how the attempted assassination was able to occur and what will be done to ensure it does not happen again.” On Monday, Cheatle said the Secret Service would cooperate with an independent review announced by President Biden. “The Secret Service is working with all involved federal, state and local agencies to understand what happened, how it happened, and how we can prevent an incident like this from ever taking place again. We understand the importance of the independent review announced by President Biden yesterday and will participate fully,” she said.

Biding Time: Trump assassination attempt overshadows calls for Biden to step aside

Biding Time: Trump assassination attempt overshadows calls for Biden to step aside

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., had just completed a quasi-clandestine meeting with President Biden at Rehoboth Beach, Del., late Saturday afternoon. An alarming number of House and Senate Democrats were growing increasingly uneasy with Mr. Biden as the prospective Democratic standard-bearer this fall. No one knew that Schumer made the pilgrimage to Rehoboth to huddle with the president – and have a frank conversation about what Democratic senators felt about him staying in the race. The number of Democrats who wanted him out likely increased after Biden lieutenants met with Democratic senators on Capitol Hill Thursday afternoon. HOW DEMOCRATIC CONCERN ABOUT BIDEN WENT QUIET FOR A FEW DAYS Schumer’s meeting with President Biden wasn’t entirely a surprise. After all, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., met with the president on Thursday night. Both men served as emissaries from their respective caucuses, carrying messages of concern from rank-and-file members about Mr. Biden forging ahead with his campaign. The announcement that Schumer huddled with the president hit reporter in-boxes at 6:05 pm ET Saturday. The message offered no details or specifics. But it didn’t need to. Just the fact that Schumer made a sojourn to communicate those messages from fellow Democrats to the President of the United States spoke volumes. “I sat with President Biden this afternoon in Delaware; we had a good meeting,” read a statement from Schumer. Such news would have rattled the political landscape. But not on this Saturday night. A gunman nearly assassinated former President Trump at 6:11 pm et, just five minutes after the Schumer statement. Any conversation about President Biden and schisms inside the Democratic Party would wait. The shooting bought Mr. Biden more time. Keep in mind that the debate where the president’s performance so rattled Democrats came on June 27. The shooting allowed President Biden to continue to hold the ball and drain the clock. The political world was agog Saturday, watching to see if more Democrats would demand President Biden step aside. Mr. Biden conducted two conference calls Saturday afternoon. One with the House Progressive Caucus. The other with the House “New Dems” Coalition. At that point, 19 Democrats had called on the president to stand down in his re-election bid. 13 were members of the New Dems. Fox is told that the call did little to buoy the confidence of skittish members. One source forecast that the number of Democrats calling for the president to bow out of the race may have spiked to 50 later that night or Sunday morning. CONGRESSIONAL BYPASS: MANY DEMOCRATS ELUSIVE ON BIDEN ISSUE As we have written in this space before, late British Prime Minister Harold MacMillan opined that “events” were the most important factors in politics. Well, there was a seismic political event over the weekend. And that immediately arrested any effort by Democrats to potentially bounce the president from the race. The inertia to sideline Mr. Biden which built for weeks suddenly froze. And it helped President Biden stay put. “He’s dug in,” said one senior House Democrat to Fox of the president. “We can’t have this circular firing squad.” In fact, the “event” of the Trump shooting highlighted the recent fractures in the party over Mr. Biden – while it actually brought Republicans closer together. One senior House Democratic source told Fox that in recent years, “unity” was the Democrats’ calling card. But the president’s poor debate in late June challenged that alliance. “That armor has been exposed,” said one senior House Democratic aide. “And now Republicans are using their unity against us.” That’s why Democrats are freaking out. Again. Fox is told that Democrats know that the former President Trump’s survival and iconic photo after the shooting bolstered his standing with voters. Democrats were already down on their chances after the debate. Now they are even more worried. Especially as it pertains to House and Senate contests in battleground districts and states. TRUMP ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT: ‘UTTER CHAOS’ A NEWSROOM TALE AS OLD AS TIME So conversations are again intensifying about President Biden’s political viability. It started with a letter from some Congressional Democrats asking the DNC to delay the virtual roll call on August 7. Schumer and Jeffries also spoke. They requested the DNC move back the nomination. For Democrats, it’s probably a good thing that a week of the Republican convention in Milwaukee is shrouding the Democratic disarray. Most of the news cycle is dominated by the investigation into the shooting, the introduction of Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, as former President Trump’s running mate. Even discussion about Project 2025 is probably good cover for the Democrats right now. That’s because the internal schisms are real. And the party isn’t much further along from extracting President Biden from the ticket than it was a few weeks ago. As Harold MacMillan would say this “event” temporarily muted public calls to dump the president. But that’s all it did. It suppressed those conversations. However, the Democrats’ worry never really dissipated. Some of that shroud may even continue when Democrats return to Capitol Hill next week. That’s because everyone will train so much focus on a scheduled hearing with Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle on Monday before the House Oversight Committee. That’s to say nothing of a hearing planned by the House Homeland Security Committee on Tuesday. Even a pre-scheduled hearing with FBI Director Christopher Wray on Wednesday. House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., will likely roll out his bipartisan task force to investigate the assassination attempt. And there will be all sorts of reactions from lawmakers as other details dribble out. Keep in mind this is the first time Congress has been back in Washington since the shooting. Don’t forget that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addresses a Joint Meeting of Congress on Wednesday. Surely the controversy over that won’t garner any attention. Perhaps all the other “events” help Democrats who want to remove President Biden from the ticket. Any such operation is messy at best. All the other things might shroud such

Former Trump adviser Peter Navarro, hours after release from prison, appears at RNC: ‘I am your wake-up call’

Former Trump adviser Peter Navarro, hours after release from prison, appears at RNC: ‘I am your wake-up call’

Former Donald Trump adviser Peter Navarro took the stage on day three of the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where he was greeted by a roaring crowd of Republicans and declared Democrats will “never break” Trump. Navarro, who walked on stage to chants of “FIGHT, FIGHT, FIGHT,” was released from a Miami prison Wednesday — hours before he spoke at the convention. “Yes, indeed. This morning, I did walk out of a federal prison in Miami. Joe Biden and his department of injustice put me there. Tonight, I’m here with you in this beautiful city of Milwaukee. I got a very simple message for you: If they can come for me, if they can come for Donald Trump, be careful. They will come for you,” he told the crowd. Navarro, 75, was convicted after being found in contempt of Congress and was sentenced to four months in a federal prison in Miami in March. TRUMP EX-ADVISER PETER NAVARRO TO SPEAK AT RNC HOURS AFTER RELEASE FROM PRISON During his speech at the convention, Navarro urged support for Trump and warned that if he doesn’t take back the White House this fall, then “their government” will “control us.” “If we don’t control our government, their government will control us. If we don’t control all three branches of our government — legislative, executive and judicial — their government will put some of us, like me and Steve Bannon, in prison,” he said. Reflecting on the differences between the presidencies of Trump and President Biden, Navarro said it’s now the “tale of two Americas” for voters who will take part in this November’s election. “This is a tale of two Americas, and you know it wasn’t this way when Donald Trump was president. I remember the days. I was there. In Trump’s America, you were safe, and our borders were secure. In Trump’s America, you were more prosperous, and you didn’t have to choose between… food on the table, medicine in the cabinet and a roof over your head. And in Trump’s America, you didn’t have to worry about being locked up for disagreeing with the government,” Navarro told the Republicans. “I went to prison so you won’t have to. I am your wake-up call,” he added. Navarro also outlined how he ended up in prison, saying Democrats demanded that he “betray” Trump to prevent himself from being sent to prison. “Here’s how I got in prison. The legislative branch came for me first. Your favorite Democrat, Nancy Pelosi, created your favorite committee, the sham Jan. 6 committee, which demanded that I violate executive privilege. What did I do? I refused,” he said. VANCE SAYS HIS MISSION AT GOP CONVENTION SPEECH IS ‘TO FIRE UP THE CROWD TONIGHT’ “The [Jan. 6] committee demanded that I betray Donald John Trump to save my own skin. I refused,” he added. “They demanded that I break the law because they have no respect for it. I refused, and a Democrat majority in the House then voted to hold me in contempt. … Jack Smith indicted and prosecuted me for criminal contempt of Congress. Now, here’s what’s weird about it. It’s something that Democrat prosecutors refuse to do against one of their own, including two guys with blood on their hands, Eric Holder and Alejandro Mayorkas.” Navarro, who served as Trump’s trade adviser, was the second Trump aide convicted of a misdemeanor contempt of Congress charge. Former White House adviser Steve Bannon previously received a four-month sentence but was allowed to stay free pending appeal by U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols, who was appointed by Trump. “They convicted me. They jailed me. Guess what? They did not break me. And they will never break Donald Trump,” Navarro said Wednesday. Navarro said he could not cooperate with the committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack because Trump had invoked executive privilege, an argument that lower courts have rejected. “When I received that congressional subpoena, the second, I had an honest belief that the privilege had been invoked, and I was torn. Nobody in my position should be put in conflict between the legislative branch and the executive branch. Is that the lesson of this entire proceeding? Get a letter and a lawyer? I think in a way it is,” Navarro said in January. CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP “I am disappointed with a process where a jury convicted me, and I was unable to provide a defense, one of the most important elements of our justice system,” he said. Fox News Digital’s Anders Hagstrom and Brianna Herlihy contributed to this report.

Schumer ‘forcefully’ told Biden he should drop his re-election bid: Report

Schumer ‘forcefully’ told Biden he should drop his re-election bid: Report

Top Senate Democrat Chuck Schumer reportedly told President Biden in a “blunt one-on-one conversation” Saturday it would be best if he “bowed out of the race,” according to an ABC report on X. “Chuck Schumer had a blunt one-on-one conversation with Biden Saturday afternoon in Rehoboth. Schumer forcefully made the case that it would be best if Biden bowed out of the race,”  ABC News chief Washington correspondent Jonathan Karl wrote. “Schumer’s office wouldn’t comment on the specifics of the conversation, telling me only, ‘Leader Schumer conveyed the views of his caucus.’” The Senate majority leader’s office issued a similar response obtained by Fox News Digital on Wednesday, but waved off ABC’s report. ADAM SCHIFF CALLS ON BIDEN TO EXIT PRESIDENTIAL RACE AS DEM CONFIDENCE DWINDLES “Unless ABC’s source is Senator Chuck Schumer or President Joe Biden the reporting is idle speculation,” a spokesperson for Sen. Schumer said. “Leader Schumer conveyed the views of his caucus directly to President Biden on Saturday.” The news comes as the New York Democrat pushed for the Democratic National Convention’s delay as questions persist about President Biden’s 2024 candidacy due to concerns over his mental acuity, according to multiple sources. White House spokesperson Andrew Bates told Fox News Digital in a statement after publication that Biden “told both leaders he is the nominee of the party, he plans to win, and looks forward to working with both of them to pass his 100 days agenda to help working families.” Schumer spoke with House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., and both men agreed to urge the DNC to delay a virtual roll call planned for this month to officially nominate Biden, three sources told Fox News Digital. BIDEN TESTS POSITIVE FOR COVID, WILL SELF-ISOLATE IN DELAWARE, WHITE HOUSE SAYS It was revealed Wednesday that the DNC was delaying its nomination plans to August after significant pushback from party members toward an initial plan to nominate Biden later this month. “We have confirmed with the Democratic National Committee and the Democratic National Convention that no virtual voting will begin before August 1,” wrote DNC Rules Committee co-chairs Gov. Tim Walz, D-Minn., and veteran Democratic Party official Leah Daughtry in a letter obtained by Fox News Digital.  Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., became the 20th congressional Democrat to call on Biden to step aside on Wednesday. “I believe it is time for him to pass the torch,” Schiff said in a statement to Fox News Digital.  IMMIGRATION HAWKS DELIGHTED AT TRUMP PICK JD VANCE: ‘ONE HELL OF A CO-PILOT’  His call came one day after a report claimed he told donors “I think if he is our nominee, I think we lose.” President Biden has become more receptive to leaving the race, moving from arguing that Vice President Kamala Harris can’t win to asking advisers if the vice president can win, according to a report from CNN. Meanwhile, White House spokesperson Karine Jean-Pierre confirmed Wednesday evening that Biden had contracted COVID-19. The COVID diagnosis follows remarks from a day earlier in which Biden said a medical condition could lead to him dropping out of the race. “If I had some medical condition that emerged, if somebody, the doctors came and said you’ve got this problem, that problem,” Biden told BET’s Ed Gordon . “But I made a serious mistake in the whole debate and, look, when I originally ran, you might remember it, I said I was gonna be a transitional candidate. I thought that I would be able to move from this, to pass it on to somebody else. But I didn’t anticipate things getting so, so, so divided.” Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more at our Fox News Digital election hub Fox News Digital’s Paul Steinhauser, Adam Shaw and Julia Johnson contributed to this report.

Vance’s ‘America First’ foreign policy in spotlight ahead of highly anticipated RNC speech

Vance’s ‘America First’ foreign policy in spotlight ahead of highly anticipated RNC speech

MILWAUKEE — Republican vice presidential nominee JD Vance’s “America First” foreign policy positions are taking the spotlight as he prepares to deliver his first major prime time speech at the Republican National Convention on Wednesday night. Vance was announced as former President Trump’s running mate on Monday, and since, numerous politicians and media outlets, especially foreign ones, have begun sounding the alarm over what they describe as his “isolationist” policies, warning a Trump-Vance presidency might go so far as to abandon Ukraine amid its war with Russia. “Trump’s choice of running mate raises fears in Ukraine and EU,” one BBC headline read, with the piece going on to cite a German politician saying Vance is “more isolationist” and “unpredictable” than Trump. VANCE SAYS HIS MISSION AT GOP CONVENTION SPEECH IS ‘TO FIRE UP THE CROWD TONIGHT’ The Washington Post wrote that Trump picked “a like-minded isolationist on foreign policy,” and Politico wrote that Vance “spells ‘disaster’ for Europe and Ukraine.” CNN’s Van Jones described Vance as “a horror on the world stage,” warning “Ukrainians are now in deep trouble.” When Vance talks about his “America First” foreign policy beliefs, the focus often involves Ukraine as well as Israel and China. KATIE BRITT TAKES SWIPE AT KAMALA HARRIS AMID DEBATE TALK: VANCE WILL ‘RUN CIRCLES’ AROUND HER He has been a vocal critic of the various foreign aid packages, which included assistance for Ukraine: “The problem in Ukraine … is that there’s no clear end point,” he remarked on one occasion. “The United States has sent tens of billions worth of military aid to Ukraine with shockingly little accountability for where those resources have gone,” he said in another instance. Vance has largely made support for Israel amid its war with Hamas an exception to his opposition to foreign aid, and he has argued against “micromanaging” their military operations. He’s also called for rooting out Hamas as a military organization and that the world should “empower” Israel to do it. VP FINALIST MARCO RUBIO ARRIVES AT RNC WITH PRAISE FOR TRUMP FOLLOWING SELECTION OF JD VANCE AS RUNNING MATE Vance’s opposition to foreign aid is driven largely by his view that it’s a distraction from China, which he describes as the “biggest threat” currently facing the U.S. The first-term Ohio senator’s speech is expected to fall fully in line with the night’s “Make America Strong Once Again” theme, and it will, according to one source in his political orbit, be focused “heavily on his bio and incredible life story and how that ties into the America First agenda.” CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP His speech will also “connect his life experiences to the Trump policies, folding in his firsthand experience of a tough upbringing that shaped his views on a lot of the biggest issues he is passionate about,” which include “trade, immigration, ending endless wars, fentanyl and drugs, and how inflation hurts the poor the most,” another source told Fox. Fox News’ Julia Johnson contributed to this report. Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more at our Fox News Digital election hub.

House GOP leaders demand accountability on Trump assassination attempt: ‘So many questions’

House GOP leaders demand accountability on Trump assassination attempt: ‘So many questions’

House Republican leaders are calling for accountability after the failed assassination attempt against former President Trump on Saturday. “I think there are so many questions that need to be answered, and I don’t know who is to blame. I don’t know what the breakdowns are, I clearly know there were breakdowns. But let’s find out who’s responsible and then people need to be held accountable,” House Majority Whip Tom Emmer, R-Minn., told Fox News Digital. National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) Chair Richard Hudson, R-N.C., said the shooting was likely the result of a “major security breakdown.” “One of my initial reactions as I was watching this unfold on television was anger – how could this happen? How can a person with a gun get to a rooftop that overlooks the stage that close to the former president?” Hudson told Fox News Digital. TRUMP SHOOTER THOMAS MATTHEW CROOKS’ PARENTS REGISTERED PENNSYLVANIA PROFESSIONAL COUNSELORS: RECORDS “I’m no security expert…but I do have some familiarity with rifles and scopes. And that was a very close distance. And the fact that rooftop was available for that shooter, I just can’t understand. So you know, I want to hear what happened.” A 20-year-old gunman opened fire on Trump’s rally in Butler, Pennsylvania from a nearby roof over the weekend, killing one attendee and critically injuring two others. Trump was shot in the ear before he ducked behind the podium and pulled off the stage by his Secret Service detail. But the situation has led to lawmakers questioning how the gunman could get so close to a heavily secured area, despite people seeing him climb up onto the building he fired from. There were also heavily armed police inside that building, according to reports. DISCORD REVEALS DETAILS OF WOULD-BE TRUMP ASSASSIN’S ACCOUNT ON PLATFORM Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., and House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., both called on Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle to resign. Emmer and Hudson would not go that far, telling Fox News Digital on the sidelines of the Republican National Convention (RNC) that they wanted to see what details could be uncovered before making their judgment. FBI Director Christopher Wray held member-wide briefings with both the House and Senate on Wednesday to discuss lawmakers’ questions and concerns. TRUMP RALLY SHOOTING: HEART-STOPPING FOOTAGE SHOWS AUDIENCE MEMBERS NOTICING GUNMAN BEFORE SHOTS FIRED A source familiar with the House’s call said it lasted roughly 45 minutes, and that lawmakers found Wray and Cheatle’s answers unsatisfying.  The source said Johnson would set up a classified briefing for lawmakers next week when the House is back in session. Fox News Digital reached out to the FBI and Secret Service for comment but not hear back by time of publication.