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EPA grants California permission to ban new gas car sales by 2035

The Biden administration has officially granted California permission to ban new gas car sales in the state by 2035.  California set a strict emissions standard that would ban new gas cars in the state by 2035, but officials needed to obtain a waiver from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in order to proceed with the mandate. The EPA announced on Wednesday that they would be approving two waivers, under the Clean Air Act, that grants California permission to phase out gas cars in the state – one of President Biden’s final acts pushing the auto industry into the green energy sector.  One waiver grants California’s near future request to mandate that 35% of new cars and light-duty trucks sales be zero emissions by 2026 and achieve 90% below current emissions by 2027. BIDEN EPA MAKES FIRST-EVER CLIMATE CHANGE ARREST The other EPA waiver allows California officials to mandate that all new car sales be zero-emission within the decade – the most strict EV mandate in the country. However, the waivers could soon be revoked by President-elect Donald Trump, who is reportedly planning to rescind both federal EV requirements and any waiver issued for California by the Biden administration. “Fresh off imposing his insane, job-killing electric vehicle mandate at the federal level, Crooked Joe Biden is preparing to slaughter the remnants of the U.S. auto-industry by approving California’s waiver request outlawing the sale of all gasoline-powered automobiles,” incoming Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told Fox News Digital during the campaign. FIVE WAYS TRUMP COULD DISMANTLE BIDEN’S CLIMATE AGENDA EPA Administrator Michael Regan said that the waivers will “protect its [California] residents from dangerous air pollution coming from mobile sources like cars and trucks.” However, American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers CEO and President Chet Thompson described the mandate as “unlawful.” “Contrary to claims on the campaign trail that they would never tell Americans what kinds of cars we have to drive, the Biden-Harris EPA just did exactly that by greenlighting California’s ban on sales of all new gas and traditional hybrid vehicles,” Thompson said in a statement. “These policies will harm consumers—millions of whom don’t even live in California—by taking away their ability to buy new gas cars in their home states and raising vehicle and transportation costs.”

Massie drops colorful analogy opposing foreign aid, mocks Speaker Johnson with AI-generated image

Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., has compared America’s practice of doling out aid to foreign countries to a preposterous hypothetical scenario in which an individual waters their neighbor’s yard while their own house burns.  “US foreign aid spending is like watering the neighbor’s yard while your house is on fire,” he tweeted. The congressman followed up his initial comment by sharing an AI-generated image of House Speaker Mike Johnson holding a hose as flames emerge from a house behind him. Fox News Digital reached out to request comment from Massie and a spokesperson confirmed that the image was created using AI, specifically, Grok. Vivek Ramaswamy replied to Massie’s comment about foreign aid by noting, “It’s worse – because unlike a household, U.S. government actors are spending *other* people’s money to do it.” ELON MUSK AGREES WITH RON PAUL’S CALL TO ‘ELIMINATE FOREIGN AID’ President-elect Donald Trump tapped Ramaswamy and Elon Musk to advocate government cost-cutting via an effort dubbed the Department of Governmental Efficiency (DOGE).  But getting Republicans on board with drastic spending cuts could prove problematic.  Massie colorfully warned during a WABC radio interview, “I have Republican colleagues who’d rather run over their own mom with a car than to vote to cut spending.” In a post on X, GOP Rep. Chip Roy of Texas agreed with Massie’s take, noting, “He’s not wrong….” KEY TRUMP ALLY COMES OUT AGAINST MASSIVE EMERGENCY SPENDING PLAN: ‘THIS BILL SHOULD NOT PASS’ Conservatives have been savaging a government spending proposal released at the last-minute to avert the prospect of a looming partial government shutdown, even as some Republicans, including House Speaker Mike Johnson, speak out in favor of it. “I had hoped to see @SpeakerJohnson grow a spine, but this bill full of pork shows he is a weak, weak man. The debt will continue to grow. Ultimately the dollar will fail. Democrats are clueless and Big Gov Republicans are complicit. A sad day for America,” Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., declared in a post on X. Fox News Digital reached out to request comment from Johnson about Paul and Massie’s comments and the AI-generated image Massie shared, but a Johnson spokesperson pointed to the speaker’s interview on “Fox & Friends.” Johnson noted during the interview that the spending measure kicks the government funding issue until March when Republicans will have control of Congress and the White House, enabling the GOP to “decide spending for 2025.” The speaker also pointed to disaster relief in the measure as well as aid related to farmers. REPUBLICAN LAWMAKERS SAVAGE SPENDING BILL AS MIKE JOHNSON DEFENDS IT: ‘WE GOTTA GET THIS DONE’ “People call me ‘NostraThomas’ for accurately predicting @SpeakerJohnson would use the Christmas recess to force a massive spending bill through Congress. After claiming he would not, Johnson is embracing a D.C. tradition that’s nearly as old as decorating Christmas trees,” Massie tweeted. Earlier this year Johnson said there would not be a “Christmas omnibus.”  Pressed this week by Fox News senior congressional correspondent Chad Pergram, Johnson said the measure under consideration is “not an omnibus.”

Congress agrees to fully fund Baltimore Key Bridge rebuild in plan to avert government shutdown

Congressional leaders struck a deal to avert a government shutdown that includes a provision stating that the federal government will fully pay for the rebuilding of the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore. The provision also allows the Treasury Department to recoup at least some funds spent through insurance payments, as well as federal and state litigation related to its collapse. A container ship called the Dali struck part of the Key Bridge in the early hours of March 26. The incident sent shock waves through both domestic and global supply chains, having blocked a significant amount of shipping to and from the Port of Baltimore for more than two months. REPUBLICANS GIVE DETAILS FROM CLOSED-DOOR MEETINGS WITH DOGE’S MUSK, RAMASWAMY Maryland officials estimated the cost to rebuild the bridge to be between $1.7 billion and $1.9 billion. The new federal measure is part of a short-term government funding bill to avert a partial shutdown through March 14 to give lawmakers more time to negotiate a spending deal for the remainder of fiscal year 2025. It is also one of several seemingly unrelated policy measures included in the bill that have angered members of congressional Republicans’ rightmost flank, who said they felt largely blindsided by inclusions. DANIEL PENNY TO BE TAPPED FOR CONGRESSIONAL GOLD MEDAL BY HOUSE GOP LAWMAKER Federal and state Democrats from Maryland, however, praised the Key Bridge’s inclusion in the bipartisan deal. “This has been a nine-month fight to make sure that Baltimore City and Baltimore County are made whole again. And now, we are able to secure the full funding of the Francis Scott Key Bridge rebuild which the Congress will vote on in the next 48 hours – this means so much to all of us throughout the state,” Rep. Kewisi Mfume, D-Md., said in a statement. Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., who also praised the provision and criticized House Republicans for objecting to it on Monday, before the final deal was struck. “House Republicans have not signed off on 100% funding for the Key Bridge. The Senate has signed off on that. But we have not been given a good reason why House Republicans continue to object,” Van Hollen told local outlet 11 News. “That is the state of play as we speak.” The short-term spending bill must pass the House and Senate by Friday, Dec. 20 to avoid a partial government shutdown.

‘Pattern of disregard’: Red states seek court action against Biden admin’s ‘shameful’ border wall disposal

FIRST ON FOX: A top Texas official is slamming what she says is the “downright shameful” auctioning off of border wall materials as the state asks a district court to investigate whether the Biden administration has violated a court order. “The Biden Administration’s latest attempt to block Texas and President-Elect Donald Trump’s efforts to secure the southern border is downright shameful and demonstrates a continued pattern of disregard for the safety of Texas and American families in favor of increasingly disastrous open border policies,” Texas Land Commissioner Dawn Buckingham said in a statement to Fox News Digital. Buckingham’s office, along with the states of Texas and Missouri filed a motion late Tuesday in a district court in the southern district of Texas to hold a status conference to determine if the government is in breach of the court’s permanent injunction from earlier this year. That injunction barred the administration from using funds obligated for wall construction for anything other than that purpose. The Biden administration has been auctioning off border wall parts since at least 2023 with parts listed for sale on auction marketplaces, after it abruptly shut down most border wall construction in 2021. GOP SENATOR MOVES TO BLOCK FEDS FROM DISPOSING OF BORDER WALL MATERIALS AMID AUCTION BACKLASH  Those auctions have continued, with border officials telling Fox that auctions now occur weekly and have been for some time. But the practice made news last week when The Daily Wire published video showing parts being transported, and cited Border Patrol agents who said the goal was to clear it out before Christmas. A defense official told Fox News last week that the Pentagon has been disposing of excess wall construction in accordance with the fiscal year 2024 National Defense Authorization Act, which required the defense secretary to submit a plan to use, transfer or donate all remaining wall material purchased with Pentagon funds. That plan was submitted in March. The official said border states, including Texas, were first offered that material for purchase before auction. The official also said the materials no longer belong to the U.S. government, adding the Defense Department has no legal authority to recall the material or stop further resale of it. ‘STANDING BY TO HELP’: RED STATE REVEALS PLAN TO PURCHASE AUCTIONED BORDER WALL MATERIALS TO STORE FOR TRUMP “Through our reutilization, transfer and donation process, nearly 60% of those materials were transferred to authorized recipients, including U.S. Customs and Border Protection and the states of Texas and California,” the official said. “The remaining 40% was sold to GovPlanet under a competitive sales contract process beginning in June 2024. The material currently being sold through GovPlanet online auctions no longer belongs to the U.S. Government, and DOD has no legal authority to recall the material or stop further resale of material it no longer owns.” However, those statements have not stopped the outrage from Republicans, who see the auctions as a move to stop the Trump administration building the wall. Sen. Bill Hagerty, R-Tenn., introduced legislation this week to stop ther practice. President-elect Trump, meanwhile, said on Monday he had been working with Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and others to acquire the materials. CLICK HERE FOR MORE COVERAGE OF THE BORDER SECURITY CRISIS “What they’re doing is really an act, it’s almost a criminal act,” he said. “They know we’re going to use it, and if we don’t have it, we’re going to have to rebuild it. And it’ll cost double what it cost years ago, and that’s hundreds of millions of dollars because you’re talking about a lot of, a lot of wall.” Paxton said in a statement that Texas is going to court to “prevent any border security materials from being unlawfully sold and to find out the truth about what the federal government may be doing to subvert border wall construction.” “President Trump has an overwhelming mandate from the American people to build the wall and I will do everything in my power to prevent any acts of sabotage by the outgoing administration,” he said. Texas has said it intends to do all it can to help the incoming administration build the wall at the southern border when it enters office. Officials said this week they intend to purchase the auctioned off materials, and Buckingham said she intends to store it on state land for the new administration. “I made a promise to use every tool at my disposal from the GLO to secure our border and protect Texans,” Buckingham said in the statement to Fox. “That is why I have offered state leaders and President-Elect Donald Trump the opportunity to store any wall panels his incoming administration may acquire on state land. I will never give up the fight to secure our porous southern border and protect our sons and daughters from violent, criminal illegal immigrants.” Fox News’ Jennifer Griffin contributed to this report.

WV Democrats say Biden’s ‘egregious’ pardon choices are ‘what we would expect from Trump’

West Virginia Democrats torched President Biden’s choices of last-minute executive clemency recipients, saying they would expect such actions from their rival, President-elect Trump. In a statement released late Monday, local party leaders said they applauded Biden for leading the U.S. “through significant economic challenges” but blasted commutations being given to people convicted of public corruption. “Public corruption is a betrayal of trust. When officials abuse the power of their office for personal gain, they not only harm the communities they are supposed to serve, but they also erode faith in our government institutions,” wrote Chairman Mike Pushkin, a state lawmaker from Kanawha County. “Even more troubling, these kinds of pardons are exactly what we would expect from President-elect Donald Trump, not President Biden.” WV LAWMAKER ARRESTED AFTER THREATENING TO KILL ENTIRE REGION’S DELEGATION OVER CAUCUS BEEF In a statement for the state party, Pushkin criticized Trump’s first-term pardons of former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, Gen. Michael Flynn, political strategist Stephen K. Bannon and ex-Rep. Rick Renzi, R-Ariz. “By following this same path, President Biden has legitimized the idea that public officials who violate their oaths of office are above the law,” Pushkin said. “Worse still, it will embolden Trump to issue even more pardons for political corruption if he returns to the White House.” Pushkin and other Democrats were particularly critical of Biden’s decision to pardon disgraced Pennsylvania Judge Michael Conahan, the key figure in the “kids-for-cash” scandal. Conahan was convicted of receiving kickbacks for sentencing young people to for-profit prisons. Delegate Hollis Lewis, D-Charleston, told Fox News Digital he, too, took issue with Biden’s decision to give Conahan clemency. “The one that got me upset was the judge who was involved in the cash-for-kids case,” he said. “Any time that you have individuals who prey on our most vulnerable population, which are children and the elderly, that’s very problematic.” DOZENS OF STATES LOBBY EPA TO DENY CALIFORNIA WAIVER FORCING OUT OF STATE TRUCKS TO COMPLY WITH MANDATE Lewis said presidents of both parties have made questionable clemency choices, adding that a pardon is an important tool that has its place. “I don’t think anybody needs to walk around with a scarlet letter of a felony for the whole lot, depending on the particular crime that they committed; if that pardon is going to allow them to move on with their lives,” he said. “But specifically when it’s crimes involving the elderly… and children or crimes with patterns of violence where the evidence is clear and there’s no reasonable doubt, then maybe we ought to think twice before we exonerate those individuals.” In its statement, the WVDP also criticized Biden’s clemency for ex-Dixon, Illinois Comptroller Rita Crundwell – punished for embezzling $54 million in the largest municipal fraud case in the country. The third case mentioned involved Jimmy Dimora, a former county commissioner in Cleveland involved in a pay-to-play scheme. CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP Fox News Digital reached out to West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin, who is now an Independent, but still caucuses with Democrats. West Virginia previously found itself in the news during presidential pardon season, when former President Bill Clinton issued his widely-rebuked pardon of then-fugitive financier Marc Rich. Rich had been accused of tax evasion and circumventing sanctions on Iran and apartheid South Africa. However, Rich also had a stake in an aluminum manufacturer on the Ohio River when it was accused of locking out 1,500 workers and hiring scabs amid allegations such a move was illegal because the plant allegedly conducted a lockout. Members of the West Virginia union reportedly picketed in Switzerland in front of Rich’s office.  Clinton’s pardons of Rich and business partner Pincus Green earned him a federal investigation initially led by New York prosecutor Mary Jo White.  When White’s tenure ended in 2002, she was replaced by a young federal prosecutor whose name would resurface in another Clinton controversy many years later: James Comey.

Johnson demands Biden admin ‘do its job’ on New Jersey drone sightings: ‘People are not buying the answers’

House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., on Wednesday rebuffed the Biden-Harris administration’s response to recent drone sightings in New Jersey, decrying how federal authorities have given no clear answers to Congress on their origin.  In a Fox News appearance, Johnson agreed that the White House, and more broadly the U.S. government, does not seem concerned about the increased sightings in New Jersey and elsewhere in the Northeast.  “Look, I’m the speaker of the House. I have the exact same frustrations that you do and all of us do. We don’t have the answers. The administration is not providing them,” Johnson said.  Johnson said he set up a meeting last week with officials from the Department of Defense, Department of Homeland Security and the FBI, and “the answers are not forthcoming.” TRUMP SAYS THE GOVERNMENT ‘KNOWS WHAT IS HAPPENING’ WITH MYSTERIOUS DRONES “They just say ‘don’t worry about it, it’s not foreign entities, there’s not a vessel offshore doing this, and they’re not collecting any data.’ OK, then what is it?” Johnson said.  “You heard Mayorkas, who no one believes, we impeached him in the House as you know, the DHS secretary, he said in an interview a couple days ago, well because they changed the regulations to allow drones to fly at night, that’s why everybody’s seeing them now. They’ve always been there. I mean, look, people are not buying the answers,” Johnson said. “We are digging in further to get the answers, and we’re demanding that the administration do its job. We gotta protect Americans, protect our intelligence, of course, and our data and everything else. We’re going to get down to the bottom of it, but we don’t have the answers yet.” Johnson referenced how Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas told ABC News on Monday that there are thousands of drones flown every day in the U.S., and that the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) in September 2023 “changed the rules so that drones could fly at night, and that may be one of the reasons why now people are seeing more drones than they did before, especially from dawn until dusk.”  Mayorkas also said it was “critical” for Congress to expand authorities for state and local agencies to counter drone activity “under federal supervision.”  Johnson reacted to President Biden telling reporters at the White House on Tuesday that there was “nothing nefarious” happening with the drones, and that so far, there has been “no sense of danger.” “This is why we need Donald J. Trump back in the White House to bring steady hands at the wheel and a strong commander-in-chief,” Johnson said. “He would have already had the answers, he would have already delivered to the American people and certainly to members of Congress. So leadership matters. That’s why he got the mandate. That’s why the American people can’t wait for the America First agenda to start, and we can’t wait either.” Federal authorities said Monday evening that the reported drone sightings have been identified as legal commercial drones, hobbyist drones and law enforcement drones, as well as manned aircraft, helicopters and even stars. Officials said that assessment was based on technical data and tips. The House Intelligence Committee grilled federal law enforcement and intelligence officials about the drones during a closed-door meeting on Tuesday, Rep. Jim Himes, D-Conn., told CNN.  Authorities told the panel there still is no evidence of public safety or national security threats, Himes said. Democratic New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy said Monday that drone-detection equipment supplied by the federal government has yielded little new information. He declined to describe the equipment, except to say it was powerful and could even disable the drones, though he said that is not legal on U.S. soil. Murphy urged Congress to give states more authority to deal with the drones. TRUMP TALKS MYSTERY DRONES, TIKTOK BAN, RFK JR. AND MORE IN HOUR-LONG PRESS CONFERENCE Meanwhile, the FBI and New Jersey state police warned against pointing lasers at suspected drones, because aircraft pilots are being hit in the eyes more often. Authorities also said they are concerned people might fire weapons at manned aircraft that they have mistaken for drones. White House national security spokesman John Kirby said Monday that the federal government has yet to identify any public safety or national security risks from any of the reported drone sightings in the northeast, saying officials believe they were lawfully flown drones, planes or stars. “There are more than 1 million drones that are lawfully registered with the Federal Aviation Administration here in the United States,” Kirby said. “And there are thousands of commercial, hobbyist and law enforcement drones that are lawfully in the sky on any given day. That is the ecosystem that we are dealing with.” The federal government has deployed personnel and advanced technology to investigate the reports in New Jersey and other states, and is evaluating each tip reported by citizens, he said. About 100 of the more than 5,000 drone sightings reported to the FBI in recent weeks were deemed credible enough to warrant more investigation, according to a joint statement by DHS, FBI, FAA and the Department of Defense.  Speculation has raged online, with some expressing concerns that the drones could be part of a nefarious plot by foreign agents. Pentagon spokesperson Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder said it Is unlikely the drones are engaged in intelligence gathering, given how loud and bright they are. He repeated Tuesday that the drones being reported are not being operated by the Department of Defense. When asked whether military contractors might be operating drones in the New Jersey area, Ryder rebuffed the notion, saying there are “no military operations, no military drone or experiment operations in this corridor.” Ryder said additional drone-detecting technology was being moved to some military installations, including the Picatinny Arsenal and at Naval Weapons Station Earle in New Jersey, where drones also have been reported. The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Delhi Pollution: Air quality in capital nears ‘severe plus’, mercury settles at 23 degree C, AQI reaches…

Of the 36 monitoring stations in the city, 32 recorded AQI in the ‘severe plus’ category.

Matt Gaetz report by House Ethics Committee to be released

The House Ethics Committee has decided to release its report into former Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla. Lawmakers on the secretive panel voted to make the report public after the final votes of this year – which are slated for Thursday. The House Ethics Committee’s multi-year investigation into Gaetz, involving allegations of sex with a minor and illicit drug use, came to an abrupt halt last month after he resigned from Congress hours after President-elect Donald Trump tapped him to be his attorney general. Gaetz dropped out of consideration amid quiet but steady GOP opposition, but the committee nevertheless lost jurisdiction over the probe when Gaetz left the House of Representatives. Gaetz has consistently denied any accusations of wrongdoing, and an earlier federal investigation into the allegations ended without charges against Gaetz. His resignation came just before the committee was expected to meet to consider releasing the report. The meeting, delayed by a few days, ended in a dramatic fashion after House Ethics Committee Chairman Michael Guest, R-Miss., told reporters that no agreement had been reached on releasing the report. It prompted Rep. Susan Wild, D-Pa., the top Democrat on the committee, to return after leaving the meeting room without comment to criticize her Republican colleague.

Pete Hegseth says he hasn’t heard from West Point since employee ‘error’ denying his acceptance

FIRST ON FOX: It has been nearly a week since the United States Military Academy West Point admitted an error was made when an employee said Pete Hegseth’s application was not accepted, and President-elect Donald Trump’s Department of Defense secretary pick tells Fox News Digital he has yet to hear from the school directly.  “I would just say I haven’t heard from West Point,” Hegseth said Tuesday. “Nothing.” When asked if he would like a direct apology from the school, the former Fox News host said, “One would think.” MIKE LEE LOOKS TO HALT WELFARE FOR ILLEGALS GOING ON UNDER BIDEN WITH KEY BUDGET PROCESS ProPublica senior editor and reporter Jesse Eisinger explained last week on X that the outlet was informed twice by West Point that Hegseth had not even applied for admission. According to Eisinger, he was “100%” never admitted to the school, “because he never opened a file.” However, Hegseth did apply to West Point and was accepted in 1999 but never attended.  The Defense secretary hopeful provided ProPublica with his original acceptance letter to the academy, and Eisinger said they reapproached West Point, which then admitted that an error was made.  FARM STATE REPUBLICANS APPEAR SKEPTICAL ABOUT RFK JR AMID HIS QUEST FOR HHS CONFIRMATION In a statement, West Point said, “A review of our records indicates Peter Hegseth was offered admission to West Point in 1999 but did not attend. An incorrect statement involving Hegseth’s admission to the U.S. Military Academy was released by an employee on Dec. 10, 2024.” “Upon further review of an archived database, employees realized this statement was in error. Hegseth was offered acceptance to West Point as a prospective member of the Class of 2003. The academy takes this situation seriously and apologizes for this administrative error.” When Hegseth was made aware of the story ProPublica had been working on, he shared his acceptance letter publicly on X. “We understand that ProPublica (the Left Wing hack group) is planning to publish a knowingly false report that I was not accepted to West Point in 1999. Here’s my letter of acceptance signed by West Point Superintendent, Lieutenant General Daniel Christman, US Army.” RFK JR. SAYS HE PLANS TO ALSO MEET WITH DEMS IN BID TO GET CONFIRMED AS TRUMP HHS HEAD The “error” at West Point left a number of Republicans with questions. In a Dec. 11 letter sent to U.S. Military Academy Superintendent Lieutenant General Steven Gilland after Hegseth revealed ProPublica’s story, Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., said, “I understand that a civilian public-affairs officer, Theresa Brinkerhoff, informed a reporter that Mr. Hegseth didn’t apply to West Point, as he has said publicly in the past. This statement is incorrect; not only did Mr. Hegseth apply, but he was also accepted to the West Point Class of 2003.”  “Worse, the statement may violate Mr. Hegseth’s rights under the Privacy Act of 1974 by revealing protected personal information. If true, it also demonstrates egregiously bad judgment to share such information about the nominee to be Secretary of Defense with a known liberal outlet like ProPublica.” ELIZABETH WARREN WANTS ANSWERS FROM TRUMP OVER ELON MUSK ‘CONFLICTS OF INTEREST’ Rep. Jim Banks, R-Ind., also demanded information on how the error occurred in his own letter last week. The senator-elect wrote to Gilland, asking for “all communication and documentation regarding how West Point OPA falsely accused Hegseth of lying about his application.”  The school employee’s mistake comes as Hegseth continues his swing on Capitol Hill meeting with senators in hopes of being confirmed in 2025 as Trump’s secretary of Defense.  West Point did not immediately provide comment to Fox News Digital. 

Biden sinks to all-time low, while Trump’s numbers rise, in new national poll

With one month left in office, President Biden’s approval rating is hitting a new low. Biden stands at 34% approval and 66% disapproval in a Marquette Law School national poll conducted Dec. 2-11 and released on Wednesday. That is down four percentage points from October and the lowest approval for Biden in Marquette Law School polling since the president took over in the White House four years ago. The president’s approval stands in the mid-30s to low-40s in the latest national surveys, including the most recent Fox News national poll, where Biden stands at 41% approval. WHERE TRUMP AND BIDEN STAND IN THE LATEST FOX NEWS POLL  Biden’s approval rating hovered in the low to mid 50s during his first six months in the White House. However, the president’s numbers started sagging in August 2021 in the wake of Biden’s much-criticized handling of the turbulent U.S. exit from Afghanistan and following a surge in COVID-19 cases that summer, mainly among unvaccinated people. The plunge in the president’s approval was also fueled by soaring inflation – which started spiking in the summer of 2021 and remains to date a major pocketbook concern with Americans – and the surge of migrants trying to cross into the U.S. along the southern border with Mexico.  TRUMP MOVES ANOTHER STEP TOWARDS FORMALLY BECOMING PRESIDENT President-elect Donald Trump ended his first term in office at 47% approval, according to Fox News polling from four years ago. The new Marquette survey indicates that 53% of adults nationwide say they approve of the way Trump handled his job during his first term in the White House (2017-2021), a three point increase from their October poll.  “This is Trump’s highest approval rating since March, when this question of retrospective approval was first asked in the Marquette Law School Poll’s national surveys,” the survey’s release highlights. The survey also indicates the public’s divided on Trump’s Cabinet appointments for his second administration, some of which have sparked controversy. Forty-nine percent of respondents approved of Trump’s handling of cabinet appointments, with 51% disapproving. According to the Fox News poll, which was conducted Dec. 6-9, 47% approved of the job Trump is doing on picking his cabinet, with 50% giving a thumbs down. Trump’s favorable rating stands at 49% favorable and 50% unfavorable in the Marquette survey, his highest in his post-first administration period. The president stands at 37% favorable and 62% unfavorable. Vice President Kamala Harris has a favorable rating of 41% and an unfavorable rating of 57% in the new poll. That is a decline from 45% favorable and 51% unfavorable in the October poll, when Harris was the Democratic Party’s presidential nominee. Vice President-elect Sen. JD Vance has 35% favorable and 47% unfavorable rating in the new survey. The Marquette Law School poll has an overall sampling error of plus or minus 3.6 percentage points.