Democratic mayor joins Kentucky GOP lawmakers to celebrate state funding for Louisville
The amount of state funding headed to Kentucky’s largest city to support downtown renewal, education, health care and other priorities shows that the days of talking about an urban-rural divide in the Bluegrass State are “now behind us,” Louisville’s mayor said Monday. The new two-year state budget passed by the Republican-dominated legislature will pump more than $1 billion into Louisville, reflecting the city’s role as an economic catalyst that benefits the entire state, lawmakers said. KENTUCKY LAWMAKERS APPROVE BILL TO FILL SENATE VACANCY BY SPECIAL ELECTION RATHER THAN BY DEMOCRATIC GOVERNOR Republican legislators and Louisville’s first-term Democratic mayor, Craig Greenberg, spoke of the collaboration they achieved during the 60-day legislative session that ended two weeks ago. “For far too long, folks have talked about this urban-rural divide that has divided Louisville and the rest of the state,” Greenberg said at a news conference attended by a number of lawmakers in downtown Louisville. “Well those days are now behind us.” “We may not agree on every issue,” he said. “What we have shown this session is that’s OK. There is so much common ground. There is so much that we do agree on.” There was no mention of divisive issues — past and present — that prompted some Democratic lawmakers and others to proclaim that the predominantly rural GOP legislature was waging a “war on Louisville.” During the just-ended session, Republican lawmakers enacted a measure to make mayoral elections nonpartisan in Louisville, the state’s most Democratic city. And lawmakers undid efforts in Louisville and Lexington to ban landlords from discriminating against renters who use federal housing vouchers. Perhaps the most explosive issue is still pending. Lawmakers agreed to create a task force to review the public school system that encompasses Louisville. The review could potentially lead to efforts next year to split up Jefferson County Public Schools, the state’s largest school system. Sen. Gerald Neal, the state Senate’s top-ranking Democrat, noted at Monday’s event that there remain “some unanswered questions” regarding the legislature’s relationship with Louisville. But Neal praised his colleagues for approving the funding for his hometown, referring to the $100 million over two years for downtown Louisville as a “home run.” Other projects winning legislative funding will make improvements at Louisville’s airport, support a community center for teens and adults with disabilities, build on the Louisville Orchestra’s statewide presence and support the Kentucky Exposition Center, which hosts trade shows throughout the year. University of Louisville President Kim Schatzel said the session produced historic levels of funding for the school. The budget supports development of a new health sciences building in downtown Louisville that will produce more health professionals and advance cutting-edge research, she said. The state also will help develop a cybersecurity center at UofL that will put the city and state “on the map as a national leader in this emerging and incredibly important technology field,” Schatzel said. “Construction and cranes on campus, well, they warm a president’s heart like nothing else, as they signal confidence in a very bright future for the university and the communities that we serve,” she said. Lawmakers passed a more than $128 billion main budget for the state executive branch over the next two fiscal years. They also approved tapping into the state’s massive budget reserves for nearly $3 billion in spending on one-time investments in infrastructure and community projects. House Speaker David Osborne said the Louisville investments resulted from disciplined budgeting since the GOP gained House control in 2017, consolidating Republican dominance of the legislature. For successive budget cycles after that, “this legislative body has spent less money than we have taken in,” the Republican speaker said. “That is not an easy thing to do.” Republican Senate President Robert Stivers said that Louisville serves a mission stretching far beyond its boundaries in education, health care, transportation, tourism and the humanities. Stivers, who represents an eastern Kentucky district, said the state’s investments in Louisville were a matter of economics. “You don’t turn away from 18 to 19% of your population and your revenues that you take in to the state coffers,” he said.
New Mexico reaches record settlement with company over natural gas flaring
New Mexico has reached a record settlement with a Texas-based company over air pollution violations at natural gas gathering sites in the Permian Basin. The $24.5 million agreement with Ameredev announced Monday is the largest settlement the state Environment Department has ever reached for a civil oil and gas violation. It stems from the flaring of billions of cubic feet of natural gas that the company had extracted over an 18-month period but wasn’t able to transport to downstream processors. Environment Secretary James Kenney said in an interview that the flared gas would have been enough to have supplied nearly 17,000 homes for a year. FREIGHT TRAIN CARRYING GASOLINE, PROPANE DERAILS NEAR ARIZONA-NEW MEXICO LINE AMID AFTERMATH OF SEVERE WEATHER “It’s completely the opposite of the way it’s supposed to work,” Kenney said. “Had they not wasted New Mexico’s resources, they could have put that gas to use.” The flaring, or burning off of the gas, resulted in more than 7.6 million pounds of excess emissions that included hydrogen sulfide, sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides and other gases that state regulators said are known to cause respiratory issues and contribute to climate change. Ameredev in a statement issued Monday said it was pleased to have solved what is described as a “legacy issue” and that the state’s Air Quality Bureau was unaware of any ongoing compliance problems at the company’s facilities. “This is an issue we take very seriously,” the company stated. “Over the last four years, Ameredev has not experienced any flaring-related excess emissions events thanks to our significant — and ongoing — investments in various advanced technologies and operational enhancements.” While operators can vent or flare natural gas during emergencies or equipment failures, New Mexico in 2021 adopted rules to prohibit routine venting and flaring and set a 2026 deadline for the companies to capture 98% of their gas. The rules also require the regular tracking and reporting of emissions. A study published in March in the journal Nature calculated that American oil and natural gas wells, pipelines and compressors were spewing more greenhouse gases than the government thought, causing $9.3 billion in yearly climate damage. The authors said it is a fixable problem, as about half of the emissions come from just 1% of oil and gas sites. Under the settlement, Ameredev agreed to do an independent audit of its operations in New Mexico to ensure compliance with emission requirements. It must also submit monthly reports on actual emission rates and propose a plan for weekly inspections for a two-year period or install leak and repair monitoring equipment. Kenney said it was a citizen complaint that first alerted state regulators to Ameredev’s flaring. The Environment Department currently is investigating numerous other potential pollution violations around the basin, and Kenney said it was likely more penalties could result. “With a 50% average compliance rate with the air quality regulations by the oil and gas industry,” he said, “we have an obligation to continue to go and ensure compliance and hold polluters accountable.”
Ex-lawmaker George Santos offering Cameo videos with his drag queen alter ego
Disgraced former Rep. George Santos announced his latest money grab on Monday by offering Cameo videos with his alleged drag queen alter ego “Kitara.” “Y’all weren’t ready for this drop? I’ve decided to bring Kitara out of the closet after 18 years!” Santos, a Republican, posted on X, formerly Twitter. For $350, Santos is offering videos featuring his drag alter ego Kitara Ravache. Santos previously denied ever dressing as a drag queen or associating with drag queens. GEORGE SANTOS ENDS CONGRESSIONAL RUN LESS THAN 2 MONTHS INTO INDEPENDENT CAMPAIGN “The most recent obsession from the media claiming that I am a drag Queen or “performed” as a drag Queen is categorically false. The media continues to make outrageous claims about my life while I am working to deliver results,” Santos wrote in a previous post on X. Days after his post on X, Santos admitted he dressed up as a woman “for fun” at a party in Brazil, but denied ever performing as a drag queen. “No, I was not a drag queen in Brazil, guys. I was young, and I had fun at a festival. Sue me for having a life,” Santos told reporters, according to the New York Post. Santos claimed his campaign with Kitara would only last a couple of days, with 10% of the proceeds going to the Tunnel to Towers Foundation, which donates to first responders and military veterans, and another 10% going to the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews. FORMER SANTOS STAFFER SAYS EXPELLED CONGRESSMAN’S SURPRISE CHALLENGE TO LALOTA ‘IS A JOKE’ This comes as Santos announced last week that he was ending his independent campaign to re-enter the House less than two months into his run. “I have decided to withdraw from my independent run for NY-1,” Santos announced via social media on Tuesday. “I don’t want my run to be portrayed as a reprisal against Nick Lalota.” Santos was running to unseat Rep. Nick LaLota — a Republican who represents New York’s 1st Congressional District — after being expelled from Congress earlier this year. FORMER REP. GEORGE SANTOS SUES JIMMY KIMMEL FOR SOLICITING, BROADCASTING CAMEO VIDEOS: ‘COMMITTED FRAUD’ Santos was expelled a year into his first term in the House in the wake of a scathing House Ethics Committee report that found he misused campaign funds on luxury items and OnlyFans, among other things. He has not been convicted of a crime, but he has been indicted on multiple counts related to wire fraud, identity theft, falsification of records, credit card fraud and other charges. He has pleaded not guilty. A trial date for Santos has been set for Sept. 9. However, prosecutors have asked the judge to move the trial to May or June. Fox News Digital reached out to Santos for comment, but has not yet heard back. Fox News Digital’s Anders Hagstrom and Timothy Nerozzi contributed to this report.
RFK, Jr reveals path to presidency as Biden, Trump campaigns target race ‘spoiler’
Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. has revealed what he says is his path to the White House as he faces increased pressure from the Biden and Trump campaigns targeting what some have described as his “spoiler” candidacy. “All we need to do is get to 33% to win the election,” Kennedy told Fox News contributor Raymond Arroyo last week on his show “World Over,” which appears on EWTN Global Catholic Network. “You don’t need 50%. It’s a three-way race — and it’s really a five-way race,” he added, referencing independent candidate Dr. Cornel West and Green Party candidate Dr. Jill Stein. VOTERS IN MAJOR SWING STATE SOUND OFF ON TRUMP TRIAL: VIDEO Kennedy told Arroyo he was already close to that 33% “in a bunch of states,” appearing to cite internal polling, and argued he has an advantage over President Biden and former President Donald Trump when it came to young voters. According to a number of recent public polls, Kennedy is polling better than any third-party candidate has since Texas businessman Ross Perot’s back-to-back White House runs in the 1990s, and is doing particularly well with voters under the age of 35. He is, however, still trailing Trump and Biden in the demographic. A Quinnipiac poll released last week found Kennedy with 16% support overall, with Trump and Biden each at 37%. He pulled significant support from Trump and Biden with voters aged 18-34, garnering 19% support, but still trailed the former president (34%) and president (30%). BLACK REPUBLICAN WHO SHUNNED DEI BY IDENTIFYING AS ‘AMERICA’ SAYS DEMS’ ‘FREE PASS’ TO MINORITIES IS OVER The same poll taken last fall showed Kennedy leading Trump and Biden with voters aged 18-34, getting 39% to their 27% and 32% respectively. However, that poll did not include West and Stein. One former Bernie Sanders pollster, Ben Tulchin, recently sounded the alarm over Kennedy pulling so much young support from Biden. Last week, he told The New York Times he was worried about Biden’s chances of winning re-election because of Kennedy’s appeal to the demographic, as well as Latino voters. “Young voters and Latinos respond really well to a hard-edge economic populist message — and that is not Biden’s message,” Tulchin said. “They’re dissatisfied about the political and economic status quo. And I see in that mind-set the potential opening to support a third-party candidate,” he said. WHITE HOUSE DENIES SECRET PLOT TO OUST KARINE JEAN-PIERRE AS BIDEN FACES MORE BAD NEWS To prevent that from happening, the Democratic National Committee launched an effort to silence the threat to Biden’s re-election from third-party candidates, namely Kennedy, in the form of a team that is expected to actively combat them with legal challenges and opposition research. Likewise, Trump recently railed against Kennedy as a “wasted protest vote” in a post on Truth Social, and his campaign has launched a website targeting the latter as “radical f—–g Kennedy,” describing him as a “friend of left-wing extremists.” Additionally, Biden appeared alongside six members of Kennedy’s family as they endorsed him over their own, a clear snub in conjunction with the DNC’s efforts. Both sides have also accused Kennedy of being a “plant” in order to help boost the other side, something he vehemently denies. Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more at our Fox News Digital election hub.
White House dodges questions on college administrators’ response to anti-Israel protests on campuses
White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre dodged several questions during a press briefing on Monday, regarding the responses of many universities in the U.S. as anti-Israel protests, which sometimes turn violent, continue to flare up. Colleges from coast to coast, including many Ivy League schools like Columbia, Yale, Harvard and Penn, have seen dayslong protests on campuses, with students demanding their schools completely divest from Israel as the death toll in Gaza continues to increase. One reporter on Monday asked Jean-Pierre whether President Biden or anyone else in the White House had spoken with leadership at Columbia University, and if the president was happy with how school administrators are handling the situation. “The president has always been clear that while Americans have the right to peacefully protest…he stands squarely, squarely against any rhetoric, violent rhetoric, any hate, hate threats and physical intimidation and hate speech,” she said, adding there is no place for antisemitism on college campuses or anywhere else. “It is a painful moment, we get that. But it is a painful moment that Americans are dealing with, and free expression has to be done within the law. And, you know, we’re going to continue to be very clear about that.” COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY, ANTI-ISRAEL AGITATORS FAIL TO REACH DEAL, PRESIDENT ASKS CAMP TO ‘VOLUNTARILY DISPERSE’ The press secretary did not answer the question about whether Biden was satisfied with how universities are handling the situation. And that was not the only question she dodged. Jean-Pierre was asked if the White House thought it was fair that protesters at Columbia or other schools were being threatened with probation or other disciplinary actions, and whether students should leave a protest before a deadline being given by university personnel at Columbia. To both questions, Jean-Pierre said she would not comment. VIRGINIA TECH POLICE PHYSICALLY CARRY AWAY ANTI-ISRAEL AGITATORS AMID EFFORT TO RESTORE PEACE ON CAMPUS “These are institutions. Some of them are private, some of them are public, and it is up to their leadership, university leadership and colleges, to make that decision,” she responded to the first question. She nearly echoed her response to the second question. “I’m just not going to comment on leadership at colleges and universities….that’s for them to decide,” Jean-Pierre said. “We’ve been very clear.” TRUMP SAYS 4 WORDS ABOUT ANTI-ISRAEL PROTESTS ON COLLEGE CAMPUSES AS ARRESTS SKYROCKET Other topics that were dodged included whether the White House was concerned about safety at graduations; the response of the Biden administration to the use of police force in some of the college protests; the Biden administration’s reaction to the repercussions of the protests and how they have impacted students on campuses in terms of the University of Southern California canceling graduation and George Washington University moving exams; and if the White House supported having antisemitism monitors on campus. In nearly every response, Jean-Pierre stuck to the message that Biden is in favor of peaceful protests and condemns antisemitism and any form of hate. But this is nothing new. CALIFORNIA UNIVERSITY REVEALS ‘TRUE COST’ OF ANTI-ISRAEL MOB THAT TOOK OVER ACADEMIC BUILDINGS On Sunday, the White House remained silent on if the administration plans to bar student protesters from eligibility for student loan forgiveness programs. One thing Biden campaigned on in 2020 was forgiving student loan debt, pledging to cancel at least $10,000 per borrower back in 2020. While Biden denounced the protests, he came under criticism last week for also condemning those “who don’t understand what’s going on with the Palestinians.” “I condemn the antisemitic protests. That’s why I have set up a program to deal with that. I also condemn those who don’t understand what’s going on with the Palestinians,” Biden told reporters this month. Critics have compared it to Trump’s remarks in 2017, following a two-day riot in Charlottesville, Virginia, when White nationalists descended on the city. Trump said at the time that the violence had “no place in America,” while adding there was “blame on both sides” and “very fine people, on both sides.” Emma Colton of Fox News Digital contributed to this report.
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to what happens if Greene tries to oust Speaker Johnson
So far, it’s been all talk and no action from Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) and her threat to call a vote to remove House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.). Greene introduced her resolution to call a vote of no confidence on the floor for the Speaker 38 days ago. But Greene has not triggered her resolution. Doing so would compel the House to act on her resolution either immediately or schedule it within two legislative days. THE HOUSE IS PRACTICALLY FUNCTIONING AS A PARLIAMENT, WITH MIKE JOHNSON AS ITS ‘PRIME MINISTER’ It is believed that Greene would likely lose in her effort to dump Johnson. Some Republicans support removing Johnson. But Democrats might back him up – especially after avoiding multiple government shutdown scenarios and advancing the foreign aid package. Democrats could vote in favor of retaining Johnson – or simply “take a walk.” If Democrats don’t vote, that helps Johnson, changing the math in the House necessary to remove the Speaker. It should be noted that another member besides Greene could trigger the resolution to “vacate the chair” and force the House to tangle with the possibility of removing the Speaker. Or, in a particularly audacious move, Johnson himself or an ally could trigger the resolution, confident that their forces will defeat Greene soundly. Such a scenario could embarrass Greene and likely euthanize any effort to remove the Speaker for the rest of the Congress. WASHINGTON CHOOSES ITS WARS; UKRAINE AND ISRAEL HAVE MADE THE CUT DESPITE OPPOSITION ON RIGHT AND LEFT Here’s what happens if Greene’s resolution is triggered: The first vote is likely on a motion to table or kill the resolution. If the House votes to table, the gig is up. The House will have vanquished Greene’s effort. However, if the motion to table fails, the House then immediately votes, up or down, on whether to remove Johnson. This is the actual “motion to vacate the chair.” If the House votes in favor of removing Johnson, chaos ensues. MARJORIE TAYLOR GREENE CALLS JOHNSON’S FOREIGN AID PACKAGE HIS ‘3RD BETRAYAL’ OF AMERICAN PEOPLE The House ceases to function, much like last fall when members removed former Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.). The House is paralyzed and cannot take any legislative action until it picks a new Speaker. An acting Speaker Pro Tempore, like House Financial Services Committee Chairman Patrick McHenry (R-N.C.) would take over. But they would have little power other than to gavel the House into session and out. By rule, the next order of business is for the House to take names in nomination for a new Speaker. The House then votes on Speaker. In the case of last fall, it took several days before the House was even ready to consider a new Speaker. The Speakership sat vacant for 22 days. The full House selects a Speaker. The successful candidate is someone who receives the outright majority of all House Members casting a ballot for someone by name. The Speaker of the House does not need to be a Member. And, it will be about the math. Here is the present breakdown in the House: 429 members. 217 Republicans, 212 Democrats. Six vacancies.
Anti-Trump DA bailed on debate to ‘schmooze’ with celebs, is challenged to a rematch
FIRST ON FOX: Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis was challenged to a primary debate rematch after she skipped a local Democratic debate to attend the White House Correspondents Dinner in Washington, D.C., her Democratic primary opponent said in comments exclusively obtained by Fox News Digital. “There is no reason we can’t reschedule the debate,” Fulton County DA candidate Christian Wise Smith said in a press release exclusively obtained by Fox News Digital on Monday. “We are happy to work with her team to do it.” The Fulton County Democratic Party held its first primary debate on Sunday, but Willis was a no-show, leaving her political opponent to take the stage alone, where he criticized her for hiring a romantic partner for the high-level prosecution of former President Donald Trump in Georgia. Wise Smith’s campaign lambasted Willis in the press release for skipping the debate to apparently travel to D.C. for the swanky White House Correspondents Dinner. ANTI-TRUMP DA’S NO-SHOW AT DEBATE LEAVES CHALLENGER FACING OFF AGAINST EMPTY PODIUM “I have enormous respect for Willis’s busy calendar, but ignoring a community-organized event while violent crime escalates, to schmooze with politicos while an ‘SNL’ comedian roasts the entire political process, tells me where her allegiances lie — and it’s not with the voters of Fulton County,” Michael Ceraso, Christian Wise Smith’s communications director, said. AFTER JUDGE’S SCOLDING FOR PLAYING ‘RACE CARD,’ FANI WILLIS SAYS SHE’LL ‘TALK ABOUT IT ANYWAY’ Social media posts from an independent photojournalist and Black-focused news outlet The Grio on Saturday evening and Sunday showed photos of Willis attending the media event this weekend in Washington, D.C. Local media initially cited Willis’ participation in the second annual “Self Care Fair” with an Atlanta city councilwoman in honor of Crime Victims’ Rights Week on Saturday as reason for skipping the debate on Sunday. Fox News Digital reached out to the DA’s office Monday for comment, but did not immediately receive a reply. Wise Smith’s campaign said in the press release that Willis’ office has its hands full with the Trump case, which has left “everyday Georgians trapped in a flawed criminal justice system to fend largely for themselves as the high-profile case gobbles up limited energy and resources.” “The three biggest issues facing Fulton County residents right now are (1) failure to center victims in criminal prosecutions, (2) ending the school-to-prison pipeline, and (3) curbing mass incarceration,” Wise Smith said. JUDGE IN GEORGIA SLAMS FANI WILLIS’ ‘IMPROPER’ CHURCH SPEECH, ‘PLAYING THE RACE CARD’ Willis is the Georgia district attorney who brought forth the election inference case against Trump, charging him and 18 co-defendants with racketeering over allegations they tried to overthrow the 2020 election. Willis became embroiled in controversy when she was accused of having an “improper” relationship with the special counsel she hired, Nathan Wade. Willis and Wade both admitted to the affair amid testimony on the matter, but said they only made their relationship official in 2022, after charges were brought against defendants in the Trump case. Witnesses in the case, however, alleged the pair began their relationship before 2022. A judge ordered Willis last month to either remove herself from the case or fire Wade, with Wade ultimately resigning. “Politics do not keep the families and residents of Fulton County safe. Action does. Unfortunately, our system has over-policed, over-convicted, and over-incarcerated. Yet, I haven’t heard Fani Willis put forth a plan that indicates she’s concerned about the real issues keeping voters awake at night,” Wise Smith added in the press release. JUDGE RULES FANI WILLIS MUST STEP ASIDE FROM TRUMP CASE OR FIRE SPECIAL PROSECUTOR NATHAN WADE Wise Smith took the debate stage solo on Sunday, where he criticized Willis for hiring a romantic partner for the Trump case. “That issue is important to us in Fulton County and a lot of people across the country,” Wise Smith said on the stage, Fox 5 reported. ”When you pay one attorney nearly $1 million to handle one case, that leaves the rest of us vulnerable. That hurts everyone in Fulton County,” he added. TRUMP BLASTS FULTON COUNTY PROSECUTOR FANI WILLIS AFTER ROMANTIC PARTNER ALLEGATIONS: ‘TOTALLY COMPROMISED’ Wise Smith did not take issue with Willis prosecuting Trump or the case itself, instead saying Willis has “to do things differently.” Wise Smith is an attorney, who previously served as an Atlanta city solicitor and Fulton County prosecutor, and describes himself as a “prosecutor with heart.” Willis and Smith will face off in the Democratic primary on May 28. Despite the controversy surrounding the Trump case, local polling shows Willis with strong leads over Smith, Fox 5 reported.
Voters in major swing state sound off on Trump trial: video
Voters in one major swing state were not happy when asked about their views on former President Donald Trump’s ongoing criminal trial in New York City as well as the multiple other prosecutions he faces. Most of those voters, who Fox News Digital spoke to at a campaign event for Republican Senate candidate Sam Brown in Reno, Nevada, said they believed Democrats contrived the legal efforts against Trump in order to meddle in this year’s presidential election, which a number of recent polls suggest will be trouble for President Biden. “I’ll tell you right now, I am so upset, all I want to do is cry. I feel it’s a sham. It’s a kangaroo court. They’re trying to keep him off the campaign,” one voter told Fox. Another argued the trial was “politically motivated,” and that they were “going after” Trump in order to “stop Biden from getting kicked out of the White House.” BLACK REPUBLICAN WHO SHUNNED DEI BY IDENTIFYING AS ‘AMERICA’ SAYS DEMS’ ‘FREE PASS’ TO MINORITIES IS OVER “It shows how the Democrats are using our political system in the wrong way,” another voter said. A recent Quinnipiac poll found a plurality of voters (46%) said they believed Trump did something illegal regarding the 34 falsification of business records charges he is fighting in the trial, something one voter conceded when telling Fox there were people on “all sides” of the issue. The poll also found a close 45% believe Trump did not do anything illegal, but that same voter said he believed there was a majority in Nevada who “will elect him from prison” if he’s convicted. WHITE HOUSE DENIES SECRET PLOT TO OUST KARINE JEAN-PIERRE AS BIDEN FACES MORE BAD NEWS “I believe it’s a smokescreen. I believe it’s a ploy to keep the focus on him and not on the horrible way that our government is being run by a president that should not be there,” another voter said. “It’s a crime in itself what they’re doing to him, but it’s only making people more sure of who they’re going to vote for. I think it’s turning people back to Trump,” she added. Other voters described Trump’s trial as a “fiasco,” “a big joke,” “a slippery slope” and “a waste of money.” REPUBLICAN MAKES MAJOR ANNOUNCEMENT IN PUSH TO GROW GOP SUPPORT FROM ONCE-SOLID DEM VOTING BLOC The anger over Trump’s trial comes as Biden was smacked with more bad news on Sunday in the form of a CNN poll that found him trailing the former president 49%-43% in a head-to-head matchup. The poll found the lead for Trump grew to nine points (42%-33%) when including independent candidates Robert F. Kennedy Jr. (16%) and Dr. Cornel West (4%) and Green Party candidate Jill Stein (3%). Nevada is likely to be one of the most closely watched states this election cycle with a Senate seat crucial to both parties on the line, and its six electoral votes possibly becoming a deciding factor in what is shaping up to be a close race for the presidency. Elections analysts rate the state’s Senate race as either a tossup, “tilt Democratic” or “leans Democratic.” Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more at our Fox News Digital election hub.
More pro-Palestinian demonstrators arrested at UT-Austin
Last week, 57 people were arrested during protests on campus.
Johnson urges Biden to intervene in ICC’s reported plan for Netanyahu arrest warrant
Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., is calling on President Biden to utilize the U.S.’s influence on the world stage to block the International Criminal Court’s (ICC) reported plan to issue arrest warrants for top Israeli officials, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. If true, the warrants would be “baseless and illegitimate” and prove a blow to U.S. national security, Johnson said in an impassioned statement Monday. “If unchallenged by the Biden administration, the ICC could create and assume unprecedented power to issue arrest warrants against American political leaders, American diplomats, and American military personnel, thereby endangering our country’s sovereign authority,” the speaker said. HAMAS’ SEXUAL VIOLENCE ON OCT. 7 REVEALED IN NEW DOCUMENTARY “Instead of wrongly targeting Israel, the ICC should pursue charges against Iran and its terror proxies, including Hamas, for engaging in horrific war crimes. The Biden administration must immediately and unequivocally demand that the ICC stand down and the U.S. should use every available tool to prevent such an abomination.” Fox News Digital reached out to the White House for a response. State Department deputy spokesman Vidant Patel would not confirm or deny whether the U.S. was aware of the ICC’s reported plans during a press briefing on Monday, but he told reporters, “On this investigation, our position is clear. We continue to believe that the ICC does not have jurisdiction over the Palestinian situation.” WORLD CENTRAL KITCHEN PAUSES GAZA OPERATIONS AFTER 7 AID WORKERS KILLED BY ‘UNFORGIVABLE’ ISRAELI AIRSTRIKE Israeli officials are concerned that the ICC is preparing arrest warrants over Israel’s response to the Oct. 7, 2023, attack by the terrorist group Hamas, the New York Times reported early Monday. Israel has been accused of blocking humanitarian aid to Gaza while waging a ground invasion and airstrike campaign in order to get Israeli hostages being held by Hamas back to their homes. But there’s been mounting criticism of Israel on the world stage over the severity of its response. VIRGINIA TECH POLICE PHYSICALLY CARRY AWAY ANTI-ISRAEL AGITATORS AMID EFFORT TO RESTORE PEACE ON CAMPUS Like the U.S., Israel is not a member of the ICC, but the Palestinian territories were admitted in April 2015. “Under my leadership, Israel will never accept any attempt by the ICC to undermine its inherent right of self-defense,” Netanyahu said in a statement on X Friday. “The threat to seize the soldiers and officials of the Middle East’s only democracy and the world’s only Jewish state is outrageous. We will not bow to it.” “While the ICC will not affect Israel’s actions, it would set a dangerous precedent that threatens the soldiers and officials of all democracies fighting savage terrorism and wanton aggression.”