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Trump told donors ‘we need to elect JD,’ source confirms, as he weighs Vance or Rubio in 2028

Trump told donors ‘we need to elect JD,’ source confirms, as he weighs Vance or Rubio in 2028

President Donald Trump has publicly been coy about whether he might back Vice President JD Vance or Secretary of State Marco Rubio to succeed him in the White House, but private comments to donors suggest he might be leaning toward the man he already picked as his running mate in 2024. “At the end of the day, we need to elect JD,” Trump said during an Oval Office meeting with donors roughly two weeks ago, a source with knowledge of the comments, who asked to remain anonymous to speak more freely, confirmed to Fox News Digital. The news was first reported by The Washington Post. While Vance remains the clear hypothetical frontrunner, Secretary of State Marco Rubio has narrowed the gap in national polls and surveys conducted in key early voting presidential primary states, as well as in Republican straw polls, ahead of a race that is not expected to begin in earnest until after this autumn’s midterm elections. VANCE, CRUZ, HEAD TO IOWA ON 2026 MISSIONS AS 2028 GOP RACE TO SUCCEED TRUMP HEATS UP While Post sources say the remark is not evidence Trump has made a choice between his VP or Rubio, a man he has handed many hats in his administration, it is a rare and previously unreported lean of his long-term thinking. Trump made just one reference to Vance in his donor speech in Las Vegas on Wednesday night, hailing “the war on fraud led by our great Vice President JD Vance: He’s doing a great job.” Fox News Digital reached out to the White House and Vance’s office for comment Thursday morning. Rubio, who as a senator from Florida was one of more than a dozen GOP contenders who ran and lost to Trump in the 2016 presidential primary, came in a close second to Vance earlier this year in the closely watched 2028 Republican presidential nomination straw poll at the annual Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC). The latest surveys and straw poll results are fuel for intrigue over what some in the Republican Party see as a budding rivalry between Rubio and Vance, who describe each other as friends. “The president runs this administration: He is the very top of the administration; he makes orders,” Vance told “The Ingraham Angle” in an exclusive sit down Wednesday night. “We, of course, have debates and conversations about what exactly we should do, but when the president of the United States makes a decision, we’re unified in this administration in carrying out that mission.” Despite Vance having won the 2024 running mate sweepstakes, Trump has also lavishly praised Rubio for his work in peacemaking efforts in Venezuela, Cuba and the Middle East, while simultaneously serving as national security advisor among his many leadership roles in the administration. The president earlier this year declared that Rubio would go down as “the greatest secretary of state in history.” Trump has also promoted a Vance-Rubio ticket as “unstoppable” — stopping short of explicitly saying who should be at the top of the ticket. Trump did say last year that Vance is “most likely” his heir, because “in all fairness, he’s the vice president.” NEW POLL COMPLICATES VANCE’S STATUS AS TRUMP’S LIKELY 2028 HEIR APPARENT Trump joked at the White House Correspondents Dinner last month – rescheduled after dodging another assassination attempt earlier this spring – he would be running for president for a fourth in a troll to his critics, donning a Trump 2028 While Vance has demurred when questioned about 2028, he has built a political team of advisors who, if he runs as expected, would quickly build out a presidential campaign. Rubio, who is crisscrossing the globe, does not have a similar group of political aides, and Rubio has said he will back Vance if the vice president launches a 2028 campaign. Notably, Vance is the RNC’s finance chair, ostensibly giving him the keys to the cash vault of more than $128 million cash on hand, according to the June Federal Elections Commission filing. “Vice President Vance has been a fundraising powerhouse for the RNC, supercharging our war chest as we head into the midterms,” RNC Chair Joe Gruters told Fox News Digital in a statement. “He’s held record-breaking events across the country and brought new and longtime donors together with his ability to connect every corner of the America First movement.  “As we prepare to protect and expand our Republican majorities, Vice President Vance will be a driving force behind the resources, energy, and momentum needed to win.” Republican sources confirmed to Fox News earlier this year that a group of GOP donors supporting the secretary of state is quietly exploring ways to boost Rubio’s political profile, which has not sat well with some in the president’s political orbit. VANCE CONFRONTED ABOUT 2028 AMBITIONS AFTER TRUMP TEASES ‘DREAM TEAM’ RUBIO TICKET “Vice President Vance is the future of the Republican Party, and Marco Rubio is one of his closest friends in the administration,” an operative in Trump’s political orbit told Fox News Digital earlier this year. “The divisive stories from some donors trying to cause chaos are not helpful,” the operative, who asked to remain anonymous to speak more freely, emphasized. Trump more recently questioned White House staff about the two possible contenders during a flight aboard Marine One, according to the Post. Although one adviser told the newspaper that Trump has privately settled on Vance as the Republican heir apparent, six other advisers and allies said they were not convinced that the president had made up his mind. Those advisers noted that Trump sometimes gives different signals to different audiences and could change his position before the 2028 campaign begins. His aides also broadly expect him to delay any formal endorsement, in part to avoid diminishing his own influence during the remainder of his presidency. DEMOCRATS BUILD MIDTERM MOMENTUM, BUT REPUBLICANS STILL IN DRIVER’S SEAT IN SENATE MAJORITY BATTLE The dynamic resembles Trump’s 2024 search for a running mate, when Vance and Rubio were among the finalists. Advisers

Fauci held in contempt as COVID cellphone lands in hands of Senate investigators

Fauci held in contempt as COVID cellphone lands in hands of Senate investigators

Senate Republicans moved to hold Dr. Anthony Fauci in contempt of Congress in their pursuit of forcing the former architect of the nation’s COVID-19 response to go on record about his actions leading up to and during the pandemic. The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee voted on sharp party lines to charge Fauci, the former chief medical advisor to the president, with contempt after he refused to answer questions from both sides of the aisle over fear of self-incrimination. The move follows Fauci’s decision to invoke his Fifth Amendment rights more than 100 times during his hearing last week, which prompted the panel’s chair, Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., to vow that he would face “repercussions” for not testifying, or at least how Paul envisioned. FAUCI’S HHS IPHONE TURNED OVER TO SENATE INVESTIGATORS AS CONTEMPT VOTE LOOMS Typically, once a contempt resolution passes by committee, it heads to the Senate floor for a full vote. However, Paul’s resolution allows that step to be skipped altogether and allows him to send the referral directly to the U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia. But Paul wants the Department of Justice (DOJ) involved as soon as possible. There’s also the question whether Fauci’s pardon from former President Joe Biden protected him during the hearing, which Paul hopes to find answers to. “It’s a good legal discussion, and we will make those legal points to DOJ in sending the referral over,” Paul told Fox News Digital ahead of the hearing. RAND PAUL PREDICTS FAUCI CONTEMPT VOTE WILL PASS, VOWS SWIFT DOJ REFERRAL It’s another chapter in the feud between Paul and Fauci that has extended over the last several years since the onset of the pandemic. Paul has accused the former National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) director of funding “risky” research that led to an alleged lab leak of the COVID-19 virus in China and has demanded that he end up behind bars. And in the background, a copy of Fauci’s pandemic-era cellphone is now in the possession of Senate Republican investigators. Fox News Digital confirmed that the Robert F. Kennedy Jr.-led Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) sent over a copy of the phone to the Senate Homeland Security Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations chaired by Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis. TOP 5 MOMENTS FROM FAUCI’S HEARING: PAUL BOOTS LAWYER, MORENO ERUPTS AS CONTEMPT VOTE LOOMS That committee falls under the umbrella of Paul’s Homeland Security panel, which also received a trove of over 1,000 pages of Fauci’s personal diary before last week’s hearing. It is unclear if Johnson and Paul have access to the information on the phone. Meanwhile, across the marble expanse of the Capitol, Republican investigators in the House are cooking up their own probe into Fauci. House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., previously signaled that he was not done with Fauci, either. After the longtime public health official pleaded the Fifth Amendment during his Senate hearing, Comer questioned the validity of his preemptive pardon granted by President Joe Biden. He also said his committee would be questioning Fauci further, though he did not elaborate. “If former President Biden’s blanket autopen pardon is valid, then Dr. Fauci has no right to refuse to answer questions,” Comer said, noting his committee had done extensive work probing the autopen pardons. “Based on the release of Dr. Fauci’s diary, which should have been provided to the House Oversight Committee last Congress…we’ll be asking Dr. Fauci whether he stands by his previous testimony to our Committee.”

US pauses government operations in cartel-ridden Mexican state

US pauses government operations in cartel-ridden Mexican state

The U.S. State Department said a “threat against American interests” forced the United States to suspend all of its government activities in a Mexican state where visitors face a risk of violence “from terrorist groups, cartels, gangs and criminal organizations.” The warning from the U.S. Embassy & Consulates in Mexico about the state of Michoacan, which is located west of Mexico City, includes a halt to the inspections of avocados required for their export, according to The Associated Press. “Due to a threat against American interests, U.S. government activities in Michoacan State have been suspended as of August 5,” the message read. “Reminder that the U.S. travel advisory designates Michoacan as a Level 4 ‘Do Not Travel’ area.” While the U.S. Embassy did not specify the nature of the threat in its security alert, Michoacan Gov. Alfredo Ramírez Bedolla said on social media that a temporary halt to avocado inspections was intended to safeguard workers following recent arrests linked to alleged extortion, the AP reported. 5 MEXICAN CARTEL BOSSES CHARGED IN WEAPONS, DRUG TRAFFICKING, TIMESHARE FRAUD SCHEMES, DOJ SAYS The western state of Michoacan is the leading exporter of avocados to the U.S. and has a high level of organized crime activity with at least four cartels — designated as terrorist organizations by the Trump administration — operating in the region. Besides trafficking drugs, cartels also make money through extortion, including in the avocado industry. The State Department warns Americans to “exercise increased caution” throughout Mexico due to “terrorism, crime, and kidnapping.” For Michoacan state, it said, “There is a risk of violence in the state from terrorist groups, cartels, gangs and criminal organizations.” Michoacan State Security Secretary Antonio Cruz told the AP that one of the arrests mentioned by the governor was of “El Poncho,” the alias of Alfonso Fernández Magallón, leader of a local cartel operating in the avocado-growing region around Los Reyes. SINALOA CARTEL BOSS ‘EL MAYO’ SENTENCED TO LIFE, ORDERED TO PAY $15B IN DRUG TRAFFICKING PROFITS U.S. Ambassador to Mexico Ronald Johnson welcomed the arrest, which came over the weekend. The U.S. government had offered a $5 million reward. Cruz said his department was unaware of any direct incidents involving the avocado inspectors. However, 300 security personnel were deployed to the Los Reyes area as a preventive measure. The governor said the priority was to “ensure the security conditions necessary for these operations to resume normally,” as has happened in the past. In 2025, Mexico sold $3.65 billion worth of avocados to the United States, and in the first four months of this year, those exports rose by 35% compared to the same period in the previous year. The U.S. Department of Agriculture sends inspectors into Mexico to monitor plantations and packing houses to ensure that exported produce is free of pests. Threats and violence against the inspectors have caused the U.S. to suspend inspections in the past. The Associated Press contributed to this report.