Top moments from the Trump-Biden debate that changed the course of the 2024 election
Former President Joe Biden’s disastrous presidential debate with now-President Donald Trump one year ago Friday changed the course of the 2024 election. The octogenarian Delawarean appeared on-stage tired and with a raspy voice, while some of his responses were at times unintelligible, leading to Trump landing several wisecracks in response. While giving a response about wealthy Americans paying sufficient taxes, Biden said there are at least 1,000 billionaires – first muttering “1,000 trillionaires” – in the U.S. and that they purportedly pay only 8.2% in taxes. “If they just paid 24%; 25%, either one of those numbers, they’d raise $500 million – billion I should say in a 10-year period. We’d be able to wipe out the debt,” and “all those things we need to do [with] child care, elder care.” ONE YEAR LATER: HOW JOE BIDEN’S DISASTROUS DEBATE PERFORMANCE FORCED HIS MEDIA ALLIES TO TURN ON HIM His response went on for several more seconds, transitioning into a sidewinder about making every person eligible for “what I’ve been able to do with COVID,” before mumbling for several seconds and declaring, “We finally beat Medicare.” When moderator Jake Tapper turned to Trump for a response, he said: “Well, he’s right, he did beat Medicare, he beat it to death.” STATE DEMOCRATIC OFFICIALS RALLY BEHIND BIDEN AS A DEMOCRATIC PARTY CHAIR SUGGESTS REPUBLICANS PULL TRUMP Biden also claimed to have reduced illegal immigration at the southern border by 40% over the course of his term. “It’s better than when [Trump] left office. And I’m going to continue to move until we get the total ban on the total initiative relative to what we can do with more Border Patrol and more asylum officers,” Biden said. “I really don’t know what he said at the end of that sentence. I don’t think he knows what he said either,” Trump replied. OLBERMANN LEADS LEFT-WING MELTDOWN AGAINST CNN, CALLING TO ‘BURN IT DOWN’ AFTER BIDEN’S PERFORMANCE Trump also sharply criticized Biden for “destroy[ing] our country,” and that he came out with a “nothing” border plan to score a few political points. The current president also labeled Biden “a Palestinian” – a title he also bestowed on Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., who is Jewish – in relation to how they have responded to the Israel-Gaza conflict, after Biden accused him of disrespecting the military. Biden said his late son, former Delaware Attorney General Joseph Beau Biden III, contracted glioblastoma from being stationed near burn pits in Iraq. He went on to accuse Trump of the widely-debunked “suckers and losers” line about World War I casualties buried in a French cemetery. “My son was not a loser, he was not a sucker – you’re the sucker, you’re the loser,” Biden fumed, speaking sternly through gritted teeth. CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP “First of all, that was a made-up quote – suckers and losers – they made it up; it was in a third-rate magazine,” Trump replied. The Atlantic editor Jeffrey Goldberg cited multiple anonymous sources in publishing the bombshell allegations in September 2020. Fox News Digital’s Kiera McDonald and Paul Steinhauser contributed to this report.
Trump exerted ‘maximum pressure’ on Iran and Israel to ‘deliver peace’: Leavitt
President Trump exerted “maximum pressure” on Israel and Iran in an effort to “deliver peace” after his historic and decisive strikes decimated the Islamic Republic’s nuclear facilities. The president vowed throughout his 2024 campaign to reach “peace through strength,” and he has taken steps in recent days to do just that, with an added pressure campaign on both Israel and Iran. IRAN, ISRAEL AND US AGREE THAT ISLAMIC REPUBLIC NUCLEAR SITES WERE ‘BADLY DAMAGED’ DESPITE LEAKED INTEL REPORT “President Trump directing the perfect execution of the most secretive and successful military strikes in history – and then negotiating a ceasefire to the war within 48 hours – is the epitome of peace through strength,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told Fox News Digital. “Nobody knows how to exert maximum pressure to deliver peace better than Donald Trump.” Trump, this week, participated in the NATO Summit in the Netherlands, where he was praised by allies for his decision to strike Iran’s nuclear facilities. NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte praised Trump as a “man of strength” and a “man of peace.” “I just want to recognize your decisive action on Iran,” Rutte said at the start of his joint remarks with the president. “You are a man of strength, but you are also a man of peace. And the fact that you are now also successful in getting this ceasefire done between Israel and Iran – I really want to commend you for that. I think this is important for the whole world.” Rutte, on his social media, also congratulated the president for his “extraordinary” action in Iran, saying it was “something no one else dared to do.” “It makes us all safer,” Rutte said. The president also brokered a ceasefire between Israel and Iran, announcing Monday that the “12-Day War” was coming to an end – just over a week after Israel launched a preemptive strike, citing fears that Tehran was dangerously close to obtaining a nuclear weapon. TRUMP SAYS US WOULD STRIKE AGAIN IF IRAN REBUILDS NUCLEAR PROGRAM The two countries subsequently traded rocket fire over the following days, and over the weekend, the U.S. launched its own airstrikes on three of Iran’s key nuclear facilities. Iran responded by shooting rockets at a U.S. air base in Qatar on Monday, but not without giving advance notice to U.S. and Qatari officials. No injuries were reported in that attack. The ceasefire had gotten off to an uncertain start, with the president unleashing frustration with both countries. “I’m not happy with Israel. You know, when I say, OK, now you have 12 hours, you don’t go out in the first hour and just drop everything you have on them. So I’m not happy with them. I’m not happy with Iran either, but I’m really unhappy if Israel is going out this morning,” Trump said on Tuesday. He continued, “We basically have two countries that have been fighting for so long and so hard that they don’t know what the f— they’re doing.” “I’m gonna see if I can stop it,” he added. “ISRAEL. DO NOT DROP THOSE BOMBS. IF YOU DO IT IS A MAJOR VIOLATION. BRING YOUR PILOTS HOME, NOW!” Trump wrote on Truth Social shortly after boarding Marine One. Minutes later, he announced that Israel was canceling its plans for an attack on Tuesday morning. “ISRAEL is not going to attack Iran. All planes will turn around and head home, while doing a friendly ‘Plane Wave’ to Iran. Nobody will be hurt, the Ceasefire is in effect! Thank you for your attention to this matter!” he wrote. Israel did not attack. From the NATO summit, the president warned that the U.S. will strike Iran again if it attempts to rebuild its nuclear program. And Trump’s historic strikes in Iran have the Islamic Republic admitting that their nuclear facilities were decimated. Assessments from the U.S., Israel and Iran agree the strikes were successful.
SCOTUS rules on Trump’s birthright citizenship order, testing lower court powers
The Supreme Court on Friday delivered a major victory in President Donald Trump‘s quest to block lower courts from issuing universal injunctions that had upended many of his administration’s executive orders and actions. Justices ruled 6-3 to allow the lower courts to issue injunctions only in limited instances, though the ruling leaves open the question of how the ruling will apply to the birthright citizenship order at the heart of the case. The Supreme Court agreed this year to take up a trio of consolidated cases involving so-called universal injunctions handed down by federal district judges in Maryland, Massachusetts and Washington state. Judges in those districts had blocked Trump’s ban on birthright citizenship from taking force nationwide – which the Trump administration argued in their appeal to the Supreme Court was overly broad. The Supreme Court’s arguments in May focused little on the merits of those universal injunctions – and on Friday, the court made clear that it is not ruling on whether the birthright citizenship orders are constitutional. 100 DAYS OF INJUNCTIONS, TRIALS AND ‘TEFLON DON’: TRUMP SECOND TERM MEETS ITS BIGGEST TESTS IN COURT Instead, it instructed the lower courts to “move expeditiously to ensure that, with respect to each plaintiff, the injunctions comport with this rule and otherwise comply with principles of equity.” They also stayed any enforcement of the orders from taking effect for 30 days. “The applications do not raise – and thus we do not address – the question whether the Executive Order violates the Citizenship Clause or Nationality Act,” Justice Amy Coney Barrett said, writing for the majority. “The issue before us is one of remedy: whether, under the Judiciary Act of 1789, federal courts have equitable authority to issue universal injunctions.” “A universal injunction can be justified only as an exercise of equitable authority, yet Congress has granted federal courts no such power,” she added. Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elana Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson dissented in the case. Sotomayor, in a scathing dissent, characterized the decision as “nothing less than an open invitation for the Government to bypass the Constitution.” “The Executive Branch can now enforce policies that flout settled law and violate countless individuals’ constitutional rights, and the federal courts will be hamstrung to stop its actions fully. Until the day that every affected person manages to become party to a lawsuit and secures for himself injunctive relief, the Government may act lawlessly indefinitely. Not even a decision from this Court would necessarily,” she said. In a separate dissent, Jackson wrote that the decision from the majority “will disproportionately impact the poor, the uneducated, and the unpopular – i.e., those who may not have the wherewithal to lawyer up, and will all too often find themselves beholden to the Executive’s whims.” The Supreme Court agreed in April to hear the consolidated cases, which focused on three lower court judges in Maryland, Massachusetts and Washington state who issued “universal” injunctions against Trump’s birthright citizenship executive order. But that wasn’t the main focus of the appeal, or the May 15 oral arguments before the high court. NINTH CIRCUIT REJECTS TRUMP’S BID TO REINSTATE BIRTHRIGHT CITIZENSHIP ORDER Rather, the justices weighed whether lower courts should have the authority to issue nationwide injunctions at all, or whether doing so exceeds their authority, as argued by Trump officials. The ruling is expected to have sweeping implications for U.S. district courts, and comes at a time when presidents, including both Democrat and Republican administrations, have sought to use executive orders as a means of sidestepping a clunky, slow-moving Congress. Trump praised the statement on social media Friday, which he described as a “GIANT WIN” in the Supreme Court. He also said he plans to hold a press conference on the decision at 11:30 a.m. “Even the Birthright Citizenship Hoax has been, indirectly, hit hard. It had to do with the babies of slaves (same year!), not the SCAMMING of our Immigration process,” he said on Truth Social. “Congratulations to Attorney General Pam Bondi, Solicitor General John Sauer, and the entire DOJ.” Federal judges across the country have blocked Trump’s ban on transgender persons serving in the U.S. military, ordered the reinstatement of core functions of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), and halted Elon Musk’s government efficiency organization, DOGE, from oversight and access to government agencies, among other things. Justices across the ideological spectrum appeared to agree during oral arguments this month that the use of universal injunctions has surged in recent years – but after more than two hours, remained split on how to proceed. No easy solution emerged to the thorny legal problem, as the justices wrestled with a tangle of procedural questions over whether to scale back the use of universal injunctions and what legal standard should govern them. Sauer argued that lower court judges have used universal injunctions to act beyond their authority and block the lawful powers of a sitting president. But Sotomayor noted that blocking or limiting lower court injunctions could invite hundreds or thousands of new individual lawsuits. “Your theory here is arguing that Article III and principles of equity [clause] both prohibit federal courts from issuing universal injunctions to have your argument,” she said later, adding: “If that’s true, that means even the Supreme Court doesn’t have that power.” Kagan, meanwhile, pointed out the practical challenge of expecting the Supreme Court to weigh in on every issue now handled by lower courts, which have already faced hundreds of federal lawsuits during Trump’s second term. APPEALS COURT BLOCKS TRUMP ADMIN’S DEPORTATION FLIGHTS IN ALIEN ENEMIES ACT IMMIGRATION SUIT She also noted to Sauer that the Trump administration has lost every federal lawsuit challenging the birthright citizenship executive order, including under judges Trump appointed during his first term. As expected, several conservative justices on the court, including Justice Clarence Thomas, expressed criticism of universal injunctions. New Jersey Solicitor General Jeremy Feigenbaum, representing the states, acknowledged that there could be alternative remedies for federal courts other than nationwide injunctions –
Justice Department investigating University of California over alleged DEI-based hiring
The Justice Department has announced it is investigating the University of California (UC) for alleged Title VII discrimination violations in its hiring practices. The agency announced Thursday that its Civil Rights Division is looking into the university’s individual campuses regarding potential race- and sex-based discrimination in employment practices. The university’s “UC 2030 Capacity Plan” directs its campuses to hire “diverse” faculty members to meet race- and sex-based employment quotas, the Justice Department said. UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN, LAW JOURNAL SUED FOR ALLEGEDLY DISCRIMINATING AGAINST STRAIGHT WHITE MALES “These initiatives openly measure new hires by their race and sex, which potentially runs afoul of federal law,” the Justice Department said in a press release. “The Civil Rights Division’s Employment Litigation Section will investigate whether the University of California is engaged in a pattern or practice of discrimination based on race, sex, and other protected characteristics, pursuant to Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.” Title VII prohibits an employer from discriminating against an individual on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, or national origin, Harmeet Dhillon, the assistant attorney general of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, said. “Public employers are bound by federal laws that prohibit racial and other employment discrimination,” Dhillon said. “Institutional directives that use race- and sex-based hiring practices expose employers to legal risk under federal law.” The Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division wrote to the university on Thursday, informing it of the investigation. “Our investigation is based on information suggesting that the University of California may be engaged in certain employment practices that discriminate against employees, job applicants, and training program participants based on race and sex in violation of Title VII,” the letter reads. “Specifically, we have reason to believe the University of California’s ‘UC 2030 Capacity Plan’ precipitated unlawful action by the University of California and some or all its constituent campuses.” TRUMP ADMINISTRATION TARGETS IVY LEAGUE SCHOOL, LAW JOURNAL FOR RACIAL DISCRIMINATION UC said it will work in good faith with the Justice Department as it conducts its investigation. “The University of California is committed to fair and lawful processes in all of our programs and activities, consistent with federal and state anti-discrimination laws,” a UC statement provided to Fox News Digital reads. “The University also aims to foster a campus environment where everyone is welcomed and supported.” The university’s UC 2030 Capacity Plan lays out a goal of becoming a national model as a Hispanic-Serving Institution (HSI) and Minority-Serving Institution (MSI) system. The plan outlines a pipeline strategy to diversify faculty and researchers through expanded graduate enrollment and outreach to institutions that serve underrepresented students. The DOJ, however, claims these initiatives may violate Title VII by functioning as de facto employment quotas. In March, UC dropped diversity statements from its hiring practices amid President Donald Trump’s threats that schools could lose federal funding. The university’s provost, Katherine S. Newman, sent out a letter to the system’s leaders informing them that diversity statements are no longer required for new applicants. Newman wrote that while some programs and departments have required them, the university has never had a policy of diversity statements and believes it could harm applicant evaluation. “The requirement to submit a diversity statement may lead applicants to focus on an aspect of their candidacy that is outside their expertise or prior experience,” the letter obtained by Fox News Digital reads. She added that employees and applicants can still reference accomplishments related to diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) on their own, but requiring stand-alone diversity statements is no longer permitted. Fox News’ David Spunt and Lindsay Kornick contributed to this report.
Scoop: New Republican Senate candidate in Kentucky to team up with top Trump ally
FIRST ON FOX – Republican businessman and entrepreneur Nate Morris, the newly announced Senate candidate in the 2026 Kentucky race to succeed retiring former longtime GOP Senate leader Mitch McConnell, will team up with a top ally of President Donald Trump. Morris, who is showcasing his political outsider credentials and his support for Trump’s MAGA movement, will be joined at a campaign event just south of Louisville, Kentucky, on Monday morning by conservative leader Charlie Kirk. The news was first shared with Fox News on Friday. Kirk, a MAGA world rock star and ally of Trump and the president’s eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., leads the influential Turning Point USA youth organization. WATCH: NATE MORRIS ON FOX BUSINESS It’s likely that Kirk, who has praised Morris, will endorse him when the two team up on the campaign trail. Morris joins Rep. Andy Barr and former Kentucky Attorney General and 2023 GOP gubernatorial nominee Daniel Cameron in the race for the Republican Senate nomination in the red-leaning state. The GOP nomination, which will be decided in next spring’s Kentucky primary, will likely turn into a referendum on McConnell and a battle for Trump’s support. MITCH MCCONNELL MAKES A MAJOR ANNOUNCEMENT A campaign release announcing Morris’ candidacy described him as “a staunch ally of President Trump” who would “be a warrior for the America First agenda” in the Senate. And Morris declared his candidacy during an interview on “Triggered,” a popular podcast hosted by Donald Trump Jr., who has praised him. He’s also a personal friend of Vice President JD Vance. Morris has been a leading voice in Kentucky this year in his criticism of McConnell, who has long been a top GOP Trump antagonist. He pilloried McConnell, who stepped down from his Senate GOP leadership position, for the senator’s votes against top Trump Cabinet nominees. And he blasted Barr and Cameron – who was once seen as a McConnell protege – for not aggressively criticizing the senator for his votes. FIRST ON FOX: FORMER TRUMP AMBASSADOR LAUNCHES SENATE BID McConnell announced on his 83rd birthday in February that he wouldn’t seek re-election next year. McConnell has held the seat since 1985 and is the longest-serving senator in Kentucky history. Morris said the GOP Senate primary will be “a referendum on Mitch McConnell’s record, it’s a referendum on Mitch McConnell’s legacy.” And he aimed to tie Barr and Cameron to the senator, claiming that “you have two McConnellites who owe everything to Mitch McConnell versus the outside business guy that’s running as the MAGA candidate. I think that contrast is gonna be very, very striking to Kentuckians all over the state because they’ve had enough of Mitch.” But Barr’s campaign quickly returned fire, arguing that “Nate Morris is pretending to be MAGA now, but he can’t run from all the liberal trash in his past.” And Barr took to social media to highlight that “I’m the ONLY candidate in this race who has a RECORD of supporting President .@realDonaldTrump and advancing the MAGA agenda. President Trump and I will continue to Make America Great Again when I’m in the U.S. Senate.” ONLY ON FOX NEWS: SENATE REPUBLICAN CAMPAIGN CHAIR REVEALS HOW MANY SEATS HE’S AIMING FOR IN 2026 Cameron, in a social media post, also criticized Morris, charging his new rival is “a globalist who dons a MAGA hat and pretends to be ‘America First’ now that we are on the rise.” Morris, in announcing his bid, showcased his family’s blue-collar roots. According to a bio released by his campaign, he’s a ninth-generation Kentuckian with family ties to Appalachia, was raised in a union household by a single mother, and attended public schools, his campaign bio said. The campaign said 19 of Morris’ relatives worked at a local auto plant, where his grandfather served as the union leader. FIRST ON FOX: REPUBLICAN LAUNCHES SECOND STRAIGHT BID TO FLIP DEMOCRAT-HELD SENATE SEAT IN KEY BATTLEGROUND While Morris can’t compete with Cameron and Barr when it comes to name recognition in Kentucky, he’ll be able to launch ads highlighting his bio using the wealth he earned as an entrepreneur. Morris founded Rubicon on a $10,000 line of credit and turned it into one of the country’s largest waste and recycling companies. In a campaign launch video, Morris said: “I know a little bit about garbage. And Mitch McConnell? He’s trashed Trump and for over 40 years, he’s been dumping on us.” “Let’s dump career politicians and take out the trash in Washington,” he added. Morris currently serves as chairman and CEO of Morris Industries, which he founded in 2010. “When I came into the world, my mother was on food stamps. We have been fighting and scrapping for everything we have like most Kentuckians,” Morris said. “I have been able to live the American dream because of how great this country is.” The Morris campaign is being led by veterans of the 2024 Trump-Vance campaign, including veteran pollster Tony Fabrizio, strategists Andy Surabian, Chris Grant and data consultant Tim Saler. An outside group supporting the Morris campaign is being overseen by Trump-Vance 2024 veterans Arthur Schwartz, Luke Thompson and Cliff Sims. With two-term Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear and Lt. Gov. Jacqueline Coleman both passing on a Senate run, state House minority floor leader Pamela Stevenson is making a bid. But it’s been over three decades since a Democrat won a Senate race in Kentucky.
Virginia sheriffs rip Dem challenger’s ‘criminals first’ agenda in fiery endorsement of Jason Miyares
FIRST ON FOX: A group of 19 Virginia sheriffs has thrown their political weight behind incumbent Attorney General Jason Miyares after Democrats nominated former Virginia state Del. Jay Jones to challenge him in November. “The choice is clear. The decision is ours,” the group of Virginia sheriffs said in a letter to their colleagues just days after the primary. The sheriffs praised Miyares’ “commitment to Virginia’s law enforcement community and first responders” and urged their fellow Virginia sheriffs to coalesce behind the incumbent attorney general for re-election. Jones, a former assistant attorney general, has centered his campaign on protecting Virginia from President Donald Trump’s administration. In a letter to the sheriffs of Virginia, the group of 19 sheriffs frame Jones’ policy platform as anti-law enforcement. VIRGINIA DEMOCRATS CHOOSE NOMINEE TO CHALLENGE GOP ATTORNEY GENERAL JASON MIYARES “Jay Jones has been an outspoken advocate of the many tools weaponized to weaken Virginia’s law enforcement community, replacing prosecutors with social workers, who put criminals first and victims dead last. The litany of legislation aimed not at criminals but at law enforcement is not just a failure of policy, but a policy designed to fail Virginia families,” the sheriffs said. VIRGINIA REPUBLICANS PICK RADIO HOST TO RUN ALONGSIDE WINSOME SEARS IN RACE TO REPLACE YOUNGKIN They touted the “tremendous progress Virginia’s law enforcement professionals have achieved over the last four years,” as the sheriffs urged their colleagues to prevent Jones from returning a “tidal wave of lawlessness, violence, and illicit drug activity.” “We ask that you join so many of us in the law enforcement community in standing united in our support of Attorney General Jason Miyares and ask each and every single member of Virginia law enforcement community to remind our friends, families, and local communities to remember the difference four years makes. We cannot go back to four more years of lawlessness, violence, and resistance to the men and women who serve,” the sheriffs said. In the letter, the sheriffs outlined legislation supported by Jones they say is “designed to fail Virginia families.” Those policies include investigating law enforcement for “pattern and practice” violations, causing “direct harm to Virginians” through Enhanced Earned Sentencing Credits (EESC), eliminating cashless bail and supporting qualified immunity, which they said would make it easier to sue police officers for civil rights violations. They also detailed Jones’ support for eliminating mandatory minimum sentencing for selling drugs to minors in schools and school resource officers (SROs), which they said makes schools more dangerous. The letter was signed by Virginia Sheriffs Kyle M. Moore, William Kidd Jr., Travis M. Sumption, Richard A. Vaughan, Hank Partin, Robert Richardson, Whit W. Clark III, Darrell L. Hodges, Wayne Davis, Bryan Hutcheson, Mike Miller, Kevin Kemp, Jeremy Flemming, Donald Lowe, Brian Hieatt, Brian K. Roberts, Jayson Crawley, Jeremy A. Falls and Donald T. Sloan. Virginia is one of two states holding statewide elections this year, and the election results will be used as a bellwether ahead of the competitive 2026 midterm elections. On the campaign trail, Jones has applauded how attorneys general have sued the Trump administration to unlock federal funding and reject executive overreach, “but here in Virginia, MAGA extremist Attorney General Jason Miyares has put politics first and refused to join in the effort to defend against unconstitutional and un-American Trump policies.” “Virginia needs leaders who will put Virginia first. Who will stand up to the powerful corporate special interests. Who will stand up for the rule of law. Who will keep us safe. And that’s exactly what I will do as your attorney general,” Jones said after securing the Democratic nomination for attorney general last week. Jones did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.
Cuomo staying in NYC mayor’s race for now, following stunning setback to Mamdani in primary: Sources
Andrew Cuomo is not dropping out of the race for New York City mayor. Cuomo, the former three-term New York State governor who resigned from office in 2021 amid multiple scandals, has decided, for now, to move ahead and run in the general election as an independent candidate, two sources confirmed to Fox News on Thursday night. The announcement by Cuomo came two days after progressive upstart Zohran Mamdani shocked the political world, as he topped Cuomo and the rest of the 11-candidate field in heavily blue New York City’s Democratic Party mayoral primary and took a big step toward becoming the first Muslim mayor of the nation’s most populous city. Mamdani, a 33-year-old democratic socialist state assemblyman from Queens who originally hailed from Uganda, captured 43.5% of the first round unofficial primary results, with Cuomo at 36.4%. REPUBLICANS USE MAMDANI BOMBSHELL VICTORY OVER CUOMO AS AMMUNITION TO BLAST DEMOCRATS AS EXTREMISTS While he acknowledged Mamdani’s victory in the primary, Cuomo left the door open to a November run as an independent candidate, which election rules in New York State permit. “I want to look at all the numbers as they come in and analyze the rank choice voting. I will then consult with my colleagues on what is the best path for me to help the City of New York, as I have already qualified to run for mayor on an independent line in November,” Cuomo said in a statement earlier this week. Cuomo was facing an end-of-the-day Friday deadline for candidates who had already qualified to run as independents to decline that independent ballot line. The former governor will keep his place that he already secured earlier this year on the “Fight & Deliver” ballot line. But the sources said that Cuomo had not committed yet to running an active general election campaign through the summer and into the autumn. If Cuomo drops out of the race at a later date, his name will stay on the general election ballot. Once a longshot in the race, Mamdani closed the gap with Cuomo during the final stretch of the primary race thanks to an energetic campaign that focused in part on New York City’s high cost of living. Endorsements by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the progressive rock star and New York City’s most prominent leader on the left, and by Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, the progressive champion and two-time Democratic presidential nominee runner-up, helped Mamdani consolidate much of New York City’s Democratic Party base WHAT MAMDANI’S STUNNING PRIMARY VICTORY MEANS FOR DEMOCRATS NATIONWIDE And Mamdani rode a wave of support from younger and first-time voters to catapult himself into first place. “I will be the mayor for every New Yorker,” Mamdani said in his victory speech. “Whether you voted for me, or for Governor Cuomo, or felt too disillusioned by a long broken political system to vote at all, I will fight for a city that works for you, that is affordable for you, that is safe for you.” Since none of the candidates topped 50%, counting technically now heads into rounds of ranked-choice elimination. But the combined totals of votes Mamdani and other aligned progressive candidates won are likely to be more than enough to topple Cuomo as the ranked-choice tabulations begin on July 1. Cuomo, seeing the writing on the wall, admitted defeat and complimented Mamdani as the initial primary results poured in on Tuesday, telling supporters that “tonight is his night. He deserved it. He won.” But Cuomo, in an interview on Wednesday with CBS New York, noted that “in the general election, more people come out to vote. It’s a broader pool, if you will, of New Yorkers, more representative pool of New Yorkers.” “There are about 5 million voters in New York City, there are about 8 million people in New York City, and about 1 million people vote in the Democratic primary. So it’s not, necessarily, representative of the city at large,” the former governor said. And a poll from a consulting and lobbying group that was aligned with an outside group supporting Cuomo released a poll on Thursday that suggested Mamdani and Cuomo tied in a possible general election matchup, with incumbent Mayor Eric Adams – a Democrat who’s running for re-election as an independent – and Republican mayoral nominee Curtis Sliwa far behind. Sliwa, the founder of the volunteer crime-fighting patrols known as the Guardian Angels, is the GOP nominee for a second straight election cycle. Also running this November as an independent is former federal prosecutor Jim Walden. Asked if Cuomo should drop out of the race, Mamdani said Thursday in an interview with Fox News affiliate WNYW in New York that “I think there’s room for everyone because, ultimately, we’re going to win it.” The 67-year-old Cuomo has spent the past four years fighting to clear his name after 11 sexual harassment accusations, which he has repeatedly denied, forced his resignation. He was also under investigation at the time for his handling of the COVID-19 pandemic amid allegations his administration vastly understated COVID-related deaths at state nursing homes. Last month, the Justice Department opened a criminal investigation into Cuomo after Republicans accused him of lying to Congress about the decisions he made as governor during the coronavirus pandemic. Cuomo, thanks to his name recognition, was the front-runner in the polls even before he announced his candidacy earlier this year. But he ran a safe campaign that relied on union support, and he shied away from often engaging with local or national media. Mamdani, meanwhile, made smart use of social media platforms, including TikTok, as he engaged the primary electorate. He proposed eliminating fares to ride New York City’s vast bus system, making CUNY (City University of New York) “tuition-free,” freezing rents on municipal housing, offering “free childcare” for children up to age five, and setting up government-run grocery stores. Adams, in formally launching his campaign on Thursday on the steps of City Hall, said “this is a city
Trump spotlights parents who have lost kids due to open borders during ‘big, beautiful bill’ event
President Donald Trump was joined by relatives of those killed at the hands of illegal immigrants during an event at the White House urging Congress to pass the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. The president said the legislation will ensure “no more families are victimized” by illegal immigrants and open border policies. During the event Thursday in the East Room, Trump described what families have had to go through as a result of the previous administration’s open border policies as “sick,” adding just thinking about it makes people want to cry. He pointed out that the GOP spending package, which still must be approved by Republicans in the Senate, would include provisions Trump described as “the single most important piece of border legislation ever to cross the floor of Congress.” At one point, Trump turned to Joe Abraham, an angel dad who lost his daughter Katie after an illegal immigrant rear-ended her stopped car at a traffic light while traveling 60 to 70 mph. SEN. CHUCK GRASSLEY: HOW SENATE REPUBLICANS ARE RESTORING RULE OF LAW AND SECURING BORDER FOR YEARS TO COME “We will end this invasion once and for all. And we’re always going to remember the memory of Katie, that beautiful, beautiful 20-year-old daughter of yours,” Trump said, before her father walked over to the president, shook his hand and provided Trump a picture of his daughter that the president held up for the audience. Trump then highlighted a mother from Texas, Sarah Stuart, who the president said lost her brother to the ongoing fentanyl epidemic created by the United States’ porous border policies. “Our bill provides billions and billions of dollars to stop fentanyl and other illicit narcotics,” Trump said. “We’re also charging other countries like Mexico, Canada and China billions of dollars in taxes that we put on because they’ve allowed people that are selling fentanyl to go through their countries. Or, in the case of China, they send it here.” On Thursday, shortly before Trump’s “big, beautiful event” at the White House, Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced new visa restrictions for the families of fentanyl traffickers. SEN. ROGER MARSHALL: TRUMP’S ONE BIG, BEAUTIFUL BILL WILL KEEP OUR BORDER THE MOST SECURE IT’S BEEN IN HISTORY “I get irritated. I get pissed off because I’m sick of meeting angel moms and dads,” Trump’s border czar, Tom Homan, said at the event. “You want to talk about family separation? They bury their children.” Last month, a letter from more than 60 angel moms, dads and relatives was sent to members of Congress, urging them to pass Trump’s “big, beautiful bill.” In addition to hiring more border patrol agents and providing more funding for the border wall, the legislation would allow the addition of extra detention centers for detained migrants, increased scrutiny of unaccompanied minors’ potential gang ties and speed up deportations to at least 1 million per year. CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP “Every single one of us is living with a permanent hole in our lives because an illegal immigrant, who never should have been in this country, was allowed to stay and take an innocent life,” the letter states. “These were preventable tragedies. And yet, year after year, Washington offers excuses instead of solutions. That must end now.”
Trump wins over lifelong Democrat autoworker with ‘big, beautiful bill’ vehicle loan tax benefit
President Donald Trump recognized a third-generation autoworker from Michigan Thursday while speaking at the “big, beautiful event,” noting he was a lifelong Democrat who now supports the president because of vehicle loan interest tax benefits. The president spoke about the “big, beautiful bill” from the East Room of the White House with a group of people standing behind him who represented various trades, including food delivery, farmers and automotive workers. One of the workers standing behind Trump was James Benson, a third-generation autoworker from Belleville, Michigan, who has been with Ford Motor Company for 26 years. Trump introduced Benson, noting that Ford has “a lot of plants” in the U.S. TRUMP SUPPORTERS DEFEND ‘BIG BEAUTIFUL BILL’ AGAINST MUSK’S CRITICISM, SHRUG OFF DEBT CONCERNS “If you have plants in this country, you’re going to make a lot of money,” the president said, adding that he loves autoworkers. Trump also said Benson was a lifelong Democrat until 2017, when he saw the benefits of the tax laws. Trump then spoke about his latest plan to benefit car owners by making interest on car payments fully tax-deductible. THE ‘ONE BIG, BEAUTIFUL BILL’ URGENTLY NEEDS A MAKEOVER TO USHER IN TRUMP’S GOLDEN AGE But the deduction would only be for cars made in the U.S., Trump said, adding if it was made someplace else, “we don’t care.” Trump’s “big, beautiful bill” would create a new deduction of up to $10,000 for qualified passenger vehicle loan interest in a given taxable year. The deduction would phase out when a taxpayer’s modified adjusted gross income exceeds $100,000. Applicable passenger vehicles include cars, trucks, vans, SUVs and motorcycles that have been manufactured for use on public streets, roads and freeways and for which the final assembly occurs in the U.S. TRUMP’S ‘BIG, BEAUTIFUL BILL’ FACES RESISTANCE FROM REPUBLICAN SENATORS OVER DEBT FEARS The bill defines the final assembly as the process by which the manufacturer produces a vehicle and delivers it to a dealer with all the parts necessary for operation. As is the case with the overtime and tips deductions, the auto loan provision would be in effect for tax years 2025 through 2028. Trump reiterated to those in attendance that the tax benefit is only for vehicles made in the U.S. CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP “Remember that, James. We’re going to keep those Michigan auto factories roaring,” the president said. FOX Business’ Eric Revell contributed to this report.
EXCLUSIVE: Trump admin takes action after massive fraud uncovered at agency Dems tried to protect from DOGE
Following the uncovering of a massive bribery scandal at USAID, the Small Business Administration (SBA) is ordering a full audit of all government contracting officers who have exercised grant-awarding authority under the agency’s business development program over the last 15 years. In a letter obtained by Fox News Digital, SBA Administrator Kelly Loeffler said the scale of the USAID fraud is a “damning reflection of systemic failures in oversight and accountability.” She further said that the fraud “was not an isolated incident.” In response, Loeffler instructed Associate Administrator Tre Pennie, who oversees government contracts awarded by SBA, to “act decisively” to crack down on any potential similar abuses in the agency. Loeffler instructed Pennie to immediately initiate a full-scale audit of the agency’s awarding officers back to 2010. DEM SENATOR ACCUSES TOP TRUMP OFFICIAL OF BEING RESPONSIBLE FOR ‘HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF CHILDREN DYING’ “The role of federal government contracting officers is not ceremonial or self-dealing; rather, it is a position of immense authority and fiduciary responsibility,” said Loeffler. “The contracting process must be transparent and built on merit, not personal gain.” This comes after USAID, an agency tasked with administering civilian foreign aid, was essentially dismantled by the DOGE waste, fraud and abuse cuts made under Elon Musk and President Donald Trump. The move was met with massive protests from Democrats who claimed that cutting USAID would impoverish and harm recipients across the globe. Despite claims of how much good the agency was doing, it was recently discovered that an influential contracting officer at USAID named Roderick Watson was able to carry out a massive, long-term bribery scheme dating all the way back to 2013. Watson, 57, pleaded guilty to “bribery of a public official,” according to a DOJ press release. TOP DEM DEMANDS ANSWERS FROM SOCIAL SECURITY, CLAIMING WAIT TIMES SPIKED DURING DOGE CUTS According to the DOJ, Watson sold his influence starting in 2013, with contractors Walter Barnes, owner of Vistant, and Darryl Britt, owner of Apprio, funneling payoffs through subcontractor Paul Young to hide their tracks. A DOJ press release said that Britt and Barnes “regularly funneled bribes to Watson, including cash, laptops, thousands of dollars in tickets to a suite at an NBA game, a country club wedding, downpayments on two residential mortgages, cellular phones, and jobs for relatives. The bribes were also often concealed through electronic bank transfers falsely listing Watson on payroll, incorporated shell companies, and false invoices.” The statement said that Watson is alleged to have received bribes “valued at more than approximately $1 million as part of the scheme.” Vistant was awarded in November 2023, as part of a joint venture, a contract worth up to $800 million with one of the focuses of that contract being to address “a variety of issues affecting the root causes of irregular migration from Central America to the United States,” an issue that President Joe Biden tasked then-Vice President Kamala Harris with during his presidency. ‘FOR SALE’: DOGE MOVES TO SELL OFF ALMOST HALF A BILLION IN FEDERAL REAL ESTATE, RELOCATE CABINET AGENCY HQS Several days later, that contract was canceled after USAID published a notice that said Vistant was excluded from government contracting due to “evidence of conduct of a lack of business honesty or integrity.” The joint venture then successfully sued the government over being put on that exclusion list and was re-awarded the contract and given a $10,000 payment in August 2024. In her letter, Loeffler said the USAID scandal “represents a collapse in the very safeguards that are supposed to protect American taxpayer dollars and ensure fair access for legitimate small businesses.” She slammed the Biden administration for awarding the $800 million contract to Vistant despite the business being labeled by USAID as lacking “honesty and integrity.” “The fact that a federal official was able to act as the linchpin of a persistent, large-scale fraud operation speaks to a failure in internal controls and a breakdown in the contracting environment that demands immediate correction,” said Loeffler. MARJORIE TAYLOR GREENE LAUNCHES PROBE INTO PLANNED PARENTHOOD’S USE OF TAXPAYER FUNDS She said that SBA plays a “critical role” in federal contracting and “will no longer stand by while abuses are perpetrated at the expense of taxpayers and deserving small businesses.” Loeffler said the agency’s audit will begin with high-dollar and limited competition contracts within SBA’s 8(a) business development program. The findings will be referred to the U.S. Office of Inspector General (OIG) and the DOJ. Any officials or businesses found in violation of the SBA’s ethical standards or who have committed criminal misconduct will be referred to the appropriate authorities and SBA will assist the DOJ in recovering misappropriated funds, Loeffler said. “We will not allow public trust to be quietly eroded by backdoor deals and unchecked discretion,” said Loeffler. “We owe it to America’s small businesses to get this right,” she went on. “Your office has the authority, and now the mandate, to act decisively.”