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The super PAC aligned with Tim Scott is canceling its massive ad blitz on behalf of the South Carolina senator’s Republican presidential campaign.

Trust In the Mission PAC, also known as “TIM PAC,” outlined in a memo to donors that was obtained by Fox News on Monday that “we aren’t going to waste our money when the electorate isn’t focused or ready” for an alternative to former President Donald Trump, the commanding frontrunner for the GOP nomination. 

The group emphasized that instead of continuing to run ads, it will “fully fund” its current grassroots and door-knocking program on behalf of Scott.

But the move by TIM PAC to pull the plug on the $40 million it reserved to run ads in Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina – three crucial early voting states in the GOP nominating calendar – is the latest warning sign for Scott. And it comes as the senator’s poll numbers, and fundraising, have flatlined.

NO MORE MR. NICE GUY? SCOTT LASHES OUT AT BIDEN, GOP RIVALS, OVER ISRAEL-HAMAS WAR

“We’ll continue to do what we have been doing and spend more time on the ground,” Scott said in a Fox News Digital interview on Saturday in New Hampshire when asked how he’d boost his standing in the 2024 Republican race with just three months to go until the first votes. 

Pointing to his campaign stops in Iowa, New Hampshire and his home state, Scott said, “We’ll continue to make our journeys… the more we do that, the better we’ll be, and I’m looking forward to being the nominee of our party.”

CHECK OUT THE NUMBERS IN THE LATEST FOX NEWS 2024 GOP PRESIDENTIAL RACE POLL

Scott, the only Black Republican in the Senate and a rising star in the GOP, entered the presidential race in the spring on high notes and with his campaign coffers stocked with over $20 million left over from his overwhelming re-election last November. 

But Scott’s poll numbers are edging down in the early voting states – and he stood at just 1% in the most recent Fox News national survey in the Republican race. 

The senator’s fundraising has also failed to ignite, and he spent more than he hauled in during the past three months.

TIM PAC co-chair Rob Collins emphasized in the memo, “We have done the research. We have studied the focus groups. We have been following Tim on the trail. This electorate is locked up and money spent on mass media isn’t going to change minds until we get a lot closer to voting.”

“Starting today, we are going to release all of our fall media inventory. We will continue to fully fund our grassroots door knocking, conduit fundraising, event hosting, and earned media efforts,” he announced.

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Collins noted, “This summer we built up Tim’s name identification, likability and brand. In July, we laid down a fall media reservation as a second phase to be prepared for the possibility of a coalesced field and the resulting protracted head-to-head election. The field remains splintered, so we will be patient.”

It’s unclear how much of the $40 million television ad program the super PAC is canceling – although a person with knowledge of the plan said it’s close to $15 million, adding that some spots in Iowa scheduled to run ahead of the Jan. 15 caucuses will remain.

Scott’s campaign, responding to the TIM PAC news, emphasized in a statement that “from Day One, Tim’s campaign was built for the long haul – powered by the most primary cash on hand and the highest candidate favorability of anyone in the field.”

“On issues ranging from foreign policy to abortion, he has been the clearest and strongest voice, leading while others have followed. We’re ready, as ever, to take our message into the early states and beyond,” the campaign highlighted.

Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more at our Fox News Digital election hub.

“There are three things I have learned not to discuss with people. Politics. Religion. And the Great Pumpkin.” – Linus in It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown

The Peanuts character Linus was steadfast in his belief in the Great Pumpkin. Linus was convinced that if he hung out in the pumpkin patch all night long, the Great Pumpkin would arise and bestow him special Halloween gifts.

Of course there is no Great Pumpkin.

And on Capitol Hill, there is no Speaker of the House. There hasn’t been a Speaker now for two weeks.

THE HITCHHIKER’S GUIDE TO THE SPEAKER’S ELECTION OVER THE NEXT 24-36 HOURS

Yet House Republicans continue to camp out in the parliamentary pumpkin patch each night, waiting for a mythical character who will rise and deliver them political salvation.

At the rate we’re going on Capitol Hill, we may have to wait until Halloween before lawmakers choose a Speaker.

And don’t get me started about Thanksgiving or Christmas. 

Every time it looks like the House inches closer to electing a Speaker – be it House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio or even Rep. Austin Scott, R-Ga., Republicans swoop in Lucy-style and yank away the football. 

Peanuts creator Charles Schultz initiated the annual football liturgy in the daily comic strip back in the mid-1950s. But Schulz first introduced the football flub into the television canon via the 1966 production of “It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown.”

One could hardly find a better allegory for House Republicans than the Lucy/Charlie Brown caper. 

The GOP is the majority party in the House. Yet historic infighting and recriminations diminished Republicans. It started with incinerating five days and 15 ballots before finally electing former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., in January. It was the longest election for Speaker since 1859.

Internecine battles blocked Republicans from even debating their own defense spending bill for weeks. The same discord prevented the GOP from passing more than one spending bill over the summer.

Naturally Republicans returned to Washington in September and blamed McCarthy – even though it was his own members who failed to advance those bills.

So a small band of Republicans finally ousted McCarthy in early October. The California Republican committed what Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., interpreted as the cardinal sin of working with Democrats to avert a government shutdown. This was after some arch-conservatives torched McCarthy in the spring for cutting a deal with President Biden to avoid a fiscal calamity with the debt ceiling.

So now, Republicans assumed the duality of portraying both Lucy and Charlie Brown. They jerked the football away from themselves, soaring catastrophically into the air, landing hard on their respective keisters.

And, they’re simultaneously camped out in the pumpkin, er, “Speaker’s patch,” waiting for you-know-who.

“Good grief,” as Charlie Brown might say.

This gives you a sense of what Republicans are up against.

JORDAN’S SPEAKER BID GAINS SERIOUS MOMENTUM AS KEY GOP HOLDOUTS COME AROUND

Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla., indicated she would endorse Scalise for Speaker. Then pulled away her football the very next morning. Now she’s for Jordan.

Rep. Victoria Spartz, R-Ind., told Fox she voted “present” on a secret ballot no less, for Speaker during Scalise’s bid last Wednesday. By Friday afternoon, Spartz voted for Jordan in a similar, secret conclave. However, on Friday evening, Spartz declared she would “have to assess” whether she would still support Jordan.

“I am not sure if he truly is the independent thinker and visionary leader we need to deliver for the American people,” said Spartz.

House Armed Services Committee Chairman Mike Rogers, R-Ala., was adamant in his opposition to Jordan. By Monday morning, Rogers came around.

These guys make Lucy look like the holder for a team about to kick a game-winning field goal in the Super Bowl.

This is why some Republicans may do better waiting for the Great Pumpkin to arise and bring order to the pumpkin patch. 

The Republican Party is spiraling right now on Capitol Hill. 

Republicans launched verbal fusillades against one another over the weekend as Jordan supporters began threatening to work against GOPers who wouldn’t support him for Speaker. Some lorded over the heads “the wrath of Trump.” Former President Trump endorsed Jordan two weeks ago. In other words, a Republican House member would surely support Jordan – if they knew what was good for them. That’s one reason why Jordan and his allies want to get opponents on the record. Those strong-arm tactics could alienate some Republicans from backing Jordan rather than building support.

This is rough.

There’s a reason why Austin Scott got out of bed last Friday as a rank-and-file Republican member. Some may even characterize Scott as a backbencher. But by midday, Scott was in the race for Speaker.

“When I woke up this morning, I had no intention of doing this. It took me a long time to even get to my wife to tell her. Call our friends. Be in prayer. Because we haven’t done any preparation,” said Scott. “But I believe if we as Republicans are going to be the majority, we have to do the right things the right way. And we’re not doing that right now.”

Scott had no organization. No battle plan. No preparation.

Yours truly encountered House Transportation Committee Chairman Sam Graves, R-Mo., in the hall just as the balloting for Speaker began Friday afternoon between Jordan and Scott. I asked Graves how things were in the room.

His response was gob-smacking.

“I think Austin (Scott) wins,” said Graves. “He was good on his feet in there. Made a good presentation.”

JORDAN PLEDGES TO ‘BRING ALL REPUBLICANS TOGETHER’ IN LETTER TO HOUSE GOP ON EVE OF SPEAKER ELECTION

The vote totals came a few minutes later. Graves was wrong. Scott didn’t defeat Jordan. Jordan prevailed in the conference meeting 124-81 over Scott.

But consider this. Without even breaking a sweat, Scott rounded up 81 votes behind closed doors. Eighty-one Republicans thought so little of Jordan’s candidacy that they would rather support someone who materialized out thin air than the Ohio Republican.

Republicans took a second ballot. Fifty-five Republicans vowed not to support Jordan on the floor. Dipping into the parliamentary algebra here, Jordan was about 65 votes short of reaching the threshold to become Speaker on the floor.

Jordan whittled that number down over the weekend. But the bar to clear remains high.

Scalise loyalist and Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart, R-Fla., was amazed that so few of Jordan’s acolytes shifted to Scalise AFTER Jordan endorsed Scalise last week.

“He couldn’t get his closest people to follow him,” said Diaz-Balart. “It seems that he has a hard time getting folks that are his closest friends, closest people to follow him.”

Back on Peanuts, there are a lot of naysayers surrounding Linus who dismiss impassioned belief in the Great Pumpkin.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

“Just you wait ‘til next year, Charlie Brown. You’ll see,” chides Linus. “I’ll be there. I’ll be sitting there in that pumpkin patch. And I’ll see the Great Pumpkin. Just wait and see, Charlie Brown.”

The way things have gone, Linus may stand a better chance of spotting the Great Pumpkin before the House of Representatives elects a Speaker.

“There are three things I have learned not to discuss with people. Politics. Religion. And the Great Pumpkin.” — Linus in “It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown”

The Peanuts character Linus was steadfast in his belief in the Great Pumpkin. Linus was convinced that if he hung out in the pumpkin patch all night long, the Great Pumpkin would arise and bestow him special Halloween gifts.

Of course there is no Great Pumpkin.

And on Capitol Hill, there is no speaker of the House. There hasn’t been a speaker now for two weeks.

BATTLE FOR SPEAKER: WHAT COMES NEXT AFTER A CHAOTIC FEW WEEKS FOR HOUSE REPUBLICANS

Yet House Republicans continue to camp out in the parliamentary pumpkin patch each night, waiting for a mythical character who will rise and deliver them political salvation.

At the rate we’re going on Capitol Hill, we may have to wait until Halloween before lawmakers choose a speaker.

And don’t get me started about Thanksgiving or Christmas.

Every time it looks like the House inches closer to electing a speaker — be it House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La.; Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio; or even Rep. Austin Scott, R-Ga. — Republicans swoop in Lucy-style and yank away the football.

Peanuts creator Charles Schulz initiated the annual football liturgy in the daily comic strip back in the mid-1950s, but he first introduced the pigskin flub into the television canon via the 1966 production of “It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown.”

One could hardly find a better allegory for House Republicans than the Lucy/Charlie Brown caper.

The GOP is the majority party in the House. Yet historic infighting and recriminations diminished Republicans. It started with incinerating five days and 15 ballots before finally electing former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., in January. It was the longest election for speaker since 1859.

Internecine battles blocked Republicans from even debating their own defense spending bill for weeks. The same discord prevented the GOP from passing more than one spending bill over the summer.

MCCARTHY FEELS ‘VERY GOOD’ JIM JORDAN WILL BECOME HOUSE SPEAKER AHEAD OF CRUCIAL FLOOR VOTE

Naturally, Republicans returned to Washington in September and blamed McCarthy — even though it was his own members who failed to advance those bills.

So a small band of Republicans finally ousted McCarthy in early October. The California Republican committed what Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., interpreted as the cardinal sin of working with Democrats to avert a government shutdown. This was after some arch-conservatives torched McCarthy in the spring for cutting a deal with President Biden to avoid a fiscal calamity with the debt ceiling.

So now, Republicans assumed the duality of portraying both Lucy and Charlie Brown. They jerked the football away from themselves, soaring catastrophically into the air, landing hard on their respective keisters.

And, they’re simultaneously camped out in the pumpkin, er, “Speaker’s patch,” waiting for you-know-who.

“Good grief,” as Charlie Brown might say.

This gives you a sense of what Republicans are up against.

Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla., indicated she would endorse Scalise for majority leader. Then she pulled away her football the very next morning. Now she’s for Jordan.

Rep. Victoria Spartz, R-Ind., told Fox News she voted “present,” on a secret ballot no less, for speaker during Scalise’s bid last Wednesday. By Friday afternoon, she voted for Jordan in a similar, secret conclave. However, on Friday evening, Spartz declared she would “have to assess” whether she would still support Jordan.

“I am not sure if he truly is the independent thinker and visionary leader we need to deliver for the American people,” said Spartz.

House Armed Services Committee Chairman Mike Rogers, R-Ala., was adamant in his opposition to Jordan. By Monday morning, Rogers came around.

These guys make Lucy look like the holder for a team about to kick a game-winning field goal in the Super Bowl.

This is why some Republicans may do better waiting for the Great Pumpkin to arise and bring order to the pumpkin patch.

The Republican party is spiraling right now on Capitol Hill.

Republicans launched verbal fusillades against one another over the weekend as Jordan supporters began threatening to work against GOPers who wouldn’t support him for speaker. Some lorded over the others’ heads “the wrath of Trump.” Former President Donald Trump endorsed Jordan two weeks ago. In other words, a Republican House member would surely support Jordan — if they knew what was good for them. That’s one reason why Jordan and his allies want to get opponents on the record. Those strong-arm tactics could alienate some Republicans from backing Jordan rather than building support.

This is rough.

SOME REPUBLICANS IN TALKS TO CUT DEAL WITH DEMOCRATS IN HOUSE SPEAKER FIGHT

There’s a reason why Scott got out of bed last Friday as a rank-and-file Republican member. Some may even characterize him as a backbencher. But by midday, Scott was in the race for speaker.

“When I woke up this morning, I had no intention of doing this. It took me a long time to even get to my wife to tell her, ‘Call our friends. Be in prayer.’ Because we haven’t done any preparation,” said Scott. “But I believe if we as Republicans are going to be the majority, we have to do the right things the right way. And we’re not doing that right now.”

Scott had no organization. No battle plan. No preparation.

Yours truly encountered House Transportation Committee Chairman Sam Graves, R-Mo., in the hall just as the balloting for speaker began Friday afternoon between Jordan and Scott. I asked Graves how things were in the room.

His response was gobsmacking.

“I think Austin (Scott) wins,” said Graves. “He was good on his feet in there. Made a good presentation.”

The vote totals came a few minutes later. Graves was wrong. Scott didn’t defeat Jordan. Jordan prevailed in the conference meeting 124-81 over Scott.

But consider this. Without even breaking a sweat, Scott rounded up 81 votes behind closed doors. Eighty-one Republicans thought so little of Jordan’s candidacy that they would rather support someone who materialized out thin air than the Ohio Republican.

Republicans took a second ballot. Fifty-five Republicans vowed not to support Jordan on the floor. Dipping into the parliamentary algebra here, Jordan was about 65 votes short of reaching the threshold to become speaker on the floor.

Jordan whittled that number down over the weekend. But the bar to clear remains high.

Scalise loyalist and Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart, R-Fla., was amazed that so few of Jordan’s acolytes shifted to Scalise AFTER Jordan endorsed Scalise last week.

“He couldn’t get his closest people to follow him,” said Diaz-Balart. “It seems that he has a hard time getting folks that are his closest friends, closest people to follow him.”

Back on Peanuts, there are a lot of naysayers surrounding Linus who dismiss impassioned belief in the Great Pumpkin.

“Just you wait ‘til next year, Charlie Brown. You’ll see,” chides Linus. “I’ll be there. I’ll be sitting there in that pumpkin patch. And I’ll see the Great Pumpkin. Just wait and see, Charlie Brown.”

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

The way things have gone, Linus may stand a better chance of spotting the Great Pumpkin before the House of Representatives elects a speaker.

House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) scored a major win this morning as House Armed Services Committee Chairman Mike Rogers (R-Ala.) reversed himself and endorsed the Ohio Republican for Speaker.

Rogers was a major holdout, adamantly opposing Jordan as recently as late Friday afternoon. But Jordan and Rogers spoke over the weekend and Rogers is now in the camp of Jordan.

LEADING MODERATE WHO VOWED TO OPPOSE JORDAN FLIPS IN MAJOR VICTORY FOR SPEAKER NOMINEE

The support from Rogers could be seismic in this Speaker’s contest. Many defense hawks were worried about Jordan’s spending plans and how it may adversely slash defense. But Rogers and Jordan now appear to be on the same page. The backing of Rogers could bring along a number of other defense hawks into Jordan’s camp.

Jordan definitely made headway over the weekend as he tries to narrow his deficit.

But, it’s about the math. And the math remains challenging for Jordan.

Forcing a roll call vote on the floor tomorrow is a tactic by Jordan. But it’s a gamble. Jordan could win. But it also lays bear how many members oppose him if Jordan loses on the floor. Remember that House Republicans wanted to avoid another spectacle on the floor of burning through roll call vote after roll call vote, ala January, before finally electing former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.).

A MESS, OR HOW PREVENTING ONE SHUTDOWN CAUSED THE HOUSE TO SHUT DOWN

However, THAT may be EXACTLY what Jordan wants. 

Jordan effectively wants to DARE Republicans to vote against him on the floor. He wants to see which Republicans are willing to vote against him and then turn up the outrage machine and the hand of former President Trump against those Republicans.

This tactic is risky because it may reveal just how close to winning Jordan is – or demonstrate the deficit.

If Jordan is 20 or fewer votes short, he’s probably in play. But if it’s north of that, it may take a lot to ever get Jordan elected as Speaker.

That said, Republicans may start to direct anger at Jordan for trying to smoke out Members on the floor who are opposed to Jordan. As one source said to Fox, the strategy by Jordan to put pressure on skeptical Republicans to oppose him on the floor “is a card best threatened and not played.” Such a tactic could in fact drive some support AWAY from Jordan 

HAWLEY TAPS DOJ TO INVESTIGATE PRO-PALESTINIAN STUDENT GROUPS’ POTENTIAL TIES TO HAMAS

This will come down to a battle of the wills. How long is Jordan willing to push the envelope and call vote after vote after vote?

“It’s a pressure cooker if we go to the floor,” said one senior Republican.

“If it’s a game of chicken, the crazy people win,” said one Republican source. Fox was told that Jordan was inclined to continue to call for votes in an effort to wear down his opponents.

Moreover, do not underestimate the level of antipathy for Jordan which has even developed over the past few days.

“What he did to (House Majority Leader) Steve Scalise (R-La.) is unforgiving and disqualifying,” said one angry House GOPer to Fox who opposes Jordan.

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So, it’s possible Jordan could win the Speakership tomorrow. He’s certainly a little closer than the other day. But the raw opposition from some Republicans to Jordan could mean we’re in for a continued, pitched battle this week.

And as always, it will boil down to the math.

EXCLUSIVE: The Biden campaign is launching an account on former President Trump’s Truth Social, Fox News Digital has learned.

Biden campaign officials told Fox News Digital that they are joining Truth Social for the purpose of “meeting voters where they are.”

“Republicans can’t even agree on a Speaker of the House, so clearly, not every Republican thinks the same,” a Biden campaign official told Fox News Digital.

Biden campaign officials say they are “injecting our message” into GOP primary coverage and plan to combat “mis and disinformation” about President Biden that may appear on the social media platform.

FLASHBACK: TRUMP JOINS TRUTH SOCIAL: ‘I’M BACK! #COVFEFE’

“There’s very little ‘truth’ happening on TruthSocial, but at least now it’ll be a little fun,” a senior Biden campaign aide told Fox News Digital on Monday.

The Biden campaign’s handle is expected to be @BidenHQ. Campaign officials said their first post is expected to publish later Monday.

“Well. Let’s see how this goes. Converts welcome!” The campaign’s first post is expected to read.

Campaign officials said they plan to hold “MAGA accountable on their own platform.” The officials pointed to the campaign’s existing account on “X,” previously known as Twitter, in which they post content of Republican politicians and candidates attacking their opponents. 

“We will be leveraging the fact that Republicans can sometimes be our best messengers!” a campaign official told Fox News Digital. 

The officials likened the move to the Biden campaign “going into the lion’s den to point out Republicans’ hypocrisy and have a little fun at their own expense.” 

Truth Social told Fox News Digital that it is a “free, open platform” and “welcomes anyone around the world to join.” 

Former Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Calif., is the company’s CEO.

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And when asked for comment on the Biden campaign’s move to join Truth Social, Trump campaign spokesperson Steven Cheung told Fox News Digital: 

“Crooked Joe Biden and his team are finally acknowledging that Truth Social is hot as a pistol and the only place where real news happens,” Cheung said. “Unfortunately for Biden, his continuation of spreading misinformation to gaslight the American people in order to distract from his disastrous record won’t work and they’ll be ratioed to oblivion.”

The Republican National Committee (RNC) made it official on Monday, announcing its partners and venue for their third GOP presidential nomination debate, which will be held in Miami on Nov. 8.

The RNC said it selected NBC News, Salem Radio Network, the Republican Jewish Coalition (RJC), and Rumble as partners for the debate, which will take place at the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts of Miami-Dade County.

RNC chair Ronna McDaniel emphasized that the showdown “will offer our candidates an excellent opportunity to meet the moment and contrast their plans and vision with the failures of the Biden White House.”

STATE OF THE RACE: DID TRUMP STEP IN IT OVER CONTROVERSIAL MIDEAST COMMENTS?

And RJC chair and former Sen. Norm Coleman noted that “as the horrific events of the last week have unfolded in Israel, the issue of American foreign policy has taken on an even greater role. American strength and American resolve – and our candidates’ vision for America’s role in the world – are more important than ever.” 

The big question going forward is which candidates will be on the stage at next month’s debate.

FIRST ON FOX: RNC RAISES THE BAR FOR CANDIDATES TO QUALIFY FOR THIRD DEBATE

Former President Donald Trump, who remains the commanding polling and fundraising frontrunner for the 2024 Republican nomination as he makes his third straight White House run, pointed to his large lead over his rivals as he skipped the first two debates. And late last month, Trump campaign adviser Chris LaCavita said Trump wouldn’t take the stage at the third debate.

Trump’s campaign has called for all future debates to be canceled, and that the RNC should “refocus its manpower and money” on defeating Democrats in next year’s election.

As first reported last month by Fox News, the RNC raised the polling and donor thresholds that 2024 primary candidates must reach to make the stage at the third debate.

To participate, each candidate must have a minimum of 70,000 unique donors to their campaign or exploratory committee, including 200 donors in 20 or more states. 

The White House hopefuls must also reach 4% support in two national polls, or reach 4% in one national poll and 4% in two statewide polls conducted in Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada or South Carolina – the four states that lead off the Republican presidential nominating calendar.

Additionally, candidates are also required to sign a pledge agreeing to support the eventual Republican presidential nominee. They must agree not to participate in any non-RNC sanctioned debates for the rest of the 2024 election cycle and agree to data-sharing with the national party committee.

The thresholds have been rising for each ensuing debate. To make the first showdown, a Fox News-hosted event in Milwaukee on Aug. 23, the candidates needed to hit 1% in polling and have 40,000 donors. Eight candidates ended up facing off in Milwaukee.

The criteria were raised to 3% in the polls and 50,000 donors for the second debate, a FOX Business-hosted showdown that took place on Sept. 27 at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Museum in Simi Valley, California. Seven candidates traded fireworks at the second debate.

Multimillionaire biotech entrepreneur and first-time candidate Vivek Ramaswamy said he’s reached the criteria for the third debate but may join Trump in opting out. His campaign has been having internal discussions regarding whether he should participate in the Miami showdown.

“We’re taking a look at what’s going to best foster debate in party. I think the second debate was totally useless. I do not think it served the voters well. And so I’m looking at how are we going to be able to best inform voters and communicate with voters,” Ramaswamy told Fox News’ Deirdre Heavey earlier this month on the campaign trail in Keene, New Hampshire.

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Ramaswamy was joined on stage at the second debate by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, former ambassador and former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina, former Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey, former Vice President Mike Pence, and North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum.

Former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson, who qualified for the first debate, fell short and failed to make the stage at the second showdown.

The third debate will be held with just over two months to go until the Jan. 15 Iowa caucuses, which is the lead off contest in the 2024 GOP presidential nominating calendar.

Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more at our Fox News Digital election hub.

FIRST ON FOX: House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer is demanding answers from Special Counsel Robert Hur on whether the sensitive, classified documents President Biden retained were related to specific countries— countries that were involved in his family’s lucrative foreign business deals.

Comer, R-Ky., is investigating the Biden family’s foreign business dealings as part of the House impeachment inquiry, as well as Biden’s alleged mishandling of classified documents.

Comer, in a letter to Hur, who is investigating Biden’s alleged improper retention of classified records, said his committee has “developed significant evidence regarding President Biden’s retention of classified materials at Penn Biden Center.”

BIDEN INTERVIEWED BY SPECIAL COUNSEL ABOUT CLASSIFIED DOCUMENTS

“As detailed in the Oversight Committee’s bank memoranda and Impeachment Inquiry Memorandum, evidence suggests President Biden may have used certain members of his family — particularly his son, Hunter Biden — to accumulate millions of dollars from foreign individuals and entities for the benefit of his family and himself,” Comer wrote to Hur. “Indeed, the Biden family received millions of dollars from foreign sources while President Biden served in public office and afterwards.”

Comer added, “If any of the classified documents mishandled by President Biden involved countries or individuals that had financial dealings with Biden family members or their related companies, the Committee needs access to that information to evaluate whether our national security has been compromised.”

Comer noted that Biden family members, their business associates and their “related companies” received “significant payments from individuals and companies in China, Russia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, and Romania.” He also referred to “other evidence recently released by the Ways & Means Committee identified over 20 different countries with ties to the Biden family’s influence peddling schemes.”

DOJ ORDERED HUNTER BIDEN INVESTIGATORS TO ‘REMOVE ANY REFERENCE’ TO JOE BIDEN IN FARA PROBE WARRANT: HOUSE GOP

Comer said the House Oversight Committee has learned throughout its investigation that the Biden family and their business associates brought in more than $24 million between 2014 and 2019 by “selling Joe Biden as ‘the brand’ around the world.”

“The Committee is concerned that President Biden may have retained sensitive documents related to specific countries involving his family’s foreign business,” Comer wrote.

Meanwhile, Comer also questioned Hur on information to help the committee to “understand whether the White House or President Biden’s personal attorneys placed any limitations or scoping restrictions during the interview that would have precluded a line of inquiry regarding evidence (emails, text messages, or witness statements) directly linking Joe Biden to troublesome foreign payments.”

“President Biden’s retention of certain classified documents begs the question as to why he kept these particular materials,” Comer wrote. “Of the many classified documents he reviewed over his lengthy career, why did President Biden keep these specific documents in his home and office?”

He added, “The sensitive nature of the information contained in the documents may answer that question for the Committee, which is why we seek to review those materials.”

HUNTER BIDEN’S $250K WIRE FROM CHINA LABELED AS A ‘PERSONAL INVESTMENT’

Comer requested that Hur determine a “mutually agreed upon secured location” and provide information without redactions to the committee, including “any terms, agreements or scoping limitations” related to his office’s review of the president.

Comer also requested a list of the countries named in any documents with classification markings recovered from Penn Biden Center, Biden’s residence, including the garage, in Wilmington, Delaware, or elsewhere; and a list of all individuals named in those documents with classification markings; and all documents found with classified markings.

Comer is also asking if Hur was “permitted” to ask about evidence obtained by the U.S. Attorneys’s Office for the district of Delaware — which has been investigating Hunter Biden — and on any information released by IRS whistleblowers related to the Biden family’s business dealings.

Comer also asked for the copy of the report and agents’ notes following the special counsel’s interview of the president and any interview with former White House counsel Dana Remus.

Comer’s letter comes just days after President Biden was interviewed by Hur.

The White House Counsel’s Office confirmed the voluntary interview took place earlier this month at the White House over the course of two days — last Sunday and Monday and concluded Monday.

HUNTER BIDEN RECEIVED $250K WIRES ORIGINATING IN BEIJING WITH BENEFICIARY ADDRESS LISTED AS JOE BIDEN’S HOME

“As we have said from the beginning, the president and the White House are cooperating with this investigation, and as it has been appropriate, we have provided relevant updates publicly, being as transparent as we can, consistent with protecting and preserving the integrity of the investigation,” White House spokesperson for investigations Ian Sams said. 

Hur’s investigation comes after a batch of records from President Biden’s time as vice president, including a “small number of documents with classified markings,” were discovered at the Penn Biden Center by the president’s personal attorneys on Nov. 2, 2022. 

Additional classified records were discovered at President Biden’s Wilmington home in January. After that discovery, Attorney General Merrick Garland appointed Hur as special counsel to investigate the matter.

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Special counsel Robert Mueller’s team negotiated with lawyers for then-President Trump for an interview, but Trump never sat for one. His lawyers instead submitted answers to written questions.

President George W. Bush sat for a 70-minute interview as part of an investigation into the leak of the identity of a CIA operative. President Clinton in 1998 underwent more than four hours of questioning from independent counsel Kenneth Starr before a federal grand jury.

North Carolina is emerging as a 2024 battleground for Democrats looking to turn the tide in the swing state that saw narrow Republican victories in the past three presidential elections.

The state is increasingly “trending purple” as populations in the state’s major cities grow, North Carolina-based Democrat strategist Douglas Wilson recently told The Hill. North Carolina has seen relatively close elections for years, with several presidential, gubernatorial and senatorial candidates winning by no more than a few percentage points.

Former President Barack Obama won North Carolina’s 15 electoral votes during the 2008 election, though Republicans carried the state in the 2012, 2016 and 2020 presidential contests. Republicans have generally seen more success in federal elections, like recently with Sen. Ted Budd’s 2022 victory, while Democrats have seen more recent gubernatorial victories.

Wilson cautioned how presidential campaigns, especially an incumbent like Democrat Biden is running, historically have only begun “setting up shop” in North Carolina during the spring or summer of an election year. Though this time around, he expects more attention in the Tar Heel State earlier on in the 2024 cycle. 

NORTH CAROLINA REPUBLICANS FINALIZE WIDE-RANGING ELECTIONS BILL

“I do expect a lot more attention here than in the past, not to say we didn’t get attention in the past, but it’s probably going to be much more intense in 2024,” Wilson said. “In North Carolina, you need to start talking to voters early, and you need to have folks on the ground early.”

Wilson noted how Obama’s team in 2008 successfully bolstered its campaign infrastructure early on in the primaries before beating Hillary Clinton for the Democrat nomination.

In May, a Biden campaign spokesperson told the Washington Post they “fully expect North Carolina and Florida to be competitive, and we are investing early and accordingly.”

GOP strategist Doug Heye, who has worked on several North Carolina campaigns, told The Hill that Obama caught “everybody by surprise” in 2008 while state and national Republicans were “asleep at the switch” because they did not anticipate the contest to be as competitive as it was. 

THIS CRUCIAL SOUTHERN BATTLEGROUND REMAINS ‘DEEPLY POLARIZED AND DIVIDED’

Heye pointed to growing metropolitan areas like Charlotte and Raleigh in arguing that North Carolina Republicans can no longer take the electorate for granted.

While Obama’s 2008 victory was at first considered a “fluke,” Heye explained, North Carolina was the second-closest state during the 2012 presidential election. The contests remained close in 2016 and 2020, when Biden was defeated by then-President Trump by less than 1.5 percentage points.

“The lesson or the takeaway should be this is going to be a close state and should not be taken for granted,” he told The Hill. “In the state, I think people get that. Nationally, they don’t get it at all.”

He also said Trump’s likely GOP nomination and Republican Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson’s campaign for governor could pose potential hurdles for the GOP in 2024, especially in courting the growing number of suburban women in Raleigh, a demographic that proved essential to Democrat wins in 2020 and 2022.

“You don’t want to give those voters a reason to turn away from you,” Heye said, noting Robinson’s controversial remarks on Muslims, Jews and Black people who vote Democrat.

“It’s going to cause distractions for the state party, it’s going to define the race negatively, and they’ve got a good, competent Democrat who’s running who’s very vanilla, which I mean as a good thing, who just won’t have made those kinds of mistakes,” Heye told The Hill, referencing state Attorney General Josh Stein, the likely Democrat nominee.

GOP strategist Jonathan Felts, who advised Budd’s Senate campaign, told The Hill that Republicans saw sweeping victories in North Carolina despite being “massively” outspent in the last election cycle. He noted how Democrat Gov. Roy Cooper secured his reelection in 2020 by only a few points despite significantly outspending his Republican challenger. In 2024, Felts anticipates Republicans and Democrats to tighten up their economic messaging to better appeal to North Carolina working families.

“North Carolina will be like a lot of other states in that it’s going to be a referendum on who do you think is the biggest fighter for working families, and I think Donald Trump and Mark Robinson … are much better suited for that argument than are Joe Biden and Josh Stein,” Felts said. 

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Gabe Esparza, a Democrat candidate for state treasurer, noted that North Carolina’s growing Latino population could be strategic in securing his party’s success by a mere “few extra thousand” votes. Cynthia Wallace, the co-founder of a nonprofit called the New Rural Project, told The Hill that the parties should also take into account North Carolina is one of the most rural states in the country.”

“You cannot change the trajectory of who gets elected without changing the trajectory of rural North Carolina,” she said.

House Republicans have faced a chaotic few weeks after Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., was ousted from his post earlier this month, but an uncertain future remains as the party looks to select the next speaker.

Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, has emerged as the Republican nominee to take McCarthy’s place, but the road to get to that point was filled with plot twists, including the surprise withdrawal of House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., from consideration and the surprise bid of Rep. Austin Scott, R-Ga., for speaker. To complicate matters further, Jordan faces significant opposition from dozens of fellow GOP lawmakers in his quest for the speakership.

A Look Back

The GOP drama started Oct. 2, when Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., officially followed through on threats to file a formal motion to eject the speaker. Two days later, McCarthy was removed from his role after a 216-210 vote, sending the Republican majority scrambling for a new leader for the House.

Both Scalise and Jordan emerged as early frontrunners for the post, though Scalise was able to garner support of the majority of the Republican conference during a secret 113-99 vote last week. But just one day later Scalise made the stunning decision to drop out of the speaker race, lacking a path toward victory on the House floor.

CAPITOL HILL ROLLERCOASTER: JORDAN CLINCHES SPEAKER NOMINATION BUT STILL BATTLES FOR THE GAVEL

“There are still some people that have their own agendas. And I was very clear we have to have everybody put their agendas on the side and focus on what this country needs. This country is counting on us to come back together,” Scalise said at a press conference following the decision.

The Scalise decision opened the door for Jordan, who early on Friday looked sure to be the next Republican choice for a nominee. But his bid also became questionable Friday with the surprise entry of Scott into the race, though Jordan ultimately bested the Georgia lawmaker in a 124-81 vote. A second vote taken to gauge Jordan’s ability to win the speakership on the House floor revealed 55 Republicans still opposed to him, despite Scott urging fellow lawmakers to throw their support behind the Ohio Republican.

“I highly respect Jim Jordan,” Scott said on social media after losing the vote. “He is an asset to the Republican Party and our nominee for Speaker.”

“Our conference has spoken, and now we must unite behind Jordan so we can get Congress back to work,” the Georgia Republican added.

Republican Presidential Candidates Weigh In

The two frontrunners for the Republican nomination for president, former President Donald Trump and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, have both thrown their weight behind Jordan’s bid for speaker, with DeSantis saying he would vote for the Ohio Republican if he were a member of the House.

GEORGIA GOP REP AUSTIN SCOTT ANNOUNCES BID FOR HOUSE SPEAKER

“Jim Jordan… I don’t know if he has the votes. I would vote for him if I were there. He’s a good man. He’s a good conservative,” DeSantis said while campaigning in Iowa this weekend, according to a report from Radio Iowa. “But here’s the thing: what they’re showing the country is that they’re like chickens with their heads cut off. They can’t shoot straight. There’s a lot of drama and palace intrigue.”

Trump, meanwhile, said during a Friday interview with Real America’s Voice that he hopes the Ohio lawmaker “does well” in the race.

“I think he does well. I hope he does well,” Trump said. “He’s got competition, as you understand. And they’re friendly with me, too. Very nice people and good people. We’ll see what happens.”

Nikki Haley, the former South Carolina governor and current GOP presidential hopeful, argued that House Republicans needed to unite no matter who is nominated to serve as speaker.

“They need to get it together,” Haley said during an appearance on CNN’s “State of the Union” with Jake Tapper Sunday. “They need to get in a room and figure out who this is going to be and come out unified.”

CONSERVATIVE HOUSE GOP GROUP LINKS TOP PLAYERS IN REPUBLICANS’ SPEAKER FIGHT

Haley said Democrats have caused chaos both at home and overseas, noting inflation, a crisis at the U.S. border with Mexico, and the outbreak of wars around the world. However, the GOP hopeful argued that Republicans won’t be able to fix those issues until they come together as a conference.

“You can’t fix Democrat chaos with Republican chaos,” Haley said. “This is not a good look.”

The Road Ahead

The House recessed for the weekend after the Friday vote, giving Jordan time to win the support of the 55 GOP holdouts. But the Ohio lawmaker faces an uphill climb to garner enough support on the House floor, only being able to afford four Republican defections if no Democrats back his bid for speaker.

Rep. Vern Buchanan, R-Fla., told reporters Friday that he does not believe Jordan will garner enough support for speaker, and he noted that a failed bid could lead to strong candidates throwing their hat in the ring.

“Jordan won’t get the votes. I don’t know if anybody can get the votes. Then they’re going to have four or five other members of Congress that are really, I think pretty strong members, will get in the race,” Buchanan said.

MCCARTHY BACKS JIM JORDAN FOR SPEAKER AMID AUSTIN SCOTT CHALLENGE

One such option is Republican Study Committee Chair Kevin Hern, R-Okla., who expressed interest in the job before throwing his support behind Jordan’s bid. Another option is Rep. Tom Emmer, R-Minn., the third-ranking House Republican who initially backed Scalise. 

Republicans could also take the unorthodox approach of looking outside the House for a candidate, since the speaker does not constitutionally have to be a House member. One such option is Trump, who has offered to temporarily step in if Republicans cannot unite behind a candidate. That prospect is very unlikely, though.

Another possible scenario is moderate members of both parties cutting a deal on a speaker choice.

In an interview on NBC’s “Meet the Press” Sunday, House Minority Leader Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., hinted that some sort of bipartisan solution could be in the works.

“There are informal conversations that have been underway. When we get back to Washington tomorrow, it’s important to begin to formalize those discussions,” Jeffries said.

But such a move is likely to face fierce resistance from House Republicans, with Democrats already holding control of both the Senate and the White House.

“Some Republicans want to cut a deal with Democrat leader Hakeem Jeffries to elect a Speaker,” Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., said Sunday in a post on X. “With Democrats controlling the White House and the Senate, we must not give up control of the House. Republicans should unite behind Jim Jordan as our Speaker of the House!”

“No Republican is going to vote for a Democrat,” Rep. Bob Good, R-Va., said last week during an interview with FOX Business “That would be political suicide, even for the most moderate of members.”

There’s also the possibility that McCarthy regains the gavel, with some lawmakers loyal to the California lawmaker indicating that he is the only candidate they would support.

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“We know who our real leader is…. I’m more solidly behind McCarthy now than ever,” Rep. Carlos Gimenez, R-Fla., told reporters last week. “We need Kevin McCarthy back.”

As the current nominee, Jordan has aimed to schedule a vote on his fate on the House floor on Tuesday, a source familiar with the matter confirmed to Fox News Digital. While that bid still faces significant opposition, a spokesperson for the Ohio lawmaker told Fox News Digital that Jordan “has made it clear that he wants to unite the conference in order to pass the bills that the American people expect.”

“He is looking forward to working with the entire conference, to do so when he’s speaker,” Jordan’s press secretary, Russell Dye, said.

Former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley, in 2018, warned the United Nations Security Council about the terror threat the Iran-backed Hamas posed to Israel, while also seeking to label it a terror group both in the chamber and the General Assembly — but the efforts were snubbed or shut down by other members. 

Haley, serving as the U.S. ambassador to the U.N. in 2018, told the body that Hamas “has been inciting violence for years,” long before the U.S. moved to shift its embassy to Jerusalem as it did in 2018.

She sounded the alarm about media reports of plans Hamas made to invade Israel if rioters could break through.

“They have reported that Hamas maps and social media show the fastest routes to reach Israeli communities in case demonstrators make it through the security fence. They have reported on Hamas messages over loudspeakers that urge demonstrators to burst through the fence, falsely claiming Israeli soldiers were fleeing, when in fact, they were not,” she told the Council.

She noted incidents where Molotov cocktails were put on kites and flown into Israel, and how key crossing points had been attacked. She also rebuffed calls for additional restraint by Israel by some on the Council — calls that have been echoed in recent days since the terror attack by Hamas.

UN STILL DOES NOT LABEL, SANCTION HAMAS AS TERROR GROUP DESPITE MURDEROUS ATTACKS

“I ask my colleagues here in the Security Council, who among us would accept this type of activity on your border? No one would. No country in this chamber would act with more restraint than Israel has. In fact, the records of several countries here today suggest they would be much less restrained.”

Israel was hit by a devastating terror attack last week that has left more than 1,300 Israelis dead. It has sparked a retaliation from Israel, which has then drawn more calls for restraint from U.N. officials.

Hamas is not labeled or sanctioned as a terror group by the United Nations Security Council, unlike ISIS and Al Qaeda.

ISRAEL AMBASSADOR SLAMS UN COUNCIL’S STATEMENT CRITICIZING ISRAEL: ‘HOW MANY MURDERED JEWS DOES IT TAKE’ 

Haley, who is now running for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, also introduced a resolution in the Security Council in June 2018 that would have labeled Hamas a terror group. The U.S. was the sole vote in favor, with other countries either abstaining or voting against. Russia, which backs Iran, has veto power on the council. The Council has still failed to sanction Hamas or label it a terror group.

Haley would that same year go on to push for a vote in the General Assembly to condemn Hamas and its rocket attacks against Israel. She succeeded and the vote took place. The amendment then passed with a slim majority — only to then fail on procedural grounds when the president changed the rules to require a two-thirds majority.

Critics of the U.N., including Haley, have accused it of having an anti-Israel bias, both on its General Assembly and the Security Council as well as in its various agencies. During the Trump administration, the U.S. pulled out of or withdrew funding from a number of agencies citing those agencies’ anti-Israeli bias.

SENIOR HAMAS OFFICIAL ADMITS ISRAEL ATTACKS HAD BEEN PLANNED FOR YEARS UNDER GUISE OF GOVERNING GAZA

This week, the UN’s top human rights official called for both Israel Defense Forces and Hamas to “respect international humanitarian law” and defuse tensions. He also criticized Israel’s “full siege” of Gaza.

“They must immediately cease attacks targeting civilians and attacks expected to cause disproportionate death and injury of civilians or damage to civilian objects,” Turk said.

Israeli Ambassador Gilad Erdan took am at how the U.N. had handled the crisis.

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“The U.N.’s response to Israel’s early warning to the residents of Gaza is shameful,” Erdan told Fox News Digital. “For many years, the U.N. has turned a blind eye to the arming of Hamas and its use of the civilian population and civilian infrastructure in the Gaza Strip as a hiding place for its weapons and murder.

“Now, instead of standing by Israel, whose citizens were slaughtered by Hamas terrorists and who tries to minimize harm to those not involved, it preaches to Israel. It is better for the U.N. to focus now on returning the the hostages, condemning Hamas, and supporting Israel’s right to defend itself.” 

FIRST ON FOX – Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy hauled in $7.4 million during the third quarter of 2023, according to the Ramaswamy campaign.

The funding includes an in-kind $1 million contribution the biotech multimillionaire made to his campaign in the third quarter. 

Ramaswamy now has more than 130,000 unique donors, nearly doubling the 70,000 requirement for entry into the third debate.

According to his campaign, Ramaswamy in the third quarter received over 143,000 individual donations from over 78,000 unique donors averaging a $38 contribution in the past three months. He saw a 198% increase in gross raised over the past three months and a 121% increase in the number of donations compared to the second quarter. 

Among the donors, his campaign touts that nearly 40% of them are first-time Republican donors while pointing to low single-digit averages for other candidates. 

VIVEK RAMASWAMY, DEM REP. RO KHANNA FLOAT DEBATE IN NEW HAMPSHIRE

The fundraising period included the first two Republican debates, where Ramaswamy made his first impression on millions of voters and was a major target by his GOP rivals on the debate stage.

Ramaswamy’s numbers come as Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’s campaign touted a $15 million raised in the third quarter while former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley’s campaign says it brought in $11 million. However, their numbers pale in comparison to the $45.5 million former President Trump’s campaign raised during the same period.

All four of the candidates have already met the RNC’s polling and donor requirements for third primary debate set for Nov. 8 in Miami. Ramaswamy’s campaign told FOX News Digital he has exceeded 130,000 total unique donors, nearly double the 70,000 donor requirement. 

GOP PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES DECLARE SUPPORT FOR ISRAEL AFTER HAMAS ASSAULT: ‘JOE BIDEN FUNDED THESE ATTACKS’

Ramaswamy has put a spotlight on border security in recent days following the horrific attacks against Israel by the terrorist group Hamas. The political outsider recently visited both Eagle Pass, Texas and the New Hampshire-Canadian border to call out vulnerabilities.

He also teased a potential debate with Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., following the announcement of DeSantis’ Nov. 30 showdown with Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom, to be moderated by FOX News’ Sean Hannity. 

RAMASWAMY FIRES BACK AT MEXICAN PRESIDENT IN BORDER SPAT: ‘NEW DADDY IN TOWN’

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The latest FOX News poll released last week showed Ramaswamy with 7% support among GOP voters, placing him fourth behind Haley at 10%, DeSantis at 13% and Trump, who maintains a commanding lead at 59%.

Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more at our Fox News Digital election hub.

Though President Biden’s approval ratings with Americans are underwater, his re-election campaign’s fundraising is still going strong.

The president and Vice President Kamala Harris hauled in more than $71 million in the July-September third quarter of 2023 fundraising, their 2024 re-election team announced on Sunday.

The campaigns spotlighted that they had nearly $91 million in their campaign coffers at the end of September, which they touted is “the highest total amassed by any Democratic candidate in history at this point in the cycle.”

The president’s re-election campaign also said their fundraising the past three months “is significantly more than any of the GOP 2024 campaigns, and the team’s cash-on-hand is widely expected to be more than the entire GOP field combined.”

CHECK OUT THE LATEST FOX NEWS 2024 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION POLLING

Presidential candidates, as well as those running in Senate and House races, have until the end of Sunday to file their third quarter fundraising reports with the Federal Election Commission. But some campaigns have already announced their most recent fundraising hauls.

HERE’S HOW MUCH TRUMP SAYS HE RAISED THE PAST THREE MONTHS

Former President Donald Trump — the commanding front-runner for the Republican Presidential nomination as he makes his third straight White House run — announced earlier this month that he hauled in $46 million the past three months, with $38 million cash-on-hand. 

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis reported $15 million raised, with $14 million in his campaign coffers. And former ambassador and former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley announced $11 million raised and $12 million cash-on-hand.

The president’s campaign showcased that their fundraising the past three months — which was roughly equivalent to the $72 million hauled in during the second quarter — demonstrates “continued strong support and enthusiasm for the President and Vice President’s reelection campaign.”

The money was raised by the Biden-Harris re-election campaign, the Democratic National Committee (DNC), and state parties participating in a join-fundraising committee formed when the president launched his re-election campaign in late April.

The campaign touted their “strategic approach to fundraising,” which allows them “to maximize available resources for President Biden and Vice President Harris’ reelection, with an equally strategic approach to spending.”

Because individual donors can contribute larger sums to national party committees, such as the DNC, than to individual presidential campaigns is a contributing factor for Biden vastly out raising his Republican challengers.

The Biden re-election campaign also spotlighted their grassroots appeal, noting that the small dollar donations increased from 34% of their overall haul in the second quarter to 49% of their overall revenue the past three months.

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They also noted that they brought in nearly a quarter of million new donors who didn’t contribute to the 2020 Biden presidential campaign.

“We are especially proud of our efforts to exponentially grow our grassroots donor base, now having over a hundred thousand Americans signed up to donate on a recurring basis from now until Election Day,” Biden-Harris 2024 campaign manager Julie Chavez Rodriguez said in a statement to Fox News. “These numbers are a testament to one of our core objectives early in this campaign: raise the resources needed to run an aggressive campaign that will win in November 2024.” 

Fundraising, along with polling, is a key metric in determining a candidate’s strength and grassroots appeal. Fundraising dollars can be used to build up candidate’s campaign structure, grassroots outreach, and get out the vote efforts, and to pay for travel and ads.

Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more at our Fox News Digital election hub.

NASHUA, N.H. – Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina campaigned on an positive and uplifting conservative since he launched his bid for the Republican presidential nomination. 

But in the wake of Hamas’ sneak attack on Israel eight days ago, the senator has let loose with some blistering verbal jabs at President Biden and some of his 2024 GOP rivals.

“It’s clear language and is forceful language because it is disgusting to see the evil brought upon the Jewish people,” Scott said this weekend in interviews with Fox News Digital and on Fox News’ “Cavuto Live.”

“I’m just irritated and frustrated by what we’ve seen,” Scott said.

HALEY, RAMASWAMY, WAR OF WORDS HEATS UP WITH FRESH VOLLEYS OVER ISRAEL-HAMAS WAR

Scott has been sharpening his language for weeks, and on Tuesday he accused President Biden of having “blood on his hands” and argued that Biden was “complicit” in the Hamas assault.

“His weakness invited the attack, his cash giveaways to Iran helped fund terrorism,” Scott claimed during a speech at the Hudson Institute in Washington, D.C., as he referred to the Biden administration’s green light earlier this year to unfreeze $6 billion in Iranian oil revenues as part of a deal for an exchange for American prisoners. Iran is a major supporter of both Hamas and the Lebanese based Hezbollah — two groups that aim to destroy the Jewish State.

CLICK HERE TO WATCH LIVE FOX NEWS COVERAGE OF THE ISRAEL-HAMAS WAR

Tehran was not able to access any of the money — which the administration says was heavily monitored and restricted for humanitarian use — but Scott and other Republicans have slammed Biden over the deal. Washington and Qatar quietly agreed following the Hamas attack to re-freeze the funds.

“You have the weakness of President Biden, you invite attacks. When you negotiate a deal, creating a market for hostages, $6 billion to Iran. What did Hamas say? They said thank you to Iran. That, in my opinion, is being complicit,” Scott argued in his Fox News interviews.

Asked about his shift in tone, Scott explained that “as a Christian I gotta tell you I’m just irritated and frustrated by what we’ve seen, the complicit behavior from the President of the United States.”

“I am a big believer in Romans 12:15 that says we should mourn with those who mourn, but the next chapter talks about executing justice, the wrath of God. I think you have to mix those two together to understand why I have a sense of urgency about responding to the atrocities in Israel,” he spotlighted.

Scott’s attacks on Biden last week came hours after the president, in a televised address, once again condemned the Hamas attack.

“In this moment we must be crystal clear: We stand with Israel,” Biden said in remarks from the White House. “And we will make sure Israel has what it needs to take care of its citizens, defend itself and respond to this attack. There’s no justification for terrorism. There’s no excuse.”

The South Carolina Democratic Party pushed back on Scott’s attacks on the president.

“While President Biden is supporting our allies and leading on the world stage in the wake of the horrific attack on Israel, Tim Scott is desperately trying to distract from his lack of foreign policy creds and failure to deliver for the thousands of American service members at South Carolina’s eight military bases and across the world,” state party chair Christale Spain said in a statement

While targeting Biden, Scott also saved some of his verbal venom for his Republican presidential nomination rivals.

He joined a handful of other GOP White House contenders in saying that comments critical of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu by former President Donald Trump — the commanding front-runner in the 2024 Republican race — were “just wrong.”

STATE OF THE 2024 RACE: DID TRUMP STEP IN IT WTIH HIS ISRAEL AND HEZBOLLAH COMMENTS?

He took aim at Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and biotech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy for their past comments on Israel and on the war in Urkaine, arguing that “the last thing we need is a Joe Biden Republican Party wing on foreign policy.”

The senator was anything but the loudest voice at the first Republican presidential nomination debate in Milwaukee, Wisconsin in August. Because he mostly avoided the numerous verbal fistfights at the first debate, he rarely enjoyed the glare of the primetime spotlight, and his performance was panned by pundits.

“The loudest voices too often say too little,” Scott said in a Fox News interview soon after the first debate.

But in September, Scott told Fox News Digital in an interview that Trump was “wrong” on abortion and charged that Trump, DeSantis, and former ambassador and former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley have “run away from protecting life.”

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The senator’s criticisms were a sign he was sharpening his contrasts with his rivals for Republican nomination.

Scott delivered a much more aggressive performance at the second debate, which was held on Sept. 27 at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in California.

Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more at our Fox News Digital election hub.

Congress has been in chaos for weeks. 

Since coming within hours of a partial government shutdown at the start of the month to a leadership crisis within the GOP, the chaos on Capitol Hill hasn’t let up.

Democratic lawmakers have ridiculed the upheaval, and Republicans have little clarity about what will happen next in the process. But there are several potential avenues to resolve the speakership fight in the coming weeks.

Jordan could gather votes

Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, put his name up for the speakership after eight Republicans voted with every Democrat to oust former Speaker Kevin McCarthy. 

MCCARTHY BACKS JIM JORDAN FOR SPEAKER AMID AUSTIN SCOTT CHALLENGE

Though he narrowly lost a conference vote for the nomination to Rep. Steve Scalise earlier this week, Jordan emerged as the next in line to try for a consensus this week. After Scalise withdrew, many members considered it right to give Jordan a chance to gather votes. 

Yet Jordan ended Friday dozens of ballots short of the 217 Republican votes needed to win the speakership on the House floor. In a GOP conference vote Friday, 55 Republican members indicated in a secret ballot they would not vote for Jordan on the floor. That came after Jordan won a majority of his conference votes as the nominee for speaker.

Changing those votes is a tall order, but if Jordan can convince enough Republicans to support his bid, he could become the next speaker. 

Jordan has signaled he wants to take the vote to the House floor, where Republican members would have their votes publicly recorded. But it’s unclear how soon that could happen.

CONSERVATIVE HOUSE GOP GROUP LINKS TOP PLAYERS IN REPUBLICANS’ SPEAKER FIGHT

Multiple lawmakers have told Fox News there would not be a floor vote until another GOP conference meeting is held, which would come on either Monday or Tuesday.

A dark horse could emerge as a consensus candidate

If Jordan can’t convince enough of his party to back him as speaker, the caucus will have to go back to the drawing board for a new candidate.

Rep. Vern Buchanan, R-Fla., predicted ahead of the caucus vote Friday that Jordan would not secure the votes needed, and, in that case, there would be more candidates jumping in.

“Jordan won’t get the votes. I don’t know if anybody can get the votes. Then they’re going to have four or five other members of Congress that are really, I think pretty strong members, will get in the race,” Buchanan told reporters.

Rep. Austin Scott, R-Ga., put his name in for speaker against Jordan late this week, but he endorsed his rival after losing the first secret GOP ballot Friday.

Republican Study Committee Chair Kevin Hern signaled he’d be interested in running for speaker, but he dropped out before the Scalise-Jordan vote. And he supported Jordan’s recent bid in the GOP caucus meeting Friday, a source told Fox News. It’s unclear whether he would run if Jordan’s candidacy crumbles. 

Two lawmakers told Fox News Digital earlier this week that Minnesota Rep. Tom Emmer, who holds the No. 3 leadership spot within the House GOP, had been floating a run for speaker behind the scenes even while publicly backing Scalise. But Emmer hasn’t said publicly if he would run for speaker.

One idea that has been floated by a few Republicans is to call on someone outside the House. Former President Donald Trump has offered to serve as speaker of the House temporarily if the GOP can’t agree on one. 

Technically, the House speaker doesn’t have to be an elected representative, according to the Constitution. But no one outside Congress has ever been elected to the role.

Moderate Republicans could make a deal with Democrats

One unlikely scenario would be for moderate Republicans to make a deal with Democrats to get a bipartisan majority to elect some candidate. But that idea has many obstacles.

Democrats are likely to vote for Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries as they did on every speaker vote in January. And it’s unlikely any Republican would back a Democrat.

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“No Republican is going to vote for a Democrat,” Rep. Bob Good, R-Va., told FOX Business this week. “That would be political suicide, even for the most moderate of members.”

Even Republicans on the Problem Solvers Caucus, a major bipartisan group in the House, have grown disenchanted with working across the aisle after Democrats joined the eight GOP hardliners to vote out McCarthy.

“This was a problem to be solved, and folks failed to meet the moment,” freshman Rep. Mike Lawler, R-N.Y., said this week.

McHenry could be granted de facto speaker powers

Another possibility would be to give North Carolina Rep. Patrick McHenry additional authority in his role as speaker pro tempore. After McCarthy’s ousting, McHenry became interim speaker, but his power to call up votes or conduct House business is mostly limited to calling votes for a speaker election.

A few House Democrats on the Problem Solvers Caucus proposed granting McHenry expanded speaker powers in 15 day increments to address a limited number of issues, including spending bills and funding for Ukraine and Israel. In exchange for the expanded powers, the Democrats would want half of the suspension bills on the calendar.

It’s unclear whether that deal would gain enough support. 

“I never supported that kind of a maneuver,” Rep. Byron Donalds, R-Fla., said this week. “And I think Patrick McHenry was very clear that that is not going to happen.”

McCarthy could return 

It took 15 rounds of votes for McCarthy to win the gavel in January. With the rules allowing a single member to call up a motion to vacate the chair, it’s unlikely McCarthy could make a comeback.

McCarthy has publicly backed Jordan and has not publicly signaled interest in a new bid for the speakership he lost less than two weeks ago.

But McCarthy still has his supporters.

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Rep. Carlos Gimenez, for instance, remains a McCarthy-only voter even after McCarthy’s ouster and the chaos that followed. 

“We know who our real leader is. … I’m more solidly behind McCarthy now than ever,” Gimenez told reporters Friday. “We need Kevin McCarthy back.”

Fox News’ Liz Elkind, Chad Pergram, Kelly Phares and Tyler Olson contributed reporting.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis says the U.S. should not be receiving any refugees from Gaza in light of the Hamas terror attack against Israel, after at least one left-wing Democrat suggested it.

“I will say, and I don’t know what Biden’s going to do, but we cannot accept people from Gaza into this country as refugees,” DeSantis, who is running for the Republican 2024 presidential nomination, said on Saturday. “I am not going to do that.”

DeSantis was speaking a week after the Hamas terror attack against Israel that killed over 1,300 Israelis. Israel has since launched a counterattack against Hamas in Gaza, sparking a significant displacement of the population. The United Nations has said that more than 423,000 Gaza citizens have been displaced. 

UN REFUGEE AGENCY: GAZA BECOMING A ‘HELLHOLE’ ON THE ‘BRINK OF COLLAPSE’

The U.S., under the Biden administration, has expanded refugee resettlement from a cap of 18,000 during the Trump administration to 125,000 now — although it did not come close to reaching that cap last year. Of the FY 2024 allocation, 30,000-45,000 is allocated for refugees from the Near East and South Asia.

The humanitarian situation has led to some concerns from Republicans that refugees from Gaza could end up in the United States. Rep. Jamaal Bowman, D-NY, told the New York Post the U.S. should be open to accepting refugees from the area.

“Fifty percent of the population in Gaza are children. The international community as well as the United States should be prepared to welcome refugees from Palestine while being very careful to vet and not allow members of Hamas,” he told the outlet.

An administration official told Fox News Digital this week that the U.S. “supports safe passage for civilians” and provides support to Palestinian refugees through support to the U.N, including the U.N. Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) while also engaging in a “worldwide refugee resettlement program” in partnership with the U.N.

HAMAS TERROR ATTACK FUELS CONSERVATIVE CONCERNS ABOUT BORDER SECURITY AMID MIGRANT CRISIS 

But DeSantis cited anti-Israeli views from the area as a reason they shouldn’t be allowed into the U.S.

“If you look at how they behave, not all of them are Hamas, but they’re all anti-Semitic, none of them believe in Israel’s right to exist, none of the Arab states are willing to take any of them,” he said. “The Arab states should be taking them if you have refugees, you don’t fly people and import them into the United States of America.”

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He also noted the pro-Palestinian and anti-Israel protests that have taken place in the U.S., as well as in other Western countries.

“My view is very simple: If you don’t like this country, if you hate America, you should not come to this country, we’ve got to start being smart about this.”

The brutal terror attack that Hamas launched against Israel last week is intensifying Republican concerns about what they see as an unsecured border and a historic migrant crisis that has left Border Patrol agents overwhelmed.

“We are vulnerable when we have all these military-age men coming in. Do you think that our enemies have not been looking at that weakness?” Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said on CNN this week.

DeSantis pointed to border encounters of migrants from Iran, Russia, China and the Middle East: “That is not good for the security of this country.”

TOM HOMAN SOUNDS ALARM ON BIDEN’S BORDER LEAVING US VULNERABLE TO TERRORISTS: ‘I’VE NEVER BEEN MORE CONCERNED’ 

Fox News reported this week that Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has encountered thousands of “special interest aliens” since 2021. “Special interest aliens” are people from countries identified by the U.S. government as having conditions that promote or protect terrorism or potentially pose some sort of national security threat to the U.S.

Meanwhile, the number of encounters with people on the terror screening data set, known as the watchlist, hit a new record in FY 2023. There were 154 encounters at the northern and southern borders among ports of entry — more than the last six years combined, and 505 encountered at the ports of entry. 

These watchlist hits are people who were stopped, and it does not mean that those encountered are terrorists, with not only suspected terrorists but family members and associates being included on the list. There have been no publicly reported incidents of Border Patrol agents encountering Hamas operatives. However, it has raised concerns about who might be getting past Border Patrol agents as “gotaways.”

House Homeland Security Committee Chair Mark Green said this week that the “open border is the biggest national security threat we face today.”

Sen. Ted Cruz said on his podcast this week that “the risk of a serious terrorist attack in the United States is right now greater than it has been any time since September 11.”

MIGRANT NUMBERS HIT HIGHEST EVER RECORDED IN ONE MONTH: SOURCES

“I think there’s a confluence of a number of factors. One, obviously, the most significant war in Israel in 50 years, the most significant attack on Israel in 50 years. Number two, two-and-a-half years of open borders on our southern border, 7.6 million people coming in illegally including a significant number of people on the terrorist watch list, and an exposure that there could be a significant number of terrorists from countries in the Middle East who have come into this country in the past two and a half years,” Cruz said.

Mark Morgan, a former acting CBP commissioner during the Trump administration, told Fox News Digital that the attack “should serve as a ‘wake-up call’ to pay attention to the alarms we have been sounding for a while that border security is synonymous with national security.”

“Global Islamic extremists’ commitment to do harm to the U.S. is unwavering and just as strong as it was 22 years ago, and this attack should push away our false sense of security with respect to our own intelligence capabilities — we have a vast amount of intelligence gaps, and we are not infallible,” he said. 

It has raised concerns at the northern border as well. Reps. Mike Kelly, R-Pa., and Ryan Zinke, R-Mont., have introduced a resolution to recognize the “influx of known or suspected terrorists through America’s northern border as a threat to national security.”

Kelly noted that the “majority of suspected terrorists caught this year have crossed between the U.S. and Canada, which is the longest continuous border between two countries in the entire world.”

“The first thing bad guys do is go where the good guys aren’t. Right now, all our good guys are dealing with Biden’s crisis on the Southwest border, leaving the north unprotected and vulnerable to criminals, cartels and terrorists,” Zinke said.  

On Wednesday, DHS told Fox News Digital that DHS does “not have specific and credible intelligence indicating a threat to the United States at this time stemming from the Hamas terrorist attacks in Israel.”

The DHS spokesperson added the department is “closely monitoring unfolding events and will continue to engage in information sharing with our intelligence and law enforcement partners at home and abroad.”

“This information-sharing helps ensure that we are positioned to help mitigate any risks to national security or public safety,” the spokesperson said. “Our multilayered border security efforts include various screening and vetting processes that work to detect and prevent individuals who pose national security or public safety risks from entering the United States.”

At the same time, DHS has acknowledged the potential risk. Its threat assessment warned that terrorists and criminals “may exploit the elevated flow and increasingly complex security environment to enter the United States.”

“Individuals with terrorism connections are interested in using established travel routes and permissive environments to facilitate access to the United States,” the assessment also said.

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“I’ve never been more concerned about the safety and security of this nation than I am right now,” former acting Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Director Thomas Homan told “FOX & Friends First” on Thursday.

“I’m telling you, something’s coming. I don’t know how many terrorists have crossed the border, but someday we’re going to find out, and it’s going to be a bad day for America.” 

Fox News’ Bill Melugin, Griff Jenkins, Andrew Mark Miller and Elizabeth Heckman contributed to this report.

NASHUA, N.H. – Vivek Ramswamy says that 2024 Republican presidential nomination rival Nikki Haley should be “disqualified from being president.”

The multi-millionaire biotech entrepreneur and first-time candidate’s verbal attack on Haley, a former two-term South Carolina governor who later served as ambassador to the United Nations in then-President Donald Trump’s administration, came hours after she argued that Ramaswamy’s comments on the Israel-Hamas war were akin to the far-left “Squad” in Congress.

It’s the latest verbal fire between the two candidates that has flared on the campaign trail and at the first two Republican presidential nomination debates.

STATE OF THE 2024 RACE: DID TRUMP STEP IN IT WTIH HIS ISRAEL AND HEZBOLLAH COMMENTS?

Haley has seen her poll numbers edge up early state surveys as well as nationally in recent months. She doubled her support in the latest Fox News national poll that released earlier this week. Haley, Ramaswamy and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis are among the candidates battling for second place in a nomination battle where former President Donald Trump remains the commanding front-runner.

Ramaswamy, speaking with reporters ahead of his speech at the New Hampshire GOP’s First-in-the-Nation Leadership Summit, accused Haley of having “personal conflicts of interest,” which appeared to be a jab at her husband’s business ties to the defense industry.

HEAD HERE FOR FOX NEWS LIVE UPDATES ON THE ISRAEL-HAMAS WAR

“Nikki Haley has foreign policy experience, and it shows — in her bank account, to the tune of $8 million,” Ramaswamy said. “It is sick. Especially when you have a Biden crime family and the White House that has monetized their connections and their foreign policy and sold off our foreign policy. We don’t need to substitute them with a Republican version of the same.” 

“I do not want a president anywhere near the White House who’s willing to march us into World War III,” Ramaswamy said.

The Haley campaign didn’t respond to Ramaswamy’s latest slight.

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Haley told reporters earlier on Friday, after filing at the Statehouse in Concord to place her name on New Hampshire’s GOP presidential primary ballot, that “Ramaswamy sounds like the Squad,”

 “And there’s no place for the Squad or Ramaswamy” in when it comes to the discussion of international conflicts, she said. 

Haley joins 2024 GOP White House rivals former Vice President Mike Pence and Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina in criticizing Ramaswamy’s recent comments questioning the motives of some Republicans advocating for a muscular Israeli response following last weekend’s sneak attack by Hamas on Israel, which resulted in the deadliest assault on the Jewish state in decades.

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The horrific attack has upended the 2024 presidential race and has spotlighted the growing chasm in the GOP between the growing “America First” anti-interventionist wing of the party and the traditional conservative wing that strongly supports America’s longtime role policing the world.

Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more at our Fox News Digital election hub.

The Biden administration sent $33.7 million from the American Rescue Plan, a spending bill meant to combat COVID, to a Palestinian relief organization that has previously been accused of providing safe harbor to terrorists in Gaza and has been referred to as “effectively a branch of Hamas.”

The American Rescue Plan, a COVID-19 relief bill pushed through Congress with unanimous Democrat support in the Senate and almost unanimous in the House, allocated $33.7 million to the United Nations Relief & Works Agency through the State Department’s Migration and Refugee Assistance program, according to data from USASpending.gov, as part of $500 million that was included in the bill for the State Department to fund migration and refugee assistance.

UNRWA has faced intense scrutiny in recent years from critics who say the group has not done enough to prevent aid from reaching the hands of Hamas terrorists. UNRWA locations have reportedly housed Hamas activities and spread Hamas propaganda in schools. 

In 2014, the left-leaning New Republic described UNRWA as “effectively a branch of Hamas.”

JUDGE LETS LAWSUIT CLAIMING BIDEN ADMIN KNEW US FUNDS WERE AIDING PALESTINIAN TERRORISTS MOVE FORWARD

UN Watch reported earlier this year that UNRWA schools were complicit in teaching children to hate Jewish people and glorify terrorism. UN Watch reported that USRWA has acknowledged that teachers “mistakenly” produced and distributed inciting material but promised in 2021 that it no longer circulates such material.

UNRWA acknowledged in 2014, and condemned, Hamas missiles that were found at one of its schools in Gaza twice in one week. 

“UNRWA strongly and unequivocally condemns the group or groups responsible for this flagrant violation of the inviolability of its premises under international law,” the group said at the time.

“Facilities of UNRWA, the UN Palestinian refugee agency, have been repeatedly used by Hamas Palestinian terrorists for military purposes, as staging grounds, weapons depots, and hideouts,” professor Anne Bayefsky, director of the Touro Institute on Human Rights and the Holocaust, told Fox News Digital. 

“They have also been used as shields, giving cover to nearby military assets. UNRWA officials have had all kinds of inappropriate relationships with Hamas itself. Whenever these facts — war crimes — are revealed, the UN does a quick ‘investigation,’ sometimes accompanied by a meaningless expression of regret, and carries on,” added Bayefsky, who is also president of Human Rights Voices.

“The fallout from their past behavior is that it is impossible and unwise to take them at their word, or to assume they are a neutral party, instead of serving as an enabler of Palestinian terrorism, today.”

LAWMAKERS URGE BIDEN ADMIN TO TAKE ACTION AGAINST PRO-HAMAS DEMONSTRATIONS SPREADING ACROSS COLLEGE CAMPUSES

Former President Donald Trump cut off UNRWA’s funding in 2018 in a move that was criticized by the Brookings Institution, which alleged that he was cutting off “life saving” aid to impoverished Gaza residents.

That funding was reinstated by the Biden administration despite acknowledging concerns that there was a possibility Hamas could benefit from foreign aid.

A March 2021 internal State Department document that was obtained by the Washington Free Beacon earlier this year and verified by Fox News Digital shows officials privately communicating their concerns that a Biden administration plan to unfreeze over $360 million in U.S. funds for the Palestinian Authority could risk benefiting terror groups, a trade-off the officials argued was necessary for national security.

“We assess there is a high risk Hamas could potentially derive indirect, unintentional benefit from U.S. assistance to Gaza. There is less but still some risk U.S. assistance would benefit other designated groups,” the State Department wrote in the document. “Notwithstanding this risk, State believes it is in our national security interest to provide assistance in the West Bank and Gaza to support the foreign policy objectives.”

PRO-PALESTINIAN CHARITY FUNNELED MONEY TO HAMAS, TERROR VICTIMS ALLEGE IN LAWSUIT

“Notwithstanding this risk, State believes it is in our national security interest to provide assistance in the West Bank and Gaza to support the foreign policy objectives.”

In July 2022, the Biden administration announced it had given more money to UNRWA than any other entity in the world.

“This contribution cements the United States’ status as UNRWA’s largest donor,” the White House said in a press release announcing $201 million of taxpayer dollars going to the organization. “These new funds bring the total United States assistance to UNRWA during the Biden Administration to more than $618 million.”

The New York Post reported this week that the Biden administration has given a total of $730 million to UNRWA.

SPLC SILENT ON WHETHER BLM, DEM SOCIALISTS’ PRO-HAMAS ACTIVISM RAISES ‘HATE’ CONCERNS

“They don’t really have much else to keep going in Gaza except for contributions through things like the United Nations, which are important to remember, funded by the U.S. taxpayer,” Victoria Coates, former Trump deputy national security adviser, told Fox News Digital this week. “Now, we cut that off during the Trump administration, but that money has been flowing again for the last two years.” 

Jonathan Schanzer, Senior Vice President for Research at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, told Fox News Digital the decision to fund UNRWA has “indirectly benefited Hamas.”

“We can say for certain it indirectly benefits the Hamas government in Gaza,” Schanzer said. “UNRWA provides services that the government should be providing… this has alleviated some of the Hamas government’s burden in the Gaza Strip.”

Supporters of UNRWA, and even some critics, argue that the agency does do a lot of good in the region and that often it is necessary for Israel to work with UNRWA to get aid and assistance to Palestinians.

On Thursday, the United Nations posted on social media that 220,000 people were being sheltered in 92 UNRWA schools.

UN STILL DOES NOT LABEL, SANCTION HAMAS AS TERROR GROUP DESPITE MURDEROUS ATTACKS

“UNRWA human development and humanitarian services encompass primary and vocational education, primary health care, relief and social services, infrastructure and camp improvement, microfinance and emergency response, including in situations of armed conflict,” UNRWA’s website states.

The UNRWA was founded by charter following the 1948 Arab-Israeli War “to carry out direct relief and works programmes for Palestine refugees” and is funded “almost entirely by voluntary contributions from UN Member States.”

Fox News Digital reached out to the White House and UNRWA and did not receive a response.

A State Department spokesperson told Fox News Digital that UNRWA “remains a lifeline for millions through services such as food assistance for food-insecure Palestinian civilians and has a mandate from the UN General Assembly to provide education, health, and emergency and social services, among other services.”

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“As we do with other UN agencies, we are committed to serving as a strong partner to the Agency to help it provide the most effective and efficient assistance possible while fully respecting principles of neutrality, impartiality, and independence, and in a manner that respects human rights. Violations of the humanitarian principle of neutrality are never acceptable.”

A State Department spokesperson also told Fox News Digital that Migration and Refugee Assistance (MRA) funds sent to UNRWA are given to Palestinian refugees for health services, protective equipment for health care workers, hospitalization services, and assistance to mitigate the economic impacts of the pandemic on vulnerable families.  

“Oversight of U.S. funding to UNRWA includes monitoring visits by Department staff to UNRWA facilities, direct programmatic and financial reporting to the United States, close scrutiny of third-party reporting, review of audit findings, and membership and participation UNRWA’s Advisory Commission,” the spokesperson said. 

Fox News Digital’s Michael Lee contributed to this report

He’s long defied the norms of political gravity, but former President Donald Trump’s years of resistance to scandals and controversial comments seemed to once again be in question this week.

The race for the White House was turned upside down by a sneak attack by Hamas on Israel resulted in the deadliest assault on the Jewish State in decades.

Days after the initial attack — which resulted in thousands killed and wounded after Hamas militants swarmed into Israel and butchered civilians, spurring Israeli counterattacks on the Hamas controlled Gaza Strip — Trump stirred controversy earlier this week courtesy of comments critical of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his description of a terror group as “smart.”

His comments drew scorn not only from Democrats but also from some of his top rivals for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination. 

HEAD HERE FOR FOX NEWS LIVE UPDATES ON THE ISRAEL-HAMAS WAR

In interviews with Fox News, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said Trump’s comment “just doesn’t make any sense.”

And former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, who served as ambassador to the United Nations in the Trump administration, emphasized “we can’t be doing this. You don’t need to be talking about how good Hezbollah is, and you don’t need to be talking about how bad Netanyahu is.”

Trump, who often showcases that he was the strongest defender of Israel ever to serve as president, criticized Netanyahu, claiming the Israeli leader backed out at the last minute in the plan to kill Iran’s top security and intelligence commander, Maj. Gen. Qassim Suleimani, who was taken out by an American drone strike in 2020.

“I’ll never forget that Bibi Netanyahu let us down. That was a very terrible thing,” Trump said. “We were disappointed by that, very disappointed. But we did the job ourselves, and it was absolute precision, magnificent, beautiful job. And then Bibi tried to take credit for it. That didn’t make me feel too good,” Trump said.

HALEY, DESANTIS, TAKE AIM AT TRUMP OVER CONTROVERSIAL COMMENTS 

Pointing to the apparent Israeli intelligence failure to anticipate the Hamas attack, Trump said Israel must “straighten it out” and “strengthen themselves up.”

Trump also blamed President Biden’s administration for the terror attack on Israel — as well as for clashes on Israel’s northern border with Hezbollah, which like Hamas is backed by Iran. Trump then credited Hezbollah, which along with Hamas is committed to the destruction of the Jewish State, saying “Hezbollah, they’re very smart.”

“I don’t know what he was doing. I know they got him on the teleprompter. When he gets off that teleprompter, then there’s things that happen,” DeSantis argued, as he pointed to Trump. “But the reality is this is the time to be strong, it’s a time for moral clarity and to make sure that Israel is able to defend itself to the hilt.”

Haley charged that Trump “can’t leave the past alone. I’m mean everything that he thinks about is how someone treated him or what they said to him or what happened in the past. The world is a dangerous place. We’ve got to be dealing with our issues straight on. Focused, disciplined, and ready to go.” 

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Asked about the controversy, Trump’s two-time running-mate, former Vice President Mike Pence shook his head as he told Fox News on Friday that he “found the former president’s comments to be reckless and irresponsible.”

Another 2024 rival, North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, told Fox News that if “you want to do that, then be a pundit on TV.”

While Trump and Netanyahu were close allies for years, the former president turned on the embattled Israel leader after Netanyahu congratulated then-President-elect Biden for winning the 2020 election while Trump was still trying to overturn the results.

White House spokesman Andrew Bates called Trump’s statements “dangerous and unhinged.” Israeli communications minister, Shlomo Karhi, told Israel’s Channel 13 that it was “shameful that a man like that, a former U.S. president, abets propaganda and disseminates things that wound the spirit of Israel’s fighters and its citizens.”

A Trump campaign spokesperson clarified the GOP front-runner’s remarks in a statement to Fox News Digital.

“President Trump was clearly pointing out how incompetent Biden and his administration were by telegraphing to the terrorists an area that is susceptible to an attack,” the spokesperson said. “Smart does not equal good. It just proves Biden is stupid.”

The spokesperson also pointed to another moment from Wednesday’s speech, when Trump said that if he regains office, “the United States will fully support Israel, defeating, dismantling, and permanently destroying the terrorist group, Hamas.”

Hours later, on Thursday evening, Trump touted in a statement that “there was no better friend or ally of Israel than President Donald J. Trump. Under my leadership, the United States stood in complete solidarity with Israel, and as a result, Israel was safe, America was safe, and for the first time in decades, we made historic strides for Peace in the Middle East.”

On Friday Trump took to social media to write “#IStandWithIsrael #IStandWithBibi.”

 “I have always been impressed by the skill and determination of the Israeli Defence Forces. As they defend their Nation against ruthless terrorists, I want to wish every soldier the best of luck. May you return home safely to your families, and may God bless you all!” he wrote in a separate posting.

The political question going forward is whether Trump’s comments will hurt his current political standing as the commanding front-runner in the GOP presidential nomination race. 

“It’s a bigger deal than the usual screw up. These comments and the personal pique he has against Netanyahu just feels like such a selfish, stupid thing when the country (and the GOP specifically) seem to be squarely behind Israel and their government,” said David Kochel, a longtime Republican consultant and veteran of numerous GOP presidential campaigns in Iowa and nationally.

Kochel, who’s neutral in the 2024 GOP nomination battle, argued that “this all goes back to the fact that Netanyahu congratulated Biden for winning the election. If these are the issues that will dictate Trump’s foreign policy thinking, he’s not putting America first, he’s putting Trump first. Maybe it’s time to rename his agenda.” 

Longtime New Hampshire based Republican consultant Jim Merrill said “I think he stepped in it, but I think like almost everything else, it’s not likely to leave a lasting mark.”

Pointing to Trump’s record in the White House, including his moving of the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem, Merrill said the former president’s “kind of inoculated himself on Israel.”

“Time will tell, but I think it’s likely this will be just another one of those things that we all thought might be an issue for him but won’t be,” Merrill, a veteran of numerous GOP presidential campaigns who’s not taking sides in the 2024 nomination battle, predicted.

Pence acknowledges fundraising struggles

Pence is skipping the Nevada GOP’s Feb. 8 presidential caucuses and instead this past week filed for the state run primary, which will be held two days earlier.

Four Republican contenders have filed to take part in the caucuses. Pence is the first candidate to take part in the state’s primary. 

Nevada’s GOP is barring candidates who take part in the primary to also put their names in the caucus, where the state’s small number of Republican delegates to next year’s convention will be up for grabs.

The move may be a sign that Pence wanted to pass on investing in the kind of organization needed to perform well in a caucus, and instead will aim for the less expensive option of trying to score a symbolic finish in the primary.

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Asked about his move as he filed Friday at the Statehouse in New Hampshire to place his name on the state’s presidential primary, Pence told reporters “we just made a decision that we would compete in the primary and not in the caucus.”

Pence, who is facing an uphill climb for the nomination thanks in great part to his alienation of MAGA voters due his turning down of Trump’s overtures for the then-vice president to overturn the 2020 election through his constitutional role overseeing congressional certification of the Electoral College vote on Jan. 6, 2021.

Pointing to the upcoming deadline for the candidates to disclose their latest fundraising reports, Pence said “it may be obvious in the days ahead that other campaigns have more money than ours. But it’s not about money. It’s about votes. And so we want the people of Nevada to know that we look forward to carrying our message in Nevada.”

“We’re going to do our very best to marshal our resources,” Pence said. But he acknowledged that “.we probably have to be a little bit more selective in where we invest resources.”

Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more at our Fox News Digital election hub.

Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy and Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., are floating a potential debate in New Hampshire.

The potential showdown was suggested this week after Ramaswamy slammed the Republican National Committee for halting a joint appearance with GOP rival Chris Christie on FOX News’ “Special Report” over alleged violation of the GOP debate rules. 

After tech billionaire Elon Musk offered to host a debate on his platform X, Ramaswamy replied, “The RNC won’t let the GOP candidates do it, but I’d go for it with a smart Democrat who’s willing.”

“The University of Chicago Institute of Politics wants to have a civil discourse with the two of us on race, identity and the American dream. I accepted. I assume, as a speech advocate, you’re game @VivekGRamaswamy?” Khanna challenged the 2024 hopeful on Wednesday. 

GOP PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES DECLARE SUPPORT FOR ISRAEL AFTER HAMAS ASSAULT: ‘JOE BIDEN FUNDED THESE ATTACKS’

Ramaswamy was previously slated to debate independent presidential candidate Dr. Cornel West at the University of Chicago, but the progressive rival canceled due to a scheduling conflict. Ramaswamy surmised that Khanna was called by the university to fill in. 

“You’re a solid dude with whom I disagree on a lot, and I’d be glad to have a discussion at some point, just need to balance it in the context of campaign priorities. If you are willing to do it in New Hampshire, I’m game,” Ramaswamy said. 

PROTESTERS HIT RAMASWAMY CAMPAIGN VEHICLE OUTSIDE IOWA EVENT

Khanna offered to do a “fireside conversation” at St. Anselm New Hampshire Institute of Politics.

“Let’s have a thoughtful discussion & elevate national discourse, instead of 30 second sound bites, shallow answers and name calling,” the Democratic lawmaker said. 

Ramaswamy has yet to publicly respond to Khanna. FOX News Digital has reached out to both Khanna and Ramaswamy’s campaign for comment. 

The potential event comes as one of Ramaswamy’s GOP rivals, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, is set to square off against Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom in a debate on Nov. 30 moderated by FOX News’ Sean Hannity. 

Ramaswamy’s campaign criticized the RNC for allowing DeSantis to debate Newsom while quashing his previously scheduled discussion with Christie. 

According to the RNC’s debate rules, Republicans candidates agree to not participate “in any non-RNC sanctioned debate for the remainder of the election cycle.” 

RAMASWAMY FIRES BACK AT MEXICAN PRESIDENT IN BORDER SPAT: ‘NEW DADDY IN TOWN’

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Newsom, notably, is not a declared presidential candidate, despite the buzz he has received as being a potential alternative to President Biden at the top of the Democratic ticket in 2024. He has dismissed the rumors and expressed his support for Biden’s re-election multiple times. 

Like Newsom, Khanna’s name has also been floated as a potential presidential contender in 2028. 

The latest FOX News poll released this week showed Ramaswamy with 7% support among GOP voters, placing fourth behind former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley at 10%, DeSantis at 13% and former President Donald Trump, who maintains a commanding lead at 59%.

Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more at our Fox News Digital election hub.