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Welcome to Fox News’ Politics newsletter with the latest political news from Washington D.C. and updates from the 2024 campaign trail. 

What’s happening? 

– Jill Biden reportedly urging husband to end the war in Gaza

– Vulnerable Senate Dems at further risk from Mayoraks impeachment

– Democratic Governor to decide on making coercive abortion a felony

Two denials for Trump’s legal team

Former President Donald Trump has suffered two defeats in his court cases as judges in Georgia and Florida struck down motions from his legal team.

In Georgia, former President Donald Trump’s motion to dismiss his 2020 election interference indictment on the grounds of First Amendment protection was rejected on Thursday. 

“After considering the extensive briefing, the argument of counsel, and the indictment, the Court finds these vital constitutional protections do not reach the actions and statements alleged by the State. Nor do the statutes themselves facially violate the First Amendment,” Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee ruled Thursday.

“They argue this prosecution violates the First Amendment’s protections of political speech and activity, freedom of association, and the right to petition Congress as-applied to their alleged conduct, and further contend that the indicted charges are overbroad,” he said. 

In Florida, the federal judge presiding over former President Trump’s classified records case on Thursday denied his motion to dismiss the charges based on the Presidential Records Act. 

U.S. District Court Judge Aileen Cannon, last month, also dismissed Trump’s motion to dismiss charges of retaining classified documents on the grounds of “unconstitutional vagueness.” 

White House

‘STOP IT NOW’: First Lady reportedly telling Biden to end war in Gaza immediately …Read more

RUNNING LOW: Biden admin plan to refill SPR faces major setback …Read more

‘MASSIVE ADVANTAGE’: Biden voter drive order targets welfare recipients, gets legal challenge …Read more

SMOKED OUT: Biden set to finalize menthol cigarette ban over opposition …Read more

ELECTRIC SLIDE: Biden targets vital power grid technology in latest climate action …Read more

MEDIA BLACKOUT?: Biden parole program not facing same scrutiny as DeSantis flights …Read more

NOT GOING ANYWHERE: Biden administration rule makes firing federal workers harder as Trump promises ‘deep state’ revamp …Read more

Capitol Hill

BORDER BIND: Vulnerable Senate Dems to face heat over Mayorkas impeachment trial as border becomes top election issue …Read more

COVID ORIGINS: EcoHealth Alliance president to testify publicly before Congress next month …Read more

Tales from the Campaign Trail

FIRING THE ‘SQUAD’: Pro-Israel PAC takes aim at two progressive House Dems with primary challenges …Read more

SHOT DOWN: Nebraska legislature rejects Trump-approved ‘winner-take-all’ electoral system bill …Read more

NECK AND NECK: California Democrat tied with challenger in wild congressional primary …Read more

Across America

‘LAVISH GIFTS’: ‘World’s sexiest albino’ accused of launching bogus BLM charity has his day in court …Read more

HARSHER PUNISHMENT: Dem governor to decide on bill making coercive abortion a felony …Read more

THROWING DOWN THE HAMMER: Liberal groups sue to block new Alabama voting law banning ballot harvesting …Read more

BRACING FOR BATTLE: Nevada senator makes multimillion-dollar ad reservation as re-election hopes dwindle …Read more

INFECTED AMERICA: Tuberculosis breaks out at Chicago migrant shelters following measles cases …Read more

OFF THE CHARTS: Amid migrant surge, liberal PM warns his country must get immigration ‘under control’ …Read more

PURSESTRINGS: Kansas Republicans use ‘power of the purse’ to tie up immigration, DEI provisions …Read more

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Nevada Democratic Sen. Jacky Rosen revealed a whopping $14 million ad reservation for the general election season as she braces for a tough challenge from Republicans. 

The multimillion-dollar reservation was made for ads that will run from July through Election Day in November. It is also the largest such reservation ever made in Nevada by a Senate candidate. The ad buy will include media markets in Las Vegas and Reno.

MAYORKAS IMPEACHMENT TRIAL POISED TO PRESSURE THESE VULNERABLE SENATE DEMS

Rosen’s latest move comes one day after the Nevada Senate race was shifted from “Lean Democrat” to “Toss Up” by the nonpartisan elections analyst, the Cook Political Report. The matchup joins Senate races in Ohio, Arizona and Montana in the category. 

“While her extreme Republican opponents are busy trying to out-MAGA each other, Jacky Rosen is reaching Nevada voters for the general election and sharing her record as one of the most bipartisan and effective senators,” said Stewart Boss, Rosen’s campaign manager, in a press release. The Republicans vying for her Senate seat are in the midst of a crowded primary that won’t be determined until the election on June 11. 

VULNERABLE NEVADA DEMOCRAT TOUTS BIPARTISANSHIP DESPITE VOTING WITH BIDEN 99% OF TIME

The $14 million reservation is larger than a similar one made by Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, D-Nev., during her 2022 re-election bid. The senator reserved $10 million worth of ad space on the airwaves between Labor Day and Election Day during the campaign. This was the largest such reservation at the time. 

Cortez Masto ultimately narrowly defeated her Republican opponent, Adam Laxalt.

GOP SENATE HOPEFUL RAKES IN $2.2 MILLION TO TAKE ON DEM INCUMBENT IN SWING-STATE NEVADA

“She’s going to need it,” said National Republican Senatorial Committee spokesperson Mike Berg, referencing the recent ratings change. He said she was in “a dangerous spot” for an incumbent. 

“Jacky Rosen is scrambling to cover up her record of being in lockstep with Joe Biden,” remarked Nevada Republican strategist Jeremy Hughes.

After Rosen released an ad this week touting herself as bipartisan, critics pointed out that she voted in alignment with President Biden nearly 99% of the time in 2023. 

TRUMP RAKES IN HEFTY MARCH FUNDRAISING HAUL AS CAMPAIGN AIMS TO CLOSE CASH GAP WITH BIDEN

While her $14 million ad reservation is the largest of its kind in a Nevada Senate race, political advertising spending is notorious for being high in the state. In the 2022 Senate race, $161 million was spent by candidates and related groups on political advertising for the general election, per AdImpact. This included $32 million from Cortez Masto, $30 million from the Democratic-aligned Senate Majority PAC, $28 million from the Republican-aligned Senate Leadership Fund, $12 million from the conservative Club for Growth Action, $11 million from the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, $9 million from the conservative One Nation, $3 million from Laxalt, and $6 million in a coordinated buy from Laxalt and the NRSC. 

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The 2022 Senate race was a component of what made Nevada’s general election the third most expensive in the country, according to AdImpact. 

Rosen could face a slate of possible Republican opponents. However, former U.S. Army Capt. Sam Brown has proven to be the frontrunner, garnering national media attention and high-profile endorsements. Former Trump official Jeff Gunter, veteran Air Force pilot Tony Grady and former state Assemblyman Jim Marchant are other prominent Republican candidates seeking the Senate nomination. 

An attempt to make Nebraska’s elections into a “winner-take-all” system failed this week.

State Sen. Julie Slama attached the proposed election overhaul to the unrelated bill LB1300 on Wednesday in an attempt to make the change before the end of the legislative session on April 18.

It fell short of the 23 necessary votes, failing with a final 8-36 count.

Nebraska is one of only two states in the U.S. that do not use the winner-take-all system, the other being Maine. 

TRUMP SUPPORTING NEBRASKA GOVERNOR SEEKING TO MAKE STATE ELECTIONS ‘WINNER-TAKE-ALL’

The two states assign votes in the Electoral College based on district, sometimes leading to Democrats snagging an extra delegate from the mostly red state. 

A change to winner-take-all would almost certainly benefit Republicans by allowing the red majority of Nebraska to dominate and prevent minority blue factions from capturing a single delegate, as has happened in the past.

Slama criticized Republicans’ failure to pass the amendment, saying it showed a lack of “intestinal fortitude” despite holding a legislative majority. 

“This pretty well sums it up,” said Slama. “The ‘filibuster-proof’ majority doesn’t have the intestinal fortitude to make Nebraska a Winner-Take-All state in an election year. Wild.”

NEBRASKA GOVERNOR TIGHTENS RESTRICTIONS ON GENDER TRANSITION TREATMENTS FOR MINORS

State Sen. Loren Lippincott sponsored the initial winner-take-all bill LB764, but now does not see it passing before the legislature closes.

“My staff and I are doing everything we can to seek options for getting this to the finish line,” said Lippincott, according to local outlet WOWT. “However, the harsh reality of a two-day time frame is limiting.”

Lippincott’s bill boasts enthusiastic support from the state’s governor and even former President Donald Trump.

“I am a strong supporter of Senator [Loren] Lippincott’s winner-take-all bill (LB 764) and have been from the start. It would bring Nebraska into line with 48 of our fellow states, better reflect the founders’ intent, and ensure our state speaks with one unified voice in presidential elections,” Gov. Jim Pillen said in a Tuesday statement. 

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Trump published a copy of the governor’s statement to his proprietary social media platform, Truth Social, on the same day.

This was followed by a separate post voicing support for changing Nebraska to a winner-take-all system.

“Governor Jim Pillen of Nebraska, a very smart and popular Governor, who has done some really great things, came out today with a very strong letter in support of returning Nebraska’s Electoral Votes to a Winner-Take-All System,” Trump wrote via Truth Social on Tuesday.

“Most Nebraskans have wanted to go back to this system for a very long time, because it’s what 48 other States do – It’s what the Founders intended, and it’s right for Nebraska,” Trump added.

FIRST ON FOX: A House Republican from Michigan is demanding to know whether federal tax dollars are going toward subsidizing housing for people who come to the U.S. illegally.

Rep. Lisa McClain, R-Mich., wrote directly to President Biden on Wednesday regarding the federal government’s Office of Refugee Resettlement, arguing that its grant process “raises a number of troubling questions.”

Money awarded by the agency is being used for Michigan’s Newcomer Rental Subsidy program, which gives eligible refugees and asylum-seekers up to $500 in rental assistance per month. But critics of the program have argued that it’s vulnerable to abuse by illegal immigrants.

TRUMP DECLARES BORDER A ‘WARZONE,’ DINGS NEWSOM FOR ‘TERRIBLE JOB’ AS MIGRANTS FLOOD CALIF

“With your failure to secure our borders, and the yearly number of border encounters increasing from 859,501 in [fiscal year 2019] to 1,151,448 in only the first five months of FY 2024, the Refugee Resettlement Program will only burden the U.S. taxpayer with higher costs,” McClain wrote to Biden.

To be eligible, migrants must be refugees, asylum-seekers, special immigration visa holders, victims of human trafficking, Cuban and Haitian entrants, Afghan nationals or Ukrainian humanitarian parolees. Migrants who have an asylum claim that is merely pending are also eligible. 

TEXAS SQUARES OFF WITH DOJ AFTER CIRCUIT COURT BLOCKED ANTI-ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION LAW

GOP critics say this means that migrants who illegally crossed the border and claimed asylum to avoid deportation could potentially benefit from the subsidy.

If a migrant cannot provide verification of income – such as a paycheck or bank statement – the applicant must submit a written explanation of why there is no documentation. One of the options available to them is a “cash payment.”

In her letter, McClain questioned Biden directly on whether U.S. tax dollars are going toward housing assistance for people who entered the country illegally, and if not, she asked, “what is your administration doing to ensure U.S. tax dollars do not go toward housing assistance for those who have broken our laws and come across our borders illegally?”

WATCH: DASHCAM FOOTAGE SHOWS TEXAS NATIONAL GUARDSMAN’S ARREST FOR ALLEGEDLY SMUGGLING MIGRANT

She also asked whether it’s possible, given the record number of people crossing the U.S.-Mexico border, that U.S. federal refugee resettlement aid “could be viewed as yet another incentive by your Administration to roll out the red carpet and invite more people to illegally pour across our borders.”

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A Fox News analysis found last month that nearly 7.3 million migrants illegally crossed the southwest border under Biden, a number greater than the population of 36 individual states.

Fox News Digital reached out to both Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s office as well as the White House for comment.

Republicans are likely to approve a proposed state budget for Kansas with provisions aimed at forcing the state’s Democratic governor to restrict diversity initiatives on college campuses and help Texas in its fight with the Biden administration over border security.

GOP negotiators for the state House and Senate have agreed to include those items in a single bill containing the bulk of the $25 billion in spending for Kansas’ 2025 budget year, which begins July 1. Top Republicans in the GOP-controlled Legislature expect both chambers to vote this week on the final version of the bill.

“It’s an opportunity to make a point,” state Senate President Ty Masterson, a Wichita-area Republican, said Wednesday. “The power of the purse — that’s all we have. That’s our main power.”

STAY CURRENT WITH THE LATEST IMMIGRATION NEWS HERE

Both the Kansas House and Senate approved resolutions this year expressing their support for efforts by Republican Gov. Greg Abbott of Texas to enforce a law there allowing his state to arrest migrants suspected of entering the U.S. illegally. The Biden administration argues that only the federal government sets immigration policy.

But Republicans in the Kansas Senate then added an extra $15.7 million in the next state budget with directions to Gov. Laura Kelly that she provide Kansas National Guard resources to Texas.

Republican senators also included provisions to withhold a total of $35.7 million in funding from state universities unless their presidents appeared before Kelly and top legislative leaders and confirmed that they were not requiring prospective students, job applicants or staffers seeking promotion to provide statements endorsing diversity, equity or inclusion initiatives or discussing past experiences with it. The GOP budget negotiators agreed to retain those provisions unless a separate bill banning the practice becomes law.

The state constitution gives Kelly the power to veto individual budget provisions, and it’s not clear that the immigration or anti-DEI ones have the two-thirds majorities in both chambers needed to override a veto. But if Kelly were to veto the anti-DEI provisions, the $35.7 million would go with them.

“It’s kind of like blackmail,” said Democratic state Rep. Tom Sawyer, of Wichita.

Republicans in at least 20 states have sought to limit DEI initiatives, arguing that they are discriminatory and enforce a liberal political orthodoxy. Alabama and Utah enacted new anti-DEI laws this year.

The Kansas House last month approved a bill that would bar universities, community colleges or technical colleges from basing a student’s admission or an employee’s hiring or promotion on any statement or pledge about DEI or “any political ideology or movement.” Republicans are hoping to have a vote on a new version in both chambers this week.

But the Kansas Board of Regents, which oversees the state’s higher education system, is already responding to GOP lawmakers’ concerns. The board expects to consider a proposed policy change in April that would ban requirements in admissions or employment for “statements pledging allegiance to, support for, or opposition to diversity, equity or inclusion.”

“I really don’t think it’s going to be an issue. I think they’re all going to change their policy,” said state Rep. Kyle Hoffman, a Republican from western Kansas and a House budget negotiator.

Republicans’ interest in border security comes with former President Donald Trump ramping up anti-immigrant rhetoric as he campaigns for reelection, often spreading falsehoods about migration. Roughly two-thirds of Americans disapproved of President Joe Biden’s handling of border security in an Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research poll conducted in March.

GOP officials in many states also frame the issue as stopping the flow of the dangerous opioid fentanyl across the Mexico-U.S. border, though experts agree the key is reducing demand for it in the U.S.

“We need to stop it,” said state Sen. J.R. Claeys, a central Kansas Republican and a budget negotiator. “Obviously, the Biden administration isn’t going to do that, so we’re going to have to do it ourselves.”

But state Rep. Susan Ruiz, a Kansas City-area Democrat, said problems at the border demonstrate the need for reforming national immigration laws and argued that Americans are more likely to smuggle fentanyl than immigrant families seeking a better life in the U.S.

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“They’re willing to blame every possible thing on immigration and on immigrants,” she said.

Some Republicans expect Kelly to veto the provision. Last month, she told reporters that the state constitution makes her the guard’s commander-in-chief and she decides how its resources are used.

But Claeys responded: “We also have other budgetary ways of making things happen, so we’ll continue to use those and the power of the purse.”

President Biden’s administration is implementing a new rule to make it more difficult to fire federal workers as former President Trump promises to revamp the workforce to weed out the “deep state.” 

Early Thursday, the White House released a statement from the Democratic incumbent president regarding “the final rule to protect nonpartisan civil servants.” 

Biden said his administration was announcing “protections for 2.2 million career civil servants from political interference, to guarantee that they can carry out their responsibilities in the best interest of the American people.” 

“Day in and day out, career civil servants provide the expertise and continuity necessary for our democracy to function,” the statement said. “They provide Americans with life-saving and life-changing services and put opportunity within reach for millions. That’s why since taking office, I have worked to strengthen, empower, and rebuild our career workforce.” 

NEW YORK TIMES OPINION VIDEO DECLARES ‘DEEP STATE’ IS ‘KIND OF AWESOME’

Biden deemed the rule to be “a step toward combatting corruption and partisan interference to ensure civil servants are able to focus on the most important task at hand: delivering for the American people.” 

The Office of Personnel Management, the government’s chief human resources agency, on Thursday implemented new regulations barring career civil servants from being reclassified as political appointees, or as other at-will workers, who are more easily dismissed from their jobs. It comes in response to “Schedule F,” an executive order Trump issued in 2020 that sought to allow for reclassifying tens of thousands of the 2.2 million federal employees and thus reduce their job security protections, according to the Associated Press. 

Biden nullified Schedule F upon taking office, but if Trump were to revive it during a second administration, he could dramatically increase the around 4,000 federal employees who are considered political appointees and typically change with each new president. How many employees might have been affected by Schedule F is unclear. 

The National Treasury Employee Union used freedom of information requests to obtain documents suggesting that federal workers such as office managers and specialists in human resources and cybersecurity might have been subject to reclassification — meaning that the scope of Trump’s order might have been broader than previously believed, the AP reported. 

The new rule could counter a future Schedule F order by spelling out procedural requirements for reclassifying federal employees, and clarifying that civil service protections accrued by employees cannot be taken away regardless of job type. It also makes clear that policymaking classifications apply to non-career, political appointments and cannot be applied to career civil servants.

TRUMP RAILS AGAINST BIDEN, ‘DEEP STATE’ AT FIRST SPEECH AFTER CLASSIFIED DOCS INDICTMENT: ‘POLITICAL HIT JOB’

“It will now be much harder for any president to arbitrarily remove the nonpartisan professionals who staff our federal agencies just to make room for hand-picked partisan loyalists,” National Treasury Employees Union President Doreen Greenwald said in a statement.

Good government groups and liberal think tanks and activists have cheered the rule. They viewed cementing federal worker protections as a top priority given that replacing existing government employees with new, more conservative alternatives is a key piece of the conservative Heritage Foundation’s nearly 1,000-page playbook known as “Project 2025.”

That plan calls for vetting and potentially firing scores of federal workers and recruiting conservative replacements to wipe out what some Republicans have decried as the “deep state” governmental bureaucracy.

The nation’s most prominent conservative think tank recommended an overhaul of the Department of Justice and the FBI to combat a “radical liberal agenda.” 

The Biden administration’s rule, which runs to 237 pages, is being published in the federal registry and is set to formally take effect next month. The Office of Personnel Management first proposed the changes last November, then reviewed and responded to 4,000-plus public comments on them. Officials at some top conservative organizations were among those opposing the new rule, but around two-thirds of the comments were supportive.

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If Trump wins another term, his administration could direct the Office of Personnel Management to draft new rules. But the process takes months and requires detailed explanation on why new regulations would be improvements — potentially allowing for legal challenges to be brought by opponents.

Fox News’ Kaitlin Spraugue and the Associated Press contributed to this report. 

A lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of President Biden’s voting access executive order will soon make its way to the Supreme Court in what some experts are calling “the most important legal issue” heading into the November elections.

A group of Pennsylvania lawmakers sued Biden and several federal agencies over Executive Order 14019 on “promoting access to voting,” which the president issued in March 2021.

The 27 GOP lawmakers, members of the state Freedom Caucus, argued that the order is essentially an executive get-out-the-vote effort targeting key demographics to benefit the president’s political party and own re-election, which they argue is unconstitutional with Congress having never enacted a law that grants such an action from the Oval Office.

Last month, a judge dismissed the case, finding that legislators lacked standing to bring the suit. But the group’s attorney says they will appeal to the Supreme Court. 

DOJ ‘STONEWALLING’ REQUESTS FOR DETAILS ON IMPLEMENTATION OF BIDEN’S ‘FEDERAL ELECTION SCHEME’

“We think it’s really important for President Biden to be held accountable,” Erick Kaardal, attorney for the lawmakers, told Fox News Digital in an interview. 

“For him to violate such a big law when all the little people have to follow the laws, even little laws … it’s clear President Biden has issued an executive order without congressional enactments to get himself re-elected. It’s ridiculous,” Kaardal said. 

Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, a Democrat, issued a statement saying the ruling was a “resounding defeat” for the Republicans’ “frivolous” lawsuit.

“In 2020, I defeated Donald Trump and his conspiracy theorist allies in court more than 40 times to defend Pennsylvanians’ votes and protect access to the ballot box,” Shapiro said, adding that “we’ve done it again by getting their frivolous effort to stop automatic voter registration in our commonwealth dismissed.”

Executive Order 14019 states that “executive departments and agencies should partner with State, local, Tribal, and territorial election officials to protect and promote the exercise of the right to vote, eliminate discrimination and other barriers to voting, and expand access to voter registration and accurate election information.”

BIDEN ADMIN ACCUSED OF USING TAXPAYER FUNDS TO HELP HIS OWN CAMPAIGN WITH STUDENT VOTER REGISTRATION SCHEME

Kaardal argued in legal filings that the executive order in turn – among other things – directed the Department of Health and Human Services to facilitate voter registrations; the Department of Housing and Urban Development to instruct more than 3,000 public housing authorities to facilitate registration drives in those units; the Department of Education to push state schools to register students; and the U.S. Department of Agriculture to issue letters to state agencies that administer SNAP and WIC programs, instructing them to carry out voter-registration activities with federal funds.

The complaint also alleges that the executive order was “largely drafted by a third party, nongovernmental organization,” pointing to the left-leaning policy organization, Dēmos, which boasts of having “moved progressive issues from the movement to the mainstream.”

“The executive action taken by the President nullifies the votes of the individual legislators, violates the Electors Clause, violates the Elections Clause, and deprives the legislators of their particular rights,” the court document says.

The Elections Clause states that the “times, places and manner of holding elections for senators and representatives, shall be prescribed in each state by the legislature thereof.” 

Tarren Bragdon, president and CEO of the Foundation for Government Accountability (FGA), which filed an amicus brief in the case, said that “it’s no wonder Team Biden is using their authority and resources to target welfare populations with a federally funded get-out-the-vote effort.” 

“If they are allowed to fully execute their plan, it could swing the election outcome,” he said. 

The Opportunity Solutions Project, the advocacy arm of FGA, found through their study published in February 2023 that Democrats gain a 30-point average among welfare recipients.

“[D]emocrats see a massive advantage among voters enrolled in welfare programs like food stamps and Medicaid. In fact, Democrats see their margins increase by more than 30 points among voters enrolled in welfare compared to low-income voters who have never been on welfare,” the study says.

PROGRESSIVE ACTIVISTS TAKE VICTORY LAP AFTER TENS OF THOUSANDS OF DEMOCRATS CAST PROTEST VOTES AGAINST BIDEN

“To date, all of the federal agencies FGA has identified as taking active steps to carry out EO 14019 have one thing in common: They provide government welfare benefits and other services to groups of voters the vast majority of which have historically voted Democrat,” the groups friend-of-the-court brief states.

“[T]hrough this sweeping Order, the President commanded every executive agency of the federal government – with the narrow exception of independent agencies – to perform voter registration and mobilization activities regardless of whether those agencies are authorized to do so under federal law, and to carry out this Order in coordination with third-party groups ‘approved’ by the current administration,” FGA says in its friend-of-the-court brief.

“Even worse, this effort is being carried out in a secretive fashion despite loud and repeated calls for transparency from dozens of members of Congress, State Attorneys General, and Secretaries of State,” the brief states.

Currently, the FGA is fighting a lawsuit against the Department of Justice over FOIA-requested documents on how the agency is implementing the executive order.

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“This is, by far, the most important legal issue in the country heading into November. The outcome of this case, and similar cases, will decide how heavy the Biden administration’s thumb will push on the electoral scales,” said Bragdon.

Kaardal said he hopes the Supreme Court will weigh in ahead of the case moving forward in lower courts because he believes his clients have “the obvious winner” on the merits and that existing precedent at the high court will determine that his clients have standing.

He also said that according to what’s known as the Purcell doctrine, named after a 2006 election case, the Supreme Court said that courts should not change election rules too close to the election. Kaardal wants to petition the high court in the coming days to have the issue temporarily resolved by stopping the executive order while the case proceeds in lower courts.

The DOJ, arguing the case on behalf of the Biden administration, did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.

Democrats up for re-election in battleground states face a bind in the Senate as the impeachment trial for Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas is expected to begin this month over his role in the ongoing crisis at the southern border.

Several Republican Senate sources told Fox News Digital they expect the pressure to ramp up for lawmakers such as Sens. Jon Tester, D-Mont., Jacky Rosen, D-Nev., Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis., Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, and Bob Casey, D-Penn., who face competitive re-election races in November.

Voters in each of the senators’ states have indicated strong concerns over the state of the border.

Republican senators recently accused Tester of being unwilling to vote on border or immigration-related amendments during negotiations over the $1.2 trillion spending package that caused a brief partial government shutdown before being passed last month. Tester’s office denied the claims. 

BATTLEGROUND STATE DEM SHOWS ZERO SOCIAL MEDIA POSTS REMEMBERING LAKEN RILEY BUT REPEAT POSTS ON GEORGE FLOYD

One senior Republican Senate source predicted Tester would be similarly pushed during the impeachment trial procedure: “He’ll have to go on the record with it. No way out,” the source said. They noted that Brown would also be put to the test in the Mayorkas trial. 

A representative for Tester told Fox News Digital on Wednesday, “Senator Tester will review the articles when they are sent over to the Senate.”

The House passed two articles of impeachment against Mayorkas in early February but held onto them until after the appropriations process finished. In a letter last week, House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., revealed his intention to deliver the articles to the Senate on April 10 and urged Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., to move quickly on a trial. 

When the articles are delivered, “all senators have to be sworn in as jurors and sign the book,” a senior GOP source said. 

“We actually go into trial mode, but Schumer will put forward a vote to dismiss it,” the source predicted.

SEAN HANNITY: BORDER CRISIS A MODERN-DAY ‘BLOODBATH’

Schumer’s office did not provide comment to Fox News Digital.

“Everything is simple majority,” the source noted, meaning only 51 of the 100 senators are necessary to move forward with any action. 

While Senate Democrats have largely dismissed the charges against Mayorkas as meritless and political posturing, the lawmakers who are competing in close races in the general election may be influenced by the growing concern over the border among their constituents. In a March Fox News Poll, 41% of all registered voters agreed the situation at the southern border is an emergency. This included 65% of Republicans, 31% of independents and 20% of Democrats.

As a result, the vulnerable Democrat senators are certain to be met with attacks on the campaign trail from their Republican opponents, who will pose the question of their seriousness on the border crisis. In a February memo from National Republican Senatorial Committee political director Tim Edson that was obtained by Fox News Digital, Senate candidates were advised to hold their Democrat counterparts accountable.

“We cannot allow Senate Democrats to sweep the Biden Administration’s failures at the southern border under the rug,” it reads. “Democrats caused this crisis, and voting to acquit Mayorkas is a vote to allow the continued invasion of our country.”

Tester’s opponent, Republican Senate candidate Tim Sheehy, said in a statement that “the Senate should hold a full impeachment trial.”

“Senator Jon Tester wants to avoid a trial and let Mayorkas off the hook because they BOTH support the radical Left’s push of open borders and letting illegal immigrants flood into America. We deserve accountability!” he continued.

TRUMP SPOTLIGHTS ‘BIDEN’S BORDER BLOODBATH’ DURING STOP IN CRUCIAL BATTLEGROUND STATE HE LOST IN 2020

Representatives for Rosen, Baldwin, Brown and Casey did not provide comment to Fox News Digital.

“If Bob Casey is serious about securing the border, he’ll urge Chuck Schumer to move this inquiry forward and hold them accountable,” said Pennsylvania Republican Senate front-runner Dave McCormick in a statement to Fox News Digital.

Spokesperson Ben Voelkel for Wisconsin Republican Senate front-runner Eric Hovde said in a statement, “Sen. Baldwin needs to hold [Mayorkas] accountable. If she doesn’t, Wisconsin voters will hold her accountable for her inaction.”

“If Sherrod Brown cares about hardworking Ohioans who have been impacted by the border invasion and fentanyl crisis, he will hold Mayorkas accountable in the Senate trial,” said Reagan McCarthy, spokesperson for Ohio Republican Senate candidate Bernie Moreno.

Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., who has occasionally been out of step with Democrats, appears likely to stick with his caucus in the likely case they look to dismiss the trial quickly. In February, he told Politico that the forthcoming impeachment was “Pure crap,” adding that he wants “No trial at all.”

Manchin’s office referred Fox News Digital to his previous comment.

Republican strategist Brian Walsh, a former staffer for Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, said, “It highlights a huge political vulnerability for Democratic Senators like Jon Tester, Sherrod Brown and Bob Casey going into the 2024 election.”

WHITE HOUSE PRESSED ON WHETHER BIDEN BELIEVES BORDER CROSSERS COULD BE IN US PLOTTING TERROR ATTACK ON AMERICA

They will be forced to “pick a side” between their base and “the majority of voters, including independents” who say the border is the most important problem in the country, Walsh added.

As the senators face a difficult decision, it’s not clear that all Republicans will be on board to continue the trial. Each vote matters, given the Senate’s narrow 49-51 split between Republicans and those in the Democrat caucus. 

Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, criticized the idea of a trial in late February, writing on X, formerly known as Twitter, that it “might be great politics, but it’s not the remedy for bad policy & would set a terrible constitutional precedent.”

Romney’s office did not provide comment to Fox News Digital. 

Other concerns for the impeachment effort are Sens. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, and Susan Collins, R-Maine, who have gone against the conference previously. Neither of their offices provided comment to Fox News Digital on the subject.

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Meanwhile, Mayorkas is set to appear on Capitol Hill on April 10, the same day the articles of impeachment are expected to be delivered to the Senate, for an unrelated hearing before the House Appropriations Homeland Security Subcommittee regarding the department’s fiscal 2025 request.

DHS did not provide comment to Fox News Digital.

Welcome to Fox News’ Politics newsletter with the latest political news from Washington D.C. and updates from the 2024 campaign trail. 

What’s happening? 

– Biden goes after Utah for keeping trans prisoner in male prison

– Trump campaign receives hefty fundraising haul

– Americans agree on more than you think

Biden accused of ‘obvious hypocrisy’

President Biden’s condemnation of the Israeli airstrike that killed seven food aid workers in Gaza earlier this week isn’t sitting well with some critics, who called the president’s reaction “obvious hypocrisy.”

“I am outraged and heartbroken by the deaths of seven humanitarian workers from World Central Kitchen, including one American, in Gaza yesterday,” Biden wrote in a statement. “They were providing food to hungry civilians in the middle of a war. They were brave and selfless. Their deaths are a tragedy.”

Biden’s comments on the incident quickly drew the ire of some individuals who blasted the president’s remarks as hypocritical, since the U.S. conducted a drone strike in August 2021 that killed 10 civilians in Kabul, Afghanistan. The strike happened just days after the Biden administration’s botched withdrawal from Afghanistan led to the deaths of 13 U.S. service members when ISIS terrorists detonated a bomb at an entrance to the Kabul airport. 

“There’s obvious hypocrisy there and lack of self-reflection,” Richard Goldberg, a senior adviser at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, told Fox News Digital on Wednesday. “I think it reflects the president’s posture right now to be hypercritical of Israel whenever possible, as part of a sustained political warfare campaign against the Israeli government if there’s an opportunity to amplify that criticism in order to make his left wing happier.”

White House

WALKOUT: Doctor walked out of White House meeting with Biden over Israel-Hamas war …Read more

DARK MONEY MACHINE: Biden, top Dems benefit from millions in secretive campaign cash …Read more

CONTINUED SUPPORT: White House pressing Congress to approve F-15 sale to Israel despite criticism over airstrike accident …Read more

DOJ SUES UTAH: Biden admin goes after Utah for keeping trans prisoner in male prison …Read more

Capitol Hill

CALL FOR RECUSAL: Stefanik accuses judge in Trump hush money case of ‘clear judicial bias’ after gag order, cites family ties …Read more

EXTREME LENGTHS: House GOP demands Secretary Austin root out ‘left-wing extremism’ in military …Read more

‘FIND A FEDERAL PRISON’: GOP plan to name major airport after Trump makes Dems erupt …Read more

Tales from the Campaign Trail

‘GOING TO WIN BIG’: Trump campaign reveals hefty fundraising haul days before massive Mar-a-Lago event …Read more

‘NO, HE’S NOT’: Jill Biden snaps at network host over president’s dismal swing-state polling …Read more

‘TRUMP WAS RIGHT’: New ad rips Biden’s record on key issue tearing apart US cities …Read more

Across America

‘WINNER-TAKE-ALL’: Trump supports governor seeking to make changes to state elections …Read more

PAY FOR SLAYING: Federal judge hits Iran, Syria with $191M judgment for Hamas-supported slaying of American Israeli activist …Read more

COMMON TRAITS: Americans agree on most core values, think our democracy functions poorly, poll finds …Read more

TIME TO STEP DOWN?: Justice Sotomayor called on to retire by former MSNBC host …Read more

LAW AND ORDER: SF residents call on city to stop crime after prostitute beats homeless person on street …Read more

REPUBLICANS POUNCE: Detroit columnist: GOP ‘banking’ on migrant crime issue in 2024 …Read more

‘EVERY SINGLE QUESTION’: Sage Steele says ‘every word’ of her Biden interview was ‘scripted’ by ESPN execs …Read more

Subscribe now to get Fox News Politics newsletter in your inbox.

Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more on FoxNews.com.

Former President Trump on Tuesday endorsed businessman and entrepreneur Eric Hovde — the Republican candidate who Trump says is the most capable of unseating Sen. Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis., in the state’s U.S. Senate election later this year.

The comments from Trump, the GOP’s presumptive presidential nominee for 2024, came during a visit by the former president to Green Bay, Wisconsin, for a campaign rally.

Describing Hovde as a “man who’s doing really good” and is “just about even in the polls,” Trump praised the GOP candidate during his trip to the Badger State.

“He’s a handsome devil, I just met him backstage,” Trump told the crowd of Hovde. “A beautiful wife, a beautiful family.”

WISCONSIN GOP SENATE CANDIDATE ERIC HOVDE RELEASES FIRST TELEVISED CAMPAIGN AD

“I’ve met Eric and I’ve studied Eric because we have to get it right. [He’s] running against some very fine people, really, but I’ve looked it out, and they’re going to have other opportunities. Eric, I am giving you my complete and total endorsement, so go out and win,” Trump added.

In a statement to Fox News Digital, Hovde, who will appear on the Wisconsin GOP primary election ballot on Aug. 13, noted that it’s going to take a total effort to defeat Baldwin in November.

“Wisconsin is the biggest swing state in the country and Sen. Baldwin’s failed record as a rubber stamp for the disastrous Biden policies will be on the ballot this fall,” Hovde wrote. “It will take an all-hands on deck effort to win in November, and we are building a strong coalition to get the job done.”

Hovde, who previously endorsed Trump for the presidency, formally launched his bid for U.S. Senate against Baldwin in February, saying that “America is slipping away” and “everything is going in the wrong direction.”

This is Hovde’s second Senate campaign; he ran in 2012 but lost in the GOP primary to former Gov. Tommy Thompson. Baldwin went on to win the election that year and is now seeking a third term in the battleground state.

WISCONSIN GOP SENATE CANDIDATE SAYS CHALLENGERS MUST BE ‘PRETTY WORRIED’ AFTER LATEST ‘SMEARING’ ATTEMPT

Re-electing Baldwin to a third term is critical for Democrat hopes to maintain majority control of the Senate. Democrats are defending 23 seats in the Senate in November, including two held by independents who caucus with Democrats. That’s compared with 11 seats that Republicans hope to keep in their column.

Baldwin’s campaign branded Hovde as “an out-of-touch megamillionaire” in a fundraising email sent minutes after his campaign website went live, and suggested that he would support the agenda of Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., if elected.

“Hovde would vote to pass a national abortion ban, raise taxes on working families and seniors while cutting Social Security and Medicare, and repeal the Affordable Care Act,” Wisconsin Democratic Party spokesperson Arik Wolk said separately.

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Wisconsin’s primary election is slated for Aug. 13. Hovde is running against half a dozen other Republicans who are seeking the party’s nomination.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — The Wisconsin Supreme Court on Wednesday refused to offer clarity on what legislative district boundary lines should be in play for a potential recall election sought by supporters of former President Donald Trump targeting the Republican Assembly speaker.

The effort to recall Speaker Robin Vos appears to have not gathered enough valid signatures to force an election. But the Wisconsin Elections Commission had asked the Supreme Court to clarify what maps should be used for any recall or special election that takes place before November, when new maps take effect.

GOV. EVERS TURNS TO WISCONSIN SUPREME COURT IN CRUSADE AGAINST ABSENTEE DROP BOX RESTRICTIONS

The court, in a unanimous order, noted that in December it had ruled that the legislative maps then in place were unconstitutional and barred their future use. In February, Democratic Gov. Tony Evers signed into law maps he proposed that the Republican-controlled Legislature passed.

Those are the maps take effect in November. The court’s order leaves open the question of what maps are in effect for any election before November.

“We decline to further clarify or amend the opinion and order,” the court said, referring to its December ruling.

It is the Wisconsin Elections Commission, not the Supreme Court, that has the responsibility to administer elections, the court said.

The next move will be up to the commission, which faces an April 11 deadline to determine whether the recall petition had sufficient signatures to trigger an election. Its decision can be appealed in court.

Commission spokesperson Riley Vetterkind had no comment on the court’s order.

The commission, based on its initial cursory review, determined there were not enough valid signatures collected from residents of the district Vos was elected to represent. But Vos’ district lines are changing under legislative maps that take effect in November.

Vos is being targeted for recall because he refused to impeach the state’s top elections official or proceed with attempting to decertify President Joe Biden’s 2020 victory in Wisconsin. His actions angered Trump, who accused Vos of covering up election corruption, while Trump’s followers mounted an unsuccessful primary challenge in 2022 and are now trying to force a recall election.

Vos, who challenged the validity of thousands of signatures and declared the effort failed no matter what district lines are used, has derided those targeting him as “whack jobs and morons.”

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Recall organizers, recognizing that their initial effort was likely short of the needed signatures, launched a second recall effort last week.

Vos is the most powerful Republican in the GOP-led Legislature. He was first elected in 2004 and is the longest-serving Assembly speaker in state history, holding the post since 2013.

FIRST ON FOX: A Republican Senate candidate in battleground state Nevada, Sam Brown, pulled in $2.2 million in the first quarter of 2024 for his challenge to incumbent Sen. Jacky Rosen, D-Nev.

The former U.S. Army captain, who was injured in Afghanistan, raised the sum in the first three months of the election year, as he inches closer to clinching the Republican nomination for Senate and taking on Rosen in November. 

“It’s clear that Nevadans are tired of Jacky Rosen and liberal elites telling them how to raise their kids and saying that gas and grocery prices being so high isn’t really that bad,” Brown said in an exclusive statement to Fox News Digital. “I’m running to end Joe Biden and Jacky Rosen’s American Nightmare and restore the American Dream for all Nevadans.”

JILL BIDEN SNAPS AT MENTION OF POLL WITH PRESIDENT TRAILING TRUMP IN SIX SWING STATES: ‘NO, HE’S NOT’

The $2.2 million total garnered between January and March is more than Brown raised in both previous quarters. In the third quarter of 2023, he brought in $1.1 million, and in the fourth quarter he upped it to $1.85 million. 

Rosen’s campaign did not reveal her fundraising for the first quarter of the election year or provide comment to Fox News Digital. 

“Nevadans see through Jacky Rosen’s pandering to the reality of her record: she consistently votes for open borders and reckless DC spending bills that skyrocket the cost of groceries and gas prices,” said Brown spokesperson Kristy Wilkinson. “Nevadans are ready to replace her with Sam Brown’s strong common-sense leadership.” 

The stakes in Nevada were raised on Wednesday when non-partisan race analyst the Cook Political Report shifted the race’s 2024 rating from “Lean Democrat” to “Toss Up.” The Nevada Senate race joins only three others in the category: Arizona, Montana and Ohio. 

Brown’s first quarter total is more than 2022 Republican Senate candidate Adam Laxalt pulled in at the same point in the midterm election cycle. Laxalt saw $1.6 million during January through March 2022. He ultimately lost to Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, D-Nev.

ARIZONA ABORTION RIGHTS GROUP SECURES SIGNATURES FOR 2024 BALLOT REFERENDUM

While its unclear what Rosen’s fundraising looked like in the first months of 2024, she previously out-raised Brown in 2023. In the last quarter of the year, the incumbent senator brought in $3.2 million, which was on par with the $3.3 million Cortez Masto raised at the same point in 2021. 

While Brown has garnered national media attention, high profile endorsements and millions in fundraising, he still needs to clear the Republican Senate primary field. Other prominent challengers vying for the nomination are former Trump official Jeff Gunter, veteran Air Force pilot Tony Grady and former state Assemblyman Jim Marchant. 

TRUMP RAKES IN HEFTY MARCH FUNDRAISING HAUL AS CAMPAIGN AIMS TO CLOSE CASH GAP WITH BIDEN

Gunter’s campaign did not provide fundraising numbers to Fox News Digital. 

“My message to the Sam Brown campaign: It doesn’t matter how much you raise, we will spend whatever it takes to get the job done. Whether it’s $3 million, $30 million or $300 million, I am more committed than ever to supporting President Trump and the America First movement. I will self fund if that’s what it takes,” said Gunter in a statement.

He added that he plans to flood the airwaves over the next few months to bring voters his “America First, 110% pro-Trump message.” Gunter slammed Brown as “beholden to his donors and beholden to Trump hater Mitch McConnell, Nikki Haley and the failing political class.”

Brown endorsed former President Trump in January, but Trump hasn’t yet weighed in on the contentious Nevada Senate primary. However, Brown was a top recruit of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, chaired by Sen. Steve Daines, R-Mont., who quickly endorsed him. He has also been endorsed by Republican conference Chairman John Barrasso, R-Wyo. Other members of the Republican Senate leadership team have attended fundraisers for the candidate. 

Grady did not release his fundraising to Fox News Digital, but hit Brown in a statement as “a wannabe career politician.” According to the Republican candidate, Brown is trying to “buy himself a seat in Washington with the help of his big-donor friends.”

“I am the only candidate meeting with Nevada voters face-to-face and hearing the issues important to them. Instead of focusing on the Washington-elite, I will continue to listen to Nevada voters,” he added. 

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Marchant did not provide comment to Fox News Digital. 

The Nevada Senate primary will take place on June 11.

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

The New York judge overseeing former President Donald Trump’s hush money trial has rejected his bid for a delay until the U.S. Supreme Court rules on the issue of presidential immunity. 

Manhattan Judge Juan M. Merchan deemed Trump’s request untimely, ruling that his lawyers had plenty of opportunities to raise the immunity issue before they did earlier this month. 

“This Court finds that Defendant had myriad opportunities to raise the claim of presidential immunity well before March 7, 2024,” Merchan wrote, adding that Trump and his lawyers could have made the argument on September 29, 2023, which he says was just six days before he made the same presidential immunity argument in Special Counsel Jack Smith’s investigation into Jan. 6 and election interference. 

The United States Supreme Court will consider the issue of presidential immunity in Smith’s case on April 25. 

Merchan denied Trump’s motion “in its entirety as untimely.” 

“The Court declines to consider whether the doctrine of presidential immunity precludes the introduction of evidence of purported official presidential acts in a criminal proceeding,” Merchan wrote. 

TRUMP HUSH-MONEY CASE ‘COULD NOT BE WORSE FOR OUR COUNTRY,’ JONATHAN TURLEY WARNS

Lawyers for the presumptive Republican nominee had asked to adjourn the New York trial indefinitely until Trump’s immunity claim in his Washington, D.C., election interference case is resolved. The Supreme Court is expected to hear arguments later this month and issue a ruling in mid-June. 

Merchan previously chided Trump’s lawyers for missing a filing deadline, waiting more than two weeks before jury selection to raise the immunity issue and failing to “explain the reason for the late filing.”

Trump contends he is immune from prosecution for conduct alleged to involve official acts during his tenure in office. His lawyers argue some of the evidence and alleged acts in the hush money case overlap with his time in the White House and constitute official acts.

The trial stemming from Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s years-long investigation into alleged hush-money payments ahead of the 2016 election is set to begin with jury selection on April 15. Upon setting the trial date, Merchan granted Bragg’s request for a gag order to be imposed on Trump. 

The charges against Trump in the Bragg case are related to alleged hush-money payments made during the 2016 presidential campaign.

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Trump pleaded not guilty to all 34 counts of falsifying business records in the first degree last year.

In 2019, federal prosecutors in the Southern District of New York opted not to charge Trump related to the payments made to adult film actress Stormy Daniels and former Playboy model Karen McDougal.

The Federal Election Commission also tossed its investigation into the matter in 2021.

The Associated Press contributed to this report. 

With seven months to go until the presidential election, former President Donald Trump tops President Biden in all but one of the crucial battleground states that will likely decide their 2024 rematch, according to new polling.

A Wall Street Journal survey released Tuesday indicated Trump with the edge over the president in six of the seven states polled: Pennsylvania, Michigan, Arizona, Georgia, Nevada and North Carolina.

According to the survey, Trump holds a six-point lead over Biden in North Carolina in a ballot that also includes third-party and independent candidates. Trump has a five-point lead in Arizona, a four-point edge in Nevada, and three-point advantages in Michigan and Pennsylvania. The former president edges the White House incumbent by a single point in Georgia, with the two tied in Wisconsin.

Trump held similar leads when those questioned were given a head-to-head matchup between the former president and Biden.

TRUMP RAKES IN HEFTY MARCH FUNDRAISING HAUL AS CAMPAIGN AIMS TO CLOSE CASH GAP WITH BIDEN

Biden narrowly edged Trump in all the battlegrounds tested, other than North Carolina, to win the White House four years ago.

According to the survey, along with coming in second to Trump among most voters, Biden also had a negative job performance rating in all seven battleground states. On the flip side, voters in every state except Nevada had a favorable opinion of Trump’s time in the White House.

JILL BIDEN SNAPS AT MENTION OF POLL WITH PRESIDENT TRAILING TRUMP IN SIX STATES: ‘NO, HE’S NOT’

When asked about specific issues, respondents said they trust Trump to handle the economy and immigration over Biden. The Democrat president, however, was the preferred candidate to deal with the issue of abortion.

The polling results also mirror recent concerns over the president’s physical fitness. About 48% of voters believe Trump is more fit to serve as president over only 28% who see 81-year-old Biden as having the mental and physical fitness to serve another four-year term as president.

First lady Jill Biden was asked about Biden’s dismal WSJ polling results on “CBS Mornings” on Wednesday, but dismissed the dismal results, saying, “No, he’s not losing in all the battleground states. He’s coming up.”

The WSJ poll was conducted March 17 to 24 and has a margin of error of plus or minus 1.5 percentage points.

A national survey from NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist on Wednesday showed Biden leading Trump by two percentage points on the general election ballot. When asked who they would vote for if the election were held today, 50% of likely voters said Biden, while 48% support Trump in his third straight presidential bid. 

While Biden secured a narrow lead in the poll, four in 10 of those surveyed said their minds could change ahead of the November election.

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Among independent voters, however, Trump led Biden by seven points, 52% to 45%.

“The presidential contest remains close, but there are some interesting twists which run counter to the conventional wisdom,” Lee M. Miringoff, Director of the Marist Institute for Public Opinion, said alongside the polling results. “Three points to note: first, about four in 10 voters are not rock solid in their choice for president; second, Biden supporters are slightly more locked in; and third, Democrats are more cohesive in their positions on the issues.”

The NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist poll was conducted from March 25 to 28 with a margin of error of plus or minus 3.7 percentage points.

Trump and the Republican National Committee announced hauling in $65.6 million in fundraising in March and ended the month with $93.1 million in cash on hand, Fox News Digital confirmed news first reported by Politico.

Biden’s campaign has not yet announced its March fundraising haul, but reported raising $53 million in February and ending the month with $155 million cash on hand. 

Fox News’ Andrew Mark Miller contributed to this report.

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

U.S. Border Patrol agents apprehended 182 Chinese citizens who crossed illegally into the U.S. through a key sector of the southern border on Tuesday, Fox News has learned. 

The Chinese nationals were caught after crossing into the San Diego Sector, a U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) source told Fox News, which has seen large numbers of Chinese migrants in recent months. 

More than 22,000 Chinese nationals have been apprehended by the Border Patrol since Oct. 1. 

CHINESE ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION ON PACE TO BREAK RECORDS AT US SOUTHERN BORDER

Fox News Digital has reached out to border authorities. 

The number of Chinese citizens arrested after crossing illegally has dramatically increased in recent years from 342 in 2021 to 22,233 since Oct. 1, the beginning of the 2024 fiscal year. 

Fiscal year 2022 saw 1,987 arrests and 24,125 were reported for fiscal year 2023. 

The number of Chinese migrants being encountered in the San Diego Sector is exceeding that of Mexican citizens, according to CBP data. Since October, the number of Chinese migrants encountered by border authorities is second only to Colombia (28,000). Third is Mexican nationals with 18,000, followed by Brazil (8,700) and Ecuador (7,700). 

READ MORE OF FOX NEWS’ COVERAGE OF THE BORDER CRISIS

Some Chinese migrants have expressed support for President Biden, who has been criticized by Republicans for reversing Trump-era border policies, but others are indifferent.

One migrant who spoke with Fox News said he picked up tips on the arduous journey from Chinese social media apps. He said he collected information from online sources to learn how to make it to the U.S., including information about routes, border navigation and ways to dispose of information to avoid having your origin traced.

MIGRANTS FLOWN TO MARTHA’S VINEYARD ON FLIGHTS COORDINATED BY DESANTIS CAN SUE AVIATION COMPANY

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“No matter whether it is Trump or Biden, we just wanted to come to the United States,” he said. “I am not worried about my legal identity problem, because as long as we arrive in the United States, there will always be a way to solve the identity problem. We want to go to the United States mainly for our children and to give them a better future.”

Fox News Digital’s Adam Shaw and Griff Jenkins contributed to this report. 

Federal prosecutors rebuked the judge presiding over former President Trump’s classified documents case in the Southern District of Florida, asserting that potential jury instructions she issued rest on a “fundamentally flawed legal premise.” 

In a court filing Tuesday, Smith said U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon’s unusual request that prosecutors and defense attorneys submit hypothetical jury instructions was “wrong” and would “distort” the trial. The judge had asked the lawyers to respond to two different scenarios where she accepted Trump’s argument that he was entitled to retain sensitive documents under the Presidential Records Act, an act for which he now faces criminal charges.

Smith argued that the Presidential Records Act is not relevant to Trump’s case and told the judge that the Republican ex-president was not authorized under the Espionage Act to take highly classified documents with him to his Mar-a-Lago home in Florida when he left the White House.

“Both scenarios rest on an unstated and fundamentally flawed legal premise — namely, that the Presidential Records Act (‘PRA’), and in particular it’s distinction between ‘personal’ and ‘Presidential’ records … determines whether a former President is ‘[a]uthorized’ under the Espionage Act … to possess highly classified documents and store than in an unsecured facility,” Smith wrote.

TRUMP FLORIDA JUDGE CANNON DENIES TRUMP DISMISSAL ON ‘UNCONSTITUTIONAL VAGUENESS’

Prosecutors allege the documents recovered from Mar-a-Lago in a 2022 FBI raid were not personal and said there is no evidence Trump ever legally designated them as such. They claim Trump “invented” his argument only after his possession of those documents became public knowledge and said no witnesses interviewed for Smith’s investigation supported the president’s claims.

“Not a single one had heard Trump say that he was designating records as personal or that, at the time he caused the transfer of boxes to Mar-a-Lago, he believed that his removal of records amounted to designating them as personal under the PRA,” prosecutors wrote. “To the contrary, every witness who was asked this question had never heard such a thing.”

Smith warned that if Cannon proceeds with her order on jury instructions, prosecutors will appeal.

Prosecutors have expressed growing frustration with how Cannon has handled Trump’s case.

TRUMP LAWYERS PUSH FOR DISMISSAL OF CLASSIFIED DOCUMENTS CASE, ARGUING ‘PRESIDENTIAL IMMUNITY’

The Trump-appointed judge has yet to rule on multiple defense motions to dismiss the indictment as well as other disagreements between the two sides, and the trial date remains unsettled, suggesting that a criminal case that Smith’s team has said features overwhelming evidence could remain unresolved by the time of the November presidential election.

Cannon, who earlier faced blistering criticism over her decision to grant Trump’s request for an independent arbiter to review documents obtained during an FBI search of Mar-a-Lago, heard arguments last month on two of Trump’s motions to dismiss the case, including that the Presidential Records Act permitted him to designate the documents as personal and that he was therefore permitted to retain them.

The judge last month dismissed Trump’s motion to dismiss charges on grounds of “unconstitutional vagueness,” reasoning that the former president’s arguments might have “some force at trial, but it’s hard to see how it gets you to a dismissal.”

The judge at one point remarked that the Trump defense team’s view of the Presidential Records Act would essentially “gut the PRA,” giving presidents the unfettered ability to classify clearly presidential records as personal.

TRUMP DEMANDS JUSTICE DEPARTMENT ‘IMMEDIATELY’ DROP CHARGES AGAINST HIM IN CLASSIFIED DOCUMENTS CASE AFTER BIDEN DECISION 

Days after her decision, Cannon requested that prosecutors and defense attorneys draft jury instructions that responded to this premise: “A president has sole authority under the PRA to categorize records as personal or presidential during his/her presidency. Neither a court nor a jury is permitted to make or review such a categorization decision.”

Her premise stated that an outgoing president’s decision to exclude personal records from those returned to the government “constitutes a president’s categorization of those records as personal under the PRA.”

Prosecutors said this interpretation of the law is incorrect. They also requested that Cannon quickly reject the defense’s remaining motion to dismiss. 

“The PRA’s distinction between personal and presidential records has no bearing on whether a former President’s possession of documents containing national defense information is authorized under the Espionage Act, and the PRA should play no role in the jury instructions on the elements of Section 793,” Smith’s team argued. 

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“Indeed, based on the current record, the PRA should not play any role at trial at all,” they added.

The documents case is one of four pending criminal cases against Trump. He has pleaded not guilty in all of them. 

Fox News Digital’s Jake Gibson, Heather Lacy and Bradford Betz, as well as the Associated Press, contributed to this report.

North Dakota lawmakers are expecting a legal challenge to a proposed congressional age limit, and estimate $1 million to defend the measure up to the U.S. Supreme Court, in what some observers see as a likely test case.

A top legislative panel on Wednesday unanimously approved a $1 million cost estimate for the state to defend the age limit proposed in a constitutional initiative approved for the June 11 ballot. Some legal scholars and political observers have said a state age limit for members of Congress would be unconstitutional. They cite a 1995 U.S. Supreme Court ruling on term limits that states cannot set congressional qualifications beyond those in the U.S. Constitution.

“I think I see clear intent, whether it’s through media and their own spokesman, that the intent here is litigation, and they’re using the initiated measure process to push that litigation,” Republican Sen. Janne Myrdal said.

DEMOCRAT DROPS LONGSHOT BID TO REPLACE BURGUM AS NORTH DAKOTA’S GOVERNOR

Republican Sen. Brad Bekkedahl said he “absolutely” foresees an age limit challenge being appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court.

The measure would prevent people from running for Congress if they could turn 81 during their House or Senate term. The $1 million fiscal impact will be listed on the ballot.

Measure chairman Jared Hendrix called the number “quite inflated,” and said age limits are popular.

“Over 40,000 people signed our petition to place this measure on the ballot. It should be expected that the state defends something that the people clearly want. It’s literally the job of our attorney general to defend our constitution and laws. If someone doesn’t want to do that job of defending, they should not be in those positions,” Hendrix said in an email.

It’s unclear who would challenge the age limit, if passed. Someone could challenge the age limit as unconstitutional on its face, or an affected candidate could sue, according to Deputy Attorney General Claire Ness.

The measure would require North Dakota’s attorney general to “zealously defend” the age limit, and would give any voter legal standing to enforce the age limit. Ness said it’s unclear what role, if any, the attorney general’s office would have as to the latter scenario.

The state would likely have to hire a special assistant attorney general, costs of which can vary, depending on the legal issues raised by the other side, the attorney’s hourly rate and whether the case goes to appeal, Ness said. Costs could easily be in the hundreds of thousands of dollars, she told lawmakers.

“I don’t think that $1 million is unreasonable as a high number. It could go beyond that,” Ness said.

The measure wouldn’t stop any incumbents from running again. The oldest member of North Dakota’s three-person congressional delegation is Republican Sen. John Hoeven, at 67. North Dakota has had octogenarian senators in the past, including Democrat Quentin Burdick, who died in office in 1992 at age 84.

While the initiative applies only to congressional seats, this election year will also feature President Joe Biden, 81, and former President Donald Trump, 77, competing in an election rematch that has drawn scrutiny of their ages and fitness.

The measure reads: “No person may be elected or appointed to serve a term or a portion of a term in the U.S. Senate or the U.S. House of Representatives if that person could attain 81 years of age by December 31st of the year immediately preceding the end of the term.”

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The measure’s push emerged last summer amid age- and health-related scrutiny of members of Congress. Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein died last year at age 90 after health struggles. Republican Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, 82, froze twice in front of reporters last year.

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — U.S. Sen. Rick Scott is spending millions to reach out to Florida’s Hispanic voters, a key voting group for his November reelection campaign that has grown to lean more heavily Republican.

Scott’s campaign said Wednesday it plans to spend about $700,000 per week for a series of radio, digital, TV and streaming-services ads in English and Spanish.

SEN RICK SCOTT SAYS SENATE BORDER DEAL WON’T FIX MIGRANT CRISIS: ‘SUICIDE MISSION’

Over the next several weeks, the campaign will release different ads aimed toward this key voting group, which has voted increasingly Republican in the past few election cycles. These ads will run in Miami, West Palm Beach, Orlando and Tampa — all which are major cities in Florida critical for his reelection campaign, Miami having the largest group of Hispanic voters.

The first TV ad was released Wednesday, with no mention of Debbie Mucarsel-Powell, a former U.S. representative from Miami running to unseat the senator.

This week, Democrats have celebrated a glimmer of hope for this election cycle after the Florida Supreme Court approved an abortion-rights ballot initiative to be decided by Florida’s voters this November.

“In Florida, we understand how socialism suffocates the human spirit,” Scott said in the Wednesday morning ad. “That’s why I fight against the socialist agenda in Washington.”

Scott, like other Republicans, has often accused Democrats of leaning into socialism. This accusation has generally kept a rift between Democrats and Hispanic voter groups who escaped communist regimes in Cuba and Venezuela, which makes up a large portion of voters in Miami-Dade County. This traditionally blue county leaned red in the most recent midterm cycle, and it currently is Florida’s most populated county with more than 60% of its registered voters identifying as Hispanic.

Scott said last month that he puts a lot of effort into talking to Hispanic voters and finds that they care about the “same issues that everybody does,” like education, public safety and jobs.

“People that have come from to this country from another country, in a legal way, they came here because they wanted rule of law,” Scott said. “They want what America has to offer.”

Mucarsel-Powell, who announced her campaign last August, was elected in 2018. She was born in Ecuador and was Congress’ first Ecuadorian American and first South American-born congressional delegate. She lost her seat to Republican U.S. Rep. Carlos Gimenez after one term.

Mucarsel-Powell said last month that she relates to Hispanic voters because her story is similar to “so many people that live here in South Florida.”

As part of her campaign, she does biweekly Spanish radio interviews to reach out to Hispanic communities. In these interviews, she often speaks to voters concerned about socialism and has accused Scott of promoting “misinformation.”

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“I have seen firsthand what it looks like when you have a dictators take over,” Mucarsel-Powell said. “So many people relate to that. That’s why it’ll be more difficult — very difficult — for him to be able to really get in touch with the reality of Latinos that live here in South Florida and what we’re facing.”

The ad campaign was first reported by NBC News.