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Former President Trump is taking to social media with a message for his supporters.

“They just removed me from the ballot! Chip in now to show your support,” the former president wrote in a fundraising pitch by his campaign that has been posted multiple times on his Truth Social network.

Trump’s pitch came in the wake of this week’s ruling by the Colorado Supreme Court to remove him from the state’s 2024 ballot.

The divided court ruled that Trump is ineligible to run for the presidency under the U.S. Constitution’s insurrection clause, arguing that his actions fueled the deadly Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol by right-wing protesters aiming to disrupt congressional certification of President Biden’s 2020 election victory.

COLORADO SUPREME COURT DISQUALIFIES TRUMP FROM 2024 BALLOT

Republican presidential candidate and former President Trump speaks at a campaign event on Dec. 19, 2023 in Waterloo, Iowa. Trump appeared hours after the ruling by the Colorado supreme court to remove him from the state’s 2024 ballot. (Scott Olson/Getty Images)

The blockbuster development was immediately condemned from nearly all corners of the GOP. Additionally, Trump’s Republican rivals for their party’s presidential nomination – who are aiming to defeat him at the ballot box – quickly rallied around the former president.

For most candidates, getting booted off the ballot would sink a campaign, but not Trump, who has long defied conventional norms and wisdom.

TRUMP’S REPUBLICAN RIVALS RALLY AROUND THE FORMER PRESIDENT IN BALLOT BATTLE 

Trump made history earlier this year as the first former or current president to be indicted for a crime, but his four indictments — including in federal court in Washington, D.C., and in Fulton County court in Georgia on charges he tried to overturn his 2020 presidential election loss — have only fueled his support among Republican voters. With less than a month to go until the first votes in the White House race, Trump remains the commanding frontrunner for the GOP nomination as he runs a third straight time for the presidency.

Republican presidential candidate and former President Trump attends a campaign event in Waterloo, Iowa, Dec. 19, 2023. (REUTERS/Scott Morgan)

“It’s another boost for President Trump with the base of the party,” seasoned Republican strategist and communicator Ryan Williams said. “Every time he’s targeted by legal actions, it just improves his standing with the conservative base.”

Michael Dennehy, a veteran New Hampshire-based Republican consultant who has worked on multiple presidential campaigns, said the Colorado case and his many legal entanglements have “helped him immensely among Republican primary voters. It solidifies Trump’s message that he is a victim.”

TRUMP CAMPAIGN BLASTS COLORADO SUPREME COURT RULING KNOCKING HIM OFF THAT STATE’S BALLOT

It is not just Republicans who say Trump will benefit politically.

“All the legal challenges that have been thrown at Trump have so far helped strengthen him in the Republican primary, as he depicts himself as a victim. CO will be the same,” David Axelrod, who served as then-President Obama’s top political adviser, wrote on social media. “What seems like Kryptonite winds up being battery packs in the GOP primary.”

Veteran Democratic strategist Maria Cardona, a Democratic National Committee member, said it helps “him continue to play the role of victim-in-chief.”

The Colorado case also helped the former president politically in another way; it once again bumped Trump to the top of the headlines.

“Right now Nikki Haley is surging in some polling, pulling into striking distance in New Hampshire, and that’s not dominating the headlines. Trump getting kicked off the ballot in Colorado is,” Williams emphasized. “It’s another instance of Trump getting a boost with his base and sucking up all the oxygen in the room.”

The Colorado Supreme Court is seen in Denver in 2015. (Jon Akira YAMAMOTO/Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images)

The Colorado justices put their ruling on hold until Jan. 4, as they anticipated that the former president would appeal their ruling to the U.S. Supreme Court. That is what the Trump campaign is in the process of doing, as it blasts the move in Colorado.

“Everyone now is on the edge of their seats, waiting for the Supreme Court to decide on this Colorado case and then the likely impact that it will have on every other case around the country,” Dennehy said.

The Colorado ruling is far from an isolated case. Roughly a dozen other states have pending challenges.

Legal challenges to try dumping Trump from the ballot in Minnesota, Michigan and Florida were dismissed recently in state and federal courts.

However, the Minnesota Supreme Court ruling last month – keeping Trump on the primary ballot – noted that the petitioners could try again to knock the former president off the general election ballot.

CHAIRS OF GROUP THAT LED EFFORT TO BOOT TRUMP FROM COLORADO BALLOT DONATED TO BIDEN

While the Colorado ruling does not apply to other states, it could embolden others to take similar actions.

President Biden this week weighed in on the news, telling reporters that Trump “certainly supported an insurrection. There’s no question about it. None. Zero … He seems to be doubling down on everything.” 

“Whether the 14th Amendment applies, I’ll let the court make that decision,” the president added.

The question looking ahead to next November is whether swing voters will agree with Biden or buy into Trump’s narrative that he is being politically persecuted.

“You know, we talk about democracy, but the whole world is watching the persecution of a political opponent that’s kicking his ass,” Trump charged during a speech a week ago in New Hampshire as he pointed to Biden.

Williams noted that “if the Colorado decision’s overturned by the Supreme Court, it still gives Trump a talking point heading into the general election that he is a victim of political persecution. Whether that’s correct or not, it is another instance that he can point to say that he’s being targeted because of his political beliefs.”

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However, Cardona said “I don’t think it will play because the majority of Americans believe that he participated in an insurrection.”

Additionally, if the Supreme Court surprisingly upholds the Colorado decision, Williams says, “then all bets are off. Red states are going to try to throw Joe Biden off the ballot as blue states will do the same for Trump.”

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

Former President Trump urged two members of the Wayne County Board of Canvassers not to certify the results of the 2020 presidential election, according to a report from The Detroit News.

The Detroit News claims to have reviewed tapes from a Nov. 17, 2020 phone call between Trump and GOP canvassers Monica Palmer and William Hartmann, when he urged them not to sign the certification. 

“We’ve got to fight for our country,” said Trump on the recording, according to The Detroit News. 

He added, “We can’t let these people take our country away from us.”

BIDEN TEAM’S CENTRAL 2024 MESSAGE PAINTS TRUMP AS ‘THREAT TO DEMOCRACY’: REPORT

Republican presidential candidate and former President Trump speaks at a campaign event in Waterloo, Iowa. (Scott Olson/Getty Images)

Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel was also present on the phone call, the report alleges.

“If you can go home tonight, do not sign it,” McDaniel reportedly told the canvassers in Michigan. “We will get you attorneys.”

JACK SMITH WANTS ‘DOWN AND DIRTY’ TRUMP CONVICTIONS TO INFLUENCE 2024 ELECTION: ALAN DERSHOWITZ

“We’ll take care of that,” Trump allegedly added.

A Trump campaign spokesperson told Fox News Digital, “All of President Trump’s actions were taken in furtherance of his duty as President of the United States to faithfully take care of the laws and ensure election integrity,” repeating the former president’s false claims that the election was “stolen.”

“President Trump and the American people have the Constitutional right to free and fair elections,”  Crooked Joe Biden and the Democrats are spinning their wheels in the face of devastating polling numbers and desperately leaking misleading information to interfere in the election.”

Palmer and Hartmann, who had already voted to certify the election, unsuccessfully attempted to rescind their votes the next day.

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Wayne County Board of Canvassers Republican chairperson Monica Palmer addresses the media in Farmington Hills, Michigan. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio)

The two canvassers then claimed in signed affidavits that they were bullied into siding with Democrats.

“I voted not to certify, and I still believe this vote should not be certified. Until these questions are addressed, I remain opposed to certification of the Wayne County results,” Hartmann said in his affidavit.

Palmer said in her affidavit that she faced “accusations of racism” and threats to her family.

The Supreme Court has declined Friday to issue an expedited ruling on whether former President Trump has immunity from prosecution related to the 2020 election interference case.

Appellate courts are hearing the immunity case, but the Supreme Court ruled on Friday that it would proceed as normal.

Trump’s criminal trial in Washington, D.C. was scheduled to begin on March 4, but it’s unclear if the Supreme Court ruling will force a delay. Special Counsel Jack Smith initially asked the Supreme Court to expedite arguments in the presidential immunity case.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit has already indicated it would expedite its consideration of the immunity case.

FEDERAL JUDGE DENIES TRUMP’S CLAIM OF PRESIDENTIAL IMMUNITY IN SPECIAL COUNSEL JACK SMITH’S JAN. 6 CASE

Former President Donald Trump speaks at a campaign rally Dec. 16 in Durham, N.H. (AP Photo/Reba Saldanha)

Trump’s legal team earlier this week filed a written response to Smith’s request, urging the Supreme Court not to rush things.

“This appeal presents momentous, historic questions,” the brief states. “An erroneous denial of a claim of presidential immunity from criminal prosecution unquestionably warrants this Court’s review. The Special Counsel contends that ‘[i]t is of imperative public importance that respondent’s claims of immunity be resolved by this Court.'”

TRUMP IS NOT IMMUNE FROM CIVIL LAWSUITS RELATED TO JAN. 6, FEDERAL APPEALS COURT RULES

Special Counsel Jack Smith arrives to give remarks on a recently unsealed indictment including four felony counts against former President Donald Trump on Aug. 1, in Washington, D.C. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images/File)

“That does not entail, however, that the Court should take the case before the lower courts complete their review. Every jurisdictional and prudential consideration calls for this Court to allow the appeal to proceed first in the D.C. Court.”

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Former President Donald Trump speaks after exiting the courtroom for a break at New York Supreme Court, Dec. 7, in New York.  (AP Photo/Eduardo Munoz Alvarez)

Trump is charged with conspiracy to defraud the United States, conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding, obstruction of and attempt to obstruct an official proceeding and conspiracy against rights. 

A former aide to President Donald Trump involved in a civil lawsuit filed by Hunter Biden is asking the judge to toss the case.

Former Trump aide Garrett Ziegler filed a motion for a federal judge in the Central District of California to dismiss the case due to its basis in “half-baked legal challenges.”

“Plaintiff alleges no facts which demonstrate Defendants ever accessed any computer, storage, or service which Plaintiff either owns or has exclusive control over,” the motion filed by Ziegler’s attorneys reads.

Ziegler’s attorneys also claim that their client’s posts sharing the contents of the laptop “constitutes protected activity because it involves a public figure and is a matter of public importance.”

HUNTER BIDEN SUES FORMER WH AIDE FOR ALTERING, PUBLISHING ‘PORNOGRAPHIC’ PHOTOS FROM LAPTOP HE DENIES IS HIS

Hunter Biden, the son of President Joe Biden, is seen after making a statement during a news conference outside the U.S. Capitol about testifying publicly to the House Oversight and Accountability Committee. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)

The lawsuit, filed in Los Angeles, accuses Ziegler and his company — Marco Polo USA — and 10 unidentified associates of spreading “tens of thousands of emails, thousands of photos, and dozens of videos and recordings” from the laptop that were considered “pornographic.” 

Ziegler’s legal team alleges that Biden’s lawsuit is “aimed at chilling the valid exercise of the constitutional rights of freedom of speech.”

FBI AGENT INVOLVED IN HUNTER BIDEN PROBE DOES NOT BELIEVE POLITICS WERE INVOLVED

A courtroom sketch depicting Hunter Biden in a federal courtroom in Wilmington, Delaware. (William J. Hennessy, Jr.)

In the 14-page civil complaint, Biden’s attorneys allege that Ziegler is a “zealot” who has unleashed a “sustained, unhinged and obsessed campaign” against the entire Biden family for over two years and “spent countless hours accessing, tampering with, manipulating, altering, copying and damaging computer data” with his associates.

“While Defendant Ziegler is entitled to his extremist and counterfactual opinions, he has no right to engage in illegal activities to advance his right-wing agenda,” attorneys Abbe Lowell, Bryan Sullivan, Zachary Hansen and Paul Salvaty previously wrote.

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Hunter Biden, son of President Joe Biden, talks to reporters at the U.S. Capitol, in Washington, on Wednesday, December 13, 2023. He lashed out at Republican investigators who have been digging into his business dealings, insisting outside the Capitol that he will only testify before a congressional committee in public.  (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

In the motion to dismiss, Ziegler’s legal representation also questions the existence of a connection between their client and the state of California. The attorneys claim this would invalidate the jurisdiction of the state where the lawsuit was filed.

Hunter Biden is currently facing nine criminal counts in the same California court where he has filed three civil lawsuits. 

The president’s son is also currently suing Rudy Giuliani and lawyer Robert Costello for illegally accessing his laptop computer, and former Overstock CEO Patrick Byrne for defamation.

Fox News’ Jamie Joseph contributed to this report.

November saw nearly a quarter of a million migrant encounters at the southern border, Customs and Border Protection (CBP) announced on Friday, making it the third-busiest month of a migrant crisis that has smashed records and overwhelmed Border Patrol agents.

There were 242,418 migrant encounters at the southern border in November, including migrant encounters at ports of entry and illegal immigrant encounters by Border Patrol between ports of entry.

It’s higher than the 235,173 encountered during Nov. 22, and is only behind September (269,735) and December 2022 (252,315) in terms of the number of migrants encountered. It is the highest November number on record.

Meanwhile, there were 17 apprehensions of people on the terror watch list in November.

MIGRANT ENCOUNTERS AT BORDER SOAR PAST THE 200K MARK IN DECEMBER, WITH OVER A WEEK STILL TO GO 

Dec. 5, 2023: Migrants are seen camped out near Lukeville, Arizona. (Fox News)

It comes as Border Patrol has been dealing with increased numbers after a FY 23 that broke the record for encounters in a single fiscal year. Agents have been overwhelmed by a surge of migrants from across the globe in places like Lukeville, Arizona, and Eagle Pass, Texas.

Monday saw a record 12,600 encounters, the highest recorded in a single day. CBP sources told Fox this week that December has already exceeded 200,000 encounters and could easily eclipse November’s numbers given that agents are encountering 10,000+ a day.

Meanwhile, sources told Fox News on Friday that Border Patrol has released more than 386,000 illegal immigrants into the U.S. with Notices to Appear. That does not include those released by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and does not include migrants paroled into the U.S. via the CBP One app at ports of entry.

Republicans have blamed the crisis on Biden-era policies, including the rolling back of policies put in place by the Trump administration, and have passed legislation in the House to limit releases and increase border security. The Biden administration has said it needs more funding and its own sweeping legislation to fix a “broken” system and deal with a hemisphere-wide crisis. Meanwhile, it has said it is increasing consequences for illegal entry while expanding “lawful pathways.”

In a statement, CBP said it had surged resources to respond to increases and is screening every individual encountered. It said that since May, over 400,000 individuals have been removed from the country.

“CBP continues to execute its important mission to protect the American people, safeguard our borders, and enhance the nation’s economic prosperity by implementing operational plans, surging personnel and decompressing areas along the southwest border while processing and vetting migrants who are encountered humanely, safely, and efficiently, consistent with our laws. We are facing a serious challenge along the southwest border and CBP and our federal partners need more resources from Congress — as outlined in the supplemental budget request — to enhance border security and America’s national security.” acting CBP Commissioner Troy Miller said in a statement. “Despite ongoing challenges, in November, the men and women of CBP continued their tireless work and recorded increased seizures of illegal narcotics while facilitating lawful trade and increased holiday travel.”

The White House this week had appeared to downplay the crisis, saying that such increases in numbers are “not unusual.”

5,000 ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS RELEASED EVERY DAY INTO US, ADMIN OFFICIALS PRIVATELY TELL LAWMAKERS

“What we’re seeing here at the border, the increased migration flow, certainly, it ebbs and flows. And we’re at a time of the year where we’re seeing more at the border. And it’s not unusual. This is an immigration system that has been broken for decades. And the president has taken this very seriously to try to do more. That’s why we have the comprehensive immigration policy legislation that the president put forth on day one,” White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said.

Negotiations are ongoing in Congress for the White House’s supplemental funding request, which includes $14 billion for border operations. Republicans have demanded limits on asylum and restrictions on the use of parole. President Biden has said he is open to “significant compromises” but so far a deal has not been reached, despite optimism from lawmakers.

Meanwhile, the administration continues to face pressure from state and local officials at the border and elsewhere in the U.S. Mayors of sanctuary cities like Chicago and New York City have demanded more funding to help them deal with the massive numbers of migrants they have seen come to their cities and that have strained their social services. 

Last week, Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs announced that she was mobilizing the National Guard to help federal officials and attempt to reopen the Lukeville port of entry, while accusing the federal government of inaction.

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Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, meanwhile, has expanded his transports of migrants to “sanctuary” cities by flying migrants into Chicago. He also signed an immigration bill this week to allow law enforcement to arrest illegal immigrants in an attempt to stop what he called a “tidal wave” of illegal immigration.

Meanwhile, the Border Patrol union made clear agents’ displeasure with the way the crisis is being handled.

“While our agents are more than willing to sacrifice the holidays to protect fellow Americans, that’s not what they will be doing,” National Border Patrol Council President Brandon Judd said on Friday. “They will be processing the illegal border crossers for release into the U.S. while large parts of the border will be left wide open to exploitation by organized crime. These will not be happy holidays for the hard working men and women of the Border Patrol.” 

Former Mueller prosecutor Andrew Weissmann claimed on MSNBC that Americans died in the Civil War to bar candidates “who engaged in insurrection” from running for office.

Weissmann made the claim on Thursday while speaking in a panel discussion on the Colorado Supreme Court moving to keep Trump off the state’s primary ballot.

“This is not new. It is true that this provision of the Constitution is new to lots of people, because we’ve never been in a situation where you would have somebody running for office who engaged in insurrection or a rebellion,” Weissmann said.

DEM-APPOINTED COLORADO JUSTICE SAYS TRUMP BALLOT BAN UNDERMINES ‘BEDROCK’ OF AMERICA IN FIERY DISSENT

Former Mueller prosecutor Andrew Weissmann made the claim on Thursday while speaking in a panel discussion on the Colorado Supreme Court moving to keep former President Trump off the state’s primary ballot. (Photo by Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images for National Board of Review)

Weissmann said it was “remarkable” to him that the ruling from the Democrat-appointed court justices “isn’t really the unanimous finding in the Colorado case because you had no one dissenting on the issue of did he do it.”

“No one was saying, oh, no, this was insufficient proof,” Weissmann said. “There were lots of procedural issues, and I don’t mean to minimize them, that the dissent raised, but there was a district court finding and there was a majority opinion with no dissents on the fact that the leading contender for the Republican nomination had done what we had a civil war about.”

“And the reason for this amendment was because, after the Civil War, people said, if you have engaged in this kind of conduct you cannot be any longer the president, the vice president, or any federal position,” Weissmann continued.

“So this is historically really important in terms of what many people died for in this country,” he added.

Former President Donald Trump (Photo by JOSEPH PREZIOSO/AFP via Getty Images)

Weissmann served on special counsel Robert Mueller’s team investigating Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.

The investigation probed the 2016 Trump campaign over alleged collusion between the campaign and Russia, but there was insufficient evidence found by Mueller linking the two.

The Colorado Supreme Court’s decision to ban Trump from the state’s primary ballot undermines a “bedrock principle” of American democracy, one of the court’s Democrat-appointed justices wrote in a fiery dissent.

Justices Carlos Samour, Maria Berkenkotter and Chief Justice Brian D. Boatright all dissented, but Samour was particularly critical of the 4-3 ruling. Samour and Boatright were each appointed by Democratic former Gov. John Hickenlooper, and Berkenkotter was appointed by current Gov. Jared Polis, also a Democrat. 

Colorado Supreme Court Justice Melissa Hart, left, makes a point as Justice Maria E. Berkenkotter looks on as attorneys argue before the court on Wednesday, December 6, 2023, in Denver.  (AP Photo/David Zalubowski, Pool)

“The decision to bar former President Donald J. Trump — by all accounts the current leading Republican presidential candidate (and reportedly the current leading overall presidential candidate) — from Colorado’s presidential primary ballot flies in the face of the due process doctrine,” Samour wrote.

“Even if we are convinced that a candidate committed horrible acts in the past — dare I say, engaged in insurrection — there must be procedural due process before we can declare that individual disqualified from holding public office,” he wrote.

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Samour went on to argue that allowing states to decide individually whether to allow Trump’s candidacy “risked chaos in the country.” The justice conjured visions of state governments divided on the legitimacy of a victorious presidential candidate.

“This can’t possibly be the outcome the framers intended,” Samour argued.

The disqualification, which was made under the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, is related to the Capitol riot on Jan. 6, 2021.

The 14th Amendment states: “No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice-President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any state, who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any State legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any State, to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof But Congress may by a vote of two-thirds of each House, remove such disability.”

While the 14th Amendment was one of the Reconstruction Amendments adopted in the aftermath of the Civil War, the war was largely fought over the issue of slavery, not whether a presidential candidate could be kept off the ballot.

Fox News Digital has reached out to Weissman for comment.

Fox News Digital’s Anders Hagstrom contributed reporting.

President Biden is experiencing approval ratings lower than any other modern president at this point in their term.

Biden’s job approval rating currently sits at 39%, a slight uptick from October and November when it was reported at 37%, according to a new poll from Gallup. 

His approval rating has dipped under 40% five times during his term.

Biden’s poor performance is the lowest among modern presidents seeking re-election at this point in their term, according to Gallup.

TRUMP EDGES BIDEN AGAIN IN NEW 2024 POLL, BUILDS SUPPORT WITH YOUNGER VOTERS

President Biden speaks during an event at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland. (Chris Kleponis/CNP/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

At this point in his first term, former President Donald Trump held an approval rating of approximately 45%, the analytics company reported.

Former President Barack Obama held a 43% approval rating at this same point. All other presidents reaching back to Jimmy Carter had approval ratings above 50%.

TRUMP KEEPS MASSIVE LEAD, HALEY TIES DESANTIS FOR SECOND IN NEW 2024 GOP PRESIDENTIAL PRIMARY POLL

President Joe Biden and President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy participate in a bilateral meeting in the East Room of the White House in Washington, D.C. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

George W. Bush boasted the highest approval rating of the group with 58%.

Biden is complaining to close aides as his low approval rating continues to frustrate him and first lady Jill Biden, according to a new media report.

“After pardoning a pair of turkeys, an annual White House tradition, Biden delivered some stern words for the small group assembled: His poll numbers were unacceptably low, and he wanted to know what his team and his campaign were doing about it,” The Washington Post reported.

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President Biden speaks at the Chase Center in Wilmington, Delaware. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

“He complained that his economic message had done little to move the ball, even as the economy was growing and unemployment was falling, according to people familiar with his comments, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss a private conversation,” according to The Post, whose headline noted Biden’s “dismal poll numbers.”

The Biden family’s complaints date back months, with Joe and Jill Biden telling “aides and friends that they are frustrated by the president’s low approval rating and the polls that show him trailing former president Donald Trump,” the report continued. 

Fox News’ Jeffrey Clark contributed to this report.

Oklahoma’s Republican Gov. Kevin Stitt called Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis the one presidential candidate with the leadership skills and experience needed for the job.

“I think it’s the leadership, but it’s even more than that, It’s just the get-it-done attitude and a guy that just doesn’t back down,” Stitt told Fox News Digital on Thursday aboard a campaign bus in eastern Iowa as he stumped for DeSantis with just about three weeks to until the Iowa Caucus. 

“I mean, who takes on Disney, the largest corporation in your state with the most influence and power if you’re not just trying to do the right things?” he added. “No politician does that. That’s why you look at DeSantis and say this is a guy that’s going to be based on principles.”

Stitt explained that he felt it was important to come to the Hawkeye State and tell Iowans face to face why he believes DeSantis is the right candidate while outlining examples of where DeSantis has led, including during the coronavirus pandemic.

“COVID is a perfect example,” Stitt said. “We were having to push back against a Republican administration to just keep our schools open. I mean, Fauci was running everything at that time, and I just watched how he led and I know he’s the right guy for the job.”

TRUMP KEEPS MASSIVE LEAD, HALEY TIES DESANTIS FOR SECOND IN NEW 2024 GOP PRESIDENTIAL PRIMARY POLL

L- Kevin Stitt R – Ron DeSantis (Getty Images)

“We need somebody that can be there for eight years, not just four years and so I thought it was important for me to come out to Iowa and share from another governor’s perspective why I personally support him.”

Stitt told Fox News Digital that the top two concerns Iowans have expressed to him during his visit are the economy, border security and spending.

“The economy is really affecting everybody right now, inflation is at record highs, the spending is out of control in D.C. in both Republican and Democrat administrations. They keep spending more than we bring in,” Stitt said. “You know, if you bring in four trillion, let’s spend four trillion, we can’t keep printing money, which is going to devalue the dollar.”

DESANTIS ARGUES TRUMP ‘WILL SAY IT’S STOLEN, NO MATTER WHAT’ IF FORMER PRESIDENT LOSES IN IOWA OR NH

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis speaks to members of the media after an event on Thursday, July 27, 2023, in Chariton, Iowa.  (Sergio Flores for The Washington Post via Getty Images)

“So we need a president that’s not afraid to go up there and shake up the baseball game that’s going on in Washington, D.C., and all those counties and everybody that’s living off of the regular America.”

With just about three weeks to go until the Iowa Caucus, former President Donald Trump holds a commanding lead against his Republican opponents in polls both nationally and in Iowa where the Real Clear Politics average shows him leading DeSantis by 32 points.

Stitt dismissed the idea that Trump’s lead is insurmountable and pointed to recent elections where the polls have been wildly inaccurate.

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Kevin Stitt, governor of Oklahoma, listens during a meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump and governors in the State Dining Room of the White House in Washington, D.C. (Chris Kleponis/Polaris/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

“Here’s the deal: national polls mean absolutely nothing,” Stitt said. “Think about this, in my re-election the polls were showing I was going to lose, or a dead heat, and I won by 15 points. I think people are just so sick of polls. In Florida, not one newspaper endorsed DeSantis and he won by 20 points. The people are going to make the decisions and it’s all going to come down to Iowa and New Hampshire, so I think it’s a new day on January 16 when DeSantis wins Iowa. It’s going to be unbelievable.”

Stitt says his interactions with Iowa voters and their enthusiasm gives him confidence that DeSantis’s message is resonating.

“I really do I think he’s connecting with voters, again, you know if you’re the president and you can only be in for four years, you’re basically a lame duck day one,” Stitt said. “It’s just so difficult to get the momentum, and the deep state just kind of tries to outlast you.

“You have to have that threat of re-election and coming back and being there for eight years to actually move the needle and get policy done, and that’s kind of hard to explain if you’re not in this game and you don’t understand exactly how it works,” he went on. “But that’s something that you can’t discount. That’s very, very important.”

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

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What’s Happening? 

– Biden commutes sentences for 11 convicted of drug crimes

– Nikki Haley closes in

– Look back on 2023’s most memorable political gaffes

Festivus for the Rest of Us

Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., released his annual Christmas “Festivus” report Friday for the ninth year in a row, outlining $900 billion in government waste. 

Among notable instances, the National Institutes of Health allocated funds to study Russian cats on treadmills, photos of Barbies were utilized as identification to obtain COVID relief funds, the Department of Defense lost $169 million of outdoor-stored military gear, $6 million went towards tourism in Egypt by the United States Agency for International Development, and the Small Business Administration provided over $200 million to “struggling” music artists such as Post Malone, Chris Brown, and Lil Wayne.

Up from $30 trillion in debt in 2022, this year’s debt amounts to $34 trillion, the report also highlights. 

Up from $30 trillion in debt in 2022, this year’s debt amounts to $34 trillion. (Fox News)

White House

‘LACK OF RESPONSIVENESS’: Menendez blocks 2 Biden nominees over frustration with border negotiations …Read more

‘UNJUSTIFIED DISPARITIES’: Biden commutes sentences for 11 convicted of drug crimes …Read more

‘UNNECESSARY BURDENS’: Biden admin unveils strict hydrogen regulations in victory for environmentalists …Read more

Capitol Hill

AGE VERIFICATION: Mike Lee introduces bill cracking down on commercial porn sites …Read more

‘ZERO TOLERANCE’: House leftists include antisemitism in resolution condemning Islamophobia, ‘anti-Palestinian discrimination’ …Read more

Tales from the Campaign Trail

‘SMARTEST MOVE’: Experts weigh in on why it would be a ‘smart’ political move for Biden to oppose CO ruling …Read more

BASHING BIDEN: Democrat Dean Phillips attacks Biden for trying to upend traditional primary election process …Read more

CAMPAIGN THEME: Biden’s key 2024 message will be Trump as ‘threat to democracy’: report …Read More

SURPRISE POLL: Nikki Haley closes to within 4 percentage points of Trump in New Hampshire poll …Read more

Across America

STUMBLES & BUMBLES: Most memorable political gaffes and blunders of 2023 …Read more

HELP ON THE WAY: ICE ramps up staffing at southern border to aid CBP with new migrant surge …Read more

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

President Biden’s re-election campaign will push former President Trump as being a “threat to democracy” as a primary component of the 2024 presidential election, according to a report. 

Biden’s campaign manager, Julie Chavez Rodriguez, said the president’s camp would attempt to frame the election as having drastically high stakes with the “fate of American democracy” on the line.

“We are treating this election like it will determine the fate of American democracy – because it will,” Chavez Rodriguez said in a campaign memo, according to Bloomberg. 

“The threat Donald Trump posed in 2020 to American democracy has only grown more dire since then,” Chavez Rodriquez added. “He is running a campaign on revenge and retribution – and at the expense of Americans’ freedoms.”

CHAIRS OF GROUP THAT LED EFFORT TO BOOT TRUMP FROM COLORADO BALLOT DONATED TO BIDEN

President Biden’s campaign will lean into former President Trump being a “threat to democracy” in the 2024 elections. (Celal Gunes/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images | Mario Tama/Getty Images )

The strategy is nothing new, as Biden and Democrats have been pushing the statement for some time now. However, it exemplifies how they plan to further lean into it for what they appear to view as a likely rematch with Trump.

Several prominent Republicans have started to push back against the claim and told Fox News Digital this week that it is Biden’s party that is working overtime to undermine the vote.

They pointed to Democrats’ efforts to keep Trump off the ballot, imprison him, stifle free speech on social media and rewrite election laws while fighting measures designed to protect ballot integrity. The ongoing efforts, they said, are a much more significant threat to democracy than the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot Biden and Democrats frequently cite.

DEM-APPOINTED COLORADO JUSTICE SAYS TRUMP BALLOT BAN UNDERMINES ‘BEDROCK’ OF AMERICA IN FIERY DISSENT

Democrats have used the “threat to democracy” talking point for some time now. (SUZANNE CORDEIRO/AFP via Getty Images)

Democrats have most recently thrown their weight behind state-level legal efforts to prevent Trump from appearing on 2024 presidential ballots, including in Colorado, where the state Supreme Court ruled 4-3 this week that the former president violated the Constitution’s 14th Amendment when he “engaged in insurrection” concerning Jan. 6, and should be disqualified.

“Democrats cynically used the COVID-19 pandemic to radically undermine long-standing election laws on the fly and then started pushing for non-citizens to vote in U.S. elections,” Republican National Committee (RNC) Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel told Fox News Digital. “Now the left is working to remove political opponents from the ballot in a shocking display of disregard for the American people’s right to choose their candidates.”

Polls have shown President Biden in a bad position heading into the 2024 election. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)

“These attacks on the democratic process drive down voter confidence and trust in the electoral system. Meanwhile, the RNC and our partners are fighting to make sure the American people choose their presidential candidates, not the courts,” she said, adding that the RNC was trying to protect election integrity by fighting for policies to ensure only American citizens vote in elections.

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The Biden campaign did not immediately respond to a Fox News Digital request for comment. 

If there is one thing Americans can expect from an election season, it is a plethora of political gaffes, and 2023 did not disappoint.

From the GOP presidential primary to the White House, America’s politicians continued to stumble and bumble their way toward 2024.

Let’s get the easiest target out of the way first.

Biden takes a tumble

Perhaps the single-most memorable political gaffe of the year occurred June 2 when President Biden was sending off graduates at the U.S. Air Force Academy.

Biden delivered a commencement address and stood on stage to shake the hands of every last graduate, but he collapsed to the floor as he turned to leave.

Americans have seen Biden trip and fall previously, most often on the steps leading up to Air Force One, but his tumble at the Air Force Academy was by far the most drastic of his presidency so far. Secret Service and military members nearby rushed to lift the president off the ground.

FEDERAL INVESTIGATORS FLOATED SEX TRAFFICKING CHARGES AGAINST HUNTER BIDEN, DOC SHOWS

VP Kamala Harris’ favorite holiday meal: word salad

Vice President Kamala Harris served Americans a generous helping of word salad throughout the year, but her most recent verbal stumble came just in time for Christmas.

Harris appeared on MSNBC’s “The Last Word” with Lawrence O’Donnell earlier this week to discuss former President Trump’s recent claim that illegal immigrants are “poisoning the blood of our country.”

THOUSANDS OF BLUE STATE RESIDENTS FLOCK TO IDAHO, BRINGING CONSERVATIVE POLITICS WITH THEM: DATA

Her attack on Trump didn’t land how she planned, however.

“You know, every election cycle we talk about this is the most election of our lifetime,” Harris said. “Lawrence, this one is, this one is.”

“We are literally talking about people who are attempting to divide our country in the most crude, frankly, and profound way,” she said. “We are talking about those who are intent and purposeful to, to attack fundamental freedoms.”

“The freedom to be free from fear of violence and hate … the freedom to just … be. The freedom to just be,” she added.

Harris’ biggest gaffe came in July, however, when she gifted the American people with an incomprehensible and repetitive definition of the word “culture.”

“Culture is — it is a reflection of our moment in our time, right? And in present culture is the way we express how we’re feeling about the moment,” Harris said at a New Orleans music festival.

NEW YORK, CALIFORNIA EXODUS CONTINUES, BUT ‘CATASTROPHIC EFFECT’ OF BIDEN ECONOMY MAY BE ON THE WAY: EXPERTS

“And we should always find times to express how we feel about the moment that is a reflection of joy, because as you know, it comes in the morning,” she added.

“We have to find ways to also express the way we feel about the moment in terms of just having language and a connection to how people are experiencing life. And I think about it in that way, too,” Harris finished.

‘Twitter Spaces’ crashes DeSantis campaign launch

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis made the brave and potentially innovative move to launch his 2024 presidential campaign on what was then called “Twitter Spaces.”

The highly anticipated announcement, set to be made via a conversation with X CEO Elon Musk and tech entrepreneur David Sacks, was plagued by tech issues, with mobile apps repeatedly crashing and participants on the call unable to speak or hear one another.

Nearly 700,000 users logged in to hear the announcement roughly 20 minutes after it was set to launch. The event was then abruptly shut down without explanation.

“The servers are straining somewhat,” Musk was heard saying at one point.

DeSantis’ opponents were quick to jump on the stumbling start.

“This link works,” Biden tweeted, with a link to donate to his campaign.

Former President Donald Trump’s MAGA War Room tweeted an image of the Twitter Spaces with the words “failing to launch…” emblazoned across the top.

Vivek Ramaswamy goes to the bathroom

Entrepreneur and 2024 presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy has had many viral moments on the campaign trail, but none of them compare to an interview he conducted last week on X.

Ramaswamy appeared in an X “Spaces” conversation with Musk, conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, influencer Andrew Tate and Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla. At one point during the conversation, participants called out Ramaswamy for appearing to have taken his phone into the restroom.

Ramaswamy could be heard talking about how he is “super pro-human – and I mean all humans … uh, you know, humans in America” while the sound of splashing water could be heard in the background.

Jones jumped on the sound immediately: “Somebody’s got their thing on while they’re peeing!”

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Host of the conversation Mario Nawfal jumped in to attempt to fix the situation. “Vivek, Vivek, that’s your phone, Vivek. I’m not able to mute you.”

“Sorry about that,” Ramaswamy responded.

“Well, I hope you feel better now,” Musk quipped.

“I feel great, thank you,” Ramaswamy finished.

Vivek Ramaswamy, chairman and co-founder of Strive Asset Management and 2024 Republican presidential candidate, during the Republican presidential primary debate hosted by NewsNation in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, US, on Wednesday, Dec. 6, 2023. (Micah Green/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Fox News’ Jamie Joseph, Thomas Catenacci and Kelley Phares contributed to this report

A growing number of political commentators and experts are calling for the Biden administration to denounce the Colorado Supreme Court’s removal of former President Donald Trump from the 2024 ballot, arguing it could be a strong political move for him. 

“If Biden were smart, he’d denounce the CO Supreme Court ruling,” former White House press secretary Ari Fleischer posted on X. “He’d call it wrong and show confidence he can win without throwing Trump off the ballot.

“But he won’t do that because he is too afraid of the progressive left and too weak to stand up to them.”

“The smartest move for Biden would be to direct the DOJ to oppose Colorado’s efforts to kick Trump off the ballot,” Fox News Host Laura Ingraham posted on X. 

DEM-APPOINTED COLORADO JUSTICE SAYS TRUMP BALLOT BAN UNDERMINES ‘BEDROCK’ OF AMERICA IN FIERY DISSENT

Donald Trump and Joe Biden (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

“Democrats in Colorado are removing President Trump from the ballot because the ‘Democrat’ Party opposes democracy, which is a system where voters get to select their elected leaders,” Republican Congresswoman Mary Miller posted on X. “If Biden and the ‘media’ actually believed in democracy, they would denounce this immediately.”

COLORADO KICKING TRUMP OFF BALLOT SHOWS DEMOCRATS WAKE UP EVERY MORNING ACTING LIKE IT’S JANUARY 6: CONWAY

“This is a good time for Biden to convey the image that he cultivated in the election,” Jonathan Turley, a Shapiro professor of public interest law at George Washington University and Fox News contributor told Fox News Digital.  

“James Freeman Clarke once said ‘a politician thinks of the next election; a statesman thinks of the next generation.’ It is time for Biden to show that he can think of the next generation and oppose this insidious ruling.”

President Biden salutes while arriving during an event in the Indian Treaty Room of the White House in Washington Nov. 27, 2023. (Michael Reynolds/EPA/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Alex Conant, founding partner at Firehouse Strategies, told Fox News Digital Biden “should do everything he can to distance himself from these efforts.

“The more partisan it looks, the more it will help Trump.”

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David Avella, chairman of GOPAC, told Fox News Digital the issue goes “beyond” President Biden. 

“Americans need a 9-0 ruling from our U.S. Supreme Court justices to send a definitive signal that the Colorado court’s action is unconstitutional,” Avella said.

Former President Donald Trump speaks to a crowd during a campaign rally Sept. 25, 2023, in Summerville, S.C. (Sean Rayford/Getty Images)

So far, President Biden has declined to take advice from commentators to denounce the Colorado court ruling and declined to comment on it when asked by a reporter Wednesday.

“Now, whether the 14th Amendment applies, let the court make that decision,” Biden said. “But he certainly supported an insurrection. No question about it. None. Zero. And he seems to be doubling down on about everything.” 

Fox News Digital reached out to the White House for comment but did not receive a response.

The Colorado Supreme Court disqualified Trump from appearing on the state’s ballots in 2024, citing the 14tth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution and the Capitol riot of Jan. 6, 2021.

Tuesday’s 4-3 ruling is stayed until Jan. 4 because of likely appeals, and it is widely expected Trump will take the case to the Supreme Court. 

Migrant encounters at the southern border have already surged past the 200,000 mark for December, with an average of well over 10,000 encounters a day, Customs and Border Protection (CBP) sources tell Fox News — with still more than a week to go in the month.

Sources told Fox that there have already been over 200,000 encounters in December. The record for monthly encounters was set in September, with over 269,000. October saw over 240,000 encounters and the numbers have not yet been released for November.

Last December saw over 252,000 encounters, which was then a monthly record. That number could easily be eclipsed if agents continue to encounter 10,000 migrants a day between now and the end of the month.

UNION PACIFIC WARNS BORDER CROSSING CLOSING DUE TO MIGRANT CRISIS HURTS CROSS-BORDER TRADE AS CHRISTMAS NEARS 

A line of migrants crosses into Lukeville, Arizona, on Thursday. (Fox News)

The new surge comes during a year that has seen multiple records smashed for daily and monthly encounters as well as for the fiscal year — in FY23 overall there were over 2.4 million encounters.

On Monday, there were over 12,600 encounters, which itself broke the record for daily encounters after a surge into Eagle Pass, Texas. Sources told Fox that agents were outmanned at approximately 200:1 with migrants. On Thursday, Fox News was on the ground in Lukeville, Arizona, where there was another mass crossing of over 700 illegal immigrants, with massive numbers of adult males mixed in with families from Mexico and Ecuador.

Last week, Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs announced that she was mobilizing the National Guard to help federal officials and attempt to reopen the Lukeville port of entry, while accusing the federal government of inaction.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, meanwhile, has expanded his transports of migrants to “sanctuary” cities by flying migrants into Chicago. He also signed an immigration bill this week to allow law enforcement to arrest illegal immigrants in an attempt to stop what he called a “tidal wave” of illegal immigration.

5,000 ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS RELEASED EVERY DAY INTO US, ADMIN OFFICIALS PRIVATELY TELL LAWMAKERS

Fox reported last week that Department of Homeland Security officials told lawmakers this month that there were around 670,000 “gotaways” — illegal immigrants who slipped past Border Patrol agents — in FY23, and that they are releasing an average of 5,000 illegal immigrants a day to non-governmental organizations. 

That is in addition to the over 1,600 migrants being paroled at ports of entry each day and the up to 30,000 Haitian, Venezuelan, Nicaraguans and Cubans being flown in each month through the Biden administration’s expanded “lawful pathways.”

SOUTHERN BORDER HIT BY RECORD NUMBER OF MIGRANT ENCOUNTERS IN A SINGLE DAY AS THOUSANDS FLOOD INTO TEXAS

Republicans have blamed the crisis on the administration’s policies, including its rollback of Trump-era border measures, and has called for strict asylum limits and greater border security. The administration has said it is pursuing a strategy of expanding those pathways while increasing consequences for illegal entry, but that it is also dealing with a hemisphere-wide crisis and needs additional funding and immigration reform legislation from Congress. 

A requested $14 billion for border funding from Congress as part of a broader $106 billion supplemental funding request is being debated by lawmakers, with Republicans demanding greater limits on humanitarian parole and higher asylum standards.

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While the Biden administration has reportedly expressed openness to a Title 42-style authority and greater deportations, it is unclear if such a deal is possible given likely opposition from both Democrats, who have opposed such limits, and Republicans, who say that it isn’t enough. 

Lawmakers involved in negotiations have expressed optimism that a deal is possible, but it is unlikely to be agreed to before January.

Former Attorney General Ed Meese has presented arguments to the Supreme Court that they should reject Special Counsel Jack Smith’s requests because he was unconstitutionally appointed in the first place. 

Meese, along with law professors Steven G. Calabresi and Gary S. Lawson, filed a friend-of-the-court brief Wednesday to present the case that Attorney General Merrick Garland’s appointment of Smith — a private citizen — is in violation of the Appointments Clause of the Constitution. 

“Not clothed in the authority of the federal government, Smith is a modern example of the naked emperor,” the brief states. 

“Improperly appointed, he has no more authority to represent the United States in this Court than Bryce Harper, Taylor Swift, or Jeff Bezos,” they argued. 

RED STATE AGS BLAST SPECIAL COUNSEL PUSH FOR SCOTUS TO RUSH TRUMP CASE: ‘PARTISAN INTERESTS’

Special Counsel Jack Smith arrives to give remarks on a recently unsealed indictment, including four felony counts against former President Donald Trump in Washington, D.C., on Aug. 1. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

The brief was filed in response to Smith’s request to the court to expedite former President Donald Trump’s case arguing presidential immunity for his actions on Jan. 6, 2021, which are connected to criminal charges brought by Smith. 

Meese argues that the “illegality” of Smith’s appointment is “sufficient to sink Smith’s petition, and the Court should deny review.” 

Meese and company noted in the brief that Smith was appointed “to conduct the ongoing investigation into whether any person or entity [including former President Donald Trump] violated the law in connection with efforts to interfere with the lawful transfer of power following the 2020 presidential election or the certification of the Electoral College vote held on or about January 6, 2021.”

While Garland cited as statutory authority for this appointment, Meese argues that “none of those statutes, nor any other statutory or constitutional provisions, remotely authorized the appointment by the Attorney General of a private citizen to receive extraordinary criminal law enforcement power under the title of Special Counsel.”

“Second, even if one overlooks the absence of statutory authority for the position, there is no statute specifically authorizing the Attorney General, rather than the President by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, to appoint such a Special Counsel,” the former AG wrote. 

SPECIAL COUNSEL JACK SMITH CALLS ON SUPREME COURT TO RULE ON TRUMP IMMUNITY CLAIM

Former Attorney General Edwin Meese delivers remarks after being awarded the National Medal of Freedom by President Donald Trump during a ceremony in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, D.C., on Oct. 8, 2019. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

“Under the Appointments Clause, inferior officers can be appointed by department heads only if Congress so directs by statute… and so directs specifically enough to overcome a clear-statement presumption in favor of presidential appointment and senatorial confirmation. No such statute exists for the Special Counsel,” he added. 

Meese, who served as attorney general under former President Reagan, said “the Special Counsel, if a valid officer, is a superior (or principal) rather than inferior officer, and thus cannot be appointed by any means other than presidential appointment and senatorial confirmation regardless of what any statutes purport to say.”

Earlier this month, Smith petitioned the high court to decide Trump’s immunity claims in his case facing charges related to his efforts to overturn the 2020 election results. 

FEDERAL JUDGE DENIES TRUMP’S CLAIM OF PRESIDENTIAL IMMUNITY IN SPECIAL COUNSEL JACK SMITH’S JAN. 6 CASE

The Supreme Court in Washington, D.C. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

Smith asked for expedited consideration of the case to essentially have the high court take over jurisdiction before the lower federal courts have fully decided the matter.

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Smith wants the court to expedite the claims in hopes to keep Trump’s Washington, D.C., trial — scheduled to begin March 4 — on track.

New York City Mayor Eric Adams said that the reason residents are leaving the Big Apple in droves is, in part, due to the ongoing rat infestation.

“Some people who have children and families decide they want to go to a place where their children can play outdoors, larger green spaces, you want to see animals — you don’t see animals except for rats in New York,” Adams said when asked about the plunging population data.

“So there’s a combination of things,” he said. “And we are getting rid of those rats, by the way.”

NEW YORK LOST MORE RESIDENTS IN A YEAR THAN ANY OTHER STATE IN THE COUNTRY, US CENSUS DATA SHOWS

A rat crosses a Times Square subway platform in New York. New York. (AP Photo/Richard Drew/File)

New York City Mayor Eric Adams says his office is working on getting rid of the city’s rat problem. (NYC Mayor’s Office)

The Democratic mayor said that there has been “perfect storm” of reasons why people are leaving New York City-including the cost of living, COVID-19, remote job opportunities along with the rats.

“Well, I think there’s a combination on why people are leaving the city. The city and cities have become unaffordable,” Adams said. “And people left the city during COVID-19 for a short period of time and some decided that they no longer want to come back into cities. Then you have the remote work option where you don’t have to be in an office space to do the job. You could do it from wherever.”

NYC MAYOR ADAMS MIGRANT CRISIS WILL LEAD TO ‘EXTREMELY PAINFUL’ BUDGET CUTS; DOESN’T EXPECT FEDS TO HELP

“And so there’s a perfect storm of reasons that cities are losing their population. And at one time you may have lost 20,000 here, 15,000 here. But now when you start to add up all of those dynamics, it’s a different way of life,” Adams said.

A rat climbs on a bench on the High Line Park in New York City.  (Gary Hershorn/Getty Images/File)

The mayor said that the continued influx of migrants may help the floundering census data.

“So, we don’t want people to leave, but people are also moving into the city. I see first-time New Yorkers over and over again, people are moving in and there are 152,000 migrants,” Adams said. “If you were to do an analysis of those who are behind me, an overwhelming number of them are immigrants. They come from first generations.

“So, they went from their parents coming here trying to be citizens to now they’re in charge of what happens to citizens.”

New York City Mayor Eric Adams (Lev Radin/Pacific Press/LightRocket via Getty Images/File)

Of the eight states that saw their populations fall in 2023, New York lost the most residents, seeing 101,984 people depart the Empire State. 

RED STATES SEE 2023 POPULATION GROWTH AS AMERICANS FLEE BLUE STATES, CENSUS DATA SHOWS

That was followed by California, which lost 75,423 residents, Illinois, which lost 32,826, and Louisiana, at 14,274. Pennsylvania saw 10,408 residents leave the state, while Oregon saw 6,021 move away. Hawaii lost 4,261, and West Virginia lost 3,964, according to the new Vintage 2023 population estimates. 

South Carolina and Florida were the two fastest-growing states in the nation, growing by 1.7% and 1.6%, respectively, in 2023.

House Republican Conference Chair Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY) (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images/File)

House Republican Conference Chairwoman Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., said the mass exodus from New York demonstrated “the consequences of Far Left Democrat leadership.”

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“Far Left [Governor] Kathy Hochul and Albany Democrats have made New York so unlivable that our state leads the nation in population loss with more than 102,000 residents leaving in one year alone,” Stefanik said in a statement. “With record crime and cost of living far beyond the national average, New York’s mass exodus is far from over. If Far Left Democrats in Albany don’t start putting the safety and prosperity of New Yorkers before their extremist agenda, there will be no more residents left to tax and fund their radical, socialist programs.”

Mayor Eric Adams’ office did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.

Fox News’ Danielle Wallace contributed to this report.

House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., is urging President Biden to use his executive authority to impose strict measures to combat the ongoing migrant crisis at the U.S. southern border.

“The wide-open border has caused unspeakable human tragedy for migrants and certainly for our own citizens. During FY2023, CBP seized ‘enough fentanyl to kill the entire U.S. population,’ and fentanyl poisoning is now the leading cause of death for Americans aged 18-45. Countless children and adults have been victims of human trafficking and cartels have been emboldened and enriched,” Johnson wrote.

“Local communities have been devastated and terrorists and dangerous criminals have entered illegally and dispersed across our country. We are now more vulnerable to a terrorist attack on our homeland than ever.”

UNION PACIFIC WARNS BORDER CROSSING CLOSING DUE TO MIGRANT CRISIS HURTS CROSS-BORDER TRADE AS CHRISTMAS NEARS 

House Speaker Mike Johnson, right, wrote to President Biden urging him to take executive action on the border. (Getty Images)

Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officials warned this week that the thousands of migrants coming across the border daily was straining their resources to critical levels, as communities along the border continue to also be stretched thin.

“All of this is the direct result of your administration’s policies,” Johnson wrote. “You have clearly undermined America’s sovereignty and security by ending the Remain in Mexico policy, reinstating catch-and-release, suspending asylum cooperative agreements with other nations, ignoring existing restraints on the abuse of parole, and halting border wall construction.”

5,000 ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS RELEASED EVERY DAY INTO US, ADMIN OFFICIALS PRIVATELY TELL LAWMAKERS

Customs and Border Protection officials have said their resources are strained by the tidal wave of migrants seeking asylum. (Fox News)

He called on Biden to impose an executive order empowering border agents to “turn back or detain all illegal aliens encountered between ports of entry,” as well as vastly narrowing parole authority for migrants.

Johnson also demanded that Biden reinstate the Trump administration’s controversial Remain in Mexico policy, strengthen expedited removal processes and resume construction of the border wall.

SOUTHERN BORDER HIT BY RECORD NUMBER OF MIGRANT ENCOUNTERS IN A SINGLE DAY AS THOUSANDS FLOOD INTO TEXAS

Republicans in the House and Senate have forced the White House to the negotiating table on border security by holding up Biden’s $110 billion supplemental aid package for Ukraine, Israel and other causes. The bill also includes funding for the border, but GOP lawmakers argued that the money is meaningless without significant policy changes.

Migrants flee through a gap being repaired in the border wall in Lukeville, Arizona, on Dec. 5. (Fox News)

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Johnson has maintained both in public and in private that House Republicans would not agree to Ukraine funding unless the Senate takes up their marquee border security bill known as H.R. 2.

When asked for a response, a White House spokesperson pointed to instances of Biden requesting additional funding for border security and arguing that “House Republicans have refused to fund our border security at the levels we need.”

“They refused to provide the resources we requested in 2022 and in 2023. For example, in Fiscal Year 2022 and 2023, President Biden requested additional funds to hire more Border Patrol agents, House Republicans voted against those measures. In August 2023, House Republicans refused to take up the President’s emergency funding request for border security – instead, they put forward a CR that would have cut 800 CBP agents. When President Biden presented Congress with another supplemental request for border security in October, House Republicans refused to take it up. Instead, Speaker Johnson and House Republicans decided to go home in mid-December,” the spokesperson told Fox News Digital in a statement after publication.

“If Speaker Johnson and House Republicans had their way, there would be 2,000 fewer CBP agents and officers at the border – just look at the bill they voted for in May 2023.”

Referencing the ongoing negotiation between Senate Republicans and the White House, the spokesperson said Biden was “working to find a bipartisan agreement that will make a real difference at the border.”

Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. blasted the California lieutenant governor for calling on the state’s secretary of state to “explore legal options” to remove former President Trump from the ballot.

Kennedy blasted Golden State Lt. Gov. Eleni Kounalakis in a tweet after her Wednesday orders to Secretary of State Shirley Weber to look into “legal options” to take Trump off the ballot.

“Someone needs to explain to Lt. Governor Kounalakis that in democracy, we choose candidates by VOTING,” Kennedy wrote. “Not by legal maneuvers to get them off the ballot.”

CALIFORNIA LT. GOV CALLS FOR STATE TO ‘EXPLORE EVERY LEGAL OPTION’ TO REMOVE TRUMP FROM ’24 BALLOT

Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. blasted the California lieutenant governor for calling on the state’s secretary of state to “explore legal options” to remove former President Trump from the ballot. (Hans Gutknecht/MediaNews Group/Los Angeles Daily News via Getty Images)

“Kounalakis has close ties to Gavin Newsom (of course), Kamala Harris, and Nancy Pelosi. She isn’t just an individual with an agenda,” he continued. “She is deep in the Democratic party establishment.”

Kennedy wrote that in “so-called banana republics and authoritarian countries, voters can only choose from a slate of officially approved candidates” and warned it’s “starting to look like that here too.”

“We can restore real democracy,” Kennedy said. “Electing me President is one step, but what it will take is a full mobilization of an engaged citizenry.”

“Democracy doesn’t come when the elites who have usurped it finally relent,” he added.

Fox News Digital reached out to Kounalakis’ office for comment.

A day after the Colorado Supreme Court disqualified Trump from appearing on the state’s ballots in 2024, Kounalakis asked California’s secretary of state to “explore every legal option” to do the same.

Kounalakis sent a letter to Weber dated Wednesday, Dec. 20, and referencing Colorado’s recent ruling, which stated Trump was ineligible to appear on the state’s ballot as a presidential candidate because of his role in “inciting an insurrection” at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

“This decision is about honoring the rule of law in our country and protecting the fundamental pillars of our democracy,” Kounalakis, who launched a campaign to run for California governor in 2026, wrote. “Specifically, the Colorado Supreme Court held in Anderson v. Griswold (2023 CO 63) that Trump’s insurrection disqualifies him under section three of the Fourteenth Amendment to stand for presidential re-election. Because the candidate is ineligible, the court ruled, it would be a ‘wrongful act’ for the Colorado Secretary of State to list him as a candidate on that state’s presidential primary ballot.”

Lt. Gov. Kounalakis asked California’s secretary of state to “explore every legal option” to keep Trump off the ballot in 2024. (Getty)

The gubernatorial candidate told the secretary of state that California “must stand on the right side of history,” and is “obligated to determine” if the former president is ineligible to be on the ballot for the same reasons he was deemed ineligible in Colorado.

Kounalakis said Colorado’s decision could be the basis for California’s decision.

“The constitution is clear: you must be 35 years old and not be an insurrectionist,” Kounalakis wrote, though in an earlier version of the letter that hit social media, she wrote, “you must be 40 years old…”

She also said this is not a matter of political gamesmanship, but instead is a “dire matter that puts at stake the sanctity of our constitution and our democracy.”

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Colorado’s disqualification was made under the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution and tied to the Capitol riot on Jan. 6, 2021.

The 4-3 ruling is stayed until Jan. 4 because of likely appeals. Three justices on the Colorado Supreme Court dissented.

Fox News Digital’s Greg Wehner contributed reporting.

In a move that’s sure to spark more speculation about a potential 2024 presidential run, Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia will return next month to the state that for a century has held the first presidential primary in the White House race.

Manchin, who for months has openly flirted with making a third-party White House run next year, will return to the New Hampshire Institute of Politics on Jan. 12 to headline Politics and Eggs, a must stop for potential and actual presidential contenders.

The announcement of Manchin’s visit – by Saint Anselm College and the New England Council, which co-host Politics and Eggs – also noted that a new organization founded by the senator to “empower moderate voices around the country… is launching a listening tour in January starting in New Hampshire.”

Manchin’s visit is sure to grab plenty of media coverage, as it comes three days before the Iowa caucuses kick off the Republican presidential nominating calendar and less than two weeks before New Hampshire’s primary, which is the second contest in the GOP schedule.

MANCHIN: ‘I’D NEVER BE A SPOILER’

Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia (and former Republican Gov. Jon Huntsman of Utah headline an event by the centrist group No Labels, on July 17, 2023, at the New Hampshire Institute of Politics in Manchester. (Fox News )

Manchin has plenty of fellow Democrats terrified that the moderate from West Virginia will unintentionally hand the White House over to former President Donald Trump if he runs.

But Manchin dismisses such warnings, rejecting claims from fellow Democrats that a third party run would hurt President Biden’s chances of re-election in a likely rematch next year with Trump, who remains the commanding frontrunner for the GOP nomination.

DEMOCRATS WORRY ABOUT MANCHIN THROWING THE 2024 ELECTION TO TRUMP

“I would never be a spoiler for anybody, and I don’t agree with… the analysis that they’ve come up with,” Manchin told Fox News’ host Brett Baier on “Special Report” last month.

And he reiterated that “I would never be a spoiler” in an interview last week on Fox News’ “Hannity.”

Manchin has said he worries that the 81-year-old Biden, saddled with deeply underwater approval ratings, isn’t up to the task of defeating Trump next year. And Manchin has repeatedly warned, “I believe that Donald Trump being elected again would destroy democracy as we know it.” 

WATCH: WHAT JOE MANCHIN SAID IN HIS FOX NEWS’ ‘SPECIAL REPORT’ INTERVIEW

Manchin made national headlines last month by announcing that he wouldn’t seek re-election next year in the Senate, striking a major blow to the Democrats’ hopes of holding their razor-thin majority in the chamber in 2024.

He also teased a potential third-party presidential campaign and in the ensuing days told NBC News that he’d “absolutely” consider a White House run and CBS News that there’s “plenty of time” to make a decision. 

Sen. Joe Manchin at a Senate Financial Services and General Government Subcommittee hearing, on July 19, 2023, in Washington, D.C. (Win McNamee/Getty Images)

In a CNN interview last weekend, he said, “There is no timeline,” on when he would make a decision.

Manchin argues that national politics has increasingly become too polarized, leaving millions of voters in the middle of the ideological spectrum without much of a voice in the nation’s capital.

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And much of the speculation surrounding a possible Manchin national run focuses on No Labels, the influential centrist group that’s seriously mulling supporting a bipartisan, third-party presidential ticket, if Biden and Trump are the major party nominees in the 2024 election.

The visit to the New Hampshire Institute of Politics next month will be Manchin’s second in less than a year.

The former No Labels chair grabbed plenty of national attention in July as he served as honorary co-host of the group’s “Common Sense” town hall at the institute, where they unveiled their policy proposals.

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