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EXCLUSIVE: A watchdog group is asking a federal court to unseal documents related to the Justice Department’s subpoenas of the personal phone and email records of members of Congress and during the Trump-Russia investigation, Fox News Digital has learned. 

Empower Oversight Whistleblowers & Research filed a motion, first obtained by Fox News Digital, in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia Thursday, saying the matter is “of significant public interest.” 

The motion also revealed the nondisclosure orders that the DOJ imposed upon Google to prevent the tech giant from notifying users that their records were targeted.

GOP SENATORS DEMAND DOJ GIVE ANSWERS AFTER IT ALLEGEDLY SPIED ON HOUSE, SENATE STAFFERS DURING RUSSIA PROBE

Jason Foster, the founder of Empower Oversight, received notice in October 2023 that the Justice Department had obtained and served a subpoena on Google in 2017 for records associated with his Google email address and two Google Voice telephone numbers connected to his family’s phones and his official work phone. 

At the time, Foster worked in the U.S. Senate as the chief investigative counsel to the Senate Judiciary Committee, then chaired by Sen. Chuck Grassley. 

The DOJ’s subpoena to Google compelled the company to release records related to Foster’s Google accounts, as well as the records of other Google customers. 

“Based on further discussions with the U.S. Senate Office of Legal Counsel, DOJ’s Office of Inspector General, former colleagues of Mr. Foster’s who also received notices, and attorneys for Google, it appears that the other accounts listed in the subpoena belonged to other staffers, both Republicans and Democrats, for U.S. House and Senate committees that were similarly engaged in oversight of DOJ pursuant to their constitutional authorities,” the filing states. 

Empower Oversight said the DOJ “withheld that important context from Google” and questioned whether the agency also withheld that information from the court. 

The nature of the records the DOJ obtained “could easily enable DOJ to identify confidential whistleblowers who were providing Congress with information about government misconduct,” Empower Oversight said. 

“There are multiple layers of secrecy standing between the public and important documents that the Department of Justice filed in this case,” the filing states, calling for the unsealing of records related to the investigation. 

The Justice Department “obtained a subpoena and later requested and received non-disclosure orders [NDOs] that prohibited Google Inc. from notifying ‘any other person of the existence of’ the subpoena,” the filing states. 

FLASHBACK: ROSENSTEIN THREATENED TO ‘SUBPOENA’ GOP-LED COMMITTEE IN ‘CHILLING’ CLASH OVER RECORDS, EMAILS SHOW

“Accordingly, the public is deprived of learning what basis (if any) DOJ offered in support of its NDO requests,” the filing states.

The subpoenas, according to Empower Oversight, appear to be related to the leak of confidential information, which resulted in the prosecution and guilty plea of former Senate Intelligence Committee Security Director James Wolfe. 

After Wolfe’s conviction for making a false statement to the FBI, the Justice Department requested three additional one-year renewals of the non-disclosure order with the court.

Republican Sens. Chuck Grassley of Iowa; Ted Cruz of Texas; and Mike Lee of Utah began investigating the subpoenas and DOJ’s efforts to collect the private phone and email logs in November after Empower Oversight’s Freedom of Information Act request revealed the collection of those records while both House and Senate lawmakers investigated the origins of the Trump-Russia probe during the Trump administration.

FBI RECEIVED ‘CRIMINAL INFORMATION’ FROM OVER 40 CONFIDENTIAL SOURCES ON JOE BIDEN, HUNTER, JAMES: GRASSLEY

Back in 2018, then-Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein threatened to subpoena personal records belonging to staffers for the House Intelligence Committee during a confrontation over the Justice Department’s “failure to comply with the committee’s compulsory process,” the senators revealed in November. 

A spokesperson for Google did not comment on the Empower Oversight filing directly, but told Fox News Digital that the company has seen an increase in non-disclosure orders from federal prosecutors.

“We’re seeing non-disclosure orders issued for an increasing number of court orders, warrants, and subpoenas from U.S. authorities. Delayed notice results in users not having the opportunity to assert their rights in court to contest demands for their data. For these reasons, we support the bipartisan NDO Fairness Act, which would ensure that gag orders are issued only when warranted and for reasonable periods,” a spokesperson for Google said in a statement.

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The Justice Department declined to comment. 

The investigation that prompted the subpoenas began under the Trump administration. 

• Kelly Daughtry, a Johnston County attorney who finished first in the March 5 Republican primary for North Carolina’s 13th congressional district, has withdrawn from the runoff, effectively handing her opponent, Brad Knott, the party’s nomination for the seat.
• Daughtry suspended her campaign after Knott received the endorsement of former President Donald Trump, noting on social media that “it has become clear that a pathway to victory is no longer feasible.”
• With the 13th district recently redrawn to heavily favor Republicans and force incumbent Democrat Wiley Nickel out of Congress, Knott is very likely to be elected its representative come November.

A candidate seeking the Republican nomination for a North Carolina congressional seat announced Thursday that she’s suspending her campaign, citing her rival’s endorsement by former President Donald Trump in their upcoming runoff.

Johnston County attorney Kelly Daughtry had finished first among 14 candidates in the March 5 Republican primary for the central North Carolina district. But she failed to get above the 30% of the vote needed to avoid a runoff. She and second-place finisher Brad Knott, a former federal prosecutor, had advanced to the scheduled May 14 runoff.

In a social media post, Daughtry said that with Trump’s formal backing of Knott last month “it has become clear that a pathway to victory is no longer feasible.”

VULNERABLE HOUSE DEM ‘FIGHTING’ TO RETAIN HIS SEAT REJECTS GOP CHALLENGER’S CLAIM HE’S ‘BEHOLDEN’ TO BIDEN

“I believe in the democratic process and respect the endorsement of our President,” Daughtry added.

Knott also picked up the endorsement of third-place primary finisher Fred Von Canon.

“The time has now come to suspend my campaign,” Daughtry added. “Brad has my full endorsement, and I want him to know that I am here to support him, not to oppose him.”

But her announcement doesn’t mean she is no longer an official candidate. And her name won’t be removed from the ballot — it’s too late for that. Early in-person voting for the runoff continues through May 11, and traditional absentee balloting has been going on for weeks.

Knott accepted Daughtry’s endorsement in his own statement but cautioned supporters who believed he was now the primary winner. Daughtry, the daughter of former state legislative leader Leo Daughtry, ran unsuccessfully for a congressional seat in 2022.

“While Kelly has ended her campaign, this election is not over,” Knott said. “I strongly encourage my supporters to get out and vote on May 14.”

The seat for the reconfigured 13th District covers all or parts of eight counties. The horseshoe-shaped boundaries arc around most of Raleigh, the state capital, and stretch from Lee County — then east and north — to the Virginia border.

The current 13th District is represented by first-term Democratic Rep. Wiley Nickel. Nickel, however, declined to seek reelection, citing the North Carolina legislature’s redistricting last fall that skewed his district to the right politically. Two other Democratic incumbents — Reps. Jeff Jackson and Kathy Manning — didn’t run either, saying the GOP-leaning skew also made it impossible for them to win in November.

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The GOP runoff winner in the 13th District will still have a fall Democratic rival in Frank Pierce. Still the Democratic departures could make a big difference in whether Republicans can retain their narrow U.S. House majority entering 2025.

House Democrats who furiously condemned attacks on police during the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol are also speaking out against police being injured at the anti-Israel protests currently raging at universities across the country.

Fox News Digital reached out to all the remaining members of the now-defunct House select committee on January 6 as well as former Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and Rep. Eric Swalwell, D-Calif. – all Democrats who led criticism of how cops were treated in 2021 – to ask whether they would extend the same condemnation to those attacking police on college campuses. 

Rep. Zoe Lofgren, D-Calif., a member of the committee, told Fox News Digital that she condemned all attacks on law enforcement but panned comparisons to the Capitol riot.

“I condemn attacks on police officers, full stop. At the Capitol and on campuses,” Lofgren said. “It’s worth noting that what is happening on college campuses is not aimed at stopping the peaceful transfer of power or threatening our democratic system of government, so there is not a direct equivalency. Any attempt to sanitize the events on January 6th is a malicious one.”

LIVE UPDATES: POLICE AT UCLA CLEAR ANTI-ISRAEL ENCAMPMENT, DETAIN PROTESTERS 

Swalwell told Fox News Digital, “I condemn all violence against police officers.”

Similarly, a source familiar with the thinking of the former Jan. 6 committee chairman, Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., said he also condemns any form of violence.

It comes after reports of police officers being injured during anti-Israel protests at the University of Madison-Wisconsin, the University of Utah, and Emerson College in Boston, as well as violent clashes between students and police at the University of California at Los Angeles.

RESURFACED POST COMES BACK TO HAUNT BIDEN AFTER ANTI-ISRAEL PROTESTS SWEEP THE NATION 

A report by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) published last year found that 114 Capitol Police officers were reported injured during the Capitol riot. One officer died on the scene of natural causes, and four more who were at the scene committed suicide in the seven months after the riot.

A spokesperson for Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., would not directly weigh in on whether Schiff condemns the recent attacks against police specifically, but pointed Fox News Digital to earlier statements speaking out against attacks on Jewish students.

“Over the past weeks, from Columbia University to UCLA and far too many campuses in between, many of those demonstrations have turned violent, and created unsafe and wholly unsustainable learning environments for all students. We’ve seen explicit, repeated targeting and intimidation of Jewish students – many of whom have been blocked from entering buildings or called unspeakable things on the basis of their faith and background. This is patently unacceptable and must end,” Schiff said in one of the statements flagged.

MAJOR US LAW FIRM SUES STUDENTS FOR JUSTICE IN PALESTINE FOR ALLEGED SUPPORT OF HAMAS ‘TERRORIST ACTIVITIES’

Pelosi’s office did not respond to multiple requests for comment, nor did the offices of House Democratic Caucus Chair Pete Aguilar, D-Calif., or Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., despite all three condemning attacks on police during the Jan. 6 riot.

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In an October 2022 Jan. 6 committee hearing, Aguilar accused the pro-Trump protesters of “violently attacking the efforts of the brave men and women in law enforcement trying to resist the mob.”

Raskin said in a statement on the one-year anniversary of Jan. 6, “The attempted coup and insurrection left 150 law enforcement officers injured, wounded, traumatized or dead. Anyone who denies or minimizes this unprecedented assault on law enforcement can never call himself or herself ‘pro-law enforcement.’ That’s just political fraud.”

Hours after officers in riot gear cleared an increasingly dangerous anti-Israel encampment at UCLA, top California Republicans on Thursday excoriated Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom for a lack of urgency and a failure to act decisively to end the continued campus unrest.

GOP lawmakers also placed university leaders on notice, warning that legislators are already discussing pulling state grants from schools that allow the occupations to persist. 

“We should not be giving Cal Grant money, state money, to students who are trampling on other people’s rights,” Assemblyman James Gallagher told reporters. “They should lose funding. And they did very little to protect students’ rights. They should be punished for their failure to act.

“We as Republicans want accountability for this. No more words or failure to say anything or do anything, like we’ve seen out of Gavin Newsom, but actual actions to hold people accountable.”

ISRAEL’S PRESIDENT RELEASES BLISTERING STATEMENT ON US UNIVERSITY ENCAMPMENTS: ‘RESURGENCE OF ANTISEMITISM’

Republicans in the state legislature are also “calling for budget action” to hold university administrators accountable by “withholding part of their budget if necessary,” state Sen. Brian Jones said.

“And the students that are found guilty of a crime, they lose their Cal Grants,” he said.

UCLA FALLS TO ANARCHY AFTER COUNTERPROTESTERS CONFRONT ANTI-ISRAELI ENCAMPMENT: ‘HORRIFIC ACTS OF VIOLENCE’

Jones said students who “have nothing to do with these protests and nothing to do with these damages” will not be at risk of losing their grants if a bill gets drafted.

Newsom’s office told Fox News Digital this week the state’s office of emergency services would be ready to respond upon request from campus administrators but declined to comment when asked if National Guard troops would be called in.

“Any needed state support would be coordinated through the Law Enforcement Mutual Aid System, which is used to maintain public safety during emergencies, including civil unrest, and to provide assistance to local agencies during other unusual events or catastrophic disasters,” a spokesperson for Newsom’s office said. 

“In these situations, Cal OES plays a coordinating role to make sure local responders receive the support they have requested for their responses to incidents affecting their campuses.”

COLUMBIA COPIED BIDEN’S PLAYBOOK OF ‘DON’T’ WHEN ADDRESSING ANTI-ISRAEL AGITATORS — THEN IT TRIED TRUMP’S

Early Thursday morning, police officers in riot gear knocked down a plywood barrier surrounding the anti-Israel encampment at UCLA, entering the area at around 1:54 a.m. after a lengthy and tense standoff with hundreds of agitators on campus.

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Officers made about 200 arrests, breaking up the camp that had produced “several days of violent clashes,” according to the school’s chancellor, Gene Block.

Fox News’ Elizabeth Pritchett contributed to this report.

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 ripped for allowing antisemitism to escalate

-Anti-McCarthy rebels weigh in on effort to oust Johnson

-Biden’s polling bump against Trump deflates

Trump rests his ‘beautiful blue eyes, sometimes’

While in court Thursday, Trump denied various reports claiming he sometimes nods off during his criminal trial. 

“Contrary to the FAKE NEWS MEDIA, I don’t fall asleep during the Crooked D.A.’s Witch Hunt, especially not today. I simply close my beautiful blue eyes, sometimes, listen intensely, and take it ALL in!!!” Trump stated in a Truth Social post.

After court, Trump stopped at a fire department in midtown Manhattan Thursday to deliver pizzas to the same New York City fire department he visited in 2021 to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks.

White House

WALK THE WALK: Biden prays for ‘honesty, decency, dignity’ in Day of Prayer proclamation amid ongoing campus protests …Read more

‘SHOULD HAVE SEEN IT COMING’: Biden ripped by experts for allowing antisemitism to escalate over the last 6 months …Read more

‘LOOKED THE OTHER WAY’: Resurfaced post comes back to haunt Biden after anti-Israel protests sweep the nation …Read more

NO GUARD: President Biden condemns violent anti-Israel protests, won’t call up National Guard …Read more

Capitol Hill

‘RIDICULOUS HATE SPEECH BILL’: Matt Gaetz blasts House antisemitism legislation …Read more

‘A DISGRACE’: Mike Lee targets university grants, cites DEI programs, anti-Israel protests …Read more

CODE RED: What the anti-McCarthy GOP rebels have to say about push to boot Johnson …Read more

‘GUTLESS’ VOTE: Red state Dem under fire over vote on bill to undo Biden’s Alaska energy ‘sanctions’ …Read more

‘MISHANDLING TAXPAYER INFORMATION’: Thune targets IRS staff use of personal devices after reported noncompliance on TikTok ban …Read more

Tales from the Campaign Trail

BIDEN’S BUMP GONE? Biden’s polling bump against Trump loses steam …Read more

‘GOT TO BE STOPPED NOW’: Trump reprimands ‘radical left morons’ running rampant on college campuses …Read more

Across America

‘DESPONDENT AND SADDENED’: Trump trial witness recounts Cohen wanted role in Trump administration …Read more

NOT TODAY, SATAN: State’s top educator has message for Satanists eyeing public schools …Read more

‘COME AND TAKE IT’: Texas AG files lawsuit against Biden Administration for new gun sale requirements …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.

A witness in the NY v. Trump case in Manhattan testified that former Trump attorney Michael Cohen wanted a job in the 45th president’s administration, despite previously denying wanting a White House role in Congressional testimony. 

Keith Davidson, an attorney who represented former pornographic actress Stormy Daniels and former Playboy model Karen McDougal, continued his testimony before the court Thursday, when he said that Cohen had been hopeful that he would land a position as White House Chief of Staff or Attorney General in the lead up to Trump’s inauguration. 

Davidson also recounted that Cohen had been upset he was “not going to Washington” following Trump’s win in 2016. 

“Can you f—ing believe I’m not going to Washington after everything I’ve done for that guy? I can’t believe I’m not going to Washington… I’ve saved his a–…,” Davidson recounted of a conversation he had had with a “despondent and saddened Michael Cohen” in December following the 2016 election. 

Davidson testified that Cohen had called him while shopping in a California store memorably decorated with an “Alice in Wonderland”-type theme. 

The NY v. Trump case focuses on Cohen paying Daniels $130,000 to allegedly quiet her claims of an alleged extramarital affair she had with Trump in 2006. Trump has denied having an affair with Daniels.

TOP REPUBLICANS DOUBLE DOWN ON CALL FOR DOJ PROBE INTO BRAGG’S ‘STAR WITNESS’ MICHAEL COHEN

Cohen lamented to Davidson in the December call that he had not yet been reimbursed for the sum he had paid Daniels, according to Davidson’s testimony. 

Prosecutors allege that the Trump Organization reimbursed Cohen and fraudulently logged the payments as legal expenses. Prosecutors are working to prove that Trump falsified records with the intent to commit or conceal a second crime, which is a felony, in violation of a New York law called “conspiracy to promote or prevent election.”

Trump has pleaded not guilty to 34 felony counts of falsifying business records. 

Davidson’s testimony that Cohen sought a White House job stands in stark contrast to what the former Trump attorney told Congress back in 2019. 

TOP REPUBLICANS DOUBLE DOWN ON CALL FOR DOJ PROBE INTO BRAGG’S ‘STAR WITNESS’ MICHAEL COHEN

“Sir, I was extremely proud to be personal attorney to the president of the United States of America. I did not want to go to the White House. I was offered jobs,” Cohen told Republican Rep. Jim Jordan in 2019 amid a House Oversight Committee hearing. 

“I can tell you a story of Mr. Trump reaming out Reince Priebus because I had not taken a job where Mr. Trump wanted me to, which is working with Don McGahn at the White House general counsel’s office,” he continued. “What I said at the time — and I brought a lawyer in who produced a memo as to why I should not go in, because there would be no attorney/client privilege. And in order to handle some of the matters that I talked about in my opening, that it would be best suited for me not to go in and that every president had a personal attorney.”

NY V. TRUMP: HOUSE JUDICIARY INVESTIGATES BRAGG PROSECUTOR WHO HELD SENIOR ROLE IN BIDEN DOJ

“I did not want to go to the White House,” Cohen added later in his testimony to Congress. “I retained, I brought an attorney in, and I sat with Mr. Trump, with him for well over an hour, explaining the importance of having a personal attorney, that every president has had one in order to handle matters like the matters I was dealing with.”

Cohen’s comments came after he pleaded guilty to five counts of willful tax evasion, one count of making false statements to a bank, one count of causing an unlawful campaign contribution, and one count of making an excessive campaign contribution in 2018. He again pleaded guilty in November of that same year to lying to Congress about testimony regarding the work he had done on a project to build a Trump Tower in Moscow. 

Cohen was sentenced to three years in prison and has since been released.

The House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Turner and House Republican Conference Chair Elise Stefanik are currently demanding the Justice Department to investigate Cohen. They allege that he committed perjury and “knowingly” made false statements while testifying before Congress in 2019.

MICHAEL COHEN TIKTOK VIDEOS, FUNDRAISING STUN LEGAL OBSERVERS: MAY HAVE ‘TORPEDOED CASE AGAINST TRUMP’

Turner and Stefanik argue that Cohen is being used as the prosecution’s “star witness” in the NY v. Trump case, despite his previous conviction. 

Former President Donald Trump has meanwhile slammed the trial as a “scam” and “hoax” promoted by the Biden administration, and led by a “conflicted judge.” 

“This is a hoax. This is a judge who is conflicted — badly, badly, badly conflicted. I’ve never seen a judge so conflicted and giving us virtually no rulings,” Trump said outside the courtroom on Tuesday morning. 

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“I’m going to sit in the freezing cold icebox for eight hours, nine hours or so. They took me off the campaign trail. But the good news is my poll numbers are the highest it’s ever been. So, at least we’re getting the word out. And everybody knows this trial is a scam. It’s a scam. The judge should be recused; that he should recuse himself today, he should recuse himself today. And maybe he will,” Trump said.

Fox News Digital’s Brooke Singman contributed to this report. 

It was a poll that rattled the campaign world, disrupting the recent narrative that President Biden was closing the gap with former President Donald Trump in the 2024 election rematch.

A survey that went viral on Sunday indicated Trump topping his Democratic successor by six points in a head-to-head match-up and by nine points in a five-candidate ballot that included Democrat turned independent contender Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Green Party candidate Jill Stein and progressive professor Cornel West.

The CNN poll conducted by SSRS was instantly used as evidence by pundits – and as ammunition by Trump and his team – of the waning of the perceived polling bump the president enjoyed coming out of his well-regarded and aggressive State of the Union address in early March – when he went for the jugular in primetime with numerous salvos fired at his Republican predecessor.

Trump enjoyed the polling edge over Biden in an average of national horserace surveys dating back to last October, but the president’s numbers edged up in the weeks after the State of the Union address.

DID BIDEN PASS OR FAIL: FORMER PRESIDENTIAL SPEECH WRITERS GRADE THE PRESIDENT’S PERFORMANCE

“Biden’s position in the polls is improving against Trump,” polling analyst Nate Silver said last month.

But Daron Shaw, a politics professor and chair at the University of Texas who serves as a member of the Fox News Decision Team and the Republican partner on the Fox News Poll, is skeptical.

CLICK HERE FOR THE LATEST FOX NEWS POLLING IN THE 2024 ELECTION

“If you want to really parse one-to-two-point shifts one way or the other, then I suppose if you squint very hard, you can convince yourself that he [Biden] bumped up one or two, and now he’s lost one of that,” Shaw said.

Shaw, who served as a top strategist on former President George W. Bush’s 2000 and 2004 campaigns, emphasized that “the race has been fairly steady over much of the past nine months.”

Veteran pollster Chris Anderson, another member of the Fox News Election Decision Team, and the Democratic partner on the Fox News Poll, said that any bump was a small one.

“There seemed to be, at the very least, a stabilization after the State of the Union,” which tempered earlier perceptions of a Trump advantage.

And showcasing recent Fox News polls in the crucial swing states of Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, and Georgia, Anderson noted ,”There were signs in there of a little bit of progress for Biden, but again it’s really small.” 

While national surveys garner plenty of attention, the race for the White House is a battle for the states and their electoral votes, which places a spotlight on battleground state polling.

DO THE LATEST POLLS SPELL TROUBLE FOR BIDEN?

Analysts argue over how much the State of the Union address fueled the slight rise in the polls by Biden.

“Simply Democrats coming home naturally, which they’ll probably do, versus State of the Union stuff,” Shaw argued. “The main thing about the State of the Union was that it sort of stopped a conversation that was corrosive to Biden, that he’s too old and too feeble and not up to the task. That’s still there, but at least there are not daily stories about it. That was, I think, the success of the State of the Union.”

The CNN poll was followed a couple of days later by a Marist College survey for NPR and the PBS NewsHour that indicated Biden edging Trump by two-points in a head-to-head match-up, and tied with his GOP challenger in a five-candidate field.

A Quinnipiac University national survey in the field at the same time as CNN’s survey indicated Biden and Trump tied in both head-to-head and five-candidate showdowns, while an NBC News poll conducted a few days earlier put Trump up by two in a two-person race and Biden with a two-point edge when the third party and independent candidates were added.

With six months to go until Election Day, Shaw wondered whether the current polling dynamic would dramatically shift, baring major developments. 

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Pointing to “an era of hyper-polarization where you’ve got two candidates who’ve already run against each other,” Shaw noted that many voters already “know everything about both these two guys.”

“So why would you expect much movement? What is it about this campaign that’s going to educate voters? Which is usually what’s happened in the past and why the numbers move around,” he said.

Anderson agreed, spotlighting “that’s likely to be the story of this election as we go through, that the movement that we’re going to see is likely to be in the margins because so many people are locked in.”

Six months out, Anderson said, “it’s not looking good for Biden, but at the same time, you can see how his base comes home, and he pulls his coalition back together and is suddenly a couple of points higher than he is now.”

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

President Biden issued a proclamation to mark the National Day of Prayer in which he urges cooperation and decorum amid ongoing disruption and violence on college campuses nationwide. 

The proclamation was released on Wednesday ahead of the National Day of Prayer on May 2. 

“Scripture tells us to rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, and be constant in prayer,” Biden wrote in the proclamation. “This year, my prayer for our Nation is that we keep faith that our best days are ahead of us and continue to believe in honesty, decency, dignity, and respect.”

RIOT POLICE AT UCLA CAMPUS CLOSE IN AFTER NIGHT OF VIOLENT ANTI ISRAEL CLASHES

“May we see each other not as enemies but as fellow human beings, each made in the image of God and each precious in His sight,” he continued. “May we leave no one behind, give everyone a fair shot, and give hate no safe harbor. May we remember that nothing is beyond our capacity if we act together.”

Biden’s message of peace and nonviolence comes as U.S. colleges across the country descend into chaos amid student protesters demanding total divestment from Israel and more.

Students at Columbia University in New York City barricaded themselves inside a campus building after weeks of protest, eventually necessitating a raid by the NYPD on Tuesday night.

TRUMP ASKS IF COLLEGE RIOTS ARE INTENTIONAL TO DISTRACT FROM ‘MILLIONS’ OF MIGRANTS ‘POURING INTO OUR COUNTRY’

Campus disruptions are still ongoing at the University of California Los Angeles, Tulane, Portland State University and elsewhere.

On the National Day of Prayer itself, Biden explicitly addressed the situation and condemned the actions of students leading to “disorder.”

“Vandalism, trespassing, breaking windows, shutting down campus, forcing the cancellation of classes and graduations — none of this is a peaceful protest,” Biden said Thursday. “Threatening people, intimidating people, instilling fear in people is not a peaceful protest. It’s against the law. Dissent is essential to democracy, but dissent must never lead to disorder.”

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White House Deputy Press Secretary Andrew Bates previously said on Apr. 30 that Biden condemns “antisemitic” and “dangerous” aspects of the demonstrations.

“President Biden has stood against repugnant, antisemitic smears and violent rhetoric his entire life. He condemns the use of the term ‘intifada,’ as he has the other tragic and dangerous hate speech displayed in recent days,” Bates said. “President Biden respects the right to free expression, but protests must be peaceful and lawful. Forcibly taking over buildings is not peaceful — it is wrong. And hate speech and hate symbols have no place in America.”Fox News Digital has reached out to the White House for comment.

Former President Donald Trump slammed the anti-Israel “radical left lunatics” creating chaos on college campuses nationwide, highlighting that the antisemitism on campuses is promoted by the left, not conservatives. 

“This is a movement from the left. These are radical left lunatics, and they’ve got to be stopped now because it’s going to go on and on. And it’s going to get worse, and worse,” Trump said Thursday morning outside of a Manhattan courtroom where he is standing trial. 

“And, you know, they take over countries, and we’re not letting them take over the USA. We’re not letting the radical left morons take over this country.” 

Student agitators have infiltrated college campuses nationwide in recent weeks, including radicals on Columbia University’s campus taking over the campus’ Hamilton Hall building, while schools such as UCLA, Harvard and Yale are working to clear student encampments where protesters demand their elite schools completely divest from Israel. 

LIVE UPDATES: NY V. TRUMP TRIAL TO RESUME WITH GAG ORDER PROCEEDINGS AFTER JUDGE FINES TRUMP $9K

The protests are associated with groups tied to far-left organizations backed by dark money and liberal mega-donor George Soros, Fox News Digital previously reported. Namely, the National Students for Justice in Palestine (NSJP) has had a large presence amid the protests on Columbia University’s campus, as well as on the campuses of UCLA, Tufts and the University of Texas at Austin. 

In his remarks Thursday, Trump praised law enforcement officers in New York City and Los Angeles for working to clear encampments and Columbia’s Hamilton Hall, and make arrests amid the chaos. 

NY V TRUMP TO RESUME WITH GAG ORDER HEARING AFTER TRUMP FINED $9K, THREATENED WITH JAIL TIME 

“I’m so proud of the New York’s finest … I know so many of them. They’re incredible. They did a good job at Columbia and likewise in Los Angeles. They did a really good job at UCLA. It was very much embedded,” Trump continued.  

“And just so you understand, this is the radical left. This is a movement from the left, not from the right. The right is not your problem. Despite what law enforcement likes to say, the FBI director said that he worries about the right.”

JUDGE FINES TRUMP THOUSANDS OVER VIOLATING GAG ORDER, WARNS ‘INCARCERATORY PUNISHMENT’ COULD BE NEXT

The NY v. Trump case focuses on Trump’s former personal attorney, Michael Cohen, paying former pornographic actor Stormy Daniels $130,000 to allegedly quiet her claims of an alleged extramarital affair she had with the then-real estate tycoon in 2006. Trump has denied having an affair with Daniels.

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Prosecutors allege that the Trump Organization reimbursed Cohen and fraudulently logged the payments as legal expenses. Prosecutors are working to prove that Trump falsified records with the intent to commit or conceal a second crime, which is a felony, in violation of a New York law called “conspiracy to promote or prevent election.”

FIRST ON FOX: Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, is taking on university subsidies from the federal government as diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs expand and schools lose control over antisemitic protests and riots across the country.

The Utah Republican introduced the No Subsidies for Wealthy Universities Act in the Senate on Thursday, with Freedom Caucus member Rep. Ben Cline, R-Va., introducing a companion version in the House. The measure is also co-sponsored by Sen. Roger Marshall, R-Kan.

“The tax dollars of hardworking American families are going to ultra-wealthy universities, like Columbia and Harvard, supporting woke DEI programs while churning out graduates who despise our country and riot for the destruction of Israel,” Lee said in a statement to Fox News Digital.

BIDEN CAMPAIGN LEANS INTO PENNSYLVANIA ROOTS TO WOO CRITICAL BATTLEGROUND STATE VOTERS

The senator’s bill would address the issue of subsidies and grants being used to bolster DEI and facilitate them by scrutinizing what are referred to as indirect cost reimbursements. While direct costs are easily tracked and are used for items such as lab equipment, indirect costs are more difficult to predict and include the carrying out of such grants.

Lee’s measure looks to eliminate the indirect cost reimbursements on these federal subsidies for research for any universities that boast endowments greater than $5 billion. For those with endowments less than $5 billion but still more than $2 billion, they would be capped at 8%. All other institutions would face a 15% cap for the indirect costs.

REPUBLICANS ACCUSE BIDEN OF PUTTING ‘MORE PRESSURE ON ISRAEL’ THAN HAMAS AMID COLLEGE RIOTS

He said that the emphasis being placed on DEI at U.S. universities, as well as the current anti-Israel protests and riots, prompted the legislation, slamming both as “a disgrace.”

“If they want to trash their reputations as academic institutions, they can do so on their own dime,” Lee said.

In his own statement, Cline said, “Billions in taxpayer dollars intended for scientific research at wealthy universities, like Columbia and Harvard, are being hijacked to finance radical DEI agendas.”

SEN TIM SCOTT SLAMS ‘DISGUSTING’ COURT GAG ORDER RESTRICTING TRUMP’S ‘FIRST AMENDMENT RIGHTS’

“This misuse of funds is a blatant betrayal of American taxpayers. Congress has a duty to intervene, ensuring that these dollars are dedicated to legitimate research purposes, not to advance the Left’s political doctrine on our campuses,” he wrote. 

SEN VANCE QUESTIONS DOJ ON COMPANIES FAVORING MIGRANT WORKERS OVER AMERICANS

The bill would specifically target the use of indirect costs reported for compensation to DEI staff by requiring the amount for this purpose to be reported to Congress annually. 

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Columbia University, which has been the subject of national media attention for the past two weeks due to an anti-Israel encampment that effectively shut down the New York school, racked up the most in indirect costs associated with research grants. The Ivy League school received $471 million in fiscal 2022, per calculations made by the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank, citing federal data.

Under Lee’s proposal, the school would be required to report how much of this money is going to DEI administrators.

A 2020 social media post by then-presidential candidate Joe Biden blaming then-President Trump for violence in the United States is drawing renewed criticism after violence has erupted on college campuses nationwide stemming from anti-Israel protests.

“Remember: every example of violence Donald Trump decries has happened on his watch,” Biden posted on Twitter, now known as X, in August 2020. “Under his leadership. During his presidency.”

Social media users have looked back on that post in recent days, given the increased violence and arrests being made as anti-Israel activists have caused chaos on over a dozen college campuses in recent weeks. 

“It’s now the year 2024, three full years into Joe Biden’s presidency and Jewish students are being blocked from their college campuses, and being told to stay home and remote learn,” conservative political commentator Stephen Miller recently posted on X.

BIDEN ADMIN ACCUSES ISRAELI MILITARY OF HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS IN STUNNING CONDEMNATION

“Is this the soul of the nation healed?”

“Joe Biden has looked the other way as Democrat foot soldiers hijack universities across America,” Fox News Contributor Lisa Boothe told Fox News Digital. “He’s more concerned about winning votes in Dearborn, Michigan, than condemning the 20-year-olds cheering for intifada.”

Former White House press secretary and Fox News contributor Ari Fleischer told Fox News Digital that Biden “would be well served by reading his old tweets and taking action.”

“There are antisemitic uprisings on campuses across the country, and all Joe Biden can do is passively sit there and hope they go away,” Fleischer said. “He’s shown no leadership, despite this being far worse than the two-day Unite the Right protest in Charlottesville.”

MICHAEL MOORE WARNS BIDEN TO ‘PULL THE PLUG’ ON ISRAEL AID OR RISK LOSING ELECTION

David Avella, chairman of GOPAC and a veteran Republican strategist, told Fox News Digital that polling shows Americans feel less safe after three years of Biden.

“Gallup reported more than 75% of Americans believe there’s more crime in the country than there was in 2022,” Avella said. 

“Whether Biden’s statements condemning violence are hollow have less impact on his reelection then the fact that Americans feel less safe. Forty percent of Americans said they were afraid to walk alone at night within a mile of their home,” Avella continued. “The last time we were at this level was 1993. In the next election, President Clinton was at 46% approval and Republicans gained 54 seats in the House of Representatives, and gained eight seats in the Senate.  President Biden is at 39% approval and Americans are watching violence occur every day.”

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Conservatives on social media have recently resurfaced other posts from Biden during the summer of 2020, including a post where he said, “Does anyone believe there will be less violence in America if Donald Trump is reelected?”

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

“President Biden respects the right to free expression, but protests must be peaceful and lawful,” White House Deputy Press Secretary Andrew Bates said in a statement on Tuesday. “Forcibly taking over buildings is not peaceful — it is wrong. And hate speech and hate symbols have no place in America.”

Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., railed against the House’s antisemitism legislation on Wednesday, blasting it as a “ridiculous hate speech bill” before the legislation was ultimately passed. 

The Antisemitism Awareness Act aims to crack down on antisemitism on college campuses and would expand the legal definition of antisemitism used to enforce anti-discrimination laws. The bill comes at a time when anti-Israel protests are raging at college campuses across the country.

It was passed overwhelmingly by a 320-91 vote in the House, but that’s not before critics like Gaetz came out against its passage, saying on social media that some excerpts of the Bible would meet this bill’s definition of antisemitism.

POLICE AT UCLA MOVE TO BREAK UP ANTI-ISRAEL ENCAMPMENT

“This evening, I will vote AGAINST the ridiculous hate speech bill called the ‘Antisemitism Awareness Act,'” Gaetz wrote on X.

“Antisemitism is wrong, but this legislation is written without regard for the Constitution, common sense, or even the common understanding of the meaning of words. The Gospel itself would meet the definition of antisemitism under the terms of this bill!” 

If passed by the Senate and signed by President Biden, the bipartisan Antisemitism Awareness Act would mandate that the Department of Education legally adopt the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s (IHRA) definition of antisemitism when enforcing anti-discrimination rules.

Gaetz provided an example of one of IHRA’s definitions of antisemitism, which includes “claims of Jews killing Jesus,” claiming that the Bible would fall under the definition.

‘DEATH TO AMERICA’ RAPIDLY EMERGING AS KEY SLOGAN OF ANTI-ISRAEL AGITATORS IN US

“The Bible is clear. There is no myth or controversy on this. Therefore, I will not support this bill,” he wrote.

The IHRA defines antisemitism on its website as: “a certain perception of Jews, which may be expressed as hatred toward Jews. Rhetorical and physical manifestations of antisemitism are directed toward Jewish or non-Jewish individuals and/or their property, toward Jewish community institutions and religious facilities.”

Later on Wednesday, Gaetz doubled down on his opposition to the bill.

“I want to Abolish the Department of Education. Not empower them as the “Antisemitism police,” Gaetz wrote. “Turning the DOE into the Antisemitism police would be a deeply unfortunate victory for Antisemitism, actually.”

Critics of the bill attacked it as government overreach and said it would negatively impact free speech on campus.

Rep. Jerry Nadler, D-N.Y., a Jewish progressive who is the top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, also opposed the legislation.

“This definition, adopted by the International Holocaust Remembrance or IHRA, includes, quote, contemporary examples of antisemitism, close quote. The problem is that these examples may include protected speech in some context, particularly with respect to criticism of the state of Israel,” Nadler said during debate on the bill. 

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“To be clear, I vehemently disagree with the sentiments toward Israel expressing those examples. And, too often, criticism of Israel does in fact take the form of virulent antisemitism.”

The bill had over a dozen Democratic backers, including Reps. Josh Gottheimer, D-N.J., and Jared Moskowitz, D-Fla., who are Jewish, and Ritchie Torres, D-N.Y., among others.

Seventy Democrats voted against the bill, while 133 voted against it. On the Republican side, just 21 voted against the bill, with 187 GOP lawmakers in support.

Rep. Mike Lawler, R-N.Y., who led the bill, told Fox News Digital, “When people engage in harassment or bullying of Jewish individuals where they justify the killing of Jews or use blood libel or hold Jews collectively responsible for the actions of the Israeli government — that is antisemitic. It’s unfortunate that needs to be clarified, but that’s why this bill is necessary.”

Fox News’ Elizabeth Elkind contributed to this report. 

FIRST ON FOX: Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, led Republican senators in demanding President Biden stop any plans for potential U.S. acceptance of Palestinian refugees from Gaza. 

“We demand that your administration cease planning for accepting Gazan refugees until you adequately answer our concerns and focus your attention instead on securing the release of U.S. hostages held by Hamas,” Ernst wrote in a letter to Biden Wednesday evening. 

The letter was signed by 34 Republican senators, including Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, Minority Whip John Thune of South Dakota, Republican conference Chairman John Barrasso of Wyoming and National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) Chairman Steve Daines of Montana. 

REPUBLICANS ACCUSE BIDEN OF PUTTING ‘MORE PRESSURE ON ISRAEL’ THAN HAMAS AMID COLLEGE RIOTS

The correspondence was prompted by a CBS News report that Biden’s administration is considering allowing some Palestinian refugees from Gaza into the U.S. as refugees. 

According to the report, officials in several agencies in the Biden administration have been discussing over the course of weeks a number of possible plans to resettle some Palestinians in Gaza who have family that are either citizens of the U.S. or are permanent residents in the country. 

The White House did not directly confirm the CBS report when prompted by Fox News Digital. 

“Since the beginning of the conflict, the United States has helped more than 1,800 American citizens and their families leave Gaza, many of whom have come to the United States. At President Biden’s direction, we have also helped, and will continue to help, some particularly vulnerable individuals, such as children with serious health problems and children who were receiving treatment for cancer, get out of harm’s way and receive care at nearby hospitals in the region,” a White House spokesperson told Fox News Digital in a statement.

“The United States also continues to be the largest contributor of humanitarian assistance to Gaza to address the dire conditions, and we are pressing hard to get more urgently-needed aid in to more people as soon as possible,” the spokesperson continued. “We have also been clear and consistent: the United States categorically rejects any actions leading to the forced relocation of Palestinians from Gaza or the West Bank or the redrawing of the borders of Gaza. The best path forward is to achieve a sustainable cease-fire through a hostage deal that will stabilize the situation and pave the way to a two-state solution.”

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre did not address a reporter’s questions Wednesday regarding the number of Palestinians the administration plans to relocate and whether the U.S. would help to physically transport them from Gaza. 

BIDEN CAMPAIGN LEANS INTO PENNSYLVANIA ROOTS TO WOO CRITICAL BATTLEGROUND STATE VOTERS

Fox News confirmed with a State Department official that if visas were granted to Gaza refugees who have U.S. citizen relatives, it wouldn’t be through any “new program” or amount to a shift in policy. The official further confirmed such a move would be essentially an extension of existing policy toward Palestinians in the region.

The Republican senators detailed that they “are not confident” in the Biden administration’s ability to “adequately vet this high-risk population for terrorist ties and sympathies before admitting them into the United States.” 

SEN TIM SCOTT SLAMS ‘DISGUSTING’ COURT GAG ORDER RESTRICTING TRUMP’S ‘FIRST AMENDMENT RIGHTS’

This comes as anti-Israel protests have taken place at 47 of the nation’s top 50 universities, as ranked in 2024 by U.S. News and World Report, in the last two weeks. At the same time, several protests have featured antisemitic intimidation and vandalism, some evolving into riots. 

In New York, approximately 300 people were arrested between April 30 and May 1 at Columbia University, where a building was taken over by demonstrators, and City College. 

The lawmakers pointed to the “little access” that the U.S. and allies have to Gazans in the region, “making it nearly impossible to conduct thorough vetting before admitting them into our country.”

The importance of a thorough vetting process is heightened, according to the senators, “given the fact that the Gazans were the ones who voted Hamas into power in 2006.”

SEN. VANCE QUESTIONS DOJ ON COMPANIES FAVORING MIGRANT WORKERS OVER AMERICANS

Ernst and her GOP colleagues added that the matter of admitting terrorists into the country isn’t a “hypothetical matter,” noting that in fiscal year 2023 alone, 169 individuals on the FBI’s terror watch lists were encountered at the U.S. southern border between ports of entry.

“Our first obligation should be to rescue our own citizens, not Gazans,” the senators said, reiterating their request that Biden focus on American hostages. 

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They further prompted Biden to answer how many refugees he hopes to accept and how his administration would “implement a screening mechanism” to guarantee that “those with terrorist links or sympathies are not accepted as refugees into the United States.”

The State Department did not provide immediate comment to Fox News Digital regarding the report or the GOP senators’ demand. 

Fox News’ Gillian Turner contributed to this report.

FIRST ON FOX: Sen. Jacky Rosen, D-Nev., led a bipartisan group in introducing a bill to fortify Taiwan and its supply chain as it continues to face military threats from China, which has made no secret of its plan to facilitate a reunification with the island.

On Thursday, the bipartisan Transpacific Allies Investing in Weapons to Advance National (TAIWAN) Security Act was introduced by Rosen and Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan of Alaska. They were joined by Sens. Tim Kaine, D-Va., Rick Scott, R-Fla., Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., and Joni Ernst, R-Iowa.

“As China ramps up its military buildup and aggression towards Taiwan, we must not only ensure our strength, but also bolster the strength of our democratic ally, Taiwan,” Rosen told Fox News Digital in a statement. “I’m proud to lead a bipartisan, bicameral bill to deepen the United States’ defense ties with Taiwan, enhance supply chain resilience, and help increase Taiwan’s military readiness.”

REPUBLICANS ACCUSE BIDEN OF PUTTING ‘MORE PRESSURE ON ISRAEL’ THAN HAMAS AMID COLLEGE RIOTS

The goal of the measure is to strengthen ties between the U.S. and Taiwan while also preemptively addressing any supply chain and readiness challenges it may face. Specifically, Rosen and Sullivan’s bill would require Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin to “appropriately consider” enhanced defense industrial base cooperation between the U.S. and Taiwan.

The bill is also bicameral, with a House version introduced by Reps. Michelle Steel, R-Calif., and Steven Horsford, D-Nev.

“It is no secret that Communist China’s evil dictator, [President] Xi Jinping, is planning to invade Taiwan and continue his attacks against democracy in a quest for world domination,” Scott said in his own statement on the bill. 

SEN TIM SCOTT SLAMS ‘DISGUSTING’ COURT GAG ORDER RESTRICTING TRUMP’S ‘FIRST AMENDMENT RIGHTS’

He emphasized that the U.S. “cannot sit back and let this happen, and that starts with supporting our peaceful and democratic ally Taiwan and its military.”

After months of disagreement between Democrats and Republicans within the upper and lower chambers, a $95 billion foreign aid supplemental package was passed and signed into law by President Biden to support Israel, Ukraine and Taiwan.

The package included $8 billion to strengthen Taiwan and the Indo-Pacific against Chinese threats.

SEN VANCE QUESTIONS DOJ ON COMPANIES FAVORING MIGRANT WORKERS OVER AMERICANS

China spoke out against the foreign aid passage, promising to take “resolute and forceful steps” to defend itself. 

According to Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian on Monday, “This package gravely infringes upon China’s sovereignty.”

Jian accused the U.S. of violating the “One China” principle by providing military aid to Taiwan, which it contends is part of its territory.

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He further suggested the package emboldens “Taiwan independence separatist forces” on the island.

An admiral in the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command recently testified before the Senate Armed Services Committee, telling members that China is preparing with “aggressive military buildup” to be “ready to invade Taiwan by 2027.”

The judge presiding over former President Trump’s unprecedented criminal trial will hold a hearing Thursday morning to consider the remaining alleged gag order violations after fining the 2024 presumptive Republican nominee $9,000 and threatening him with jail time.

Trump’s criminal trial is set to resume at 9:30 a.m. Thursday. Court does not meet on Wednesdays. 

JUDGE FINES TRUMP THOUSANDS OVER VIOLATING GAG ORDER, WARNS ‘INCARCERATORY PUNISHMENT’ COULD BE NEXT

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg and prosecutors from his office alleged the former president violated the gag order that Judge Juan Merchan imposed upon him 14 times. 

The gag order bans Trump from speaking publicly about witnesses, court staff and their families. 

Merchan on Tuesday found that Trump violated the order on nine separate occasions, with each violation resulting in a $1,000 fine.

The judge detailed in the order that if Trump carries out “continued willful violations” of the gag order, he could face “incarceratory punishment” if “necessary and appropriate.”

During a hearing on the gag order last week, Merchan said the Trump legal team was “losing all credibility” while defending the 45th president’s comments on social media that violated the order.

“I’ve asked you eight or nine times, ‘Show me the exact post that he was responding to,’ and you haven’t been able to do that once,” Merchan told the Trump team last week.

NY V TRUMP CRIMINAL TRIAL BEGINS ITS 3RD WEEK AS FORMER PRESIDENT ACCUSED OF GAG ORDER VIOLATIONS

The defense team argued in the hearing that Trump was responding to attacks made against him when he posted comments that allegedly violated the order. 

Trump, in response to the ruling, said on social media that Merchan has “taken away my Constitutional Right to FREE SPEECH.”

“I am the only Presidential Candidate in History to be GAGGED,” Trump posted on Truth Social.

“This whole ‘Trial’ is RIGGED, and by taking away my FREEDOM OF SPEECH, THIS HIGHLY CONFLICTED JUDGE IS RIGGING THE PRESIDENTIAL OF 2024 ELECTION. ELECTION INTERFERENCE!!!” he continued.

Trump on Tuesday morning again called on “conflicted” Merchan to recuse himself from the case.

“This is a hoax. This is a judge who is conflicted – badly, badly, badly conflicted. I’ve never seen a judge so conflicted and giving us virtually no rulings,” Trump said outside the courtroom before the trial kicked off its ninth day.

NY PROSECUTORS REVEAL ‘ANOTHER CRIME’ TRUMP ALLEGEDLY TRIED TO CONCEAL WITH FALSIFIED BUSINESS RECORDS

In Merchan’s ruling with regard to the gag order on Tuesday, the judge lamented not being able to fine Trump more than $1,000 per violation. He wrote in the order that it would be “preferable” if the court “could impose a fine more commensurate with the wealth of the contemnor.”

“In some cases that might be a $2,500 fine, in other cases it might be a fine of $150,000. Because this Court is not cloaked with such discretion, it must therefore consider whether in some instances, jail may be a necessary punishment,” he wrote, highlighting again that Trump could face time behind bars if he continues violating the order.

Meanwhile, at 10 a.m., Merchan will invite the jury into the courtroom to resume witness testimony.

So far, prosecutors have called former American Media Inc. CEO David Pecker, former assistant and senior VP of the Trump Organization Rhona Graff, former senior managing director at First Republic Bank Gary Farro, and former lawyer for Stormy Daniels Dylan Howard to the stand to testify.

Trump has been charged with 34 counts of falsifying business records in the first degree related to alleged payments made to silence adult film actress Stormy Daniels about an alleged extramarital affair with Trump before the 2016 election. 

TRUMP TRIAL: FORMER PRESIDENT ‘INNOCENT,’ DEFENSE SAYS AS DA ALLEGES ‘CRIMINAL CONSPIRACY’

Bragg must convince the jury that not only did Trump falsify the business records related to hush money payments but also that he did so in furtherance of another crime: conspiracy to promote or prevent election.

Prosecutors will try to prove that the alleged conspiracy was to conceal a plot to unlawfully promote his candidacy in 2016. 

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Typically, on their own, falsifying business records and conspiracy to promote or prevent election are viewed as misdemeanors.

Trump has pleaded not guilty to all counts.

House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Turner and House Republican Conference Chair Elise Stefanik are demanding the Justice Department investigate former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen, alleging he committed perjury and “knowingly” made false statements while testifying before Congress in 2019.

Turner, R-Ohio, and Stefanik, R-N.Y., first called for an investigation into Cohen in November, after the former Trump attorney admitted in his time on the stand during the trial stemming from New York Attorney General Letitia James’ civil fraud lawsuit against the former president that the testimony he gave before the committee in 2019 was “knowingly and intentionally false.” 

NY V. TRUMP: HOUSE JUDICIARY INVESTIGATES BRAGG PROSECUTOR WHO HELD SENIOR ROLE IN BIDEN DOJ

But Turner and Stefanik said they never received a response from the DOJ. 

“To date, we received no response from the Biden Justice Department regarding this criminal referral,” the lawmakers wrote in a letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland Wednesday. “This is unacceptable.” 

Turner and Stefanik said the Biden DOJ “eagerly prosecuted two different former Trump senior presidential advisers – Steve Bannon and Peter Navarro – for contesting the lawfulness of a subpoena.” 

“In fact, the Biden Justice Department brought the first contempt-of-Congress prosecutions seen in nearly 40 years,” they said, adding that perjury and false statements before Congress “are crimes that undermine the integrity of the constitutional duty to conduct oversight and inquiries – far more so than contesting the lawfulness of a subpoena.” 

“Yet, despite an admission from Mr. Cohen that he lied under oath to Congress, the Biden Justice Department did nothing,” they wrote. “The double standard is glaring.” 

Turner and Stefanik accused Garland of having “politicized and weaponized the Biden Justice Department to help your boss and hurt his political enemy.” 

“You are trying to protect the reputation of an admitted perjurer, one who just so happens to be set to testify against former President Trump in New York,” they wrote. 

Meanwhile, Turner and Stefanik said what makes “the optics worse” is that a former senior Biden DOJ official, Matthew Colangelo, is a top prosecutor on Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s team. Colangelo delivered the opening argument in Trump’s unprecedented and historic criminal trial. 

Turner and Stefanik said Cohen is being used as the prosecution’s “star witness,” despite the fact that he has been convicted of making false statements, and seemingly admitted perjury. 

“Colangelo, of course, is the senior political appointee who served as President Biden’s and your Acting Associate Attorney General, the third most powerful position in the Biden Justice Department, who deployed to Bragg’s office to bring the first indictment ever against a former president – who happens to be your boss’ political opponent,” they wrote. “Mr. Cohen clearly admitted to committing perjury before this Committee.” 

They added: “We urge you to stop politicizing and weaponizing the Biden Justice Department – and open a criminal investigation into whether Mr. Cohen committed perjury and knowingly made false statements to the Committee during his testimony in February 2019.” 

MICHAEL COHEN TIKTOK VIDEOS, FUNDRAISING STUN LEGAL OBSERVERS: MAY HAVE ‘TORPEDOED CASE AGAINST TRUMP’

A Justice Department spokesperson confirmed receipt of the letter from Turner and Stefanik, but declined to comment further. 

While on the stand during Trump’s non-jury civil trial stemming from James’ lawsuit in October, Cohen was presented with the transcript of his February 2019 testimony.

When asked if he was being “honest” in front of the House Intelligence Committee in February 2019, Cohen testified: “No.”

“So you lied under oath in February of 2019? Is that your testimony?” Trump attorney Alina Habba asked him.

“Yes,” Cohen replied.

When asked for comment in November after Turner and Stefanik initially referred him to the DOJ, Cohen told Fox News Digital that they “continue to do Donald’s bidding in witness tampering and obstructing justice.” 

“The two members fail to understand the distinction between explicit and implied; which is how the question was asked and accurately responded to,” Cohen. “The topic was further clarified several questions thereafter; which is conveniently and intentionally being ignored. I am not concerned at all with their baseless request.” 

Cohen added: “This is the type of harassment everyone, especially critics, should expect if Donald becomes president again!”

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Cohen, in 2018, pleaded guilty to campaign finance violations, making false statements to Congress and tax evasion. He was sentenced to three years in prison.

Meanwhile, as for Colangelo, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, called for an investigation into his role at the Justice Department during the Biden administration. 

Former President Trump railed against the anti-Israel chaos on Columbia University’s campus, calling the school’s president “weak” for not squelching the unrest when it first arose. 

“New York was under siege last night,” Trump said Wednesday during a rally in Waukesha, Wisconsin. 

“She waited so long. She was so weak. She was so afraid. She was so bad,” Trump continued, referring to Columbia President Minouche Shafik. “They could have done this with the tents and it would have gone quickly and no problem.” 

Anti-Israel protesters unified on Columbia’s campus nearly two weeks ago, and have since protested outside the school’s gates, established a “Gaza Solidarity Encampment” on the Academic Lawn, and even took over a school building, Hamilton Hall, this week. The New York City Police Department, wearing mostly riot gear, conducted a raid inside Hamilton Hall late Tuesday night, clearing the building in about two hours. 

COLUMBIA COPIED BIDEN’S PLAYBOOK OF ‘DON’T’ WHEN ADDRESSING ANTI-ISRAEL AGITATORS — THEN IT TRIED TRUMP’S

“They did an incredible job. They [overtook] one of the big buildings, beautiful landmark building. Boy, it got the hell beat out of it last night. You know you’re supposed to take care of those buildings. It took a beating. But the police came in. In exactly two hours, everything was over. It was a beautiful thing to watch,” Trump continued. 

BIDEN ONCE RIPPED ‘ANTISEMITIC BILE’ BUT NOW FACES OWN ‘CHARLOTTESVILLE MOMENT’

The protest on Columbia’s campus is just one of dozens playing out across colleges nationwide, with some of the nation’s most elite universities coping with mass protests and encampments demanding schools divest from Israel. Schools such as UCLA, Yale, Harvard, Fordham and UT Austin are just a few of the schools embroiled in the protests. 

“We say justice, you say how. Burn Tel Aviv to the ground,” protesters have chanted on Columbia University’s campus in recent days. “Hamas, we love you. We support your rockets, too,” other chants have included. 

Columbia’s president is facing calls to resign over her handling of the unrest, including New York Republican Rep. Elise Stefanik urging school trustees to remove Shafik after the school lost control of Hamilton Hall to the radicals on campus. 

COLUMBIA STUDENT MOCKED FOR VIRAL VIDEO TELLING REPORTERS THAT OCCUPIERS MIGHT DIE WITHOUT FOOD DELIVERY

Trump has repeatedly condemned the protests amid his trial in Manhattan, where he is facing 34 felony charges of falsifying business records. Trump has pleaded not guilty to each of the charges, and has largely been kept away from the campaign trail to attend the trial. 

NYPD CRUSHES ANTI-AMERICAN MOB ON NYC CAMPUSES AS MAYOR BLASTS ‘DESPICABLE’ SCHOOL ENVIRONMENT

“What’s going on at the college level… Columbia, NYU and others is a disgrace. And it’s really on Biden,” Trump said last week outside the courtroom.

“He’s got the wrong words. He doesn’t know who he’s backing. And it’s a mess. And if this were me, they’d be after me, they’d be after me so much, but they’re trying to get him a pass. And what’s going on is a disgrace to our country. And it’s all Biden’s fault, and everybody knows it. He’s got no message, he’s got no compassion and doesn’t know what he’s doing,” Trump continued, adding Biden is the “worst president in the history of our country.”

The NYPD arrested an estimated 300 people at Columbia and City College overnight. Following the arrests, an encampment was established on Fordham University’s campus in the Bronx, with the school informing student protesters Wednesday afternoon that they are suspended and banned from campus. 

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Trump is on the campaign trail in Wisconsin and Michigan on Wednesday before he heads back to Manhattan to resume trial proceedings Thursday morning.  

President Biden’s re-election campaign has kept a keen focus on Pennsylvania going into the November general election, as the state promises to be one of the deciding battlegrounds in the match up. 

To bolster their efforts, Biden’s team has worked to highlight his connections to the Keystone State, a move which some suggest could tip the scales in this crucial East Coast swing state. 

“He’s been actively engaged, certainly in southeastern Pennsylvania stuff, forever,” said Daniel Fee, a prominent political strategist in Democratic circles in the Keystone State and founder of The Echo Group, a Philadelphia-based Democratic political consulting firm. He also pointed to Biden’s place of birth in Scranton. 

“He taught at [the University of Pennsylvania] after he was done being vice president. He married a woman from Pennsylvania [who] wears her Pennsylvania pride proudly,” said Fee.

SENATE GRIDLOCK COULD WORSEN WITH ROMNEY, SINEMA, MANCHIN RETIREMENTS: EXPERTS

Jack Doyle, Pennsylvania spokesperson for Biden’s campaign, told Fox News Digital in a statement, “This election is about Scranton vs. Mar-a-Lago,” demonstrating the campaign’s effort to draw a contrast between Biden’s more rural roots and former President Donald Trump’s lavish estate in southern Florida. 

“While Joe Biden is fighting so every Pennsylvanian has a fair shot to get ahead, Donald Trump is fighting his own trials, tribulations and personal grievances,” he said. “In 2020, Pennsylvanians rejected Trump’s extremism and delivered the presidency for Joe Biden, and that’s exactly what will happen again this November.”

According to Ray Zaborney, a Pennsylvania Republican strategist, “Biden is trying to remind voters that he’s from Pennsylvania, obviously.”

GOP SENATORS AIR ‘DEEP CONCERNS’ OVER NPR BIAS, URGE CEO TO ‘START A COURSE CORRECTION’

The president’s strategy is to portray himself as a “blue collar guy from a blue collar town,” he added. 

Berwood Yost, director of Floyd Institute’s Center for Opinion Research at Franklin & Marshall College, noted that candidates are going to use everything they can to their advantage in 2024, given the competitive nature of the state. And “ensuring that the state’s residents know and understand his connections to the state certainly can’t hurt Mr. Biden,” he said. 

He added that the president “seems to genuinely believe that Pennsylvania in general and Scranton specifically are important pieces for understanding his life’s story, so it makes sense to tell that story to the state’s residents.”

As for the effectiveness of Biden’s attempt, Zaborney said, “Politically, though, it doesn’t seem to help much.”

He noted that in Lackawanna County, where Scranton is located, both then-gubernatorial candidate Josh Shapiro and then-Senate candidate John Fetterman outperformed Biden. 

“He actually underperformed two of the three row officers (treasurer and attorney general) running on the same ticket as he did in 2020,” Zaborney said. 

And Biden only did “marginally” better than Hillary Clinton in the county, he added.

Mark Harris, another GOP strategist in Pennsylvania, remarked that Biden’s connection to the state is “overblown.” 

TIM SCOTT SAYS BIDEN ‘WILLING TO TANK’ ECONOMY BY GETTING RID OF TRUMP TAX CUTS

“I’ve never seen in any of our data any evidence that there’s any sense of Biden being the hometown boy in Pennsylvania,” he said. 

Harris claimed issues like taxes and immigration far outweigh any influence Biden’s Pennsylvania roots may have. 

“I know they lean on it a lot, but it certainly isn’t something that I think is an effective gambit for them or approach,” he said. 

Yost said that Biden’s strategy “probably helped him in 2020, but his standing among the state’s voters has slid since the last election.”

He suggested it could potentially help Biden strengthen his standing with those lapsed supporters. 

In a statement to Fox News Digital, Trump campaign spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said, “With just 35% job approval, Joe Biden is floundering in his home state of Pennsylvania. Between higher gas prices, surging crime, and failed Democrat policies crushing families at every corner, it’s no wonder that Pennsylvanians across the commonwealth are increasingly rejecting the failed Biden agenda and supporting President Trump.”

DEM SENATE CANDIDATE ELISSA SLOTKIN’S ‘SMALL CONSULTING BUSINESS’ MAY HAVE NEVER BEEN ACTIVE

Earlier this month, a Fox News Poll showed Biden and Trump in a dead heat in Pennsylvania, 48% to 48%. The vote share between the two in 2020 was 49.85% to 48.69%, Biden to Trump. 

When including several third-party candidates, Trump defeats Biden by a small margin, 44% to 42%. 

There is no doubt that Pennsylvania will be close, Pennsylvania Democratic strategist Mike Mikus emphasized. 

At the same time, Biden’s focus on the Keystone State “definitely helps,” he said.

It “reminds people” why they voted for the president in 2020, Mikus said. 

Fee asserted that Biden’s Pennsylvania affinity was so evident during his career that “he was widely described as Pennsylvania’s third senator.”

But Harris pushed back at this, explaining, “He wasn’t the senator from Pennsylvania.”

“It’s been so long since he’s had any real ties here,” he said. 

Harris likened the roots Biden has highlighted in the state to “a one-liner in his biography,” which isn’t going to resonate with Keystone State voters come November. 

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The Pennsylvania Democratic operatives also pointed to the significance of the state’s proximity to Delaware, which Biden had long-represented in the Senate. According to Democratic Pennsylvania strategist J.J. Balaban, “he was a senator in the Philadelphia media market — the largest media market in Pennsylvania — for decades.”

This has laid the groundwork for a “cultural affinity that goes beyond where he lived as a boy,” he said. 

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 attacks ‘extreme’ Florida abortion ban

-Two House Republicans move to oust Speaker Johnson

-NYC Mayor Adams warns of movement to radicalize young people 

‘Won’t be intimidated by terrorist supporters’

FIRST ON FOX: Anti-Israel radicals have protested outside of Republican Sen. Ted Cruz’s Texas home more than a dozen times in recent weeks, with the agitators reportedly tied to the Students for Justice in Palestine group occupying college campuses nationwide, Fox News Digital exclusively learned. 

Cruz’s home in Houston has been the target of 14 protests since February, including a protest on Friday when one suspect was arrested. Cruz’s office said that the senator remains resolute in his support of Israel, while brushing off the protesters’ tactics of “harassment or intimidation.” 

“Senator Cruz will continue to stand with Israel and support Israel’s right to defend itself and utterly eradicate Hamas. No amount of harassment or intimidation by terrorist supporters will change that,” a spokesman for the senator said.  

Last week, Cruz wrote online that “Pro-Hamas protestors have been screaming and cursing for 2 hours. Banging cowbells & blowing whistles.”

White House

FLORIDA BANS: Biden laments ‘extreme’ Florida abortion ban, blames Trump …Read more

Capitol Hill

ROGUE TWO: 2 House Republicans move to oust Speaker Johnson 6 months after he took gavel …Read more

‘ELECTION INTERFERENCE’: GOP senator fights back against illegal immigrants voting in DC elections …Read more

UN HYPOCRISY: Fetterman blasts UN rights chief over ‘concern’ for anti-Israel agitators …Read more

‘FREE SPEECH’: Tim Scott criticizes Trump gag order fines as First Amendment breach …Read more

A PRICE FOR RIOTING: GOP rep looks to strip financial aid from students convicted in anti-Israel protests …Read more

Tales from the Campaign Trail

MILLION-DOLLAR QUESTION: Trump asks if college riots are intentional to distract from ‘millions’ of migrants ‘pouring into our country’ …Read more

‘STOP IMMEDIATELY’: Trump says ‘weak and ineffective leadership’ at universities must be ‘replaced’ amid violent anti-Israel chaos …Read more

Across America

SWING AND A MISS: Columbia copied Biden’s playbook of ‘don’t’ when addressing anti-Israel agitators — then it tried Trump’s …Read more

‘GLOBAL PROBLEM’: NYC Mayor Adams warns of movement to ‘radicalize young people’ after NYPD arrests hundreds at Columbia, CUNY campuses …Read more

MIGRANT ENCAMPMENT: Hundreds of asylum seekers take up residence at Seattle park after funding for hotel stay runs out …Read more

GOT ‘EM: Agents nab three illegal immigrants with vile criminal history …Read more

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