Afghan charged with Election Day terror plot raises questions, fears from lawmakers: ‘This is real’
The arrest of an Afghan national accused of planning an Election Day terror plot is fueling concerns from congressional lawmakers that there could be more potential terror threats who arrived as part of the tens of thousands who came to the U.S. in the wake of the withdrawal from Afghanistan. “There was a vulnerability that was left that was able to be taken advantage of by, in this case, ISIS. It could be Taliban next time. It could be any other terrorist organization out there. And what I fear… is this is just one of probably tens, I wouldn’t say hundreds, but tens of more individuals that are in the same situation,” Sen. Markwayne Mullin, R-Okla., told Fox News. Authorities announced last week the arrest of Nasir Ahmad Tawhedi, an Afghan national who came to the U.S. in 2021 after the withdrawal from Afghanistan. Tawhedi is charged with conspiring and attempting to provide material support to ISIS and receiving a firearm to be used to commit a felony or a federal crime of terrorism. Authorities say he liquidated his family’s assets to finance his plan, including purchasing rifles and one-way tickets for his wife and child back to Afghanistan. MAYORKAS REFUSES TO ANSWER QUESTIONS ON AFGHAN ACCUSED OF ELECTION DAY TERROR PLOT “This defendant, motivated by ISIS, allegedly conspired to commit a violent attack, on Election Day, here on our homeland,” said FBI Director Christopher Wray in a statement. Court filings initially stated that he came on a special immigrant visa but have since clarified that he came to the U.S. via humanitarian parole and later applied for SIV status. A senior administration official told Fox News last week that Tawhedi was screened three times. He was screened first to work security for the CIA in Afghanistan, then for humanitarian parole to enter the U.S. in 2021, when he was vetted and screened in a third country, and then for special immigrant status, for which he was approved. His status has not yet been finalized. Officials believe he was radicalized after coming to the U.S. AFGHAN NATIONAL CHARGED WITH ELECTION DAY TERROR PLOT REIGNITES VETTING CONCERNS There is also no indication that there were any red flags that should have barred his entry at any point in the process. His alleged co-conspirator in the case entered the country in 2018 and also passed vetting to receive a green card. Tawhedi entered during the mass evacuation effort as the Taliban took back Afghanistan. The U.S. would go on to admit more than 97,000 evacuees, of which about 77,000 were admitted via humanitarian parole, through a program called Operation Allies Welcome. Republicans and the Homeland Security internal watchdog have repeatedly raised issues about the vetting process for Afghan nationals, and last week’s arrest has only served to refuel those concerns. “After the failed withdrawal from Afghanistan, we knew that there was no real vetting process of Afghan nationals coming into the United States. There were major concerns about potential terror plots to the homeland. This is the problem with the Harris-Biden administration,” Rep Byron Donalds, R-Fla., said. “No accountability, no serious planning, covering up crises that, frankly, happen in front of the eyes of the American people.” AFGHAN MAN IN OKLAHOMA PLOTTED ELECTION DAY TERROR ATTACK IN US ON BEHALF OF ISIS, JUSTICE DEPT SAYS The Biden administration has repeatedly defended the vetting process, arguing that there is a multilayered process that includes classified and unclassified vetting, including against Pentagon and FBI databases as well as Interpol notices and other information. “Afghan evacuees who sought to enter the United States were subject to multi layered screening and vetting against intelligence, law enforcement, and counterterrorism information,” a DHS spokesperson said on Wednesday. “If new information emerges after arrival, appropriate action is taken.” The two senators from Oklahoma have both received briefings from the FBI on the matter. Sen. James Lankford, R-Okla., also stressed the dangers facing the country. “This is real. And we have people that are trying to be able to kill us that are within our own country, they’re planning,” Lankford told Fox News. “An open border is a danger. We’ve seen that already, that we’re living on borrowed time through this moment.” Fox News’ Jacqui Heinrich contributed to this report.
‘Did not expect that’: GOP Rep Luna speaks out after meeting with Biden on hurricane response
It’s not every day that a member of the ultra-conservative House Freedom Caucus sits down to meet with the Democratic commander in chief, but national crises have a way of creating strange bedfellows. Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla., told Fox News Digital she was not expecting a call late last week when her phone screen flashed with an unknown Washington, D.C.-based government number. When she answered, it was President Biden’s voice on the line. “Well, I did not expect that. So I talked to him on the phone for about 10 minutes. First thing that he asked me was, what did I need for my constituents, and how did I fare with the storm. And then [we] moved forward into talking about the issues that we’re having with FEMA,” Luna said. The first-term Republican, whose district was hit hard by Hurricane Milton last week, said she also met with Biden when he surveyed storm damage in Florida over the weekend. POLITICAL STORM: ON TRUMP ‘ONSLAUGHT OF LIES,’ BIDEN URGES FORMER PRESIDENT TO ‘GET A LIFE MAN’ The pair met for an “extensive” discussion on a number of disaster aid reforms, Luna said. It’s not uncommon to see political foes work together after a natural disaster, but the congresswoman’s praise for Biden is a stark contrast from her fierce criticism of his administration – which she herself noted to Fox News Digital – including spearheading efforts to hold members of his Cabinet in inherent contempt of Congress. “I have obviously been very critical of President Biden in the past, but I will say that him stepping in and taking control of the situation to assist for the right reasons was very honestly kind of shocking for me,” Luna said. HURRICANE MILTON CARVES DEADLY PATH THROUGH FLORIDA, MILLIONS WITHOUT POWER “Obviously, you know, we’re still going to be holding FEMA accountable… But as far as I am seeing, FEMA has been very helpful, and I’ve been in direct communication with them. And they’re absolutely going to assist, because President Biden has told them to do so.” Asked about their in-person conversation, Luna said they talked about the situation in Georgia and North Carolina after Helene battered the American Southeast, as well as Florida’s recovery after both storms. “The one thing that I really wanted to hammer home was obviously, you know, FEMA getting debris cleared and really not holding the cities accountable for not being able to move debris in time,” Luna said. “So we sorted that out.” She also advocated for reforming the National Flood Insurance Program, which Luna said has been largely unchanged since its inception in the 1960s. In both of their conversations, Luna said Biden agreed with her that FEMA’s $750 upfront payment to disaster survivors was inadequate. “He said it was a ‘bunch of malarkey,’ which is 100% true, and that $750 was not enough,” Luna said. Fox News Digital reached out to the White House for further comment. CATEGORY 3 MILTON BEARS DOWN ON FLORIDA Her measured response to federal relief efforts is notable, given the torrent of GOP-led criticism of the administration’s response efforts. It’s worth noting that Biden also saw praise from the Republican governors of South Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia after the storms. On the federal level, Luna is among the bipartisan chorus of lawmakers calling for Congress to return for an early emergency session to deal with disaster relief – something Biden has also voiced. But Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., has signaled on multiple occasions that he’s unlikely to convene the House before their scheduled return the week after Election Day. Johnson, who has criticized the Biden administration’s response, argued that the $20 billion that Congress freed up for FEMA last month would be enough to meet immediate needs, and that lawmakers could do little until a formal damage assessment and cost estimate was provided. Rep. Chuck Edwards, R-N.C., whose district was among the hardest hit by Helene, echoed Johnson in an interview Friday. “I believe that what we’re seeing right now with the calls to come back into session to pass funds is more of a distraction from the administration for their inept reaction to getting folks here to help western North Carolina,” Edwards said.
Trump ally Tim Scott mulls bid for top role at Senate campaign arm
Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., is considering running for the top role at the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) for the next election cycle. A spokesperson for Scott confirmed to Fox News Digital in a statement that the senator is looking into running for the position. “The Senator is grateful for the encouragement he has received from colleagues to run for chair of the NRSC,” said Scott spokesperson Nathan Brand. “He is working tirelessly to send Donald Trump back to the White House and take the U.S. Senate, then looks forward to growing the Republican majority in 2026.” ‘DON’T EVEN KNOW WHO HE IS’: WISCONSINITES TALK HARRIS’ MIDWESTERN RUNNING MATE, TIM WALZ Sens. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., John Cornyn, R-Texas, and Susan Collins, R-Maine, are up for re-election in 2026. With North Carolina’s recent polling and electoral moves toward Democrats, Tillis’ seat could become more expensive to defend for Republicans. LEAD COUNSEL HITS NEW DEM EFFORT TO ‘DELEGITIMIZE’ SUPREME COURT AMID SENATOR’S REPORT ON KAVANAUGH PROBE As for Cornyn, he could face primary challenges from other Republicans who have criticized him. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton hinted at potentially running against the senator in a social media post earlier this year. Collins notably survived her last re-election race, pulling off a shock split-ticket victory despite running alongside Trump. Her seat will likely be seen as a top pickup opportunity for Democrats. ALSOBROOKS BACKS COURT-PACKING AS HOGAN FIGHTS GOP, MCCONNELL, TRUMP ASSOCIATIONS There are also potential opportunities for Republicans to challenge Democrats in 2026, with Sens. Jon Ossof, D-Ga., and Gary Peters, D-Mich. Scott is currently traveling to swing states ahead of the November election and campaigning to ensure Republicans regain the Senate majority in 2025. He has traveled to both Nevada and Wisconsin and is headed soon to Michigan, Ohio and Pennsylvania. FOR WISCONSIN DEMS, A 2024 WIN IN THE BATTLEGROUND STATE IS YEARS IN THE MAKING A super PAC aligned with the South Carolina Republican is additionally spending seven figures in battleground states in order to further help the GOP. Scott has helped raise six figures for the 2024 Senate campaigns, according to his team. If Republicans retake the majority in the Senate, Scott would notably be poised to become chairman of the Banking Committee. His team noted Scott is one of the best party fundraisers today, with both major dollar contributions and small dollar donations. Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more at our Fox News Digital election hub.
‘The left has perfected this’: Conservatives take page from Obama’s playbook in battleground Wisconsin
WISCONSIN— One conservative group taking Wisconsin by storm is tapping a strategy previously emphasized by former President Barack Obama in order to win the 2024 presidential election for Republicans. “It’s narrowing down our organizing to the ward and then mobilizing,” Turning Point Action National Enterprise Director Brett Galaszewski told Fox News Digital in an interview. The group’s ballot-chase program involves “neighbors talking with other neighbors.” ‘DON’T EVEN KNOW WHO HE IS’: WISCONSINITES TALK HARRIS’ MIDWESTERN RUNNING MATE, TIM WALZ He explained that there is more value in approaching people as their neighbor or someone they have a relationship with than as a stranger who may not be from the area. “It’s the community organizing model that Obama talked about in 2008,” Galaszewski said. “You know, we laughed at Obama in 2008, as conservatives, when he said, ‘I’m a community organizer.’” But that strategy, he said, is “going to make a huge difference here.” FOR WISCONSIN DEMS, A 2024 WIN IN THE BATTLEGROUND STATE IS YEARS IN THE MAKING Obama stressed his past as a community organizer during his presidential campaign in 2008, cutting an ad in which he referred to his experience organizing after winning the Democrat nomination that summer. As Galaszewski noted, Republicans at the time ridiculed Obama’s emphasis on his community organizing as a credential in his bid to be commander-in-chief. Turning Point Action is running a robust ground game operation in key states, such as Wisconsin, alongside various other groups, hoping to supplement the Republican Party’s efforts. The group has the largest such operation in Wisconsin, as many expect the state to be crucial in deciding the presidential election. SEE IT: WISCONSIN DAIRY FARMER SAYS ‘NO QUESTION’ TRUMP ADMIN WAS ‘MUCH BETTER’ THAN BIDEN-HARRIS The all-hands-on-deck approach is beneficial for Republicans to make up some of the financial disparity between the former President Trump campaign and Vice President Harris’ and the Democrats’ war chest. As Turning Point Action begins its on the ground ballot-chasing, they aren’t racing to knock as many doors as possible. Instead, they are targeting specifically identified people. The group has determined that the best way to turbocharge turnout is to focus on “disengaged and low-propensity conservatives.” “We no longer see this as a war of persuasion among swing voters,” said Galaszewski. TRUMP, REPUBLICANS VENTURE TO BLUE AREAS IN WISCONSIN TO BOOST GOP TURNOUT Many people don’t value their votes as much as those heavily involved in politics, he explained. “That’s something that we know the left has really homed in on — targeting those voters with low-ballot value and making it work.” Conservatives who may not be planning to vote are the ones Turning Point Action thinks can pave the path to a Republican win. “It’s a numbers game in Wisconsin,” he added. The group has hundreds of ballot-chasers working statewide in Wisconsin to turn out these potential voters. Some of them are salaried employees, whose full-time job is “to chase ballots in these territories.” Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more at our Fox News Digital election hub.
Who is Vem Miller, man arrested outside Trump Coachella rally? 4 things to know
Vem Miller, the man arrested for possessing firearms outside former President Donald Trump’s rally in Coachella, California, this weekend, claims he is a Trump supporter and has an extensive media and political history. While some observers speculated he was a threat to the rally or even Trump himself, Miller says he routinely carries his firearms in the back of his truck and never intended to hurt the former president. Here are four key pieces of information about Vem Miller. Miller released a video statement more than an hour long on Rumble overnight Monday. In it, he lays out his political and professional history and says he never intended to harm Trump. Miller told Fox News in a Sunday interview that he has been a 30-year member of the media and started work after graduating from high school. He said he worked on music videos and TV shows with major artists, and launched America Happens Network to combat “censorship” in the media. He added in his video statement that he worked as a professional music video director from 2001 to 2008 and worked with artists like DMX, John Maher, and even Jerry Seinfeld for the “Bee Movie” music video. Miller says his career then moved toward television, and he received contracts to work with the History Channel, Discovery Channel, Netflix and others. “Again, I have contracts and paperwork to verify everything I’ve said is accurate and true,” he said. Miller did not immediately provide evidence of those contracts when contacted by Fox News Digital on Monday. COPS NAB MAN ALLEGEDLY CARRYING ILLEGAL GUNS NEAR TRUMP’S COACHELLA RALLY; SUSPECT SAYS HE BACKS EX-PRESIDENT State records in Nevada show Miller ran for office unsuccessfully in 2022. He is a registered Republican and was running in the party primary for a seat in Nevada’s General Assembly, landing in third place with 1,337 votes. He claimed in his video statement that he had received an “entry pass” for Trump’s California rally from the Nevada Republican Party. The Nevada GOP did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital. “I can prove that I had a special entry pass sent directly to me by officials within the Republican Party of Nevada,” Miller said in his video statement. “I was an actual invitee to that event.” Miller says he was apprehended when he declared his firearms to security at a checkpoint to get into the Coachella rally. Police arrested him, but he was later released on a $5,000 bail. Miller claimed in his video statement that he has attended numerous rallies for Trump and met some of the former president’s family members. “I would say in the last four years, I’ve been to a countless number of Trump rallies and Trump events,” Miller said. “I have been, and this is again verifiable, pretty much this far away from the former president, to the point that I could touch him,” he said, indicating a short distance with his hands. “I’ve talked to Don Jr., I’ve talked to Eric Trump. I know a lot of people within the Trump family and extended family.” Miller went on to describe himself as a “Libertarian more than anything else.” Miller says he began receiving death threats from anonymous individuals in 2022, leading him to purchase his firearms. He repeatedly expressed concern about his safety in his video statement, and he offered details about the threats against him. “Due to the content I produce, around 2022 I started getting multiple death threats,” Miller said. “Until this point, I had never owned a firearm. And these death threats were either emailed to me with what I would call heinous pictures depicting violence – Scrabble pieces were mailed to me one by one spelling the word, ‘dead,’ and so I became concerned.” He says the concern led him to purchase a Glock handgun and a shotgun. He added that he has never fired either weapon and has never been to a shooting range with them. Miller says he made a habit of notifying police or security at Trump events that he had the firearms in the trunk of his vehicle. “It was simply a common courtesy to police,” he said. “Every time I’ve been to a Nevada rally and notified the police it’s been a non-issue and they thanked me for notifying them. He added that he felt he made a “critical mistake” in forgetting that he was in California when he declared the firearms at the latest rally. Fox News’ Stepheny Price and Bryan Preston contributed to this report
Trump campaign hints at Election Day transportation options for voters impacted by Hurricanes Helene, Milton
Former President Trump’s campaign hinted at Election Day transportation options for those impacted by Hurricane Helene and Hurricane Milton in the southeastern region of the United States. “As President Trump said when we were on the ground in Georgia surveying the damage – may I add he went there before Kamala Harris or Joe Biden did – he said we care most about lives, protecting lives, saving people’s livelihoods. Their businesses were destroyed, their homes were destroyed.” Trump Campaign national press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Monday on Fox News’ “Fox and Friends First.” “With that said, it’s very important that voters are not disenfranchised, and our campaign leadership sent out a letter to state and local officials on the ground in North Carolina saying, ‘You need to provide as many accessible voting locations as possible on the ground.’ Our campaign is reviewing how we can possibly provide transportation for voters who need to get to the polls and ensuring they have access to the ballot box,” Leavitt added. “They have faced this destruction through no fault of their own. And this is Trump country. This is western North Carolina. These are our people. We’re focused on taking care of them and making sure that their right to vote still remains even in the wake of this disaster.” Fox News Digital reached out to the Trump campaign and the Republican National Committee (RNC) for more information. The Washington Examiner reported last week that there are nearly 1.3 million registered voters across the 25 countries in western North Carolina designated a federal disaster area after Hurricane Helene. Trump carried North Carolina in the 2020 election by merely 75,000 votes. HARRIS CAMPAIGN DEPLOYS BILL CLINTON TO KEY STATES 22 DAYS FROM ELECTION DAY In an appearance on Fox News’ “The Ingraham Angle” last week, RNC co-chair Lara Trump said the committee sent out a memorandum to Democratic North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper and the North Carolina General Assembly that provided 10 recommendations on ensuring voter access after the disaster. “We don’t want people who have gone through a horrific tragedy like a hurricane who have really lost so much already to lose their ability to vote in this election,” Lara Trump said. North Carolina State Board of Elections officials announced that 75 of the 80 early voting sites planned across the 25 counties that fall within the federal diaster area of western North Carolina will reopen on Thursday, when early voting is set to begin in the Tar Heel State. ‘CAN’T WAIT TILL THE LAST MINUTE’: NC CONGRESSMAN RAISES ALARM ON VOTER ACCESS IN AREAS HARD HIT BY HELENE “This is absolutely outstanding that our county boards of elections have pulled this off in western North Carolina, given the devastation and destruction left by Helene,” State Board Executive Director Karen Brinson Bell said at a press conference last week, according to the Carolina Journal. “We will be ready even in western North Carolina thanks to the extremely hard work of county election officials across the state and dedicated state board officials as well.” The state election officials are still coordinating with North Carolina Emergency Management and FEMA to secure portable restrooms, generators and trailers and other support for the 540 polling places located within the 25-county area of devastation ahead of Election Day on Nov. 5. The state legislature approved $5 million in emergency funding for the State Board of Elections to deal with the storm’s effects, and state lawmakers also expanded emergency measures put in place by the election board that allow counties to modify early voting days and locations. On Friday, the Buncombe County Board of Elections approved new times and locations for early voting. Rep. Chuck Edwards, R-N.C., sounded the alarm on voter access in an interview with Fox News Digital last week, expressing concern after his district was one of those badly impacted by Hurricane Helene. “Folks are still in the process of putting their lives together, desperately trying to get their power back on, trying to get in touch with their loved ones, trying to dig out from the debris and not really thinking that there’s an election coming up here in three weeks or so,” Edwards said. Fox News’ Elizabeth Elkind and Matteo Cina contributed to this report.
Bill Clinton suggests Laken Riley would still be alive if border ‘properly’ secured, hitting Republicans
Former President Bill Clinton said in a speech Monday that Georgia nursing student Laken Riley’s murder would not have happened if the alleged killer, an illegal immigrant, was properly vetted. While campaigning for Vice President Kamala Harris in the Peach State, Clinton accused her rival, former President Donald Trump, of tanking negotiations over a bipartisan border compromise in Congress because he wanted it to be a campaign issue. He seemed to suggest that Riley’s death could have been avoided if Congress was able to pass a compromise – despite the alleged killer having already been vetted. “She’s the only candidate who has actually endorsed a bill that would hold down immigration any given year to a certain point and then made sure we gave people a decent place to live, didn’t divide people from their children. And we did total vetting before people got in. Now, Trump killed the bill,” Clinton said. GEORGIA GOP CHAIR SHARES 2-PRONGED ELECTION STRATEGY AS TRUMP WORKS TO WIN BACK PEACH STATE “You had a case in Georgia not very long ago, didn’t you? They made an ad about it, a young woman who had been killed by an immigrant. Yeah, well, if they’d all been properly vetted that probably wouldn’t have happened.” “And America isn’t having enough babies to keep our populations up, so we need immigrants that have been vetted to do work – there wouldn’t be a problem,” he added. Customs and Border Patrol (CBP), meanwhile, previously publicly confirmed that people who are encountered trying to cross the border illegally are vetted and screened. The alleged killer was encountered by CBP on Sept. 8, 2022, after entering near El Paso, Texas, and was “paroled and released for further processing.,” Fox News Digital was previously told. The bipartisan border deal also only failed earlier this year, years after the Venezuelan national accused of killing Riley entered the country, still under the Biden administration’s watch. Clinton praised the current administration’s handling of the border and illegal immigration during a campaign stop in Georgia on Monday. “For the last three years, the Biden-Harris administration has done increasingly tough things, trying to control the border. And illegal crossings have gone down every year for three years. Our friends in the other party don’t want to talk about that,” Clinton said. TRUMP VS HARRIS ROUND 2? VOTERS IN KEY GA COUNTY REVEAL IF THEY WANT SECOND DEBATE It is notable that the former president’s speech largely focused on the border in Georgia, a state President Biden won by less than 1% in 2020. The issue of illegal crossings at the border has become a political lightening rod in this election cycle. Democrats in tight races – both for the presidency and congressional and local positions – are emphasizing their support for tougher border security measures as Americans across the country have seen their area infrastructures strained by a deluge of people seeking shelter in the U.S. However, Republicans have long criticized Democrats’ handling of border security, citing the record number of border crossings since Biden took office. They have continued to do so during the campaign by arguing Harris has failed to live up to her informal “border czar” title. Despite several instances of high-profile use in the media, Clinton accused Republicans of bestowing the title on Harris – which he dismissed as inaccurate. “They want to attack Kamala Harris and blame her for anything they managed to keep from happening. Like they claim she was the ‘border czar,’ that’s not what her jobs are,” Clinton said. “Her job was to go down to these other countries that were sending us a lot of people and trying to get them, to enroll them in a legal process while they were still in the country so they wouldn’t be illegally trafficked, show up our border, had to be cared for on one side of it or another, and then we’d run the risk of having people get in here who weren’t properly vetted. That’s what she tried to do.” GEORGIA DEMS CHAIR REVEALS MESSAGE TO UNDECIDED GOP VOTERS AS HARRIS WORKS TO BUILD BROAD BASE He also accused former President Trump of working to derail the bipartisan border compromise that failed in the Senate, and which House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., deemed “dead on arrival” in the House. “He said, ‘Oh my God, we can’t fix the border. What am I going to do for TV ads? Who am I going to demonize every day? I don’t get into politics to solve problems. I get in it to create problems and blame other people for doing,’” Clinton said. Fox News Digital reached out to the Trump campaign for a response. The former president is on a campaign swing through rural America on behalf of Harris’ 2024 bid. Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more at our Fox News Digital election hub.
Harris goads Trump to release medical records after she gets clean bill of health from personal physician
Vice President Kamala Harris argued this weekend that former President Donald Trump is “hiding” from the American people and attempted to goad him into releasing updated records about his health after she did so herself on Saturday. “Donald Trump refuses to release his medical records, and he is unwilling to meet for a second debate,” Harris said Sunday. “Why does his staff want him to hide away? Are they afraid that people will see that he is too weak and unstable to lead America?” On Saturday, Harris’ physician released a two-page “Healthcare Statement,” which insisted that “in summary,” Harris “remains in excellent health.” The statement from Harris’ doctor also indicated she had her most recent annual physical exam in April of this year. Trump released his own health records while campaigning in 2016, and once he took over the White House he continued the trend. In August, with the 2024 election quickly approaching, Trump told CBS News that he would release updated medical records to the public. However, he has yet to do so, with roughly three weeks until Election Day. WHITE HOUSE RELEASES MEDICAL REPORT ON VP KAMALA HARRIS “He won’t put out his medical records,” Harris insisted Monday morning during an interview with podcast host Roland Martin. She also slammed Trump for refusing to debate a second time and questioned why Trump’s “staff” would not allow him to do an interview with CBS’ “60 Minutes,” particularly when it is tradition for both presidential candidates to do a sit down with the show. “It may be because they think he’s just not ready and unfit and unstable and should not have that level of transparency for the American people,” Harris suggested. The Trump campaign shot back against Harris’ accusations, pointing out the former president has already released voluntary updates about his health. They also noted that he shared records from a July screening conducted by Dr. Ronny Jackson, a former White House physician turned GOP congressman, following the second assassination attempt on his life. TRUMP’S FORMER DOCTOR GIVES HEALTH UPDATE, CALLS OUT WRAY AS FBI AFFIRMS BULLET STRUCK FORMER PRESIDENT “All have concluded [Trump] is in perfect and excellent health to be Commander in Chief,” said Trump campaign spokesman Steven Cheung. “He has maintained an extremely busy and active campaign schedule unlike any other in political history.” Meanwhile, Cheung slammed Harris as being “unable to keep up with demands of campaigning,” arguing that compared to Trump her schedule “is much lighter because, it is said, she does not have the stamina of President Trump.” On Sunday, during a rally in Arizona, Trump himself discussed his health and argued critics look for any reason to say he is not cognitively or physically fit to be president. “If I pronounce the word slightly wrong … I speak for hours, mostly without a teleprompter … one mispronunciation of a word: ‘He’s cognitively impaired. He’s getting old. He mispronounced a word like the name of the gang.’” “But they love it, you know, because Biden was obviously cognitively repaired,” Trump added at the rally. “[Harris] should have reported him because that puts our nation in danger.” Before President Biden dropped out of the presidential race in July, similar demands for his medical records were made. The medical records never came, but details from an exam of the president, which determined he had been exhibiting signs of Parkinsons Disease, eventually surfaced just days before Biden ended his run for president. WHITE HOUSE CORRECTS RECORD ON BIDEN’S PHYSICIAN, PARKINSON’S EXPERT MEETING, SAYS IT WAS FOR PRESIDENT’S CARE During his presidency, Biden’s personal doctor released at least three separate reports updating the American public on his health. Trump, similarly, produced at least three different health records while he was serving as president. On Sunday morning’s episode of NBC’s “Meet The Press,” House Speaker Mike Johnson, R–La., was pressed by host Kristen Welker about whether he thought seeing detailed information about Trump’s health, such as his cholesterol level, was important. “Kristen, the American people don’t care about the cholesterol level of Donald Trump. They care about the cost of living and the fact they cannot pay for groceries because Kamala Harris and Joe Biden’s policies have put them in that situation. The medical records are irrelevant,” Johnson responded. “Let’s talk about things that the American people care about. That’s why Donald Trump is surging in the polls because he’s doing that on stages, in interviews, nonstop around the clock. And Kamala Harris has done nothing.” Fox News Digital reached out to the Harris campaign for comment but did not receive a response by press time.
Trump opens up largest betting lead since days after Biden’s dropout
Former President Trump took a double-digit lead in the betting odds over Vice President Kamala Harris for the first time since July, signaling potential momentum for the former president as Election Day draws near. Trump opened up a 10-point lead in the Real Clear Politics betting average on Sunday, his largest lead over Harris and the largest lead any candidate has enjoyed since the former president’s 10-point lead on July 31. The lead comes as some in Democratic circles have attempted to quell panic within the ranks after recent polling that has seemingly trended toward Trump, with David Plouffe, who served as a senior adviser to President Barack Obama and now serves as a senior campaign adviser for Harris, appearing on the “Pod Save America” podcast Sunday to argue that the fundamentals of the race have not changed. WHAT THE LATEST FOX NEWS POLLS IN THE 2024 ELECTION SHOW “I think the freakout is because there were a bunch of polls I’d say in the last month that showed a lead for Kamala Harris that was not real, it’s not what we were seeing. We’ve seen this thing basically be tied, let’s say, since… mid-September. So this is the race we have, it’s the race we expected, I don’t think it’s going to open up for either candidate,” Plouffe said. But the betting odds have also continued to move in Trump’s favor, perhaps indicating solid momentum for the former president outside typical public polling. Trump at one point enjoyed an over 48-point lead in the Real Clear Politics betting average over President Biden on July 15, but that lead quickly began to evaporate after the president’s announcement that he would drop out of the race and Harris’ quick elevation to the top of the Democratic ticket. CHECK OUT THE LATEST FOX NEWS POWER RANKINGS IN THE 2024 ELECTION Harris eventually took the betting lead in the race on Aug. 8 and saw that lead peak at 8.8-points a week later. The two candidates have since traded the lead multiple times and no candidate has enjoyed a lead as large as Trump’s Sunday advantage. Harris’ last lead in the Real Clear Politics average was on Oct. 5, with Trump steadily gaining more momentum in the race on his way to the 10-point Sunday lead. Trump himself has touted his betting advantage in recent days, telling Fox News’ Maria Bartiromo on Sunday that the betting odds were “through the roof” in his favor. The Real Clear Politics betting odds average tracks seven different platforms that release odds; Betfair, Betsson, Bovada, Bwin, Points Bet, Polymarket and Smarkets. None of those platforms show Harris with a lead in the race. Trump enjoys his largest lead of 12 points on Points Bet. Neither the Trump nor the Harris campaign immediately responded to Fox News Digital requests for comment. Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more at our Fox News Digital election hub.
Ban on gender treatments for kids defended by Republican AGs ahead of Supreme Court oral arguments
FIRST ON FOX: Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti is defending his state’s right to ban sex-change surgeries for children ahead of oral arguments in the Supreme Court this fall. The law, passed in 2023, prohibits medical providers from performing sex-change surgeries on minors as well as puberty blockers and other hormone-suppressing treatments. The American Civil Liberties Union is one of the plaintiffs in the case challenging Tennessee’s law. The Supreme Court reconvened for its October term last week. Skrmetti has filed an amicus brief alongside Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey, doubling down on the Volunteer State’s ban. “The reason it’s getting attention now is because it’s fairly new,” Skrmetti told Fox News Digital in an interview. “We’ve seen a really dramatic increase in both the overall number of kids who are accessing these procedures, and especially the number of girls who are getting these procedures, that number has skyrocketed from where it was, and it was only a matter of time before this sort of elevated itself as an issue.” WHISTLEBLOWER AT TRANS CARE CENTER EXPOSES ‘APPALLING’ PRACTICES INSIDE GENDER-AFFIRMING HOSPITAL FOR KIDS He added, “There are a lot of lawsuits involving gender identity issues, and so, you know, it’s a consequence of this going from something that was not particularly prominent to something that is very prominent, with a lot, lot, lot more kids affected by it, and a lot more doctors engaged in the practice of providing these transition treatments.” “This is a case about kids,” Skrmetti said. “This is a law that differentiates on the basis of age. And if you look at the evidence, the evidence is most kids who have gender identity issues outgrow them.” Bailey told Fox News Digital in a statement that it is “imperative” that the Supreme Court know “what is happening to America’s children on the ground in these clinics.” “Radical activists are lying to parents and preying upon vulnerable children. When a credible whistleblower comes forward and swears under oath that children are being experimented on without parental knowledge, I take that seriously,” Bailey said. The 18-page brief, which was filed to the Supreme Court last week, includes affidavit testimony from a Missouri whistleblower – identified as Jamie Reed – claiming transgender medical centers have pressured parents into “consenting” to such transgender treatments “by falsely telling parents their children will kill themselves if they did not receive interventions,” the document states. OVER 5,700 CHILDREN IN 5-YEAR PERIOD HAD GENDER SURGERIES, MOST FROM 5 LIBERAL STATES: WATCHDOG “There is every reason to believe these problems affect more than just the largest transgender center in Missouri,” the briefing states. “The whistleblower testified she was aware of similar problems in other clinics; New York Times and other reporting have corroborated these problems occurring in other clinics.” In her affidavit, Reed, a former Washington University’s infectious diseases division employee and self-identified leftist, recounted, “Doctors at the Center routinely pressured parents into ‘consenting’ by pushing those parents, threatening them, and bullying them,” even stating to parents, “You can either have a living son or a dead daughter,” in front of their children. Reed first went public with her experience last year. Reed also alleges that the center has continued medical interventions even after parents have revoked consent. She describes a scenario in which an outside ethicist expressed shock at the center’s practices during a consultation. The affidavit also claims that the actual suicide rate among transgender youth is low, citing an analysis of over 15,000 patient records from a leading gender clinic that identified a maximum suicide rate of 0.03%, with no significant change in suicide rates before and after medical interventions. Despite this data, Reed claims that parents were misled about the risks of not consenting to treatment. ABUSIVE: PEDIATRICIAN GROUP’S SUPPORT FOR TRANS THERAPIES REBUKED BY STATE AGS Reed’s affidavit states that the center advertised comprehensive mental health assessments, but in practice, she was rarely allowed to schedule patients for these evaluations due to strict limitations imposed by the center. When mental health sessions did occur, they were often limited to just one to two hours before gender transition interventions began. This approach allegedly led to medical interventions for minors with unmanaged comorbidities, including autism, ADHD, depression, anxiety, PTSD and eating disorders. Reed also alleges that clinicians from the center misled the Missouri legislature by denying that minors received gender transition surgeries, despite evidence that the center referred minors for such procedures. Washington University has since acknowledged performing surgeries on minors prior to new state laws, indicating ongoing referrals despite policy changes against them, the brief states. The center also did not collect custody agreements from patients, which led to non-guardian adults bringing children in for treatment without parental consent. “Because of this policy, children would present at the clinic with non-guardian adults after guardian adults refused consent,” the brief states. Transgender treatments for children have become a hot button issue as the 2024 general election is only weeks away. While more states have banned the practice, other liberal states have passed laws shielding medical providers from criminal lawsuits brought on by more restrictive states. Last week, medical advocacy group Do No Harm conservatively identified 5,747 minor patients who received sex-change surgery, and 13,994 received some sort of gender reassignment treatment between 2019 and 2023 across the country.