Top House committee launches probe into Biden admin ‘priorities’ on FEMA hurricane relief, migrant spending
FIRST ON FOX: Republicans on the House Homeland Security Committee are investigating the Department of Homeland Security’s “priorities” for its request for funding from Congress, amid an ongoing controversy over spending on illegal migrants and disaster relief. “The Committee on Homeland Security…is investigating [DHS’] prioritization of its ability to adequately respond to natural disasters,” lawmakers on the committee said in a letter to DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas. The letter comes after Mayorkas, amid hurricanes in North Carolina and Florida, warned that the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) does not have stable funding for the hurricane season, although he stressed that they do have enough for immediate needs. The administration has urged Congress to pass a supplemental spending bill. MAYORKAS DOUBLES DOWN, HAMMERS ‘PERNICIOUS’ MISINFORMATION AMID FEMA CRITICISM “We have the immediate needs right now. On a continuing resolution, we have funds, but that is not a stable source of supply, if you will,” he said earlier this month. “This is a multibillion-dollar, multiyear recovery. Amid those calls for more funding for the Disaster Relief Fund (DRF), conservatives have pointed to grants administered by FEMA for non-profits and local communities receiving illegal immigrants during the historic border crisis. The funding this year consists of $650 million, using funding moved over from Customs and Border Protection. DHS has noted repeatedly that that funding is congressionally appropriated and is a separate funding channel from the Disaster Relief Fund, which has not been affected by the funding for migrants. It has pushed back against some claims by conservatives that disaster money has been taken and used on migrants. SENATORS FEAR FEMA ‘ENTANGLEMENT’ WITH BORDER CRISIS COULD HURT DISASTER RESPONSE MISSION “These claims are completely false,” a DHS spokesperson previously told Fox News Digital. “As Secretary Mayorkas said, FEMA has the necessary resources to meet the immediate needs associated with Hurricane Helene and other disasters. The Shelter and Services Program (SSP) is a completely separate, appropriated grant program that was authorized and funded by Congress and is not associated in any way with FEMA’s disaster-related authorities or funding streams.” The Republican lawmakers acknowledge that the funding streams are separate but note that Congress has met or exceeded budget requests for disaster relief with $61.2 billion for the DRF in FY 23 and FY 24. “The Committee, however, is troubled that the Department and FEMA may not have properly apprised Congress of its need for additional disaster relief funds while simultaneously requesting large sums of monies to fund FEMA’s Shelter and Services Program (SSP), a grant program to fund nonfederal entities for shelter and services provided to migrants encountered by the Department, including illegal aliens,” they say. The lawmakers say that FEMA has disbursed more than $1.4 billion through both the SSP and a previous Emergency Food and Shelter Program for humanitarian aid. (EFSP-H). CLICK HERE FOR MORE COVERAGE OF THE BORDER SECURITY CRISIS “Meanwhile, $344 million, an only slightly greater amount, has been spent on federal assistance for the communities impacted by Hurricane Helene,” they say. “While the Committee understands that there is no intermingling of funds between the DRF and SSP, the Department’s priorities for limited resources provided by taxpayers to the Department should first and foremost serve Americans,” they add. The committee is seeking all documents and communications from FEMA and DHS on funding for SSP and EFSP-H, as well as the DRF, and anything identifying those entities that have received grants. It is the latest Republican grilling on the matter. A group of GOP senators last week wrote to the administration asking if a “continued entanglement in DHS’s efforts to respond to the border crisis could impact its readiness and emergency response mission.” They also say that budget requests to Congress asked it to continue funding FEMA’s border-related work. “FEMA’s efforts responding to the border crisis could have been much more limited if your Administration would have instead used your authorities to secure the border.”
Ohio GOP Senate challenger reacts to polls showing dead heat in critical Senate race: ‘Radical liberal’
COLUMBUS, Ohio – Ohio Senate candidate Bernie Moreno spoke to Fox News Digital on the campaign trail about why he believes that recent polls are showing him essentially in a dead heat within the margin of error with incumbent Sen. Sherrod Brown after months of trailing him. “It’s time for a change,” told Fox News Digital outside the Franklin County Board of Elections where Ohio Republicans encouraged voters to cast their votes early as part of former President Trump’s “Swamp the Vote” platform. “Give Republicans a chance to govern and we’re going to make your lives better. Look, Sherrod Brown has seen 200,000 manufacturing jobs leave this state in his 30 years in D.C. And I’ll end with this. And I hope it’s the lead story in every one of your reports. Go back to 1992. U.S. Sherrod Brown ran on two promises. He made two promises, think about this, guys, he made two promises to the American people, to the people of Ohio, term limits and restore manufacturing.” Moreno continued, “200,000 manufacturing jobs lost and he said that anybody who’s in Washington, D.C., for more than ten years is a crook. Take him for his word.” NRA TARGETS SEN SHERROD BROWN IN 7-FIGURE AD BUY IN OHIO: ‘VOTE LIKE YOUR LIFE DEPENDS ON IT’ “We started advertising, that’s number one,” Moreno said about why he believes the polls have tightened in the Ohio senate race. “Sherrod Brown spent the fortune over the summer saying that he’d cure cancer. The other half said, I cause cancer. Of course. Neither one is true. We started advertising. We didn’t take personal shots because we won’t do that. Our campaign is simple. Look at his voting record.” Moreno pointed to Brown voting with Biden nearly 100% of the time and said he “stabbed Trump in the back” multiple times when voting for amendments. A Washington Post poll released this week conducted between October 3rd and 7th found that Brown leads Moreno 48-47 well within the margin of error of 3.5 points after Brown has led by a greater margin in most of the polling so far. “He’s somebody who’s completely different in Washington, D.C.,” Moreno said of Brown who has been running ads promising to work with presidents of any party and touting his record on illegal immigration in a state where Trump won by 8 points in 2020. FLASHBACK: VULNERABLE DEM SENATOR ACCUSED VOTERS SUPPORTING TRUMP OF ‘RACISM’: ‘IT WORKS FOR THEM’ “I have senators like Senator Hagerty,” Moreno said while standing next to Sen. Bill Hagerty in front of the Moreno campaign bus. “Who has been with me since the beginning of this campaign during the primary, who look and go, ‘who’s this guy on TV? He looks a lot like Sherrod Brown, but it can’t be Sherrod Brown because the guy I know in Washington, D.C., is a radical liberal. The guy on TV is something completely different.’ But that’s what we see. And I think as people see that exposure. We’re now tied in the polls. But he’s at 46%. Look, we’re going to win.” Many experts believe the Ohio Senate race will play a critical role in determining which party controls the Senate next year and the Cook Political Report ranks the race as a “toss up.” Fox News Digital reached out to the Brown campaign for comment but did not receive a response.
Ohio GOP Senate challenger flips script on Dem incumbent’s first campaign promises as poll numbers tighten
COLUMBUS – Ohio Senate candidate Bernie Moreno took aim at his Democratic opponent during a recent campaign event by resurfacing a couple of Sen. Sherrod Brown’s campaign promises from over 30 years ago and highlighting how he has broken both promises. “It’s time for a change,” Moreno told Fox News Digital outside the Franklin County Board of Elections, where Ohio Republicans encouraged voters to cast their votes early as part of former President Donald Trump’s “Swamp the Vote” platform. “Give Republicans a chance to govern, and we’re going to make your lives better. Look, Sherrod Brown has seen 200,000 manufacturing jobs leave this state in his 30 years in D.C.,” Moreno said. “Go back to 1992. U.S. Sherrod Brown ran on two promises. He made two promises, think about this, guys, he made two promises to the American people, to the people of Ohio, term limits and restore manufacturing.” “200,000 manufacturing jobs lost, and he said that anybody who’s in Washington, D.C., for more than 10 years is a crook. Take him for his word,” he added. NRA TARGETS SEN SHERROD BROWN IN 7-FIGURE AD BUY IN OHIO: ‘VOTE LIKE YOUR LIFE DEPENDS ON IT’ “We started advertising, that’s number one,” Moreno said, highlighting why he believes that recent polls are showing him essentially in a dead heat within the margin of error with Brown after trailing him for months. “Sherrod Brown spent the fortune over the summer saying that he’d cure cancer. The other half said, I cause cancer. Of course. Neither one is true. We started advertising. We didn’t take personal shots because we won’t do that. Our campaign is simple. Look at his voting record.” Moreno pointed to Brown supporting President Biden’s agenda nearly 100% of the time and said he “stabbed Trump in the back” multiple times when voting for amendments. A Washington Post poll released this week conducted between Oct. 3-7 found that Brown leads Moreno 48-47, well within the margin of error of 3.5 points after Brown has led by a greater margin in most of the polls so far. “He’s somebody who’s completely different in Washington, D.C.,” Moreno said of Brown, who has been running ads promising to work with presidents of any party and touting his record on illegal immigration in a state where Trump won by eight points in 2020. FLASHBACK: VULNERABLE DEM SENATOR ACCUSED VOTERS SUPPORTING TRUMP OF ‘RACISM’: ‘IT WORKS FOR THEM’ “I have senators like Senator Hagerty,” Moreno said while standing next to Sen. Bill Hagerty in front of the Moreno campaign bus. “Who has been with me since the beginning of this campaign during the primary, who look and go, ‘who’s this guy on TV? He looks a lot like Sherrod Brown, but it can’t be Sherrod Brown because the guy I know in Washington, D.C., is a radical liberal. The guy on TV is something completely different.’ But that’s what we see. And I think as people see that exposure. We’re now tied in the polls. But he’s at 46%. Look, we’re going to win.” Many experts believe the Ohio Senate race will play a critical role in determining which party controls the Senate next year and the Cook Political Report ranks the race as a “toss up.” Fox News Digital reached out to the Brown campaign for comment but did not receive a response.
Harris, Trump battle for the biggest of the battlegrounds: ‘It’s clearly ground zero’
With a margin-of-error race and just three weeks to go until Election Day, Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Trump on Monday each campaigned in the biggest of the battleground states. But the Democratic and Republican presidential nominees will be on the opposite ends of Pennsylvania, with Harris holding events in Erie, in the northwest corner of the state, and Trump in suburban Philadelphia, in the southeastern portion of the commonwealth. It’s the vice president’s 10th visit to Pennsylvania since replacing President Biden atop the Democrats’ 2024 ticket in mid-July. Trump’s also been a frequent visitor, with rallies in Scranton and Reading less than a week ago. POLLS: TRUMP CLOSING GAP WITH HARRIS WITH THREE WEEKS UNTIL ELECTION Pennsylvania, along with Michigan, Wisconsin, Georgia, North Carolina, Arizona and Nevada, had razor-thin margins that decided Biden’s 2020 victory over Trump. And the seven states will likely determine whether Harris or Trump wins the 2024 presidential election. But with 19 electoral votes at stake, Pennsylvania’s the biggest of the key battlegrounds. And while the campaigns and their allied super PACs are pouring resources into all seven states, more money has been spent to run spots in Pennsylvania than any of the other battlegrounds, according to figures from AdImpact, a top national ad tracking firm. WHAT THE LATEST FOX NEWS POLLS IN THE 2024 ELECTION SHOW Harris starts her latest stop in the Keystone State with a conversation with Erie area Black men at a locally owned small business, as part of her efforts to court a group of voters traditionally loyal to the Democratic Party. The vice president will then headline a rally at the Erie Insurance Arena. Democratic Sen. John Fetterman is also scheduled to speak. “At the rally, the Vice President will highlight her vision for a New Way Forward, while encouraging Pennsylvanians to vote early or return their mail ballot,” the Harris campaign said. Erie is a Democratic-dominated city of roughly 94,000 people that’s surrounded by suburban and rural areas with significant numbers of Republican voters. Erie County has long been considered one of the state’s handful of bellwether counties. CHECK OUT THE LATEST FOX NEWS POWER RANKINGS IN THE 2024 ELECTION Trump, who was last in Erie on Sept. 29, is scheduled to hold a town hall at the Greater Philadelphia Expo Center and Fairgrounds in Oaks, in suburban Philadelphia. Pennsylvania, along with Michigan and Wisconsin, are the three Rust Belt states that make up the Democrats’ so-called “Blue Wall.” The party reliably won all three states for a quarter-century before Trump narrowly captured them in the 2016 election to win the White House. Four years later, in 2020, Biden carried all three states by razor-thin margins to put them back in the Democrats’ column and defeated Trump. Mark Harris, a Pittsburgh-based longtime Republican national strategist and ad maker, told Fox News that Pennsylvania is “the one state that it’s hard to see someone losing and then still winning the presidential race.” Harris, a veteran of multiple GOP presidential campaigns, emphasized that “it’s clearly ground zero.” Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more at our Fox News Digital election hub.
Trio of new polls agree on where Trump and Harris stand with 3 weeks to go until Election Day
With just over three weeks to go until Election Day, a trio of new national polls in the White House race suggest former President Donald Trump is erasing gains made by Vice President Kamala Harris the last couple of months after replacing President Biden atop the Democrats’ 2024 ticket. The surveys indicate a margin of error race between the two major party presidential nominees, with Trump enjoying some momentum in the final stretch. Harris edged Trump 50%-48% among likely voters questioned in an ABC News/Ipsos poll, down from a six-point lead for the vice president last month. WHAT THE LATEST FOX NEWS POLLS IN THE 2024 ELECTION SHOW According to an NBC News poll of registered voters nationwide, the vice president and former president were deadlocked at 48%. That is a major switch from a month ago, when Harris enjoyed a five-point advantage. Additionally, a CBS News/YouGov survey of likely voters indicated Harris with a three-point edge over Trump, slightly down from a four-point advantage a month ago. CHECK OUT THE LATEST FOX NEWS POWER RANKINGS IN THE 2024 ELECTION After President Biden’s disastrous late June debate performance against Trump, the former president started to open up a single-digit lead over the White House incumbent. However, Biden’s departure from the presidential election and the Democrats’ quick consolidation around the vice president upended the dynamics of the race. Harris, boosted by a wave of energy and excitement, experienced a surge in fundraising and in her favorable ratings, which pushed her past Trump in presidential polling. The trend continued through the Democrats’ late August convention and the first and likely only debate between the two standard-bearers, in early September. However, as summer transitioned into autumn, Harris’ favorable ratings appear to have waned, Republicans are coming home to Trump, and an already large gender gap over support for the two nominees has widened further. HARRIS MAKES NEW PITCH FOR BLACK MALES AMID POLLING GAINS BY TRUMP “The Harris campaign seems to have stalled, as her image has slipped and the perception of her as being ‘a second Biden Administration’ persists,” longtime Republican pollster Neil Newhouse told Fox News. Newhouse, a veteran of numerous GOP presidential campaigns, argued that Harris is “on the verge of snatching defeat from the jaws of victory.” While national polling is useful in depicting the state of the race, the presidential election is not based on the popular national vote and instead is a battle for the states and their electoral votes. The latest polling in the seven key battlegrounds whose razor-thin margins decided Biden’s 2020 victory over Trump and will likely determine who wins the 2024 election also points to a margin of error race. A leading non-partisan pollster said the jury’s still out on whether Trump’s gaining momentum. “We need more data points before we can depict poll movements as momentum,” Suffolk University Political Research Center Director David Paleologos told Fox News. Paleologos, who conducts USA Today/Suffolk University polling, said “it could be momentum, or it could be the natural closing of the gap in a very polarized country.” Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more at our Fox News Digital election hub.
Date for oath-taking ceremony for new J&K government out, Omar Abdullah to lead following LG’s invitation
The oath-taking ceremony for the new government in Jammu and Kashmir is set for October 16 with Omar Abdullah invited to lead by LG Manoj Sinha.
India to withdraw high commissioner from Canada amid diplomatic row
The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) announced the decision shortly after summoning the Canadian charge d’affaires.
Delhi Air Pollution: Govt imposes GRAP Stage-I across NCR as air quality remains ‘poor’
The Stage I of GRAP, a set of winter-specific anti-pollution measures, focuses on controlling pollution through dust mitigation at construction sites, proper waste management, and regular road cleaning.
‘Distrust and chaos’: Georgia Dems, GOP battle over new ballot rule as early voting kicks off Tuesday
Early voting will kick off in Georgia on Tuesday, but the two major political parties are still battling over how those ballots will be tabulated after Election Day. Democrats are in the midst of suing Georgia’s State Election Board over a recently passed rule that would require all votes be counted by hand in each county after they are machine-tabulated to ensure the totals match. Rep. Nikema Williams, D-Ga., chairwoman of the Georgia Democratic Party, told Fox News Digital earlier this month that the new rule’s intent was “to sew division and distrust and chaos in our election process.” However, Republican Party officials in the Peach State have accused Democrats of misrepresenting the rule, which they have held up as a critical guardrail to ensuring voter confidence in the elections. TRUMP VS HARRIS ROUND 2? VOTERS IN KEY GA COUNTY REVEAL IF THEY WANT SECOND DEBATE “It’s a check on the system. It’s like reconciling your checkbook,” Georgia GOP Chairman Josh McKoon told Fox News Digital. “I don’t want a repeat of 2020. I don’t think anybody does. And so this is an important way we can restore confidence out there in the public that their elections are secure and fair.” The new rule, which passed on a 3-2 vote by the elections board, has faced some opposition from the right. The office of Georgia’s Secretary of State, led by Republican Brad Raffensperger, called the rule “misguided” in a press release in August. Requiring the hand counting of ballots after machine tabulation, the release said, made it “likely that Georgians will not know the results on Election Night” and “introduces a new and significant risk to chain of custody procedures.” Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr, also a Republican, warned election board members in a memo that the rule was not grounded in any existing law and is highly vulnerable to a legal challenge, PBS reported. GEORGIA GOP CHAIR SHARES 2-PRONGED ELECTION STRATEGY AS TRUMP WORKS TO WIN BACK PEACH STATE However, party officials aligned with former President Donald Trump support the rule. Cobb County GOP Chair Salleigh Grubbs called suggestions it would cause delays in the election process “misinformation.” “That is just absolutely not true. There are some counties that already count the number of ballots, and that’s all we’re saying,” Grubbs told Fox News Digital. “Let’s just make sure that we know the total number of ballots that were cast and that that reconciles with the total number of ballots scanned.” Williams would not say how she believed the hand-count ballot rule would affect the election but argued its “intent” is to undermine voter confidence in Georgia’s elections. GEORGIA DEMS CHAIR REVEALS MESSAGE TO UNDECIDED GOP VOTERS AS HARRIS WORKS TO BUILD BROAD BASE She pointed out that Georgia was the center of Trump’s alleged efforts to overturn his 2020 loss. “We counted the ballots in Georgia not once, not twice, but three times, and every time Donald Trump lost. And that’s what this is about. These three pro-Trump members of the State Election Board are trying to create distrust and confusion in our election process so that if and when Donald Trump loses the election once again in battleground Georgia, they can say, ‘See, this is why,’” Williams said. “There was nothing done in the 2020 election that was unfair. The votes were counted, and Donald Trump lost.” However, McKoon suggested that he would have his own doubts about the election if the Democrats’ lawsuit was successful. “I think it will undermine voter confidence because voters will rightly ask the question, ‘Why were they against checking to make sure that the machine count was accurate?’” the Georgia GOP chair said. “Why wouldn’t we want to take these basic steps to make sure voters have confidence in our system?” Georgia’s early voting period runs from Oct. 15 through Nov. 1. Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more at our Fox News Digital election hub.
Biden warned Iran that killing Trump would be an act of war: report
President Biden reportedly instructed his National Security Council to make clear to Iran that any attempt on former President Trump’s life would be viewed as an act of war. The stark warning comes as the Trump team has been briefed on specific attempts on Trump’s life, and they’ve made an unusual request for military aircraft in the waning days of the campaign. The U.S. has gone to unprecedented lengths to protect the former president from retaliation from Iran for the 2020 killing of Gen. Qassem Soleimani. Some $150 million a year has gone to protecting officials like former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Gen. Kenneth McKenzie, former head of U.S. Central Command, according to Politico. The Trump campaign recently requested military aircraft capable of shooting down missiles to tote the former president around in the weeks before the election. IRAN MAKING BILLIONS IN OIL REVENUES DESPITE SANCTIONS When pressed by Fox News Digital last month, the White House declined to say whether Biden believed killing Trump would be an act of war, but promised to keep the Trump team in the loop on the threat assessment from Iran. “We consider this a national and homeland security matter of the highest priority, and we strongly condemn Iran for these brazen threats,” National Security Council spokesperson Sean Savitt said. He confirmed that Iran had long sought revenge on Trump for killing Soleimani. “We have ensured that appropriate agencies are continuously and promptly providing the former president’s security detail with evolving threat information. Additionally, President Biden has reiterated his directive that the United States Secret Service should receive every resource, capability and protective measure required to address those evolving threats to the former president.” Both Trump and his high-level officials who ordered the strike in 2020 have faced death threats from Iran, which also recently hacked Trump’s campaign and tried to peddle information to Democrats and the media. Trump prodded Biden to tell Iran it would be “blown to smithereens” if a U.S. politician was harmed. “If I were the president, I would inform the threatening country, in this case Iran, that if you do anything to harm this person, we are going to blow your largest cities and the country itself to smithereens,” he reiterated. PUTIN MEETS WITH IRANIAN PRESIDENT TO CELEBRATE ‘CLOSE’ RELATIONSHIP Trump survived one assassination attempt at a rally in July – and the Secret Service thwarted another one at his Florida golf course in September. Trump has surmised that the attempts may be linked to Iran, claims that have not been verified by authorities. In addition to a military plane, the Trump campaign has asked for armored vehicles typically reserved for sitting presidents, more flight restrictions over his rallies and residences, reimbursements for decoy aircraft and more money for Secret Service and local law enforcement to protect him. Biden told reporters on Friday he would be happy to offer Trump military aircraft in the final stages of his campaign, “as long as he doesn’t ask for F-15s.” “Look, what I’ve told the department is to give him every single thing he needs for his – as if he were a sitting president,” he said. “Give him all that he needs. If it fits within that category, that’s fine.” In June, undercover FBI agents met with a Pakistani man who was looking to hire hit men to assassinate a U.S. politician, according to documents unsealed in August. They arrested the man, Asif Merchant, 46, on July 12, the day before Trump’s Butler, Pennsylvania, rally. In 2022, the Justice Department charged a member of Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guard Corps with attempting to kill former national security adviser John Bolton.