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Trump teams up with former GOP nemesis to survey storm damage in key battleground state

Trump teams up with former GOP nemesis to survey storm damage in key battleground state

Former President Trump and Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp will appear together on Friday for the first time in four years as they receive a briefing on recovery and relief efforts one week after Hurricane Helene tore a path of destruction after slamming into the southeast United States. The former president and the popular two-term conservative Georgia governor are scheduled to be briefed on storm damage and to “deliver remarks to the press” as they team up during a visit to Evans, a town in the northeast portion of the state. The event is not being described as a campaign stop. For Trump, it’s his second trip this week to Georgia, following a visit on Monday in Valdosta. The state, along with North and South Carolina, and Tennessee, took direct hits from the powerful storm. The death toll from Hurricane Helene now stands at over 220, with hundreds still missing, more than 800,000 people in seven states still without power or running water, and damage estimated in the billions. TRUMP CLAIMS BIDEN, HARRIS, STORM RESPONSE IS INCOMPETENT With Trump locked in a margin-of-error presidential race with Vice President Kamala Harris, and Georgia and North Carolina crucial battleground states, Trump has repeatedly slammed President Biden and Harris over their handing of the federal response to the storm. “It is going down as the WORST & MOST INCOMPETENTLY MANAGED ‘STORM,’ AT THE FEDERAL LEVEL, EVER SEEN BEFORE,” Trump claimed in a social media post on Thursday, as Biden spent a second straight day in the southeast surveying storm damage.  HEAD HERE FOR THE LATEST FOX NEWS REPORTING ON HURRICANE HELENE AFTERMATH And Harris stopped in Georgia on Wednesday for storm briefings and to meet with local officials and victims of the storm, as she canceled a campaign swing in another key electoral state, Pennsylvania. The vice president heads to North Carolina on Saturday to survey damage and get briefed on federal, state and local efforts. When Trump visited Valdosta on Monday, he wasn’t joined by Kemp, who was surveying storm damage in other parts of Georgia. For two years after his 2020 election defeat to President Biden, which included a razor-thin loss in Georgia, Trump attacked Kemp for failing to overturn the election results in his state.  Trump urged, and then supported, a 2022 GOP gubernatorial primary challenge against Kemp by former Sen. David Perdue. The former president toned down his criticism of the governor after Kemp crushed Perdue to easily win renomination on his way to re-election. KEMP SAYS THERE’S NO PATH TO 270 FOR TRUMP WITHOUT GEORGIA But in August, Trump went on a 10-minute tirade against Kemp at a rally in Atlanta just blocks from the Georgia State Capitol. He blamed the governor not only for failing to overturn the 2020 vote count but also for not stopping a county prosecutor from indicting the former president for his attempts to reverse the results. “He’s a bad guy. He’s a disloyal guy. And he’s a very average governor,” Trump said. “Little Brian. Little Brian Kemp. Bad guy.” But just a couple of weeks later, in a major about face for Trump, the former president praised Kemp in a social media post “for all of your help and support in Georgia, where a win is so important to the success of our Party and, most importantly, our Country.” “I look forward to working with you, your team, and all of my friends in Georgia to help MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!” the Republican presidential nominee added. Trump’s change of heart came amid a margin-of-error presidential race in Georgia. The Peach State is one of seven key battlegrounds whose razor-thin margins decided Biden’s 2020 victory over Trump and are likely to determine whether Harris or Trump succeeds the president in the White House. Republican strategists agree that to recapture Georgia, Trump will need assistance from Kemp’s well-oiled and funded political machine to turn out GOP voters. Kemp emphasized in an exclusive national interview with Fox News Digital in August that “there’s no path for former President Trump to win or any Republican . . . to get to 270 [electoral votes] without Georgia.” The governor said his state “should be one that we win if we have all the mechanics that we need. And I’m working hard to help provide those in a lot of ways and turn the Republican vote out.” “It’s my belief that we cannot afford four more years of [President] Joe Biden and Kamala Harris or Kamala Harris and [Minnesota Gov.] Tim Walz, which I think would probably be worse than even Biden and Harris were,” Kemp said. Kemp also told Fox News at the time that Trump’s tirade from early August “was a small distraction that’s in the past” and emphasized that Republicans “need to stay focused on the future. . . . We need to be telling people why they should vote for us, what we’re going to do to make things better than they are right now. And there’s a host of issues that I think you could contrast Kamala Harris and her record.” Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more at our Fox News Digital election hub.

‘It makes no sense’: Jordan says FBI stonewalling requests for briefing on Iran hack of Trump campaign

‘It makes no sense’: Jordan says FBI stonewalling requests for briefing on Iran hack of Trump campaign

EXCLUSIVE: The FBI is refusing to give the House Judiciary Committee a briefing on Iran’s hack of the Trump campaign and other key issues, Chairman Jim Jordan told Fox News Digital, saying that the American people deserve to have the information before Election Day.  Jordan, R-Ohio, spoke exclusively with Fox News Digital and said that he and his committee have been seeking a briefing in an unclassified setting to obtain information relating to Iran’s hack of the Trump campaign, and whether the former president and his team had been given a defensive briefing on the matter. The FBI has told Fox News Digital that it is committed to working with the committee but did not say if or when officials would brief Jordan.  “This hacking of the Trump campaign by Iran — it looks like there was a dossier on JD Vance — that dossier winds up at the Harris campaign, and somehow, it happens to wind up in the press,” Jordan said. “There are lots of questions, like when did you find out about this? How did you find out about this? Did you give Trump a defensive briefing? Who was the person in the Harris campaign who got the information? How did they get the information? When did they tell you they had the information? How did it then get to the press?”  HOUSE JUDICIARY INVESTIGATING DOJ FOR RELEASE OF ROUTH MANIFESTO OFFERING $150K TRUMP BOUNTY Jordan said, “Those are just questions off the top of my head.”  “It makes no sense, because we know if everything were reversed and the Iranians hacked the Harris campaign and there was a dossier on Tim Walz that ended up in the Trump campaign and then in the press, we know that they would all be going crazy,” Jordan said. “There would probably already be a special counsel.”  Jordan also pointed to the fact that the hack was taken by an adversarial nation — Iran.  “This is the same country that says they are trying to assassinate President Trump. This is the same country who is the chief sponsor of terrorism. This is the same country that wants to assassinate [Israeli] Prime Minister Netanyahu. And this is the same country who just sent rockets to our best ally — ballistic missiles to our best ally — the State of Israel,” Jordan said. “And we want to be briefed on this hacking, and they won’t do it.”  The Trump campaign said that the documents had been obtained “illegally from sources hostile to the United States,” who “intended to interfere in the 2024 election and sow chaos throughout our Democratic process.”  IRAN IS ‘INCREASINGLY AGGRESSIVE’ IN ITS OPERATIONS TO TARGET US PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGNS: INTEL COMMUNITY The hack by Iran came “after recent reports of an Iranian plot to assassinate President Trump around the same time as the Butler, PA tragedy.”  The documents were sent to Politico and included a 271-page “dossier” that the Trump campaign had put together on his eventual running mate Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, that dated back to February, the outlet said.  It included Vance’s past stances on issues, statements and previous criticisms of Trump in a section called “POTENTIAL VULNERABILITIES.” Meanwhile, Jordan also said his committee has other questions relating to Trump, the GOP presidential nominee, including why the Justice Department released the “bounty letter” from the second attempted assassin, Ryan Routh, who offered $150,000 to someone who could “complete the job” against Trump if he were to fail. The DOJ, in a court filing last month, released Routh’s letter as evidence in a detention memo by the Justice Department in an effort to ensure Routh’s detention.  DOJ INSPECTOR GENERAL DOES NOT DENY FBI INFORMANTS WERE AMONG JAN 6 CROWD Jordan also told Fox News Digital he wants information from Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz, who testified last week that he would include in his highly anticipated report on Jan. 6, 2021 details about confidential human sources from the FBI and whether they had been embedded in the mob during the Capitol riot.  During the hearing last week, Horowitz was asked whether he would “expose that there were confidential human sources at the Capitol” on Jan. 6, and “how many went into the Capitol?”  Horowitz replied, “I’ll have that information in the report.” Horowitz, though, indicated his report would not be made public until after Election Day.  “Well, for goodness’ sake, it’s been four years,” Jordan said. “Why not give us that information now, right?”  But Jordan said that “the FBI will not sit down with the committee.”  Jordan stressed that the House Judiciary Committee is “the authorizing committee for the Justice Department.”  TRUMP CAMPAIGN SAYS INTERNAL COMMUNICATIONS WERE HACKED, INCLUDING VANCE ‘DOSSIER,’ BY FOREIGN SOURCES “They will not sit down and talk with our committee, and it’s ridiculous,” Jordan said. “This is important information for the American people to know before a consequential election.”  Fox News Digital has learned that representatives for the House Judiciary Committee began requesting the briefing during a phone call on Sept. 24 with the FBI. The committee then had two phone calls on Sept. 25 with the FBI requesting a briefing, a call with the Justice Department on Oct. 1 requesting a briefing, and two calls with the FBI on Oct. 1 requesting a briefing.  A source said representatives of the committee also left a voicemail for the FBI on Oct. 1 requesting a briefing and had a call with the FBI again on Oct. 2.  An FBI spokesperson told Fox News Digital that the bureau “has continually demonstrated its commitment to working with the Committee to accommodate its requests, and we have provided numerous documents and briefings.”  “The FBI recognizes the importance of congressional oversight and remains committed to cooperating with the Committee in good faith,” the FBI spokesperson said.  But that cooperation has not met Jordan’s requests, the chairman said, and warned that all options are on the table.  “We have done more than 100 subpoenas this Congress, so

‘Lies throughout’: Trump-backed challenger, longtime Dem senator face off in heated battleground debate

‘Lies throughout’: Trump-backed challenger, longtime Dem senator face off in heated battleground debate

Democratic Pennsylvania Sen. Bob Casey and Republican challenger Dave McCormick squared off in their first debate Thursday evening, less than five weeks ahead of what is expected to be one of the most closely watched races this election cycle.  Casey and McCormick took the debate stage Thursday at 8 p.m. in Harrisburg, where the two traded barbs over issues such as the economy and inflation, immigration, abortion. The race, which is rated as “leans Democrat” by the Cook Political Report, is expected to be one of the tightest Senate races across the country, with Casey himself acknowledging earlier this year that it will be a “close, tough race.” Casey has long been a Pennsylvania Democratic stalwart, first winning his election to the U.S. Senate in 2007. The Casey name also has deep roots in the state, with Bob Casey Sr., the senator’s father, serving as the Keystone State’s governor from 1987 to 1995, following years of serving in various other elected roles. McCormick is an Army combat veteran and former CEO of hedge fund Bridgewater Associates, who served as the Under Secretary of Commerce for Industry and Security as well as Under Secretary of the Treasury for International Affairs under former President George W. Bush’s administration. Former President Donald Trump endorsed McCormick in April, lauding him as a “a good man” who “wants to run a good ship.” MCCORMICK SEIZES ON PENNSYLVANIA SENATE RACE GAP, LAYING BORDER BLAME ON CASEY The Senate race comes as the federal election spotlights Pennsylvania once again as a key battleground state that will likely determine the outcome of the presidential election. Former President Donald Trump narrowly won the state in his successful 2016 election against former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, while President Biden declared victory in the Keystone State in the 2020 election.  As the pair squared off for the first of two debates ahead of Nov. 5, Fox News Digital compiled the top five moments of Thursday’s event.  PHILLY VOTERS SOUND OFF ON ECONOMY: ‘EVERYBODY IS STRUGGLING RIGHT NOW’  Casey and McCormick both weighed in on the federal election, including Casey lauding Harris following his staunch support of Biden before the president ultimately dropped out of the 2024 race as concerns about his mental acuity and age mounted over the summer.  “From your perspective, who is the better candidate for Pennsylvania? Biden or Harris?” moderator and ABC27 anchor Dennis Owens asked Casey.  “I think Vice President Harris, who’s running a strong campaign, I think she’ll carry Pennsylvania. It’s going to be very close, just like the Senate race will be close. But she’s running a strong campaign. But the people of our state have to make two basic decisions – in addition to other statewide races. They have decided in the presidential race, and they have to decide our race, and this race is very clear,” Casey responded.  When asked whether he believes Biden or Harris would be a better president for Pennsylvania voters, Casey brushed off delivering a direct answer.  “Oh, I don’t know, Dennis. I mean, we’ll never know the answer to that, but the voters are gonna make a decision,” he said.  McCormick, on the other hand, was asked if he could offer one example where he does not agree with Trump after slamming Casey during the debate for overwhelmingly voting with Biden over the last three and a half years.  FOX NEWS POLL: HARRIS, TRUMP LOCKED IN TIGHT RACE IN BATTLEGROUND PENNSYLVANIA  “[Trump] recently said that he wanted to get rid of the ban on SALT taxes, which Sen. Casey supported, too” McCormick responded. “Listen, that’s a that’s a tax break for millionaires in New York and California at the expense of PA taxpayers. So I wouldn’t support that.” “But listen, Senator Casey stood next to Joe Biden when he could hardly finish a sentence. We saw this on the debate stage, he said ‘he’s ready to go,’” McCormick continued, referring to Casey’s support of Biden remaining in the presidential race until Biden ultimately dropped out. “Then Sen. Casey said, ‘Kamala Harris is great. You’re going to love her when you get to know her.’ This is a woman who, in the last few years, says she wanted to ban fracking, legalize illegal immigration, give them federal benefits, take away our guns, defund the police. This is her position, so she’s flip-flopped on everything, and Bob Casey standing there by her.” Both candidates accused the other of “lies” throughout the debate, including McCormick touting a new website called CaseyLies.com, and Casey accusing McCormick of misrepresenting himself as a Pennsylvanian.  “For your viewers tonight, I have a website that’s been established today, it’s just been launched, CaseyLies.com. You can go and see the actual facts by third-party sources of all the things he’s saying. There will be lies throughout. But you should ask yourself, ‘Why is a senator with an 18-year track record, who should be able to run on his record, running his entire campaign with a negative set of attacks on me, most of them lies?’” McCormick said towards the start of the debate.  McCormick claimed that Casey often launched “lies” at him during the debate because he “doesn’t have a track record” in the Senate to run on.  Casey shot back during the debate that McCormick has misrepresented himself as a full-fledged Pennsylvanian.  “We’ve heard a couple of times tonight about telling lies, but probably the biggest lie told in this whole election, that probably most Pennsylvanians have never heard a bigger lie, was the lie when my opponent said he lived in Pennsylvania, when he was living in Connecticut. The Associated Press on August the 14th, 2023, did a story that proved that he was living in Connecticut,” Casey said.  McCormick defended that he was born in Pennsylvania and has spent “the majority of my life” there, but also lived in Connecticut for years when he served as CEO of Bridgewater Associates.  PENNSYLVANIA SURVEY FINDS HARRIS LEADING TRUMP NARROWLY, IDENTIFIES HER ‘BIGGEST WEAKNESS,’ POLLSTER

Trump calls Liz Cheney a ‘low IQ war hawk’ after appearance in support of Harris

Trump calls Liz Cheney a ‘low IQ war hawk’ after appearance in support of Harris

Former President Donald Trump let loose on former Republican Rep. Liz Cheney following her endorsement of Vice President Kamala Harris. Citing her historic defeat by a 2-to-1 margin in 2022 — and the controversial leadership of her father, Vice President Dick Cheney, during the U.S. invasion of the Middle East — Trump called the former Wyoming Republican a “low IQ war hawk.” “Liz Cheney lost her Congressional Seat by the largest margin in the history of Congress for a sitting Representative. The people of Wyoming are really smart!” Trump wrote on Truth Social. KAMALA HARRIS TEAMS UP WITH LIZ CHENEY IN BIRTHPLACE OF REPUBLICAN PARTY He continued, “She is a low IQ War Hawk that, as a member of the J6 Unselect Committee of Political Hacks and Thugs, ILLEGALLY DESTROYED & DELETED all documents, information, and evidence.” Cheney, a one-time rising conservative star in the GOP, in the wake of the Jan. 6, 2021 riot on the U.S. Capitol vowed to do everything she can to prevent Trump from returning to power. The former representative campaigned for Harris in battleground Wisconsin on Thursday — pushing a message of unity against their mutual enemy’s campaign to return to the Oval Office. The campaign event took place in Ripon, where a one-room schoolhouse was designated a national historic landmark due to its role in holding a series of meetings in 1854 that led to the formation of the Republican Party. NIKKI HALEY DEFENDS TRUMP SUPPORT AFTER BEING CALLED OUT BY LIZ CHENEY: ‘THIS IS ABOUT AMERICA’ “I have never voted for a Democrat, but this year I am proudly casting my vote for Vice President Kamala Harris,” Cheney told the Wisconsin audience as she formally endorsed the Democrat presidential nominee. “As a conservative, as a patriot, as a mother, as someone who reveres our Constitution, I am honored to join her in this urgent cause.” Cheney, who has been vocal in emphasizing the importance of defending the nation’s democratic process and of putting country before party, was one of only two Republicans who served on a special select committee organized by House Democrats that investigated the riot at the Capitol. Trump’s social media remarks lumped together Liz Cheney and her former vice president father — who has also endorsed Harris — writing them off as “two fools” who are “suffering gravely from Trump Derangement Syndrome.” “Her father, Dick, was a leader of our ridiculous journey into the Middle East, where Trillions of Dollars were spent, millions of people were killed – and for what? NOTHING!  “Well, today, these two fools, because the Republican Party no longer wants them, endorsed the most Liberal Senator in the U.S. Senate, further Left than even Pocahontas or Crazy Bernie Sanders – Lyin’ Kamala Harris. What a pathetic couple that is, both suffering gravely from Trump Derangement Syndrome. Good Luck to them both!!!” Cheney on Thursday warned that “our republic faces a threat unlike any we have faced before: a former president who attempted to stay in power by unraveling the foundations of our republic.” She argued that Trump “can never be trusted with power again” and emphasized that “in this election, putting patriotism ahead of partisanship is not an aspiration, it is our duty.” “What January 6 shows us is there is not an ounce, not an ounce, of compassion in Donald Trump. He is petty. He is vindictive. He is cruel. And Donald Trump is not fit to lead this good and great nation,” Cheney said. Fox News Digital’s Paul Steinhauser contributed to this report.