Former President Trump on Friday endorsed two Republican House candidates, both of whom served in the U.S. Army and are seeking to flip Democrat-held seats this fall.
Trump's endorsements of Derrick Anderson, a former U.S. Army Special Forces Green Beret, and Laurie Buckhout, a former Army colonel, came one day after his debate against President Biden.
In his endorsement of Anderson, the Republican nominee to represent Virginia's 7th Congressional District, Trump said, "He bravely fought for our Great Country as a Green Beret, and was deployed to Afghanistan, Bahrain, Jordan, Israel, and Lebanon. Unlike the current administration, he never left anyone behind!
"Derrick is America First all the way, and he is running against a weak and pathetic Democrat named Yevgeny ‘Eugene’ Vindman who, along with Adam ‘Shifty’ Schiff and others, lied to push the Ukraine Impeachment Hoax, a continuation of the greatest and most dangerous Political WITCH HUNT in the History of our Country."
FORMER SPECIAL FORCES SOLDIER LAUNCHES CAMPAIGN IN VIRGINIA TO FLIP SWING HOUSE SEAT FROM DEMOCRATS
Anderson is running for the seat held by Rep. Abigail Spanberger, a Democrat who announced in November that she would seek the Democratic Party's nomination for governor of Virginia in 2025.
"Derrick Anderson has my Complete and Total Endorsement - HE WILL NOT LET YOU DOWN," Trump said.
In announcing his campaign in September, Anderson told Fox News Digital he could "no longer remain silent on the sidelines."
"I have spent my life serving this country overseas, including combat tours in Afghanistan and Iraq. Watching President Biden and Washington Democrats squander 22 years of sacrifices made by our service members and their families was the final straw for me," Anderson said at the time.
Anderson served in the Army from 2006 to 2014 before his first run for Congress in 2022. That year, he narrowly lost the Republican primary to former congressional candidate Yesli Vega. Spanberger, a former CIA operative, defeated Vega in the general election by just under 5%, securing her third term after she was first elected in the 2018 midterms.
Anderson advanced to the general election after defeating five other Republicans in the state's June 18 primary. He will face off against Vindman, the Democratic Party's nominee, Nov. 5.
In his endorsement of Buckhout, the Republican nominee to represent North Carolina's 1st Congressional District, Trump said, "Laurie bravely served our Country as an Army Colonel and Decorated Combat Commander and, in Congress, she will Grow the Economy, Lower Inflation, Uphold the Rule of Law, Secure our Border, Support our Military/Vets, and Protect our always under siege Second Amendment."
Trump said he believes Buckhout "will be an incredible Representative for the fantastic people" of the state's 1st congressional district.
"Laurie Buckhout has my Complete and Total Endorsement," the former president added.
Buckhout, who served for 26 years in the U.S. Army and reached the rank of colonel before she retired in 2010, is aiming to flip a blue House seat to red in her challenge against incumbent Rep. Don Davis, D-N.C.
Buckhout advanced to the general election in March after defeating Sandy Smith, her sole primary challenger.
Speaking to Fox News Digital earlier this year, Buckhout accused Davis, a U.S. Air Force veteran who served for 14 years in the North Carolina state Senate before getting elected to the House in Nov. 2022, of being a "career politician" who has "never had a day in his life where he's run a business."
Additionally, Buckhout accused Davis of being "beholden" to President Biden and the Democratic policies that continue to wreak havoc on her district.
Davis later fired back at Buckhout's allegations during an interview with Fox News Digital.
"Let me be clear. I want to thank Col. Buckhout for her service to our country. But I think she couldn't be more off on that whole comment because this is not about being beholden," the first-term lawmaker said. "I've heard about flipping the seat. But, for me, it's about fighting every day for families of eastern North Carolina."
Buckhout will face Davis, who ran unopposed, in the general election Nov. 5.
Jill Lawrence/The Bulwark:
Donald Trump Should Not Have Been on That Stage
Plus: What would you have done if confronted with Trump’s galloping lies?
DONALD TRUMP WON the first presidential debate the minute he walked onstage. His win was cemented a few minutes later, when the moderators addressed him as Mr. President. He had no business being there and his presence was stark evidence that our system is not only dysfunctional, it is impotent when we need it most.
The guardrails—the impeachment process, the Twenty-fifth Amendment, the courts—did not hold. They have proved to be a fairytale we spin to make ourselves feel better. They will remain just that: a fantasy destined to implode, over and over.
Maybe as soon as in the next few days, if the Supreme Court tells us whether Trump has immunity from prosecution for laws broken during his presidency. Maybe a few months from now, at the polls. Maybe next year, when his federal criminal trials will amount to something, or nothing, but too late to matter.
Grace Panetta/The 19th:
‘A missed opportunity’: Groups critical to Biden’s success say they’re shaking off bad debate
Reproductive rights groups were disappointed by Biden’s answers on abortion in Thursday night’s debate, but neither they nor voters at his Friday rally said they wanted to abandon him.
On calls with reporters Friday, leading reproductive rights advocates acknowledged that President Joe Biden’s showing in Thursday’s debate versus former President Donald Trump fell short. So too, to varying degrees, did women voters who came to the North Carolina state fairgrounds to see the president at a post-debate rally.
But all of them — key to Biden’s reelection chances — vowed to continue supporting him, seeing it as the way to avoid another Trump term.
Biden’s speech here was considerably more energetic than his performance in Thursday night’s debate, which spurred a fresh round of panic over his age, mental acuity and ability to serve another term. Top advocates also expressed disappointment with Biden’s remarks on abortion, which they viewed as a missed opportunity to make a strong argument and attack Trump on a top issue for Democrats. But the day after, Democratic voters and volunteers in North Carolina said Biden’s showing didn’t change their strong support for the president and opposition to another term for Trump.
Will Saletan/The Bulwark:
Correcting Trump’s Unanswered Debate Lies
Biden couldn’t fact-check his opponent in real time. But Trump’s torrent of bullshit needs to be shown for what it was.
“I would have much rather accepted” the 2020 election results, “but the fraud and everything else was ridiculous.”
This, again? Among Trump’s many lies, this is the most incendiary and the most thoroughly debunked. The fact that he keeps repeating it, still enjoys the full support of his party, and continues to lead in the polls is a major warning sign to our country.
“I heard him [Biden] say before, ‘insulin.’ I’m the one that got the insulin down for the seniors.”
LOL. The $35 monthly cap on out-of-pocket Insulin costs under Medicare wasn’t passed until the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022. (Trump did a mini-version of this, but it was sharply limited and voluntary: Drug plans could choose to opt out of the program.)
Biden “allowed millions of people to come in here from prisons, jails, and mental institutions.”
Bullshit. Trump’s allegation isn’t even statistically plausible.
The Limited Effects of Fischer: DOJ Data Reveals Supreme Court’s Narrowing of Jan. 6th Obstruction Charges Will Have Minimal Impact
But even if the result of the Court’s ruling is to invalidate Section(c)(2) charges against those who attacked the Capitol, as the data below reveal, the government has many tools in its tool kit to hold accountable those individuals criminally responsible, and the decision will have minimal impact on its cases against the great majority of those already convicted or charged.
Rick Hasen/Election Law Blog:
Supreme Court Hands January 6 Rioters a Win in Fischer Case, But It Likely Won’t Help Trump Beat Similar Charges Against Him (Should He Ever Go To Trial on Election Interference)
The key holding in Fischer v. United States is to read the obstruction statute so that “the Government must establish that the defendant impaired the availability or integrity for use in an official proceeding of records, documents, objects, or as we earlier explained, other things used in the proceeding, or attempted to do so.” Rioters were not interfering with evidence, so even though they were trying to stop the counting of electoral college votes, they could not be charged with obstruction under this particular statute.
But Trump allegedly did try to obstruct the proceeding with evidence: the fake electors scheme. So those charges could potentially go forward. (We are still waiting on the immunity ruling which impacts those charges, and Trump likely has run out the clock on the trial before the election.)
Supreme Court Overturns Chevron Doctrine: What it Means for Climate Change Policy
The high court sweeps away a ‘Goliath’ of modern law, weakening agencies’ legal authority as courts weigh Biden’s policies to cut greenhouse gases.
The decision to overturn Chevron fulfills a long-held wish of conservative groups that seek a smaller role for the federal government. They are led by a network funded by the Koch family, which made its billions in the petrochemical industry. Although small fishing operations brought the case against federal regulators, they were represented by a titan of conservative law, former U.S. Solicitor General Paul Clement, and lawyers for the Cause of Action Institute, which shares an address and personnel with the Koch-funded organization Americans for Prosperity.
Ironically, the 1984 case articulating the deference principle, Chevron v. Natural Resources Defense Council, was an anti-regulatory decision. In that case, a unanimous court upheld a Reagan administration air pollution regulation that environmentalists challenged as too weak.
That rule was issued by an Environmental Protection Agency then led by the late Anne Gorsuch, a fierce opponent of regulation. Her son, Supreme Court Associate Justice Neil Gorsuch, today wrote a lengthy concurring opinion affirming the wisdom of sweeping away the Chevron precedent, finding the reason in the roots of common law, from ancient Roman law to the efforts of King George to control the American colonies.
“Today, the Court places a tombstone on Chevron no one can miss,” Gorsuch wrote. “In doing so, the Court returns judges to interpretive rules that have guided federal courts since the Nation’s founding.”
Noah Rosenbloom/The Atlantic:
The Supreme Court Won’t Stop Dismantling the Government’s Power
The decision in Jarkesy v. SEC puts much of the basic work of the executive branch at risk.
The case started as garden-variety securities fraud. According to SEC findings, the radio host George Jarkesy stole from his investors by lying to them about his investment strategy, lying about his auditor and prime broker, and lying about his take. To protect the integrity of the financial markets, the SEC forced Jarkesy to disgorge his ill-gotten gains and banned him from the securities industry. It also fined him $300,000 for good measure.
This is where the story should have ended. Instead, two Republican-appointed judges on the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit made Jarkesy into a cause célèbre. In recent years, that court has repeatedly endorsed fringe right-wing legal efforts, such as when it struck down access to mifepristone nationwide (a decision later overturned by the Supreme Court). This has made it into a preferred forum for conservative activists seeking to use the judiciary to advance right-wing projects, among which attacking the federal government’s ability to regulate industry is a top priority.
Matt McNeill and Matt Robison talk about changing the way Democrats campaign:
House Speaker Mike Johnson—an architect of Donald Trump’s plan to overturn the 2020 election who had to be evacuated from the Capitol as the mob descended on Jan. 6, 2021, and who stood with Trump as a New York jury convicted the former president on 34 felony charges—says President Joe Biden should be removed from office because he had a bad debate night.
“I would ask the Cabinet members to search their hearts. … And we hope that they will do their duty, as we all seek to do our duty to do best by the American people. These are fateful moments,” Johnson told reporters Friday. “If I were in the Cabinet … I would be having that discussion with my colleagues at the Cabinet level. I would. … We'll see what action they take. It’s a serious situation.”
This is the same Mike Johnson who voted against removing Trump from office after the Capitol insurrection. He’s for removing a president because he’s old, and he’s against removing a president who is old and who tried to overthrow the government. Good to know.
Meanwhile, Johnson’s guy stood on a debate stage and lied more than 30 times, according to CNN’s fact-checking guru Daniel Dale, including:
Democratic-led states allow babies to be executed after birth, that every legal scholar and everybody in general wanted Roe v. Wade overturned, that there were no terror attacks during his presidency, that Iran didn’t fund terror groups during his presidency, that the US has provided more aid to Ukraine than Europe has, that Biden for years referred to Black people as “super predators,” that Biden is planning to quadruple people’s taxes, that then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi turned down 10,000 National Guard troops for the US Capitol on January 6, 2021, that Americans don’t pay the cost of his tariffs on China and other countries, that Europe accepts no American cars, that he is the president who got the Veterans Choice program through Congress, and that fraud marred the results of the 2020 election.
Trump stood on that debate stage and refused—three times—to say he will accept the results of the next election. That’s the guy Johnson wants to see back in the White House.
And what was Trump’s main takeaway from the debate? He’s a great golfer. So please spare us your thoughts on who is fit to be president, Mr. Johnson. Oh, and fuck you.
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Campaign ActionFIRST ON FOX: A letter signed by 16 top economists warning of the economic dangers of electing former President Trump, which is being amplified by the Biden campaign and other Biden surrogates, is littered with signatories who have either donated to Biden or supported him politically in the past.
"While each of us has different views on the particulars of various economic policies, we all agree that Joe Biden's economic agenda is vastly superior to Donald Trump," the economists wrote in a letter first reported on by Axios this week that has been promoted by various members of the Biden campaign on X, formerly known as Twitter.
A Fox News Digital review of the letter’s Nobel Prize-winning signatories shows political donations to President Biden's 2020 and 2024 campaigns. The signatories also donated tens of thousands of dollars to other Democrat candidates and signed previous letters supporting Biden's agenda, including attacking "selfish and restless" Trump.
Economist Joseph Stiglitz, the Columbia University professor who reportedly spearheaded the letter, previously signed a letter supporting Biden’s Build Back Better agenda and donated $1,250 to the Biden Victory Fund in 2020.
EXPERTS PREDICT INFLATION ELECTION TROUBLE FOR BIDEN: 'TOO LATE' TO FIX
Between 2004 and 2020, Stiglitz donated over $90,000 to Democrat candidates, FEC records show.
Georgetown University Professor George A. Akerlof, who is married to Biden’s Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, donated $25,000 to the Biden Victory Fund and maxed out as a donor in 2020, giving the campaign $5,600.
Akerlof, who donated nearly $90,000 to Democrats between the 1990s and 2022, also signed a letter supporting Build Back Better, and signed a letter in 2020 calling Trump’s re-election effort "selfish and reckless."
Harvard University economist and historian Claudia Goldin donated $500 to the Biden campaign in 2020 and 2024 and has donated over $8,000 to Democrats in recent years. Goldin also signed a 2020 letter endorsing the Biden campaign.
Economist and mathematician Eric Maskin signed a 2020 letter expressing support for the Biden campaign’s agenda and donated $3,000 to Democrats in recent years, including Senate candidates Raphael Warnock, Beto O’Rourke and Jon Ossoff.
When reached for comment on his background supporting Biden and Democrats, Maskin said, "Although I am a registered Democrat and have donated money to Democratic candidates on occasion, I have also voted for many Republicans over the years (including Bill Weld and Charlie Baker for governor of Massachusetts)" in a statement to Fox News Digital.
He added that he considers himself to "be more a centrist than a strong partisan in either ideological direction" and pointed to an op-ed he recently wrote against political polarization in favor of a Republican senator and "supported the 2020 Biden agenda on its economic merits and signed the recent letter for the same reasons."
Paul Milgrom, an economist at Stanford University, also previously signed letters supporting Build Back Better and calling Trump’s 2020 campaign "selfish and reckless."
Daniel McFadden, an economics professor at UC Berkeley, donated at least $4,500 to Democrats in 2020. He also signed onto a letter saying Biden's Build Back Better plan will "ease" inflation. He was also part of another letter endorsing Biden in 2020.
Roger Myerson, an economist at the University of Chicago, donated $2,350 to the Biden campaign in 2020 and $250 in 2024 on top of donating over $40,000 to Democrats between 2004 and 2024.
Myerson also previously signed a letter backing Build Back Better and Biden’s economic recovery agenda. The University of Chicago economist took to X after the letter was published, posting, "A dictator from day 1 would be bad for America, and we should testify to that fact as patriotic Americans."
"As economists we can testify that his policies would not help against inflation either," he added.
Economist Edmund S. Phelps wrote an article in 2020 called "The Economic Case for Biden" and also said that everything Trump has stood for in the past has been a "disaster."
INFLATION IS UP 20% SINCE BIDEN TOOK OFFICE
Phelps has also donated to Democrats in the past, including a $1,500 donation to a Democratic House candidate and $25 to Pete Buttigieg.
Paul Romer, an economist at Boston College, has previously described the Trump years as "miserable" and publicly supported his impeachment. Romer endorsed Biden in a 2020 letter, praised Biden’s pandemic plan, and signed a letter in support of Build Back Better.
Stanford University economist Alvin Roth also signed multiple letters opposing Trump and supported the letter that referred to him as "selfish and reckless" on top of donating $1,250 to presidential candidate Barack Obama in 2008.
Nobel Prize-winning economist William Sharpe donated $500 to the Biden campaign and $500 to the Biden Victory Fund in 2020. Sharpe also signed a letter to business leaders in 2020 arguing that it was time to speak out against Trump and the "threat" he "poses to the Republic."
Robert Shiller, a Yale University economist, donated $1,000 to the Biden Victory Fund in 2020 and over $20,000 to Democrats in total in recent years. In 2019, Shiller said he would support any candidate over Trump.
Princeton University economist Christopher Sims donated $500 to the Biden Victory Fund in 2020 and over $9,000 to various Democrats.
Two British economists on the list, Sir Oliver Hart and Sir Angus Deaton, signed a letter in support of Build Back Better. Hart endorsed Biden in 2020 and also signed the 2020 letter calling Trump "selfish and reckless."
Several Biden campaign officials pounced on the story Tuesday morning to amplify the Axios report, including the Biden campaign's rapid response adviser, James Singer, and campaign manager, Julie Chavez Rodriguez.
White House senior deputy press secretary Andrew Bates and other Biden surrogates also shared the report and quoted from it, including California Gov. Gavin Newsom.
Tim Murtaugh, who served as Trump's 2020 campaign spokesman, mocked the report on social media Tuesday saying, "How amazing that this happens just in time for Biden to reference it in the upcoming debate (it’s a good bet that he does)."
"It’s almost as much of a stroke of luck as the letter from 51 intelligence officers claiming that Hunter’s laptop was Russian disinformation," Murtaugh continued. "Amazing."
Axios did not note the previous political activism of the economists in the story nor did they note that one of the top signatories is married to Biden’s treasury secretary, Janet Yellen.
Axios did not respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital.
Fox News Digital reached out to the Biden campaign and all 16 economists for comment.
The House of Representatives voted to block Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas' salary on Wednesday.
It was an amendment by Rep. Andy Biggs, R-Ariz., for the House's appropriations bill funding the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) for fiscal year 2025, that would block funds in the bill from being used to pay Mayorkas.
Just one Republican voted against the measure, which passed 193 to 173.
"Taxpayers should not be paying an unelected bureaucrat who was impeached by the House. That's why I sponsored an amendment to this year's Homeland Security Appropriations Act to prohibit funding to be used for the salary of DHS Secretary Mayorkas," Biggs wrote on X before the vote.
A second amendment by Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., to reduce Mayorkas' salary to zero failed, however, in a 208 to 200 vote. One Republican voted present on that measure.
Mayorkas is a frequent target of the House GOP's ire, with Republican lawmakers blaming him for the enduring crisis at the southern border.
House Republicans voted to impeach him in February – the first Cabinet secretary impeached since the late 1800s.
HERE ARE THE 3 HOUSE REPUBLICANS WHO TORPEDOED MAYORKAS’ IMPEACHMENT VOTE
The DHS appropriations bill gives the department roughly a $3 billion increase from fiscal year 2024.
It also includes $600 million to fund completion of former President Trump's border wall and provisions to block funding from being used for abortion care and transgender health care for noncitizens detained in ICE custody.
Other amendments that have passed so far include one by Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, to prohibit funds from being used to implement policies that would keep asylum-seekers in Texas while their claims are being processed.
HOUSE FAILS TO IMPEACH DHS SECRETARY ALEJANDRO MAYORKAS IN MAJOR BLOW TO GOP
A measure led by Rep. Andy Ogles, R-Tenn., that passed would block DHS from implementing COVID-19 mask policies.
The appropriations bill itself is expected to get a final vote on Friday, though it's highly unlikely to be taken up by the Democrat-led Senate.
The White House has already threatened to veto the measure if it got to President Biden's desk.
Steve Bannon, the former adviser to Donald Trump, was convicted of contempt of Congress in July 2022. He lost his first appeal this past May. He lost his second appeal last week. He is due to report to prison on Monday.
But Republicans are doing everything they can to throw him a rope—and not the kind some of them offered to Mike Pence. Instead, Republicans in the House are making an extraordinary effort to repudiate a past Congress, disowning the whole investigation of the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection, in hopes this will somehow make Bannon’s conviction no longer count.
That House Republicans are willing to erase history—so long as it doesn’t involve a Confederate statue—should come as no surprise. After all, this is the same group that tried to unimpeach Trump. But what’s amazing is that they’re willing to go to such lengths for a third-rate podcaster who is likely to be in prison by Election Day no matter what they do.
If this Republican time machine is successful, it sets an amazing precedent for each Congress to examine and attack the actions of its predecessors—making it even more difficult for Congress to take any large legal actions since courts often move slowly and House terms are brief.
That hasn’t stopped Republicans from going all in for Bannon.
On June 21, Bannon sent an emergency appeal to the Supreme Court. In it, Bannon’s attorney suggested that the purpose of his imprisonment was to keep a key player off the stage in the days leading up to the election.
“There is also no denying the fact that the government seeks to imprison Mr. Bannon for the four-month period immediately preceding the November presidential election,” attorney Trent McCotter wrote.
House Republicans seem to agree with the importance of preventing Bannon from suffering a single day behind bars so that he can keep on promising that Trump’s opponents will all be going to jail once Team Orange is back in power.
“You are going to be investigated, prosecuted, and incarcerated,” Bannon warned Democrats at a convention in Detroit earlier this month. “This has nothing to do with retribution. It has nothing to do with revenge. Because retribution and revenge might be another order of magnitude. This has to do with justice.”
But justice has a different meaning for Republicans. On Tuesday, Speaker of the House Mike Johnson made a mockery of the chamber’s Bipartisan Legal Advisory Group as it voted along party lines to send an amicus brief in support of Bannon to the Supreme Court.
A joint statement from Johnson, House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, and House Majority Whip Tom Emmer said that the House will “withdraw certain arguments made by the House earlier in the litigation about the organization of the Select Committee to Investigate the January 6 Attack on the U.S. Capitol during the prior Congress.”
The trio also disowned the entire Jan. 6 Select Committee, saying that they believed “Speaker Pelosi abused her authority when organizing the Select Committee.”
Johnson followed up with a Fox News appearance in which he told host Sean Hannity that “the Jan. 6 committee was, we think, wrongfully constituted. We think the work was tainted. We think that they may have very well covered up evidence and maybe even more nefarious activities.”
The speaker provided no evidence for any of these accusations.
In 2021, Senate Republicans blocked efforts to institute an independent investigation of the Jan. 6 assault on Congress. And in March, House Republicans issued a report seeking to exonerate Trump from any wrongdoing and discredit the findings of the select committee. That report made absolutely no mention of Trump’s role in the attack and instead blamed the Capitol Police for “a failure to provide proper security.”
Trump has already saved Bannon once by throwing him a pardon during his final hours in office. That pardon saved Bannon from facing the consequences for his central role in a border-wall-related fraud case, where one of his partners in crime is currently serving a four-year sentence in federal prison.
But Bannon faces a New York state trial in September over the same acts of criminal fraud. And Trump's pardon can't save him from a state charge.
Bannon’s trial was originally slated to be conducted by Justice Juan Merchan, the judge who presided over Trump’s recent hush-money trial. Bannon’s trial has now been reassigned to Justice April Newbauer because of a reported conflict in Merchan’s schedule. However, the date for the trial hasn’t changed.
Considering that others in the case have been found guilty, that’s a good indication that, no matter how much rope House Republicans unspool, it’s likely that Steve Bannon will be watching the election results on prison TV.
Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas will visit Arizona on Wednesday to tout the decrease in illegal migrant numbers after President Biden took executive action on asylum processing three weeks ago.
Mayorkas will speak to reporters in Tucson. Arrests for illegal border crossings have fallen more than 40% since the executive order went into effect, according to the Department of Homeland Security.
Border Patrol's seven-day average of illegal migrant encounters dropped from well over 5,000 to about 2,200, according to the latest Customs and Border Protection numbers obtained by Fox News. Mayorkas said border encounters were "moving in the right direction" in an appearance on MSNBC Wednesday morning.
"You correctly note that the number of encounters at the southwest border have decreased in the three weeks that we've been implementing the president's proclamation by more than 40%," Mayorkas told host Mika Brzezinski, adding it was a "remarkable implementation" by immigration enforcement agencies.
"We are conducting more removal flights than ever before. We are moving people through the system, and those who do not qualify are being removed or returned more rapidly."
The latest Border Patrol figures are welcome news for President Biden, who must defend his record from withering attacks by former President Trump at the CNN Presidential Debate on Thursday.
The U.S. has seen record numbers of migrant crossings at the border, with more than 2.4 million in FY 23 alone, on top of three years of the highest crossings ever seen. Republicans and Trump have hammered Biden over the crisis, arguing that it is his policies — and the rolling back of Trump-era policies — that have fueled the crisis.
Trump lambasted Biden's border policies at a rally in Philadelphia over the weekend and accused him of "releasing illegal criminals into our communities to rape, pillage, plunder and to kill."
BIDEN OFFERS ‘CONDOLENCES’ BUT NO SOLUTION AFTER LATEST ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT MURDER ALLEGATION
"Just this week, a 12-year-old girl in Houston, Jocelyn Nungaray, was tied up, stripped, and strangled to death after walking to a 7-Eleven," Trump said, referencing the suspected murder and sexual assault of a Texas girl who was found strangled to death in a creek last week.
"Charged with Jocelyn's heinous murder are two illegal alien savages that Joe Biden recently set loose into our country. They came across our border claiming they feared for their lives in Venezuela."
Trump has promised the largest domestic deportation operation in U.S. history if elected, and to terminate "every Open Border policy of the Biden administration." He has also promised to deploy special forces to the border and reinstate his 2017 travel ban.
Biden, on the contrary, has argued that Congress must pass reforms to fix what he calls a "broken" immigration system. He has proposed legislation that Republicans oppose which would grant a pathway to citizenship for millions of illegal immigrants present in the U.S.
BORDER PATROL INTERCEPTS MULTIPLE ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT SEX OFFENDERS IN A SINGLE WEEKEND
He also backed a bipartisan Senate bill introduced earlier this year, but it has failed to pick up steam in the upper chamber. Biden has blamed Trump for stifling the bill, which included additional funding for border operations and a mechanism to shut down crossings after a certain level.
"Republicans in Congress, not all, walked away from it. Why? Because Donald Trump told them to," he said in February.
With no progress in Congress, Biden took unilateral action to further limit asylum claims by migrants once average border encounters exceed 2,500 a day. Last week, he also announced a deportation shield for some illegal immigrant spouses of U.S. citizens. He has repeatedly said, however, that it is not enough, and he needs Congress to act in order to fix the system.
Mayorkas reinforced the president's arguments on MSNBC, calling on Congress to "fix" the "broken immigration system."
"Remember that our detention capacity — and this is not specific to our administration, this has been historic, ever since the 90s, when I was a federal prosecutor — our detention capacity is not sufficient to meet the number of people we encounter," he said. "We have to release people into the United States when they are in immigration enforcement proceedings. And we put them on alternatives to detention when that is necessary from an enforcement perspective."
House Republicans approved articles of impeachment against Mayorkas earlier this year, accusing him of "willful and systemic refusal to comply with the law" and breach of public trust.
However, the Democratic-controlled Senate had the articles declared unconstitutional and dismissed without a trial. Mayorkas last visited the U.S.-Mexico border in May.
Fox News' Adam Shaw and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
EDITOR'S NOTE: This report has been updated to clarify that Mayorkas visited the U.S.-Mexico border in May 2024.
Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas will visit Arizona on Wednesday on his first trip to the southern border since the Senate quashed articles of impeachment against him.
Mayorkas will speak to reporters in Tucson, where he is expected to tout the decrease in illegal migrant numbers after President Biden took executive action on asylum processing three weeks ago. Arrests for illegal border crossings have fallen more than 40% since the executive order went into effect, according to the Department of Homeland Security.
Border Patrol's seven-day average of illegal migrant encounters dropped from well over 5,000 to about 2,200, according to the latest Customs and Border Protection numbers obtained by Fox News. Mayorkas said border encounters were "moving in the right direction" in an appearance on MSNBC Wednesday morning.
"You correctly note that the number of encounters at the southwest border have decreased in the three weeks that we've been implementing the president's proclamation by more than 40%," Mayorkas told host Mika Brzezinski, adding it was a "remarkable implementation" by immigration enforcement agencies.
"We are conducting more removal flights than ever before. We are moving people through the system, and those who do not qualify are being removed or returned more rapidly."
The latest Border Patrol figures are welcome news for President Biden, who must defend his record from withering attacks by former President Trump at the CNN Presidential Debate on Thursday.
The U.S. has seen record numbers of migrant crossings at the border, with more than 2.4 million in FY 23 alone, on top of three years of the highest crossings ever seen. Republicans and Trump have hammered Biden over the crisis, arguing that it is his policies — and the rolling back of Trump-era policies — that have fueled the crisis.
Trump lambasted Biden's border policies at a rally in Philadelphia over the weekend and accused him of "releasing illegal criminals into our communities to rape, pillage, plunder and to kill."
BIDEN OFFERS ‘CONDOLENCES’ BUT NO SOLUTION AFTER LATEST ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT MURDER ALLEGATION
"Just this week, a 12-year-old girl in Houston, Jocelyn Nungaray, was tied up, stripped, and strangled to death after walking to a 7-Eleven," Trump said, referencing the suspected murder and sexual assault of a Texas girl who was found strangled to death in a creek last week.
"Charged with Jocelyn's heinous murder are two illegal alien savages that Joe Biden recently set loose into our country. They came across our border claiming they feared for their lives in Venezuela."
Trump has promised the largest domestic deportation operation in U.S. history if elected, and to terminate "every Open Border policy of the Biden administration." He has also promised to deploy special forces to the border and reinstate his 2017 travel ban.
Biden, on the contrary, has argued that Congress must pass reforms to fix what he calls a "broken" immigration system. He has proposed legislation that Republicans oppose which would grant a pathway to citizenship for millions of illegal immigrants present in the U.S.
BORDER PATROL INTERCEPTS MULTIPLE ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT SEX OFFENDERS IN A SINGLE WEEKEND
He also backed a bipartisan Senate bill introduced earlier this year, but it has failed to pick up steam in the upper chamber. Biden has blamed Trump for stifling the bill, which included additional funding for border operations and a mechanism to shut down crossings after a certain level.
"Republicans in Congress, not all, walked away from it. Why? Because Donald Trump told them to," he said in February.
With no progress in Congress, Biden took unilateral action to further limit asylum claims by migrants once average border encounters exceed 2,500 a day. Last week, he also announced a deportation shield for some illegal immigrant spouses of U.S. citizens. He has repeatedly said, however, that it is not enough, and he needs Congress to act in order to fix the system.
Mayorkas reinforced the president's arguments on MSNBC, calling on Congress to "fix" the "broken immigration system."
"Remember that our detention capacity — and this is not specific to our administration, this has been historic, ever since the 90s, when I was a federal prosecutor — our detention capacity is not sufficient to meet the number of people we encounter," he said. "We have to release people into the United States when they are in immigration enforcement proceedings. And we put them on alternatives to detention when that is necessary from an enforcement perspective."
House Republicans approved articles of impeachment against Mayorkas earlier this year, accusing him of "willful and systemic refusal to comply with the law" and breach of public trust.
However, the Democratic-controlled Senate had the articles declared unconstitutional and dismissed without a trial.
Fox News Digital's Adam Shaw and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Republican former congressman Adam Kinzinger endorsed President Joe Biden on Wednesday, giving the Democrat a prominent new ally in his high-stakes campaign to win over moderate Republicans and independents this fall.
Kinzinger, a military pilot who emerged as a fierce critic of former President Donald Trump after the U.S. Capitol was attacked by Trump's supporters, described Trump as “a direct threat to every fundamental American value” in a video announcing the Biden endorsement.
“While I certainly don’t agree with President Biden on everything, and I never thought I’d be endorsing a Democrat for president, I know that he will always protect the very thing that makes America the best country in the world: our democracy,” said Kinzinger, who voted for Trump in 2020.
The former Illinois congressman also issued an ominous warning. Trump, he said, will “hurt anyone or anything in pursuit of power.”
Kinzinger's announcement comes on the eve of the opening presidential debate and gives Biden an example he can raise Thursday night of a well-known Republican supporting him over Trump. Biden’s camp is prioritizing outreach to moderate Republicans and independents alienated by Trump’s tumultuous White House tenure.
Kinzinger becomes the highest-profile Republican official formally backing Biden, whose campaign earlier in the month tapped Kinzinger's former chief of staff Austin Weatherford to serve as its national Republican outreach director. Republican former Georgia Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan also endorsed Biden last month.
Ultimately, a number of prominent Republicans are expected to join Biden's campaign, with more influential names likely to be announced closer to the November election.
Shortly after Kinzinger announced his decision, Biden shared the endorsement video on social media and said he was grateful for the Republican's support.
“This is what putting your country before your party looks like,” Biden wrote on X.
Biden's team is trying to create what it calls “a permission structure” for Republican voters who would otherwise have a difficult time casting a ballot for the Democratic president.
Kinzinger developed a national profile as one of two Republicans who served on the House's committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack. The committee highlighted a number of Trump's transgressions before and during the deadly attack on the U.S. Capitol as Congress tried to certify the election results for Biden.
Kinzinger, who did not seek reelection in 2022 after voting to impeach Trump for his role in the Jan. 6 attack, called on the GOP to change course.
“To every American of every political party and those of none, I say now is not the time to watch quietly as Donald Trump threatens the future of America,” said Kinzinger, who repeatedly described himself as a conservative in the video. “Now is the time to unite behind Joe Biden and show Donald Trump off the stage once and for all.”
In a statement Wednesday, Biden campaign manager Julie Chavez Rodriguez described Kinzinger as “a true public servant who is a model for putting our country and our democracy over party and blind acquiescence to Trump.”
“Congressman Kinzinger represents the countless Americans that Donald Trump’s Republican Party have left behind," she said. “Those Americans have a home in President Biden’s coalition, and our campaign knows that we need to show up and earn their support.”
Trump and his allies have long dismissed Kinzinger's efforts to rally Republicans against him. The former president publicly celebrated when Kinzinger didn't seek reelection and has called for the prosecution of Kinzinger and others who served on the Jan. 6 committee, part of his pattern of suggesting his opponents face government retribution.
Biden has been particularly focused on courting supporters of Republican former presidential candidate Nikki Haley, who continued to win over a significant number of anti-Trump GOP primary voters throughout the spring even after suspending her campaign.
As part of Biden’s sustained outreach to moderate voters in both parties, his campaign released an ad highlighting Trump’s often-personal attacks against Haley, including his primary nickname of her as “birdbrain” and suggestion that “she’s not presidential timber.”
Haley last month said she will vote for Trump in the general election.
Indeed, Trump’s grip on his party’s passionate base is stronger than ever. And the overwhelming majority of Republican elected officials are backing his 2024 campaign, even those few, like Haley, who worked against him in the primary phase of the campaign.
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