DeSantis says Trump’s age, like Biden’s, ‘legitimate concern’ in 2024 election

Republican presidential candidate and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said Tuesday that former President Donald Trump's age, like President Biden's is "a legitimate concern" for voters heading into the 2024 race for the White House.

DeSantis made the argument during an interview appearance on "CBS Evening News," telling host Norah O'Donnell that he thinks the Founding Fathers would go back and add age limits for elected officials in the Constitution if they could.

"I think that's absolutely a legitimate concern. The presidency is not a job for someone who is 80 years old," DeSantis said when O'Donnell asked if voters should be worried about the age of each party's front-runner in the race.

WATCH: SEN. JOHN FETTERMAN GIVES OFF, ANIMATED REACTION TO NEWS OF BIDEN IMPEACHMENT INQUIRY

Biden, 80, is roughly three and a half years older than Trump, 77. DeSantis is 44.

"There's nothing wrong with being 80. Obviously, I'm the governor of Florida. I know a lot of people who are elderly. They're great people, but you're talking about a job where you need to give it 100%," he said. "We need an energetic president, and I think that if the Founders could kind of look at this again, I do think they probably would have put an age limit on some of these offices." 

He added that if he ended up becoming the Republican nominee and faced off against Biden as the Democrat nominee, "a lot of Americans … are going to want to see a generational passing of the torch."

WATCH: BIDEN CLAIMS WITHOUT EVIDENCE HE WAS AT GROUND ZERO ON DAY AFTER 9/11 ATTACKS

Although Biden's advanced age has been a consistent topic on the campaign trail, this is the first time DeSantis has directly addressed any concern over Trump's slightly younger age.

Fox News Digital reached out to the Trump and Biden campaigns for comment, but did not immediately receive responses.

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

GOP presidential candidate says more evidence needed ‘to open full-blown impeachment’ of Biden

GOP presidential candidate and former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie says Americans want an investigation into President Biden's alleged involvement in his son Hunter's business affairs, but says more evidence is needed before House Republicans begin a "full-blown impeachment" inquiry.

Christie, who served as a federal prosecutor before winning election as governor in 2009, made his comments at a town hall at New Hampshire-based New England College minutes before Republican House Speaker Kevin McCarthy announced that he was directing a committee to open an impeachment inquiry into the president.

"I think there should be an inquiry made about what has gone on with the Bidens' business situations. But I think they can do that through their oversight function and have the DOJ [Department of Justice] special counsel that's been appointed now in the Hunter Biden situation look at that, as well," Christie said during the town hall, which was hosted by Sirius XM. "I think, yeah, they should."

WHAT SPEAKER MCCARTHY SAID IN LAUNCHING BIDEN IMPEACHMENT INQUIRY

But he added, "I don't think there's enough evidence at this moment to open a full-blown impeachment on Joe Biden. And I think that wouldn't be smart to do."

House Republicans charge that the president — when he was serving as vice president in the Obama administration — profited off his son Hunter's foreign business deals. But the ongoing probes by the House GOP majority have yet to produce hard evidence linking Biden directly to his son.

FOX NEWS POLITICS: BIDEN IMPEACHMENT TAKES OFF

"If it got to the point where, as vice president, he in any way shared in the money that went along with that, I think that would be a really significant problem," Christie said. 

Asked if it would be an "impeachable" offense, Christie answered, "Yeah, I think so."

While Christie was on stage in New Hampshire — the state that holds the first primary and second overall contest in the GOP presidential nominating calendar — McCarthy was talking to reporters on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C.

McCarthy said the House Oversight Committee’s investigation so far has found a "culture of corruption" around the Biden family.

"These are allegations of abuse of power, obstruction and corruption, and they warrant further investigation by the House of Representatives," he argued.

McCarthy's announcement came as the House Republican leader faces increasing pressure from his right flank to get the ball rolling on impeaching Biden. 

Minutes after the Speaker made his news, far right Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida called the announcement a "baby step" and emphasized that "we must move faster."

Christie, speaking with Fox News after the town hall, was asked if the push by House Republicans will serve as an obstacle to the GOP candidates on the presidential campaign trail.

"Depends on how they do it. I mean, I think if they do a fair investigation into what's going on with Hunter Biden and what then-Vice President Biden was involved in or not involved. And I think that's something that the American people want to know. So they've got to do it in a fair way," he said.

The White House criticized the impeachment push by McCarthy as politically motivated.

"House Republicans have been investigating the President for 9 months, and they’ve turned up no evidence of wrongdoing…His own GOP members have said so…He vowed to hold a vote to open impeachment, now he flip flopped because he doesn’t have support… Extreme politics at its worst," White House spokesman Ian Sams argued in a social media posting.

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

Wisconsin Democrats launch $4M ad blitz targeting GOP lawmakers considering impeachment of new liberal justice

Wisconsin Democrats are launching a $4 million ad blitz over the next several weeks to target GOP lawmakers that are considering whether to pursue the impeachment of a new liberal justice. 

Justice Janet Protasiewicz's ascension to the Wisconsin Supreme Court created a new 4-3 liberal majority, jeopardizing Republican-drawn state legislative maps and risking the repeal of a 173-year-old state law that bans abortion. The statute became active again after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade last year.

The Wisconsin Democratic Party on Wednesday launched a $4 million effort to pressure Republicans to back down from impeaching Protasiewicz. 

After investing nearly $10 million in electing the liberal justice, the effort is meant to protect what Democrats hailed as a major political victory. The new $4 million effort, which leaders said will grow to include other groups, will include digital and television ads, in-person voter outreach and a website that tracks where every Republican lawmaker stands on impeachment.

WISCONSIN OFFICIALS BLOCKED FROM USING FEDERAL VOTER REGISTRATION FORM

"Politicians should not be overturning elections because they don’t like the results or the outcome," said Democrat Senate Minority Leader Melissa Agard at a press conference outside the state capitol. "And we cannot let Robin Vos and Wisconsin’s Republicans get away with this unconstitutional, unprecedented power grab in our state."

"Republicans are holding a political nuclear football," Wisconsin Democratic Party Chair Ben Wikler said, deeming the threat of impeachment had amounted to "political extortion."

Republican Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, who has been the most outspoken about possible impeachment, said the effort only proves that the party's and Protasiewicz's interests "are one and the same."

During the campaign, Protasiewicz spoke in favor of abortion and called GOP-drawn maps "unfair" and "rigged." Justices for the Wisconsin Supreme Court are officially nonpartisan, but the candidates have long aligned along partisan lines. Republicans have raised impeachment as a possibility if Protasiewicz does not recuse herself from consideration of two redistricting lawsuits filed in her first week in office last month. The GOP-controlled legislature asked for her to step aside from the cases.

Protasiewicz on Tuesday gave attorneys until Sept. 18 to react to the fact that the Wisconsin Judicial Commission, which investigates complaints against judges, dismissed complaints against her that alleged her campaign comments on redistricting violated the state judicial code.

SUPREME COURT JUSTICES RULE STATE LAWMAKERS DO NOT HAVE EXCLUSIVE CONTROL OVER ELECTIONS IN KEY DECISION

A lawsuit in a county court seeking to overturn Wisconsin’s 1849 abortion ban was filed before Protasiewicz won the election. That case is expected to eventually reach the Wisconsin Supreme Court. The legislative electoral maps drawn by the Republican-controlled legislature in 2011 cemented the party’s majorities, which now stand at 65-34 in the Assembly and a 22-11 supermajority in the Senate. It would take only 50 votes to impeach. It takes 22 votes to convict in the Senate, the exact number of seats Republicans hold.

If the state Senate moves forward to convict Protasiewicz on impeachment charges and remove her from her position before Dec. 1, Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers, a Democrat, would be required to announce a replacement. That person would face voters next April when the GOP presidential primary would also be on the ballot, the New York Times reported. 

Though there is not much precedent for an impeachment, the state constitution limits reasons to impeach a sitting officeholder to corrupt conduct in office or the commission of a crime.

The escalating fight over her seat has implications for the 2024 presidential election in the battleground state.

In 2020, the conservative-controlled Supreme Court came within one vote of overturning President Biden's win in the state. More fights over election rules that will be in place for the 2024 election are pending and any disputes over the winner could be decided once again by the state Supreme Court.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Texas AG Ken Paxton pleads not guilty to impeachment charges after Senate advances case to trial

The Texas Senate voted Tuesday to deny all of Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton’s motions to dismiss the impeachment charges against him, clearing the way for a historic trial.

Paxton had each article of impeachment read to him aloud in the chamber afterward Tuesday. Paxton's lawyer, Tony Buzbee, responded "not guilty" to each count.

House lawyer Rusty Hardin objected to Buzbee's interjections, but Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, who is acting as "judge" of the impeachment trial, sustained.

"Absolutely not guilty," Buzbee said on the next count.

IMPEACHMENT TRIAL OF TEXAS REPUBLICAN ATTORNEY GENERAL KEN PAXTON SET TO BEGIN

Paxton, a close ally to former President Donald Trump who led several lawsuits in December 2020 to challenge election results in Georgia, Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin, won reelection in 2022 but was ultimately suspended from office in May when the GOP-controlled House voted, 121-23, to impeach him on 20 articles that range from bribery to abuse of public trust.

Most of the articles deal with Paxton using his office to benefit Austin real estate developer and wealthy donor Nate Paul, prompting eight of the attorney general's top deputies to report him to the FBI in 2020. Three other charges date back to Paxton’s pending 2015 felony securities fraud case, including lying to state investigators.

Paxton faces trial by a jury of 31 state senators stacked mostly with his ideological allies.

The closest vote Tuesday was along a 20-10 margin.

Patrick ruled that Paxton cannot be compelled to testify. The seven Republican senators who voted against all of Paxton’s pretrial motions to dismiss were Pete Flores, Kelly Hancock, Joan Huffman, Phil King, Mayes Middleton, Robert Nichols and Drew Springer. 

Meanwhile, five Republicans – state Sens. Brian Birdwell, Bryan Hughes, Charles Schwertner, Kevin Sparks and Charles Perry – voted for some, but not all, of Paxton’s pretrial motions.

A supermajority of 21 is needed to convict, meaning the Senate requires at least nine Republican voters to convict, assuming all 12 Democrats vote to do so.

TEXAS ATTORNEY GENERAL KEN PAXTON HIRES PROMINENT LAWYER FOR IMPEACHMENT TRIAL

Patrick on Tuesday also went over scheduling for the historic impeachment trial. He said it would run from 9 a.m. until at least 6 p.m. Monday through Friday. It will not continue on Saturday this week, but it could run to Saturday next week. There will be 20-minute breaks every 90 minutes.

The lieutenant governor also emphasized rules that Paxton’s wife, Texas Sen. Angela Paxton, would not get a vote for her husband’s trial.

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The Senate was not immediately taking up the three charges related to the 2015 felony securities fraud case or a fourth related to Paxton's ethics filings in the impeachment trial, according to the Associated Press. Paxton had said he expected to be acquitted and that the charges are based on "hearsay and gossip, parroting long-disproven claims."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Impeachment trial of Texas Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton set to begin

Texas Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton is bracing for his impeachment trial set to begin Tuesday, historically brought by state senators of his own political party. 

The state Senate is taking up 16 articles of impeachment relating to allegations of bribery, dereliction of duty and disregard of official duty against Paxton, who will be just the third person to stand for an impeachment trial in the history of the Texas legislature. 

A close ally to former President Donald Trump, Paxton spearheaded several lawsuits in December 2020 challenging the presidential election results in Georgia, Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin showing a victory for Joe Biden. Paxton also spoke during Trump’s Jan. 6, 2021, rally at the Ellipse, the park south of the White House, before the eventual riot at the U.S. Capitol. 

But the impeachment trial centers around Paxton’s relationship with Austin real estate developer Nate Paul. Paxton, who has decried the trial as a "political motivated sham," and an effort to disenfranchise his voters, won a third term in 2022 despite long-pending state criminal charges and an FBI investigation.

TEXAS ATTORNEY GENERAL KEN PAXTON HIRES PROMINENT LAWYER FOR IMPEACHMENT TRIAL

The GOP-led state House of Representatives voted overwhelmingly to impeach Paxton in May, largely based on his former deputies' claims that the attorney general used his power to help a wealthy donor who reciprocated with favors including hiring a woman with whom Paxton had an extramarital affair.

Paxton faces trial by a jury — the 31 state senators — stacked with his ideological allies and a "judge," Republican Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, who loaned $125,000 to his last reelection campaign. His wife, Sen. Angela Paxton, will attend the trial but cannot participate or vote. 

Two other senators play a role in the allegations against Paxton. A two-thirds majority — or 21 senators — is required for conviction, meaning that if all 12 Senate Democrats vote against Paxton, they still need at least nine of the 19 Republicans to join them.

The trial will likely bring forth new evidence, but the outline of the allegations against Paxton has been public since 2020, when eight of his top deputies told the FBI that the attorney general was breaking the law to help Paul. The deputies — largely conservatives whom Paxton handpicked for their jobs — told investigators that Paxton had gone against their advice and hired an outside lawyer to probe Paul's allegations of wrongdoing by the FBI in its investigation of the developer. 

EMBATTLED TEXAS AG PAXTON SECRETLY WENT ON CHINA JUNKET AGAINST ADVICE OF STAFF, DOCS SHOW

They also said Paxton pressured his staff to take other actions that helped Paul.

Federal prosecutors continue to examine Paul and Paxton's relationship, so the evidence presented during his impeachment trial poses a legal as well as a political risk to the attorney general. Paul was indicted in June on federal criminal charges based on allegations that he made false statements to banks to secure more than $170 million in loans. He pleaded not guilty and has broadly denied wrongdoing in his dealings with Paxton.

The two men bonded over a shared feeling that they were the targets of corrupt law enforcement, according to a memo by one of the staffers who went to the FBI. Paxton was indicted on securities fraud charges in 2015 but is yet to stand trial. The Senate is not taking up, at least initially, three impeachment articles about the alleged securities fraud and a fourth related to Paxton's ethics filings.

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After going to the FBI, all eight of Paxton's deputies quit or were fired. Four of the deputies later sued Paxton under the state whistleblower act. The bipartisan group of lawmakers who led Paxton's impeachment in the House said it was him seeking $3.3 million in taxpayer funds to settle with the group that prompted them to investigate his dealings.

The Associated Press contributed to this report. 

The Impeachment Bistro: Republicans continue to keep impeachment on the menu

Bonsoir.

"Table pour 218, s’il vous plait?"

Welcome to the Impeachment Bistro.

This is where impeachment is on the menu.

Better hope you’re not famished when you walk in.

Perhaps boissons until the meal is ready?

WHITE HOUSE SAYS 'THERE WAS NO INDICATION' DESANTIS WOULD SNUB BIDEN VISIT AFTER IDALIA

It’s a long tease for Republicans. The GOP has talked impeachment for months to sate the appetite of its conservative, often pro-Trump, but vehemently anti-Biden base.

President Biden, Attorney General Merrick Garland, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, FBI Director Christopher Wray and even Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin have been on the bill of fare for impeachment.

But obviously, most Republicans interested in impeachment are angling for the President. And they’re simultaneously trying to contain angry conservatives demanding impeachment back home.

"If you hang on just a little bit longer, I think you’ll see it really quickly," implored Rep. Lisa McClain, R-Mich., on Fox Business about impeachment. "So be patient for just a little bit longer."

It’s hard for Republicans to keep the expectations in check as House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., began talking about impeachment in earnest earlier this summer. He’s done so for nearly two months.

MTG SAYS WHITE HOUSE 'ATTACKING' HER FOR HOLDING OUT GOVERNMENT FUNDING VOTE UNTIL IMPEACHMENT INQUIRY BEGINS

"I would move to an impeachment inquiry if I found that the attorney general has not only lied to the Congress, the Senate, but to America," said McCarthy in July about Garland and the Hunter Biden case.

At the time, McCarthy was trying to quash an effort by Rep. Lauren Boebert, R-Colo., to force the House to vote on the spot on impeaching President Biden. Boebert’s effort came without any formal investigation, review, depositions, hearings or official preparation of the resolution. Boebert just deposited the measure on the floor. McCarthy moved to kill it.

To McCarthy, Boebert’s plan was impeachment tartare. Uncooked and politically unfit to ingest. 

The Speaker argued that if the House were to pursue impeachment, it must be fully prepared and appropriately garnished. For McCarthy, impeachment of the president is too serious to just throw flippantly throw it on the Congressional grill and expect lawmakers to consider it a bona fide meal.

But McCarthy’s remarks about Garland were just an impeachment apéritif

BIDEN CITES BUSY SCHEDULE WHEN ASKED ABOUT VISITING EAST PALESTINE, OHIO: 'IT'S GOING TO BE AWHILE'

A few days later, the California Republican pivoted from the attorney general and to the president of the United States.

"This is rising to the level of an impeachment inquiry," McCarthy said about Biden on Fox in July.

McCarthy followed up that political amuse bouche with this offering about Mr. Biden and his son’s business dealings.

"When more of this continues to unravel, it rises to the level of an impeachment inquiry where you would have the Congress have the power to get to all these answers," said McCarthy.

Then Rep. Greg Steube, R-Fla., introduced four formal articles of impeachment for the President. But unlike Boebert, Steube didn’t just plop his articles on the floor.

GOP REP. CALLS FOR MERRICK GARLAND'S IMPEACHMENT OVER ROLE IN BIDEN'S 'COVERUP': HE'S THE 'HEAD OF THE SNAKE'

McCarthy hasn’t gotten to the impeachment le plat principal yet. But he’s certainly well into the impeachment hors-d’oeuvres.

"If you look at all the information we have been able to gather so far, it is a natural step forward that you would have to go to an impeachment inquiry," said McCarthy last week on Fox.

After this much palette preparation, some Republicans are salivating. It’s hard to see how McCarthy doesn’t push ahead with impeachment of the President. The anticipation of the gourmet meal is too great on the right. In fact, if McCarthy doesn’t serve up the impeachment version of pheasant under glass, his own goose may be cooked.

The right isn’t going to go for any petit-dejeuner or a croque monsieur at this stage.

If you’ve ever been to a restaurant where the waiter keeps coming over, pouring more wine and telling you please be patient, the meal is coming, you usually know something is up in the kitchen.

KAMALA HARRIS MET WITH GEORGE SOROS HEIR, TOP DONORS AT HER PRIVATE RESIDENCE, RECORDS SHOW

The same is true on Capitol Hill.

This meal just isn’t ready yet. That is, unless you’ll settle for some crudites. And if you follow politics closely, you know that hasn’t worked out well recently.

It’s hard to see exactly what impeachment looks like, since McCarthy has signaled that he’d like to begin some sort of formal inquiry later this month.

Launching a formal impeachment investigation requires the House to vote on an impeachment resolution. In fact, House GOPers railed against Democrats who were in the majority in 2019 for not voting to begin an official impeachment inquiry until late October of that year. Some Republicans have suggested that they could do an impeachment inquiry – without taking a vote on a formal investigation. This will be about the math. Republicans hold a narrow four-seat majority. House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., is now likely out for a while, suffering from cancer. The worst-case scenario for McCarthy would be to put some form of a measure regarding impeachment on the floor and watch it fail. 

There are plenty of House Republicans who are skeptical about the House even flirting with impeachment. They don’t think it will be popular with their voters – especially the 18 House GOPers who represent district President Biden won in 2020. They’re concerned about "normalizing" impeachment – almost flipping the U.S. into a parliamentary system where the legislature holds a vote of "no confidence" for a leader.

HALEY CALLS FOR TERMS LIMITS AFTER MCCONNELL’S FREEZE: ‘WE NEED PEOPLE AT THE TOP OF THEIR GAME’

Some Republicans would prefer to talk about bread-and-butter issues. And they’re less than convinced that House investigators have revealed any smoking gun that shows that the President benefitted from his son’s overseas business dealings. Some of these same Republicans also know that no matter what the House does, the Democratically controlled Senate will euthanize the impeachment articles rather quickly – perhaps without a trial.

Moreover, McCarthy has insisted that he wants to do impeachment by the book. Not the way Boebert offered up her resolution in June. So McCarthy could need to backtrack if the House somehow forges ahead with impeachment without an impeachment inquiry vote.

This is why some Republicans are treading carefully around impeachment.

"(McCarthy’s) pushed back on the word ‘impeachment,’" said Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif. "We’re not doing an impeachment. We’re not looking at impeachment directly. But we are realizing, as the question implies, that there’s enough there, there. There should be a concerted, bipartisan investigation."

It’s possible that McCarthy could finesse "impeachment" in a way to convince reluctant Republicans to greenlight an impeachment investigation just because they want to "get to the facts." But actually voting to impeach the President would be a real challenge.

So, back to the kitchen for now.

And if McCarthy doesn’t somehow whip up some impeachment meringue that satisfies the stomachs of some Republicans, the Impeachment Bistro should brace for a series of brutal reviews on Tripadvisor.

Gov Kemp says special session to remove DA Willis isn’t going to happen

Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp says ill-fated attempts by state Republicans to call a special session to remove Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis are not going to work.

Kemp made the comments during a press conference on Thursday, saying it has nothing to do with his personal feelings surrounding the district attorney's case against former President Trump.

"Up to this point, I have not seen any evidence that DA Willis's actions or lack thereof warrant action by the prosecuting attorney oversight commission. As long as I'm governor, we are going to follow the law and the Constitution — regardless of who it helps politically," Kemp said.

GOV. BRIAN KEMP HASN'T RECEIVED 'ANY EVIDENCE' STATE SEN. MOORE HAS MAJORITY NECESSARY FOR WILLIS IMPEACHMENT

In a letter to the governor filed earlier this month, State Sen. Colton Moore claimed to have the support of "3/5 of each respective house" in the state legislature regarding his efforts to impeach Willis.

Moore, in a statement to Fox News Digital, later admitted that the statement in the letter alluding to having a majority in both houses was not accurate.

"We have a law in the state of Georgia that clearly outlines the legal steps that can be taken if constituents believe their local prosecutors are violating their oath by engaging in unethical or illegal behavior," Kemp said Thursday at the press conference.

HOUSE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE PROBING DA FANI WILLIS REGARDING MOTIVATIONS FOR TRUMP PROSECUTION

Since Moore's stunt, other state Republicans have demanded similar obstructions to the Georgia case against Trump with similar lack of success.

Willis filed a motion Tuesday afternoon asking the Fulton County, Georgia, judge presiding over the case against former President Trump and 18 others to expedite the trial.

All 19 defendants – Trump, former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, his former attorneys Rudy Giuliani, Sidney Powell, Jenna Ellis, Kenneth Chesebro, and others – are being tried together on charges related to Georgia’s Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act. 

Willis’ motion asks that the defendants be given a deadline to be able to sever themselves from the larger case.

"The State of Georgia further respectfully requests that the Court set a deadline for any Defendant wishing to file a motion to sever, allow the parties, including the State of Georgia, sufficient time to brief the severance issue, and hold a hearing on any filed motion to sever so that the Court may consider the factors set forth in Cain and its progeny, as required by Georgia law," the motion states.

Fox News Digital's Jessica Chasmar contributed to this report.

Rep. Stefanik reportedly plans $100M ‘guerilla warfare’ campaign push to hold off New York Democrats offensive

The third top ranking House Republican is reportedly planning to flood $100 million of campaign dollars into strategic districts in her home state of New York to hold off the Democratic there offensive next year.

Rep. Elise Stefanik, who’s made her northern New York district – which runs through the Adirondacks not far from the Canadian border – a lock for the GOP, revealed her plans in a recent interview with Politico. 

Stefanik said she recently brought House Speaker Kevin McCarthy to the Hamptons for a previously unreported fundraiser with wealthy Long Island donors and shared a vast digital database of contributors with the state GOP. Her strategy is to flood key New York swing districts with $100 million in campaign funding, as the Republican control of the House and her own political future depend on the Empire State holding ground. 

ELISE STEFANIK BACKS BIDEN IMPEACHMENT INQUIRY: 'OH, ABSOLUTELY'

Last year, the GOP flipped three battleground U.S. House seats in the Hudson Valley and Long Island. After previously supporting Rep. George Santos, R-N.Y., in 2022, she is not allowing Long Island Republicans decide his congressional fate as he battles federal indictment. 

"It’s a guerilla warfare mentality," an unnamed Stefanik advisor told Politico of the congresswoman’s pledge to ensure her Republican New York colleagues have the resources to win. 

"I’ve been underestimated from the beginning," Stefanik reportedly told Politico from a dairy farm in her district. "That’s been a trend my entire time in Congress."

SPEAKER MCCARTHY REVEALS RED LINE FOR POSSIBLE BIDEN IMPEACHMENT INQUIRY

More than a year out from 2024 election day, Republican campaign offices are popping up in the Hudson Valley, central New York and Long Island seeding with GOP staffers. Stefanik, who has been a staunch supporter of former President Donald Trump, will lead the Republican charge in New York at the same time Democratic House Leader Hakeem Jeffries plans an offensive to regain lost seats from last cycle. 

New York GOP chairman Ed Cox told Politico that Stefanik’s involvement "is a tremendous asset to our party not just nationally, but here in New York state." 

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The $100 million to be raised through a coordinated effort with the Republican National Committee will help bolster first-year Republican Reps. Mike Lawler and Marc Molinaro in the Hudson Valley; Long Island’s Anthony D’Esposito and Brandon Williams in Central New York. Stefanik vowed to raise at least $150,000 for each vulnerable new lawmaker, and Republicans also have their sights on taking on first-term Democratic Rep. Pat Ryan in the Hudson Valley, who won a special election a year ago. 

Two more Trump co-defendants surrender in Georgia election fraud case

Two more co-defendants have surrendered in the Georgia election fraud case against former President Donald Trump.

Former Coffee County Republican Party Chairwoman Cathy Latham and Georgia Republican Party Chairman David Shafer were granted bond Tuesday after surrendering themselves. 

Latham, who is facing 12 charges in the case, including violations of the RICO Act and conspiracy to defraud the state, was released on $75,000 bond. 

GEORGIA INDICTMENT: 2 TRUMP CO-DEFENDANTS BOOKED IN FULTON COUNTY JAIL

Shafer was also released on a $75,000 bond.

Latham and Shafer are not the first co-defendants to surrender themselves to Georgia authorities.

Scott Hall, an Atlanta-based bail bondsman, and John Eastman, a former Trump attorney, were each booked Tuesday at the Fulton County Jail, records show. 

TRUMP BOND SET AT $200,000 AFTER GEORGIA INDICTMENT; HE WILL BE PROCESSED THURSDAY

Hall has been assigned a $10,000 bond for seven charges. Eastman accepted a $100,000 bond. 

The two men were indicted last week alongside Trump and 16 others, who are accused by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis of scheming to subvert the will of Georgia voters in a desperate bid to keep Joe Biden out of the White House. 

It was the fourth criminal case brought against the Republican former president.

Eastman, a former dean of Chapman University Law School in Southern California, faces charges related to his advice to Trump on how the former president could overturn the 2020 election. 

Hall is accused of conspiring to unlawfully access voter data and ballot counting machines at the Coffee County Election office on Jan. 7, 2021. His seven charges include one count of violation of the Georgia RICO Act, two counts of conspiracy to commit election fraud, one count of conspiracy to defraud Georgia, and three felony counts related to his alleged actions in Coffee County. 

Eastman said in a statement provided by his lawyers that he was surrendering "to an indictment that should never have been brought." 

Fox News Digital's Chris Pandolfo contributed to this report.

Biden appoints Ed Siskel, who shielded Obama from GOP’s Benghazi investigation, as new White House counsel

President Biden has appointed Ed Siskel, a veteran of the Obama-Biden administration who shielded then-President Obama amid House Republicans' inquiries into Benghazi and Solyndra, to be his new White House counsel. 

"Ed Siskel’s many years of experience in public service and a career defending the rule of law make him the perfect choice to serve as my next White House Counsel," Biden said in a statement Tuesday, announcing the new hiring.

The president added: "For nearly four years in the White House when I was Vice President, he helped the Counsel’s Office navigate complex challenges and advance the President’s agenda on behalf of the American people, and first as a federal prosecutor and then as the top counsel for one of America’s biggest and most vibrant cities, his hometown of Chicago, Ed has shown a deep commitment to public service and respect for the law."

Siskel’s arrival comes as the president faces a special counsel investigation into his alleged mishandling of classified documents, a special counsel investigation of his eldest son Hunter Biden, and as House Republicans have launched multiple investigations into him, his son and the origins of COVID-19. Also, some Republican lawmakers are pushing to impeach the president.

WHITE HOUSE COUNSEL DEPARTING AS HOUSE REPUBLICAN INVESTIGATIONS HEAT UP

On Tuesday, the White House announced that Biden selected Siskel, who rose to the rank of deputy counsel during his nearly four years previously serving in the White House Counsel’s Office, to replace current counsel Stuart Delery, who will leave the post in September. The change in Biden’s senior legal counsel comes as Republican-led investigations continue to heat up around the president, the administration and the Biden family.

Speaking of Siskel, Biden said: "His experience will let him hit the ground running as a key leader on my team as we continue making progress for the American people every day."

According to the Chicago Sun-Times, Siskel helped the Obama administration navigate congressional inquiries and "other political land mines," including the solar panel company known as Solyndra that received government aid, and the terrorist attacks on the U.S. Consulate compound in Benghazi, Libya, that left four Americans dead.

Siskel also previously oversaw the rollout and subsequent legal challenges to the Affordable Care Act, or "ObamaCare."

As White House Counsel, Siskel will "lead a team serving the President with counsel on legal matters facing the White House and the country" as well as helping craft policies and executive actions to further push Biden’s agenda, the White House said.

During his previous role in the Obama-Biden White House Counsel’s Office, Siskel led the White House’s legal responses to numerous legal challenges concerning ObamaCare.

WHITE HOUSE IGNORES REPUBLICANS DEMANDING ANSWERS ON BIDEN'S KNOWLEDGE OF HUNTER BIDEN'S BUSINESS DEALINGS

Delery’s departure was announced last week in a statement where Biden said Delery was a "trusted adviser and a constant source of innovative legal thinking since Day One of my Administration."

He first joined Biden’s transition team in November 2020 before serving as deputy counsel. He was promoted to the top job in 2022 after Biden’s first counsel, Dana Remus, left the White House.

Delery notably oversaw the legal framework of the Inflation Reduction Act, which was the president’s signature environmental legislation, as well as helping Biden craft his student loan handout executive order last year that was ultimately struck down by the Supreme Court.

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He also played a key role in helping the administration put new rules at the U.S.-Mexico border, in an effort to stop illegal border crossings. The border has seen a surge of migrant crossings, including historic records, under the Biden administration.

After his first stint in the White House, Siskel worked in private practice. He then served for two years as corporation counsel to former Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, who left office to become the U.S. ambassador to Japan.

Before his service in the Obama-Biden White House, Siskel was an associate deputy attorney general at the Justice Department and, prior to that, a federal prosecutor in the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Northern District of Illinois and a clerk within the U.S. Supreme Court.

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He graduated from Wesleyan University and the University of Chicago Law School.