House Speaker Mike Johnson is embarking on a swing-state tour in the closing weeks of the election as Republicans fight to keep hold of their razor-thin majority in the House.

Johnson’s “American Revival Tour” is making stops in Michigan this weekend, and additional events are being planned in Ohio and Pennsylvania, among other states.

Its purpose is “highlighting House Republicans’ agenda for the next Congress,” Johnson’s political team told Fox News Digital.

The Louisiana Republican has been crisscrossing the country in 24 states in a bid to keep and possibly expand the GOP’s control over the House.

CLUB FOR GROWTH POURS $5M INTO TIGHT HOUSE RACES AS GOP BRACES FOR TOUGH ELECTION

All three states are also being viewed as critical keys to victory for former President Donald Trump’s 2024 campaign. It is no surprise they line up considering Johnson’s efforts to unite the GOP behind the former president.

A video rolling out the tour, previewed by Fox News Digital, features Johnson pledging, “We are going to win the White House, the Senate, and take back the House.”

“We’re going to secure the border, unleash our energy sector, protect our rights, support working families, pursue peace through strength,” Johnson says in the video. “Everything is on the line. We will be able to restore those foundations, and we really truly can bring about an ‘American Revival.’”

Johnson has been appearing with Republican incumbents and candidates across the country while also diving into the fundraising circuit – a baptism by fire for a previously little-known policy wonk who was rocketed to the national stage after the ouster of ex-Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., roughly a year ago.

SPEAKER JOHNSON RIPS ‘LACK OF LEADERSHIP’ IN BIDEN ADMIN’S HELENE RESPONSE: ‘ALARMED AND DISAPPOINTED’

The work he has put in appears to be paying off. Earlier this week, it was announced that Johnson raised $27.5 million from July through September, “the highest amount raised by a Republican Speaker of the House in the third quarter of a presidential election year,” according to his team.

Of that, just over $8 million went to individual GOP candidates.

That cash will likely be much needed as groups aligned with the House GOP continue to trail their Democratic counterparts.

House Democrats’ campaign arm, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC), outraised the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) in August, according to numbers released late last month.

FORMER REPUBLICAN US SENATOR ENDORSES KAMALA HARRIS, SAYS ELECTION OFFERS ‘STARK CHOICE’

The DCCC raised $22.3 million in August, compared to $9.7 million by the NRCC. House Democrats ended that time period with more cash than the GOP as well – $87 million compared to $70.7 million.

Meanwhile, Republicans in tight races like Reps. Marianette Miller-Meeks, R-Iowa, and Ken Calvert, R-Calif., have been trailing their Democratic challengers in terms of funding as of the latest fundraising quarter.

Johnson is pivoting his “American Revival” tour to swing states after kicking off a pro-Trump event in Texas earlier this month.

Vice President Kamala Harris will virtually attend the historic Al Smith dinner on Thursday evening, the Archdiocese of New York confirmed to Fox News Digital. 

“VP Harris will appear via a pre-recorded message,” the communications director for the Archdiocese of New York, Joseph Zwilling, told Fox News Digital on Thursday. 

Harris will be the first presidential candidate in 40 years to not physically attend the Catholic charity event – since 1984 when failed presidential Democratic candidate Walter Mondale skipped. Former President Trump will attend and address the sold-out audience during the event Thursday. 

Harris’ snub of the historic Catholic charity event irked New York Archbishop Timothy Dolan on his podcast this week. 

KAMALA HARRIS PLANS TO SKIP HISTORIC AL SMITH DINNER DESPITE LONG-STANDING TRADITION

“This year will be imbalanced because, sadly, Kamala Harris isn’t coming,” Dolan said on his podcast Wednesday. “It’s a shame because the nature of the evening is to bring people together. The nature of the evening is civility, patriotism, humor. It’s not a campaign speech. It’s not a campaign stop.”

He did add during the podcast that Harris was slated to appear via “Zoom.” 

“She’s sending a Zoom,” Dolan said during the podcast. Adding: “We have it already… I haven’t looked at it. There’s an embargo on it.” 

MORNING GLORY: WHY IS KAMALA HARRIS SKIPPING THE AL SMITH DINNER IN NEW YORK CITY?

The Alfred E. Smith Memorial Foundation Dinner was launched in 1946, and has raised millions of dollars for charities supporting women and children, and has since grown to become a political and cultural hallmark of election seasons. The dinner is named after the first Catholic presidential candidate, Al Smith, who served as the 42nd governor of New York and ran for president as a Democrat in 1928. 

This year’s dinner will be emceed by comedian Jim Gaffigan, who has portrayed Harris’ running mate Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz in sketches on “Saturday Night Live” this fall.

Fox News Digital reached out to the Harris campaign for comment and confirmation that Harris will virtually attend the event, but did not receive a reply. 

The campaign previously told Fox News that the vice president would not physically attend the event, focusing her time on campaigning in the battleground state of Wisconsin instead. 

TRUMP CAMPAIGN PREVIEWS AL SMITH DINNER REMARKS AMID HARRIS’ ABSENCE: ‘WON’T BE DISAPPOINTED’

“The Vice President is going to be campaigning in a battleground state that day, and the campaign wants to maximize her time in the battlegrounds this close to the election. Her team also told the organizers that she would very much like to attend their event as President. This would make her one of the first sitting Presidents to attend,” the campaign said. 

Trump attended the dinner in-person in 2016, as did then-Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, and attended 2020’s virtual dinner due to the pandemic. 

CLINTON AND TRUMP TRADE JABS AT AL SMITH DINNER

“It will be an honor to attend the SOLD OUT 79th ANNUAL AL SMITH DINNER on October 17th in New York. It will be great to see so many wonderful people there, including Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan. We know the Spirit of Al Smith, the first Catholic Nominee of a Major Party, and John F. Kennedy, the FIRST Catholic President, will be in the room with us that night,” Trump posted on Truth Social last month. 

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“It was a virtual event in 2020, and I was delighted to speak to our Catholic friends that day and, of course, it was a HIGHLY SUCCESSFUL evening in 2016 when we were there in person with Crooked Hillary Clinton. The reviews of my remarks were TREMENDOUS. It’s sad, but not surprising, that Kamala has decided not to attend. I don’t know what she has against our Catholic friends, but it must be a lot, because she certainly hasn’t been very nice to them, in fact, Catholics are literally being persecuted by this Administration. Any Catholic that votes for Comrade Kamala Harris should have their head examined,” he added. 

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

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) may have just taken out their target No. 1: Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, the mastermind behind the Oct. 7 attacks on Israel. 

Sinwar rose to the top position after the killing of previous leader Ismail Haniyeh in the explosion of a guesthouse in Tehran on July 30. 

Referred to by Israel as “The Butcher of Khan Younis” for his violent and cruel torture methods against his enemies, both Israeli and Palestinian, Sinwar, 61, is widely seen as being behind the massacre of Israeli civilians carried out by thousands of Hamas terrorists on Oct. 7.

The IDF has long targeted Sinwar, referring to him as a “dead man walking.” 

“We will get to him, however long it takes… and this war could be long,” said IDF spokesman Lt. Col. Richard Hecht last year.

Sinwar was believed to be hiding in tunnels under Gaza.  

Sinwar was born into the ​​Khan Yunis refugee camp in Gaza in 1962 after his family had been displaced from Ashkelon during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War – an upbringing that heavily influenced his ideological commitment to resisting Israeli occupation. 

Sinwar co-founded Majd, Hamas’s security apparatus, in the late 1980s, which focused on finding and killing Palestinians who were suspected of collaborating with Israel. 

He was arrested and jailed in Israel in 1988 and charged with killing two Israeli soldiers and four Palestinians he suspected of collaborating with them.

KIRBY SLAMS HAMAS CHIEF SINWAR AS ‘THE MAJOR OBSTACLE’ TO CEASE-FIRE, HOSTAGE RELEASE DEAL WITH ISRAEL

Sinwar was sentenced to four life terms but was released in 2011 in a prisoner exchange deal for Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit. 

While imprisoned, Sinwar spent two decades learning Hebrew and devouring texts to understand Israeli society. He translated tens of thousands of pages of autobiographies written by the former heads of Israel’s domestic security agency, Shin Bet, from Hebrew to Arabic. 

Sinwar once told an Italian journalist, “Prison builds you,” allowing you the time to think about what you believe in “and the price you are willing to pay” for it. 

He reportedly tried to escape prison several times, once digging a hole in the prison floor in the hopes of tunneling under the facility and escaping through the visitor center. 

“They wanted prison to be a grave for us, a mill to grind our will, determination and bodies,” Sinwar once told supporters. “But, thank God, with our belief in our cause, we turned the prison into sanctuaries of worship and academies for study.”

Sinwar wrote a novel while in prison, “The Thorn and the Carnation,” a coming-of-age story that mirrored his own life. It followed a young Gazan boy who emerged from hiding after the 1967 Arab-Israeli war to a life of Israeli occupation that made “chests of youth to boil like a cauldron.” The boy’s family and friends attacked the occupiers and those who collaborated with them. 

After he was freed by the Israelis in 2011, he married and had children. 

In 2017, Sinwar was chosen as the political leader of Hamas in Gaza, shifting the region to a more militant stance and strengthening alliances with Iran and Hezbollah. 

He was believed to use Israeli hostages as human shields to evade IDF attacks. The IDF said in a statement there were “no signs of the presence of hostages” in the area surrounding him. 

IDF INVESTIGATING WHETHER HAMAS CHIEF YAHYA SINWAR WAS KILLED IN GAZA OPERATIONS

But as Israeli Policy Forum head David Halperin noted, Hamas could retaliate by harming the hostages. 

“The risk to hostages in these moments is enormous. An urgent initiative for their return is essential,” he wrote on X, formerly Twitter. 

The Hostages Family Forum said in a statement it “commends the security forces for eliminating Sinwar, who masterminded the greatest massacre our country has ever faced, responsible for the murder of thousands and the abduction of hundreds.”

“However, we express deep concern for the fate of the 101 men, women, elderly and children still held captive by Hamas in Gaza. We call on the Israeli government, world leaders, and mediating countries to leverage the military achievement into a diplomatic one by pursuing an immediate agreement for the release of all 101 hostages: the living for rehabilitation and the murdered for proper burial.”

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The death of Sinwar could represent a turn in the tides of war – and could prompt Hamas to agree to some of Israel’s demands, or could satisfy Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s desire to “eliminate” Hamas enough that he softens his own negotiating stance. 

President Biden’s administration warned Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that the U.S. will be “watching” as Israel conducts an emergency meeting on Gaza aid Thursday.

U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Linda Thomas-Greenfield issued a stark warning to Netanyahu’s regime during a U.N. Security Council briefing on Wednesday. The U.S. highlighted images from an Israeli airstrike that killed displaced Palestinians.

“Colleagues, this weekend, like so many of you – like so many people around the world – I watched in horror as images from Central Gaza poured across my screen. Images of what appeared to be displaced civilians burning alive following an Israeli air strike,” Thomas-Greenfield said.

“Israel has a responsibility to do everything possible to avoid civilian casualties, even if Hamas was operating near the hospital in an attempt to use civilians as human shields. We have made this clear to Israel,” she continued.

HAMAS NAMES YAHYA SINWAR, MASTERMIND OF OCT. 7 ATTACKS, AS ITS NEW LEADER

“A quote-unquote ‘policy of starvation’ in northern Gaza would be horrific and unacceptable and would have implications under international law and U.S. law,” she said of Israel’s ongoing deliberations.

ISRAEL’S HUNT FOR HAMAS TERROR LEADER YAHYA SINWAR: ‘DEAD MAN WALKING’

“The Government of Israel has said that this is not their policy, that food and other essential supplies will not be cut off, and we will be watching to see that Israel’s actions on the ground match this statement,” she continued.

The statement from the U.S. comes after the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification, a measure of food scarcity used by the U.N., said that nine in 10 Gazans will face “acute food scarcity” in the coming months.

The group further stated that roughly 41% of Gazans will face “catastrophic” levels of hunger.

Netanyahu’s administration held an emergency meeting on the issue this week. Israeli officials have been tight-lipped about what was discussed in the meeting, however.

The meeting comes amid a potential major victory for Israel, however, with officials investigating whether Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar was killed in the Gaza Strip on Thursday.

Graphic images circulating on social media appear to show Israeli soldiers standing over Sinwar’s corpse. Israel has not officially confirmed his death, however.

Referred to by Israel as the Butcher of Khan Younis for his violent and cruel torture methods against his enemies, both Israeli and Palestinian, Sinwar, 60, is widely seen as being behind the massacre of Israeli civilians carried out by thousands of Hamas militants on Oct. 7.

Fox News’ Greg Norman and Ruth Marks-Eglash contributed to this report

The Nebraska Supreme Court ruled Wednesday that the state attorney general does not have the authority to strip residents with felony criminal records of their right to vote, a major decision that could allow thousands of new voters to participate in the November elections – and have a possibly decisive sway in its outcome.

The court’s unanimous decision restores the right to vote for Nebraska residents with felony criminal records upon completion of their sentence, doing away with a two-year waiting period that had been in place for the last two decades.

The decision comes months after the Nebraska high court heard arguments in the case, which sought to restore voting rights for residents with felony criminal records in the state. 

Lawmakers had included the new voting rights provision in a state law, LB 20, earlier this year. However, that right was invalidated by Nebraska Secretary of State Bob Evnen and Nebraska Attorney General Mike Hilgers, who ruled in July that the law violated the Nebraska constitution and its separation of powers, under which they said only the state Board of Pardons has the authority to restore such rights. 

The American Civil Liberties Union of Nebraska immediately sued to overturn the decision, noting that if upheld, it could have restricted up to 7,000 residents in the state from voting in the November election.

FLURRY OF PRE-ELECTION LEGAL CASES IS NOW ‘STANDARDIZED’ STRATEGY, EXPERTS SAY

The court declined to weigh in on the merits of the case on Wednesday. 

Rather, the judges simply stated that Hilgers and Evnen had failed to meet the burden of proof required for defining the law as “unconstitutional,” and ordered Evnen to “remove any disqualification on registration he has imposed that is not contained within L.B. 20.”

Evnen agreed to comply, saying in a statement that his office is “following the requirements of the decision.” 

“With our counties across the state, we are working to ensure that those who were made eligible to register to vote under LB 20 may now do so,” he added.

 The American Civil Liberties Union of Nebraska praised the court’s decision Wednesday and urged all voters to check their registration status to ensure eligibility.

The court’s ruling comes at a crucial time for Nebraska, whose voter registration deadline ends in just one week.

 CHECK OUT THE LATEST FOX NEWS POWER RANKINGS IN THE 2024 ELECTION

It could also have a major impact on the results of the election, including the neck-and-neck presidential race and tight down-ballot races in Congress.

Nebraska’s 2nd Congressional district is something of an anomaly. That is partly due to its unique system of assigning Electoral College votes. Though Nebraska is a Republican-led state, it is one of just two U.S. states whose electoral votes are assigned at the district level, with the remaining two votes assigned to the candidate who wins the majority.

Besides Nebraska and Maine, other states rely on the “winner take all” system to assign their electoral votes.

Additionally, its voter base is a solid-purple demographic that has voted for both former President Donald Trump and President Biden, respectively, in the last two presidential elections. Before then, Sen. Mitt Romney won the district during his 2012 bid for president, and former President Barack Obama captured the vote in 2008.

Down-ballot races are also expected to be tight.

Nebraska Sen. Deb Fischer, a Republican, is facing a tough reelection bid this year, while Republican Rep. Don Bacon is fighting off state Sen. Tony Vargas, a Democrat, to keep his House seat.

Now, with both Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris locked in a dead heat, it is possible that the district could have more sway than ever in deciding the next president.

In such a tight election, Nebraska’s 2nd Congressional District “could decide who the eventual winner will be,” Jimmy Keady, president of JLK Political Strategies, a national Republican consulting firm, told Fox News Digital last month. 

The Biden administration announced Thursday that it will be moving to protect Lebanese nationals in the U.S. from deportation and allow them to obtain work permits, arguing that it can’t return them due to the conflict with Israel.

The Department of Homeland Security announced that it is designating Lebanon for Temporary Protected Status, which allows nationals who are living in the U.S. already to obtain work permits and be shielded from deportation. The designation is for 18 months and applies to any national in the U.S. on Wednesday or earlier.

TPS grants protection for nationals in countries found to be unsafe for them to be returned and is based on three grounds: armed ongoing conflict, environmental disasters or “extraordinary and temporary conditions.” 

HERE’S HOW THE US HAS HELPED A TINY FRACTION OF ITS CITIZENS EVACUATE WAR-TORN LEBANON 

This designation is being announced due to “ongoing armed conflict and extraordinary and temporary conditions in Lebanon that prevent nationals of Lebanon from returning in safety.”

“Those approved for TPS will be able to remain in the country while the United States is in discussions to achieve a diplomatic resolution for lasting stability and security across the Israel-Lebanon border,” DHS said in a press release.

1 YEAR AFTER HEZBOLLAH STRIKES, ISRAEL REINFORCES TROOPS AND QUESTIONS MOUNT OVER ‘LIMITED’ OPERATION

Israel recently launched a ground invasion in Lebanon against Iran-backed Hezbollah, which has fired thousands of rockets into Israel. Israel began what it said were “limited, localized and targeted ground raids” in Lebanon on Oct. 1. Lebanon says more than 2,300 people have been killed in the past year and 77% of public schools are out of service, either because of their use as shelters or their location in areas impacted by the conflict.

The TPS designation builds upon a move by President Biden in July to grant Deferred Enforced Departure (DED), which delays deportations for 18 months, for certain Lebanese nationals in July. But TPS acts as an immigration benefit rather than just an act of executive authority by the president.

BIDEN AND NETANYAHU SPEAK AFTER REPORT US PRESIDENT CALLED ISRAELI COUNTERPART A ‘BAD F—ING GUY’

DHS estimates that approximately 11,000 Lebanese nationals will be eligible for protection under DED or TPS.

It is the latest use of TPS by the administration, which has proved controversial in some cases. Conservatives have been angered by the use of TPS to protect Haitian and Venezuelan nationals, who are allowed into the U.S. on parole via a separate Biden-era program.

Fox News’ Bill Melugin and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Cardinal Timothy Dolan, the Archbishop of New York, said he was “upset” that Vice President Harris, the Democratic presidential nominee, is skipping out on the Al Smith charity dinner on Thursday. 

“This year will be imbalanced because, sadly, Kamala Harris isn’t coming,” Dolan said on an episode of his podcast Tuesday. “It’s a shame because the nature of the evening is to bring people together. The nature of the evening is civility, patriotism, humor. It’s not a campaign speech. It’s not a campaign stop.” 

Trump is expected to attend the Alfred E. Smith Memorial Foundation Dinner on Thursday, while Harris is campaigning in Wisconsin as the Democratic presidential nominee turns her focus to the “blue wall” states, which Hillary Clinton neglected in the final weeks of her failed 2016 campaign. 

KAMALA HARRIS PLANS TO SKIP HISTORIC AL SMITH DINNER DESPITE LONG-STANDING TRADITION

Dolan argued the dinner is “worth keeping, worth doing,” given it could raise $9 million for charity. 

“We’re upset that she didn’t come because we’ve missed an evening to access something sorely needed now that even she articulates rather eloquently: that we’ve got to turn the page on bitterness,” Dolan said of Harris on the podcast. “And the Al Smith, you know, traditionally tries to do that.” 

“It’s not a roast. There’s teasing, big time teasing,” the archbishop said of the dinner. “A lot of laughs. But, but it’s – it’s a grand evening. … A lot of people think it’s a Catholic campaign stop. Not really, no. I would say the evening is reflective of New York demographics.” 

“It’s not a Republican crowd. It’s not a Democratic crowd,” he said. “It’s kind of evenly split.” 

TRUMP APPLAUDS CATHOLIC GROUP’S MULTI-MILLION ANTI-HARRIS CAMPAIGN APPEALING TO CHURCH FAITHFUL

Dolan said there’s a possibility of Harris appearing virtually. 

“The Vice President is going to be campaigning in a battleground state that day, and the campaign wants to maximize her time in the battlegrounds this close to the election,” the Harris campaign told Fox News, explaining her absence. “Her team also told the organizers that she would very much like to attend their event as president. This would make her one of the first sitting presidents to attend.” 

Hosted annually since 1946, the charity dinner has raised millions of dollars for New York’s women and children, according to the foundation’s website, and “has featured renowned cultural, business, and political figures, including most major party presidential nominees during election years since 1960.” 

Trump’s Make America Great Again (MAGA) PAC sent out an email Thursday noting that Harris would be the first presidential candidate to skip the annual Al Smith charity dinner since 1984. 

“Her radical policies are fundamentally at odds with Catholic teachings, and her history of anti-Catholic rhetoric has further alienated this crucial voting bloc,” the pro-Trump PAC wrote. 

With the 2024 presidential campaign soon coming to a close, Vice President Kamala Harris has sought to rally Black male voters with proposals to boost their financial and career prospects.

The “Opportunity Agenda for Black Men” released on Monday promises that a future Harris administration would provide “1 million loans that are fully forgivable to Black entrepreneurs and others to start a business.” Harris also proposes new “education, training and mentorship programs that help Black men get good-paying jobs,” in addition to legalizing marijuana and offering assistance to Black men for elderly care. 

But if that all sounds exclusive to non-Black Americans, the Harris campaign assures it is not. In statements to The Wall Street Journal, the campaign said Wednesday that Harris’ proposals will be open to all Americans, regardless of their race or ethnicity. 

HARRIS UNVEILS AGENDA TO HELP BLACK MEN ‘GET AHEAD’ AS POLLS SHOW TRUMP GAINS

The vice president is “clear-eyed about how Black men have long been denied the tools that would allow them to grow their wealth, get a good-paying job and support their loved ones—she is championing solutions that will benefit all Americans and address these specific barriers to economic opportunity,” a campaign aide told the WSJ. 

The Harris campaign did not respond to Fox News Digital’s requests for comment. 

OBAMA, STUMPING FOR HARRIS, REPEATEDLY TAKES AIM AT TRUMP

The report notes that the U.S. Supreme Court has recently shown hostility towards government programs tailored to a specific race. The court in 2023 struck down college and university affirmative action policies, which made institutions of higher learning consider race in admissions in an effort to mandate diversity on campus. 

“Eliminating racial discrimination means eliminating all of it,” Chief Justice John Roberts wrote in the majority opinion. 

PRO-TRUMP BLACK GROUP FIRES BACK AT OBAMA

Activist Edward Blum, founder and president of Students for Fair Admissions, has led the charge to force companies and government entities to abandon programs and policies that take race into consideration, arguing any such endeavor is discriminatory. The WSJ reported that in September, Blum settled a lawsuit with the Atlanta-based Fearless Fund, a group that promotes minority female entrepreneurs, in which the group agreed to end a grant program that awarded $20,000 to small businesses owned and operated by women of color.

Blum told the Journal that he would seek to challenge the Harris administration if she delivered on programs that exclusively benefited Black men or any other racial group. “Racially exclusive programs like the one she has proposed have been repeatedly struck down by the courts in the past,” he said.

The Harris campaign’s proposal comes as Democrats are increasingly concerned about wavering support among Black men, and in particular younger Black men, for Harris, who would make history if she is elected as the nation’s first female president.

Harris and Trump are locked in a neck and neck race in the seven key battleground states whose razor-thin margins decided President Biden’s 2020 election victory over Trump and will likely determine the winner of the 2024 White House race. Any erosion of support among Black voters, and in particular Black males, could prove costly to the vice president.

Fox News Digital’s Paul Steinhauser contributed to this report.

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

Just weeks before a presidential election in which Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., endorsed former President Donald Trump, excerpts from a new book about the longtime Republican leader reveal a fiery McConnell’s thoughts on the now-GOP presidential nominee, including that he was “not very smart, irascible, [and] nasty.”

Despite the quotes from him over the last several years outlined in the biography, McConnell told Fox News Digital in a statement, “Whatever I may have said about President Trump pales in comparison to what JD Vance, Lindsey Graham, and others have said about him, but we are all on the same team now.”  

In “The Price of Power,” the leader is quoted saying, “I can’t think of anybody I’d rather be criticized by than this sleazeball,” in 2022, as Trump continued to attack his wife, former Secretary of Transportation Elaine Chao, calling her “Coco Chow.” 

McConnell provided a series of oral histories for the forthcoming book by Michael Tackett, deputy Washington bureau chief of the Associated Press. 

HARRIS BARNSTORMS WISCONSIN IN 1-DAY SWING STATE TOUR TARGETING YOUNG VOTERS

In the minority leader’s quotes revealed in the book, he doesn’t hold back, reportedly slamming Trump as “stupid,” “erratic,” a “despicable human being,” and a “narcissist.” 

Despite their publicly strained relationship during and after Trump’s time in office, McConnell announced in March his endorsement of the former president, noting that he “earned the requisite support of Republican voters to be our nominee.” 

STRIKING BOEING WORKERS BOO AFTER DEMOCRATIC SEN. MARIA CANTWELL CRITICIZES TRUMP

Further, when Trump met with Senate Republicans in Washington, D.C., over the summer, he and McConnell shook hands. 

In the weeks after the 2020 presidential election and before the Jan. 6, 2021 Capitol riot, McConnell said, “It’s not just the Democrats who are counting the days” until Trump is no longer president. 

LAKEN RILEY ACT SPONSOR BLASTS BILL CLINTON’S CLAIM ABOUT GEORGIA STUDENT’S DEATH

He further praised the “good judgment of the American people” for voting Trump out in 2020.

“They’ve had just enough of the misrepresentations, the outright lies almost on a daily basis, and they fired him,” he said, according to the excerpt. 

SENATE DEMS TARGET BLACK VOTERS WITH NEW AD AS HARRIS’ SUPPORT FALLS SHORT

McConnell additionally blamed Trump for the House Republicans losing the majority in the lower chamber in the 2018 midterm elections. He “has every characteristic you would not want a president to have,” he said.

In 2022, the Kentucky Republican reflected on Trump’s 2020 election fraud claims, which continued to repeat. McConnell lamented, “Unfortunately, about half the Republicans in the country believe whatever he says.” 

The Trump campaign did not provide comment to Fox News Digital in time for publication. 

The Senate minority leader announced in February that he would not seek the position again in the next Congress. Reigning since 2007 as Republican leader, McConnell is the longest-serving party leader in the chamber’s history. 

After the presidential election next month, the Republican senators and likely GOP senator-elects will vote in a secret ballot to decide on the next leader. The announced candidates are Senate Minority Whip John Thune, R-S.D., Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, and Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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

FIRST ON FOX: The state of Florida is suing the Biden administration over what it claims is a refusal to verify immigration records so that the Sunshine State can ensure the integrity of its voter rolls and prevent noncitizens from voting.

In a lawsuit, obtained first by Fox News Digital, the state argues that DHS is mandated to respond to an inquiry from state or local governments seeking to verify the immigration status of anyone in their jurisdiction for a purpose authorized by law. 

“Because the federal government is refusing to comply with these obligations and frustrating Florida’s ability to maintain the integrity of its elections, Florida files this suit,” the lawsuit says.

GOP GOVERNOR SLAMS ‘UNPRECEDENTED’ DOJ LAWSUIT OVER REMOVAL OF NONCITIZENS FROM VOTER ROLLS

Florida says it “has an obligation to maintain accurate and current voter registration records” and also notes the impact of the crisis at the southern border, which brought millions of noncitizens into the U.S.

It argues that it cannot track and maintain immigration information on its own. States can verify status through a DHS program called the Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements (SAVE) program. According to the lawsuit, DHS and Florida have an agreement to allow the state to use SAVE to verify immigration and citizenship status for people on the the voter registration rolls.

The lawsuit claims that Florida’s Department of State identified a number of individuals for whom it had evidence that they were not citizens, but couldn’t run a search via SAVE as it doesn’t have unique identifiers.

The state says it reached out to DHS’ U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) requesting the verification of those people, but was denied.

“Thus, Florida has identified a subset of individuals for whom it cannot verify citizenship or immigration status through SAVE and for whom DHS refuses to verify citizenship or immigration status through other means,” the state says. DHS did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

THOUSANDS OF NONCITIZENS REMOVED FROM VOTER ROLLS, DOZENS OF LAWMAKERS WANT ANSWERS FROM GARLAND
 

The state is seeking an order saying the refusal to provide Florida with a response is unlawful, a declaration that they are entitled to a response and an order requiring DHS to respond to the inquiry.

“Voting is a right granted to American citizens—not illegal immigrants or other noncitizens. The Biden-Harris administration has allowed millions of illegal immigrants into the country, and we must ensure that only citizens are on our voter rolls,” Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody said in a statement to Fox News Digital. “I am taking legal action against the Department of Homeland Security and Secretary Mayorkas to ensure Florida is able to maintain the integrity of our state’s voter rolls.”

“The Florida Constitution is clear that only citizens can vote in our elections.  Florida is calling on the federal government to dismantle the barriers blocking the states from obtaining critical information needed to prevent non-citizens from voting in our elections,” said Florida Secretary of State, Cord Byrd.  “We are going to prevail in our effort to uphold the law and uphold the Constitution’s guarantee of one citizen, one vote.”

A similar lawsuit was filed by the state of Ohio, requesting access to multiple DHS databases.

DOJ: ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT STOLE US CITIZEN’S IDENTITY TO VOTE IN MULTIPLE ELECTIONS, OBTAIN AMERICAN PASSPORT

It marks the latest in a continued back and forth between GOP-led states and the Biden administration over concerns about noncitizen voting. A number of states have made efforts to remove noncitizen voters from the rolls, but some have fallen foul of the administration.

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The Department of Justice has sued both Alabama and Virginia over those states’ efforts to remove noncitizens, arguing that they have violated the Quiet Period Provision, which says that states must complete maintenance no later than 90 days before the election.

In a statement responding to the lawsuit against his state, Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin called the lawsuit “politically motivated.”