President Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke by phone on Wednesday for the first time in more than 50 days. 

It came after fresh tensions emerged in their relationship: Netanyahu refused to approve his Defense Minister Yoav Gallant’s trip to the U.S. on Tuesday until Biden called him. 

The call came together in short order after that. 

Netanyahu spoke with former President Trump earlier Wednesday before he spoke with Biden. Vice President Kamala Harris joined the call along with the president. 

It comes as Israel has been weighing its options to retaliate for the barrage of missiles Iran fired toward the Jewish state last week. 

Gallant warned on Wednesday the Israeli response was sure to catch Iran by surprise. 

“As we have shown until now in this war and in all arenas – whoever attacks Israel will pay a price. Our strike will be powerful, precise, and above all – surprising. They will not understand what happened and how it happened,” he told the IDF’s intelligence unit in a briefing. 

Biden has warned Netanyahu to make sure his response is “proportional” and to avoid hitting Iran’s nuclear facilities. 

The longtime relationship between the two men soured in the months that followed the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attacks.

Further indication of their mutual disdain came on the one-year anniversary of the attacks, when Biden called Israeli President Isaac Herzog over Netanyahu. 

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Since the world leaders’ last call, Israel has launched an aggressive offensive operation in Lebanon, and successfully taken out top Hezbollah leadership over a short timeframe. 

Israeli airstrikes killed the group’s leader, Hassan Nasrallah, and now his successor too, according to Netanyahu.

Netanyahu is also known to be distrusting of his defense minister, who he’s tried to fire twice. Gallant has publicly criticized Netanyahu for not articulating a postwar plan for Gaza. 

In a particularly heated April phone call, Biden asked Netanyahu, “What’s your strategy, man?” according to Washington Post journalist Bob Woodward in his new book, “War.” 

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Netanyahu, at the time, said Israel had to go into Rafah, a Gaza-Egypt border city, that he claimed to be a Hamas stronghold. 

“Bibi, you’ve got no strategy,” Biden reportedly told Netanyahu, who he also allegedly claimed “doesn’t give a damn” about Hamas and “only about himself.”

After Israel entered Rafah, Biden said of Netanyahu: “He’s a f—ing liar.”

“That son of a b—-, Bibi Netanyahu, he’s a bad guy,” said Biden privately, according to Woodward. “He’s a bad f—ing guy!”

Biden said he felt, in Woodward’s accounting, that Netanyahu “had been lying to him regularly.” With Netanyahu “continuing to say he was going to kill every last member of Hamas.” Woodward wrote, “Biden had told him that was impossible, threatening both privately and publicly to withhold offensive U.S. weapons shipments.”

MARIETTA, Ga. – Americans living in the Atlanta suburbs appear to have little appetite for another primetime match-up between former President Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris.

“If you don’t know them by now, there ain’t no hope,” one man who declined to give his name told Fox News Digital in Acworth, Georgia, last week.

There is less than a month left until Election Day, and Georgia residents are bracing for early voting to begin in their state next week.

The Peach State is in play this election after President Biden flipped it blue for the first time in years during the 2020 race, winning over Trump by less than 1%.

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A not insignificant amount of that support came from Cobb County, Georgia, where Biden won by an even wider margin than he did statewide.

And like Biden and Trump in 2020, the ex-president and Harris have only had one debate.

Trump has refused to participate in a second one, while Harris and her allies are eager for another head-to-head.

But people in Cobb County who spoke with Fox News Digital seemed unenthusiastic about the prospect of a second debate.

“I really don’t think so,” Howard Segan, who spoke with Fox News Digital outside of a Marietta Whole Foods, answered when asked if Americans needed another debate. “I don’t think Trump is a very good debater at all. And I think [Harris is] an empty suit.”

Another man who identified himself as Scott noted his grandfather was involved in politics and suggested he himself was disenchanted with its pageantry at an early age.

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“I realized most of it is staged anyway, so I really don’t care about the debates,” Scott said.

A woman named Deb who is opposed to Harris said, “She says nothing, it’s word salad. So what’s there to debate? She can’t even answer questions.”

Meanwhile, a man in Marietta named Toli said he “honestly” would like to see another debate but saw little value in the exercise.

“It doesn’t really matter at this point, because people are going to have their own views, no matter what they do,” Toli said. “Maybe 20 years ago we had debates where people watched, they were riveted to the screen trying to figure out what their opinions are. But now it’s so polarized. Because of social media and everything else, people get their opinion of the candidate… every day.”

Sandy, one of the few people who spoke with Fox News Digital who did want a second debate, suggested she was not excited about either of its would-be participants.

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“I just think a lot of people have questions,” Sandy explained.

“I mean, [Harris has] just touched the surface, and if she wants the votes, she needs to come forth with what she’s going to do, actually do. And also with Trump, I mean, he doesn’t put out any information other than hate.”

A recent Fox News poll taken late last month found Harris with a slim three-point lead over Trump in Georgia.

Peach State residents are heading to the polls for early voting from Oct. 15 through Nov. 1.

Voters in a critical county in the swing state of Michigan believe that Ohio Sen. JD Vance’s Midwestern roots help him appeal to people in Michigan, even if the Republican nominee for vice president is a graduate of a hated rival.

“Besides being a Buckeyes fan, he’s got a good story. He grew up kind of truly in poverty and was able to overcome that,” one voter in Detroit told Fox News Digital ahead of a Vance event in the city Tuesday, adding that Vance’s story shows how people can accomplish the “American Dream.”

The comments come as the presidential election hits the home stretch, with the venue event in Detroit coming exactly four weeks before Election Day. Michigan figures to play a key role in determining the eventual winner, having narrowly gone for former President Donald Trump in 2016 before another close race swung the state to President Biden in 2020.

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The 2024 version of the race is shaping up to be close again, with the Real Clear Politics polling average showing Vice President Kamala Harris with a slim 0.5 point lead over Trump as of Wednesday.

Wayne County, which includes Detroit and is Michigan’s most populous county, could play a key role in determining who emerges with the victory in the state. 

While the county has traditionally supported Democratic candidates, Republicans have made inroads with voters in Wayne County since Trump’s 2016 campaign. Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, captured just over 26% of the vote in the county during his 2012 campaign, while the late Sen. John McCain was only able to capture just under 25% during his 2008 White House bid. But Trump has performed better during his two runs, garnering over 29% and over 30% of the vote in Wayne County in 2016 and 2020.

The Trump campaign is hoping its appeal to working class voters will help it make even more inroads with Wayne County voters, a strategy that Vance is at the center of.

“I think that JD Vance is an incredible statesman, effective communicator,” one voter attending the rally told Fox News Digital, adding that the Ohio Senator’s Ohio roots also help shore “up support in the Midwestern states.”

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“He kind of gets the concerns of the country people. Smart as a whip. He knows tech,” the voter said.

“Absolutely, even though Ohio and Michigan have a rivalry,” another voter said when asked if Vance’s roots help him in Michigan. “I know that the Midwest Rust Belt states feel very strongly about Vance and of course about Trump.”

“JD Vance is a gentleman. He’s energetic. He certainly is a patriot. He served in the Marines for four years… He’s really proved that he is a true American,” the voter added.

“I don’t know about them U of M fans. I don’t know how deep that Buckeye traditions go,” another voter quipped, adding that at the end of the day he believes people from Ohio and Michigan are similar and that they will “come together.”

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Other voters in Detroit praised Vance’s demeanor, arguing that he provided a contrast to his more brash running mate. 

“He is very well balanced and he’s younger, and he comes from a different upbringing than Trump,” a voter told Fox News Digital. “He’s engaging… He’s got great points.”

“JD Vance brings us a lot of great common-sense thinking. He can formulate his answers a lot better than I could,” another voter said. “He can bring the facts to the case so we can bring more people to the table.”

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

COLUMBUS – Early voting in the former battleground state of Ohio began on Tuesday and Fox News Digital spoke to the state’s GOP lieutenant governor, who explained why Republicans are encouraging voters to vote early.

“I want to do what President Trump’s asking us to do, to swamp your vote, because we want everybody across the country and in the state of Ohio to get out there and vote early so that their voices, their votes are locked in, then the campaign can then move on to make sure that they’re focusing resources on people who may not have gotten out and voted,” Ohio Lt. Gov. Jon Husted told Fox News Digital at the Franklin County Board of Elections on Tuesday as he voted on the first day of early voting. 

“It’s a really important part of the campaign strategy.”

The former president’s 2024 campaign and the Republican National Committee (RNC) announced earlier this year the launch of what they call their “Swamp the Vote USA” effort, which was a shift from 2020, when Trump spoke in opposition to early-in-person voting and mail-in ballots. 

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“Whether you vote absentee, by mail, early in person, or on Election Day—We will Secure Your Vote,” Trump posted online at the time. “JUST VOTE! They are all good options. The way to win is to Swamp Them with Votes!”

Republican voters are typically known for voting on Election Day, while Democrats often have the advantage when it comes to early voting efforts. Husted told Fox News Digital that people should vote in whatever way they are most comfortable, but encouraged early voting. 

“If you want to vote on Election Day, that’s fine,” Husted said. “But we’re encouraging those who are willing to vote early because once the campaigns know you voted, they can devote their resources to turning out people who haven’t voted. The system of elections here in Ohio is a place where we make it easy to vote and hard to cheat and when you get that done early, you can know that the system is working for you and that you can encourage your friends and neighbors to go out and get it done.”

Husted continued, “I think it’s really important that Republicans don’t let Democrats get the lead through early voting. Think about this. If you vote early, then if something comes up on Election Day, there’s a hurricane that hits you, a storm that happens, something might get in the way of you getting to the polls. When you do it early, you ensure that your vote happens, that it’s going to be there, it’s going to get counted, and something doesn’t get in the way between now and Election Day.”

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Although Ohio is no longer viewed as the battleground state it was for many years for presidential elections, the Buckeye State is home to several critical House races and a Senate race that could potentially shift the balance of power in Congress.

Cleveland businessman Bernie Moreno, running as a Republican in that Senate race against incumbent Democrat Sen. Sherrod Brown, rallied supporters outside the Franklin County Board of Elections on Tuesday and also pushed Trump’s “Swamp the Vote” plan.

A spokesperson for the Franklin County Board of Elections told Fox News Digital that over 4,000 Ohioans voted early at the Columbus voting site on Tuesday.

“The election is down to the hands of the voters and regardless if you want to support me or my opponent, President Trump or Kamala Harris, it’s your civic duty to show up and vote,” Moreno said. “Our elections in Ohio are secure. They’re safe. On Nov. 5, we’ll have an outcome and everybody will agree on that outcome. I encourage everybody to vote early. Bank that vote. Get your vote in there.”

Moreno continued, “It’s a beautiful day today, but we have no idea what Nov. 5 will look like. If you’re not voting, you’re part of the problem. We’ve got to make sure that you have your voice heard. Look, the earlier you can vote, it’s better for us as Republicans because we get to take you off the list. We don’t have to text you, email you, knock on your door – if that alone doesn’t motivate you. But look, at the end of the day, here’s a very simple equation where we’re at right now. You vote for me, for Bernie Moreno, for the United States Senate, and your vote for me is a vote to fire Sherrod Brown. The first thing I’m going to do as senator, what we get to do when we get down there, we fire Chuck Schumer.”

Fox News Digital’s Paul Steinhauser contributed to this report

The Colorado Supreme Court dismissed yet another case Tuesday against Masterpiece Cakeshop owner Jack Phillips, a Christian baker who has been the target of several lawsuits over the last 12 years. The latest lawsuit accused Phillips of discriminating against a transgender attorney for refusing to bake a custom cake celebrating their gender transition.

Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), the lawyer group representing Phillips, first defended Phillips in 2012 when he was sued for refusing to bake a custom cake celebrating a same-sex wedding because it violated his religious convictions.

“Enough is enough. Jack has been dragged through courts for over a decade. It’s time to leave him alone,” Jake Warner, ADF senior counsel, said in a statement.

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“Free speech is for everyone. As the U.S. Supreme Court held in 303 Creative, the government cannot force artists to express messages they don’t believe. In this case, an attorney demanded that Jack create a custom cake that would celebrate and symbolize a transition from male to female. Because that cake admittedly expresses a message, and because Jack cannot express that message for anyone, the government cannot punish Jack for declining to express it. The First Amendment protects that decision.”

While the state court did not issue an opinion regarding Phillips’ First Amendment rights, it was dismissed on the grounds of violating a technicality, stating that plaintiff Autumn Scardina, a man identifying as a woman, did not properly file the lawsuit in Colorado.

“We granted review to determine, among other issues, whether [the attorney] properly filed [this] case,” the Colorado Supreme Court wrote in its opinion in Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Scardina. “We conclude that [the attorney] did not.”

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“The underlying constitutional question this case raises has become the focus of intense public debate: How should governments balance the rights of transgender individuals to be free from discrimination in places of public accommodation with the rights of religious business owners when they are operating in the public market?” Justice Melissa Hart wrote in the Colorado Supreme Court’s majority opinion. 

“We cannot answer that question.”

On the same day the U.S. Supreme Court revealed it would hear Phillips’ initial case — which he won in 2018 after Colorado tried to force him to make a custom cake for a same-sex wedding — the transgender attorney contacted Phillips’ shop for a custom order to celebrate a gender transition. Phillips’ declined.

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The attorney called again later to request a second cake, this one featuring Satan smoking marijuana, to “correct the errors of [Phillips’] thinking,” according to the ADF news release.

“Phillips politely declined both requests because the cakes express messages that violate his core beliefs,” ADF stated. “The attorney then filed the most recent lawsuit, threatening to continue harassing Phillips until he is punished. Phillips serves people from all backgrounds. Like many artists, he decides to create custom cakes based on what they will express, not who requests them.”

Democratic Rep. Elissa Slotkin and Republican former Congressman Mike Rogers clashed over national security, immigration and abortion at a debate Tuesday as each candidate vies to be the next U.S. senator from Michigan. 

Retiring Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., has endorsed Slotkin, a three-term lawmaker who currently represents Michigan’s 7th Congressional District, to fill her seat. Rogers served in the House from 2001-2015, was chairman of the House Intelligence Committee and has been endorsed by former President Trump. 

This race in battleground Michigan is close, though Slotkin has enjoyed an average 5 percentage point lead in public opinion polls. The victor could very well determine which major party gains control of the Senate next year. Fox News’ Power Rankings list the Michigan Senate race as Lean D.

The hour-long debate hosted by NBC affiliate WOOD TV was mostly polite and issues-focused. However, there were several times when the candidates accused each other of lying or twisting the facts of their records. 

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“Dishonest and deceptive,” Rogers fumed after Slotkin insisted he repeatedly voted to “privatize or cut Medicare and Social Security” while he was a member of Congress. “I’m not even sure she could pass the polygraph test in the CIA anymore,” he said, referring to Slotkin’s former career as a CIA analyst.

Slotkin hit back later after Rogers said she was “huffing at the microphone” during a discussion about nuclear power and competition with China. 

“It’s just sad that a guy who considers himself a national security guy can’t see that we need to work together on this issue, not lie repeatedly,” she said. 

Early voting is underway in swing state Michigan and both candidates pitched themselves as willing to work with the other side. Each attacked the other as a partisan. 

“We’re a very purple state. Lots of Democrats, lots of Republicans,” Slotkin acknowledged. “I was voted the 14th most bipartisan member of Congress out of 435.” 

She noted that Rogers served as deputy whip in the House, “the guy who got everyone to vote with the Republicans.” 

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Rogers in turn said Slotkin contributed to high gas prices, inflated grocery bills and increasing crime by “voting 100% with the Biden-Harris agenda.” He said that if elected to the Senate, he “will look for every opportunity to be bipartisan.” 

The candidates appeared deeply divided on issues of foreign policy, national security, immigration and abortion. 

Slotkin framed electric vehicle production in Michigan as a national security issue. “I don’t care what kind of car you want to drive,” she said, before adding that it will either be “us or China” that builds the next generation of vehicles. 

“China is eating our lunch on these types of vehicles,” Slotkin continued, warning that Michigan’s auto industry may repeat a historic mistake by “ceding ground” to a foreign competitor if America does not invest in EVs. 

Rogers accused Slotkin of supporting EV mandates and pointed out, “85% of everything processed in electric vehicles has to go through China.” 

“Why in God’s green earth we would cede that auto market to the Communist Party of China is beyond me,” he said. “My opponent has multiple times supported EV mandates, trying to pick the cars that our companies have to build and the cars that you’re going to have to buy. And by the way, that got us 2,400 layoffs at Stellantis, a thousand layoffs at General Motors. Ford is talking about closing two lines. The CEO of Ford came out and said this is unworkable. It won’t work for America.”

The debate became heated as each candidate tried to accuse the other of having a close relationship with China. Rogers repeated allegations he’s made on the campaign trail that Slotkin signed a non-disclosure agreement with Gotion, a Chinese-linked company that has received $175 million in taxpayer money to build a battery plant in Big Rapids. Slotkin said her opponent’s claims were “offensive” and shot back that Rogers was chief security officer of AT&T “when they were actively working to get Chinese companies into our telecoms.” Rogers denied the charge. 

In another exchange on the Middle East, Rogers jabbed at “my opponent’s notion that their somehow serving in Iraq gives permission to be wrong in the entire effort toward Iran.” Slotkin accompanied troops as a CIA analyst during three tours in Iraq. 

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When the topic turned to abortion, Rogers said the choice to terminate a pregnancy is “the most heart-wrenching decision a woman will ever have to make.” 

Acknowledging that the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022, permitting states to regulate abortion, Rogers said, “The people of Michigan voted overwhelmingly to make abortion legal in a part of the state constitution of Michigan. I will do nothing when I go back to Washington, D.C., to do anything that would change what the Michigan Constitution, voted on by the people of Michigan, have given us that guidance to go back.”

Slotkin said she would vote for a bill to codify Roe – thereby erasing state restrictions on abortion – and said Rogers could not be trusted on the issue. “He voted for every single ban, every restriction, every bill that came across his desk to make it harder for a woman and to ban, in some cases, a woman and her right to choose 56 times in total.” 

“He voted and sponsored bills that would make it impossible to have IVF and contraception,” she asserted. “If he does not trust us to protect our own rights, do not trust him.” 

“Deceive and deception,” retorted Rogers. “I have come out and talked about making sure that IVF is available for families so they can grow their families. It’s a very personal thing for these families, and I support it 100%.”

Slotkin also framed Rogers as a carpetbagger, noting that he was living in Cape Coral, Florida, while Michigan voters took up the abortion question in a ballot initiative in 2022, before Rogers returned to Michigan to run for Senate. 

On immigration, Slotkin said the “system is broken” and that Congress must do more to secure the border. “To me, if you are not here legally, you should not be here. You should go back to your home country and be removed to your home country.” She accused Republicans of using the issue as a “political talking point,” noting that a bipartisan border security deal in the Senate fell apart after GOP opposition. 

Rogers said he was “delighted to hear that my opponent has had a conversion about border security” after supporting the Biden administration’s policies. 

“Here’s the thing. You can’t vote against the wall. You can’t vote against sanctuary cities,” he continued. “You cannot do the things that you’ve been doing in allowing 10 million people to come into our country. We spent something like $450 billion on taking care of illegals’ room and board and phones and health care. That’s enough money to pay for every Michigan teacher and every Michigan state trooper for 15 years.”

He called the bipartisan bill Slotkin referenced “a bill to exacerbate and make permanent the problem.” 

Tuesday’s debate was the first of two planned debates between the Senate hopefuls. A second debate hosted by Detroit’s WXYZ-TV Channel 7 is scheduled for next Monday. 

MARIETTA, Ga. – Americans living in the Atlanta suburbs appear to have little appetite for another primetime match-up between former President Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris.

“If you don’t know them by now, there ain’t no hope,” one man who declined to give his name told Fox News Digital in Acworth, Georgia, last week.

There is less than a month left until Election Day, and Georgia residents are bracing for early voting to begin in their state next week.

The Peach State is in play this election after President Biden flipped it blue for the first time in years during the 2020 race, winning over Trump by less than 1%.

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A not insignificant amount of that support came from Cobb County, Georgia, where Biden won by an even wider margin than he did statewide.

And like Biden and Trump in 2020, the ex-president and Harris have only had one debate.

Trump has refused to participate in a second one, while Harris and her allies are eager for another head-to-head.

But people in Cobb County who spoke with Fox News Digital seemed unenthusiastic about the prospect of a second debate.

“I really don’t think so,” Howard Segan, who spoke with Fox News Digital outside of a Marietta Whole Foods, answered when asked if Americans needed another debate. “I don’t think Trump is a very good debater at all. And I think [Harris is] an empty suit.”

Another man who identified himself as Scott noted his grandfather was involved in politics and suggested he himself was disenchanted with its pageantry at an early age.

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“I realized most of it is staged anyway, so I really don’t care about the debates,” Scott said.

A woman named Deb who is opposed to Harris said, “She says nothing, it’s word salad. So what’s there to debate? She can’t even answer questions.”

Meanwhile, a man in Marietta named Toli said he “honestly” would like to see another debate but saw little value in the exercise.

“It doesn’t really matter at this point, because people are going to have their own views, no matter what they do,” Toli said. “Maybe 20 years ago we had debates where people watched, they were riveted to the screen trying to figure out what their opinions are. But now it’s so polarized. Because of social media and everything else, people get their opinion of the candidate… every day.”

Sandy, one of the few people who spoke with Fox News Digital who did want a second debate, suggested she was not excited about either of its would-be participants.

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“I just think a lot of people have questions,” Sandy explained.

“I mean, [Harris has] just touched the surface, and if she wants the votes, she needs to come forth with what she’s going to do, actually do. And also with Trump, I mean, he doesn’t put out any information other than hate.”

A recent Fox News poll taken late last month found Harris with a slim three-point lead over Trump in Georgia.

Peach State residents are heading to the polls for early voting from Oct. 15 through Nov. 1.

New polling shows former President Trump has a 9-point lead over Vice President Kamala Harris when it comes to handling the economy, the single most important issue for voters going into the 2024 presidential election.

The new poll from Gallup found that 54% of Americans say Trump is more capable of handling the economy, compared to 45% for Harris. The economy ranked as the most important issue for Republicans and for all Americans, but it didn’t rate in the top five for Democrats.

Veteran Democratic strategist Hank Sheinkopf says Democrats are simply confident in Harris’ plan to handle the economy.

“Independents are looking for a reason to vote for a candidate, but they just haven’t found it yet,” Sheinkopf told Fox News Digital in an interview. “Americans focus on the issue most important to them in every election. This time it’s their pockets. And they are still feeling pain no matter what candidates say. Time is running out for Harris to prove she can make it better.”

He went on to argue that the economy is no less politicized an issue as immigration or abortion, suggesting polarization has an outsized impact on voter’s opinions on the economy. 

WHAT THE LATEST FOX NEWS POLLS IN THE 2024 ELECTION SHOW

For Republicans, the top issues after the economy are immigration, terrorism and national security, crime and taxes.

For Democrats, the top issue is democracy in the U.S., followed by the type of Supreme Court justices a candidate would pick, abortion, health care and education.

Trump also holds leads over Harris on immigration (54%-45%) and foreign affairs (52%-47%). Harris holds her own leads on the top issues for Democrats, however, including health care (54%-44%), abortion (56%-40%) and climate change (61%-35%).

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Climate change ranks as the least important issue for Republicans, with just 5% saying it is a priority. The least important issues for Democrats are the federal budget deficit and trade with other nations, both tied at 16%.

Gallup conducted the poll from Sept. 16-28, surveying 941 registered voters via telephone interviews on cellphones and landlines. The poll advertises a margin of error of 4%.

A New York Times/Siena College survey released on Tuesday found that Harris has a slight lead over Trump in a national poll. The survey found that Harris stands at 49% support among likely voters nationwide, with the former president and GOP nominee at 46%.

According to the poll, Harris stands at 47% and Trump at 44% in a multi-candidate field. Green Party candidate Jill Stein and Libertarian Chase Oliver each grabbed 1%, with roughly 7% supporting another candidate or undecided.

Harris’ edge – which is within the survey’s sampling error – is up from the New York Times/Siena poll from last month, when the two major party nominees were deadlocked at 47%.

Fox News’ Paul Steinhauser and Ashley Papa contributed to this report

Former President Donald Trump will hold a rally this month at New York City’s Madison Square Garden (MSG), Fox News Digital has confirmed. 

The rally is set to take place on Oct. 27, multiple sources told Fox News Digital, just nine days before Election Day.

The event is expected to be first-come, first-serve, and campaign officials are expecting massive attendance. 

“Like Coachella and others to come, MSG is because we are adding some very big venues because we are seeing very high interest in attending events,” a campaign source told Fox News Digital. 

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MSG is a 19,500-seat venue. 

This will be Trump’s second big rally in the state of New York. 

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Trump held a rally at the Nassau Coliseum in Uniondale, Long Island, last month. More than 60,000 tickets were requested, but the venue only seats 16,000. Thousands of supporters who were not admitted to the venue watched him speak on large screens outside. 

Trump also held a rally in the Bronx over the summer at Crotona Park, which had a permit allowance of 3,500 people. The New York Post reported the Bronx rally drew up to 10,000 supporters. 

Meanwhile, Trump has drawn massive crowds for his latest rallies, with more than 20,000 people attending his second rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, over the weekend. 

The campaign also said they saw more than 100,000 people at the former president’s rally in Wildwood, New Jersey, in May. 

The Garden, which is home of the New York Knicks and New York Rangers, hosted the Republican National Convention in 2004 and the Democratic National Convention in 1924, 1976, 1980 and 1992. 

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Trump, earlier this year, during a campaign stop at an Upper Manhattan bodega, said he would “straighten out New York.” 

“We’re going to come in — number one, you have to stop crime, and we’re going to let the police do their job. They have to be given back their authority. They have to be able to do their job,” Trump said. “And we’re going to come into New York. We’re making a big play for New York, other cities, too. But this city, I love this city.” 

Trump said New York has “gotten so bad in the last three years, four years.” 

“And we’re going to straighten New York out. So running for president, we’re putting a big hit in New York — we could win New York,” Trump said.

The New York Post first reported that Trump would rally at MSG. 

While it is unlikely deep blue New York flips red in the White House race, another rally in the state may help Republicans down the ballot, as they try to hold on to their House of Representatives majority in November’s elections.

Vice President Kamala Harris dismissed hundreds of drug convictions and cases when she served as San Francisco district attorney amid an evidence lab scandal involving cocaine use that rocked her office.

Ahead of her run for the White House, Harris’ district attorney’s office was hit by a scandal in 2010 involving a lab technician with a criminal background who allegedly took cocaine home from the evidence lab and possibly tainted hundreds of other cases. The scandal unfolded as Harris hit the campaign trail to become the Golden State’s attorney general. 

The lab tech had reportedly become unreliable at work in the weeks leading up to the alleged cocaine theft, with the DA’s lead drug prosecutor sounding the alarm in a 2009 email to a colleague, stating the lab tech had become “increasingly UNDEPENDABLE for testimony” and that the situation at the lab was “ridiculous” and jeopardized drug cases, SF Gate reported at the time. Lab techs frequently testified when San Francisco prosecutors headed to court. 

The issue that plagued Harris’ office was that the DA team did not inform defense attorneys of the issues involving the technician and cocaine. Since the Supreme Court’s 1963 ruling in Brady v. Maryland, prosecutors have been required to turn over evidence that could exonerate suspects.

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In Harris’ office, however, the team had no written procedure on how to handle “Brady material” or “Brady implications,” sparking a scandal that dragged out for months in 2010. Harris said amid the scandal that she was not made aware of concerns surrounding the drug lab and the technician until February 2010, months after lead drug prosecutor Sharon Woo sent an email in November to a colleague outlining the “ridiculous” state of the lab, SF Gate reported. 

Harris is currently running for the White House against former President Donald Trump, and she has heavily relied on her background as a law and order candidate while citing her years as a prosecutor in Alameda County, San Francisco and as attorney general of the state. 

Fox News Digital spoke to Heritage Foundation senior legal fellow Zack Smith, a former assistant United States attorney, who recently published a report on Harris’ “pro-crime policies” that highlighted the 2010 DA scandal. 

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“I think it shows incompetence by Kamala Harris as district attorney. This is the basic blocking attack that is expected of a DA is to make sure that the rights of criminal defendants are being protected and that the community is being kept safe. And she failed at both of those basic tasks,” Smith told Fox News Digital.

Smith explained that informing defense attorneys about issues in the lab and potentially tainted evidence is “prosecutor 101,” noting that Harris had already served as DA for about six years and still did not have a Brady policy in place. 

“This is a big, big deal. It’s kind of every prosecutor’s nightmare scenario, is getting tagged with a Brady violation, because not only does it put your case in jeopardy, but you’re also essentially being accused of committing an ethical and constitutional violation as well,” he said. 

“I can’t emphasize enough, this is prosecutor 101, it’s the basic blocking attack that any district attorney is going to be required to do. And so the fact that Kamala Harris, at that point, had been in office for a number of years that she didn’t have a policy in place to deal with to deal with this type of situation is astounding.”

Harris attempted to pass blame for the issue on the police department, which oversaw the lab, and initially said only about 20 cases would be affected. The DA’s office ultimately dismissed 600-1,000 drug cases, including convictions where criminals were already serving their sentence, according to the Washington Post. 

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The lab tech, who had been convicted of a 2007 domestic altercation, ultimately retired in March 2010, admitting to police that she consumed drugs from the police lab, according to SF Gate at the time. Police were aware of the woman’s criminal background and admitted they made a mistake not informing the DA’s office about her previous conviction, SF Gate reported. 

The tech’s supervisor told authorities that cocaine was missing from several cases the tech handled. The police department, which was led by current Los Angeles DA George Gascon at the time, shut the lab down after learning of the allegations, SF Gate reported. 

In May 2010, a superior court judge excoriated Harris and put blame for the scandal squarely on her shoulders. 

Harris “failed to disclose information that clearly should have been disclosed,” Superior Court Judge Anne-Christine Massullo wrote in a decision in 2010. 

Amid the scandal, drug suspects called on the judge to dismiss their cases, sparking the DA’s top narcotics prosecutor, Woo, to testify before the court to answer questions surrounding the handling of evidence and the drug cases. Woo testified that the DA’s office had no written guidelines on how to handle Brady material and that Harris relied on the police department to let her know when evidence was exculpatory, the Washington Post reported in 2019. 

A court transcript between Woo and Massullo showed the judge was shocked. 

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“It’s not the police department who has the affirmative obligation. It’s the district attorney. That’s who the courts look to. That’s who the community looks to, to make sure all of that information constitutionally required is provided to the defense. . . . What I am gathering from what you are saying is that there is no formal way for your office.”

“In terms of a written policy, I don’t think there’s a written policy,” Woo responded. 

After dismissing an estimated 1,000 drug cases and convictions surrounding the scandal, Harris was elected California attorney general during the 2010 election cycle. She parted with the DA’s office in January 2011, when she was sworn in as the state’s top cop. 

In 2019, when Harris unsuccessfully launched a campaign for president before becoming President Biden’s running mate, she took ownership of the scandal. 

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“No excuses,” Harris told the Washington Post. “The buck stops with me.”

When asked why she had not implemented a Brady policy across her six-year tenure in the office, Harris said she had worked to implement it for about two years but did not complete the guidelines over complications regarding police personnel information, according to the outlet. 

“I cared a lot about working out a Brady policy. … I was saying in my office, we have to have one. It was a big controversy,” she told WaPo. “We were working on this, and it was much too slow. It took too long.” 

Fox News Digital reached out to the campaign for additional comment on the matter. 

Harris’ office did implement a Brady policy following the scandal, which she said was subsequently lauded as “a model” for other district attorneys. 

“It took too long to implement, but I am proud we implemented a Brady policy in the D.A.’s office that was later called ‘a model for other jurisdictions’” by the California Supreme Court, Harris said in a comment to the Wall Street Journal in 2019. 

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