Michigan voters attending former President Donald Trump’s Saginaw rally Thursday told Fox News Digital that the former president needs to focus on the economy to win the critical swing state, particularly job creation and curbing inflation.

“Opening up the pipelines to get the jobs back,” one voter who attended Trump’s rally on the campus of Saginaw Valley State University said when asked which issue the former president needs to focus on to win Michigan.

The comments come as Trump made yet another visit to the crucial swing state of Michigan, a state that could play a decisive role in determining who wins November’s election. It also marked the second time the former president visited mid-Michigan in just a few weeks, a blue collar area of the state where the campaign believes it can make inroads with voters in what promises to be a close race.

TRUMP’S 2ND TERM FOREIGN POLICY LIKELY TO FOCUS ON ‘STRENGTH’ AND ‘DETERRENCE’: EXPERT

Vice President Kamala Harris is set to visit the same area of the state Friday, signifying the importance of Michigan as the clock nears the end of a dramatic election season.

Polls show Michigan as a toss up as of Wednesday, with the Real Clear Politics Polling average giving Harris a thin lead of just 0.7 points in the state. However, polls also showed Trump trailing former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and President Biden in Michigan by 5.3 and 5.7 points respectively, numbers that turned out much more favorable to Trump on election day.

Trump narrowly won Michigan in 2016 before dropping it to Biden in another close race in 2020, but voters in mid-Michigan believe Trump’s focus on the economy should help put him over the top in 2024.

VOTERS IN CRITICAL MICHIGAN COUNTY FOCUSED ON ECONOMY, CANDIDATE CHARACTER AS 2024 RACE TIGHTENS

“Bring inflation down and safety and security in the state of Michigan,” one voter told Fox News Digital.

“Illegal border crossings and the economy,” another voter said. “Keeping jobs in America, lowering inflation.”

However, other voters signaled that Trump could win on a range of issues, including national security and reducing crime in inner cities.

“Our national security does come first. But if the people at home, if they can’t make ends meet, they’re living in misery, that’s just as important,” a voter told Fox News Digital. “Being truthful to the American people, which he has been.”

“Focusing on the inner cities. Putting together ways to decrease the violence,” another voter said.

Meanwhile, one voter who said she was at the rally to support Trump said that the former president could lead the charge in helping Michigan residents see the issue of abortion differently.

“I think one of the bigger things to look at has been abortion… Michigan has been one of the stronger states in supporting that,” the voter told Fox News Digital. “He can do a very good job in getting us to just see the value of life.”

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

With New York City Mayor Eric Adams under federal indictment for corruption, most residents of the Big Apple want to see him go, according to a new Marist poll.

A majority of city residents, 69%, say the mayor should resign from office after prosecutors accused him of accepting bribes and soliciting illegal campaign contributions from foreign nationals. Adams, a former cop, could face up to 45 years in prison if convicted on all charges. 

There is no good news for the mayor in the survey findings. Though the Democratic mayor has resisted calls to resign, 71% of New York City Democrats think he should step down, according to the survey. Only 30% of city residents said he should serve out the remainder of his term, while 2% were unsure.

The survey of New York City adults was conducted between Sept. 30 and Oct. 1 and has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.6 percentage points. 

ERIC ADAMS LIKELY TO FACE MORE CHARGES AS EMBATTLED MAYOR ACCUSES BIDEN-HARRIS ADMIN OF POLITICAL PERSECUTION

If Adams refuses to resign, 63% of survey respondents say Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul should take action to remove the mayor. A 65% majority of residents, including 68% Democrats, think Adams did something illegal. Another 24% think the mayor did something unethical but not illegal.

“It’s hard to imagine how Mayor Adams could be faring any worse in the court of public opinion,” says Dr. Lee Miringoff, director of the Marist Institute for Public Opinion. “Not only do New York City residents think he has done something illegal, but they think he should resign or have Governor Hochul start the process of removing him from office.”

The mayor’s job approval rating is underwater at 26%, with 74% saying they disapprove. The vast majority of New York City residents, 81%, say Adams should not run for re-election, according to the poll.

Adams was in federal court in Manhattan on Wednesday for a hearing in his corruption case. The mayor’s defense lawyers have asked the court to toss at least one charge and punish the government for leaks of confidential information.

ERIC ADAMS CALLS OUT ALLEGED COLLUSION BETWEEN FEDS AND MAINSTREAM MEDIA, ASKS JUDGE FOR ‘CONSEQUENCES’

Prosecutors said it is “quite likely” that additional charges will be filed — against additional defendants and possibly in new cases. The investigation is ongoing, they said. But the defense scored a minor win, demanding the Justice Department file quick replies to motions filed earlier this week as the mayor is standing by his right to a speedy trial. The presiding judge gave prosecutors an Oct. 18 deadline to do so.

Adams is accused of turning unlawful bribes and campaign contributions around to rack up taxpayer cash in the form of “matching” grants that pay out $8 to 1.

ERIC ADAMS DEFENSE HINGES ON SUPREME COURT RULING IN HEARTLAND TRUCKING CASE

The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York is alleging that Adams used his position in government to obtain benefits like luxury travel and fine dining from wealthy business leaders, including at least one Turkish government official. 

In exchange, Adams allegedly provided favors, including helping Turkey get fire department approvals to open a new diplomatic high-rise in Manhattan despite concerns about fire safety. Adams’ defense has countered that he had no authority over the Manhattan building at the time, when he was Brooklyn’s borough president, and therefore could not and did not provide the alleged “official act” required to prove the case against him.

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Adams has described the investigation as retaliation for his criticism of the Biden-Harris administration’s border policy.

The mayor previously blamed the White House for a migrant crisis in New York City that overwhelmed its shelter system. The influx of illegal immigrants coincided with a spike in robberies in the Big Apple, city police said earlier this year.

Fox News Digital’s Michael Ruiz and Fox News’ Maria Paronich contributed to this report.

Billionaire business tycoon Elon Musk quipped in a post on X that when he mentions former President Donald Trump in Los Angeles, people recoil in response.

“If I bring up Trump in LA, people react like they got shot with a dart containing rabies and crystal meth,” Musk wrote, adding the face with tears of joy emoji.

The post has earned more than 25 million views so far, as well as scads of comments.

ELON MUSK’S PRO-TRUMP SUPER PAC LAUNCHES WEBSITE TO INCREASE CANVASSERS IN BATTLEGROUND STATES

GOP Sen. Mike Lee of Utah replied, “Maybe that’s because they’re already rabid and high on meth.”

“LOL,” Fox News contributor Sara Carter wrote when responding to Musk’s comments, “Californian’s [sic] often behave this way even when you don’t mention Trump – it’s in the water.”

In another recent post, Musk joked that the planet “will literally explode if DJT loses!” adding in a followup tweet, “But, seriously, Trump must win or America is in deep trouble.” 

TRUMP SPEAKS WITH ELON MUSK ABOUT MAKING STARLINK AVAILABLE TO PEOPLE POST-HURRICANE HELENE

Musk, a celebrity business magnate who has endorsed the Republican presidential hopeful during the 2024 election cycle, is slated to attend a Trump campaign rally on Saturday in Butler, Pennsylvania, where the former president was nearly assassinated in July.

“I fully endorse President Trump and hope for his rapid recovery,” Musk tweeted in July on the heels of the shocking attempt on the prominent politician’s life.

In a press release last week, the Trump campaign noted, “President Donald J. Trump will return to Butler, Pennsylvania to hold a rally on the very same ground where he came within a quarter of an inch of losing his life less than three months ago.”

In addition to backing Trump, Musk has been a vociferous critic of the Democratic Party.

In a post last month he asserted, “The reason the Democratic Party is so soft on criminals is that criminals vote overwhelmingly Democrat – they don’t want to offend their customers!” Musk continued, claiming that the “Democrat Party is literally the party of criminals.” 

ELON MUSK PLEDGES SUPPORT FOR SECOND AMENDMENT: ‘TYRANTS’ DISARM THE PEOPLE

Musk suggested in a July tweet that, “the Democratic Party has moved so far left that the Republican Party is now closest to the center.”

A close House race in New York was rocked by an October surprise when photos surfaced of the incumbent Republican congressman in blackface as part of a Halloween costume years ago.

Rep. Michael Lawler, R-N.Y., who is white, is pictured dressed like pop sensation Michael Jackson, complete with bronzer to darken his face in an October 2006 photo reported by the New York Times. Lawler does not dispute the photo’s authenticity and has issued an apology to anyone who has taken offense, though he said it was not his intention to dress in blackface.

“As has been well-documented – most recently by the Daily Beast – I was a so-called ‘Super Fan’ of Michael Jackson, so much so that I was mentioned by name in his biography for my outspoken support of him and the Jackson Family.  I loved Michael’s music, was awed by him as a performer, and by his impact on pop culture,” Lawler said in a statement. “One of my greatest memories is attending his concert at Madison Square Garden before his untimely death.  

“When attempting to imitate Michael’s legendary dance moves at a college Halloween party eighteen years ago, the ugly practice of black face was the furthest thing from my mind. Let me be clear, this is not that. Rather, my costume was intended as the sincerest form of flattery, a genuine homage to one of my childhood idols since I was a little kid trying to moonwalk through my mom’s kitchen.  

FOX NEWS POWER RANKINGS: HARRIS TICKS UP AND SENATE REPUBLICANS TAKE CHARGE

“I am a student of history and for anyone who takes offense to the photo, I am sorry.  All you can do is live and learn, and I appreciate everyone’s grace along the way,” he said. 

The 38-year-old Lawler, a moderate first-term lawmaker from the Hudson Valley, is seen as a rising star in the GOP conference who is running for re-election in a suburban swing district. His Democratic opponent in New York’s 17th Congressional District is former Rep. Mondaire Jones, a Black man. The Jones campaign did not respond to a request for comment.

The race is one of 22 toss-up contests that may well determine which party controls the House of Representatives next year, according to Fox News’ Power Rankings.  

Lawler is not the first politician to be wrapped up in recent controversy over a costume that resembled blackface. Former Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam, a Democrat, faced calls to resign after a photo from his medical school yearbook surfaced which pictured men in Ku Klux Klan robes and blackface. Northam denied he was in the photo but admitted he once used shoe polish to darken his face for a dance contest in the 1980s in which he too dressed like Jackson.

NEW YORK REPUBLICAN WRANGLES WITH CNN HOST HITTING TRUMP’S ECONOMIC POLICIES

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau also faced controversy in 2019 when photos surfaced of him wearing blackface in 2001. The prime minister said in an interview after the fact that he could not give a definitive number on how many times he had worn blackface. 

Lawler was photographed in his Jackson costume in New York City when he was a sophomore at Manhattan College, now Manhattan University, a Catholic school in the Bronx where only three percent of the student population is Black, according to the New York Times. 

Lawler, who was class valedictorian in 2009, was well-known for his love of Michael Jackson, the paper reported.

When Lawler was a high school senior in 2005, he flew from New York to California to attend parts Jackson’s criminal trial. The musician had faced allegations of molesting a 13-year-old boy at his Neverland Ranch, though Jackson was eventually acquitted. 

FORMER DEMOCRATIC REP MONDAIRE JONES LAUNCHES COMEBACK BID FOR CRUCIAL SEAT THAT HELPED GOP TAKE HOUSE

Jackson biographer J. Randy Taraborrelli recounted in his book how he helped get Lawler into the courtroom, according to the Daily Beast. Taraborrelli wrote in “Michael Jackson: The Magic, The Madness, The Whole Story” that the teen had been “so disgusted” by testimony against Jackson “that he couldn’t help but mutter something derogatory under his breath.” 

In Taraborrelli’s account, Lawler was overheard by court officials and “tossed right out of the courtroom.” 

The photos in question were posted to Facebook and depict Lawler dressed in a jacket reminiscent of the one Jackson wore in the “Thriller” music video. 

The New York Times cited a person familiar with the costume who said that Lawler had used bronzer borrowed from female classmates to darken his skin. 

Lawler’s 2022 victory was one of several Republican victories in crucial New York districts, despite the state’s status as reliably blue overall. The 17th includes stretches through four suburban counties outside of New York City: Dutchess, Putnam, Rockland and Westchester.

Fox News Digital’s Emma Colton and Emily Robertson contributed to this report.

FIRST ON FOX: A top Democratic House recruit drew a salary worth tens of thousands of dollars from a left-wing dark money group heavily bankrolled by George Soros’ political empire, Fox News Digital has learned.

New York congressional candidate Laura Gillen, a town supervisor in the Long Island town of Hempstead, drew a $40,000 “fellow” salary with the group Our American Future Foundation (OAFF) in 2023, according to her financial disclosures. The group and a sister nonprofit, Our American Future Action, help pay expenses for individuals—overwhelmingly Democrats—who plan to run for office in the future.

According to the Open Society Foundations, the umbrella of groups founded by Soros, its Open Society Action Fund has donated more than $18 million to Our American Future Action “to support non-partisan policy advocacy and civic engagement.” 

Tax filings show Our American Future Action is Our American Future Foundation’s “direct controlling entity.”

HOUSE OVERSIGHT PROBES FCC’S EXPEDITED APPROVAL OF SOROS PURCHASE OF 200+ RADIO STATIONS AHEAD OF ELECTION

Our American Future Foundation also received direct support from the Soros empire. It got an undisclosed level of funding last year from the Jennifer and Jonathan Allan Soros Foundation, a charitable group run by one of the left-wing billionaire’s sons, tax filings show.

Jonathan and Jennifer Soros have also donated to Gillen’s campaign directly, each contributing $3,300 this year. Another Soros son, Robert Soros, donated $2,900 to Gillen’s unsuccessful 2022 campaign to unseat Republican Rep. Anthony D’Esposito.

“It is incredibly problematic that George Soros is paying candidates to run for office through a program disguised as a ‘fellowship,’” said Caitlin Sutherland, executive director of the nonprofit watchdog group Americans for Public Trust, in a statement to Fox News Digital. 

WALZ BLASTED FOR HUDDLING WITH GEORGE SOROS’ SON AT NYC LUXURY APARTMENT: ‘BILLIONAIRE NEPO BABY’

“Voters should be seriously alarmed that Laura Gillen, who is claiming to run on ethics and transparency, is being personally propped up by a Soros group that is advocating for open borders, anti-police measures, and radical energy policies,” Sutherland continued. “This raises crucial questions about who Gillen will answer to if elected to Congress: the voters…or George Soros?”

Gillen has claimed that pointing out Soros funding for her campaign is responsible for “antisemitic violence.” 

Rep. Dan Goldman, a fellow New York Democrat, has also accused D’Esposito, whom Gillen is challenging again this cycle, of “using a disgusting antisemitic trope” by pointing out Soros’ backing.

Soros’ groups have heavily funded organizations behind antisemitic protests since last year aimed at delegitimizing Israel and stopping U.S. support for its military campaign against the terrorist groups Hamas and Hezbollah.

The Open Society Action Fund’s $18,055,000 in funding for Our American Future Action began in 2023 and was slated to finance activities stretching for 19 months, according to a grants database on the Open Society Foundations website. Tax filings indicate the Jonathan and Jennifer Alan Soros Foundation’s donation also came in 2023, the same year Gillen drew her fellowship salary.

The fellowship program is designed to provide aspiring political candidates, overwhelmingly Democrats, with money to cover basic living expenses while they focus on future political campaigns.

Several Democratic candidates in competitive 2024 contests have received funding from the group, including California’s Will Rollins, Nebraska’s Tony Vargas, Arizona’s Kirsten Engel and New York’s Josh Riley, according to the Washington Examiner.

In March, the Examiner first reported that the nonprofit watchdog group Foundation for Accountability and Civic Trust (FACT) was filing a complaint with the Federal Election Commission alleging OAFF’s payments to future House candidates violated federal law. As a 501(c)3 nonprofit, OAFF is prohibited from spending money on political activity. However, FACT alleged its payments to eventual candidates for office were explicitly designed to advance their political prospects.

“The fellowship’s true purpose was explicitly described by its founder as a way to give money to failed candidates (or prospective candidates) for personal expenses in the brief downtime before they are able to file again to run for another office,” FACT wrote in its complaint. “Thus, the fellowship is directly tied to a federal candidacy and not for bona fide independent employment. Any claim otherwise would strain credulity.”

Soros has also poured millions into several other groups and committees backing Democrats throughout the 2024 cycle. His two super PACs – Democracy PAC and Democracy PAC II – have so far combined to shower left-wing groups with $53 million, Federal Election Commission records show.

Gillen recently benefited from one of the groups financed by the left-wing billionaire. On Aug. 2, Soros’ Democracy PAC sent $500,000 to the League of Conservation Voters Victory Fund, which weeks later spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on independent expenditures backing her candidacy in the form of digital production, ad buys, and other items. During that time, the group also backed Kamala Harris and a handful of other Democrats.

Gillen’s campaign, Our American Future Foundation, and the Open Society Foundation did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s requests for comment.

Melania Trump is not the only first lady to express pro-choice views. She joins several former Republican first ladies who have shared similar perspectives, often in their memoirs, despite this stance historically contrasting with the GOP platform.

Other spouses of Republican presidents, such as Pat Nixon, Betty Ford, Nancy Reagan, Barbara Bush and Laura Bush, have been recorded either during or after their husbands’ tenure in office expressing pro-choice views.

“I feel very strongly that it was the best thing in the world when the Supreme Court voted to legalize abortion and, in my words, bring it out of the backwoods and put it in the hospital where it belongs,” Betty Ford said in a CBS News’ “60 Minutes” interview in 1975, two years after Roe v. Wade was handed down.

MELANIA TRUMP’S ABORTION VIEWS IN NEW MEMOIR SPUR OUTRAGE FROM PRO-LIFERS: ‘SHE IS WRONG’

Following Ford’s comments on premarital sex, marijuana and abortion during the CBS interview, then-President Gerald Ford reportedly joked that she had cost him votes.

As a more conservative first lady, Nancy Reagan avoided taking a public stance against abortion that would put her at odds with former President Ronald Reagan. However, she later revealed her personal position on the issue.

“I’m against abortion, I don’t believe in abortion,” Reagan said at George Washington University in 1994, five years after her husband left the Oval Office. “On the other hand, I believe in a woman’s choice. So, it puts me somewhere in the middle, but I don’t know what you’d call that.”

Barbara Bush, former President George H. W. Bush’s wife, was more reserved in her public statements about abortion and was at odds with her husband’s anti-abortion stance. While she was not as outspoken as Betty Ford, she wrote in her 1994 memoir, “I hate abortions, but I just could not make that choice for someone else.”

Former first lady Laura Bush, wife of former President George W. Bush and daughter-in-law to Barbara Bush, also differed with the former Presidents Bush on abortion. 

PRO-LIFERS BLAST TRUMP ‘BETRAYAL’ WITH SHIFTING ABORTION STANCE, ANSWER ON FLORIDA AMENDMENT 4

“I think it’s important that it remain legal, because I think it’s important for people for medical reasons and other reasons,” she said in an interview with Larry King Live in 2010. 

Pat Nixon, then-President Richard Nixon’s wife, told reporters during a 1972 press conference – as Roe v. Wade arguments were being considered by the Supreme Court – that she supported the right to choose an abortion, but opposed “wholesale abortion on demand.”

Trump, wife of Republican presidential candidate and former President Donald Trump, wrote the memoir entitled “Melania” that is scheduled to come out on Oct. 8, per the Amazon release date. In the book, according to a preview by The Guardian, she expresses a viewpoint closely aligned with that of former first ladies before her.

“It is imperative to guarantee that women have autonomy in deciding their preference of having children, based on their own convictions, free from any intervention or pressure from the government,” Trump reportedly wrote.

VANCE, WALZ SPAR OVER ABORTION AND IMMIGRATION IN FIRST AND ONLY VP DEBATE 

“Why should anyone other than the woman herself have the power to determine what she does with her own body? A woman’s fundamental right of individual liberty, to her own life, grants her the authority to terminate her pregnancy if she wishes.

“Restricting a woman’s right to choose whether to terminate an unwanted pregnancy is the same as denying her control over her own body. I have carried this belief with me throughout my entire adult life.”

The former first lady drew criticism from pro-life advocates on social media after the excerpts were published just a month away from Election Day. This year, the Republican Party’s official platform also softened its language on abortion, as former President Trump also said he would not support a federal abortion ban.

EXCLUSIVE: The FBI is refusing to give the House Judiciary Committee a briefing on Iran’s hack of the Trump campaign and other key issues, Chairman Jim Jordan told Fox News Digital, saying that the American people deserve to have the information before Election Day. 

Jordan, R-Ohio, spoke exclusively with Fox News Digital and said that he and his committee have been seeking a briefing in an unclassified setting to obtain information relating to Iran’s hack of the Trump campaign, and whether the former president and his team had been given a defensive briefing on the matter.

The FBI has told Fox News Digital that it is committed to working with the committee but did not say if or when officials would brief Jordan. 

“This hacking of the Trump campaign by Iran — it looks like there was a dossier on JD Vance — that dossier winds up at the Harris campaign, and somehow, it happens to wind up in the press,” Jordan said. “There are lots of questions, like when did you find out about this? How did you find out about this? Did you give Trump a defensive briefing? Who was the person in the Harris campaign who got the information? How did they get the information? When did they tell you they had the information? How did it then get to the press?” 

HOUSE JUDICIARY INVESTIGATING DOJ FOR RELEASE OF ROUTH MANIFESTO OFFERING $150K TRUMP BOUNTY

Jordan said, “Those are just questions off the top of my head.” 

“It makes no sense, because we know if everything were reversed and the Iranians hacked the Harris campaign and there was a dossier on Tim Walz that ended up in the Trump campaign and then in the press, we know that they would all be going crazy,” Jordan said. “There would probably already be a special counsel.” 

Jordan also pointed to the fact that the hack was taken by an adversarial nation — Iran. 

“This is the same country that says they are trying to assassinate President Trump. This is the same country who is the chief sponsor of terrorism. This is the same country that wants to assassinate [Israeli] Prime Minister Netanyahu. And this is the same country who just sent rockets to our best ally — ballistic missiles to our best ally — the State of Israel,” Jordan said. “And we want to be briefed on this hacking, and they won’t do it.” 

The Trump campaign said that the documents had been obtained “illegally from sources hostile to the United States,” who “intended to interfere in the 2024 election and sow chaos throughout our Democratic process.” 

IRAN IS ‘INCREASINGLY AGGRESSIVE’ IN ITS OPERATIONS TO TARGET US PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGNS: INTEL COMMUNITY

The hack by Iran came “after recent reports of an Iranian plot to assassinate President Trump around the same time as the Butler, PA tragedy.” 

The documents were sent to Politico and included a 271-page “dossier” that the Trump campaign had put together on his eventual running mate Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, that dated back to February, the outlet said. 

It included Vance’s past stances on issues, statements and previous criticisms of Trump in a section called “POTENTIAL VULNERABILITIES.”

Meanwhile, Jordan also said his committee has other questions relating to Trump, the GOP presidential nominee, including why the Justice Department released the “bounty letter” from the second attempted assassin, Ryan Routh, who offered $150,000 to someone who could “complete the job” against Trump if he were to fail.

The DOJ, in a court filing last month, released Routh’s letter as evidence in a detention memo by the Justice Department in an effort to ensure Routh’s detention. 

DOJ INSPECTOR GENERAL DOES NOT DENY FBI INFORMANTS WERE AMONG JAN 6 CROWD

Jordan also told Fox News Digital he wants information from Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz, who testified last week that he would include in his highly anticipated report on Jan. 6, 2021 details about confidential human sources from the FBI and whether they had been embedded in the mob during the Capitol riot. 

During the hearing last week, Horowitz was asked whether he would “expose that there were confidential human sources at the Capitol” on Jan. 6, and “how many went into the Capitol?” 

Horowitz replied, “I’ll have that information in the report.”

Horowitz, though, indicated his report would not be made public until after Election Day. 

“Well, for goodness’ sake, it’s been four years,” Jordan said. “Why not give us that information now, right?” 

But Jordan said that “the FBI will not sit down with the committee.” 

Jordan stressed that the House Judiciary Committee is “the authorizing committee for the Justice Department.” 

TRUMP CAMPAIGN SAYS INTERNAL COMMUNICATIONS WERE HACKED, INCLUDING VANCE ‘DOSSIER,’ BY FOREIGN SOURCES

“They will not sit down and talk with our committee, and it’s ridiculous,” Jordan said. “This is important information for the American people to know before a consequential election.” 

Fox News Digital has learned that representatives for the House Judiciary Committee began requesting the briefing during a phone call on Sept. 24 with the FBI. The committee then had two phone calls on Sept. 25 with the FBI requesting a briefing, a call with the Justice Department on Oct. 1 requesting a briefing, and two calls with the FBI on Oct. 1 requesting a briefing. 

A source said representatives of the committee also left a voicemail for the FBI on Oct. 1 requesting a briefing and had a call with the FBI again on Oct. 2. 

An FBI spokesperson told Fox News Digital that the bureau “has continually demonstrated its commitment to working with the Committee to accommodate its requests, and we have provided numerous documents and briefings.” 

“The FBI recognizes the importance of congressional oversight and remains committed to cooperating with the Committee in good faith,” the FBI spokesperson said. 

But that cooperation has not met Jordan’s requests, the chairman said, and warned that all options are on the table. 

“We have done more than 100 subpoenas this Congress, so every option is on the table for us to try to get the information that we believe the American people are entitled to have before making a decision, as I said, in an election that is so consequential,” Jordan told Fox News Digital. 

“We’ve got important questions about important issues that impact our country and one of the major candidates for political office,” he said. “Give us the briefing, for goodness’ sake. Answer our questions.” 

Former President Trump and Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp will appear together on Friday for the first time in four years as they receive a briefing on recovery and relief efforts one week after Hurricane Helene tore a path of destruction after slamming into the southeast United States.

The former president and the popular two-term conservative Georgia governor are scheduled to be briefed on storm damage and to “deliver remarks to the press” as they team up during a visit to Evans, a town in the northeast portion of the state.

The event is not being described as a campaign stop.

For Trump, it’s his second trip this week to Georgia, following a visit on Monday in Valdosta. The state, along with North and South Carolina, and Tennessee, took direct hits from the powerful storm. The death toll from Hurricane Helene now stands at over 220, with hundreds still missing, more than 800,000 people in seven states still without power or running water, and damage estimated in the billions.

TRUMP CLAIMS BIDEN, HARRIS, STORM RESPONSE IS INCOMPETENT

With Trump locked in a margin-of-error presidential race with Vice President Kamala Harris, and Georgia and North Carolina crucial battleground states, Trump has repeatedly slammed President Biden and Harris over their handing of the federal response to the storm.

“It is going down as the WORST & MOST INCOMPETENTLY MANAGED ‘STORM,’ AT THE FEDERAL LEVEL, EVER SEEN BEFORE,” Trump claimed in a social media post on Thursday, as Biden spent a second straight day in the southeast surveying storm damage. 

HEAD HERE FOR THE LATEST FOX NEWS REPORTING ON HURRICANE HELENE AFTERMATH

And Harris stopped in Georgia on Wednesday for storm briefings and to meet with local officials and victims of the storm, as she canceled a campaign swing in another key electoral state, Pennsylvania.

The vice president heads to North Carolina on Saturday to survey damage and get briefed on federal, state and local efforts.

When Trump visited Valdosta on Monday, he wasn’t joined by Kemp, who was surveying storm damage in other parts of Georgia.

For two years after his 2020 election defeat to President Biden, which included a razor-thin loss in Georgia, Trump attacked Kemp for failing to overturn the election results in his state. 

Trump urged, and then supported, a 2022 GOP gubernatorial primary challenge against Kemp by former Sen. David Perdue.

The former president toned down his criticism of the governor after Kemp crushed Perdue to easily win renomination on his way to re-election.

KEMP SAYS THERE’S NO PATH TO 270 FOR TRUMP WITHOUT GEORGIA

But in August, Trump went on a 10-minute tirade against Kemp at a rally in Atlanta just blocks from the Georgia State Capitol. He blamed the governor not only for failing to overturn the 2020 vote count but also for not stopping a county prosecutor from indicting the former president for his attempts to reverse the results.

“He’s a bad guy. He’s a disloyal guy. And he’s a very average governor,” Trump said. “Little Brian. Little Brian Kemp. Bad guy.”

But just a couple of weeks later, in a major about face for Trump, the former president praised Kemp in a social media post “for all of your help and support in Georgia, where a win is so important to the success of our Party and, most importantly, our Country.”

“I look forward to working with you, your team, and all of my friends in Georgia to help MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!” the Republican presidential nominee added.

Trump’s change of heart came amid a margin-of-error presidential race in Georgia.

The Peach State is one of seven key battlegrounds whose razor-thin margins decided Biden’s 2020 victory over Trump and are likely to determine whether Harris or Trump succeeds the president in the White House.

Republican strategists agree that to recapture Georgia, Trump will need assistance from Kemp’s well-oiled and funded political machine to turn out GOP voters.

Kemp emphasized in an exclusive national interview with Fox News Digital in August that “there’s no path for former President Trump to win or any Republican . . . to get to 270 [electoral votes] without Georgia.”

The governor said his state “should be one that we win if we have all the mechanics that we need. And I’m working hard to help provide those in a lot of ways and turn the Republican vote out.”

“It’s my belief that we cannot afford four more years of [President] Joe Biden and Kamala Harris or Kamala Harris and [Minnesota Gov.] Tim Walz, which I think would probably be worse than even Biden and Harris were,” Kemp said.

Kemp also told Fox News at the time that Trump’s tirade from early August “was a small distraction that’s in the past” and emphasized that Republicans “need to stay focused on the future. . . . We need to be telling people why they should vote for us, what we’re going to do to make things better than they are right now. And there’s a host of issues that I think you could contrast Kamala Harris and her record.”

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

Democratic Pennsylvania Sen. Bob Casey and Republican challenger Dave McCormick squared off in their first debate Thursday evening, less than five weeks ahead of what is expected to be one of the most closely watched races this election cycle. 

Casey and McCormick took the debate stage Thursday at 8 p.m. in Harrisburg, where the two traded barbs over issues such as the economy and inflation, immigration, abortion. The race, which is rated as “leans Democrat” by the Cook Political Report, is expected to be one of the tightest Senate races across the country, with Casey himself acknowledging earlier this year that it will be a “close, tough race.”

Casey has long been a Pennsylvania Democratic stalwart, first winning his election to the U.S. Senate in 2007. The Casey name also has deep roots in the state, with Bob Casey Sr., the senator’s father, serving as the Keystone State’s governor from 1987 to 1995, following years of serving in various other elected roles.

McCormick is an Army combat veteran and former CEO of hedge fund Bridgewater Associates, who served as the Under Secretary of Commerce for Industry and Security as well as Under Secretary of the Treasury for International Affairs under former President George W. Bush’s administration. Former President Donald Trump endorsed McCormick in April, lauding him as a “a good man” who “wants to run a good ship.”

MCCORMICK SEIZES ON PENNSYLVANIA SENATE RACE GAP, LAYING BORDER BLAME ON CASEY

The Senate race comes as the federal election spotlights Pennsylvania once again as a key battleground state that will likely determine the outcome of the presidential election. Former President Donald Trump narrowly won the state in his successful 2016 election against former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, while President Biden declared victory in the Keystone State in the 2020 election. 

As the pair squared off for the first of two debates ahead of Nov. 5, Fox News Digital compiled the top five moments of Thursday’s event. 

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Casey and McCormick both weighed in on the federal election, including Casey lauding Harris following his staunch support of Biden before the president ultimately dropped out of the 2024 race as concerns about his mental acuity and age mounted over the summer. 

“From your perspective, who is the better candidate for Pennsylvania? Biden or Harris?” moderator and ABC27 anchor Dennis Owens asked Casey. 

“I think Vice President Harris, who’s running a strong campaign, I think she’ll carry Pennsylvania. It’s going to be very close, just like the Senate race will be close. But she’s running a strong campaign. But the people of our state have to make two basic decisions – in addition to other statewide races. They have decided in the presidential race, and they have to decide our race, and this race is very clear,” Casey responded. 

When asked whether he believes Biden or Harris would be a better president for Pennsylvania voters, Casey brushed off delivering a direct answer. 

“Oh, I don’t know, Dennis. I mean, we’ll never know the answer to that, but the voters are gonna make a decision,” he said. 

McCormick, on the other hand, was asked if he could offer one example where he does not agree with Trump after slamming Casey during the debate for overwhelmingly voting with Biden over the last three and a half years. 

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“[Trump] recently said that he wanted to get rid of the ban on SALT taxes, which Sen. Casey supported, too” McCormick responded. “Listen, that’s a that’s a tax break for millionaires in New York and California at the expense of PA taxpayers. So I wouldn’t support that.”

“But listen, Senator Casey stood next to Joe Biden when he could hardly finish a sentence. We saw this on the debate stage, he said ‘he’s ready to go,'” McCormick continued, referring to Casey’s support of Biden remaining in the presidential race until Biden ultimately dropped out. “Then Sen. Casey said, ‘Kamala Harris is great. You’re going to love her when you get to know her.’ This is a woman who, in the last few years, says she wanted to ban fracking, legalize illegal immigration, give them federal benefits, take away our guns, defund the police. This is her position, so she’s flip-flopped on everything, and Bob Casey standing there by her.”

Both candidates accused the other of “lies” throughout the debate, including McCormick touting a new website called CaseyLies.com, and Casey accusing McCormick of misrepresenting himself as a Pennsylvanian. 

“For your viewers tonight, I have a website that’s been established today, it’s just been launched, CaseyLies.com. You can go and see the actual facts by third-party sources of all the things he’s saying. There will be lies throughout. But you should ask yourself, ‘Why is a senator with an 18-year track record, who should be able to run on his record, running his entire campaign with a negative set of attacks on me, most of them lies?’” McCormick said towards the start of the debate. 

McCormick claimed that Casey often launched “lies” at him during the debate because he “doesn’t have a track record” in the Senate to run on. 

Casey shot back during the debate that McCormick has misrepresented himself as a full-fledged Pennsylvanian. 

“We’ve heard a couple of times tonight about telling lies, but probably the biggest lie told in this whole election, that probably most Pennsylvanians have never heard a bigger lie, was the lie when my opponent said he lived in Pennsylvania, when he was living in Connecticut. The Associated Press on August the 14th, 2023, did a story that proved that he was living in Connecticut,” Casey said. 

McCormick defended that he was born in Pennsylvania and has spent “the majority of my life” there, but also lived in Connecticut for years when he served as CEO of Bridgewater Associates. 

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The economy is among the top concerns for voters in Pennsylvania, as well as the nation at large, with both candidates outlining how they would tackle spiraling inflation if re-elected or elected to the Senate, and what they believe is behind the rise in consumers’ costs.  

“Prices are too high, especially when you go to the grocery store to buy food or household items, items that people need every week, or at least every other week. And these big conglomerates, these big corporations, rig those prices and jack them up to levels we’ve never seen, all while they’re getting record profits,” Casey said, while defending his efforts targeting corporations he has accused of “greedflation.” 

So-called greedflation is understood as corporations allegedly exploiting inflation woes by increasing prices on consumers to produce greater profits. 

“We can take it on by passing a price gouging bill to go after those companies, hold them accountable,” Casey said. 

The Democratic senator also addressed his campaign against “shrinkflation,” which he explained as corporations shrinking products for consumers while not lowering prices. 

“We did a report on shrinkflation, which covered a lot of companies around the country. And if that’s happening with regard to a Pennsylvania company or any other company around the country, they should be held accountable. When they take a product, shrink the contents of the product, or what’s in a bag, and don’t shrink the price, that’s deceptive. That’s ripping people off,” he said, adding that such companies should be held legally accountable. 

McCormick shot back that higher costs on Americans in recent years is due to “out of control spending” at the hands of Casey and other Democrats, including Vice President Kamala Harris and President Biden. 

“When you’ve spent your entire life in public service, elected office, 30 years, you’re like a hammer looking for a nail. The cause of inflation is the policies, the out-of-control spending of Biden, Harris and Casey. Bob Casey voted 100% of the time for that $5 trillion of new spending. The experts at the time, Larry Summers, the San Francisco Fed, said this would create inflation,” McCormick said. 

“Bob Casey doesn’t understand how the economy works. That’s why he’s trying to do all this economic voodoo stuff with price controls,” he later charged. 

Casey and McCormick were both grilled about their current abortion stances during the debate, as abortion once again sits atop many voters’ list of election concerns following the Supreme Court’s 2022 decision to overturn Roe v. Wade. 

Casey positioned himself as a pro-life Democrat earlier in his career, but he voted to codify abortion protections nationwide following the overturning of Roe. 

“In 2022, when the Supreme Court overturned a 49-year right, it overturned Roe v. Wade, I think everyone had to make a decision, including senators. I made a decision to support the Women’s Health Protection Act. I don’t support Republican efforts to ban abortion across the country,” Casey said. 

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McCormick was questioned about his remarks in 2022 that he supports rare exceptions for abortion, such as when the health of the mother is at risk, and has since said that he supports additional exceptions for abortion. 

“This is an extremely polarizing issue. As you know, I have six daughters, so this is something we spend time talking about. I believe this should be a state’s right. I believe states should decide. Pennsylvania has had a law. It’s been supported by Democrats and Republicans, like was signed into law by the Senator’s father, Governor Casey. I support the three exceptions. I would not favor an abortion ban of any kind,” McCormick responded. 

Casey recently came under fire from a Pennsylvania sheriff who slammed the Democratic senator’s border policies for the influx of fentanyl into the U.S., which the dad said had led to his son’s death. 

“We can’t bring back the people we’ve lost. But we can get rid of the weak politicians like Bob Casey who let it happen,” Blair County Sheriff Jim Ott said in a recent McCormick campaign ad. 

Casey was asked about the sheriff’s remarks during his debate Thursday. 

“Mr. Casey, the Blair County Sheriff, blames you for the fentanyl death of his son, saying you have not done enough to secure the border. What is your response to that,” Owens asked. 

“I met so many families across the state, and whether it’s a sheriff in Blair County or a mom in Allegheny County, Janet that I met, who talked about her daughter, Brianna, this is an awful, awful tragedy for those families. That’s why we need to invest in the strategies that we know work. [McCormick] won’t do that, because he’s weak in the face of the political pressure from his own party. . . . We can solve this problem by investing in the technology, hiring thousands more Border Patrol, so we can inspect every single vehicle coming across the border,” he said. 

Amid the immigration debate, McCormick blamed the Biden-Harris administration and Casey for the immigration crisis at the southern border. 

“The border crisis is the direct result of the weakness of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris. And Bob Casey supported them every second. What chutzpah to run an ad on how tough he is on the border, when he voted against funding for the Border Patrol. He ran an ad in front of the wall that he voted against. He voted for sanctuary cities, he voted for federal benefits for illegal immigrants. And the fentanyl crisis that’s come across our border is the direct result of the weakness of Bob Casey not standing up to these terrible cartels,” McCormick argued. 

The pair have agreed to another debate, next taking the same stage in Philadelphia on Oct. 15. 

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

Former President Donald Trump let loose on former Republican Rep. Liz Cheney following her endorsement of Vice President Kamala Harris.

Citing her historic defeat by a 2-to-1 margin in 2022 — and the controversial leadership of her father, Vice President Dick Cheney, during the U.S. invasion of the Middle East — Trump called the former Wyoming Republican a “low IQ war hawk.”

“Liz Cheney lost her Congressional Seat by the largest margin in the history of Congress for a sitting Representative. The people of Wyoming are really smart!” Trump wrote on Truth Social.

KAMALA HARRIS TEAMS UP WITH LIZ CHENEY IN BIRTHPLACE OF REPUBLICAN PARTY

He continued, “She is a low IQ War Hawk that, as a member of the J6 Unselect Committee of Political Hacks and Thugs, ILLEGALLY DESTROYED & DELETED all documents, information, and evidence.”

Cheney, a one-time rising conservative star in the GOP, in the wake of the Jan. 6, 2021 riot on the U.S. Capitol vowed to do everything she can to prevent Trump from returning to power.

The former representative campaigned for Harris in battleground Wisconsin on Thursday — pushing a message of unity against their mutual enemy’s campaign to return to the Oval Office.

The campaign event took place in Ripon, where a one-room schoolhouse was designated a national historic landmark due to its role in holding a series of meetings in 1854 that led to the formation of the Republican Party.

NIKKI HALEY DEFENDS TRUMP SUPPORT AFTER BEING CALLED OUT BY LIZ CHENEY: ‘THIS IS ABOUT AMERICA’

“I have never voted for a Democrat, but this year I am proudly casting my vote for Vice President Kamala Harris,” Cheney told the Wisconsin audience as she formally endorsed the Democrat presidential nominee. “As a conservative, as a patriot, as a mother, as someone who reveres our Constitution, I am honored to join her in this urgent cause.”

Cheney, who has been vocal in emphasizing the importance of defending the nation’s democratic process and of putting country before party, was one of only two Republicans who served on a special select committee organized by House Democrats that investigated the riot at the Capitol.

Trump’s social media remarks lumped together Liz Cheney and her former vice president father — who has also endorsed Harris — writing them off as “two fools” who are “suffering gravely from Trump Derangement Syndrome.”

“Her father, Dick, was a leader of our ridiculous journey into the Middle East, where Trillions of Dollars were spent, millions of people were killed – and for what? NOTHING! 

“Well, today, these two fools, because the Republican Party no longer wants them, endorsed the most Liberal Senator in the U.S. Senate, further Left than even Pocahontas or Crazy Bernie Sanders – Lyin’ Kamala Harris. What a pathetic couple that is, both suffering gravely from Trump Derangement Syndrome. Good Luck to them both!!!”

Cheney on Thursday warned that “our republic faces a threat unlike any we have faced before: a former president who attempted to stay in power by unraveling the foundations of our republic.”

She argued that Trump “can never be trusted with power again” and emphasized that “in this election, putting patriotism ahead of partisanship is not an aspiration, it is our duty.”

“What January 6 shows us is there is not an ounce, not an ounce, of compassion in Donald Trump. He is petty. He is vindictive. He is cruel. And Donald Trump is not fit to lead this good and great nation,” Cheney said.

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