Second gentleman Doug Emhoff denied the veracity of a Daily Mail report in which three unnamed sources accused him of having slapped a former girlfriend during a 2012 trip to the Cannes Film Festival.

Fox News Digital has not been able to independently confirm the allegations.

“This report is untrue,” an unnamed representative for Vice President Kamala Harris’ husband told news outlet Semafor. “Any suggestion that he would or has ever hit a woman is false.”

The Daily Mail’s exclusive story on Tuesday quoted a trio of unidentified sources who claim Emhoff slapped his then-girlfriend while the couple waited in a valet line following an event in Nice, France, in 2012. The alleged altercation was purportedly sparked when the woman – identified only by the pseudonym “Jane” and described as a successful New York attorney – flirted with a valet, according to the article.

The Harris campaign, the Office of the Vice President and a representative for Emhoff’s ex-wife, Kerstin Emhoff, did not comment despite repeated requests from Fox News. 

Several media outlets, including Semafor, noted they had been unable to match the Daily Mail’s reporting and legacy media companies such as the New York Times have yet to report on the claims. 

The Daily Mail’s article hinged on the recollections of three people described as being Jane’s friends. The outlet said its sources requested anonymity due to fear of retaliation from Emhoff. The three friends reportedly provided the outlet with a photo of the pair when they were still a couple, as well as itineraries and correspondence between Emhoff and Jane to substantiate that they made the trip to France in May 2012.

‘HE IMPREGNATED HIS KID’S NANNY’: PSAKI RIPPED AFTER CLAIMING EMHOFF ‘RESHAPED’ MASCULINITY

One of the sources is described by the Daily Mail as a female New York attorney who learned about the alleged incident from Jane.

“He hauled up and slapped her so hard she spun around,” the source is quoted as saying. “She said she was in utter shock. She was so furious, she slapped him on one side, and then on the other cheek with the other hand.”

Another friend, described by the Daily Mail as a New York businessman, told the outlet Jane called him sobbing following the alleged incident. 

PROGRESSIVE WOMEN’S GROUPS SILENT ON SECOND GENTLEMAN DOUG EMHOFF’S AFFAIR

“It was very clear what she was telling me,” that source said, according to the Daily Mail. “She said she was with a guy, her date, she was at the Cannes Film Festival, and he hit her. She was in the car with the guy at the time.”

The male friend said he learned more details about the alleged episode after the initial phone call. 

“It was something like 3 a.m. They were trying to get out of there and they both had been drinking. There was a gigantic line for taxis,” he told the outlet. “She went up to one of the valet guys, offered him 100 euros or whatever, to get to the head of the line. She told me she put her hand on his shoulder. Doug apparently thought that she was flirting, and came over and slapped her in the face.”

A third friend, described as a female executive, told the Daily Mail that she learned of the alleged incident in 2014, and purportedly found out new details from Jane in 2018, when Harris, then a senator from California, made headlines with her questioning of a Supreme Court nominee who had been accused of sexual assault.

“[She] is a gorgeous, strong woman and you would never expect somebody to hit her,” the third friend told the Daily Mail. “When he hit her she hit him back, like, ‘Don’t you ever do that again,'”

KAMALA HARRIS’ HUSBAND DOUG EMHOFF ‘RESHAPED THE PERCEPTION OF MASCULINITY’: MSNBC HOST

The third Daily Mail source added: “I asked her if he ever apologized. She said ‘no,’ but he commented about the hit she gave him. It was a tennis metaphor. But no apology at all.”

All three friends told the outlet that Jane hit Emhoff back after the alleged initial slap. They also claimed that Jane tried to leave the valet area after the alleged slap, but that Emhoff got into a cab with Jane.

Jane and Emhoff had been dating for about three months before the reported trip to France, according to the friends. Emhoff allegedly cut the trip short and returned to the U.S. for his daughter’s birthday at the end of May, and never saw Jane again, the friends told the outlet. 

Emhoff’s alleged relationship with Jane unfolded after his 2008 divorce from his first wife and before his 2014 marriage to Harris. 

The New York Post on Wednesday slammed Emhoff as “Worst Gentleman” in its cover story detailing the Daily Mail’s article.

Emhoff is fresh off of a Sunday sit-down interview on MSNBC during which Jen Psaki celebrated him as having reshaped “the perception of masculinity.”

“There is also an important, interesting part about how people have talked about your role is how your role has reshaped the perception of masculinity,” Psaki said. “I’m not sure you planned on that, but you are an incredibly supportive spouse. Has that been an evolution for you? Do you think that’s part of the role you might play as first gentleman?”

Emhoff responded: “It’s funny. I’ve started to think a lot about this. I’ve always been like this. My dad’s always been like this. To me, it’s the right thing to do, support women. It is mutual with Kamala and I. We support each other, we have each other’s back.”

DOUG EMHOFF’S EX-WIFE RESPONDS AFTER SECOND GENTLEMAN ADMITTED TO AFFAIR WITH NANNY

He added: “I’ve said many times when we lift up women, we support women, whether it’s pay equity, child care, family leave, and all of these issues in this post-Dobbs hellscape. Women should not be less than. Women should not have less rights and be treated differently. That’s not the American way.”

Clips of the exchange spread like wildfire on social media as critics noted that, in August, Emhoff admitted to having an affair with his family’s nanny during his first marriage years ago.

Emhoff’s admission came shortly after the Daily Mail published a separate report in August claiming that he got his daughter’s nanny pregnant.

The affair occurred before Emhoff’s relationship with and eventual marriage to Harris. 

“During my first marriage, Kerstin and I went through some tough times on account of my actions. I took responsibility, and in the years since, we worked through things as a family and have come out stronger on the other side,” Emhoff said over the summer, acknowledging the affair, but not naming the nanny. 

Emhoff and his first wife were married from 1992 to 2008 and share two adult children. Harris married Emhoff in 2014, and helped co-parent his children, who call their stepmom “mommala.” 

HOW KAMALA HARRIS’ HUSBAND’S CHEATING SCANDAL COULD HELP TRUMP, EXPERT SAYS

Emhoff reportedly told Jane in 2012 about his divorce, according to her female friend who works as an executive. 

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The Daily Mail’s report was published just five weeks before the election, when Harris will square off against former President Trump at the ballot box. 

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

A federal judge ruled in favor of a southern border rancher who had argued that the Biden administration had violated environmental law in it’s “haste to reverse its predecessor’s border policies” in 2021.

An Arizona rancher, Steven Smith, was part of the lawsuit, Massachusetts Coalition for Immigration Reform et al. v. U.S. Department of Homeland Security, challenging the Biden administration. The suit claimed that the Department of Homeland Security had failed to conduct a mandatory review required by the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) before halting border wall construction, a key Trump-era project.

Under NEPA, a federal agency must conduct an Environmental Assessment to determine whether a federal action has the potential to cause significant effects on the human environment, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.

After a two-day bench trial, Judge Trevor McFadden of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia issued a ruling on Friday that Smith “suffered concrete and particularized injuries” as a result of DHS not meeting the requirements of NEPA. 

ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS WITH ‘TERRORISM TIES’ WILL CONTINUE TO EXPLOIT BORDER, HOMELAND SECURITY REPORT WARNS

The Trump-appointed judge also concluded that the actions taken by DHS, such as ending the “Remain in Mexico” policy, resulted in indirect effects relating to population growth.

Smith testified that migrant activity on his ranch had “dramatically increased” after President Joe Biden was elected, and that he had begun seeing illegal immigrants on his property multiple times a month and finds trash on a daily basis.

Smith claimed that the trash left by the migrants has had negative impacts on the environment, as well as on his own cattle, which were eating the litter. 

GAETZ TO INTRODUCE BILL CUTTING OFF FEDERAL AID TO GROUPS HELPING ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS ENTER US

The rancher also testified that water for cattle and other wildlife was a very scarce resource and that migrants were taking it from a trough on his land. According to court documents: “While this may aid thirsty trespassers, it causes Smith to lose ‘thousands and thousands of gallons of water,’ which ‘can take [him] days and days and days to regain.” 

The judge ruled that Smith, a Cochise County resident, “suffered tangible harms” caused by the migrant crisis and is entitled to relief after illegal immigrants “trespassed onto his land, stole his water, and trashed his property.” 

“At trial, Smith proved as a matter of fact that his harms traced to migrants who reacted predictably to DHS’s decisions,” the ruling reads.

FIRST ON FOX: More than 1.7 million migrants have been encountered at the U.S. border and have come from countries that officials believe pose a national security threat to the United States, according to a new House report.

The report by the House Judiciary Committee says the number of “special interest aliens” (SIAs) came from a congressional staff briefing by Department of Homeland Security (DHS) officials. SIAs are those who have come from countries identified by the U.S. government as having conditions that promote or protect terrorism or potentially pose some sort of national security threat to the U.S.

In 2019, the DHS defined an SIA as “a non-U.S. person who, based on an analysis of travel patterns, potentially poses a national security risk to the United States or its interests. Often such individuals or groups are employing travel patterns known or evaluated to possibly have a nexus to terrorism.”

HARRIS VISITS CRUCIAL BORDER STATE AS IMMIGRATION RECORD SPARKS SCRUTINY: A TIMELINE

“DHS analysis includes an examination of travel patterns, points of origin, and/or travel segments that are tied to current assessments of national and international threat environments,” it said.

The House report says that there are currently 26 special interest countries, including Afghanistan, Cuba, Iran, Iraq, Libya, Nigeria, Syria and Turkey. The agency recently removed 11 countries from the list and added 12 others, including North Korea, China and Venezuela.

The U.S. has seen numerous Chinese and Venezuelan nationals in particular, with nearly 300,000 Venezuelans encountered at the border this fiscal year so far and more than 73,000 Chinese nationals.

Border Patrol sources have previously told Fox News they have extreme concerns about people coming across from special interest countries, given they have little to no way to vet them. Unless they have committed a crime in the U.S. or are on a federal watch list, agents have no way of knowing their criminal history because their countries do not share data with the U.S., so there is nothing to match their name against when authorities run their fingerprints.

ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS WITH ‘TERRORISM TIES’ WILL CONTINUE TO EXPLOIT BORDER, HOMELAND SECURITY REPORT WARNS 

The committee said that DHS told the committee that being a national from a special interest country does not affect a migrant’s admissibility into the U.S., although officials have previously stressed that all migrants are vetted using a multi-layered process that includes biographic and biometric information.

As an example of the risks that can be posed by the release of SIA migrants, the committee pointed to the case of Mohammad Kharwin, who was released into the U.S. and later on bond by an immigration judge despite potential terror ties. The DHS located and rearrested him two weeks later. DHS has since agreed to a voluntary departure of Kharwin from the U.S., and he is currently in ICE custody.

“Congress must take seriously its efforts to secure the border and stop the weakening of U.S. national security,” the report said.

“As the case of Mohammad Kharwin exemplifies, the Biden-Harris Administration has sown chaos at America’s borders and allowed potential national security and counterintelligence threats to enter the United States—and, at least in Kharwin’s case, be released into the country multiple times,” it said.

The report found that there were around 98,000 SIA encounters in FY 21, which went up to 482,705 in FY 22, then 597,058 in FY 23 and 531,768 in FY 24 so far. Of those, most were encountered at the southern border, with 95,705 southwest border encounters of special interest aliens in fiscal year 2021; 465,664 in 2022; 566,079 in 2023; and 504,215 in 2024 so far. 

The increase in SIAs has come amid an ongoing debate about the southern border and how to tackle it. The Biden administration has pointed to a sharp drop in encounters since June, which it attributes to a June presidential proclamation which limited the number of asylum entries into the U.S. 

According to those numbers, encounters between ports of entry have decreased by more than 50%, and DHS has removed or returned more than 131,000 individuals to more than 140 countries, including operating more than 400 international repatriation flights. 

“In that period, DHS has almost tripled the percentage of noncitizens processed for Expedited Removal, and the percentage of releases pending immigration court proceedings is down nearly half. Total removals and returns over the past year exceed removals and returns in any fiscal year since 2010 and a majority of all southwest border encounters during the past three fiscal years resulted in a removal, return, or expulsion,” Customs and Border Protection said in a release last month.

It has also called for the passage of a bipartisan Senate bill that would increase funding to border agencies, including for detention beds, and would also place limits on migrant entries into the U.S. Conservatives have said it would codify high levels of illegal immigration.

Vice President Kamala Harris visited the border in Arizona last week and hammered former President Donald Trump for his lack of support for the bipartisan bill. However, Republicans have noted that the House passed a sweeping border security bill last year, but the Senate has yet to pass that either.

Fox News’ Bill Melugin contributed to this report.

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

Democratic Rep. Adam Schiff issued a letter to major social media executives this week demanding they reveal how they will combat “misinformation” and “disinformation” in the 2024 election. 

The letter, co-signed by seven other members of Congress, accuses social media platforms such as X, Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok of failing to properly prepare for malicious info-hazards in November. 

“We write to your platforms as concerned Members of Congress, seeking further information about your preparation for and response to the spread of misinformation and disinformation, or the potential incitement of violence on your platforms leading up to the 2024 elections,” the California congressman wrote. “We have already seen how posts with disinformation have spread on the major social media platforms both in the United States and across the globe during election cycles.”

NRA ACCUSES META OF ‘ELECTION INTERFERENCE’ AFTER LABELING POSTS HITTING HARRIS ‘FALSE INFORMATION’

The letter continued, “We continue to be concerned with each of your companies’ ability to react efficiently and effectively to misinformation and disinformation, or to any potential incitement of violence occurring on your platforms.”

In the letter, the signers accused social platforms Meta, Discord, and Snap specifically of “[reducing] their elections team dramatically” following the 2022 elections.

X, Meta, and TikTok were singled out and scolded for having “not increased their transparency for external groups who can aid in monitoring election information.”

NEWSOM’S DEEPFAKE ELECTION LAWS ARE ALREADY BEING CHALLENGED IN FEDERAL COURT

“While the impetus of this letter is the 2024 election, political and election-related mis- and disinformation persists even between elections, so we are also urging your companies to commit to taking action on election and political misinformation year-round, not just in the leadup to elections.”

A series of specific questions are offered at the end of the letter, including “Will your company be changing your election integrity policies between now and the 2024 U.S. general election?” and “How will your company be more transparent in enforcement of its community guidelines regarding election integrity and transparent with the public about actions it has taken?”

“Will your company commit to sharing data and metrics on the effectiveness of your enforcement systems in relation to US elections and political speech?” the Democratic congress members asked. “How will your company address mis- and disinformation made by political actors or verified accounts, and how will they be treated differently, if at all, compared to ordinary users?”

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The letter was co-signed by Democratic Representatives Julia Brownley of California, Andre Carson of Indiana, Dan Goldman of New York, Robert Garcia of California, Raúl M. Grijalva of Arizona, Hank Johnson of Georgia and Doris Matsui of California.

It was addressed to the following executives: Mark Zuckerberg, Meta; Linda Yaccarino, X; Shou Zi Chew, TikTok; Sundar Pichai, Google; Adam Mosseri, Instagram; Evan Spiegel, Snap; Neal Mohan, YouTube; Satya Nadella, Microsoft.

Voters in Kent County, Michigan, could play a large role in determining who wins November’s presidential election, but many voters in the area are still undecided about their choice.

“I think there is too much division in his country. I think people on the left and people on the right hate each other a lot and I don’t think that’s right,” said one Kent County voter, who told Fox News Digital he is still undecided.

The comments come as Kent County, which includes Michigan’s second-largest city of Grand Rapids and much of the surrounding area, figures to play an outsized role in November. 

While Michigan is well-known as one of the seven key swing states in the upcoming election, Kent County figures to be one of the key counties. Holding over 6% of the state’s population, the county has traditionally been known as a conservative haven. 

TRUMP TAKES NFL, NBA TO TASK ABOUT KNEELING DURING NATIONAL ANTHEM

However, that trend has started to reverse itself in recent years, starting when former President Barack Obama was able to capture the county in 2008. Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, won the county during his presidential bid in 2012, while former President Donald Trump took Kent County in 2016. It went back to Democrats in 2020, when President Biden was able to capture this important part of Michigan.

This year’s race promises to feature Kent County again, though some voters there remain unconvinced by the candidates.

“Something which stood out to me about Trump is that he didn’t bring us into any wars,” one undecided voter said before noting that he believed Vice President Kamala Harris’ “stance is a lot clearer on LGBTQ rights.”

Immigration stood out as an issue to some Kent County voters, with one telling Fox News Digital the issue was a matter of human rights.

“People having the rights to be in our country and the rights to health care,” said the voter, who indicated he was voting for Harris.

VANCE, WALZ VICE PRESIDENTIAL DEBATE ENDS WITH BOTH CANDIDATES TOUTING ‘NEW’ FUTURE

“Hopefully she can bring down housing costs and pretty much just inflation for young people like myself,” he added. “Trying to buy a house, trying to get loans and cars and things like that is very important for people of my age.”

However, another voter disagreed on the economy, arguing Trump is the right candidate to lead the country forward.

“I believe that a person who has run a company, that’s been in business, can do a better job than a lifelong politician in terms of making decisions,” the voter said.

That voter also indicated support for Trump on foreign policy, arguing he garnered the respect of world leaders.

“I think he was not afraid to stand up for what he felt is right,” he said. “I think other world leaders took note of that.”

Another voter, who indicated foreign policy was a key issue, disagreed.

“One candidate gets it and the other doesn’t,” the voter, who indicated support for Harris, told Fox News Digital of the reason he is voting for Harris.

“She understands the importance of our standing on the global stage, international politics, and our national security. I don’t think Trump understands that,” the voter continued.

Yet others had more trouble picking a candidate, most notably because of the divisive nature of modern politics.

“One day I’ll go one way and another day I’ll go another way,” one undecided voter told Fox News Digital.

“It’s hard to take her seriously, nothing sticks out about her,” she said on Harris, while also noting that he finds it “very hard to believe” that someone as rich as Trump ” could care about people that don’t have any money.”

The voter also deducted points from Trump because of the “tone of his voice.”

“The name calling, I don’t particularly care for that,” the voter said.

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

FIRST ON FOX – Ohio Republican Bernie Moreno is hitting incumbent Democrat Sen. Sherrod Brown on his Inflation Reduction Act vote in a new ad that’s part of a $25 million new buy ahead of Election Day. 

The 30-second ad spot, which will run on television and digitally, opens with a single mother from Versailles, Ohio, saying she can’t believe the current prices for groceries. 

“It’s a lot tougher to provide for my kids with the Democrats’ inflation,” the woman, Carla, says. “Sherrod Brown’s only made things worse. Brown supported Kamala, not us, and voted for her radical Inflation Act, and now prices are at a 40-year-high. Bernie Moreno will fight to lower prices and stop inflation. That’s why I trust Bernie Moreno to help Ohio families.” 

The ad, first obtained by Fox News Digital in advance of its planned roll out, also includes the message on screen: “Sherrod Brown voted for Kamala’s Inflation Act.” 

VIRGINIA SENATE DEBATE: CLINTON EX-RUNNING MATE KAINE, GOP CHALLENGER CAO SPAR ON IMMIGRATION, DEI IN MILITARY

It was paid for by Bernie Moreno for Senate and the National Republican Senatorial Committee.

“Hardworking Ohioans are suffering under the record-high inflation created by Kamala Harris and Sherrod Brown,” Moreno said in a statement to Fox News Digital. “While he claims to fight for Ohio, families are unable to afford basic necessities. In November, we will send him packing and get our economy back on track.” 

Moreno’s campaign told Fox News Digital that the ad is part of an additional $25 million in spending. It comes just 33 days before the Nov. 5 election. Early voting in Ohio starts Oct. 8. 

The contest is on track to be the most expensive Senate race this cycle, with $310.4 million in spending from both campaigns as of August, according to Axios.

As of August, Moreno shelled out $158.4 million and Brown spent $152 million, Axios reported. 

Brown’s campaign announced Wednesday it will report raising nearly $31 million in the third quarter. 

Fox News has labeled the race between Moreno and Brown as a toss-up. 

NRA TARGETS SEN SHERROD BROWN IN 7-FIGURE AD BUY IN OHIO: ‘VOTE LIKE YOUR LIFE DEPENDS ON IT’

Fox News Digital reached out to Brown’s campaign and congressional office for comment about the new ad but did not immediately hear back. 

Ohio is center stage on the presidential ticket this cycle with Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, as former President Trump’s vice presidential running mate. Moreno ran against Vance in the 2022 GOP Republican primary for Senate, which Vance won, and has supported the Trump-Vance bid for the White House. 

In August 2023, on the one-year anniversary of President Biden signing his Inflation Reduction Act into law, Brown’s campaign issued a statement championing the legislation as having included “key priorities Brown fought for to save Ohioans money, crack down on Wall Street stock buybacks, and attract investment and good-paying jobs to Ohio.” 

“The Inflation Reduction Act is already saving Ohioans money at the pharmacy counter and spurring Ohio to lead the country in manufacturing the technology of the future – and those cost savings and Ohio jobs will only grow in the coming years,” Brown said in a statement at the time. 

As of August 2024, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) in the Midwest – which includes Ohio – rose by 2.6% over the last 12 months. 

The bureau said the index for all items, less food and energy, advanced 3.2% over the year, while food prices increased 1.8%. Energy prices declined 2.6%, “largely the result of decreasing prices for gasoline,” it added. 

The Biden administration is “failing” to protect federal property from wanton destruction at the hands of left-wing protesters, says a conservative government watchdog.

In a letter sent to the inspector general for the Department of the Interior (DOI) on Thursday morning, Michael Chamberlain of the nonprofit group Protect the Public’s Trust outlined several instances of protests that ended in some sort of disturbance to land or cultural symbols.

In October 2021, protest groups occupied the DOI headquarters. In June 2024, anti-Israel protesters vandalized federal properties in Washington, D.C., and clashed with police. In July 2024, similar protesters vandalized Columbus Plaza, burned federal property, and assaulted police and bystanders.

HURRICANE HELENE WREAKS HAVOC ACROSS ASHEVILLE, NC; NATIONAL GUARD DEPLOYED, 119 RESCUED

“Is the continued failure of Secretary Haaland’s Department to enforce the law or even the provisions of the permits it provides mere negligence? Or could it be an outgrowth of sympathy among DOI political leadership with the agendas of violent protestors?” Chamberlain asked Fox News Digital.  

“When you look at the behavior of some Department leaders — including multiple determinations by the Inspector General of ethics violations — neither possibility can be dismissed out of hand,” he said.

ISRAEL STRIKES WITHIN LEBANON AFTER HEZBOLLAH BALLISTIC MISSILE FORCES MILLIONS IN TEL AVIV INTO BOMB SHELTERS

In each instance, especially during the June and July 2024 protests, Chamberlain’s letter charges that the National Park Service (NPS) failed to enforce the law and maintain order, allowing key symbols of national history and culture to be defaced and destroyed, “symbols that it is a part of NPS’s core mission to steward and protect.”

“These failures appear to be enabled by a reckless failure to properly enforce demonstration permit conditions and provide the United States Park Police (“USPP”) with the resources they need to effectively do their jobs,” the letter states. “We call upon you to immediately investigate these failures, including determining whether political considerations played an improper role in leaving cultural resources vulnerable to damage and destruction.”

The DOI has also drawn the ire of some Republican lawmakers over their handling of protests. 

“The Union Station rioters over the summer chanted terrorist slogans, hurled what appeared to be human feces at U.S. Park Police officers, destroyed government property, burned American flags and an effigy of Prime Minister Netanyahu, and raised a Palestinian flag in its place,” Rep. Bruce Westerman, chairman of the House Committee on Natural Resources, told Fox News Digital. 

“D.C. is no stranger to protests and free speech demonstrations, but clearly in this case something went horribly off the rails,” the Arkansas Republican said. “The organizers of this event knowingly violated nearly every one of the terms and conditions of their permit, and DOI and NPS also failed to provide critical support for the Park Police. This despite the history of the ANSWER Coalition and knowing well in advance that protests were expected. Oversight is imperative to ensure a security failure of this magnitude does not happen again.”

The top Republican on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo, also demanded answers from the DOI Secretary Deb Haalan in June over its handling of violent protests that engulfed National Park Service property outside the White House.

TOP 5 CLASHES BETWEEN VANCE AND WALZ DURING DEBATE SHOWDOWN: ‘YOUR MICS ARE CUT’

Barrasso demanded that Haaland account for the lack of arrests by describing how she is working with law enforcement to identify suspects. He also called on the department to implement explicit measures to protect federal park rangers on-duty.

No arrests were made following the chaos, but NBC News reported one individual who had scaled a statue slipped away from a law enforcement officer who was attempting to detain them.

Statuary honoring two key French figures in the American Revolution – the Comte de Rochambeau and Marquis de Lafayette – were vandalized during the protests. Ironically, President Biden happened to be in France at the time.

The watchdog group also criticized the DOI earlier this year for allocating $120 million to tribal governments to combat the impacts of climate change. 

The DOI declined to comment to Fox News Digital.

Fox News Digital’s Charles Creitz contributed to this report. 

As President Biden spends a second straight day surveying damage and getting briefed on recovery and relief efforts in the storm-damaged Southeast, he’s once again coming under political attack from former President Trump.

As the death toll from Hurricane Helene climbs to close to 200 people, with hundreds still missing, millions still without power or running water, and damage estimated in the billions, Trump took to social media on Thursday morning to paint Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris as incompetent.

“Kamala and Sleepy Joe are universally being given POOR GRADES for the way that they are handling the Hurricane, especially in North Carolina,” Trump charged in a social media post. “It is going down as the WORST & MOST INCOMPETENTLY MANAGED ‘STORM,’ AT THE FEDERAL LEVEL, EVER SEEN BEFORE.”

Trump, who’s locked in a margin-of-error race with Harris with less than five weeks to go until Election Day in November, has been attacking the vice president and her boss over the federal response to the powerful storm for nearly a week.

BIDEN, HARRIS, INSPECT STORM DAMAGE WITH TRIPS TO SOUTHEAST 

And with two of the hardest hit states – North Carolina and Georgia – two of the seven key battlegrounds that will likely determine the outcome of the 2024 presidential election, the hurricane has become front-and-center in the White House race.

Trump this past weekend accused the president of “sleeping” at his beach house in Delaware as the storm blasted the Southeast.

NORTH CAROLINA RESIDENTS FIGHT FOR THEIR SURVIVAL

And speaking with reporters as he arrived in Valdosta, Georgia, on Monday to survey storm damage and bring relief aid, the former president charged that “the federal government is not being responsive.” 

And he falsely claimed that Biden had not spoken with Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp, a conservative Republican.

Pushing back against the political attacks, Biden has noted that he was on the phone with federal, state and local officials throughout the weekend and returned to the nation’s capital on Sunday afternoon to monitor storm rescue and relief efforts.

“We had over 1,000 federal personnel, including search and rescue teams, at the ready on the ground before it hit,” the president said on Tuesday. “Over the past several days, I’ve been in regular contact with the governors, the mayors, the county officials, and all the affected areas. That includes Florida, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee, Alabama and Virginia.

And Biden emphasized that his administration has sent “every available resource that we have at our disposal to the affected region” and pledged “we’ll be there until this work is done.”

HEAD HERE FOR THE LATEST FOX NEWS REPORTING ON HELENE’S HAVOC

More than half of the deaths from the storm are in North Carolina, where entire communities in the western part of the state were demolished by fast-moving waters.

As the floodwaters from the storm receded, North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper lamented that, in the western part of his state, “communities were wiped off the map.”

The president on Wednesday was in North Carolina, where he surveyed damage from a helicopter flight over the city of Ashville, one of the hardest hit areas. Biden also visited a rescue command center in the state before also stopping in neighboring South Carolina.

“My top priority is to ensure the communities devastated by this hurricane get the help and support they need as quickly as possible,” Biden told reporters Tuesday as he spoke during a Cabinet meeting focusing on the federal response.

And the president ahead of his trip to the region green-lighted the use of up to 1,000 active duty troops to support relief efforts.

And huddled with Democratic and Republican politicians from the region on Wednesday, Biden emphasized that “in a moment like this, we put politics aside, at least we should put it all aside. We have here – there are no Democrats or Republicans, only Americans – our job is to help as many people as we can, as quickly as we can, and as thoroughly as we can.”

Trump on Sunday attacked Harris for attending “fundraising events with her radical left lunatic donors” in California over the weekend. And he argued that Harris “ought to be down in the area” where the storm caused destruction.

On Monday during his stop in Georgia, Trump repeated the dig, saying, “The vice president, she’s out someplace campaigning looking for money.”

The White House has highlighted that the vice president over the weekend was on the phone with federal, state and local officials. 

Harris said on Saturday that she and the president “remain committed to ensuring that no community or state has to respond to this disaster alone.”

On Monday, Harris visited FEMA [Federal Emergency Management Agency] headquarters in Washington, D.C., where she received a briefing on relief and rescue efforts.

“We will do everything in our power to help communities respond and recover,” Harris vowed.

Harris on Wednesday traveled to Georgia to survey the impacts of the storm and receive an on-the-ground briefing and provide updates on the federal response.

“We are here for the long haul,” Harris told residents in Augusta, Georgia. “There’s a lot of work that’s going to need to happen over the coming days, weeks, and months, and the coordination that we have dedicated ourselves to will be long-lasting to get families, to get residents, to get neighborhoods back up and running.”

Harris was originally scheduled to take part Wednesday in a campaign bus swing through central Pennsylvania, another key battleground state, with her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz.

With the vice president headed to Georgia, Walz headlined the bus tour, which came the day after he faced off in the running mates debate against Sen. JD Vance of Ohio, the GOP vice presidential nominee.

During his Monday stop in Georgia, Trump highlighted that “I’ve come to Valdosta with large semi-trucks, many of them filled with relief aid. A tanker truck filled up with gasoline, a couple of big tanker trucks filled up with gasoline, which they can’t get now. And we’ll be working to distribute it throughout the day.”

And a GoFundMe page set up by the Trump campaign earlier this week has raised over $4 million so far for storm victims.

“I’m committed to traveling to the impacted areas as soon as possible, but I’ve been told that it would be disruptive if I did it right now. We will not do that at the risk of diverting or delaying any of the response assets needed to deal with this crisis,” Biden told reporters on Monday.

And Harris said on Tuesday, “I plan to be on the ground as soon as possible – but as soon as possible without disrupting any emergency response operations, because that must be the highest priority and the first order of business.”

But the optics of Trump’s Monday stop in Georgia may have put some political pressure on Biden and Harris.

Longtime Republican strategist David Kochel said Trump had been “very aggressive” with his quick trip to the storm-damaged region. 

“I think he put a lot of pressure on them to try to do something,” Kochel, a veteran of numerous GOP presidential campaigns, told Fox News. “He’s out there pushing a line that they don’t care – they’re not doing anything and I think they’re reacting to it.”

The response by elected officials to natural disasters can impact their political standing.

President George W. Bush was heavily criticized in the summer of 2005 for his initial response to Hurricane Katrina, which devastated New Orleans.

And Trump faced criticism early in his White House tenure as Puerto Rico struggled to recover from a powerful storm. The president was pilloried for throwing paper towels to the crowd as he stopped by a relief center during a storm-related visit to the island.

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

A man from Montana has been convicted after making dozens of threatening phone calls against the Speaker of the House.

Richard Rogers, 45, made over 100 threatening calls to then-Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s office after the U.S. government shot down a Chinese balloon over Montana.

A federal jury on Wednesday found Rogers guilty of threatening to assault McCarthy as well as two counts of harassing telephone calls. 

ALASKA MAN ARRESTED FOR THREATS AGAINST 6 SUPREME COURT JUSTICES

Rogers made over 100 calls to McCarthy’s office in the course of just 75 minutes on Feb. 3 of last year, prosecutors said. 

He also made over 150 calls to the FBI tip line between 2021 and 2022.

Authorities say that his calls were frequently filled with vulgar and offensive statements, as well as physical threats.

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“You can’t talk to people that way. It’s common sense,” said Assistant U.S. Attorney Thomas Godfrey. “He’s calling not out of political protest; he’s calling because he gets enjoyment out of it.”

Rogers argued in court that his dozens of calls to McCarthy’s office — inspired by the Chinese balloon but commenting on everything from the FBI to President Biden — were a form of “civil disobedience.” 

“They were disrespectful to me, so I was disrespectful to them,” Rogers said of his abusive language used against congressional staff and receptionists.

Rogers is set to be sentenced on Jan. 31. 

He faces a maximum penalty of six years in prison and a $250,000 fine for threatening to harm a congressman. 

On the harassment conviction, he faces up to two years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine of Virginia and Republican challenger Hung Cao clashed on the debate stage Wednesday night on a range of issues including immigration, education and diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) in the military. 

Kaine, who previously served as governor of Virginia and was Hillary Clinton’s vice presidential running mate in 2016, made his case during the hourlong showdown at Norfolk State University on why he should keep his seat in the upper chamber of Congress. The only debate of the campaign focused on national issues and matters that resonate in Virginia and the coastal city of Norfolk, which is home to the country’s largest Navy base.

Cao, a 25-year Navy veteran endorsed by former President Donald Trump, criticized COVID vaccine mandates for service members and the Biden-Harris administration’s botched Afghanistan withdrawal when asked about the military’s collective failure to recently meet recruiting goals. He also criticized DEI efforts.

“When you’re using a drag queen to recruit for the Navy, that’s not the people we want,” Cao said. “What we need is alpha males and alpha females who are going to rip out their own guts, eat them and ask for seconds. Those are the young men and women that are going to win wars.”

VIRGINIA SCHOOL BOARD TO PAY ‘WRONGFULLY FIRED’ TEACHER WHO REFUSED TO USE STUDENT’S PREFERRED PRONOUNS

Kaine, who is on the Senate Armed Services Committee, responded by saying that railing at DEI “is a red herring” and the real challenge is informing more Americans about the benefits of the military when only about 1% of the population serves in the armed forces. “We need to do a better job of talking about the G.I. Bill and other benefits as well as the tremendous leadership training that you get in the military,” Kaine said.

Cao, meanwhile, brought up the G.I. Bill when challenging Kaine on student loan forgiveness. The incumbent Democrat had praised the Biden administration for having forgiven “the loans of more than a million public servants in thanks for the public service they provide, whether it’s in the military, whether it’s teaching, whether it’s working as a frontline health professional or working for a local or state government.” 

The moderator then posed a question to Cao on how the Republican candidate would ease the burden, noting that the U.S. Department of Education reports more than a million Virginians owe a collective $43 billion in federal student debt as of last October, impacting their ability to contribute to the state’s economy.

“If you’re struggling to pay for your school, then get a G.I. Bill,” Cao said. “That means go out and serve in the military. You’ll get a stipend as well as tuition. We need to fix education, and we need to do it now. But here’s the thing with people like Senator Kaine, you’ve been an officer for 30 years in various offices, in the U.S. Senate for 12. Why have you not fixed it yet?” 

VIRGINIA FAA CONTRACTOR ALLEGEDLY SPIED FOR IRAN, SHARED PRIVATE INFO ON US AIRPORTS, ENERGY INDUSTRY: DOJ

Kaine responded by saying Virginia “was named the best state for a child to be raised in the United States” and “the best managed state and the best state to do business” when he was governor from 2006 to 2010. 

“Oh, again, he says what he’s going to do,” Cao shot back. “Honestly, of the 227 bills that Senator Kaine has proposed, only three of them made it through… That’s a 99% failure rate.” 

“Check the tape on that. That’s completely wrong,” Kaine insisted. 

However, Cao retorted, “There’s two truths in the world, okay? Never walk into a target store wearing a red shirt and never go against an Asian when it comes to math. Trust me.” 

“He’s got a 99% failure rate,” Cao added. “If I just had 99% failure rate, and I defused bombs, I wouldn’t be here right now.” 

The moderator also pressed Cao, whose family fled Vietnam during the 1970s, on whether he supports the mass deportation of “all undocumented immigrants.” 

“When Vietnam fell, we had nowhere to go, and America had brought us in and my parents waited in line for seven years. We all did for seven years to get our citizenship. The last thing that my dad had [hung] over his bed when he passed away two years ago was his naturalization certificate. I love this country so much that I wrote a blank check – up to including my life – to defend it for 25 years in Iraq, Afghanistan, Somalia and other parts of the world,” Cao said. “Here’s my thing to anybody who wants to come here, don’t ask for an American dream. If you’re not willing to be American laws and embrace the American culture, because I did.” 

“If you come here illegally, then you need to leave, especially if you’re a violent crime person,” Cao said, citing new Immigration and Customs Enforcement data provided to lawmakers last week. 

“There are 13,000 convicted murderers and 16,000 convicted rapists that came across under their watch. That’s unacceptable. We need to protect Americans every single day,” Cao said. 

“If you came here illegally, you’ve basically screwed up the whole system,” Cao said. “You can’t jump the line – I mean, you go to Costco and jump the line, what do you think is going to happen? You can’t come here and expect the American dream if you’re not willing to obey the American laws and embrace the American culture.”

“Deport anybody that’s committing crimes right now,” he added. “That’s the first thing we need. Secure the border.” 

Kaine said he never supported mass amnesty but believes it would “devastate the economy” to deport the 10 million illegal immigrants who crossed the border during the Biden-Harris administration – a figure the moderator cited and the Democratic candidate echoed. He also slammed former President Donald Trump for asking Republicans to oppose the last congressional border deal. 

“We recently negotiated a very tough border deal that would have put a lot of resources on the border to stop illegal immigration,” Kaine said. “President Trump asked for Republicans to oppose it, even though it was supported by the border control union.”

Another subject was Trump’s proposal to place more tariffs on imported goods. 

“What we need to do is not tax our industry here,” Cao said. “What we need to do is tax other countries bringing in goods.”

Kaine criticized Trump’s proposal. “The Trump tariffs would be a massive tax that would cause prices on all of these items that are imported to go up,” Kaine said. “On that, I differ strongly from my opponent.”

With Kaine’s seat considered solidly Democratic, the race has not seen the kind of dead-heat polling as the national presidential contest or the high-stakes drama of other Senate races such as those in Montana and Ohio, where Democratic incumbents face tough re-election bids, according to The Associated Press. 

Trump has endorsed Cao, and political scientists say his path to victory is narrow given Virginia’s moderate electorate, aversion to Trump in 2020 and Kaine’s salience with voters, according to the AP. 

Kaine won his last race in 2018 by 16 percentage points, although he said he was preparing for a tough race this year. The most recent Republican from Virginia to hold a U.S. Senate seat was the late John Warner, a centrist with an independent streak who last won in 2002.

Republicans have won statewide offices in Virginia. Glenn Youngkin was elected governor by two points in 2021, along with a Republican lieutenant governor and attorney general.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.