In an effort to win the vote of disgruntled Republicans as she battles former President Trump in the race for the White House, Vice President Kamala Harris is heading to the town that claims to be the birthplace of the GOP.

A senior Harris campaign official says that the vice president on Thursday will team up in battleground Wisconsin with former Republican Rep. Liz Cheney, a one-time rising conservative star in the GOP who became her party’s most visible anti-Trump leader.

The campaign event will take place in Ripon, Wisconsin, 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.

According to her campaign, Harris plans to spotlight the significance of that moment and that place – as she makes another direct appeal to Republican voters frustrated that Trump is their party’s presidential nominee – and as she reiterates her pledge to be a president for all Americans.

LIZ CHENEY WEIGHS IN ON WHOM SHE’LL BACK IN THE 2024 ELECTION

Harris is also expected to praise Cheney for her courage and patriotism in putting country over party.

Cheney, at a speaking event in early September at Duke University in swing state North Carolina, announced that she would be voting for Harris in the presidential election.

TRUMP UPS HIS ANTE IN THE 2024 FUNDRAISING FIGHT WITH HARRIS

“As a conservative, as someone who believes in and cares about the Constitution, I have thought deeply about this, and because of the danger that Donald Trump poses, not only am I not voting for Donald Trump, but I will be voting for Kamala Harris.”

Cheney’s father, former Vice President Dick Cheney, also endorsed Harris. 

The younger Cheney was once rising in the ranks of House Republican leadership 

But she was the most high-profile of the 10 House Republicans who voted to impeach then-president Trump in early 2021 on a charge of inciting the deadly Jan. 6th attack on the Capitol, which was waged by right-wing extremists and other Trump supporters who aimed to disrupt congressional certification of President Biden’s Electoral College victory in the 2020 election.

The conservative lawmaker and defense hawk immediately came under verbal attack from Trump and his allies, and was eventually ousted from her number-three House GOP leadership position.

WHITE HOUSE LAWYERS WHO ADVISED REAGAN AND BUSH BACK HARRIS OVER TRUMP

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.

In 2022, she was ousted in the GOP congressional primary in Wyoming to a candidate that was backed by Trump.

Cheney — who has argued that the former president is a “liar,” a “con man” and a potential “tyrant” who, if elected again, would “torch the Constitution” — vowed after leaving Congress that “I will do everything I can to make sure [Trump] is never anywhere near the Oval Office again.”

The Harris campaign says that the vice president, at her event with Cheney, plans to note that while Republicans may not agree with her on every issue, she promises to uphold the Constitution, America’s fundamental principles, and the rule of law.

The Cheneys are part of a growing list of prominent Republicans who are supporting Harris.

Two other high-profile anti-Trump Republicans — former Rep. Adam Kinzinger of Illinois and former Georgia Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan – had speaking roles at the Democratic National Convention, which was held six weeks ago in Chicago.

And Harris is backed by more than 200 alumni who served in both Bush administrations or worked for the late Sen. John McCain and Sen. Mitt Romney, the 2008 and 2012 GOP presidential nominee. She’s also supported by more than 100 Republican former national security officials and other prominent Republicans.

Ripon is not the only town that claims to be the birthplace of the GOP. Exeter, New Hampshire also has some bragging rites, as it was the site of meetings in 1853 – a year ahead of the Ripon gatherings – by disenchanted political leaders who discussed the formation of a new party of Republicans.

But officials in Ripon said the group in Exeter never actually formed a political organization, or chose officials, as they did in Wisconsin.

Wisconsin is one of seven crucial battleground states with razor-thin margins that decided Biden’s 2020 White House victory and are likely to determine if Harris or Trump wins the 2024 presidential election.

With less than five weeks until Election Day in November, Harris and Trump are locked in a margin-of-error race in the key swing states.

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

FIRST ON FOX: Nonprofit groups that assist illegal immigrants would be cut off from federal grant money under the terms of a bill introduced Thursday by Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla.

“NGOs and non-profits serve as the foot soldiers for the Biden-Harris administration’s mass-migration policies by helping illegal aliens cross the border and stay here for years after illegally,” Gaetz said in a statement previewed exclusively by Fox News Digital. “My legislation, the BARRIER Act, will strip these organizations of their federal funding, which can be used to assist those who break federal law.”

FEAR GRIPS IDYLLIC NANTUCKET AMID MIGRANT CRIME SPIKE: ‘A LOT OF BAD PEOPLE’

The bill, Blocking Assistance and Resources to Restrict Illegal Entry and Residency (BARRIER) Act, which Gaetz is expected to introduce Thursday, is co-sponsored by Reps. Lauren Boebert, R-Colo., Mary Miller, R-Ill., Eric Burlison, R-Mo., Randy Weber, R-Texas, Troy Nehls, R-Texas, Andy Ogles, R-Tenn., and Andy Biggs, R-Ariz.

The Florida Republican said his BARRIER Act would also penalize organizations helping immigrants who are already living in the U.S. unlawfully.

“The federal government should not be financing the destruction of its own country,” said Gaetz, who is running for re-election to a fifth term in Congress.

NANTUCKET PARENTS FEAR FOR CHILDREN AMID SPIKE IN MIGRANT CRIME: ‘AS A FATHER IT TRULY SCARES ME’

If enacted, immigration groups like the National Immigration Law Center, American Immigration Council and CASA would likely lose their federal grants.

Illegal immigration and the crisis at the southern border are among the top issues for voters this election cycle. Tens of thousands of illegal immigrants with sex offenses and homicide convictions could be loose on the streets, according to Immigration and Customs Enforcement data provided to lawmakers last week.

AURORA POLICE DENY TREN DE ARAGUA GANG HAS ‘TAKEN OVER’ THE CITY IN PRESSER: ‘NOT AN IMMIGRATION ISSUE’

The Biden administration came under fire for releasing many migrants who came to the U.S. border into the interior, which coincided with a sharp drop in deportations as it focused on prioritizing public safety and national security threats. There were 142,580 removals in fiscal 2023, up considerably from 72,177 in fiscal 2022 and 59,011 in fiscal 2021, but still down from the highs of 267,258 under the Trump administration in fiscal 2019.

The number of illegal immigrants on the nondetained docket, meanwhile, has soared from 3.7 million in fiscal 2021 to nearly 4.8 million in fiscal 2022 to more than 7 million in fiscal 2023.

Fox News Digital’s Adam Shaw contributed to this report.

FIRST ON FOX: Dozens of lawmakers in the House and Senate are calling for more information from the Justice Department about efforts to stop noncitizen voting in federal elections, which they call a “serious threat” to election integrity, citing officials in multiple states who have identified noncitizens on their voter rolls.

A letter from 73 lawmakers, led by Sen. Bill Hagerty, R-Tenn., and Rep. Andy Biggs, R-Ariz., sent to Attorney General Merrick Garland said they were “deeply concerned” by reports of noncitizens registering to vote and voting in federal elections and had not received a response from an inquiry in July on the matter.

“As of today, there has been no response from you or your Department regarding the inquiry on July 12, 2024, seeking information on efforts undertaken by your Department to enforce laws prohibiting non-citizen voting. Given that the 2024 Presidential Election is in less than 34 days, your Department’s inaction and refusal to provide any information regarding its efforts to promote public trust and confidence in our elections is especially alarming,” they wrote.

Specifically, they asked how many aliens have been prosecuted under laws related to noncitizen voting, how the DOJ handles allegations of noncitizen voting or registration and the steps it takes to prevent such practices.

Noncitizens are not allowed to vote, and top Republicans, including former President Trump, have repeatedly expressed concern that noncitizens may attempt to vote in federal elections, particularly given the influx of immigrants across the southern border in recent years.

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

In August, Republican lawmakers pushed for the SAVE Act, which aimed to require states to obtain proof of citizenship in person when registering an individual to vote and require states to remove noncitizens from voter rolls, to be attached to a spending bill extension to avoid a government shutdown at the end of the fiscal year.

The lawmakers in the letter cited an announcement by the Virginia attorney general that it had identified 6,303 noncitizens on its voter rolls in 2022 and 2023, while Texas had removed 6,500 noncitizens from its voter rolls. Of those, 1,930 had a history of voting.

The DOJ itself announced last month that it had charged an illegal immigrant with stealing a U.S. citizen’s identity to vote in multiple elections and fraudulently obtain a U.S. passport. 

“Clearly, there is a non-negligible amount of voter participation by non-citizens in federal elections, which is not only a serious threat to the integrity of our elections and the democratic process they represent, but also has the potential to reduce Americans’ trust and confidence in election results,” they wrote.

ALABAMA ELECTION OFFICIAL SAYS BIDEN EXECUTIVE ORDER GIVES ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS ‘MECHANISM’ TO REGISTER TO VOTE 

Lawmakers quizzed the DOJ on information related to the issue in a July 12 request but had not received a response.

It also asks what steps the department is taking to prosecute noncitizens registered to vote in the 2024 election. Fox News Digital reached out to the DOJ for comment.

This week, the DOJ sued Alabama, alleging the state removed voters who had been issued noncitizen identification numbers from its election rolls too close to Election Day. The agency argued that officials violated the National Voter Registration Act of 1993, which requires states to complete any changes to the voter registration lists no later than 90 days before federal elections.

Fox News’ Danielle Wallace and Sarah Rumpf-Whitten contributed to this report.

It was civil. It was cordial. It was substantive.

And there’s no question that JD Vance easily won the vice presidential debate. Tim Walz did better than anticipated – perhaps those expectations were deliberately set low – but despite some strong counterpunching, he frequently stumbled.

Each man had a mission: to defend his running mate and rough up the opposing presidential candidate.

But Vance had a second goal beyond talking up Donald Trump, and that was softening his own image. He made a concerted effort to project empathy, to appear reasonable, to be open to opposing viewpoints.

VOTERS REACT TO GOV TIM WALZ DODGING TIANANMEN SQUARE QUESTION: ‘I’M A KNUCKLEHEAD AT TIMES’

There is a caricature of the Ohio senator as a hard-right ideologue with little sympathy for women, as reflected by the famous childless cat ladies comment. But when the subject of abortion came up, he went out of his way to sound sympathetic to the pro-choice side:

“I know a lot of Americans don’t agree with everything that I’ve ever said on this topic. And, you know, I grew up in a working-class family in a neighborhood where I knew a lot of young women who had unplanned pregnancies and decided to terminate those pregnancies because they feel like they didn’t have any other options. And, you know, one of them is actually very dear to me. And I know she’s watching tonight and I love you. 

“And she told me something a couple of years ago that she felt like if she hadn’t had that abortion, that it would have destroyed her life because she was in an abusive relationship. And I think that what I take from that as a Republican who proudly wants to protect innocent life in this country, who proudly wants to protect the vulnerable, is that my party? We’ve got to do so much better of a job at earning the American people’s trust back on this issue, where they frankly just don’t trust us.”

(Vance’s website describes him as “100 percent pro-life.”)

Walz countered with specific stories of women who died or whose health was damaged because they lived in states that tightly restrict abortion.

The Minnesota governor hit his talking points, but regularly took a long time to get to his main argument. A question about Kamala Harris’ plan to build 3 million housing units produced a detour about how Walz has only bought one home. 

WATCH: VOTERS REACT IN REAL TIME TO KEY VANCE-WALZ DEBATE MOMENTS ON IMMIGRATION, DEMOCRACY, ABORTION

Walz often spoke in a clipped shorthand – the ACA, Springfield, Vance creating stories – without explaining, for instance, that he meant the false tale of Haitian migrants eating pets.

The CBS moderators, Norah O’Donnell and Margaret Brennan, edged into ABC territory by fact-checking only Vance, despite saying they would try to avoid that. After the senator referred to illegal immigrants in the Ohio town, Brennan said Springfield “does have a large number of Haitian migrants who have legal status, temporary protected.” That’s a point Walz should have made, but didn’t.

Many questions were framed from the left. “Senator Vance,” said Brennan, “you oppose most gun legislation that Democrats claim would curb gun violence. You oppose red flag gun laws and legislation to ban certain semi-automatic rifles, including AR-15s.”

Walz’s worst moment was one he should have anticipated, a story in the New York Times and elsewhere saying he was not in China for the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests as he had claimed, but got to Hong Kong months later. The governor began with a word-salad answer about growing up in Nebraska before retreating to “I’ve not been perfect. And I’m a knucklehead at times.”

Pressed again, he said he had misspoken.

Vance’s worst moment was about Jan. 6. O’Donnell began, “You have said you would not have certified the last presidential election and would have asked the states to submit alternative electors that has been called unconstitutional and illegal.”

POLITICS HIJACKS HURRICANE DEVASTATION IN THE SOUTH, BIDEN CALLS TRUMP A LIAR

The senator countered that Trump “said that on January the 6th, the protesters ought to protest peacefully. And on January the 20th, what happened? Joe Biden became the president. Donald Trump left the White House.”

This time Walz was ready. Trump “lost this election and he said he did. 140 police officers were beaten at the Capitol that day, some with the American flag. Several later died.”

He turned to Vance and said: “Did he lose the 2020 election?”

When Vance tried the “focused on the future” line again, Walz called that “a damning non-answer.”

But Vance largely came off as a Bush-style compassionate conservative. He must figure that win or lose, he’ll be running for president in 2028 and needed to combat all the negative coverage.

Walz looked like a man who was happy to survive his turn on the national stage. The debate would have looked very different if Harris had picked Josh Shapiro, given that she’s tied with Trump in Pennsylvania.

The Harris campaign has bubble-wrapped Tim Walz, not allowing him to do a single solo interview. JD Vance is constantly doing interviews, podcasts and press conferences, the best kind of preparation for a big debate. And that, in the end, may have been the difference.

A federal judge on Wednesday blocked a California bill that outlaws AI-generated “deepfake” content and required the removal of “deceptive content” from social media. 

The preliminary injunction comes just two weeks after Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom signed the controversial measure into law, igniting a spat with X owner and Tesla CEO Elon Musk. It also comes roughly a month before Election Day. 

800-PLUS BILLS LEFT ON NEWSOM’S DESK ILLUSTRATE CALIFORNIA’S OVERREGULATION PROBLEM: EXPERTS

A spokesperson for Newsom’s office warned that deepfakes “threaten the integrity of our elections, and these new laws protect our democracy while preserving free speech — in a manner no more stringent than those in other states, including deep-red Alabama.”

“We’re confident the courts will uphold the state’s ability to regulate these types of dangerous and misleading deepfakes,” the governor’s office said in a statement to Fox News Digital, noting that “Satire remains alive and well in California — even for those who miss the punchline.”

This is a developing story. Check back for updates. 

President Biden said Wednesday that he would not support an attack by Israel on Iranian nuclear sites in retaliation for Iran’s firing of 181 missiles at Israel amid fears that a lethal regional war is around the corner.

On Wednesday, a day after the massive attack and after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed that Iran would pay for the attack, Biden briefly spoke with reporters before boarding Air Force One.

He said all the leaders on a recent call – France, Canada, Japan, Britain, Italy and Germany – agreed that Israel had the right to “proportionally” respond to Iran’s military strike.

“We’ll be discussing with the Israelis what they’re going to do, but all seven of us [G7 nations] agree that they have a right to respond, but they should respond proportionally,” he said.

ISRAEL URGES UN TO CONDEMN IRAN AFTER LATEST ATTACKS

But when asked whether he would back Israel striking Iranian nuclear sites as it has long threatened, Biden told reporters, “The answer is no.”

ISRAEL STRIKES HEZBOLLAH TARGETS IN LEBANON

Biden said more sanctions would be imposed on Iran and that he would speak with Netanyahu soon.

“Obviously, Iran is way off course,” he said.

Iran’s missile attack escalated tensions in the region, where the Biden administration has for months led negotiations on a cease-fire in the nearly year-old Israel-Hamas war.

ISRAEL’S ‘SWORN ENEMY’ HEZBOLLAH TELLS IRAN IT WOULD FIGHT ALONE IF CONFLICT ESCALATES

The recent assault on Israel follows the Biden administration souring on the prospects of an end to the war between Israel and Hamas. 

“We aren’t any closer to that now than we were even a week ago,” National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby previously told reporters. He called the prospects of a completed deal “daunting.” 

“No deal is imminent,” one U.S. official told the Wall Street Journal. “I’m not sure it ever gets done.”

During Tuesday’s vice presidential debate with Republican Ohio Sen. JD Vance, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz said Democrat nominee Vice President Harris’ “steady leadership” in the region is necessary.

“What we’ve seen out of Vice President Harris is we’ve seen steady leadership. We’ve seen a calmness that is able to be able to draw on the coalitions, to bring them together, understanding that our allies matter. When our allies see Donald Trump turn towards Vladimir Putin, turn towards North Korea, when we start to see that type of fickleness around holding the coalitions together, we will stay committed,” he said.

“And as the vice president said today, we will protect our forces and our allied forces, and there will be consequences,” he said.

Vance voiced support for GOP nominee former President Trump’s “peace through strength” policy toward Israel.

“Donald Trump recognized that for people to fear the United States, you need peace through strength,” Vance said. “They needed to recognize that if they got out of line, the United States’ global leadership would put stability and peace back in the world.”

Vance said it is “up to Israel” how they choose to respond.

“Now, you asked about a preemptive strike, Margaret, and I want to answer the question,” he said during the debate. “Look, it is up to Israel what they think they need to do to keep their country safe,” he said. “And we should support our allies wherever they are when they’re fighting the bad guys. I think that’s the right approach to take with the Israel question.”

Fox News Digital has reached out to the State Department and the White House for comment.

Former President Trump blasted the Justice Department Wednesday for having “disobeyed their own rule in favor of complete and total election interference” after a key filing from Special Counsel Jack Smith’s election case against him was unsealed with just weeks before Americans cast their ballots. 

U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia Judge Tanya Chutkan unsealed Smith’s 165-page filing Wednesday afternoon. The filing lays out his case and the alleged evidence he intends to use in an eventual trial against Trump. 

Trump pleaded not guilty to all charges brought by Smith. 

JUDGE UNSEALS KEY FILING IN SPECIAL COUNSEL JACK SMITH’S ELECTION CASE

But Trump blasted the Justice Department Wednesday evening. 

“For 60 days prior to an election, the Department of Injustice is supposed to do absolutely nothing that would taint or interfere with a case,” Trump posted in all capital letters to his Truth Social. “They disobeyed their own rule in favor of complete and total election interference.”

“I did nothing wrong, they did!” he continued. 

DOJ practice during an election year has often been to hold off on major actions in cases that could impact elections during the 60 days leading up to Election Day, an unwritten policy commonly referred to as the “60-day rule.” The “rule,” which is really more of a tradition because it is not an actual rule, has been cited many times in recent years.

“The case is a scam, just like all of the others, including the documents case, which was dismissed!” 

Trump was pointing to the other case Smith brought against him related to classified records. The case was tossed out by a federal judge in Florida who ruled that Smith was unlawfully appointed as special counsel. 

The former president further blasted Democrats, saying they are “weaponizing the Justice Department against me because they I know I am WINNING, and they are desperate to prop up their failing candidate, Kamala Harris.” 

Trump said the unsealing of the Smith filing, which he called the “latest ‘hit job,’” happened because his running mate, Sen. JD Vance “humiliated” Harris’ running mate Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz during Tuesday night’s vice presidential debate. 

Trump said the Justice Department “has become nothing more than an extension of Joe’s, and now Kamala’s, campaign.” 

TRUMP TRIAL STEMMING FROM JACK SMITH’S PROBE DELAYED PAST ELECTION DAY

“This is egregious PROSECUTORIAL MISCONDUCT, and should not have been released right before the Election,” Trump said. “The Democrat Party is turning America into a Third World Country that tries to censor, harass, and intimidate their Political Opponents. What they have done to our Justice System is one of the Great, All Time, Tragedies.” 

The former president added that the Democrat Party “is guilty of the Worst Election Interference in American History.” 

“They are trying to DESTROY OUR DEMOCRACY, allowing millions of people to enter our Country illegally. They are determined to stop us from winning back the White House, sealing the Border, and MAKING AMERICA GREAT AGAIN. BUT THEY WILL FAIL, AND WE WILL SAVE OUR NATION!” Trump posted. 

Trump also blasted Smith as “deranged,” and said that he, the “Harris-Biden DOJ, and Washington, D.C. based Radical Left Democrats, are “HELL BENT on continuing to Weaponize the Justice Department in an attempt to cling to power.” 

“‘TRUMP’ is dominating the Election cycle, leading in the Polls, and the Radical Democrats throughout the Deep State are totally ‘freaking out.’ This entire case is a Partisan, Unconstitutional, Witch Hunt, that should be dismissed, entirely, just like the Florida case was dismissed!” Trump said. 

Trump’s comments came in response to Smith’s newly-unsealed filing, in which he alleges Trump “resorted to crimes to try to stay in office” after losing the 2020 presidential election.

“With private co-conspirators, the defendant launched a series of increasingly desperate plans to overturn the legitimate election results in seven states that he had lost — Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, New Mexico, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin,” Smith wrote. 

“His efforts included lying to state officials in order to induce them to ignore true vote counts; manufacturing fraudulent electoral votes in the targeted states; attempting to enlist Vice President Michael R. Pence, in his role as President of the Senate, to obstruct Congress’s certification of the election by using the defendant’s fraudulent electoral votes; and when all else had failed, on January 6, 2021, directing an angry crowd of supporters to the United States Capitol to obstruct the congressional certification.” 

Smith claims that the “throughline of these efforts was deceit,” claiming Trump and co-conspirators engaged in a conspiracy to interfere with the federal government function by which the nation collects and counts election results, which is set forth in the Constitution and the Electoral Count Act (ECA); a conspiracy to obstruct the official proceeding in which Congress certifies the legitimate results of the presidential election; and a conspiracy against the rights of millions of Americans to vote and have their votes counted.” 

The Supreme Court earlier this year ruled that a president is immune from prosecution for official acts. 

TRUMP INDICTED A SECOND TIME IN ELECTION SUBVERSION CASE BROUGHT BY SPECIAL COUNSEL JACK SMITH

Smith was then required to file another indictment against Trump, revising the charges in an effort to navigate the Supreme Court ruling. The new indictment kept the prior criminal charges but narrowed and reframed allegations against Trump after the high court’s ruling that gave broad immunity to former presidents. 

Trump pleaded not guilty to all charges in the new indictment as well. 

Trump campaign spokesman Steven Cheung told Fox News Digital the release of the “falsehood-ridden, unconstitutional J6 brief immediately following Tim Walz’s disastrous debate performance is another obvious attempt by the Harris-Biden regime to undermine American Democracy and interfere in this election.” 

“Deranged Jack Smith and Washington DC Radical Democrats are hell-bent on weaponizing the Justice Department in an attempt to cling to power,” Cheung said. “President Trump is dominating, and the Radical Democrats throughout the Deep State are freaking out.

“This entire case is a partisan, Unconstitutional Witch Hunt that should be dismissed entirely, together with ALL of the remaining Democrat hoaxes.” 

Last month, Chutkan said she would not hold the trial for Trump on charges stemming from Smith’s Jan. 6 investigation until after the 2024 presidential election. She set deadlines for replies and paperwork from federal prosecutors and Trump’s legal team for Nov. 7 — after Election Day. 

Fox News’ Jake Gibson contributed to this report. 

YORK, Pa. — The day after their vice presidential debate in New York City, Republican Sen. JD Vance of Ohio and Democratic Gov. Tim Walz of Minnesota jumped back on the campaign trail with stops in two crucial battleground states.

As he arrived at the airport near Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, Wednesday, Walz pointed toward his debate hours earlier with Vance and told reporters, “New York City was a little crazy last night.”

Most pundits said Vance was the more polished of the two candidates on the vice presidential debate stage Tuesday night, although flash polls indicated debate watchers were mostly divided on which running mate was victorious.

An accidental response by Walz during the debate quickly went viral, as Vice President Kamala Harris’ running mate mistakenly said he had “become friends with school shooters.” 

2024 CASH DASH: TRUMP UPS HIS ANTE AS HE TRIES TO CLOSE GAP WITH HARRIS

The mishap occurred when Walz was asked about changing positions on banning assault weapons, which he previously opposed but now supports. 

“I sat in that office with those Sandy Hook parents. I’ve become friends with school shooters. I’ve seen it,” Walz said.

Asked to clarify his debate gaffe, Walz said Wednesday, “I’m super passionate about this. The question came up about the school shooting. We’re talking about everything except school shootings. And I sat as a member of Congress with the Sandy Hook parents, and it was a profound movement.

“David Hogg [a leading gun control activist and school shooting survivor] is a good friend of mine.”

VANCE, WALZ, SPAR OVER ISSUES AT VP DEBATE SHOWDOWN

Walz acknowledged “I need to be more specific on that. But I am passionate about this.”

Vance, speaking at a rally in Auburn Hills, Michigan, said he didn’t hear Walz’s comment until he was told about it during a conversation with his running mate, former President Trump, after the debate.

“He said that Tim Walz said that he was friends with school shooters twice,” Vance said, referencing his conversation with Trump. “And that’s something I actually didn’t notice that Tim Walz had said that on the debate stage.

“I said, ‘Did he really say that, sir?’ And he [Trump] said, ‘I’m telling you, man, go and watch the clips.’

HARRIS, BIDEN, HEAD TO STORM-RAVAGED SOUTHEAST IN WAKE OF TRUMP TRIP

“And I said that was probably only the third or fourth-dumbest comment Tim Walz made that night.”

The debate moderators also confronted Walz on his claim to have been in Hong Kong during the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre in Beijing, China.

Walz admitted he traveled to Asia in August 1989, several months after the April 15 massacre, adding he can be “a knucklehead at times.”

The governor on Wednesday reiterated that he had his “dates wrong.”

Trump, in an interview Wednesday with Fox News’ Brooke Singman, called his running mate’s performance “fantastic” and that it had “reconfirmed my choice.” 

The former president also argued that Walz had “embarrassed himself” during the debate.

Another major moment in the debate came near the end, when Vance wouldn’t say that President Biden won the 2020 election over Trump. The former president for four years has repeatedly made unproven claims that the election was rigged and rampant with voter fraud.

Walz, on Wednesday, once again emphasized that “it is disqualifying to not acknowledge that the 2020 election was won by Joe Biden. It’s as simple as that.”

An hour later, speaking to a large crowd at a rally at the York Fairgrounds, Walz charged that “you can’t rewrite history. And trying to mislead us about Donald Trump’s record. That’s gaslighting.”

Vance, asked about his avoidance of answering the 2020 election question during the debate, reiterated his charge on Wednesday that “the simple reason” is that “the media is obsessed with talking about the election of four years ago. I’m focused on the election of 33 days from now because I want to throw Kamala Harris out of office and get back to commonsense, economic policies.”

Walz arrived at his rally in York to cheers as he pulled into the York Exposition Center riding his campaign bus.

But York is Trump country. The former president won York County by roughly 25 points over Biden in 2020.

Walz’s Pennsylvania swing through Harrisburg, York and Reading kicked off what the Harris campaign described as a more aggressive post-debate travel and voter engagement blitz by the governor, with stops in two other battleground states — Arizona and Nevada — and a fundraising blitz in Ohio, California and Washington

And the campaign noted that Walz would participate in more media interviews. Vance has done dozens of interviews and repeatedly fielded questions from reporters on the campaign trail since Trump named the senator as his running mate 2½ months ago.

Vance made the first of his two stops in Michigan in Auburn Hills, at Visioneering, an automotive industry tool supplier.

Auburn Hills is in Oakland County, which has swung heavily toward the Democrats in recent election cycles. Biden carried the county by roughly 14 points over Trump four years ago.

Michigan and Pennsylvania are two of seven key battleground states whose razor-thin margins decided Biden’s 2020 victory over Trump and will likely determine whether Trump or Harris win the 2024 presidential election.

Fox News’ Deirdre Heavey and Kirill Clark contributed to this report

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

Former President Trump’s campaign said on Wednesday that they hauled in over $160 million in fundraising in September, in figures shared with Fox News. 

The haul by the former president’s campaign is up from the roughly $130 million that Trump’s various fundraising committees brought in during the month of August. 

Trump faces a large fundraising deficit to Vice President Kamala Harris, with just under five weeks to go until Election Day in November.

FORMER PRESIDENT TRUMP AIMS TO FLIP THE SCRIPT ON THE CASH DASH

The Harris campaign announced last month that it raked in a staggering $361 million in August, nearly triple Trump’s fundraising. 

The Harris campaign has yet to report its September fundraising figures.

WHAT THE LATEST FOX NEWS POWER RANKINGS SHOW IN THE 2024 ELECTION

The Trump campaign, in revealing its fundraising numbers, said that it had $283.1 million cash-on-hand as of the end of September. That’s down slightly from the $295 million it had in its coffers a month earlier.

The Harris campaign, in its announcement last month, reported $404 million cash-on-hand.

Trump’s team, in releasing their latest figures, showcased their small-dollar grassroots fundraising, saying the average donation they received was $60 and that 96% of their contributions were less than $200.

The Biden campaign and the Democratic National Committee enjoyed a fundraising lead over Trump and the Republican National Committee earlier this year. But Trump and the RNC topped Biden and the DNC by $331 million to $264 million during the second quarter of 2024 fundraising.

Biden enjoyed a brief fundraising surge after his disastrous performance in his late June debate with Trump as donors briefly shelled out big bucks in a sign of support for the 81-year-old president.

But Biden’s halting and shaky debate delivery also instantly fueled questions about his physical and mental ability to serve another four years in the White House and spurred a rising chorus of calls from within his own party for the president to end his bid for a second term. The brief surge in fundraising didn’t last and, by early July, began to significantly slow down. 

Biden bowed out of the 2024 race July 21, and the party quickly consolidated around Harris, who instantly saw her fundraising soar, spurred by small-dollar donations.

When asked about the fundraising deficit, Republican National Committee chair Michael Whatley told Fox News Digital last month that “the Democrats have a ton of money. The Democrats always have a ton of money.”

However, he emphasized that “we absolutely have the resources that we need to get our message out to all the voters that we’re talking to and feel very comfortable that we’re going to be able to see this campaign through, and we’re going to win on November 5.”

Fundraising, along with polling, is a key metric in campaign politics and a measure of a candidate’s popularity and their campaign’s strength. The money raised can be used – among other things – to hire staff, expand grassroots outreach and get-out-the-vote efforts, pay to produce and run ads on TV, radio, digital and mailers, and for candidate travel.

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

U.S. District Judge for the District of Columbia Tanya Chutkan on Wednesday unsealed a key filing in Special Counsel Jack Smith’s election case against former President Trump. 

Chutkan unsealed Smith’s 165-page filing Wednesday after the special counsel submitted the document, in which he lays out the case and alleged evidence he intends to use in an eventual trial against Trump. 

Trump pleaded not guilty to all charges brought against him by Smith. 

TRUMP INDICTED A SECOND TIME IN ELECTION SUBVERSION CASE BROUGHT BY SPECIAL COUNSEL JACK SMITH

The Supreme Court earlier this year ruled that a president is immune from prosecution for official acts. 

Smith was then required to file another indictment against Trump, revising the charges in an effort to navigate the Supreme Court ruling. The new indictment kept the prior criminal charges but narrowed and reframed allegations against Trump after the high court’s ruling that gave broad immunity to former presidents. 

Trump pleaded not guilty to all charges in the new indictment as well. 

In the filing unsealed Wednesday, Smith outlines a “factual proffer,” alleging that Trump “resorted to crimes to try to stay in office” after losing the 2020 presidential election.

“With private co-conspirators, the defendant launched a series of increasingly desperate plans to overturn the legitimate election results in seven states that he had lost—Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, New Mexico, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin,” Smith wrote. 

“His efforts included lying to state officials in order to induce them to ignore true vote counts; manufacturing fraudulent electoral votes in the targeted states; attempting to enlist Vice President Michael R. Pence, in his role as President of the Senate, to obstruct Congress’s certification of the election by using the defendant’s fraudulent electoral votes; and when all else had failed, on January 6m 2021, directing an angry crowd of supporters to the United States Capitol to obstruct the congressional certification.” 

Smith claims that the “throughline of these efforts was deceit,” claiming Trump and co-conspirators engaged in a conspiracy to interfere with the federal government function by which the nation collects and counts election results, which is set forth in the Constitution and the Electoral Count Act (ECA); a conspiracy to obstruct the official proceeding in which Congress certifies the legitimate results of the presidential election; and a conspiracy against the rights of millions of Americans to vote and have their votes counted.” 

Trump campaign spokesman Steven Cheung told Fox News Digital that the release of the “falsehood-ridden, Unconstitutional J6 brief immediately following Tim Walz’s disastrous debate performance is another obvious attempt by the Harris-Biden regime to undermine American Democracy and interfere in this election.” 

“Deranged Jack Smith and Washington DC Radical Democrats are hell-bent on weaponizing the Justice Department in an attempt to cling to power,” Cheung said. “President Trump is dominating, and the Radical Democrats throughout the Deep State are freaking out.” 

Cheung added: “This entire case is a partisan, Unconstitutional Witch Hunt that should be dismissed entirely, together with ALL of the remaining Democrat hoaxes.” 

In the filing, Smith lays out his findings, claiming that people close to Trump had tried to tell him that the claims were all “bulls—t.”

Smith details conversations between an unnamed Trump personal attorney and the former president. That attorney allegedly told Trump that the campaign was “looking into his fraud claims and had even hired external experts to do so, but could find no support for them.” 

TRUMP TRIAL STEMMING FROM JACK SMITH’S PROBE DELAYED PAST ELECTION DAY

“He told the defendant that if the Campaign took these claims to court, they would get slaughtered because the claims are all ‘bullsh—t,’” the filing states, with Smith claiming that lawyer discussed with Trump the investigations and “debunkings on all major claims.” 

Smith also details alleged interactions between Trump and Pence in the days following the election. 

Smith details a Nov. 7, 2020 call between Pence and Trump in which Pence allegedly “tried to encourage” Trump “as a friend” by reminding him that he “took a dying political party and gave it a new lease on life.” 

Smith also details a private lunch between Trump and Pence on Nov. 12, 2020, in which Pence allegedly gave Trump a “face-saving option.” That option, according to the filing, was “don’t concede but recognize the process is over.” 

Smith also detailed another private lunch between Trump and Pence on Nov. 16, 2020, in which Pence allegedly tried to encourage Trump to accept the results of the election and run again in 2024. Trump allegedly said at the time: “I don’t know. 2024 is so far off.” 

Smith details another private lunch between the two in which Pence allegedly “encouraged” Trump “not to look at the election as a loss — just an intermission.”

Smith writes that after that lunch, Trump allegedly asked Pence in the Oval Office: “What do you think we should do?” 

Pence allegedly said: “After we have exhausted every legal process in the courts and Congress, if we still came up short, [the defendant] should ‘take a bow.’”

Meanwhile, Smith claims a White House staffer traveling with Trump overheard him tell his family members that “it doesn’t matter if you won or lost the election. You still have to fight like hell.” 

Smith claims that Trump “was on notice that there was no evidence of widespread election fraud in Arizona within a week of the election,” and claimed Trump also “had early notice that his claims of election fraud in Georgia were false.” 

Smith claims that “none of the allegations or evidence is protected by presidential immunity,” arguing that Trump’s “scheme was a private one.” 

“He extensively used private actors and his Campaign infrastructure to attempt to overturn the election results and operated in a private capacity as a candidate for office,” Smith claimed. “To the limited extent that the superseding indictment and proffered evidence reflect official conduct, however, the Government can rebut the presumption of immunity because relying on that conduct in this prosecution will not pose a danger of intrusion on the authority or functions of the Executive Branch.” 

Last month, Chutkan said she will not hold the trial for Trump on charges stemming from Smith’s Jan. 6 investigation until after the 2024 presidential election. She set deadlines for replies and paperwork from federal prosecutors and Trump’s legal team for Nov. 7 — after Election Day. 

Fox News’ Bill Mears and David Spunt contributed to this report.