NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg appeared to dodge questions about President Biden’s mental fitness to lead NATO on a tumultuous world stage, telling Fox News on Sunday he refuses to become a part of domestic U.S. debate.

“What I can say is that I just had, a couple of weeks ago, a good and productive meeting with President Biden in the Oval Office, and that we, this week, will make important decisions at the NATO summit in Washington on deterrence, defense, on Ukraine, and also to work more closely with our Asia-Pacific partners to address the threats and challenges posed by China,” he told Fox News’ Joey Jones.

He continued: “Of course, all these decisions that will take place this week would not have been possible without U.S. leadership, so I look forward to an important summit in Washington this week.”

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His appearance on “Fox & Friends Weekend” came as world leaders are slated to meet in Washington, D.C., for the75th NATO anniversary summit.

It also comes just over a week after President Biden’s mental acuity was thrust into media conversations following his performance while debating former President Donald Trump.

Jones, who pressed Stoltenberg on the issue, emphasized U.S. national security concerns and international interests such as those in Ukraine. He then asked Stoltenberg if he had personally witnessed any evidence of cognitive decline from the president.

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“If I start to answer questions like that, I will be dragged into a U.S. internal debate, and the reason why NATO is the most successful alliance in history, is that we have stayed out of domestic, personal issues, and I aim to continue to do so,” he replied. “The big thing is that we are making a lot of progress together. For instance, on defense spending, European allies are now spending record high on defense. Twenty-three allies are spending more than 2%, which is a NATO guideline on defense. That is huge progress,” he added. 

Stoltenberg also sounded off on the topic of supporting Ukraine, which is slated to be an integral part of this week’s discussions at the summit. He emphasized that the war’s implications are not restricted to just Ukraine and Russia but also reach to other countries that have been in the spotlight recently, including China, Iran and North Korea, who have all been identified as supporting Russia in the war.

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“If President Putin wins in Ukraine, it will not only embolden President Putin, it will also embolden President Xi and demonstrate how authoritarian leaders in Beijing or Moscow will get their way when they use military force. Therefore, it’s in our security interest to support Ukraine. It’s not charity. It’s in our interest to, to provide support to Ukraine,” he said.

Amid conversations about NATO and Ukraine, speculations that the country could join the alliance linger. Stoltenberg said, however, he doesn’t expect they will be given an invitation.

“We will help to ensure that Ukraine can move closer to membership and by providing training equipment to ensure that the Ukrainian forces move towards meeting NATO standards, but not a decision on membership,” he added.

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ESPN pundit Monica McNutt drew some blowback for her explanation of why Chicago Sky forward Angel Reese is her WNBA Rookie of the Year pick over Indiana Fever’s Caitlin Clark.

McNutt on “Get Up” on Friday said she would choose Reese for the award because of where the Sky are in the WNBA standings.

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“My rookie of the year is going to go based off the standings because I think that is how you have to measure impact,” McNutt said. “And the Sky right now are in the playoffs, so you have to give the nod, in my mind, to Angel Reese.”

McNutt also pointed to Reese’s double-double streak, which was at 11 as she was speaking on the ESPN show. She also pointed to the lack of All-Stars that were on the team when Reese was selected.

When it came to Indiana, McNutt said the Fever already have the building blocks. Aliyah Boston was the No. 1 pick last season and the 2023 WNBA Rookie of the Year, and Kelsey Mitchell was already averaging nearly 20 points per game.

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But fans who have tuned into the WNBA this season because of Clark and Reese took issue with McNutt’s reasoning and expressed as much on social media.

Since McNutt’s remarks, Clark became the first WNBA rookie to record a triple-double while Reese extended her double-double streak to 12 games.

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As of Sunday, both teams are in the top eight in the WNBA standings and would make the playoffs.

NBA champion Glen “Big Baby” Davis is set to serve a 40-month prison sentence after he and other players were convicted in an insurance fraud scheme in May.

Davis recently opened up about what he’s expecting during his prison stay and what he hopes to attain while incarcerated.

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“I feel like I’m going to have good quality time in there,” the former Boston Celtics forward told TMZ Sports over the weekend. “Learn things, meet new people. It’s going to be all right.”

He added that he wasn’t nervous about going to prison and joked about working on his body.

“Shout out to the ladies out there,” he added. “Write me. I’ll be in there getting fine as hell. When I get out, call me ‘Big Baby Jailbait.’”

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Davis was a part of an insurance scheme prosecutors said defrauded an insurance plan for NBA players and their families of up to $5 million. More than 20 people were convinced in the case – many of them players who submitted fictitious dental and medical claims to the NBA Players’ Health and Benefit Welfare Plan.

Former New Jersey Nets player Terrence Williams and former Detroit Pistons guard Will Bynum were among the others convicted in the scheme.

Davis was a part of the Celtics’ 2008 NBA championship team and won a national championship with LSU in 2006.

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He also played for the Orlando Magic and Los Angeles Clippers.

The Wisconsin Supreme Court’s new liberal majority reversed a ruling that banned most ballot drop boxes, opening the door for election officials to reinstate their use in the swing state before November.  

In July 2022, the state Supreme Court, then under a conservative majority, held that absentee ballot drop boxes, which were used widely during the 2020 election, were not authorized under state statute and, therefore, the Wisconsin Elections Commission (WEC) guidance encouraging their use was unlawful. 

That case, known as Teigen v. Wisconsin Elections Commission, centered on a state statute that requires an absentee ballot be returned “to the municipal clerk” by one of two ways: by the elector mailing in the envelope or by the elector delivering the ballot in person to the municipal clerk. It upheld that state statute does not allow offsite, unattended drop boxes, and drop boxes could only be placed in local election clerks’ offices and no one other than the voter could return a ballot in person. 

In a 4-3 ruling on Friday, the state’s high court reversed course. 

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Writing for the majority, Justice Anna Walsh Bradley, one of the court’s four liberal justices, argued that the state statute does not make a distinction between whether ballots can be delivered to inanimate objects, such as drop boxes, whose locations are determined by municipal clerks, or to the municipal clerks themselves.  

“Given this, the question then becomes whether delivery to a drop box constitutes delivery ‘to the municipal clerk’ within the meaning of Wis. Stat. § 6.87(4)(b)1,” the majority wrote. “We conclude that it does. A drop box is set up, maintained, secured, and emptied by the municipal clerk. This is the case even if the drop box is in a location other than the municipal clerk’s office. As analyzed, the statute does not specify a location to which a ballot must be returned and requires only that the ballot be delivered to a location the municipal clerk, within his or her discretion, designates.” 

All three conservative justices dissented Friday, accusing the majority of politically motivated “activism.” 

“Intense partisan politics saturate our nation, exacerbated by a lack of institutional trust,” Justice Rebecca Bradley, who wrote for the minority, said. “The legitimacy of elections continues to be questioned, each side accusing the other of ‘election interference’ and ‘threatening democracy’ or even the very foundation of our constitutional republic. The majority’s decision in this case will only fuel the fires of suspicion.”    

“Whatever can be said of the majority’s decision, it ‘is not the product of neutral, principled judging,’” the dissenters said. “Although the majority attempts to package its disagreements with Teigen as legal, the truth is obvious: The majority disagrees with the decision as a matter of policy and politics, not law.”

“The members of the majority believe using drop boxes is good policy, and one they hope will aid their preferred political party,” the minority continued. “Teigen upheld the historical meaning of Wis. Stat. § 6.87(4)(b)1., which bars the use of offsite, unmanned drop boxes. The majority in this case overrules Teigen not because it is legally erroneous, but because the majority finds it politically inconvenient. The majority’s activism marks another triumph of political power over legal principle in this court.” 

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In April 2023, Democratic-backed candidate Janet Protaswiecz’s victory flipped the Wisconsin state Supreme Court to liberal control under a 4-3 majority. Seeing an opening, Priorities USA, a progressive voter mobilization group, asked the court in February to revisit the July 2022 decision. The justices announced in March they would review the ban on drop boxes but would not consider any other parts of the case. 

The move drew the ire of the court’s conservatives, who accused the liberals of trying to give Democrats an advantage this fall. Democratic Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers in April urged the court to again allow drop boxes. Republicans who control the Wisconsin Legislature also intervened in the case, arguing that the justices should leave the 2022 ruling alone.

Wisconsin again figures to be a crucial swing state after President Biden barely won it in 2020 and Donald Trump narrowly took it in 2016.

Trump and Republicans have alleged that drop boxes facilitated cheating. Republican National Committee (RNC) Chairman Michael Whatley weighed in on Friday’s ruling, arguing in a statement that the “new liberal majority on the Supreme Court overturned this recent precedent and opened the floodgates for drop boxes across the state just months before the presidential election.” 

“The Court did this after unnecessarily fast-tracking the case to issue this decision before the election,” Whatley said. “Make no mistake: this partisan decision handed down by a partisan Court gives Democrats a green light to dismantle election security safeguards and invite election fraud. The RNC’s unprecedented election integrity operation will continue fighting to ensure drop box safeguards are adopted and implemented.” 

Dane County Clerk Scott McDonell, who administers elections in Wisconsin’s most Democratic county, argued drop boxes make the election process more convenient and easier for rural and disabled voters and help reduce the number of ballots that arrive after Election Day too late to be counted.

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“Secure drop boxes provide a convenient alternative to mailing absentee ballots or returning them in person to an elections clerk,” McDonell said in a statement. “Drop boxes are a common sense tool that Dane County utilized safely and securely for many years prior to the 2022 ban.”

“Having drop boxes in place for the 2024 elections in August and November will encourage civic participation in our democracy,” he added. 

House Democrats launched a united effort to vote against a Republican-backed election bill that would require voters provide proof of citizenship to cast ballots in federal elections. 

Republicans are pushing the passage of the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act, otherwise known as the SAVE Act, which would amend the National Voter Registration Act, and require states to obtain proof of citizenship from voters for federal elections, as well as purge noncitizens from voter rolls. 

Democratic leadership is urging its House members to vote against the bill in the lead-up to the vote, saying it would place “an extreme burden [on] countless Americans” in order to vote. 

“As we’ve seen a number of times this Congress, House Republicans continue to irresponsibly call into question the credibility of our elections. Despite numerous recounts, challenges in court, and deep-dives by conservative think-tanks, there has been zero evidence of the widespread fraud that this bill purports to target. It is already illegal under current law for noncitizens to register to vote or to vote in federal elections,” the office of House Minority Whip Katherine Clark, D-Mass., wrote in a “whip question,” Axios first reported. The whip vote rounds up this coming weeks’ votes and outlines guidance regarding how Democratic House members should vote. 

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“Democrats are urged to VOTE NO on H.R. 8281,” the whip question states. 

Republican House leadership, meanwhile, is urging the bill’s passage, with House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., posting on X that “the SAVE Act will safeguard our elections by ensuring only American citizens vote in federal elections.”

He detailed in the X thread that, if passed, the law would: require “state election officials to ask about citizenship before providing voter registration forms”; require “an individual to provide proof of citizenship in order to register to vote in federal elections”; allow “state officials to accept a wide variety of documents that will make it easy for CITIZENS to register to vote in federal elections”; provide “states with access to federal agency databases so they can remove noncitizens from voter rolls and confirm citizenship for individuals lacking proof of citizenship,” among other directives. 

Under the legislation, voters would be required to provide proof of citizenship via IDs and documentation such as a passport, a government-issued photo ID showing proof the individual was born in the U.S., military IDs, or a valid photo ID as well as documentation showing proof of citizenship, such as a birth certificate, the legislation states. 

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Republican Texas Rep. Chip Roy introduced the legislation in May, with Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, introducing the Senate’s companion bill, and received widespread support from Republican lawmakers who said it would secure elections. Johnson notably unveiled the bill earlier this year alongside former President Trump in a high-profile press conference at Mar-a-Lago. 

“Secure elections are a key cornerstone for any representative government; without them, we won’t have a country. Radical progressive Democrats know this and are using open border policies while also attacking election integrity laws to fundamentally remake America. That’s why I am proud to introduce the SAVE Act with Speaker Johnson and my Republican colleagues, along with the invaluable support of citizens and organizations that recognize we must end the practice of non-citizens voting in our elections,” Roy said on May 8. 

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Johnson circulated a 22-page report late last month urging House members to pass the legislation, contending there is “irrefutable evidence that noncitizens have been illegally registering to vote and have illegally voted in U.S. elections.”

“While falsely claiming the 2016 election was ‘stolen’ due to ‘foreign election interference,’ Democrats ignore the real threat of foreign election interference posed when noncitizens are allowed to register and vote in U.S. elections,” Johnson wrote in the report. “Lax voter registration laws make it possible for noncitizens to register and vote in federal elections while campaign finance loopholes allow noncitizens to fund U.S. election activities – both of which can affect the outcome of our elections.”

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Johnson’s X thread championing the legislation last week received support from fellow Republicans, as well as critics of the Democratic Party. Tech billionaire Elon Musk notably sounded off that lawmakers who vote against the bill are “traitors” to the U.S. 

“Those who oppose this are traitors. All Caps: TRAITORS What is the penalty for traitors again?” Elon Musk posted in response to Johnson’s post. 

The Constitution calls on traitors guilty of treason to be sentenced to death or be imprisoned for no less than five years. They are also to be fined no less than $10,000 and be barred from ever holding office in the U.S.

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The bill comes as the immigration crisis continues mounting under the Biden administration, with at least 1.6 million migrants designated as “gotaways” alone between Fiscal Year 2021 to Fiscal Year 2023, Fox previously reported. Gotaways are individuals who evade Border Patrol agents.