Fox News 2024-07-09 20:08:47


Trump predicts which Democrat will be the nominee if Biden drops from the race

Former President Trump said it seems like President Biden will stay in the 2024 race despite calls from some members of his own party to step down in the wake of his disastrous debate performance late last month. 

Trump told Fox News host Sean Hannity in an interview Monday that Biden has an “ego” and he “doesn’t want to quit.”

“It looks to me like he may very well stay, and he’s got an ego, and he doesn’t want to quit. He doesn’t want to do that. It just looks to me like that’s what he wants,” Trump said.

TRUMP CHALLENGES BIDEN TO SECOND PRESIDENTIAL DEBATE- BUT THERE’S A CATCH

Biden told House Democrats in a letter Monday that he’s staying in the race and is committed to beating Trump in November. 

BIDEN REMAINS DEFIANT AS PRESSURE MOUNTS TO WITHDRAW FROM PRESIDENTIAL RACE

“We had a Democratic nomination process and the voters have spoken clearly and decisively. I received over 14 million votes, 87% of the votes cast across the entire nominating process. I have nearly 3,900 delegates, making me the presumptive nominee of our party by a wide margin,” Biden’s letter read in part.

“I can respond to all this by saying clearly and unequivocally: I wouldn’t be running again if I did not absolutely believe I was the best person to beat Donald Trump in 2024.”

Trump said if Biden is forced out or steps down, he believes Vice President Kamala Harris will fill his shoes. 

“I think she’s an ineffective person. She was in charge of the border, she’s never been there, she didn’t do a good job, and she hasn’t done a job on a lot of things,” he told Hannity.

“It would seem to me that from a political standpoint, that’s who they’re going with. They’re not even talking about alternatives.”

The former president added that Biden has a lot of power due to the number of delegates he’s received thus far, so the only way Democrats can get him out of the race is by using the 25th Amendment.

“I think unless they use the 25th amendment, which they’d use in a different sense, he has all the power. He has the delegates. He doesn’t have to get out. There’s nothing they can do to get him out,” Trump said. “So, he’ll get the nomination.”

House Democrats held a virtual meeting over the weekend to discuss the future of Biden’s re-election campaign in the wake of his highly-criticized performance at the CNN Presidential Debate.

Fox News senior congressional correspondent Chad Pergram reported that multiple ranking Democrats on House committees expressed their desire for Biden to step aside during a virtual meeting convened by Democratic House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries. 

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

“I made clear publicly the day after the debate that I support President Joe Biden and the Democratic ticket,” Jeffries said. “My position has not changed.”

Biden and Trump are poised to square off for another debate in September..

Biden’s doctor releases letter as more Dems question if president is right guy for the job

Pinned

Senate Dems to discuss Biden’s candidacy at caucus meeting amid growing concerns

President Biden and his status at the top of the Democrat ticket in November are expected to be discussed by Democrat senators on Tuesday during a weekly caucus meeting as concerns continue to emerge among the party members. 

Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., had been trying to gather a group of Democrat senators to meet on Monday to discuss a path forward amid the fallout of Biden’s debate against former President Trump, a source familiar told Fox News Digital. 

However, the meeting the Virginia senator was trying to plan is no longer being sought. The details of the potential meeting hadn’t yet been confirmed when reports of it emerged. Because of the leaks, the Democrats opted not to hold a separate meeting to talk about the president. 

Instead, the caucus will talk about the dilemma during their already scheduled policy lunch on Tuesday. 

“With so much at stake in the upcoming election, now is the time for conversations about the strongest path forward,” Warner said in a statement Monday afternoon. “As these conversations continue, I believe it is incumbent upon the President to more aggressively make his case to the American people, and to hear directly from a broader group of voices about how to best prevent Trump’s lawlessness from returning to the White House.”

The meetings come after Biden’s physician said a neurologist who specializes in Parkinson’s disease and other movement disorders visited the White House as part of his annual physical examinations.

In a letter released Monday night, White House physician Kevin O’Connor said Dr. Kevin Cannard was chosen for Biden’s annual physicals “not because he is a movement disorder specialist, but because he is a highly trained and highly regarded neurologist here at Walter Reed and across the Military Health System, with a very wide expertise which makes him flexible to see a variety of patients and problems.”

This is an excerpt of an article by Fox News’ Julia Johnson

Posted by Anders Hagstrom Share

What are the odds of Biden dropping out? Here’s what the betting markets say

A defiant President Biden insists he will be the Democratic Party’s nominee in 2024 despite growing calls for him to bow out, and the betting markets have been on a roller-coaster ride over the odds ever since the 81-year-old’s disastrous debate against former President Trump two weeks ago.

Leading up to the debate on June 27, traders on Polymarket – the world’s largest prediction market with roughly 80% of market share globally – bet there was approximately a 1 in 4 chance of Biden dropping out. That shot up to a 43% chance the next day and surged to a 75% chance on July 3 as the news cycle showed pressure rising for the former president to pass the baton.

But those odds have steadily declined ever since as Biden has repeatedly said he isn’t going anywhere. Polymarket traders determined that as of Monday afternoon, there was a 45% chance of Biden stepping aside after earlier in the day he sent a letter to congressional Democrats saying he was “firmly committed to staying in the race.”

Other sites have seen similar shifts.

“The market currently prices President Biden in the lead for becoming the Democratic nominee, with a 14c bump just today,” PredictIt public relations director Lindsey Singer told FOX Business in a statement Monday. “But these numbers follow days of considerable action and price shifting – including the addition of several new potential candidates.”

PredictIt’s traders gave Biden a 54% chance of becoming the Democratic Party’s presidential nominee for 2024 as of the first of the week. Vice President Harris came in second on the site with a 31% chance, followed by California Gov. Gavin Newsom at 9%. Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and former first lady Michelle Obama are both seen as having a 6% chance.

This is an excerpt of an article by Fox News’ Breck Dumas

Posted by Anders Hagstrom Share

Schumer silent as worries over Biden’s fitness swell in Senate

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., has refused to comment on President Biden’s poor presidential candidate debate performance last month against former President Trump or the concerns it has raised for many about Biden’s ability to serve another term. 

Schumer’s staff was asked Monday by Fox News Digital how he felt about Biden’s debate performance and whether the interview the president did with ABC News last week calmed any concerns among Democrat senators. His staff was also questioned about whether Schumer believes Biden should be the Democrat nominee, if he has any potential replacement ideas, and his thoughts about the concerns of fellow Democrats about Biden that have been made public. 

The leader’s office did not respond.

The majority leader has not commented on the debate or mounting Democrat fears. However, he told reporters last week and again on Monday that he remains supportive of Biden. 

“I’m with Joe Biden,” he said at a New York press conference on July 2. “I’m for Joe,” he reportedly reiterated while walking into the Senate on Monday. 

Biden’s showing at the debate managed to awaken fears among Democrat lawmakers, staff and strategists almost immediately. But officeholders, particularly those in leadership positions, have been careful about making any such concerns public.

This is an excerpt from an article by Fox News’ Julia Johnson

Posted by Anders Hagstrom Share

Biden’s White House team worked to block access to president as evidence of aging grew: Report

President Biden’s White House team made conscious efforts to insulate the president from interactions with the public and even lawmakers as evidence of his aging continued to grow, the Wall Street Journal reported late Monday.

Biden’s staff blocked
“impromptu” exchanges and limited the number of interviews he was granting to the press. The White House also refused to allow Biden to conduct a Super Bowl interview two years in a row.

Sources tell the journal the measures were part of an effort to prevent the public from realizing just how greatly Biden mental acuity has deteriorated, even compared to earlier in his term.

White House staff have taken to blasting loud music during Biden’s arrivals and departures at the White House, drowning out the shouted questions that presidents often answer in such instances.

Some Democratic governors were incredulous earlier this week when Biden himself told them during a meeting that he needs more sleep and should avoid events starting after 8 p.m., the journal reported.

Posted by Anders Hagstrom Share

Biden anger toward ‘elites’ in MSNBC interview raises eyebrows

On an MSNBC program that’s a favorite of the Washington and New York liberal establishment, President Biden blasted “elites” in the Democratic Party on Monday who are trying to force him out of the 2024 race. And some critics and media observers sympathetic to him aren’t buying it.

As he wrapped up a lengthy phone-in interview on “Morning Joe,” Biden challenged
his own party doubters as he emphatically declared he was staying in the 2024 race.

“I’m getting so frustrated by the elites,” he told MSNBC hosts and Biden supporters Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski. “Now I’m not talking about you guys, but by the elites in the party who — they know so much more. If any of these guys don’t think I should run, run against me. Go ahead, announce for president. Challenge me at the convention.”

Earlier in the interview, Brzezinski name-dropped outlets who want him to step aside amid concerns about his viability against former President Trump, such as The New York Times, The Economist, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution and The Boston Globe. There have also been some House Democrats who have called for him to not seek re-election, as well as prominent liberal names like Tim Ryan, James Carville and David Axelrod.

“They’re big names, but I don’t care what those big names think!” Biden said. “They were wrong in 2020! They were wrong in 2022 about the red wave! They’re wrong in 2024! Come out with me, watch people react. You make a judgment!”

NBC’s Chuck Todd was skeptical about Biden’s rhetoric afterward, noting that Biden had sailed to the Democratic nomination without a serious challenger. Rep. Dean Phillips, D-Minn., voiced concerns about Biden’s age and health as part of his primary campaign, but he never remotely threatened the president’s chances of winning the nomination.

“Biden’s anger at ‘elites’ is a bit misplaced,” Todd wrote on X. “Without the ‘elites,’ he would have had a serious primary foe. Without the ‘elites,’ the No Labels effort would have a compelling ticket. Arguably, it’s the ‘elites’ who put too much faith in Biden that got the Dems in this position.”

“Ding ding ding,” The Atlantic’s Tim Alberta agreed. “The ‘elites’ assured Biden’s nomination by refusing to go on-the-record with the grave concerns they whispered in private.”

This is an excerpt of an article by Fox News’ David Rutz

Posted by Anders Hagstrom Share

How president of nation’s biggest teachers union behind unhinged rant is linked to Biden

FIRST ON FOX: The president of the largest teachers’ union, who was mocked over the weekend for giving an “off-the-rails” speech, has visited the White House dozens of times during Biden’s presidency.

White House visitor logs show that National Education Association (NEA) President Rebecca “Becky” Pringle, who delivered a viral speech over the weekend that drew intense criticism, visited the Biden White House at least 24 times between 2021 and early 2024, a Fox News Digital review found.

In March of this year, Pringle met with Biden’s national economic advisor Lael Branard roughly a month after meeting with Jade Cabrera of the White House Office of Public Engagement.  

In February 2024 and December 2023, Pringle visited the White House as part of large gatherings with President Biden. Pringle had two other visits with Vice President Harris’s Deputy Chief of Staff Erin Wilson in October 2023. 

PARKINSON’S DISEASE SPECIALIST MET WITH PRESIDENT BIDEN’S PHYSICIAN IN WHITE HOUSE

Over the course of 2023, Pringle met with at least two of First lady Jill Biden’s aides, including her special assistant and senior adviser, as well as a meeting with now-former White House Director of Domestic Council Susan Rice.

The visitor logs show Pringle participated in a virtual event with the first lady, along with American Federation of Teachers (AFT) president Randi Weingarten one day after Biden was sworn into office in January 2021. She also participated in a one-on-one meeting with President Biden in December 2022. She went on to visit several highly-attended White House events in 2021 and 2022.

WHITE HOUSE VISITOR LOGS CONTRADICT BIDEN SPOKESMAN’S VOW TO BAN DC OFFICIAL WHO PRAISED NOTORIOUS ANTISEMITE

During NEA’s Annual Meeting and Representative Assembly (RA) in Philadelphia over the weekend, Pringle called for transformative social justice change in the education system in the pursuit of equity. 

“To unite not just our members, but the nation to reclaim public education as a common good, as the foundation of our democracy, and then transform it into something it was never designed to be—a racially and socially just and equitable system,” Pringle said. 

“We worked hard to rid ourselves of a tyrannical, deceitful, and corrupt White House, but the reality is that the seeds that were sown during that horrible season continue to germinate,” she said, referring to the Trump administration.

She continued by vowing to “protect public education” and said, “We will fight privatization. We will fight vouchers. We will fight any and all schemes to drain resources from our beloved public schools,” appearing to refer to school choice.

Pringle, who donated $2,800 to Biden’s 2020 campaign and $500 to the Biden Victory Fund, said the union’s “work must be about electing people like” President Biden and Vice President Harris, promising to re-elect them this year.

She also said the union is pro- Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI), a controversial concept that has sparked backlash at colleges, K-12 schools, in all levels of government, and private companies across the United States.

The Florida Board of Governors passed a regulation in January limiting public funding for DEI, defining them as “any program, campus activity, or policy that classifies individuals on the basis of race, color, sex, national origin, gender identity, or sexual orientation and promotes differential or preferential treatment of individuals on the basis of such classification.”

School choice advocate Corey DeAngelis ripped Pringle’s recent comments in a previous statement to Fox News Digital, calling her one of the “power-hungry control freaks [who] think they own your kids.”

“These power-hungry control freaks think they own your kids. They’re in a cult that worships government and detests parents. It’s time to defund teachers’ unions and allow the money to follow the child,” DeAngelis said. “Becky Pringle pulled a Dwight Schrute. She is off-the-rails and desperate to maintain control over the minds of other people’s children.”

Last year while speaking on a panel, Pringle said that “racial” and “social justice” must be at the forefront of education policy in the United States.

“For us at the NEA, education justice must be about racial justice, it must be about social justice, it must be about climate justice. It must be about all of those things,” Pringle said. 

“For our students to be able to come to school ready to learn every day–We can never think of education as an isolated system because everything connects to our students’ ability to learn. So, we have to necessarily talk about housing justice, food inequality, and the reality that we all just went through a global pandemic together and of course it was the most marginalized communities that were already suffering from the inequities in every single social system in this country and every country.”

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

Pringle previously faced backlash during the pandemic when she raked in over $500,000 while her teachers’ union was pushing for schools to remain closed and teachers were making a fraction of her high salary.

Fox News Digital reached out to the White House and NEA for comment on Pringle’s White House visits but did not receive a response.

A viral video montage has emerged of prominent figures in the liberal media calling on government officials to invoke the 25th Amendment on former President Trump while he was in office.

The montage, created by NewsBusters video editor Bill D’Agostino, noted that media members pushed the 25th Amendment narrative over 600 times during Trump’s White House tenure.

The compilation of major media voices was part of a larger report published by the Media Research Center, which noted that MSNBC’s Lawrence O’Donnell brought up the idea of declaring Trump unfit for presidential duties less than a month after his inauguration.

In December 2017, “Morning Joe” host Joe Scarborough said a close associate of Trump on the campaign trail told him the then-presidential candidate had “pre-dementia.”

LIBERAL NEWSPAPERS, BIDEN MEDIA ALLIES PRESSURE PRESIDENT TO DROP OUT OF RACE: ‘HIS HUBRIS IS INFURIATING’

Scarborough also suggested that “everybody” who’s known Trump for years has said he has “mentally devolved.” The MSNBC co-host then said he wanted to know “when it’s safe” to start talking about whether Trump should be taken off his presidential duties.

Scarborough’s comments came a month after he urged Trump’s cabinet and Republicans to use the 25th Amendment.

“What is the cabinet waiting for?” he asked at the time.

His co-host and wife, Mika Brzezinski, pushed for the use of the 25th Amendment on multiple occasions, calling Trump “not fit to lead” and “not well.”

Then-CNN legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin discussed the issue the following September when he said that the “mere fact” the 25th Amendment was allegedly discussed by people close to Trump suggested a degree of “unease or even panic” about the way the then-president conducted himself.

MEDIA FIGURES SHOCKED AT BIDEN’S ‘BAD’ DEBATE PERFORMANCE: ‘TOTAL AND COMPLETE DISASTER’ 

Days later, liberal comedian Bill Maher highlighted the story of former Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, who reportedly floated the idea of secretly recording Trump and invoking the 25thAmendment.

“Now the 25th Amendment, the one about removing a president who’s incapacitated, keeps popping up in the news, someone has to explain to me if it was not written specifically for this guy, then who is it for? I know that everyone knows by now that Trump is a narcissist, but we have to stop treating that like it’s an unfortunate personality tick and start treating it like what it is: a serious, dangerous, mental illness,” Maher said.

Other major voices that discussed the 25th Amendment under Trump included former CNN host Don Lemon, the hosts of ABC’s “The View,” MSNBC senior contributor Mike Barnicle, CNN political analyst Carl Bernstein, James Carville and CNN “State of the Union” co-anchor Dana Bash.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

The montage of media outcry comes after major network personalities came forward and asked that President Biden be replaced on the 2024 presidential ballot.

Despite their concerns about Biden’s mental acuity and ability to adequately serve another four years, most media figures have downplayed or outright ignored discussions about the 25th Amendment as it relates to the current president. 

Former assistant U.S. Attorney Andy McCarthy on Monday called for 25th Amendment hearings on Biden after his very shaky performance at last week’s presidential debate.

“I think it’s time to have 25th Amendment hearings,” McCarthy said. “I don’t really care that much about the campaign when it comes to this issue … I started to prosecute jihadists back in the 1990s. The ‘threat’ environment we are in today is reminiscent of right before 9/11, except right before 9/11 we didn’t have war raging in Europe and the Middle East, where Israel is looking at a two-front war now. It is crazy to have someone who is non compos mentis (loose translation: ‘of unsound mind’) president.”

CNN and MSNBC did not immediately return Fox News Digital’s request for comment.

Tennis star’s girlfriend causes courtside controversy with questionable remark

American tennis star Taylor Fritz stunned Germany’s Alexander Zverev on Monday with a five-set win at Wimbledon after being down two sets early in the match.

Zverev had the advantage after winning the second set 7-6 (4). Fritz, however, stormed back and won the final three sets, 6-3, 7-6 (3), 6-3. 

CLICK HERE FOR MORE SPORTS COVERAGE ON FOXNEWS.COM

Celebrating the win, it was Fritz’s girlfriend, Morgan Riddle, who had the last word. Riddle appeared to mock Zverev when she posted on her Instagram Stories.

“When ur man wins 4 the girls,” she wrote referencing allegations that he assaulted a woman in 2020.

Riddle also wrote in another post, “cheer loud ladies.”

The posts appeared to have been deleted.

COCO GAUFF UPSET BY FELLOW AMERICAN EMMA NAVARRO IN STRAIGHT SETS AT WIMBLEDON

Zverev settled the domestic abuse case after reaching an out-of-court settlement with his former partner, who made the accusations. A German court ended the trial back in June. He agreed to pay fines of around $162,000 to the state and about $54,000 to charity.

Prosecutors said Zverev pushed the woman against a wall and choked her during an argument. Zverev maintained his innocence.

In the match against Fritz, Zverev appeared to take issue with the cheering coming from his opponent’s box in the fifth set. He said “they were a bit over the top.”

Zverev also acknowledged he was playing with a knee injury.

“I was playing on one leg,” Zverev said. “It was fairly obvious that I wasn’t 100% today, right? I wasn’t moving, really, the entire match. I wasn’t running for drop shots. If I was running for a drop shot, I was limping there more than running.”

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

Fritz will now play Lorenzo Musetti in the Wimbledon quarterfinals.

Experts uncover crucial misstep that could undermine Alec Baldwin’s defense

Alec Baldwin could be “a liability” for his own defense, but compromised key evidence could help him beat the case, legal experts tell Fox News Digital.

A gun Baldwin was holding discharged on the New Mexico set of the Western film “Rust” in 2021, killing cinematographer Halyna Hutchins and injuring director Joel Souza.

Baldwin is facing an involuntary manslaughter rap and up to 18 months in prison if convicted. Jury selection is slated to begin Tuesday, July 9.

ALEC BALDWIN ‘RUST’ TRIAL: JUDGE MAKES MAJOR RULING IN ACTOR’S FAVOR

Should Baldwin testify? 

Lawyer Todd Spodek said the “30 Rock” star could well blow his top — and his defense — if he takes the stand.

The attorney represented Genevieve Sabourin, who was convicted of stalking Baldwin after an explosive Manhattan trial that saw the actor and his wife, Hilaria, step into the witness box.

“It’s incredibly risky if he testifies,” Spodek told Fox News Digital. “He’s always having outbursts. He’s someone who isn’t in control of his emotions and is extremely volatile.”

ALEC BALDWIN’S ‘RUST’ ARMORER REQUESTS PRISON RELEASE DAYS BEFORE ACTORS INVOLUNTARY MANSLAUGHTER TRIAL

Spodek cross-examined Baldwin, grilling him about an affair he’d allegedly had with Sabourin. Baldwin denied anything more than a professional relationship with the French Canadian actress as he repeatedly attacked the attorney.

The actor, Spodek said, can easily be provoked.

“My experience with him was when you get under his skin, you get him worked up, he lashes out,” noted Spodek, who also represented fake heiress Anna Sorokin. “He’s a liability and jurors could see him as reckless and impulsive.”

Defense attorney Mark Bederow agreed with Spodek and added that prosecutors will seek to tear Baldwin apart for the contradictory accounts of the accident he gave in interviews to the media and police.

“He is in New Mexico, which is a long way from Hollywood and New York,” Bederow noted. “There is a real risk that a New Mexico jury may find him insincere and insufferable.”

Damage to the weapon

The actor insisted in a televised interview that he cocked the gun’s hammer but never pulled the trigger, arguing that it fired accidentally.

Prosecutors have countered that the pistol could not have discharged absent Baldwin squeezing off a round.

ALEC BALDWIN SMACKS PHONE OF ANTI-ISRAEL AGITATOR WHO BEGGED HIM TO SAY ‘FREE PALESTINE’ INSIDE COFFEE SHOP

But the FBI destroyed the gun, a Colt. 45, during testing, making it impossible to check for potential defects that could have led to a malfunction, the defense contends.

Bederow said Baldwin’s lawyers are clearly poised to stress the damage to the key piece of evidence in the case in seeking an acquittal.

“The prosecution’s destruction of the gun could be extremely helpful to the defense,” he said. “It is incomprehensible that the prosecution would disregard the real risk of destroying the gun to prove a point they almost certainly could establish. It’s never a good look for the prosecution to be so reckless when that is precisely what they are accusing the defendant of being.”

Investigators struck the gun with a mallet from several angles to test its sensitivity, breaking its firing and safety mechanisms in the process.

In declining to toss the case last month, Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer agreed to let both sides explore how the gun was damaged during the trial.

New Mexico-based attorney Elizabeth Bunker said the defense’s argument will be a tough sell to jurors who have experience with guns. “A crowd that knows firearms will say, ‘Of course you pulled the trigger, you’re full of it!’” she told Fox News Digital. 

Hannah Gutierrez Reed’s conviction

The film’s armorer, Hannah Gutierrez Reed, is serving an 18-month sentence after being convicted of the same charge Baldwin is now facing.

Jurors found her reckless for putting a live round in the gun Baldwin fired. Gutierrez Reed is appealing her conviction.

Bederow said he expects Baldwin’s team to blame Gutierrez Reed for the killing and that her conviction will help his case.

CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP FOR THE ENTERTAINMENT NEWSLETTER

“The defense will argue she was responsible for keeping the firearm safe and passing it to the actor only when safe,” he said. “He will argue that however regrettable the accident was, it was not reckless to rely on her training and expertise.”

Los Angeles-based entertainment attorney Tre Lovell said this argument could be bolstered by Screen Actors Guild rules, which govern the duties of workers on a Hollywood set.

Prosecutors are arguing that Baldwin was responsible for checking that the gun wasn’t loaded, but Lovell said SAG protocols dictate otherwise.

LIKE WHAT YOU’RE READING? CLICK HERE FOR MORE ENTERTAINMENT NEWS

“If someone hands me a gun in the real world and says it’s not loaded, and I shoot it and kill someone, I’m criminally responsible,” he told Fox News Digital. “But on a movie set it’s different and everyone has a job and duty. The actors act, the directors direct, the gaffers do the onset stuff and armorers are there as weapons experts.”

In fact, he said, it would be a violation of SAG rules for an actor to be responsible for gun or set safety.

Lovell did note that Baldwin’s status as a producer on the film with oversight over the entire project could become a vulnerability. However, during a pretrial hearing on July 8, Sommer ruled that prosecutors can’t introduce evidence of Baldwin’s status as a producer.

“I’m having real difficulty with the state’s position that they want to show that as a producer he didn’t follow guidelines and therefore, as an actor, Mr. Baldwin did all these things wrong,” the judge said at the hearing in Santa Fe’s First Judicial District Court. “The probative value is not substantially outweighed by unfair prejudice and confusion to jurors.”

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

Target catches shoppers off guard with move to stop accepting payment method

Target Corp. is killing off the use of personal checks at its stores for good.

“Due to extremely low volumes, we’ll no longer accept personal checks starting July 15,” Target said in a statement to FOX Television stations. “We have taken several measures to notify guests in advance to aid an easy and efficient checkout experience.”

Target will still allow customers to write checks through its Target Circle Week sale, which is going on this week through Saturday.

After the retail giant stops accepting checks, it will still accept several other forms of payments, including cash, debit and credit cards, digital wallets, SNAP/EBT, and buy now, pay later options.

TARGET, DICK’S SPORTING GOODS FACING PUSHBACK FROM INVESTORS FOR ‘GOING WOKE’

Target Circle Card payments may still be made by personal check via mail.

Federal Reserve data shows the use of personal checks as a payment method has been on the decline for years. In 2023, checks accounted for only 3% of payments, down from 4% in the two previous years and 7% in 2020. Last year, the vast majority (62%) of payments were made using a credit or debit card, and 16% were made with cash.

Ticker Security Last Change Change %
TGT TARGET CORP. 148.72 +3.07 +2.11%

Target Corp.

GET FOX BUSINESS ON THE GO BY CLICKING HERE 

USA Today noted that Target joins other major retailers in ending its acceptance of personal checks for payments at stores, including Aldi and Amazon-owned Whole Foods Markets

Artifact belonging to America’s Founding Father turns up at thrift store

An artifact that originally belonged to President George Washington recently landed in the hands of a Virginia history enthusiast – and then a museum – all thanks to Goodwill.

The piece is currently on display in the Museum of the American Revolution in Philadelphia. Collector Richard “Dana” Moore stumbled across the artifact – which is a six-inch-long piece of linen fabric from Washington’s dining marquee, or tent – on Goodwill’s auction site.

The fabric was auctioned off with a note that read: “a piece of George Washingtons tent, from the history building at Jamestown exposition 1907 property of John Burns Dec 23rd 07.”

While most of Moore’s collection is made up of Civil War artifacts, he has also accumulated pieces from the American Revolution and the War of 1812 over the years through metal detecting. During an interview with Fox News Digital, the history buff said that he thought the piece “couldn’t be real” at first.

HISTORIANS UNCOVER 18TH-CENTURY BOTTLES WITH MYSTERIOUS LIQUID AT GEORGE WASHINGTON’S MT. VERNON

“But when I zoomed in, the fabric looked authentically old,” he explained. “The brief handwritten note referencing the Jamestown Exposition of 1907, which was attached with a rusty pin, added to the feeling of age.”

“My gut kept telling me this could be real.” 

Feeling that the piece was special, Moore bought the fabric on the auction site for $1,300. Moore explained that after buying the piece, he felt overwhelmed about being responsible “for such an important artifact of history.” 

He waited to tell his wife, Susan Bowen, about the purchase, which she was initially skeptical about.

DIVERS DISCOVER ‘HIDDEN TREASURES’ DURING EXPEDITION TO EERIE ANCIENT SHIPWRECK

“I assumed it couldn’t be real until over a year later when we watched an online presentation from the Museum of the American Revolution,” Bowen explained to Fox News Digital. “That’s what prompted us to reach out to them.”

Matthew Skic, a curator at the museum, told Fox News Digital that the fabric was cut as a souvenir while the marquee was on display in 1907. As the note confirms, the canopy made an appearance at the Jamestown Exposition of that year.

“At that time, Mary Custis Lee, Martha Washington’s great-great granddaughter and daughter of Robert E. Lee, owned Washington’s tents from the Revolutionary War,” he added. “She put the dining marquee on loan to the exposition.”

In 1778, Washington used two marquees while traveling alongside his troops – one for dining and another for his personal offices and sleeping quarters. The fabric that Moore found was part of Washington’s dining canopy. Skic certified the authenticity of the fabric after examining the piece. 

ARCHAEOLOGISTS EXCAVATE HAUNTING ‘CITY OF THE DEAD’ PACKED WITH HUNDREDS OF TOMBS

“We took a close look at the weave of the fabric and the style and shape of the red wool edging with assistance from textile conservator Virginia Whelan,” he added. “These details match the dining marquee. We were able to determine that this fragment was cut away from the scalloped edge of the roof of the dining marquee.”

The expert noted that the fabric has darkened over the years “due to the accumulation of dirt and dust.”

“The red wool binding on the edge has faded a bit, but it retains most of its color,” he added. “The fragment’s edges are frayed from being cut away from the marquee.”

CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP FOR OUR LIFESTYLE NEWSLETTER

Skic added that finding artifacts such as this is “very unusual, especially through a Goodwill Online auction!”

“Prior to the discovery of this fragment, nine fragments of Washington’s tents were known to exist, all in the collections of museums or other institutions,” he explained.  “The Museum of the American Revolution, for example, owns three fragments of Washington’s tents. There may be more fragments out there!”

The fabric is currently on display at the Philadelphia museum, along with other fragments of Washington’s tents. Historians are still actively investigating the piece, and Skic said that the museum is researching who John Burns, the man who supposedly wrote the handwritten note, was.

Bowen said that seeing the artifact in the Museum of the American Revolution was “an honor.”

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

“Seeing it as part of the exhibit was so exciting,” she said. “It’s been a very emotional day for both of us.”

Boy bitten by shark after landing on predator while diving into ocean at US beach

A 14-year-old boy was bitten in the leg by a shark during a lifeguard training camp in Florida on Monday morning, Volusia County Beach Safety (VCBS) officials confirmed to Fox News Digital.

Around 11:15 a.m. on Monday, officials said a 14-year-old boy was entering the water at Ponce Inlet, a beach area north of the jetty, when he was bitten on the right calf.

The boy was participating in the Junior Lifeguard Camp, officials with the VCBS said. 

Witnesses stated as he was diving into the water, the boy landed on the shark and that’s when he was attacked.

SHARK ATTACKS 4 PEOPLE AT TEXAS BEACH ON FOURTH OF JULY: POLICE

According to witnesses, the shark was a 4 to 5 Black Tip, which is common to the beaches in the area. 

Officials said the boy was treated on scene and was transported to the hospital with non-life-threatening lacerations.

According to a report from the Florida Museum of Natural History’s International Shark Attack file, Florida — specifically Volusia County — is the shark capital of the world. 

FLORIDA MAN ATTACKED BY SHARK ON BOATING TRIP

Not counting Monday’s attack, there have been 351 attacks in Volusia County alone since 1882. 

After Florida, which had 16 total shark bites recorded, was Hawaii, which had eight unprovoked bites in 2023. 

HAWAII TOURIST BITTEN BY SHARK WHILE SWIMMING, FOUND ‘BLEEDING PROFUSELY’

While the report shows that most shark attacks have happened in September since 1926, July, August and October are also among the most common months for attacks to happen in Florida.

At the beginning of June, miles of beaches in Walton County were closed down in Florida after two back-to-back shark attacks.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP 

Over the Fourth of July weekend, at least four people were injured in shark attacks on South Padre Island in Texas.