A federal official tells Fox News that multiple agencies from Butler, Pennsylvania were involved in security for former President Trump’s rally on Saturday.

The local agencies included the Butler Township Police, the Butler County Sheriff’s Office, and the Butler Emergency Services Unit.

The federal source told Fox News that the U.S. Secret Service was responsible for everything going on inside the rally while local authorities were responsible for everything outside of the secure area.

Federal source says the AGR (American Glass Research) building where Thomas Matthew Crooks allegedly fired from is considered the exterior, or “outside of the secure area.”

A federal law enforcement source affirmed a recent Facebook post from Butler County Commissioner Edward R. Natali who claimed Butler Township police were only in charge of traffic.

The federal law enforcement source confirmed to Fox News that a local response team was in the AGR building, though it remains unclear if that unit was in the building directly beneath the shooter. The AGR property is expansive with individual buildings or sections.

A federal source also confirmed to Fox News that the Secret Service uses drones but could not confirm whether they were used during the rally.

Fox News’ Matthew Finn contributed to this report.

Lawmakers on the House Judiciary Committee will meet next week to discuss the FBI’s investigation into the assassination attempt on former President Trump and the “ongoing politicization” of the law enforcement agency.

The hearing, titled “Oversight of the Federal Bureau of Investigation,” will be held at 10 a.m.

Committee members will “examine the FBI’s investigation into the assassination attempt against President Trump and the ongoing politicization of the nation’s preeminent law enforcement agency under the direction of FBI Director Christopher Wray and Attorney General Merrick Garland,” according to the committee’s website.

FBI Director Christopher Wray briefed lawmakers on the investigation into the shooting on Wednesday in a private meeting.

The Department of Homeland Security opened a second investigation into the U.S. Secret Service for its handling of providing security for former President Trump at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, with the latest focusing on the counter sniper team.

The office of Inspector General Joseph V. Cuffari, who was appointed as the inspector general by former President Trump in 2019, opened the investigation.

The investigation was recently listed on the Office of Inspector General’s website page that lists ongoing projects.

The most recent investigation is “to determine the extent to which the [Secret Service] Counter Sniper Team is prepared to respond to threats at events attended by designated protectees.”

Additional projects listed on the page include an evaluation of the Secret Service’s process for securing Trump’s July 13, 2014 campaign event.

Fox News’ David Spunt contributed to this report.

FBI Director Christopher Wray is joining House and Senate lawmakers Wednesday for a virtual briefing to discuss the assassination attempt on former President Trump during a rally in Pennsylvania over the weekend.

The FBI said earlier this week it was investigating the assassination attempt as a potential act of terrorism.

On Sunday, Robert Wells, the assistant director of the Counterterrorism Division at the FBI, said the agency would be using “every resource that we have at our disposal.”

“We have a 24/7 command post in Pittsburgh as well as here at FBI Headquarters and we are dedicating every resource that we have at our disposal,” he said.

The Butler County, Pennsylvania district attorney said local police engaged with a man mere moments before he opened fire and nearly assassinated former President Trump at a rally on Saturday.

District Attorney Richard Goldinger confirmed with Fox News that a local police sniper engaged the gunman but did not fire a shot to kill would-be assassin Thomas Matthew Crooks.

Goldinger said he did not know if the sniper injured the gunman or not.

The officer is now on administrative leave, Goldinger added, which is standard protocol during an officer-involved shooting.

Fox News’ CB Cotton contributed to this report.

House Oversight and Accountability Committee chair Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., has formally subpoenaed Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle to testify on the attempted assassination of former President Trump over the weekend.

The hearing, scheduled for next Monday, will be the first congressional hearing into the assassination attempt.

Comer said initially that the Secret Service committed to her attendance but that Homeland Security officials appear to have intervened and there has been no “meaningful updates or information” shared with the committee.

Comer said the “lack of transparency and failure to cooperate” with the committee called into question Cheatle’s ability to lead the Secret Service and necessitates the subpoena.

Cheatle has been under heavy scrutiny in the days following the assassination attempt as lawmakers and federal agencies, including the FBI, have opened investigations to figure out what went wrong.

Cheatle said the Secret Service was working to understand how Saturday’s shooting happened and to make sure something like it never does again.

The Department of Homeland Security’s inspector general also says it’s investigating the Secret Service’s handling of security on the day of the assassination attempt. The agency said Wednesday the objective is to evaluate the Secret Service’s “process for securing” Trump’s Saturday event. The Secret Service has said it will participate with congressional committees looking into the shooting.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Local police reportedly told the U.S. Secret Service that it lacked the manpower to monitor a building that was eventually used by a gunman to shoot former President Trump during his rally in Pennsylvania over the weekend.

Per reporting from the Washington Post, Richard Goldinger said the Secret Service had been informed that local police “did not have manpower to assist with securing that building.”

The building, owned by Agr International, was located just outside the perimeter of the rally, approximately 150 yards from where Trump was speaking. The rooftop, which the gunman accessed, gave him a clear line of sight to Trump.

The U.S. Secret Service is being investigated for how it failed to prevent the gunman – later identified as 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks – from climbing onto the rooftop of the building and shoot Trump.

The Butler Township manager, Thomas Knights, defended local police officers’ response to the assassination attempt against former President Trump at his rally on Saturday.

Knights’ comments come amid some sparring between the U.S. Secret Service and the Fraternal Order of Police as both federal and local law enforcement take criticism from the public for being unable to stop the would-be Trump assassin before he fired, though Knights says that tension has not “spilled over into” Butler.

“I think there’s some misconception about [the] overall response. I can only speak for our officers transitioning from what was supposed to be a primary traffic control assistance to where it became … a suspicious person,” the township manager, who supervises all Butler department heads including the police chief, told Fox News Digital in an interview Tuesday.

“I think our law enforcement did exactly what training taught them to do. … How subsequent events played out, that’s another thing for what I hope to be a really complete report on the incident to educate everybody.”

Knights added that to his knowledge, the Secret Service has not been in “any direct communication” with Butler officials.

Read more about Knight’s defense of local police.

Fox News’ Audrey Conklin contributed to this report.

Butler, Pennsylvania Town Commissioner Edward R. Natali said on Tuesday that the local police department was not responsible for securing the building a shooter propped himself on before nearly assassinating former President Trump at a rally on Saturday.

Natali posted on Facebook that he wanted to be clear that the Butler Township Police Department (BTPD) “had no security detail for this event.”

“There were seven officers all assigned to traffic detail. Period,” Natali wrote. “The BTPD was NOT responsible for securing AGR or any other location. Anyone who says so, reports on it, implies it, etc… is uninformed, lying, or covering their own backsides. I trust I am being loud and clear.”

He expressed disappointment that an article published by a local radio network reported that an unnamed Secret Service agent pointed the finger at “local police,” adding the tactic was a “very transparent deflection.”

“As Sheriff Slupe stated, the BTPD officers in the general vicinity left their traffic detail to respond to the report of a suspicious person. With reports of the suspect on the roof, a first officer being assisted by a second officer was pulling himself up to see on the roof. The suspect turned his firearm on the first officer, who as Sheriff Slupe stated, was not in position to wield his weapon to defend himself,” Natali said. “He fell to safety and was injured in the process. The fact of the matter is the encounter with the officer most likely forced the shooter to hurry his shots.

“It is completely disgusting to see finger pointing has become the priority, when we had four people shot, with one of the four fatally wounded,” he added. “I am sure it is comfort to all family members, including President Trump’s family, that it is more important to affix the blame, rather than the problem. The men and women who serve in the BTPD are dedicated to their jobs, the wellbeing of their fellow citizens, and they love their community.”

Fox News’ CB Cotton contributed to this report.

Former President Trump
will attend the funeral of the firefighter who was killed during a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania last Saturday, according to reports.

During the rally, Trump was nearly assassinated when Thomas Matthew Crooks opened fire from on top of a roof, grazing the president’s ear and ultimately killing Corey Comperatore.

The New York Post reported that a source close to Trump was asked if he would be attending the father of two’s funeral a week after skirting death, and he was told, “of course he is.”

The widow of the volunteer firefighter also told the Post on Tuesday that the former president called her and was “very kind,” a report says.

Helen Comperatore wrote on Facebook that Trump phoned her on Tuesday, three days after her husband Corey was struck with gunfire while trying to protect his family during the campaign event in Butler, according to the New York Post.

“He was very kind and said he would continue to call me in the days and weeks ahead,” the widow reportedly wrote. “I told him the same thing I told everyone else. He left this world a hero and God welcomed him in. He did not die in vain that day.”

Helen Comperatore told the New York Post on Monday that her husband’s final words were “get down!”

James “Jim” Copenhaver, one of the two victims who were critically wounded during the assassination attempt against former President Trump on Saturday, sustained “life-altering injuries,” his family said in a statement.

Copenhaver, 74, of Moon Township, Pennsylvania, is still hospitalized but in stable condition as of Tuesday afternoon after he was wounded by gunfire at Trump’s rally in Butler.

“The Copenhaver family would like to thank everyone for the outpouring of support for James ‘Jim’ as he recovers from the injuries that he tragically sustained during President Trump’s rally in Butler, Pennsylvania on July 13, 2024,” his family said in a statement. “Jim would like to especially thank the first responders, medics, and hospital staff who have provided him with initial and continuing care. Additionally, Jim would like to express his thoughts and prayers for the other victims, their families, and President Trump. He prays for a safe and speedy recovery for them all.”

The family added that Copenhaver’s injuries were “life-altering.”

Joseph Feldman, a spokesperson for the Copenhaver family and attorney for the Law Offices of Max C. Feldman, told Fox News Digital that Copenhaver remains in critical but stable condition and was able to speak on Tuesday.

“He’s a tough guy,” Feldman said.

“The Copenhaver family would like to thank you for your continued thoughts, prayers, and support as Jim and his family recover from this horrible, senseless, and unnecessary act of violence,” they wrote.

Fox News Digital’s Audrey Conklin contributed to this update.

Thomas Matthew Crooks likely scouted the Butler Farm rally site
and planned his attack extensively before attacking a Trump rally in Butler County, Pennsylvania, Saturday in a failed attempt to kill the former president, according to a retired Secret Service agent and security expert.

“It’s clear now the gunman did an advance of the target before the event,” said Bill Gage, who is now a consultant at Safehaven Security Group.

“[Arthur] Bremer, [Lee Harvey] Oswald and [John] Hinckley, they all scouted before,” he added, referring to men who attacked Presidents Richard Nixon, John F. Kennedy and Ronald Reagan, respectively.

Crooks, 20, was carrying a range-finder and behaving suspiciously when he showed up “in or just-outside” the venue Saturday before former President Donald Trump took the stage, according to law enforcement sources. Other evidence that emerged Tuesday: He purchased ammo hours before the rally. Crooks also bought a ladder at Home Depot, Fox News confirmed.

“He knew that there were elevated positions there i.e., those buildings off in the distance and that he would need a ladder to access,” Gage told Fox News Digital. “It is being reported that he didn’t use it – but the purchase indicates to me that there was some advance planning involved.”

Crooks knew he’d need a rifle, not a handgun, he said. The killer packed explosive materials into his vehicle. He also brought body armor, which he didn’t wear when he climbed the roof – a choice likely aimed at avoiding detection, Gage said.

Crooks didn’t use the ladder. He climbed up an air conditioning unit to get onto the roof, ABC News reported earlier.

“But buying a ladder is very telling,” he added. “Sometime between the announcement of the event and Trump taking the stage, he scouted out the location and decided that a rooftop attack with a rifle was the best plan.”

David Katz, a former DEA special agent and federal firearms instructor who is now the CEO of Global Security Group, said the range-finder Crooks was carrying is also a sign of the preparations he took ahead of time.

“That tells me this kid not only practiced but was aware of how to sight-in his rifle at that distance and probable declination of angle,” he told Fox News Digital. “It tells you the exact distance to your target, and the angle up or down, and you just dial in.”

Fox News Digital’s Michael Ruiz contributed to this update.

Former President Trump’s would-be assassin would have been at work on Saturday, but told his boss that he needed the day off because he had “something to do,” according to reports.

Thomas Matthew Crooks was shot dead by Secret Service agents after firing five rounds, grazing Trump’s ear, killing firefighter Corey Comperatore and injuring two others at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.

But law enforcement sources told CNN that the 20-year-old told his boss that he would be back at work on Sunday. 

Crooks listed himself as unemployed in 2020, but he worked most recently as a dietary aide at Bethel Park Skilled Nursing and Rehabilitation Center, a state-licensed transitional facility.

The center’s administrator, Marcie Grimm, said in a Sunday statement that Crooks “performed his job without concern” and his background check was clean.

Crooks’ “newer model” phone and a gray 12-button remote transmitter were recovered from beside his body after he was shot, according to photos obtained by WPXI.

The transmitter is believed to have been connected to an explosive device in Crooks’ car – investigators suggested in an interview with the New York Post that he may have planned to stage a distraction during the shooting. 

Fox News Digital’s Christina Coulter contributed to this update.

Thomas Matthew Crooks’ parents were looking for him on Saturday in the hours leading up to the Trump rally shooting and eventually called law enforcement to indicate that he was missing and they were worried, Fox News has learned.  

It’s unclear what his parents told authorities, but the call happened on Saturday before Crooks later opened fire at Trump during the rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. 

The parents are being cooperative with authorities and the FBI is still trying to determine a motive for the attack, sources also told Fox News. 

Fox News’ David Spunt and Jake Gibson contributed to this report.

Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle appeared to backpedal Tuesday as her agency and local law enforcement pointed fingers over the security lapse at former President Trump’s Pennsylvania rally.

Cheatle said in an interview with CNN the Secret Service was “solely responsible” for security at Trump’s rally, where 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks managed to climb on top of a nearby building and fire a rifle at Trump. One spectator was killed, and the Republican candidate and two others were injured during the attempted assassination on Saturday. 

She told CNN that no assets from the rally were diverted on the day Trump was shot, even though other events in the state required Secret Service protection.

“At that particular site, we divided up areas of responsibility, but the Secret Service is totally responsible for the design and implementation and the execution of the site,” Cheatle told the outlet. 

Previously, the Secret Service director told ABC News that local law enforcement was responsible for the AGR International Inc., building, where Crooks found a sniper’s perch.

Donald Trump Jr. fired back
at MSNBC after multiple commentators appeared to question the validity of the Trump assassination attempt and the seriousness of his father’s injury. 

“He wasn’t shot in the face enough for them, it wasn’t enough?” he said during “Fox & Friends” on Wednesday. “That’s the point. They can’t help themselves. The Trump Derangement Syndrome is real. It’s so asinine that they could say that… You see the photograph at the time. There’s blood everywhere.”

MSNBC host Ari Melber called Trump’s ear bandage a “spectacle” after the former president made his first public appearance since a would-be assassin tried to gun him down during his rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, on Saturday. 

“A spectacle for this candidate who we know is, by his own admission, obsessed with assorted spectacles,” Melber said. “There is a political quest here to mine and use Donald Trump’s injury, and whether his allies and Republicans or the candidate himself do that in a way that overextends their credibility, will be decided by the voters.”

The widow of the volunteer firefighter who was shot and killed over the weekend at the Trump rally in Pennsylvania says the former president called her and was “very kind,” a report says. 

Helen Comperatore wrote on Facebook that Trump phoned her on Tuesday, three days after her husband Corey was struck with gunfire while trying to protect his family during the campaign event in Butler, according to the New York Post. 

“He was very kind and said he would continue to call me in the days and weeks ahead,” the widow reportedly wrote. “I told him the same thing I told everyone else. He left this world a hero and God welcomed him in. He did not die in vain that day.” 

The Iranian regime’s plot to assassinate former President Trump is the latest in a string of attempts by Tehran to lethally target American officials and Iranian American dissidents.

Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei has effectively put bounties on the heads of Trump, his former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and ex-National Security Advisor John Bolton for their roles in the U.S. drone strike that eliminated the global Iranian terrorist Qassem Soleimani in 2020.

According to the U.S. government, Soleimani was responsible for the murders of over 600 American military personnel in the Middle East.

Fox News Digital reported on Tuesday that the Department of Homeland Security received intelligence from a human source about the planned Iranian assassination
of Trump. The Iranian plot is not linked at this stage to the assassination attempt on Trump that the now-dead shooter, Thomas Crooks, carried out in Pennsylvania.

Khamenei, has been described as being hell-bent on assassinating Trump since 2020 following the former president’s order to kill Soleimani in Iraq. In 2022, the Washington, D.C.-based Middle East Media Research Institute published an Iranian-produced animation video depicting the targeted assassination of Trump by the Islamic Republic that was uploaded to Khamenei’s official website.

The Pennsylvania man who tried to assassinate former President Trump on Saturday accessed his roof firing perch by clambering up an air conditioning unit, according to a report.

Thomas Crooks, 20, repeatedly discharged an AR rifle – believed to belong to his father – during a Saturday rally in Butler, striking Trump in the ear and killing a rally attendee, ABC News reported.

Officials said the troubled loner purchased a ladder from a local Home Depot prior to the shooting but did not use it to scale the building, positioned roughly 150 yards from where Trump spoke.

Instead, he used an air conditioning unit adjacent to the building as a foothold and climbed on top of the structure.

Critics have questioned how Crooks was able to position himself so close to Trump despite the presence of local police and Secret Service agents.

One Trump super-fan from Texas has immortalized the moment former President Trump raised his fist in defiance after surviving an assassination attempt with a tattoo on his back.

Adrian West Jr. filmed the tattooed man in Austin after they met in line to get into a club on Saturday evening, according to Storyful.

“Donald Trump’s the f—— man — let’s go,” the man says in the video, turning around to show his fresh back tattoo of a bloodied Trump pumping his fist in the air with Secret Service agents surrounding him.

Trump said on Truth Social that he had been shot in the ear during a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, on Saturday. 

The would-be assassin, Thomas Matthew Crooks, was shot and killed by Secret Service agents, but not before he managed to climb onto the roof of a nearby building and take a sniper’s position in what should have been a secured perimeter. 

One attendee, Corey Comperatore, 50, a former fire chief of Buffalo Township, was killed, and two others – identified by Pennsylvania State Police as David Dutch, 57, and James Copenhaver, 74 – were injured during the incident.

The FBI is leading an investigation into the shooting, while the Department of Homeland Security has launched an independent review of the security at Trump’s rally. 

Fox News Digital’s Scott McDonald contributed to this update. 

A new photograph shows the cell phone and transmitter device that authorities found next to shooter Thomas Matthew Crooks’ body after the attempted assassination of former President Trump. 

The photo was obtained by local news station WPXI.

Crooks opened fire on Trump from a rooftop about 130 yards away from the Republican candidate as he spoke at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.

One attendee, Corey Comperatore, 50, a former fire chief of Buffalo Township, was killed, and two others – identified by Pennsylvania State Police as David Dutch, 57, and James Copenhaver, 74 – were injured during the incident.

The FBI confirmed that Crooks was shot dead by Secret Service agents shortly after he opened fire on Trump. 

Crooks had explosives inside his car, found parked near the Pennsylvania rally, and bomb making materials at his home, sources told Fox News. 

The sources could not say how many explosives or what kind, but emphasized that more than one was found, including an IED found inside a car. 

Fox News Digital’s Scott McDonald and Danielle Wallace contributed to this update.

A government watchdog has launched an investigation into the U.S. Secret Service’s handling of security for former President Trump’s rally in Pennsylvania, where Trump was shot in an assassination attempt. 

The Department of Homeland Security inspector general said Wednesday the objective of the probe is to “[e]valuate the United States Secret Service’s (Secret Service) process for securing former President Trump’s July 13, 2024 campaign event.”

There was no date given for when the investigation was launched. The notice was among a long list of ongoing cases that the inspector general’s office is pursuing.

President Biden announced earlier this week he had directed an independent review of security at Trump’s rally.

The Secret Service faces heightened scrutiny after 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks managed to climb on top of a building and establish a line of sight to Trump about 130 yards away as the president spoke. The would-be assassin’s bullets clipped Trump in his right ear and killed Corey Comperatore, 50, a former fire chief of Buffalo Township. Two other Trump rally attendees were injured. 

The FBI confirmed Crooks was shot dead by Secret Service agents. 

Fox News Digital’s Scott McDonald and the Associated Press contributed to this update.

The U.S. Senate and House of Representatives will receive separate, all-member virtual briefings on the attempted assassination of former President Trump on Wednesday.

The Senate briefing will start at 3 p.m. ET. The House briefing will begin a half-an-hour later.

Secret Service Deputy Director Ronald Rowe and Deputy FBI Director Paul Abbate will lead the briefings. 

In addition, House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer is expected to formally issue a subpoena for Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheadle. That would compel her testimony at a hearing on Monday.

The House Homeland Security Committee said this week it was also seeking more information on Saturday’s events.

“The Committee has been in contact with the United States Secret Service and has just requested an official briefing for our members on the attempted assassination of President Trump this evening in Pennsylvania,” the Homeland Security Committee said in a statement hours after the shooting. 

Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., has vowed to summon Cheatle “and other appropriate officials from DHS and the FBI” before the House to demand answers.

Fox News’ Chad Pergram and Fox News Digital’s Elizabeth Elkind contributed to this update.

Donald Trump Jr. had a surprising reaction Tuesday to reports that Iran plotted to have his father, former President Trump, assassinated, calling it “maybe the great political endorsement ever.”

The eldest Trump son, who is a vocal surrogate for his father’s campaign, made the comment in an interview on “Hannity” live from the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee just as the former president arrived donning a visible bandage on his right ear for the second night in a row.

“I think it’s sort of a great endorsement. When people like Iran want to take you out, that probably means it’s good for America, bad for Iran,” Trump Jr. said. “That may be the greatest political endorsement ever. But when that happens, their capabilities are much more than a kid with a rifle.”

The Department of Homeland Security received intelligence from a human source on an Iranian plot to assassinate former President Trump, Fox News has been told by two federal law enforcement sources. CNN first reported that there has been an increase in Secret Service protection for Trump in recent weeks because of this intelligence. DHS and Secret Service have increasingly been concerned about Trump holding outdoor events, Fox News is told. 

The plot doesn’t appear to be connected to Thomas Matthew Crooks, 20, the gunman who shot Trump during his campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, over the weekend, the sources said.  Iran’s Permanent Mission to the United Nations denied the allegations, calling them “unsubstantiated and malicious” in a statement to Fox News Digital. Trump directed the January 2020 strike that killed Lt. Gen. Qassem Soleimani, the leader of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Quds Forces.

Fox News Digital’s Yael Halon contributed to this update.

The attempted assassination of President Trump
shocked Americans on both sides of the aisle, with many seeing the close call as a time to reflect on the state of the nation and turn down the temperature of political rhetoric. 

Fox News Digital spoke to Americans in New York City, Detroit, Washington, D.C., and Milwaukee, about their reaction to what happened, the way Trump handled the moment while under fire and their predictions about what the failed assassination means for the country. 

Tom in Milwaukee told Fox News Digital that it is “really, really a sad thing” that the country has gotten to the point where somebody has to take a shot at the former president” and while he said he won’t be voting for Trump in November, he was sorry to see it happen and would keep the former president in his prayers. 

“I hope that the Republicans have a great convention here,” he said of the Republican National Convention taking place in Milwaukee this week. He also noted Trump had indicated he would be taking a softer tone in his political rhetoric, “which we should all follow.” 

John from Milwaukee also described the weekend’s assassination attempt by 20-year-old Pennsylvania native Thomas Matthew Crooks as a sad moment where violence came to fruition based on the way Trump has been discussed since 2015. 

“A lot of the rhetoric that has been pushed out there and some people are reacting to it,” he said. “It is not surprising, but it is a sad moment.”

“I thought he handled it well,” he added of Trump’s defiant reaction. “I have to give him credit for the wherewithal with the showmanship that he has and also that he wanted to let his supporters know that he was OK, but also taking advantage of the moment, to capitalize on the moment as well.”

Luke from New York City described it as a “very sad” and “very tragic” situation that people in the country are acting out violently over politics. 

“It’s absolutely terrible that our country is so divided,” he said. “I’m not a Trump supporter, I’m not a Republican, I’m on the far, far left. But despite that, of course, violence is always terrible.”

“Our country is in a terribly sad state,” he added. “It’s embarrassing to be an American right now, to be honest with you.”

Fox News Digital’s Kendall Tietz, Nikolas Lanum, Amanda Cappelli, Joshua Q. Nelson, Kira Mautone and Gabriel Hays contributed to this update.

David “Jake” Dutch, one of the two victims critically wounded by gunshots at the Trump rally Saturday in Butler, Pennsylvania, walked down the bleachers with a T-shirt bunched up against his wounds before getting help, friends told Fox News Digital.

Dutch, a Marine Corps veteran who served in Operation Desert Storm in 1991, was struck twice at the Trump rally — once in the stomach and once in the liver, according to those who know him at the American Legion and Veterans of Foreign Wars lodges in Lower Burrell. 

“He’s been a tremendous help to this club,” VFW commander Lee Johnson told Fox News Digital. “He’s involved with a couple different things we have here at the club. And I just feel so bad for David, his wife … great people. They’ve been members here for a long, long time.”

Johnson added that all the members are wishing Dutch a speedy recovery.

The 57-year-old was apparently showing signs of responsiveness Tuesday, Johnson said, though he did not know the full extent of the Marine vet’s recovery or condition.

Another VFW member described Dutch as a “wonderful man” who loved his country and loved former President Trump; it had been a dream of his for a long time to attend a rally, she said.

Other friends at the American Legion described Dutch, who works at Siemens Innomotics in the Pittsburgh area, as a quiet guy who was humble about his military service.

“If you didn’t already know he was a Marine, you’d never know it,” Roger Milliron Jr., who said he’s known Dutch for 20 years, told Fox News Digital. “He isn’t a loud or boisterous person. He keeps to himself. He is a hard worker. He’s a friend.”

Fox News Digital’s Audrey Conklin contributed to this update.

Shocking cellphone video shows chaos at the Butler Farm Saturday after Thomas Matthew Crooks opened fire on a Pennsylvania Trump rally, injuring the former president, killing one spectator and critically wounding two more.

The video shows ducking spectators flagging authorities for help after the gunfire stops.

“We’ve got someone down,” a man can be heard shouting as he waves his arms. “Hey!”

The camera pans toward the stage, as Trump returns to his feet, flanked by Secret Service agents, and raises a fist.

Todd, the Army veteran who took the video and asked to be identified only as Todd the Driller, said he initially offered to bring his son to the rally but was concerned the crowd might be too boisterous.

He said he was relieved when the 9-year-old wanted to back out. But then both the boy and his 12-year-old daughter asked for Trump campaign hats, so he wound up attending alone.

Todd arrived early and called his kids on FaceTime from a row of vendors. They chose their hats. He bought them. Then he made his way toward the stage. 

The rally started late, he said, but by the time Trump arrived, he had a good vantage point near the north fence.

He had been taking pictures and videos to send his son, but when the gunfire erupted, his phone was in his pocket and he was listening to Trump’s remarks. 

“I had no idea I was in the lane of fire between the shooter and President Trump, but when I heard the crack-crack-crack, I knew what that was,” he said. “It was directly behind me, and bullets whizzed like maybe 20 feet to my left.”

Todd, who is not a Democrat or a Conservative, said he’s a two-issue voter. He’s pro-life and, as an oil driller, he favors lawmakers who support the industry that puts food on his family’s table.

Counter-snipers neutralized the threat, but not before Crooks, 20, killed a 50-year-old father of two named Corey Comperatore, critically wounded David Dutch, 57, and James Copenhaver, 74, according to authorities.

Todd whipped his phone out and recorded the president climbing back to his feet, surrounded by Secret Service agents.

But when he turned around to see what was going on behind him, what he saw shocked him. Members of the Secret Service and law enforcement inside the secure perimeter couldn’t get out without jumping a fence – until a deputy eventually drove through it to let them out.

“The befuddled law enforcement that couldn’t do their jobs because no one had enough foresight to have that gate unlocked and have a guard posted there and control entrance to it,” he said.

Fortunately, a Secret Service counter-sniper neutralized the gunman before other agents and law enforcement officers reached him on the roof.

Fox News Digital’s Michael Ruiz contributed to this update.

The director of the Secret Service is facing blistering criticism Tuesday after claiming during an interview that personnel were not positioned on top of the building where the Trump rally shooter opened fire because of a “sloped roof,” despite images showing snipers set up on a sloped roof behind the former president’s podium. 

U.S. Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle made the remark during an interview with ABC News, in which she said the agency was aware of the security vulnerabilities presented by the building Thomas Matthew Crooks took a sniper’s position on to aim at Trump. 

“That building in particular has a sloped roof at its highest point. And so, you know, there’s a safety factor that would be considered there that we wouldn’t want to put somebody up on a sloped roof. And so, you know, the decision was made to secure the building, from inside,” she said.  

But critics on social media aren’t having it, calling Cheatle’s “sloped roof” comment a “total BS excuse” that “defies believability.” 

“Our snipers used to set in on mountain tops in Afghanistan. On the down slopes if need be,” former Army Ranger and author Sean Parnell wrote on X, calling Cheatle’s explanation a “total BS excuse.” 

“The stupidity of this statement explains so much of why s— hit the fan that day. Absolute incompetence,” he added. 

“This sad excuse about defies believability. The snipers above President Trump were on a sloped roof so why couldn’t they secure the sloped roof that the assassin was on?” said Jim DeMint, a former U.S. senator from South Carolina. “She should have been fired days ago. We need accountability.” 

 “Ironically, the snipers who were behind Trump during the rally were on a sloped roof,” Trending Politics co-owner Collin Rugg also said on X. “She is bulls—ing and getting away with it.” 

Fox News Digital’s Greg Norman contributed to this update.

The Butler Township manager, Thomas Knights, defended local police officers’ response to the assassination attempt against former President Trump at his rally on Saturday.

Knights’ comments come amid some sparring between the U.S. Secret Service (USSS) and the Fraternal Order of Police as both federal and local law enforcement take criticism from the public for being unable to stop the would-be Trump assassin before he fired, though Knights says that tension has not “spilled over into” Butler.

“I think there’s some misconception about overall response. I can only speak for our officers transitioning from what was supposed to be a primary traffic control assistance to where it became … a suspicious person,” the township manager, who supervises all Butler department heads including the police chief, told Fox News Digital in an interview Tuesday. 

“I think our law enforcement did exactly what training taught them to do. … How subsequent events played out, that’s another thing for what I hope to be a really complete report on the incident to educate everybody.” 

Knights added that to his knowledge, the USSS has not been in “any direct communication” with Butler officials.

“There are ongoing interviews with all law enforcement that were at the event, regardless of what their roles were. So we’re all just waiting on that information to be put together into one public report,” he explained. 

Fox News Digital’s Audrey Conklin contributed to this update.

A former classmate of would-be assassin Thomas Matthew Crooks says the 20-year-old gunman once mocked him over his support of former President Donald Trump and had a general disdain for mainstream politicians across the political aisle.

“I brought up the fact that I’m Hispanic and, you know, I’m for Trump. And he said, ‘Well, you’re Hispanic, so shouldn’t you hate Trump?'” Vincent Taormina told Fox News Digital Tuesday. “No. He’s great. He was a great president. He called me stupid – or insinuated that I was stupid.”

It happened during a discussion in an English class at Bethel Park High School during the 2016 campaign, he said. Trump, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Sen. Bernie Sanders were all still in the race.

“He just did not like politicians, especially with the choices that we had,” Taormina said. “He did not like our politicians.”

Taormina that Crooks was usually quiet, except on certain topics that he seemed passionate about, including math and politics. And on those issues, he could be “smug [and] arrogant,” he added.

“He would just talk, talk and act like he knew everything, especially politics related, and he would say it in a tone that was like, ‘I’m better than you,’ in a type of way,” he said.

He also pushed back on reporting that Crooks was a complete loner. He had a friend group, he said, although it was both small and concerning.

“They were definitely the type, and they did, make threats to shoot up our school,” he said.

Although he and other classmates suspected Crooks himself was behind a threat, he said he had no firm proof. But after the threat came in, the future would-be assassin didn’t return to school for a few days.

Fox News Digital’s Michael Ruiz contributed to this update.

Two neighbors of would-be Trump assassin Thomas Matthew Crooks dismissed the attention drawn to his political affiliation, saying the family appeared to never have campaign signs of any stripe in their Bethel Park, Pennsylvania, yard.

Amy, who spoke to reporters alongside Holly – a local GOP captain – attested that the media would be hard-pressed to find a neighbor who could vouch for any signs having been seen in the Crooks’ yard.

“I give out the signs, and I’ve never given to that house, I’ll tell you that,” said Holly, who alluded to the fact Crooks was a registered Republican.

The shooting suspect also donated $15 to a progressive political action committee on the day of President Biden’s inauguration.

“I walk by here all the time, other neighbors do,” Amy added. “You will not find one neighbor that will confirm or ever say they saw those signs in the yard.”

“I’m on a Republican committee here in Bethel Park,” Holly said. “I’m a committee woman, and I door-knock everywhere: for [2022 U.S. Senate nominee Dr. Mehmet] Oz, for [2022 gubernatorial nominee State Sen. Doug] Mastriano, for Trump, for all of them,” she said.

Holly said she had never door-knocked at the Crooks’ home; campaigns and activists often have access to voter rolls with likely voters of respective parties.

“I know who the Republicans are. I mean, he’s not on the list,” she said.

Crooks’ mother, Mary, is registered as a Democrat, while his father is registered as a libertarian.

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

Dan Bongino, a political radio and TV commentator who was a Secret Service agent for more than 10 years, said the rooftop spot where Thomas Matthew Crooks tried to assassinate Donald Trump should have been occupied by law enforcement.

“According to my source, that roof was supposed to be a police post… [there] was so supposed to be someone there,” Bongino said on Donald Trump Jr.’s podcast “Triggered” on Tuesday from the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee.

“They’re now making up excuses saying the pitch of the roof. My source says to me that no one knows why the post didn’t show up.”

“I was also told that the USSS director has been given instructions from the administration and the DHS secretary: ‘If you wanna keep your job, you’ll keep your mouth shut about this.'”

Bongino told Trump Jr. that a person not showing up for their respective post “could have gotten your dad killed, within millimeters.”

The former president was shot in his upper right ear and a rallygoer was killed. Crooks was killed during a gunfire exchange.

Fox News Digital’s Scott McDonald contributed to this update.

Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle said in an interview Tuesday that her agency was “solely responsible” for the implementation and execution of security at former President Trump’s rally in Butler, Pennsylvania on Saturday.

Cheatle told CNN that no assets from the rally were diverted on the day Trump was shot, even though other events in the state required Secret Service protection.

“At that particular site, we divided up areas of responsibility, but the Secret Service is totally responsible for the design and implementation and the execution of the site,” Cheatle said. 

Previously, the Secret Service director told ABC News that local law enforcement was responsible for the building where 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks climbed onto the roof and fired a rifle at Trump, killing one spectator and injuring the Republican presidential candidate and two others. 

“What I was trying to stress was that we just divided up areas of responsibility, and they provided support to those areas of responsibility,” Cheatle said, adding that the Secret Service “couldn’t do our job without” local law enforcement. 

“Fox & Friends” co-host Lawrence Jones recalled the first conversation he had with former President Donald Trump the day after a gunman attempted to assassinate him at a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.

“I’m seeing all of the reports,” Jones said. “It’s horrific. Of course, at that moment, you worry about the man, not that he’s the former president or the election coming up.”

Jones said he was just waking up from a nap when his phone began ringing as people wondered whether he’d spoken to Trump family members yet.

“I had to put on the reporter hat,” he said. “It was time to get on the air and start reporting on what we knew.”Jones said when he spoke with Trump the day after the shooting Trump asked Jones how he was doing.

“I responded to him and I said ‘I should be asking you the same thing,'” he told the former president. “He just wanted the audience to know, all of his supporters, the country to know that he loves them. I think that truly tells you about the man, is that in the moment that
he was shot, he was concerned about the country.”

Former President Trump could reach 330 electoral votes in 2024 and handily defeat President Biden, according to CNN’s John King.

King, the media network’s chief national correspondent, cited new polls that found Biden’s approval rating and ballot number to be below 40 in most battleground states. He noted that it would be “very hard” for the president to turn around his numbers 16 weeks out from the election.

“Democrats are now worried, they think, I’m not saying this is going to happen, but what they’re saying is the president’s going to have to spend more time and more effort on places like Virginia because it is competitive,” he said.

A new Virginia Commonwealth University-Wilder School poll shows Biden dropping from the 42% support he enjoyed in the last VCU-Wilder poll, released in January, to 36%.

The poll shows Trump leading Biden in Virginia by three percentage points as Republicans look to flip the state after Biden trounced Trump by 10 points in the Old Dominion State in 2020.

MILWAUKEE —
 Republican vice presidential nominee JD Vance will “run circles” around Vice President Kamala Harris in a debate, Alabama Sen. Katie Britt told Fox News Digital in an interview at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee.

Britt, a rising star in the GOP who delivered the official Republican rebuttal to President Biden’s State of the Union address earlier this year, praised Vance ahead of his highly anticipated convention speech Wednesday night and predicted Americans would “love” him the moment they get to know him.

“I am excited to watch him debate Kamala Harris because it will not even be a contest. With all due respect to the vice president, our next vice president of the United States, JD Vance, is going to run circles around her. No doubt,” Britt said.

“I am honored not only to call JD a colleague, but to call him a friend … The best part about it is we’ve gotten to know each other as people, and when the American people get to know JD Vance, they are going to love everything about him.”

Britt later said Vance’s life story of pulling himself up by his bootstraps and pushing through “unimaginable” circumstances was part of why he is “uniquely suited to push forward President Trump’s agenda of secure borders, safe streets, stable prices, and really showing strength across the globe.”

She described the feeling of seeing Trump enter the convention hall
 on Monday to stand alongside Vance for the first time since his attempted assassination over the weekend as “electric.”

This is an excerpt from an article by Fox News’ Brandon Gillespie.

Former President Trump’s VP pick, Republican Sen. JD Vance,
said during a luncheon at Discovery World in Milwaukee Wednesday afternoon that after the attempted assassination of the former president on Saturday, Trump “showed leadership.”

“Was he mad and angry?” Vance said. “He called for national unity. He called for calm. He showed leadership, my friends — the media keeps on saying they want somebody to tone down the temperature. Well, Donald Trump got shot and he toned down the temperature. That’s what a real leader does.”

Vance also hit on the importance of electing Trump, arguing that middle class families were better off financially under the Trump administration compared to President Biden.

The event, hosted by Log Cabin Republicans, comes just several hours before Vance is scheduled to speak Wednesday night at the RNC in Milwaukee. It was his first solo-political event outside of the convention since he was tapped by former President Trump to join the ticket for vice president on Monday.

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

The Democratic National Committee is moving ahead with plans to formally nominate President Biden ahead of next month’s Democratic National Convention in Chicago, despite a rising chorus of calls by some top Democrats on Capitol Hill to scrap a virtual roll call amid an intra-party debate over whether the 81-year-old president should end his re-election campaign.

DNC Rules Committee co-chairs Leah Daughtry and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, in a letter to committee members on Wednesday, announced they were pushing forward with the virtual roll call, which is being held due to a ballot access deadline in Ohio that’s 12 days ahead of the start of the August 19 convention.

But the letter, obtained by Fox News, assured DNC delegates that “no virtual voting will begin before August 1,” which is more than a week later than some reports suggested the roll call would take place.

And Daughtry and Walz highlighted that “we will not be implementing a rushed virtual voting process” and later in the letter reiterated that “our goal is not to fast track.”

Fox News’ Alexis McAdams recounted her experience reporting live at the Trump assassination attempt in Butler, Pennsylvania, on July 13.

“We were on the media riser so, just about 100 feet back from where President Trump was speaking,” she said. “He was talking about immigration and other main topics when all of a sudden you heard what sounded like fireworks or pop, pop, pop, pop.”

A lone gunman, Thomas Michael Crooks, 20, fired at Trump from a rooftop nearby and shot him in the ear.

“We saw people take cover. We saw the Secret Service move in and we saw the former president go down behind that podium,” McAdams said. “At that point, there was so much chaos, we really didn’t know what to think.”

McAdams said she wasn’t aware of where the shots were coming from and herself, Fox News media team members and other professionals from news organizations took cover on the media riser.

“That’s when we heard them say, ‘Shooter down’ and saw all of those law enforcement members move in,” she recalled.

She described the chaos of the large crowd and the concerns for the safety and security of the former president as the shooter was about a football field away.

Two people in the crowd were wounded and one man, Corey Comperatore, a volunteer firefighter from Pennsylvania was shot and killed shielding his family from bullets.

“We’re kind of just reflecting on all that here at the Republican National Convention now in Milwaukee,” McAdams said. “This could have changed politics and has changed politics forever.”

Republican Senator JD Vance is attending a luncheon at Discovery World in Milwaukee this afternoon hosted by Log Cabin Republicans – his first political event outside of the convention since he was tapped by former President Trump to join the ticket for vice president.

“We will celebrate our accomplishments heading into the 2024 election, including highlighting our Congressional Champions,” a notice for the event reads.

“At this lunch, we’ll hear from our leadership team to review our programs, discuss the 2024 Battleplan to take back the White House, the Senate and increase our majority in the House of Representatives,” it says.

Former U.S. Ambassador Ric Grenell is listed as a special guest speaker.

Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., issued a dire warning about the U.S. border crisis during an event at the Republican National Convention (RNC) on Wednesday.

“We have men from Yemen, Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, Lebanon crossing…our southern border,” Scott said during a South Carolina GOP delegation breakfast.

“I believe we have sleeper cells in this nation as a result of Joe Biden.”

“We’ve got to fire him,” Scott added as the room applauded in response. 

Scott’s warning of terror threats at the border is not new – FBI Director Chris Wray told Congress in March that there is “no doubt” criminals have come across the southwestern border, though no specific threats were outlined. 

Florida Sen. Marco Rubio spoke at Day 2 of the 2024 Republican National Convention. The senator was previously floated as a possible running mate to Trump before the GOP nominee revealed Ohio Sen. JD Vance as his vice presidential pick.

During his speech, Rubio touched on the assassination attempt against former President Trump last weekend, specifically remembering Corey Comperatore, a campaign rally attendee fatally struck by one of the gunman’s bullets.

“Corey was one of the millions of ever day Americans who make our country great,” Rubio said. “He wasn’t rich, he wasn’t famous. and the only reason why we know his name and story now is because last Saturday, he shielded his wife and daughter from an assassin’s bullet and lost his life the way he lived it, a hero.”

Rubio’s remarks on the Pennsylvania man received a standing ovation from Republican convention delegates who began chanting “Corey, Corey, Corey.”

Comperatore, 50, was a volunteer firefighter and described by his daughter as the best dad a girl could ever ask for.

President Trump will attend Comperatore’s funeral, the New York Post reported.

Powerful Democratic California Rep. Adam Schiff called on President Biden to drop out of the 2024 race on Wednesday. 

“A second Trump presidency will undermine the very foundation of our democracy, and I have serious concerns about whether the President can defeat Donald Trump in November,” he said in a statement to Fox News Digital. 

Schiff was selected as one of the “top two” Senate primary winners in California. The winner of the Senate race will take the seat of the late Sen. Diane Feinstein. 

Schiff will take on Republican candidate Steve Garvey, a former professional baseball player, in November. The race is considered “Solid Democratic” by non-partisan political handicapper the Cook Political Report, giving Schiff an edge over his opponent. 

The House Democrat praised Biden’s accomplishments while in office, claiming, “Joe Biden has been one of the most consequential presidents in our nation’s history, and his lifetime of service as a Senator, a Vice President, and now as President has made our country better.”

Read the full report by Julia Johnson on Fox News Digital.

About four in five Americans believe that the country is spiraling into chaos, according to a two-day poll. 

The poll by Ipsos for Reuters was conducted after the assassination attempt on former President Trump at his rally in Pennsylvania and after Trump announced Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio,
as his vice presidential running mate at the start of the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Monday. 

About 80% of respondents agreed with the statement that “the country is spiraling out of control.” 

The poll found 86% of Americans are concerned about acts of violence throwing the country into chaos, while 56% are very concerned. According to the survey of 1,202 general population adults aged 18 or older in the United States, 57% said they are very concerned, and 87% said they are totally concerned that Americans will resort to violence instead of coming together peacefully to solve disagreements. 

This is an excerpt of an article by Fox News Digital’s Danielle Wallace.

A California mom moved the 2024 Republican National Convention crowd with her speech last night focused on open borders and the fentanyl crisis that has made its way across the nation.

“Like most teenagers, Weston wanted to fit in, and in a moment of peer pressure, he tried something that someone gave to him, and it took my baby’s life,” Anne Fundner said to thousands of RNC attendees.

“We did everything right,” she said. “I had those conversations with him, and fentanyl still found my son.”

On Feb. 27, 2022, Weston passed away.

Fundner told the crowd, “Our lives were shattered and our baby was gone.”

“This was not an overdose. It was as poisoning,” she said to the crowd, including former President Donald Trump and his running mate, Ohio Sen. JD Vance, who sat in the family box. “His whole future, everything we ever wanted for him, was ripped away from him in an instant and Joe Biden does nothing.”

Fundner went on to say she holds Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, Gavin Newsom and other Democrats who support open borders responsible for the death of her teenage son.

She received overwhelming support and applause from a tear-filled crowd.

Supporters of former President Trump
have adopted a new rallying cry in the wake of the assassination attempt this past weekend.Chants of “Fight! Fight! Fight!” could be heard throughout the stadium hosting the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

The chant echoes Trump’s own shout moments after being shot at his rally in Pennsylvania.Trump raised his fist and yelled in defiance as the Secret Service escorted him off the stage from his Butler rally.

The incident has become a heavy unifying force for the Republican Party, with even Trump’s rivals in the party speaking on his behalf at the RNC.

Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley,
 who was the last remaining challenger to Trump in the GOP primary race, gave her full endorsement to the former president during a Tuesday night speech. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, the second most popular figure in the party, also praised Trump in his own speech Tuesday night.

“You don’t have to agree with Trump 100% of the time to vote for him,” Haley said. “Take it from me. I haven’t always agreed with President Trump. But we agree more often than we disagree.”

Former New Jersey governor and longtime Trump critic Chris Christie is calling on the GOP presidential nominee to lead the party in a “new direction” following Saturday’s assassination attempt.

Christie published a guest essay in The New York Times on Tuesday about his desire for Republicans to move forward and former President Trump to “demonstrate the will to change.”

“Mr. Trump, however, can demonstrate the will to change not just how we speak to one another but also how we act. This moment can confirm that our country is greater than any political party, but only if we work for it,” Christie wrote.

“Mr. Trump has the opportunity to rein in some of the worst rhetorical impulses of the Republican Party at its convention this week. He can point the party and its leadership in a new direction in the wake of the assassination attempt against him.”

Christie argued that harsher and more divisive language has resulted in “gridlock in Congress. Impeachments. Endless meaningless congressional hearings,” and said this has caused a “catastrophization” of politics and our elections.

This is an excerpt from an article by Fox News’ Elizabeth Heckman.

Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., called on President Biden to drop out of the 2024 race on Wednesday. 

“A second Trump presidency will undermine the very foundation of our democracy, and I have serious concerns about whether the President can defeat Donald Trump in November,” he said in a statement to Fox News Digital.

Schiff is one of the two nominees who advanced after California’s Senate primary. The winner of the November election will take the seat of the late Sen. Diane Feinstein. 

He will take on Republican candidate Steve Garvey, a former professional baseball player, in November. 

Donald J. Trump is often referred to as “President Trump” or “Mr. President,” and has formerly been known as “Commander in Chief,” “POTUS” and “45,” as he was the 45th President of the United States. He has also enjoyed several other prominent titles.

However, before Trump was the leader of the free world, he was lovingly known as “dad” to five children, including Donald Jr., Ivanka, Eric, Tiffany and Barron, and “grandpa” to 10 grandchildren, beginning with the eldest, Kai.

Kai, 17, is seemingly ready to be cast into America’s political spotlight as she is slated to speak at the 2024 Republican National Convention on Day 3 of the event in Milwaukee.

Ohio Sen. JD Vance, Trump’s vice presidential pick, will also take center stage tonight.

Recently, the daughter of Don Jr. and Vanessa Trump, now divorced, was a regaled guest of Dana White’s at the UFC 303 fight, which she attended opposite her dad. The Florida teen posed for photographs with White, the president of the UFC, former NFL superstar Aaron Rodgers and country music star Jelly Roll, among other A-listers.

This is an excerpt from an article by Fox News Digital’s Gabriele Regalbuto.

A top adviser to then-President Donald Trump, Peter Navarro, has been released from a Miami prison and is expected to speak at the Republican National Convention on Wednesday night. 

Navarro, 75, was convicted after being found in contempt of Congress
 and was sentenced to four months in a federal prison in Miami in March. 

“I will walk proudly in there to do my time,” Navarro said during a press conference before turning himself in. “I will gather strength from this: Donald John Trump is the nominee.”

Navarro is set to speak in the 6 p.m. hour local time in Milwuakee on Wednesday night. 

Navarro, who served as former President Trump’s trade adviser, was the second Trump aide convicted of a misdemeanor contempt of Congress charge. Former White House adviser Steve Bannon previously received a four-month sentence but was allowed to stay free pending appeal by U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols, who was appointed by Trump.

President Biden in a recent interview addressed Black voters’ “disenchantment” with his re-election bid. 

Biden recently sat down for an interview with BET’s Ed Gordon in Las Vegas, which is scheduled to air in full Wednesday night.

In the third and final clip teased on Wednesday morning during “CBS Mornings,” Gordan described a “disenchantment” felt among Black voters and asked the president to make his case to them. 

“If I’m honest with you, the enthusiasm this time around is not the same as the last time you won. There is a certain disenchantment,” Gordan told the president. “Detroit, Philadelphia, Atlanta are going to be deciding factors in that 270 you’ve got to get to. I’d like you to take a moment and tell Black America why they should turn out for you.” 

“Because they know where my heart is, they know where my head is,” Biden responded. 

This is an excerpt from an article by Fox News Digital’s Danielle Wallace.

Former Rep. Mike Rogers of Michigan, the clear front-runner in the August 6 GOP Senate primary in Michigan, says he thinks the GOP “is more unified now than I have seen it in a decade.”

In an interview Wednesday morning with Fox News Digital, Rogers emphasized that “people from different flavors of our party, the Republican Party, have come together.”

Looking ahead to Wednesday night’s address at the Republican National Convention by vice presidential nominee Sen. JD Vance of Ohio, Rogers said, “I hope we see a little bit of unity and why our appeal is to working families.”

“The Democrat Party is not your grandfather’s party anymore. It is coastal elite. The Republican Party is addressing issues for families whose paycheck doesn’t go to the end of the month,” Rogers argued. “I think [Vance’s] going to talk about those things in terms that people who are struggling now know that help is on the way.”

Former Hillary Clinton campaign spokesperson Karen Finney blasted the Democratic Party for acting so afraid that they will lose the presidential election, stating that the attitude could be a self-fulfilling prophecy in November.

Finney, also a CNN commentator, warned a network panel on Wednesday morning that voters will pick up on this fear and be less inclined to vote for Democratic candidates.

“Voters are seeing us as losers,” Finney lamented.

The former Clinton campaign official made the remarks while discussing new polling showing that President Biden is trailing former President Trump in multiple states crucial for winning the presidency in November.

She first noted how this election cycle was going to be a challenge, no matter what, saying, “Look, it was always going to be a tough map for Democrats.”

This is an excerpt from an article by Fox News Digital’s Gabriel Hays.

Former NCAA athlete and “OutKick” contributor Riley Gaines will join a Tennessee representative at a Republican National Convention (RNC) luncheon, Fox News Digital has learned.

Rep. John Rose, R-Tenn., is hosting a luncheon for the Tennessee delegation on Thursday, where Gaines, a constituent in his district, will be in attendance as a special guest. Rose is rumored to be considering launching a bid for the Tennessee gubernatorial race in 2026.

Gaines first rose to prominence after sharing her story of being forced to compete against and eventually tying with biological male Lia Thomas in the women’s NCAA 500-yard freestyle in 2022. The swimmer, host of “Gaines for Girls,” quickly became an activist for speaking out against biological males participating in women’s sports.

Gaines is one of many prominent political figures being featured at the 4-day major Republican event, where former President Donald Trump and running mate Sen. JD Vance of Ohio were officially named the 2024 GOP ticket.

President Biden has declared in an interview this week that his mental acuity is “pretty damn good” — despite numerous recent polls showing majorities of Americans thinking otherwise and raising concerns about his age. 

“I’ve been doing this a long time. The idea I’m the old guy, I am. I’m old. But I’m only three years older than Trump, number one,” Biden told NBC News. “And number two, my mental acuity’s been pretty damn good. I’ve gotten more done than any president has in a long, long time in 3½ years. So I’m willing to be judged on that.” 

“I understand. I understand why people say, ‘God, he’s 81 years old. Whoa,” Biden added. “What’s he gonna be when he’s 83 years old, or 84 years?’ It’s a legitimate question to ask.” 

But a new national poll released this week by NBC News, which surveyed 800 registered voters between July 7-9, found that nearly 80% are concerned about Biden “not having the necessary mental and physical health to be a president for a second term.” 

This is an excerpt from an article by Fox News’ Greg Norman.

Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, hasn’t given much thought to who might replace Sen. JD Vance in the upper chamber if former President Trump wins.

The Ohio Republican told Fox News’ Jamie Vera he hasn’t thought about who should replace Vance if the Republican ticket defeats Democrats. “I’m focused on winning on November 5,” Jordan said.

Jordan, an elected member of Congress representing Ohio, could be in consideration to take on the role if needed.

Gov. Mike DeWine, R-Ohio, would be charged with appointing a replacement if JD Vance becomes vice president. Former presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy, who is also an Ohio resident, has said he’d be open to considering it if he was offered the Senate seat.

Jordan also said he expects a great speech from Vance on Wednesday night. “Just watch him…he’s been phenomenal. And he’s not afraid to go up against the lefties on…the mainstream media…and he does a great job every single time,” he said.

Fox News’ Jamie Vera contributed to this post.

1. Nikki Haley wins over the crowd

Former Ambassador and presidential contender Nikki Haley received a standing ovation at her main stage appearance from former President Trump – a signal of a desire for unity after bitter words were exchanged between the two on the campaign trail. 

2. Ron DeSantis says America can’t afford another ‘Weekend at Bernie’s’ presidency

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who also ran against Trump in the primary, got in a good dig against President Biden, telling the cheering crowd that the country “cannot afford four more years of a ‘Weekend at Bernie’s’ presidency.” 

3. Mom whose son died of a drug overdose drew tears from the crowd

Anne Fundner, who lost her 15-year-old son to fentanyl poisoning, brought the crowd at the RNC to tears Tuesday night with her remarks focused on the importance of securing the border and stopping the flow of fentanyl into the U.S.

4. Brother of Morin family’s somber reminder of the costs of illegal immigration

The family of a mother of five who was murdered, allegedly by an illegal immigrant, took aim at the Biden administration for having “opened our borders” to the man accused of killing her.

5. Baby Dog’s predictions

West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice brought special guest “Babydog”
along with him for his address at the GOP convention. It was a move that erupted on social media as political onlookers rejoiced over the appearance of the English bulldog.

President Biden’s campaign argues that former President Trump’s final challenger in the GOP presidential primaries “lost her way” in endorsing Trump in a speech from Republican National Convention.

Former U.N. ambassador and former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley,
who ended her White House bid over four months ago, said in her address to the convention on Tuesday night, “I’ll start by making one thing perfectly clear: Donald Trump has my strong endorsement, period.”

Biden principal deputy campaign manager Quentin Fulks, reacting to Haley’s comments, told reporters Wednesday morning that “last night Nikki Haley lost her way” and charged that she “spewed MAGA extremist talking points.”

“It’s no surprise what Nikki Haley did last night. This is politics,” Fulks added.

Haley, who wasn’t originally invited to speak at the convention, was added in a show of GOP unity following Saturday’s assassination attempt against Trump at his rally in western Pennsylvania.

Haley and Trump waged a bitter two-candidate race from late January into early March before he swept the coast-to-coast Super Tuesday contests, which led to her suspension of her campaign. But Haley remained on the ballot in the ensuing primaries and continued to win up to 20% of the vote in a number of contests.

The Biden campaign is now making a pitch to disgruntled moderate and centrist Republicans who voted for Haley in the primaries.

Fulks argued that Haley supporters, “while they were voting for her in the primary, it’s more important to point out what they were voting against. They were voting against Donald Trump and an extreme MAGA agenda.”

‘Fox & Friends Weekend’ co-host Pete Hegseth toured Husco headquarters in Wisconsin to discuss some of the challenges that American manufacturers are currently facing.

“Our goal is for us to be able to grow regardless of if consumers want EVs or internal combustion engines,” Husco CEO Austin Ramirez told Fox News. “We want to have a foot in both markets.”

“The biggest challenge is when the government gets involved and they’re subsidizing certain technologies like EVs that customers maybe aren’t ready to buy and that creates some real hurdles,” Ramirez said.

The Husco CEO previously testified in front of congress about the importance of the 2017 Trump-era tax cuts.

“Taxes are a huge part of it. We’ve got to have competitive taxes. In the US, we’ve got the most regressive tax regime in the world,” he said, adding that the Trump-era tax cuts were  “absolutely” beneficial to his business.

On Day 3 of the Republican National Convention (RNC), attendees will hear from a wide-range of speakers, including members of Congress, Trump family members, and the vice presidential nominee, Ohio Sen. JD Vance. They include:

Rep. Brian Mast of Florida

Rep. Nancy Mace of South Carolina

Rep. Ronny Jackson of Texas

Ric Grenell, Former Acting Director of National Intelligence

Former Congressman Lee Zeldin

Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida

Callista Gingrich, former Ambassador to the Holy See

Newt Gingrich, former Speaker of the House of Representatives

Peter Navarro, former Director of the U.S. Office of Trade and Manufacturing Policy

Rep. Monica De La Cruz R-Texas

Thomas Homan, former Acting Director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement

David Lara, business owner and community activist

Jim Chilton, fifth generation rancher from Arivaca, Arizona

Governor Greg Abbott of Texas

Sarah Philips, petroleum engineer

Mayor Trent Conway of East Palestine, Ohio

Governor Doug Burgum of North Dakota

Kellyanne Conway, former Counselor to the President

Rep. Anna Paulina Luna of Florida

Staff Sergeant David Bellavia Ret., Medal of Honor recipient

Scott Neil, Decorated War Hero & Founder, Horse Soldier Bourbon

Kimberly Guilfoyle, fiancée of Donald Trump Jr., TV news personality

Rep. Michael Waltz of Florida

Alicia Lopez and Herman Lopez, Cheryl Jules and Christy Shamblin. Gold Star Families

Performance: Brian Kelley, Country Music Artist, and the Holy Redeemer Church of God in Christ Choir. UNC Frat Boys

Shabbos Kestenbaum, Jewish American & Alumnus, Harvard University

Neutra Family, the family of Hamas a hostage are expected to speak about their son Omer who was kidnapped on October 7th and has been held as a hostage for 278 days now

Sergeant William Pekrul, Decorated War Hero, World War II and D-Day Veteran

Trump’s son Donald Trump Jr. and his daughter Kai Trump

Usha Chilukuri Vance, wife of vice presidential nominee Sen. JD Vance, will take the stage to introduce her husband.

Vance will deliver a speech Wednesday night to close the night, his first address to voters since being selected as Trump’s running mate.

Former GOP candidate Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis joined Republicans in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, at the second day of the 2024 Republican National Convention.

The former Donald Trump competitor spoke to attendees and appealed to viewers in favor of the former president and ripped apart the Biden Administration for failures within the last four years.

“My fellow Republicans, let’s send Joe Biden back to his basement and let’s send Donald Trump back to the White House,” DeSantis implored.

“Life was more affordable when Donald Trump was president. Our border was safer under the Trump Administration and our country was respected when Donald Trump was our Commander in Chief,” he stated.Since Biden took office, Russia invaded Ukraine and Hamas, a terrorist organization, invaded Israel beginning with a terror attack on innocent civilians attending an outdoor concert on Oct. 7, 2023.

“Joe Biden has failed this nation,” DeSantis went on. “As a veteran, I was appalled when 13 of our servicemembers were killed in Afghanistan due to Joe Biden’s dereliction of duty.”

On Aug. 26, 2021, 13 US servicemembers were killed outside of Hamid Karzai International Airport and Biden has since been heavily scrutinized for the withdrawal which killed American soldiers.

“As a citizen, as a husband and as a father, I am alarmed that the current President of the United States lacks the capability to discharge the duties of his office,” DeSantis said.

“Our enemies do not confine their designs to between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. We need a Commander in Chief who can lead 24 hours a day and 7 days a week. America cannot afford four more years of a ‘Weekend at Bernie’s’ presidency,” he said before the crowd rang out in applause.

A new poll released on Wednesday found that 65% of Democrats say President Biden should drop out following his disastrous debate performance against former President Trump. 

The AP-NORC survey – which was conducted July 11-15, mostly completed before the attempted assassination of Trump at a rally in Pennsylvania over the weekend – found that 7 in 10 adults, including 65% of Democrats, say Biden should withdraw and allow his party to select a different nominee.

Overall, 57% of adults say Trump should withdraw from the race and allow his party to name a replacement. But Trump is maintaining support from his party, with 73% of Republicans saying he should stay in the race.

The Associated Press contributed to this report. 

This is an excerpt of an article by Fox News Digital’s Danielle Wallace.

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump said that he would allow Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell to finish his term at the helm of the central bank if he wins the November election. 

“I would let him serve it out, especially if I thought he was doing the right thing,” Trump said, according to a Bloomberg News interview that took place in June.

Powell’s term as chair ends in May 2026, while his position on the Fed board continues until 2028.

Trump also warned that the Fed should not cut interest rates before the November election, which could give the economy – and President Biden – a lift. Wall Street widely expects the Fed to cut interest rates twice by the end of the year, with the first reduction coming in September.

“It’s something that they know they shouldn’t be doing,” Trump said.

This is an excerpt from an article by Fox Business’ Megan Henney.

President Biden’s campaign slammed former President Trump and his vice presidential nominee Sen. JD Vance as “Anti-choice” on Wednesday.

During a press call amid the Republican National Convention, Biden’s campaign and the Democratic National Committee went after the newly-selected Trump running mate specifically.

“JD Vance is an anti-choice politician whose views on reproductive freedom and women’s rights would take us back decades,” claimed Biden campaign principal deputy campaign manager Quentin Fulks. “He supports a nationwide ban on abortion and criticizes exceptions for rape, incest survivors, saying ‘two wrongs don’t make a right.'”

“In fact, he called rape and incest ‘inconvenient.’ And he wants women to stay in violent marriages,” he added.

Trump named Vance as his vice presidential choice in a post on Truth Social on Monday as the RNC was kicking off in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

Former President Donald Trump is narrowly leading President Joe Biden, according to a new poll.

A new Reuters/Ipsos poll, conducted in the days after Trump was shot in the ear during a campaign rally Saturday, found that the former president leads Biden by two percentage points in a general election matchup, 43% to 41%.

The poll, released Tuesday, also found that the majority of registered voters are concerned over “chaos” in America. About 80% of registered voters said they believe that “the country is spiraling out of the control” after the assassination attempt on Trump.

The Reuters/Ipsos poll was conducted online with a margin of error of plus or minus three percentage points.

The survey was released on the second day of the Republican National Convention (RNC), where Trump and his running mate, Sen. JD Vance of Ohio, were officially nominated as the GOP’s candidates for 2024 election.

Usha Vance, the wife of vice presidential candidate JD Vance, is expected introduce her husband on the main stage tonight at in Milwaukee before his primetime speech on day 3 of the Republican National Convention, Donald Trump, Jr. told CBS News.

It will be his first address since Trump announced Vance as his choice of running mate on Monday.

Usha Vance, née Chilukuri, born in 1986, was raised in San Diego, California, and attended Yale Law School, where she met the future Ohio senator, according to a report from the New York Times.”We were friends, and I liked that he was very diligent,” she told NBC News about how she met her husband in a 2017 interview.

“He would show up at 9 a.m. appointments that I would set up for us to start working on the brief together.”

“The thing that I remember most about Usha is just how completely forward and comfortable with herself she was,” the Ohio senator said of his wife during the interview. “(She was) so defensive about the things that she really cared about.”

Fox News Digital Michael Lee contributed to this report.

Donald Trump Jr., discussed the process for his father making a running mate selection on Fox News, explaining the importance of chemistry.

“I think he has to find the right mix, the right chemistry. I mean, he’s a big, sort of, chemistry guy to work with,” former President Trump’s son said.

“There’s a lot of people, obviously, in politics, many on people’s payrolls that sort of give, let’s call it partial advice about things,” he explained. “Or they, you know, tell you these sort of lies by omission to get what they want.”

Trump Jr., said this prompted him to get “fairly involved” in the selection process.

Talking about Trump’s ultimate choice of Sen. JD Vance, he said, “I’ve known the guy now for years.”

He said he first thought Vance’s story was incredible when his memoir, Hillbilly Elegy, came out in 2016.

Trump Jr., called Vance, “just the perfect pick.”

“There is a chemistry with my father that I think is perfect,” he added.

Fox News’ Pete Hegseth asked voters how they feel about JD Vance being the vice presidential candidate during a ‘Breakfast with Friends’ in Delafield, Wisconsin.

When asked about Vance as a candidate, everyone in the room cheered and clapped.

A man named Jeff told Fox News that Trump choosing Vance as his running mate was “possibly the best pick he could have ever made.”

“Smart, articulate, military man, self-made, from Ohio, swing state. It could not have been better. Young, energetic. What more do you want? Compare that to what else ie being offered,” he said.

“He’s amazing. He’s a millennial, he’s not bad on the eyes,” another woman told Fox. “And he’s going to make our country great with President Trump, I know it.”

“I think he’s gonna do well,” one voter said.

Another woman told Hegseth that they “think its a great choice. I just saw his movie the other night and I really enjoyed the history of where he came from.”

Republican vice presidential nominee Sen. JD Vance will focus heavily on his “powerful upbringing” during a speech at the Republican National Convention (RNC), sources tell Fox News.

Vance will be introducing himself to the nation for the first time as Trump’s running mate Wednesday night, a crucial speech that could set the stage for the rest of his campaign.

The address will focus on his story as “a boy who grew up in poverty, with no father in his life, and a drug-addicted mother,” a source with knowledge of the speech tells Fox.

A source in Vance’s political orbit also told Fox News to “expect the speech to focus heavily on his bio and incredible life story and how that ties into the America First Agenda.”

A source close to the Republican senator also said he will highlight his passion for a variety of issues, including “trade, immigration, ending endless wars, fentanyl and drugs, and how inflation hurts the poor the most.”

Fox News’ Paul Steinhauser contributed to this post.

The attempted assassination of President Trump shocked Americans on both sides of the aisle, with many seeing the close call as a time to reflect on the state of the nation and turn down the temperature of political rhetoric. 

Fox News Digital spoke to Americans in New York City, Detroit, Washington, D.C., and Milwaukee, about their reaction to what happened, the way Trump handled the moment while under fire and their predictions about what the failed assassination means for the country. 

Tom in Milwaukee told Fox News Digital that it is “really, really a sad thing” that the country has gotten to the point where somebody has to take a shot at the former president” and while he said he won’t be voting for Trump in November, he was sorry to see it happen and would keep the former president in his prayers. 

“I hope that the Republicans have a great convention here,” he said of the Republican National Convention taking place in Milwaukee this week. He also noted Trump had indicated he would be taking a softer tone in his political rhetoric, “which we should all follow.” 

John from Milwaukee also described the weekend’s assassination attempt by 20-year-old Pennsylvania native Thomas Matthew Crooks as a sad moment where violence came to fruition based on the way Trump has been discussed since 2015. 

“A lot of the rhetoric that has been pushed out there and some people are reacting to it,” he said. “It is not surprising, but it is a sad moment.”

This is an excerpt from an article by Fox News’ Kendall Tietz, Nikolas Lanum, Amanda Cappelli, Joshua Q. Nelson, Kira Mautone, and Gabriel Hays.

A Trump campaign spokeswoman previewed newly-selected vice presidential nominee JD Vance’s remarks at the Republican National Convention on Wednesday.

“Well, President Trump is the great American fighter. That’s what I call him. … And he has selected a fellow fighter in choosing JD Vance as his vice presidential nominee,” said Caroline Sunshine, former President Trump 2024 campaign deputy communications director, on Fox News.

“JD Vance, obviously an extraordinary American with an incredible life story,” she said.

Sunshine explained that Trump has always considered himself a fighter for “the forgotten men and women of America.”

“JD Vance is from one of those communities,” she pointed out. “He’s from the Forgotten Men and Women of America. He understands some of the unique suffering that takes place in those communities viscerally.”

She also noted Vance’s past service in the Marines. “He, of course, answered the call to service after our country was attacked on 9/11, joining the Marine Corps. Once a marine, always a marine.”

The campaign spokeswoman additionally stressed that while Vance has made comments in the past against Trump, he is a “convert” not a critic.

Rep. John James, R-Mich., responded Tuesday to “Late Show” host Stephen Colbert’s joke mocking a line in his speech at the Republican National Convention.

While delivering a monologue about the RNC, the late-night comedian commented on James’ primetime address Monday night, showing a brief portion.

“America’s the greatest idea there’s ever been,” James exclaimed in the clip.”Greatest idea? Someone obviously hasn’t tried the Taco Bell Big Cheez-It Crunch Wrap Supreme. That’s a good idea,” Colbert joked.

On Tuesday night, James responded by posting a video of himself trying a Taco Bell Big Cheez-It Crunch Wrap Supreme for the first time outside a local Taco Bell.

“Touché @StephenAtHome,” James wrote. “Tried it… wouldn’t go to war for it.”

This is an excerpt from an article by Fox News Digital’s Lindsay Kornick.

Vice President Kamala Harris said in a newly released video that former President Trump selected Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, as his running mate to be a “rubber stamp” for the Republican White House hopeful’s “extreme agenda.”

This comes ahead of Vance’s acceptance speech on Wednesday at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee. Trump, now formally the Republican nominee for president, announced Vance as his pick for vice president on Monday.

“Trump looked for someone he knew would be a rubber stamp for his extreme agenda,” Harris said in the video.

“Make no mistake: JD Vance will be loyal only to Trump, not to our country,” she continued.

Harris and Vance spoke by phone after Vance’s nomination in a brief and respectful conversation, Fox News’ Alexis McAdams reports, after Harris left a congratulatory voicemail.

This is an excerpt from an article by Fox News Digital’s Landon Mion.

Kip Tom, who is with Famers and Ranchers for Trump, joined ‘Fox & Friends First’ to discuss the upcoming farm fair at the Republican National Convention (RNC) and recall the “surreal” moment Trump was shot in Butler, Pennsylvania. 

Tom was present at the campaign rally where Trump survived an assassination attempt, telling Fox News he is “still processing” the tragic events of that day.

Tom added that “we need to work hard to make sure we make agriculture great again.”

“We want to continue to promote that food security is national security, yet under the Biden-Harris administration we continue to offshore many of our critical elements that we use to produce food, fiber, and energy to places like China, Russia, Belarus. We are weakening our own food security in our nation,” Tom said. “At the same time we need to reinvest in infrastructure in our nation and make sure that our bioeconomy and our contributions to exports continue to grow.”

Asked about Trump and running mate Sen. JD Vance, Tom told Fox that “it’ll be great to have a president and vice president that are focused on agriculture and our food system.”

President Biden reportedly lashed out at fellow Democrats on a group call Saturday, insisting that questions about his viability for a second term were ridiculous.

The president allegedly exploded on Rep. Jason Crow of Colorado during the call after Crow said “without a major change, we are facing a loss in November,” according to NBC News.

“First of all, I think you’re dead wrong on national security,” Biden told Crow, according to a report from Puck News. “You saw what happened recently in terms of the meeting we had with NATO. I put NATO together. Name me a foreign leader who thinks I’m not the most effective leader in the world on foreign policy.”

“Tell me!” Biden insisted during the outburst, according to the report. “Tell me who the hell that is! Tell me who put NATO back together! Tell me who enlarged NATO, tell me who did the Pacific basin.”

Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, was thrust into the national spotlight this week after former President Donald Trump officially tapped him to be his running mate ahead of the November election.

Vance, 39, grew up in poverty in rural Ohio and went on to attend Yale Law School before he worked as a venture capitalist in San Francisco – a rags-to-riches story that he chronicled in his 2016 memoir, “Hillbilly Elegy.” 

Just a few years later, Vance used some of his Silicon Valley connections from his venture capital days – including right-leaning billionaire Peter Thiel – to make a foray into national politics.

Vance was elected to the Senate in 2022, with the help of more than $10 million in donations from Thiel. Since then, he has cultivated an identity on Capitol Hill as a staunch ally of Trump and has embraced many of the former president’s populist economic policies. 

Babydog is one of three canines owned by Justice and his family. They also have two Boston terriers named Lucy and Ellie, according to the governor’s campaign website for his U.S. Senate bid in November. 

Babydog is an English Bulldog. Like most bulldogs, Babydog is white and tan and brown, with stubby legs and an abundance of folds around her face. 

The friendly canine is four years old, but will be five in late October. 

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Justice made Babydog a mascot for his vaccination sweepstakes. A website was even set up to encourage vaccinations for coronavirus, titled “DoItForBabydog.wv.gov.”

According to the West Virginia governor’s official website, “Whether it be special appearances on the biggest of stages, like the Governor’s State of the State address, or simply meeting people and shaking paws in her travels, Babydog always makes everyone smile everywhere that she and the Governor go.​”

Gov. Doug Burgum, R-N.D., described the atmosphere of the Republican National Convention after the assassination attempt in an interview with Fox News’ Jesse Watters.

“Monday night was unbelievable. Just 48 hours after we were a millisecond away from this week being in chaos and mourning, we had the president walk in here as the pinnacle of strength,” he said.

According to Burgum, “you can feel that energy when President Trump walks in here.”

“He transferred into everybody here. And I think he’s transferred that energy to America,” he added.

The governor also previewed what he expects from Trump’s RNC remarks to Watters. “His message has always been powerful,” he claimed. “But when he came out earlier this week and said he’s tearing up a speech, he’s going to talk about unifying America, I think America is so ready for that.”

West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice spoke during the second night of the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and his companion, a Bulldog named Babydog Justice, appeared on stage alongside him.

RNC attendees went wild for the dog and his political owner as they walked the convention floor together.Babydog, who often appears on Justice’s social media accounts supporting and promoting his agenda, patiently waited on stage for Justice. She panned the scene from left to right with a big smile as she hung back awaiting his speech’s conclusion.

Babydog’s summer bucket list includes attending a campaign event, eating chicken nuggets, meeting new voters, traveling the Great State of West Virginia, taking car rides and earning constituents’ votes, according to Justice’s Instagram account.

In January, Babydog accompanied his owner as he filed the paperwork to guarantee former President Donald Trump will appear on the ballot in the Mountain State come November.

Let’s Win for America Action co-chair Janelle King joined ‘Fox & Friends First’ to discuss the reaction to Nikki Haley’s Republican National Convention (RNC) speech and why she believes Biden could still be ousted ahead of November.

“I thought Nikki Haley did exactly what she was supposed to do. Im not surprised whatsoever at the reaction as it relates to her going out there and giving Donald Trump a full endorsement,” King told Fox.

“I think that president trump has a unique opportunity right now. Unfortunately it came a result of him almost risking his life, almost losing his life i should say,” King said. “He has a unique opportunity to message to the people to pivot a little bit and to create this uniting force. this is an opportunity for the
Republican party to stand in the gap, to show America that we understand what is going on.”

King added that she believes Haley “did the best she could do” to unite her supporters for Trump during her speech at the RNC.

Former President Trump’s allies are looking at his selection of Sen. JD Vance as a key appeal to Midwestern voters – and some New York Republican lawmakers are hopeful it’ll give the GOP a boost in their own state as well.

House GOP lawmakers representing the Democratic stronghold state held a media event on the sidelines of the Republican National Convention (RNC) on Tuesday, a day after Trump named Vance as his running mate in the November election.

Reps. Nicole Malliotakis and Mike Lawler both pointed to Vance’s pro-union stances, which line up with policies that have won support in their districts as well.

Malliotakis pointed out that Teamsters Union President Sean O’Brien
, who spoke at the RNC on Monday night, gave shoutouts to a handful of Republican lawmakers including herself, Vance and Lawler “as people who have been working with labor.”

MILWAUKEE – Former President Donald Trump and the Republican Party continue defeating attacks thrown at them by the Democratic Party as the election season comes down to its final months, Wyoming’s secretary of state told Fox News Digital from the Republican National Convention. 

Democrats during the “last 110 days of this election [will] do everything they can to try to blunt our momentum. I think they’re going to fail at that, because the American people see the record of this Biden administration and that it is just opposed to everything that the American people value,” Republican Wyoming Secretary of State Chuck Gray told Fox News Digital on Tuesday. 

Gray is attending the RNC, where he is chairing the Cowboy State’s delegation. Months before Trump officially became the GOP’s nominee for president on Monday, Gray was battling Democrats on the legal frontlines as they worked to prevent the 45th president from even appearing on election ballots. 

Gray said that despite repeated efforts by Democrats to tie Trump up in court cases, and efforts to prevent his name from appearing on the ballot, and the overall “weaponization” of government against conservatives, the GOP and former president have come out victorious. 

Fox News’ Brooke Singman spoke with a source close to Ohio Sen. JD Vance, former President Donald Trump’s vice presidential pick, and informed Fox News Digital of the exclusive conversation.

“Senator JD Vance just hung up the phone with Vice President Kamala Harris,” she said. “It’s their first conversation since he was picked as President Trump’s running mate. The two had a brief and respectful conversation, the source told me. The two said they’re both looking forward to debating.”

While there is no date set for a Vance versus Harris debate, the Republican duo will hold an indoor rally one week following the assassination attempt on Trump.

The rally on July 20 will be in Grand Rapids, Michigan, which is located around six hours from Butler, Pennsylvania, where a gunman opened fire on the former president and shot him in the ear.

Vance earned the vice presidential nomination Monday night, the first night of the 2024 Republican National Convention.

MILWAUKEE – Former New York Republican Rep. Lee Zeldin said he’s “tired” of seeing Republicans verbally and physically attacked, arguing that anti-Trump and anti-GOP rhetoric has reached new highs across the years. 

“The rhetoric has gotten so bad between, yes, the bullseye comment, remember Dan Goldman making a comment about how President Trump needs to be eliminated. Bennie Thompson wants to take away Secret Service protection. One of [Thompson’s] aides was just complaining that the shooter Saturday evening had missed President Trump. I’m tired of seeing Republicans attacked like this,” Zeldin told Fox News Digital during the Republican National Convention on Tuesday. 

Zeldin was responding to President Biden backtracking on his comment earlier this month that “it’s time to put Trump in a bullseye,” saying the remark was a “mistake” after a 20-year-old man in Pennsylvania attempted to assassinate Trump during a rally on Saturday evening.

Zeldin reflected that verbal and physical attacks against Republicans have been ongoing and heightening for years before a shooter tried to kill the 45th president.

FIRST ON FOX: President Trump is showing “real leadership” to “not just America, but the world” following the attempt on his life over the weekend — drawing a stark contrast between himself and President Biden, former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy said.

McCarthy spoke with Fox News Digital on the sidelines of the Republican National Convention, nothing that while JD Vance is a strong pick for vice president, this election is “all about Trump and he is stronger than he has ever been.” 

“Seeing President Trump, talking to him the day after the shooting, I mean, it is unbelievable that he is alive,” McCarthy said. “I think just in that sheer moment he taught, not just America, but the world, that he is a real leader.” 

McCarthy told Fox News Digital that in the past several days following the assassination attempt against Trump, he has spoken with numerous world leaders who have called to check in on the former president.

The widow of the volunteer firefighter who was shot and killed over the weekend at the Trump rally in Pennsylvania says the former president called her and was “very kind,” a report says. 

Helen Comperatore
wrote on Facebook that Trump phoned her on Tuesday, three days after her husband Corey was struck with gunfire while trying to protect his family during the campaign event in Butler, according to the New York Post. 

“He was very kind and said he would continue to call me in the days and weeks ahead,” the widow reportedly wrote. “I told him the same thing I told everyone else. He left this world a hero and God welcomed him in. He did not die in vain that day.” 

Helen Comperatore told the New York Post on Monday that her husband’s final words were “get down!” 

“He’s my hero,” Helen Comperatore said to the newspaper from her home in Sarver, Pennsylvania. “He just said, ‘get down!’ That was the last thing he said.”  

“Me and the kids were all there as a family,” she added. “He was just excited. It was going to be a nice day with the family. 

Corey Comperatore, 50, was the former fire chief for the Buffalo Township Volunteer Fire Company. The department now has a memorial set up outside its firehouse featuring Comperatore’s uniform to honor who they described as a “brother, son, husband, father and friend.”  

This is an excerpt from an article by Fox News’ Greg Norman

The 25th Amendment to the United States Constitution establishes the line of succession in regard to the president, the vice president, and the president’s cabinet. Ratified two years after President John Fitzpatrick Kennedy’s assassination, the 25th Amendment contains four sections.

Section 1 establishes that the vice president assumes command should the president be removed from office, dies, or resigns. Section 2 establishes that the president may appoint a vice president should the office become vacant. Section 3 declares that the president may temporarily grant the powers of the presidency to the vice president in anticipation of temporary incapacitation, like an upcoming medical procedure. Section 4 declares that the president may be deposed by the vice president and a majority of the cabinet should the president be unfit to complete the duties of office.

Section 4 has never been formally discussed or proposed, but there are several instances when it has reportedly been considered. During the Jan. 6, 2021 Capitol riot, there were reportedly talks of removing former President Donald Trump via the 25th Amendment. Additionally, after President Biden’s 2024 debate performance raised concerns over his mental capacity, talks of removing him via the 25th Amendment have grown in the popular discourse.  

MILWAUKEE, WI – The spotlight will shine firmly on GOP vice presidential nominee Sen. JD Vance on day three of the Republican National Convention.

Vance on Wednesday night will address the roughly 2,400 delegates and thousands of other attendees packed inside Milwaukee’s Fiserv Arena, and the millions of Americans watching the GOP convention from home, in his first speech since former President Trump on Monday named the 39-year-old senator from Ohio as his running mate.

“This is clearly the most important speech of JD Vance’s career,” Dan Eberhart, an oil drilling chief executive officer and a prominent Republican donor and bundler who’s attending the convention, told Fox News.

Trump, in making his greatly anticipated and high-stakes running mate announcement as the GOP convention kicked off in swing-state Wisconsin’s largest city, will now share the ticket with one of his top supporters in the Senate and a one-time Trump critic who has transformed into a leading America First ally.

The former president and Vance teamed up on Monday and Tuesday nights in the family box above the floor of the GOP convention.

Vance, a former venture capitalist and the author of the bestselling memoir “Hillbilly Elegy” before running for elective office, on Wednesday night will appear on the podium to tell his story.

A source in Vance’s political orbit told Fox News to “expect the speech to focus heavily on his bio and incredible life story and how that ties into the America First Agenda.”

That story began with Vance growing up in a working-class family in a small city in southwestern Ohio. His parents divorced when he was young, and as his mother struggled for years with drug and alcohol abuse, Vance was raised in part by his maternal grandparents.

Vance, who lives in Cincinnati, moved to San Francisco after law school and worked as a principal in a venture capital firm owned by billionaire venture capitalist Peter Thiel, who later became a major financial supporter of Vance’s successful 2022 campaign for the Senate.

This is an excerpt of an article by Fox News’ Paul Steinhauser

The Democratic National Convention (DNC) will be held in Chicago from Aug. 19 through Aug. 22, just one month after next week’s Republican National Convention.

Should President Biden remain in the race despite calls for him to step aside, he will likely accept the party nomination on Aug. 22, the final day of the convention.

Biden has vowed to remain in the race, but if he changes his mind, the party could decide to hold an open convention, which hasn’t been done since 1968 following then-President Lyndon Johnson’s decision to withdraw from the race.

An open convention would likely involve the party’s delegates voting in rounds to select a new nominee, and could lead to a divide among party members or potential nominees seeking to take on former President Donald Trump in the November general election.

Experts largely believe Biden would retain enough delegates to remain the nominee if he decides not to withdraw from the race.

Throughout American history, political party conventions have become increasingly ceremonial formalities.

For the majority of primary elections, a winner is established well before the convention date, and therefore the party’s nominee for president is determined after the first round of voting. However, if a candidate does not receive a majority of primary votes during the primary elections, a candidate must be selected at an “open convention” by achieving a majority of delegate votes. While a handful of presidential candidates have been selected at open conventions, there has yet to be a true multi-round convention fight.

The last Democratic open convention was in 1984 when Walter Mondale was 40 votes short of a majority. However, there was little speculation of a contest as Gary Hart, Mondale’s chief rival, was backing Mondale in hopes of securing the vice presidential nomination.

The last Republican open convention was in 1976 between President Gerald Ford and California Gov. Ronald Reagan. Ford was backed by centrists and liberal Republicans from the northeast, whereas Reagan was backed by a coalition of western and southern conservatives, most notably, “Reagan’s Raiders” from the Texas delegation. While close, Ford ultimately won on the first ballot.

Dana Perino
spoke with Fox News Digital on watching in-person as former President Donald Trump made his first public appearance since a gunman opened fire at a campaign event and attempted to assassinate him.

“There are few experiences in your life where you can feel the electricity coming from your toes all the way to the top of your head,” she said. “The feeling of the charisma and the energy and the good will towards President Trump that the people in this room felt, and when he popped up on the jumbotron, which is just behind me, and you saw him for the first time, with a red tie and with a bandage on his ear, I think everybody in this room was like wow, look at that.”

Perino added that it was just around 52 hours from when he had been shot and the crowd was chanting, “Fight! Fight! Fight!” as Trump said immediately following the attack on his life.

“It was pretty emotional,” she said. “I think he was even emotional just taking in the moment. He had an expression of gratitude for all the people that were here. I think he also realizes he was this close to not being here. If he hadn’t moved his head like that, he might not have been here.”

Perino called it “a remarkable night” and said that she was moved by the evening.

Despite a rising chorus of calls from within the Democratic Party, President Biden has repeatedly said he’s not dropping out of his 2024 election rematch with former President Trump.

But if Biden changes his mind and ends his bid amid serious questions over his mental fitness following his disastrous debate last month with Trump, the spotlight would instantly focus on the piles of cash the president’s campaign has raised.

Since the launch of the re-election campaign over a year ago, Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris have hauled in hundreds of millions of dollars for their campaign and various fundraising committees that have split funds between Team Biden-Harris, the Democratic National Committee, and nearly every state Democratic Party across the country.

All of those groups combined had around $240 million cash on hand as of the end of June. The Biden campaign alone said it had over $90 million in its coffers at the end of May.

If the president drops out, the campaign funds could only stay with the campaign if Harris becomes the nominee.

But if someone else became the party’s presidential nominee, the money would have to be refunded to donors.

Another option if Biden ends his bid and the vice president doesn’t become the Democratic Party standard-bearer – the millions of dollars currently in the campaign coffers could be transferred to a federal super PAC, which could use the cash to pay for ads on behalf of the new Democratic national ticket.

But there is a drawback, as super PACs by law are forced to pay higher rates for ad time. 

Former President Trump’s pick to serve as his running mate on the Republican ticket this year, Ohio Sen. JD Vance, has been a staunch critic of the Biden administration’s student loan handout as part of the White House’s repeated efforts to cancel borrowers’ debt.

President Biden campaigned on forgiving student loan debt derived from undergraduate tuition at two- and four-year public universities for borrowers earning up to $125,000 a year. His administration developed the handout plan in the first year and a half of his time in office, and he announced in August 2022 that he would move to cancel $10,000 per borrower and $20,000 for Pell Grant recipients.

Biden’s plan encountered stiff resistance from Republicans, with several states filing legal challenges and Vance joining the ranks of its vocal opponents in his 2022 U.S. Senate race against Democrat Rep. Tim Ryan in Ohio.

“Forgiving student debt is a massive windfall to the rich, to the college educated, and most of all to the corrupt university administrators of America,” Vance wrote in a post on X in April 2022. “No bailouts for a corrupt system. Republicans must fight this with every ounce of our energy and power.”

“Thanks to Tim Ryan and Joe Biden, Ohio workers are paying off the loans of Harvard Law students. If this seems unfair and illegal, it’s because it is,” he added in an X post that August.

After his victory in the 2022 Senate race, Vance cosponsored a bill in the Senate that would have rejected the Biden administration’s regulation for implementing the student loan handout using the Congressional Review Act. Although an identical bill passed both the House and Senate, it failed to override President Biden’s veto.

The various legal challenges to the Biden administration’s proposal eventually led to the handout plan being blocked by the Supreme Court in June 2023. However, the White House has continued its pursuit of a plan that will pass legal muster and has since issued more narrowly tailored proposals.

Vance has also looked to advance other reforms to other aspects of federal student loans, and to that end he sponsored a bill known as Domenic and Ed’s Law in May.

This is an excerpt of an article by Fox Business’ Eric Revell

Fox News’ Brooke Singman gives the lowdown on Ohio Sen. JD Vance, former President Donald Trump’s vice presidential pick in the 2024 elections.

Vance, 39, is a first-term senator from Middletown, Ohio. His wife, Usha Vance, née Chilukuri, was raised in San Diego, California, and attended Yale Law School as Vance did. The couple met while at Yale.

“His youth could represent a valuable demographic the GOP is hoping to woo,” Singman said. “That’s millennials and Gen Z.”

Singman adds that Vance is a best selling author of the book “Hillbilly Elegy” which has seen a spike in sales since day one of the 2024 RNC when Trump revealed Vance as his running mate.

The book was turned into a movie produced by Netflix and starred Glenn Close, Amy Adams and Gabriel Basso the American actor who played Vance in the film.

Vance was selected after weeks of speculation as to who the VP pick could be. Doug Burgum, Tim Scott, Marco Rubio and Vivek Ramaswamy, among others, were floated as potential picks.

While a comprehensive list of the Republican National Committee speakers had not been released by press time, several reports from around the country cited lawmakers and other political figures who were confirmed to be speakers at the Milwaukee forum.

Rep. Jim Banks, R-Ind., spoke during Tuesday’s primetime spot.

The Indiana Capital Chronicle said Banks’ prominent appearance is evidence of his rising-star status within the GOP.

The report cited Banks’ working-class upbringing as a key aspect of his appearance.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis
, once an opponent of former President Trump during the campaign, spoke Tuesday during a prominent speaking spot. Another 2024 contender — former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley — also spoke in favor of Trump on Tuesday.

Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., a top Trump ally in the House and chairwoman of the chamber’s Republican conference, spoke earlier in the day at the RNC.

Dr. Ben Carson following Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders late Tuesday night before Sen. Marco Rubio took the stage in support of Trump.

Earlier in the day, West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice gave a speech with his dog, Babydog, by his side.

Teamsters President Sean O’Brien, whose union is otherwise reliably Democratic, spoke at the RNC on Monday night and UFC President Dana White also has been given time on stage.