Fox News host Jesse Watters recently conducted a sit-down interview with former President Trump to discuss last week’s failed assassination attempt.

The interview, which will premiere on “Jesse Watters Primetime” on Monday night at 8 p.m. ET, featured both Trump and his vice presidential candidate JD Vance. Vance currently serves as a U.S. Senator representing Ohio.

The three men discussed the assassination attempt against the former president last week. Gunman Thomas Matthew Crooks shot at Trump from a roof in the middle of a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, wounding the presidential candidate on his right ear.

Trump revealed during the interview that he was not warned about Crooks by the U.S. Secret Service.

“Mistakes were made,” Watters told Trump. “They were monitoring this guy for an hour beforehand. No one told you not to take the stage?”

“Nobody mentioned it,” the former president replied. “Nobody said it was a problem.”

“[They] could’ve said, ‘Let’s wait for 15, 20 minutes, 5 minutes.’ Nobody said…I think that was a mistake,” he added.

Fox News’ Andrea Vacchiano contributed to this report.

A Washington Post report published on Saturday claimed that top U.S. Secret Service officials “repeatedly” denied requests for tighter security measures from former President Trump’s detail.

The Post reported that the agents tasked with protecting Trump requested additional security resources, such as magnetometers and a larger number of personnel to screen guests and snipers. Senior officials reportedly told the agents that the Secret Service lacked the resources to fulfill the requests.

An official who spoke on the condition of anonymity told the Post about the rejected requests. The newspaper reportedly reviewed requests that were denied in the past, but none of them pertained to last week’s rally where Trump was shot.

The Pennsylvania state senator who represents the community where attempted Trump assassin Thomas Matthew Crooks lived said Saturday when looking back at the tragic rally, he called upon his three combat tours in the Middle East. 

State Sen. Devlin Robinson, R-Allegheny, served as a U.S. Marine infantryman in Nasiriyah, Iraq’s “ambush alley,” engaging in door-to-door searches as part of the mission to rescue Army POW Jessica Lynch. He also served in Fallujah.

In Harrisburg, Robinson is chairman of the Senate Labor & Industry Committee and often focuses on veterans’ issues.

Robinson said the assassination attempt reminded him of his own experiences in Iraq and said that when it comes to securing sensitive locations — whether a military base in the desert or fairgrounds in the Alleghenies — it is paramount for those tasked with securing the area to always be on guard.

Read the full article about Thomas Matthew Crooks by Charles Creitz

A criminal profiler said Thomas Matthew Crooks’ assassination attempt on former President Trump in western Pennsylvania last week was likely not politically motivated and not a random act of violence.

Keith Howard, the chief deputy of the Morgan County Sheriff’s Office in Georgia and a criminal profiler, shared with Fox News Digital the behavioral science behind Thomas Matthew Crooks’ attempted assassination.

Howard said the shooting of Trump points to an “organized thinker” and not a random act of violence.

Read the full article about Thomas Matthew Crooks by Sarah Rumpf-Whitten

Amazon Prime Video has added a disclaimer to “The Boys” season finale condemning political violence following the assassination attempt against former President Trump.

“The season finale of ‘The Boys’ contains scenes of fictional political violence, which some viewers may find disturbing, especially in light of the injuries and tragic loss of life sustained during the assassination attempt on former President Trump,” the disclaimer begins.

Prime Video noted that the newest season of the violent, superhero satire was filmed in 2023 and any similarities to real-world events are “coincidental and unintentional.”

Read the full article about ‘The Boys’ by Nikolas Lanum

Former President Trump praised Tesla, Inc. CEO Elon Musk during his campaign speech on Saturday.

The Republican frontrunner mentioned Musk while speaking about electric cars and the automotive industry.

“And you know Elon, I love Elon Musk. Do we love him? I love him,” Trump said to cheering audience members.

“Elon endorsed me recently the other day, he’s great,” the former president continued. “Elon Musk, he’s a brilliant guy.”

Trump added that he’s “always had a good relationship” with Musk, and confirmed that Musk has donated a massive amount of cash to his campaign.

“He didn’t even tell me about it, but he gives me $45 million a month,” the Republican added. “I talked to him just a little while ago to say I was coming here…and he didn’t even mention it.”

“Other guys, they give you $2 and you got to take them to lunch. You got to wine ’em, dine ’em,” he joked.

Sandy Pensler, a Republican who was running to represent Michigan in the U.S. Senate, announced the end of his campaign during the Trump rally on Saturday.

During his speech, Pensler endorsed his opponent Mike Rogers and said that he was “inspired” by Trump kissing Corey Comperatore’s firefighter hat at the RNC this week.

“My campaign was always about making America better,” Pensler said. “The best way to do that is to enact President Trump’s policies.”

“President Trump endorsed Mike Rogers tonight, so am I,” he added. “Mike’s gonna make a heck of a senator.”

Rogers took the stage after Pensler and thanked him for his support.

“Thank you for your leadership,” Rogers said to Pensler. “You’re going to be an important voice going forward in our party in Michigan.”

During a rally speech on Saturday, former President Trump defended his close relationships with adversarial world leaders and referenced getting along with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

“You know, a lot of times the press would say, ‘He gets along with Kim Jong Un. North Korea has a lot of nuclear weapons.’ I got along with them great,” Trump said. “You were never in danger with me as your president.

“It’s a good thing to get along, not a bad thing. I used to tell [Kim], why don’t you do something else?” Trump joked. “All he wants to do is buy nuclear weapons and make them. I said, ‘Just relax, chill, you got enough.'”

The former president also made a joke about hypothetically watching a baseball game with the North Korean dictator.

“I said, ‘Just relax, go to a nice – let’s go to a baseball game.’ I’ll show you what a baseball [is]. We’ll go watch the Yankees or we’ll come watch Michigan at its home opener.”

Former President Trump recently revealed that Chinese President Xi Jinping reached out to him in the wake of last week’s shooting.

“I got along very well with President Xi,” Trump said on the stage. “A great guy, wrote me a beautiful note the other day when he heard about what happened. And he wrote me a beautiful note.”

The Republican added that “almost all” of the significant foreign leaders sent him their sympathies.

“Almost all of them wrote me notes,” he said. “It was nice… I have a good relationship with all of them. That’s a good thing.”

Former President Trump said that he owes his life to immigration on Saturday, a week after he was shot while discussing the Southern border.

The former president referenced the moment where he turned his head during his speech last week, causing the bullets to narrowly miss his head and clip him in the ear.

“When I watch the way our border was handled…we had the best border, the safest border, the border that saved my life,” he said. “You know, I was pointing to an immigration border sign when I made this turn, and that thing went that way, instead of that way.”

“So I owe immigration my life. It’s true, it’s true,” he added as the crowd cheered.

During a Saturday speech, President Trump took a moment to honor the victims who were injured or killed at the Butler, Pennsylvania, rally last week.

“We continue to pray for the recovery of the two citizens who were wounded in that evil attack – David Dutch and James Copenhaver, two really incredible people,” Trump said. “We remain in contact and send our deepest respect to the families.”

The Republican also acknowledged the death of Corey Comperatore, calling him a “hero” for protecting his family last week.

“Corey Comperatore was a brave firefighter who died, funeral [was] yesterday,” Trump said. “Corey was a hero. And we will carry his memory in our hearts for all time.”

Former President Trump appeared in public without a large, white bandage on his ear for the first time since he was shot in Pennsylvania last week.

Trump has previously been seen wearing a gauze bandage in the wake of the shooting, but wore a smaller one on his injured ear Saturday. Speaking to an audience of supporters in Grand Rapids, Michigan, Trump said that he “shouldn’t be here right now, but something very, something very special happened.”

Earlier on Saturday, Congressman Ronny Jackson released a report about Trump’s health after the shooting. Jackson had served as Physician to the President during the Trump administration.

“The bullet track produced a 2 cm wide wound that extended down to the cartilaginous surface of the ear,” the physician wrote in a detailed statement. “There was initially significant bleeding, followed by marked swelling of the entire upper ear. The swelling has since resolved, and the wound is beginning to granulate and heal properly.”

“Based on the highly vascular nature of the ear, there is still intermittent bleeding requiring a dressing to be in place,” Jackson continued. “Given the broad and blunt nature of the wound itself, no sutures were required.”

During his speech, Trump thanked Jackson for his medical assistance.

“Let me also thank Congressman Ronny Jackson from Texas…for the care and treatment he gave me as an outstanding doctor, which he is, he’s really an amazing guy,” he said.

Former President Donald Trump and vice presidential nominee JD Vance took shots at Vice President Kamala Harris during Saturday’s rally in Grand Rapids.

“I’ve served in the United States Marine Corps … What the hell have you done? “What has she done other than collect a check from her political offices?” he asked, before going on to talk about his grandmother, who he calls “Mamaw,” and his upbringing.

Harris ripped Vance after is Wednesday speech at the RNC in which he accepted his role on the 2024 ticket.”It was compelling. It’s a compelling story. But it’s not the full story,” Harris said.

“Frankly, what is very telling is what he did not talk about on that stage. He did not talk about Project 2025, the 900-page blueprint for a second term. He did not talk about it because their plans are extreme, and they are divisive.”

Read the full article about JD Vance by Brandon Gillespie

Ohio Senator JD Vance praised former President Trump at campaign rally in Grand Rapids, Michigan, exactly a week after an assassination attempt against Trump failed.

Speaking to a crowd of thousands, Vance called to “bring some common sense and security to this country.”

“Both parties were broken in very profound ways,” the senator claimed. “Both parties, if you remember, signed up for shipping millions of good manufacturing jobs off to Mexico and China until President Trump came along and said, ‘We got to make more of our own stuff. We got to make it with our own workers hands, and we’re going to do it for our own people right here in the United States of America, right here in Michigan.'”

Vance also praised Trump’s economic plans and commended him for wanting to tighten border security.

“President Trump, in other words, wants to build a country that actually works for the citizens of this country,” he said. “Once again, he did it for four years. He did it so successfully for four years.”

“My friends, we have never had an election where you have four years of one guy and four years of the other guy, and who could possibly reject the idea that four years of President Trump has been a hell of a lot better than four years of Joe Biden, right? That’s right,” Vance added.”

Congressman Ronny Jackson, who formally served as Physician to the President during the Trump administration, released a detailed update on the former president’s health on Saturday.

Writing a week after Trump was shot in the ear in Pennsylvania, Jackson explained that he evaluated Trump from Bedminster, New Jersey, hours after the shooting.

“I have been with President Trump since that time, and I have evaluated and treated his wound daily,” Jackson wrote. “He is doing well. As reported and witnessed by the entire world, he sustained a gunshot wound to the right ear from a high-powered rifle used by the would be assassin.”

The congressman also provided specific details about Trump’s injuries, and said that the bullet passed “less than a quarter of an inch from entering [Trump’s] head, and struck the top of his right ear.” Jackson also confirmed that Trump received a CT scan of his head.

“The bullet track produced a 2 cm wide wound that extended down to the cartilaginous surface of the ear,” the physician described. “There was initially significant bleeding, followed by marked swelling of the entire upper ear. The swelling has since resolved, and the wound is beginning to granulate and heal properly.”

“Based on the highly vascular nature of the ear, there is still intermittent bleeding requiring a dressing to be in place,” he added. “Given the broad and blunt nature of the wound itself, no sutures were required.”

The physician will appear on “Sunday Morning Futures” on Fox News Sunday morning at 10 a.m. ET to discuss Trump’s health. Towards the end of his statement, Jackson concluded that Trump is currently doing well.

“He will have further evaluations, including a comprehensive hearing exam, as needed. He will follow up with his primary care physician, as directed by the doctors that initially evaluated him,” he continued. “In summary, former President Trump is doing well, and he is recovering as expected from the gunshot wound sustained last Saturday afternoon.”

“I am extremely thankful his life was spared. It is an absolute miracle he wasn’t killed,” Jackson added.

Fox News Digital’s Brooke Singman and Kirill Clark contributed to this update.

Thousands of people lined the streets of Grand Rapids, Michigan, Saturday to show support for former President Trump at his first rally since a would-be assassin tried, but failed, to take his life last week.

“Fight, fight, fight!” some in the swing-state crowd began to chant as Fox News Digital asked if there was any sense of nervousness after what happened at the rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, where a 20-year-old gunman killed one rallygoer, critically wounded two others and shot Trump in the ear.

“West Michigan is fired up, and they are ready for a change in Washington,” Michael Markey, the Republican candidate for Michigan’s 3rd Congressional District, told Fox as he greeted rallygoers waiting in the growing line to enter Van Andel Arena.

Read the full article about Grand Rapids by Brandon Gillespie

An official cause and manner of death has been released for former President Trump’s would-be assassin, Thomas Matthew Crooks. 

Crooks died of a gunshot wound to the head, the Butler County Coroner’s Office told Fox News Digital Saturday. His manner of death was ruled a homicide. 

The 20-year-old was pronounced dead in Butler County, where he fired five rounds at a Trump rally July 13 and nicked the former president in the ear before he was “neutralized” 26 seconds later.

Read the full article about Thomas Matthew Crooks by Christina Coulter

The man who shot at former President Donald Trump last Saturday excelled in college and appeared to have a promising future, his former teacher said.

Thomas Matthew Crooks, 20, was a thoughtful and polite student at Pittsburgh’s Community College of Allegheny College, where he graduated in May with an associate’s degree in engineering.

Prior to Saturday’s attempted assassination, Crooks had planned to continue his education at nearby Robert Morris University.

One of his former teachers, who declined to be identified, was so stunned after the shooting, she reviewed his homework assignments and noted that he went “above and beyond” as a student.  

She recalled a project Crooks completed on a chess set for blind players.

.”He 3D-printed it. He put the Braille on it,” the educator said. “He talked to experts in the field. He really took a lot of care.”

Crooks was shot dead by snipers after firing a volley of shots at Trump’s Butler, Pennsylvania rally. The bullets grazed the former president’s ear and killed former firefighter Corey Comperatore.

Another employee said that Crooks, of Bethel Park, seemed focused on pursuing a career in engineering, and that his murderous descent shocked him.

“It’s just very, very, very unexpected,” the employee said.

Fox News Digital’s Rebecca Rosenberg contributed to this update.

HBO host Bill Maher doesn’t believe that God’s hand saved former President Donald Trump from being killed by an assassin’s bullet last week and thinks those that do are getting close to making him a “demigod.”

In the closing monologue of “Real Time with Bill Maher,” the host mocked Trump supporters who have claimed that former President Trump’s assassination was prevented by an act of God, telling them to open their eyes and stop with the “magical thinking.”

“Enough is enough with interpreting every event as a DM [direct message] from heaven,” Maher said, rebuking religious Trump supporters during the segment.

Maher condemned the attempted assassination at the very beginning of his show, as he had shortly after the traumatic event occurred. He told his HBO audience on Friday, “You should be as angry about that as if the candidate you like got shot.”

He also hammered the U.S. Secret Service for appearing to drop the ball in preventing the incident, saying, “You should also be angry that the Secret Service allowed some kid with a sniper rifle and a range finder to get past the metal detectors. What? The TSA once tackled me over a bottle of Visine.” 

Later in the show, however, Maher slammed the way some religious Trump fans have characterized his attempted murder.

The segment, titled, “In God We Lust,” began with the host stating, “Since the bullet that was meant for Donald Trump missed him last Saturday, Republicans have been indulging in an orgy of magical thinking, saying things like, ‘Trump wears the armor of God.’”

He shared quotes of various conservatives and pro-Trump influencers who claimed God protected the former President, including one from Rep. Steve Scalise, R-La., himself a victim of an assassination attempt in 2017.

Maher read Scalise’s post about the Trump shooting, which stated, “Yesterday, there were miracles. And I think the hand of God was there too.” The host then joked about how God handled Scalise’s shooting compared to how He handled Trump’s: “Steve was also shot, but God was having an off day. And that bullet missed his ear and went into his spleen.”

Warning his supporters to avoid attaching religious significance to Trump, he continued, “America doesn’t need a demigod. From the pharaohs to Julius Caesar, to Hirohito, many cultures have tried it – the earthly being who is simultaneously divine or god-ish. And it never turns out well.”

Fox News Digital’s Gabriel Hays contributed to this update.

The owner of the farm grounds where former President Trump was shot during a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, last Saturday has issued a statement on the incident.

On Friday, the Butler Farm Show expressed condolences to the victims and clarified their role was limited to renting the ground to Trump’s campaign, local news station KDKA reported.

“We are grieved by the tragic event that occurred at the Butler Farm Show grounds during former President Donald J. Trump’s rally on Saturday, July 13. Our thoughts and condolences are with the family and friends of Corey Comperatore, whose life made a profound impact within the Butler community. We also extend our heartfelt sympathies to those who were injured during the incident and wish them a full recovery,” the statement read. 

“The Butler Farm Show is fully cooperating with the FBI’s ongoing investigation into this incident. Due to the sensitive nature of the investigation, we have been unable to comment on the event until now. We appreciate your patience and understanding during this process. The Butler Farm Show has been a beloved community and family tradition since 1948, bringing people together from all walks of life to celebrate agriculture and community. Our commitment to creating a safe and welcoming environment for all attendees of the upcoming Butler Farm Show remains unwavering, and your well-being is at the heart of our preparations. Thank you for your patience and support as we heal and move forward as a community.”

As friends and family gathered to remember Corey Comperatore
, the father and firefighter killed by gunfire at a Trump rally on July 13, at his funeral on Friday morning, locals lined the streets leading to Comperatore’s church to remember the fallen “hero.”

Comperatore, 50, was shot during an assassination attempt against the former president in Butler, Pennsylvania, around 6:11 p.m. that evening.

“My son was a fireman with Corey for years. Great mentor for him. He was a wonderful person,” Sylvia Lowry told Fox News Digital on Friday. “Of course, we’re all devastating. Great family. … We just pray that he rests in peace.”

She went on to describe Comperatore as “quiet,” a “family man,” and a “good soul.”

Jeanne Fox, who worked with Comperatore’s wife, Helen, described the volunteer firefighter as a “good dad” — specifically, a good “girl dad” to his two daughters.

The former fire chief for the Buffalo Volunteer Fire Department also served 10 years in the U.S. Army Reserves.

“Above all, Corey was the quintessential family man and the best girl dad,” his obituary states. “His love for his wife Helen Comperatore was a testament to the power of partnership and devotion. Together, they raised two daughters, Allyson and Kaylee Comperatore, who will carry forward his spirit of compassion.”

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

Would-be Trump assassin Thomas Crooks
researched mass high school shooter Ethan Crumbley before attempting to kill the former president, according to a source familiar with the matter.

Ethan Crumbley, now 18, is serving life in prison without the possibility of parole for killing four students and injuring seven others at Oxford High School in Michigan in November 2021, when he was just 15 years old.

Crooks looked up Crumbley before carrying out the assassination attempt at Trump’s rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, on July 13, the source told Fox News Digital.

Following Crumbley’s historic conviction, his parents, James and Jennifer Crumbley, were also found guilty of involuntary manslaughter. 

Prosecutors argued that the couple did not properly secure their guns and home and did not get their son the help he needed before the shooting. The parents even visited Oxford High School administrators to discuss their son’s disturbing drawings he made in glass the same morning of the deadly shooting.

Crooks’ other internet search history included photos of Trump and Biden, the Democratic National Convention (DNC) and “major depressive disorder,” as The New York Times previously reported.

Investigators learned of Crooks’ search history after cracking his phone, according to the Times.

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

Sen. Kevin Cramer, R-N.D., spoke to NBC’s Kristen Welker about Secret Service briefing for members of Congress on the attempted assassination of former President Trump.

Cramer said a lingering question for lawmaker is why Trump was allowed to take the stage in Butler, Pennsylvania, when there was a known security threat.

“And so when we had this moment last night where we we learned that the directors, not only in the building, but on the same level, a few of us were at we that this is our moment to ask her, and her hostility toward us was remarkable, her unwillingness to talk and and then the appropriate suggestion that maybe this isn’t the right place to do it,” Cramer said, referring to the moment a group of GOP senators confronted Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle at the Republican National Convention on Wednesday.

Cramer said Trump never should have been allowed on stage at the rally.

“I mean, when you look at that timeline and you think at 551, this threat was so significant that that the Secret Service notified the counter sniper unit, who then put their eyes on that roof. So if it was significant enough to call the calling the counter sniper unit, why wasn’t it significant enough to keep the president from going to the stage.” 

FBI agents appeared to be seen canvassing shooter Thomas Matthew Crooks’ neighborhood in Bethel Park, Pennsylvania, one week after the gunman was killed in a failed assassination attempt against former President Trump.

The agents, dressed in button up shirts, were seen driving a small black SUV. They carried documents in hand and went door to door to speak with neighbors. 

Investigators are still working to identify a motive in the shooting, which claimed the life of Corey Comperatore and led to injuries for Trump, David Dutch and James Copenhaver.

Neighbors who spoke to Fox News Digital said Crooks’ family were not politically outspoken and former classmates
described the shooter as a quiet loner.

Jason Kohler, who attended the same high school as Crooks, described him to Fox News as an “outcast” who was always alone and “bullied every day.”

Kohler told reporters that Crooks sat alone at lunchtime and was mocked for his clothing, which often included “hunting outfits.”

Julianna Grooms, who graduated one year after Crooks, also said that he dressed in camouflage or hunting attire and interacted awkwardly. In his freshman year, she said, he stood out with wide-legged jeans and Spongebob Squarepants T-shirts.

“If someone would say something to his face, he would just kind of stare at them,” Grooms told the Wall Street Journal. “People would say he was the student who would shoot up the school.”

Fox News Digital’s Rebecca Rosenberg and Fox News’ Chelsea Torres contributed to this update.

A retired U.S. Secret Service agent questioned why former President Trump was cleared to take the stage at Saturday’s rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, despite a “person of interest” being identified beforehand.

“Why the rush? Why push him on stage? Why not delay?” questioned Mike Matranga on “America’s Newsroom” Thursday.

“It would have taken nothing to take a tactical pause, assess the situation, locate him, and potentially prevent what we haven’t seen in 43 years.”

Shooter Thomas Matthew Crooks was perceived by the Secret Service as a “person of interest” after law enforcement saw him acting suspiciously and determined he had a golf range finder, according to Secret Service spokesman Anthony Guglielmi.   

Crooks was only identified as a threat when he “retrieved the weapon” and climbed onto the roof of a building just prior to the shooting, according to Guglielmi, who added that a threat requires, “a different protocol and a different course of action than a person of interest.” 

Soon after that, Butler Township police officers confronted Crooks on the roof, and he pointed his weapon at one of them, who then dropped off the roof. Crooks then fired on Trump and was taken out by a Secret Service counter sniper. 

Matranga called the situation a “catastrophic failure.”

“Failing to even address the American people or to point the finger solely at the local law enforcement is just not right,” he said. “This is a catastrophic failure of communications. We’ve known this for decades, that we rely too heavily on our local counterparts to do the jobs that we are designed to do, and so this is a catastrophic failure.”

“The former president deserves better,” he continued. “The individuals who were harmed and the individual who succumbed to his injuries deserve better.”

Fox News Digital’s Elizabeth Heckman contributed to this update.

Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump will hold his first campaign rally on Saturday since the assassination attempt on his life just one week ago.

Trump is scheduled to travel to Grand Rapids, in the battleground state of Michigan, where he will be joined for the first time by his running mate, Sen. J.D. Vance, R-Ohio. The rally will be their first joint appearance on the campaign trail.

Trump and Vance will take the stage in Grand Rapids with the Republican Party unified behind them after this week’s nominating convention. In contrast, the Democrats are in turmoil and it is no longer certain that President Joe Biden will be the Democratic nominee facing Trump in the Nov. 5 election.

Biden is facing mounting calls from many elected officials in his own party to step aside as the party’s White House candidate and to end his re-election bid, after his poor debate performance against Trump last month.

Reuters contributed to this update.

A Florida man was arrested Friday after he allegedly made written threats against former President Donald Trump and his 2024 running mate, Sen. J.D. Vance, R-Ohio, on social media.

The Jupiter Police Department said Michael M. Wiseman has been charged after making written threats on Facebook to kill Trump, Vance and their families.

Police received multiple online crime tips alerting them to the alleged Facebook posts.

“After investigating the reports and the suspect’s Facebook account, JPD detectives found that Wiseman had made multiple threats against Trump and Vance, who earlier this week became the Republican nominees for President and Vice President, respectively. Threats were also made concerning bodily harm to members of the Trump and Vance families,” the police department said in a statement. 

“JPD coordinated the investigation with the United States Secret Service and the Palm Beach County State Attorney’s Office. JPD officers took Wiseman into custody without incident.” 

Jupiter is about 20 miles north of Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home in Palm Beach.

The Associated Press contributed to this update.

The
Secret Service should have foreseen a “tactical reason” to have countersnipers placed on the AGR building rooftop at former President Trump’s Pennsylvania rally on Saturday – where gunman Thomas Matthew Crooks opened fire – according to a retired Army infantry captain who witnessed the chaos from the front row.

“I’ve been in more firefights than I can count, I can tell you, but I’ve never been in anything like that,” Sean Parnell, a former congressional candidate who can be seen in photos of the shooting just steps away from Trump on stage right, told Fox News Digital.

“Doesn’t it make sense to engage behind the president, too?” he added. “There was a tactical reason for that to be occupied.”

Parnell said that as soon as he arrived at the rally, he took a general look around and potential security vulnerabilities stood out to him, but he also saw a strong police presence.

“As a combat veteran, 16 months in Afghanistan, I’ll tell you that looking for threats like that is, once you come back from combat, you’re kind of wired like that,” he said. “That experience that never leaves you. I didn’t think anything was going to go wrong. I’m at a political rally … but you still think about that.”

He said his immediate thought was that the gunman was either perched on a nearby water tower or the AGR building to the north of the stage.

“Instantly, it was like building or water tower,” he recalled. “But there’s no freaking way. The Secret Service would have that on lockdown.”

But somehow, Thomas Matthew Crooks, 20, was able to climb on top of it with a rifle.

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

The Republican leader of Pennsylvania’s second-most populous county said Friday the way former President Trump responded to his assassination attempt likely won him the support of critics and undecided voters alike.

Allegheny County Republican Committee chairman Sam DeMarco – whose area was rocked by news that shooter Thomas Crooks was living in their community – said that although he did not attend the Butler, Pa., rally, he shared his real-time reaction to the news.

“I was getting ready to go downtown to meet my friends and listening on the Fox stream when I heard the president had been shot, and I could tell you I was absolutely floored,” he said. “I couldn’t believe that something like that could happen; [that] there could be a lapse in security that could permit that.”

DeMarco said, however, it was Trump’s reaction, now immortalized by the iconic image of the Republican presidential nominee mouthing the word “fight” with his fist in the air, and his courage to continue on with his campaign that will live on.

“I think President Trump, in the wake of the shooting there as he rose to his feet, with the Secret Service, men, women just hanging off of him had the thought to be able to raise his fist in the air to show the crowd that he was okay and to urge them to continue to ‘fight,’ fight for this country – I think he won votes from folks that were undecided, or may not have been supporters, from folks all across this country,” DeMarco said.

“I think he further exhibited the strength that he has when he, after just going back to [Bedminster, N.J.] for a day, continued on to the Republican [National] Convention on-schedule – and then culminated last night with a one-hour-plus speech.”

“What person – after having been shot by someone and coming so close to death – can carry on like that?” 

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

Billy Ray Cyrus on Friday appeared at the funeral for Corey Comepratore, a volunteer firefighter, husband and father who was killed by gunfire last Saturday during a rally for former President Donald Trump.

The “Achy Breaky Heart” singer was seen taking photos and shaking hands with law enforcement in attendance outside Cabot United Methodist Church in Cabot, Pennsylvania, on Friday morning.

“Corey Comperatore is a[n] Army reservist veteran and former firefighter chief. Billy Ray Cyrus has always been passionate about honoring troops and first responders. Today he was honored to join the family and perform during the service,” a source told Fox News Digital on Friday.

The funeral for Comperatore, 50, drew hundreds of family members, friends and local law enforcement officials — both local and federal — to Cabot. Butler County residents, including those who knew the Comperatore family and those who did not, lined the rural roads surrounding the church with American flags and signs honoring Comperatore.

“American Hero Corey Comperatore,” one sign read. Another called the volunteer firefighter a “true hero.”

Comperatore died after being shot at the rally while protecting his family.

Former President Trump commemorated the fallen firefighter on Thursday night at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, with Comperatore’s firefighter jacket and helmet displayed on stage.

“He lost his life selflessly acting as a human shield to protect them from flying bullets… what a fine man he was,” Trump said during his RNC speech on Thursday. “There is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for others.

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

The shot that killed the man
who attempted to assassinate former President Trump at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, last Saturday was a “one-in-a-million shot,” according to a source familiar with the investigation into the shooting.

Fox News learned from the source the kill shot was a single shot taken by a Secret Service counter sniper whose view was obscured.

A local tactical team also took a shot at the would-be assassin, 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks, but missed.

The Secret Service sniper who killed Crooks could only see Crooks’ gun scope and the top of his eye and forehead because the lip of the roof was blocking the sniper’s view.

The source described the shot to Fox News as a “one-in-a-million shot.”

The news comes as more information begins to come out about the botched security detail that allowed Crooks to climb onto a building, get a clear line of sight of Trump and open fire on the former president.

While the Secret Service agents who stopped the shooter and jumped to protect Trump are being praised, the agency’s director, Kimberly Cheatle, has been harshly criticized for her handling of the matter.

The House Committee On Oversight and Accountability has scheduled a hearing for Monday with Cheatle, who is facing calls to resign from lawmakers over her agency’s handling of the Trump rally shooting.

The hearing, “Oversight of the U.S. Secret Service and the Attempted Assassination of President Donald J. Trump,” is scheduled to begin on Capitol Hill at 10 a.m. Monday.

Fox News Digital’s Greg Wehner and Bryan Lienas contributed to this update.

A Kentucky college professor is “no longer” employed at Bellarmine University after his controversial comments on the assassination attempt on former President Trump went viral.

Professor John James reacted to the shooting with an Instagram post that read, “if you’re gonna shoot, man, don’t miss.” A screenshot of James’ post was captured and shared by Libs of TikTok, an account with 3.2 million followers on X.

After the Libs of TikTok post went viral, Bellarmine University announced that James had been placed on unpaid leave.

“Words and actions that condone violence are unacceptable and contrary to our values, which call for respecting the intrinsic value and dignity of every individual,” the school said in a statement. “We strive to create an inclusive community that welcomes all and models a spirit of goodwill. We are aware of an offensive and unacceptable social media post made by an employee over the weekend.”

In a July 16 update, the university said James “is no longer a Bellarmine employee.” 

Dr. Anthony Fauci waved away concerns over former President Trump’s gunshot wound after the assassination attempt on Trump’s life during a rally in Pennsylvania last week.

On July 13, shooter Thomas Matthew Crooks fired a bullet that grazed the side of Trump’s head, hitting the top of his right ear. One spectator was killed and two others were critically injured by the assailant before he was shot dead by U.S. Secret Service agents.

Fauci, during an interview with CNN’s Wolf Blitzer, said the public shouldn’t be very concerned about the extent of Trump’s wound and the former president’s treatment.

“I don’t think there is much more to it. I mean, from what we’ve seen and what we’ve heard, it was, it was a bullet shot that grazed his ear and injured his ear, according to the physicians who examined him. There was no other further damage,” Fauci said.

“So I think that with regard to the health related purely to the bullet itself, I think he’s he’s in the clear as far as I can see. I mean, it’s dangerous to make diagnoses from a distance from what I’m seeing, the way he’s acting now and what his physicians report saw. It seems to have been a superficial wound to the ear, and that’s all.” 

Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle said Friday she will testify before the House Oversight and Accountability Committee on Monday.

“We are committed to better understanding what happened before, during and after the assassination attempt of former President Trump to ensure it never happens again,” the Secret Service said in a statement.

Earlier this week, Oversight Chair James Comer, R-Ky., issued a subpoena to compel Cheatle to testify. The Department of Homeland Security requested that her testimony be delayed until later in the week, but the committee refused.

“Americans demand answers from Director Kimberly Cheatle about the Secret Service’s historic security failures that led to the attempted assassination of President Trump, murder of an innocent victim, and harm to others in the crowd. We look forward to Director Cheatle’s testimony on Monday, July 22 to deliver the transparency and accountability Americans deserve,” Comer said in a statement after Cheatle confirmed she will testify Monday.

House lawmakers have promised to exercise oversight on the Secret Service after former President Trump was shot at his July 13 rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. Questions abound on how the shooter was able to take a sniper’s position on an unsecured rooftop within range of the president. 

Cheatle has resisted calls for her resignation after the security failure.

A Pittsburgh man who witnessed the assassination attempt on former President Trump in Butler, Pa., last weekend recounted his amazement to Fox News Digital in watching the crowd erupt in cheers after the GOP nominee mouthed “Fight!” and fist-pumped moments after being shot.

Bob Crankovic said he was sitting behind Trump just off his right shoulder when the rally began.

Several minutes into the rally, Thomas Crooks, 20, of Bethel Park, Pa., attempted to kill Trump, but shot him in the ear after the former president turned at the last moment to explain a border policy graphic.

Crankovic, who has been active in local Republican circles since 2016, said it was approximately his fourth Trump rally, and that Saturday’s started just as the others had – with rallygoers bedecked in red hats and American flag-themed regalia.

However, after shots rang out, Crankovic saw Trump dropping and being smothered by Secret Service agents. What happened next was similarly shocking, he said.

“As soon as unfortunately the shots went out what happened was that I immediately ducked for cover,” he said. “By the time I happened to look up at the president, roughly around the second or third shot, he was already covered up,” he said.

“So it was tough to watch. But, I mean, as soon as the president got up, everybody was absolutely screaming their head off for the president in support.”

Fox News’ Charles Creitz contributed to this report.

Investigators are probing whether would-be assassin Thomas Matthew Crooks flew a drone over the rally site in Butler, Pennsylvania, hours before he shot former President Trump on July 13.

A source familiar with the investigation confirmed reporting that Crooks flew a drone over the buildings he eventually climbed on to try to assassinate Trump. 

A senior congressional source also tells Fox News they are looking into the matter, but could not confirm specifics of the drone.

Earlier, the Wall Street Journal reported that law-enforcement officials briefed on the matter said 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks flew a drone to conduct reconnaissance at the Butler Farm Show fairgrounds before Trump took the stage.

According to the Journal, Crooks flew the drone on a programmed flight path to the grounds on July 13, and officials said the path suggests the shooter flew the drone to the site more than one time ahead of the event.

A source told Fox News Digital that the FBI is looking at a drone linked to the shooting investigation, but pushed back on the specifics of The Wall Street Journal’s reporting.

The FBI declined to comment to Fox News Digital.

Fox News’ Bryan Lienas, Chad Pergram, CB Cotton and Fox News Digital’s Greg Wehner contributed to this update.

There are now two working theories on how Thomas Crooks got a DPMS AR-15 rifle onto the roof of the AGR building in Butler, Pennsylvania last Saturday without being noticed prior to an assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump, who’s now the 2024 Republican presidential nominee.

According to a federal law enforcement source briefed on the investigation, Crooks either hid his father’s rifle near the AC unit he used to climb up onto the roof of the AGR building, or he had it in the backpack he was spotted with, along with the golf range finder.

However, this source said hiding the rifle in his backpack would require a significant amount of disassembling and reassembling the rifle, and that the more likely scenario is that Crooks hid the rifle behind the AC unit.

Fox News has reported that Crooks bought a ladder and ammunition on the morning of the rally. However, federal law enforcement sources say that no ladder was found on site, and the working theory is that Crooks grabbed the rifle, climbed upon the AC unit and then climbed onto the roof.

We now also know that the unit inside that building was a Butler Township Emergency Services Unit sniper team who was doing “overwatch” on the event. This team was looking out of the windows of the building at the event, watching for any suspicious activity, while Crooks snuck up on the roof above them.

Fox News can also report that the Secret Service Counter Sniper who killed Crooks took only one shot.

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

Democrats in North Carolina held a ‘Unity Dinner’ Saturday evening that included Gov. Roy Cooper, Attorney General Josh Stein — who is running for governor — and former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, as the party grapples with infighting over whether President Biden will remain the nominee. Democrats continue to call on him to leave the presidential race.

Biden, who is recuperating in Delaware from a coronavirus infection, was not at the dinner, but spoke to attendees in a video that touted his and Democrats’ accomplishments over the last four years, including the bipartisan infrastructure and gun safety laws.

Pelosi briefly praised Biden for his successes, but mainly focused on talking about the North Carolina Democrats running for office and slamming Republicans, claiming all they did when Trump was president was pass a bill that helped the very richest Americans and added to the national debt.

She also criticized Republicans’ Project 2025, claiming it is a “manual for Republicans to implement an imperial presidency” that would “gut checks and balances.”

Pelosi didn’t mention Trump by name, instead repeatedly calling him “what’s his name.”

Quoting the national anthem, she said “That is what is at stake in this election.”

In closing, Pelosi urged, “No regrets the day after the election.”

Vice President Kamala Harris remained on the campaign trail on Saturday as President Biden recovers from a coronavirus infection and as calls continue for him to step down as the nominee.

“We are going to win this election,” Harris said at the 1,000-person fundraiser in Cape Cod, Massachusetts. “It’s not going to be easy but we are a group of people that understand anything worthwhile takes hard work.”

She added that Biden is “fighting for the American people.”

Following the fundraiser, Harris gave a thumbs up after a reporter asked if she had spoken to the president and another thumbs up when asked “Is he doing OK?” before boarding Air Force Two bound for Joint Base Andrews.

Reuters contributed to this report.

“Time is running out” for President Biden to decide if he’s leaving the presidential race, Axios political reporter Stef Kight told Fox News on Saturday, as members of the party continue to call on the incumbent to “pass the torch.”

“Time is running out for various reasons if Democrats even want to have a chance of regaining a sense of unity before November this decision needs to be made one way or the other very, very soon,” Kight explained.

With the Nov. 5 election is just 108 days away, Republicans officially nominated former President Trump as their nominee at the RNC last week while Democrats are still infighting.

Kight added, “Of course, if Biden does decide to step aside that’s going to unlock a whole debate over where to go from there, whether Democrats have enough support for Vice President [Kamala] Harris to kind of crown her the nominee or if we see sort of this loose primary situation where a couple of candidates throw their names into the hat and so there really is pressure for Biden to do this very, very soon.”

The Democratic National Convention is scheduled for Aug. 19-22.

“It’s clear that people want Biden to make that decision soon,” Kight added.

Rep. Adam Schiff calling on President Biden to drop out of the presidential race this week is a sign of “selfish desperation” on his part, Schiff’s Republican opponent Steve Garvey told Fox News Digital.

Garvey pointed out that Schiff’s message to Biden came just as it was revealed that Garvey had outraised his Democratic opponent by more than $1 million.

“Adam Schiff’s recent act of selfish desperation to abandon his presidential nominee has caused a clear reaction from his supporters on his social media,” Garvey, the Republican candidate vying to fill the late Dianne Feinstein’s seat, told Fox News Digital. “It’s now clear to his supporters what has been clear to millions of Americans for years, that Adam Schiff only cares about Adam Schiff, and Californians deserve a senator that puts them above politics.”

Schiff told Fox News Digital that 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.”

Earlier this week, Schiff said: “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. But our nation is at a crossroads.”

He added that he believed it was time for the president to “pass the torch” but said he will strenuously try to get the nominee, whether it’s the president or not, elected come November.

It was a change in rhetoric from Schiff who in February questioned special counsel Robert Hur saying in his classified documents report that Biden could come off to a jury as a “sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory.”

Schiff told Hur his report “disparage[d] the president” and insisted Hur knew his report “would have a maximal political impact,” which Hur denied.

Click here to read more of this story by Kyle Morris on Fox News Digital.

Kyle Morris contributed to this report.

Some Democratic donors are reportedly privately vetting several possible vice-presidential picks in case President Biden drops his bid for reelection and Vice President Kamala Harris becomes the nominee.

The effort is not part of the Democratic National Committee or the Biden campaign, according to the Washington Post, citing four sources.

The committee is vetting Democrats such as Sen. Mark Kelly, D-Ariz., Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear, North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper and Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer – but it’s unclear if any of the politicians are involved in the effort themselves.

A person close to Kelly said they aren’t aware of any outside donors attempting to vet him as a vice presidential pick, but said when he’s heard from supporters asking him to vie for a national office, “what they are hearing back is, Kelly supports Biden and Harris.”

The donors might not be allowed to deal directly with a potential Harris campaign, however, because of election laws, meaning the donors might have to reveal their vetting findings publicly. This could be an issue as vetting is usually a confidential process.

The donors are reportedly trying to get a jump on the vetting process with only 108 days until the election on Nov. 5. 

Biden’s campaign so far has said he plans to stay in the race and is “in it to win it.”

An op-ed in “The Hill” on Saturday titled “Ready for Round 2: Why we Need Hillary more than ever” has raised some eyebrows.

“The strongest argument against replacing President Joe Biden as the 2024 Democratic nominee is the notion that no suitable successor exists. But there is, and not just a good one but one of the most qualified people ever to run for the office: Hillary Rodham Clinton,” opinion contributor Pablo O’Hana wrote.

Of course, Clinton lost to former President Trump in 2016.The piece caught senior Trump advisor Jason Miller’s eye with him writing on social media: “SHE’S RUNNING!!! These opinion pieces don’t happen organically – Crooked is on the move!!!”

O’Hana argued that Clinton is “perhaps the mightiest of all” alternatives to Biden because she is “younger than both Biden and Trump,” has “an unparalleled resume and an unmatched depth of experience,” and is a strong advocate “for children’s rights and health care.”

He added, “Clinton can turn past regrets” on the part of voters who didn’t cast their ballot for her “into proactive support by being a powerful reminder of the stakes of straying in 2024.”

Most Democrats seem to have coalesced around the idea of Vice President Kamala Harris as the Democratic nominee if Biden were to drop out.

Click here to read this article by Gabriel Hays on Fox News Digital.

Fox News Digital exclusive photos show Hunter Biden out and about in Los Angeles while his father, President Joe Biden, remained hunkered down on the other side of the country, battling to save his legacy.

The younger Biden, who has reportedly been closely advising his father as a chorus of key Democrats have called on him to end his re-election bid, was seen shopping Friday and leaving the home of “Sugar Bro” Kevin Morris, the entertainment lawyer who funded his defense in a recent criminal trial.

President Biden has reportedly relied heavily on his troubled Yale Law School graduate son and his wife, first lady Jill Biden, as he has tried to fend off claims he is not mentally fit to serve another four years as president.

The calls reached a crescendo following his disastrous performance in his June 27 debate against former President Donald Trump, the Republican nominee.

Click here to read more of this article by Peter Aitken on Fox News Digital.

Holding signs like “We love you but it’s time,” “Country over candidacy” and “You promised us a bridge, don’t give us a wall,” dozens of Democrats and progressives chanted “Pass the Torch” at a rally outside of the White House Saturday afternoon.

The group was urging President Biden to drop out of the presidential race so another Democrat can replace him to go up against former President Trump in November.

Despite the rainy weather, impassioned speakers talked about the importance of beating Trump and having the best candidate in place to do so.

“We need Biden to pass the torch to the next generation of Democrats,” one speaker told the crowd,” adding that they would be “committed to doing everything we can do to stop Donald Trump” by uniting the party and voting for Democrats.

The speaker added it would be very uniting to see the “leader of the party hand over their power for the greater good.”

Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., voiced her support for Vice President Harris to “unite the party” should President Biden decide to ultimately leave the Democrat ticket.

“If President Biden decides to step back, we have Vice President Kamala Harris, who is ready to step up to unite the party, to take on Donald Trump, and to win in November,” Warren said during an appearance Saturday on MSNBC.

Warren stressed that “Joe Biden is our nominee” and that he has a “big decision to make,” but that Harris gives her “a lot of hope.”

“Kamala has led the charge in order to fight back against the Republicans that want a nationwide abortion ban, and, look, if you’re running against a convicted felon, then a prosecutor like Kamala is really a good person to make that case,” Warren added.“

No matter what happens, I will be out there fighting for Democrats. I believe we’re going to come together and we’re going to win in November.”

The White House issued a fresh update on President Biden’s health, assuring that his condition continues to improve even as symptoms persist.“

He is still experiencing a loose, non-productive cough and hoarseness, but his symptoms continue to improve steadily,” Kevin O’Connor, Physician to the President, wrote in a letter to White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre.

“His pulse, blood pressure, respiratory rate and temperature remain absolutely normal,” O’Connor noted. “His oxygen saturation continues to be excellent on room air. His lungs remain clear.”

The update on his vitals indicates no fever, which during the COVID-19 pandemic indicated a worsening condition.

The new variant of the virus the president contracted accounts for 33.3% of new cases in the United States, according to O’Conner.

“The President continues to tolerate treatment well and will continue PAXLOVID as planned,” he wrote, noting it is Biden’s sixth dose of treatment. “He continues to perform all his presidential duties.”

Rep. Mark Takano, D-Calif., has added his voice to the growing number of elected Democrats calling for President Biden to drop out of the race and “pass the torch to Kamala Harris.”  

“Perhaps no President in my lifetime has accomplished more in a single term or been as decent a human being as Joe Biden,” Takano, the Ranking Member of the House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, wrote in a statement posted on social media platform X. 

“President Biden’s greatest accomplishment remains saving democracy in 2020,” Tanako continued. “He can and must do so again in 2024 – by passing the torch to Vice President Harris as the Democratic Party Presidential nominee.”

“It has become clear to me that the demands of a modern campaign are now best met by the Vice President, who can seamlessly transition into the role as our party’s standard bearer,” he insisted.

“Joe, I love and respect you, but he stakes are too high to fail. It’s time to pass the torch to Kamala,” Takano stressed. 

In a post on Truth Social, former President Donald Trump blasted President Biden as the “WORST PRESIDENT IN THE HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES” and took shots at the various legal cases against him, most of which have been dismissed or delayed.

“He has created a horrible precedent for the future,” Trump wrote. “Democrat appointed Judges and Prosecutors, together with local D.A.’s and Attorney Generals, have played the game with them.”

“Based on the opinion of legal scholars and experts, they had no good case out of the many against me, but of all their cases, their best shot was the documents case, a complete HOAX, in Florida,” Trump insisted.

“They illegally RAIDED MY HOUSE, Mar-a-Lago, in that one,” he added. “Well, that case was just THROWN OUT IN FULL IN THAT IT WAS UNCONSTITUTIONAL. THE OTHERS ARE ON WEAK GROUNDS, including those where we have Crooked Judges and Prosecutors.”

Trump denounced the whole effort as a “Political Witch Hunt” and demanded that Biden insist on dropping ever case to run a “FAIR AND OPEN CAMPAIGN.” 

The Biden campaign is looking to tap some star power as the president returns to the campaign trail, roping in David Letterman to headline a fundraiser on July 29.

Hawaii Gov. Josh Green will join the former “Late Night” host in stumping for donors at the house of a Biden family friend on Martha’s Vineyard in Massachusetts.

Biden and first lady Jill Biden will attend the event as well as part of a fundraising gauntlet the president plans to hit as he sees out the month ahead of his planned certification by the DNC.

The Associated Press reported that Biden will have 10 fundraisers over the last 10 days of July.

Green told the Associated Press that he expects Biden to stay in the race, but if he does step down then Vice-President Kamala Harris will likely get the nod to succeed him.

“I think the president stays in this race unless he feels that it is not winnable, or he feels that he has to hear other voices in his inner circle that he shouldn’t run,” Green said. “If the president felt that he wasn’t up to it and truly not up to it, he would step down.”

Sen. J.D. Vance, R-Ohio, has pushed the argument that a President Biden unfit to seek a second term is also unfit to remain in office for the last months of his current administration.

“Everyone calling on Joe Biden to stop running without also calling on him to resign the presidency is engaged in an absurd level of cynicism,” Vance wrote on social media platform X.

“If you can’t run, you can’t serve,” Vance stressed. “He should resign now.”

Vance joins the calls from other Republicans who over the past week have tried to make the push to get Biden off the ticket one and the same as getting Biden out of office.

Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., on Friday argued that “if he’s not going to be their nominee because he’s not up to it, how can he be our president for the next six months?”

“If there’s something wrong with you that doesn’t allow you to run for president, how can you still be there as president?” Rubio told Politico. “If they’re going to remove him as nominee, they’ve got to remove him as president, and that’s really bad for our country.”

President Biden plans to return to the campaign trail as soon as possible, with plans to visit Georgia and Texas in the coming days.

Axios reported that Biden has started laying out his travel plans as he recovers from COVID-19 at his Delaware beach house in Rehoboth. He has resisted calls from his party to step down, with his communications team holding a remote press conference on Saturday to push the argument for a second Biden presidency.

The calls for Biden to step down has drawn over 30 sitting Democrat congressmembers: Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, on Friday urged Biden to “end his campaign,” arguing that “our full attention must return to these important issues.”

One senior Democrat official told Axios that the entire issue feels “stuck” at the moment, adding that it’s “not to say it’s going to stay stuck.”

Senior officials are pushing Biden to make a final decision over the weekend and have continued arguing with Biden advisers as to why bowing out would best serve the good of the party.

“It’s a fairly universal sentiment internally that we have reached the end of the road,” one Biden aide admitted, noting that some key hold outs will keep fighting to keep Biden in the race.

The rulemaking body of the Democratic National Convention is preparing to vote on President Biden as the party’s presidential nominee.

The Democratic National Convention’s Rules Committee members voted Friday for a virtual roll call on Aug. 7 to certify Biden’s victory, despite widespread upset over what many call visible mental decline.

The nearly 200 committee members will meet again on or before July 26 to formally adopt the virtual roll call format.

The vote itself will be held in the first week of August and is thus far expected to serve as a rubber stamp on the Biden campaign;

President Biden’s campaign is planning fundraising events that extend through to the end of the month.

The Biden-Harris ticket is holding a fundraiser on July 29th in Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts that will feature special guests talk show legend David Letterman and Hawaiian Gov. Josh Green.

President Biden and first lady Jill Biden will be in attendance.

Green, who has been governor of Hawaii since 2022, is a personal friend of the Bidens. The governor is among the administration’s closest political allies.

“We support the President, the V.P. and the Democratic Party, in good and tough times because he has been there for us as a family and a state,” Green told the Associated Press.

With the Democratic Party set to follow through on plans for an early roll call nominating Biden as their presidential candidate, this fundraiser is further proof of the campaign’s commitment to staying on the ballot.

Vice President Kamala Harris spoke on the phone with approximately 300 major Democratic Party donors on Friday, telling them there was nothing to worry about within President Biden’s campaign, despite the media kerfuffle.

“I will start by sharing something with all of you, something I believe in my heart of hearts. It is something I feel strongly you should all hear and should take with you when you leave, and tell your friends too,” Harris told the donors, according to multiple reports. “We are going to win this election. We are going to win.”

Harris spoke to donors via video for approximately five minutes, championing the Biden administration and sharply criticizing former President Donald Trump’s rhetoric at the Republican National Convention.

“Let me be clear: Trump’s convention this week was one big attempt to distract people,” Harris reportedly told donors. “He wants to distract attention away from his record and his Project 2025 plan. Can you believe they put it in writing? It is further empirical evidence that the stakes of this election couldn’t be higher.”

The call was intended to quell fears among party donors that backlash against Biden from within his party could prove disastrous for his campaign.

Biden has been consistent and clear that he intends to stay in the race and run against Trump in November as the Democratic Party nominee.

The Biden campaign took a swipe at “anonymous” sources that have relayed concerns from within the Democratic Party about the president’s candidacy as questions continue about his physical and mental state.

Campaign Spokesperson Kevin Munoz highlighted Biden TV interviews this past week and support from Black women and Hispanic groups, while linking Trump to the conservative Project 2025 agenda, which has been portrayed as a blueprint for a future Republican administration, which he has disavowed.

“Donald Trump and Republicans – despite claims of a ‘new tone – their message is the same: Revenge and retribution,” Munoz said in a memo released Friday evening highlighting why Biden should stay in the race. “Their convention focused on bowing down to Putin, mass deportation, and inflicting their Project 2025 agenda on the American people.”

Biden scrapped several campaign events this week after contracting COVID-19. He is self-isolating in Delaware. Meanwhile, Vice President Kamala Harris is on the campaign trial.

“And as we’ve said before, President Biden is excited to get back on the campaign trail as soon as he can,” he added.

In making his case, Munoz highlighted the Republican National Convention that concluded Thursday in Milwaukee.

“Attendees brandished signs calling for ‘Mass Deportations Now,’ while an architect of Trump’s cruel family separation policy took center stage during the convention’s primetime slot,” he said.

“JD Vance, the poster child for Project 2025’s extremism, was unveiled as Trump’s running mate and, in becoming Trump’s vice presidential nominee, doubled down on a future of abortion bans, worse access to health care, and higher costs for middle-class Americans,” added Munoz.