Florida Governor Ron DeSantis gave a stern warning to anyone thinking about looting after the arrival of Hurricane Idalia on Wednesday. DeSantis made the comments during a press conference on Wednesday in Perry, Florida, after Hurricane Idalia made landfall near Keaton Beach in Florida's Big Bend just before 8 a.m. local time as a Category 3 storm with winds up to 125 mph. "I'd also just remind potential looters that you never know what you're walking into. People have a right to defend their property. This part of Florida, you got a lot of advocates and proponents of the Second Amendment," DeSantis said. "I've seen signs in different people's yards in the past after these disasters, and I would say it's probably here, ‘You loot, we shoot.’" "You never know what's behind that door if you go break into somebody's house," he added. HURRICANE IDALIA MAKES LANDFALL OVER FLORIDA'S BIG BEND AS A CATEGORY 3, HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS WITHOUT POWER At least two people have died in car crashes since Idalia made landfall, the Florida Highway Patrol said. In Pasco County, a 40-year-old man lost control of his Ford Ranger and crashed into a tree after driving too fast given the conditions. In Alachua County, a 59-year-old man died after driving into a ditch and crashing into a tree line. HURRICANE IDALIA MAKES HISTORIC LANDFALL IN FLORIDA Power outages related to Idalia have climbed to over 400,000 customers, as the storm moves from Georgia into South Carolina, according to FOX Weather. President Biden said in a Wednesday post on X, formerly known as Twitter, that he spoke with the governors of Florida, Georgia, and South Carolina to "reiterate my Administration's support for response and recovery." "We'll keep working with personnel on the ground as the storm progresses," he said. Fox News' Lawrence Richard and Bradford Betz contributed to this report.

Disgraced lawyer Michael Avenatti was handed a major legal defeat Wednesday as part of the case in which he was convicted of attempting to extort sports apparel brand Nike out of millions of dollars. In a 3-0 decision, the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld Avenatti's conviction in the case and ruled against his claims that jurors weren’t properly instructed in the relevant statute. The appeals panel also rejected Avenatti's argument that the evidence in the case didn't support his charges of extortion and honest-services fraud. "Avenatti’s sufficiency challenge to the extortion counts of conviction fails because the evidence, viewed in the light most favorable to the prosecution, permitted a reasonable jury to conclude that he had no claim of right to a personal payment from Nike, let alone to a $15-25 million payment," the Wednesday opinion stated. "Avenatti advances several arguments in urging a contrary conclusion," it added. "None persuades." MICHAEL AVENATTI'S BID TO BE SENTENCED REMOTELY DENIED: STORMY DANIELS QUIPS, ‘SEE YA THERE, B----!’ Evidence in the case included bank statements, text messages, emails and witness testimony. In February 2020, a federal jury in New York City convicted Avenatti on three counts: extortion, wire fraud and transmission of interstate communications with intent to extort. The jury found that Avenatti, who was in substantial debt at the time of the attempted scheme, illegally tried to have Nike pay him up to $25 million to conduct an investigation of corruption in basketaball a year earlier. MICHAEL AVENATTI SAYS COURTROOM MASK MANDATE INFRINGES ON CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHT TO FACE ACCUSER "Today a unanimous jury found Michael Avenatti guilty of misusing his client’s information in an effort to extort tens of millions of dollars from the athletic apparel company Nike," U.S. Attorney Geoffrey Berman said at the time.  "While the defendant may have tried to hide behind legal terms and a suit and tie, the jury clearly saw the defendant’s scheme for what it was – an old fashioned shakedown." Avenatti was ultimately sentenced to 2½ years in prison and ordered to pay $260,000 in restitution. In addition, Avenatti was also sentenced to 14 years in prison in a separate case in which he was found guilty of stealing settlement funds from clients and failing to pay taxes for a coffee chain he owned, The Associated Press reported. And he was sentenced last year to four years in prison for cheating his former client, adult film star Stormy Daniels, out of $300,000. "I will forever be branded ‘disgraced lawyer’ and worse," Avenatti said after his four-year sentence in the Daniels case was handed down. The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Russia's invasion of Ukraine caused deep disruptions in the global food supply, raising prices and increasing the risk of food insecurity in poorer nations in the Middle East and North Africa, America's top spy agency said in an unclassified report released by Congress on Wednesday.

Lawyers for Carlos de Oliveira -- the Mar-a-Lago property manager charged alongside former President Donald Trump in the classified documents case -- said Wednesday that special counsel Jack Smith was overplaying a potential ethical conflict in their representation of their client.

But some conservatives are dismissive, saying the House could continue investigating the president and his family even if funding for the government lapses at the end of September.

Speaker Kevin McCarthy is trying to get ultraconservative Republican lawmakers on board with a stopgap solution to the looming budget showdown.

President Biden announced Wednesday that $95 million was being sent to Hawaii to help harden the electrical grid by installing stronger, better poles and burying some power lines to ensure homes, hospitals and water stations have reliable electricity during extreme weather events and disasters. Biden was delivering remarks about the Hurricane Idalia response in the southeastern portion of the U.S., as well as an update on Maui, which was catastrophically devastated by wildfires earlier this month, which claimed the lives of at least 115 people. "Today, I’m announcing that $95 million from the bipartisan infrastructure law is on the way to Hawaii to harden the ground power, harden the grid," he said before explaining what hardening the grid means. "It means investments to make sure electricity can continue to reach homes, hospitals, water stations, even during intense storms and extreme weather." DEMOCRATS' CLIMATE CHANGE BLAME GAME FOR HAWAII FIRE CONFRONTED BY REALITY AFTER MAUI IDENTIFIES CAUSE Biden said the funding will be used to install stronger and better poles to hold wires above ground, as well as the burial of some lines underground. The president acknowledged that burying power lines is more expensive, adding they should be placed underground because the wires are safer there. "It means clearing trees and brush around these wires," Biden said. "It’s like, you know, like the kindling that exists out there. That’s what it ends up being when one of those wires comes down." EXPERTS THROW COLD WATER ON DEM CLAIMS THAT HAWAII WILDFIRES CAUSED BY CLIMATE CHANGE The money is also going to pay for technology such as smart meters that allow the power company to pinpoint where the problem is located when power goes out, Biden added. The smart meters will help speed up getting the power back online, while also helping to prevent damage from occurring. ENVIRONMENTALISTS ARE BLOCKING FOREST MANAGEMENT METHODS SAVING ICONIC SEQUOIAS AMID YOSEMITE WILDFIRE "All this is going to help Maui and the entire state of Hawaii to better withstand future disasters, because this is not going away," Biden said. "It’s not like all these are the last disasters. We know this works." Before making the announcement, Biden told reporters his administration was not just rebuilding Maui back to the way it was, but it was going to build back stronger and more resilient for the future. That means, he added, being ready to withstand any challenge that comes their way while also rebuilding the way Maui wants to rebuild.

President Biden announced Wednesday that $95 million was being sent to Hawaii to help harden the electrical grid by installing stronger, better poles and burying some power lines to ensure homes, hospitals and water stations have reliable electricity during extreme weather events and disasters. Biden was delivering remarks about the Hurricane Idalia response in the southeastern portion of the U.S., as well as an update on Maui, which was catastrophically devastated by wildfires earlier this month, which claimed the lives of at least 115 people. "Today, I’m announcing that $95 million from the bipartisan infrastructure law is on the way to Hawaii to harden the ground power, harden the grid," he said before explaining what hardening the grid means. "It means investments to make sure electricity can continue to reach homes, hospitals, water stations, even during intense storms and extreme weather." DEMOCRATS' CLIMATE CHANGE BLAME GAME FOR HAWAII FIRE CONFRONTED BY REALITY AFTER MAUI IDENTIFIES CAUSE Biden said the funding will be used to install stronger and better poles to hold wires above ground, as well as the burial of some lines underground. The president acknowledged that burying power lines is more expensive, adding they should be placed underground because the wires are safer there. "It means clearing trees and brush around these wires," Biden said. "It’s like, you know, like the kindling that exists out there. That’s what it ends up being when one of those wires comes down." EXPERTS THROW COLD WATER ON DEM CLAIMS THAT HAWAII WILDFIRES CAUSED BY CLIMATE CHANGE The money is also going to pay for technology such as smart meters that allow the power company to pinpoint where the problem is located when power goes out, Biden added. The smart meters will help speed up getting the power back online, while also helping to prevent damage from occurring. ENVIRONMENTALISTS ARE BLOCKING FOREST MANAGEMENT METHODS SAVING ICONIC SEQUOIAS AMID YOSEMITE WILDFIRE "All this is going to help Maui and the entire state of Hawaii to better withstand future disasters, because this is not going away," Biden said. "It’s not like all these are the last disasters. We know this works." Before making the announcement, Biden told reporters his administration was not just rebuilding Maui back to the way it was, but it was going to build back stronger and more resilient for the future. That means, he added, being ready to withstand any challenge that comes their way while also rebuilding the way Maui wants to rebuild.

The Biden administration was hit with a federal lawsuit over its recent actions placing restrictions on offshore oil and gas leasing in the Gulf of Mexico. The American Petroleum Institute (API), State of Louisiana and Chevron filed the complaint late last week and moved for preliminary injunction in the case Tuesday. The lawsuit challenges the Bureau of Ocean Management's (BOEM) notice of sale for the upcoming Lease Sale 261, which made six million fewer acres available to oil and gas extraction than previously scheduled, as part of a settlement with eco groups. "Congress’ directive is clear in the Inflation Reduction Act that the Department of the Interior must hold offshore Lease Sale 261 in the Gulf of Mexico in order to help meet the energy needs of the American people," API Senior Vice President and General Counsel Ryan Meyers said in a statement Tuesday.  "However, the Biden Administration has instead pursued illegal roadblocks, removing more than 6 million acres from this lease sale and imposing new and unjustified restrictions that target American energy workers," Meyers added. "These actions place U.S. energy security in a more vulnerable position, put American jobs at risk, and jeopardize the strength of the Gulf Coast economy." BIDEN ADMIN UNVEILS SWEEPING NEW ACTIONS INCREASING COSTS FOR OIL, GAS LEASING The lawsuit, according to Meyers, calls for the legal system to require the Biden administration to "fulfill its obligations to the American people." Lease Sale 261, which is the final federal offshore lease sale scheduled, is set for late September. Industry groups like API have argued such sales are vital to ensure long-term oil and gas production while protecting U.S. national security interests. "Once again, Joe Biden is unlawfully attempting to kill both Louisiana jobs and affordable energy for all Americans," Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry said last week. "We are yet again taking the President to court, where we trust the rule of law will be followed and Biden’s bureaucrats will be defeated." BIDEN ADMIN QUIETLY DELAYS MAJOR OIL, GAS LEASING DECISION Overall, BOEM said it would offer 12,395 blocks across approximately 67 million acres in multiple regions of the Gulf of Mexico, less than the 13,620 blocks across 73.4 million acres it originally planned to offer. According to industry, the acreage stripped from the sale included potentially oil-rich tracts located in the middle of the lease area. Offshore lease sales often span large swaths of federal waters, but earn bids on a fraction of blocks projected by companies to contain more resources and to have a higher return on investment. For example, BOEM auctioned off 73.3 million acres during Lease Sale 259 in March, but received bids worth $263.8 million for 313 tracts spanning 1.6 million acres. In addition to removing acreage from the sale, BOEM also imposed restrictions on oil and gas vessel traffic associated with the leases set to be auctioned during Lease Sale 261. Among the requirements, BOEM said specially-trained visual observers must be aboard all vessels traversing the area, all ships regardless of size must travel no quicker than 10 knots and vessels should only travel through the area in the daytime. BOEM's restrictions came in response to the Biden administration's settlement last month with a coalition of four environmental groups led by the Sierra Club. BIDEN'S LATEST ECO REGS BLASTED BY SMALL BUSINESSES, MANUFACTURERS: 'WILL DO TERRIBLE DAMAGE' In a federal stipulated stay agreement filed on July 21, the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) agreed to a number of conditions requested by the groups which, in response, agreed to temporarily pause litigation in the related case. The case dates back nearly three years when, in October 2020, the environmental coalition sued the NMFS for failing to properly assess the oil industry impacts on endangered and threatened marine wildlife in the Gulf of Mexico.  The groups pursued the lawsuit after the NMFS coordinated a multiagency consultation studying the effects all federally regulated oil and gas activities would have on species listed under the Endangered Species Act in the Gulf of Mexico over the next 50 years. The groups argued in the original complaint that the NMFS' biological opinion resulting from its consultation was not based on the best science. The settlement specifically expands protections for the Rice’s whale, a species listed as endangered. NOIA and API both argued the BOEM action contravenes the congressional intent of the Inflation Reduction Act, which reinstated multiple lease sales, including Lease Sale 261, after the Biden administration axed them in May 2022. In the sale's record of decision, it is mandated to be region wide while its environmental analysis didn't acknowledge risks it may pose to the Rice’s whale. BOEM didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.

Wisconsin's troubled economic development agency's performance has slipped over the last three fiscal years after showing promising improvement, according to a review that the Legislature's auditors released Wednesday. Republican lawmakers created the quasi-public Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation in 2011. The agency hands out tax credits, grants and loans to businesses. State law requires the Legislative Audit Bureau to review the agency's operations every two years. The review released Wednesday covers fiscal years 2020-21 through 2022-23. Auditors found that the WEDC's governing board failed to post minutes of board meetings in violation of its policies. Agency officials failed to update their policies to reflect state laws that require the agency to award tax credits to businesses for wages paid only in Wisconsin enterprise zones, which are geographic areas targeted for economic development. WISCONSIN ASSEMBLY REPUBLICANS PROPOSE $3 BILLION TAX CUT TARGETING MIDDLE CLASS The WEDC awarded five grants totaling $50,000 to ineligible recipients. Two grants totaling $20,000 went to the University of Wisconsin System even though the money was supposed to go to small businesses and WEDC policies prohibited government entities from being awarded grants, auditors found. The agency didn't require eight grant recipients to repay $64,300 in grants that went to cover expenses incurred after contractually specified time periods had ended or recipients failed to verify that they had spent the money in compliance with their contracts. Auditors also discovered that the WEDC closed about 29,000 economic development awards totaling $992 million from fiscal year 2011-12 through fiscal year 2021-22, including 338 tax credit and loan awards that required recipients to create jobs. Those recipients created just under 70% of the planned jobs and less than a third of the recipients created two-thirds of the 17,485 jobs actually created. Contracts called for the creation of a total of 26,124 jobs. If the WEDC determined that a recipient didn't create all the promised jobs the agency did not award that recipient all the tax credits allocated, the audit said. The review also found that the WEDC's online data still contains inaccurate information about jobs created and retained. State dollars have historically supported most of the WEDC's programs, but auditors found that federal pandemic relief funds accounted for more than 60% of the WEDC's $106.5 million total revenue in fiscal year 2021-22, the audit noted. ZAA-ACCREDITED ZOOS WOULD BE EXEMPT FROM STATE OVERSIGHT UNDER WISCONSIN GOP PROPOSAL The WEDC's secretary and CEO, Melissa Hughes, thanked the audit bureau for its work in a letter attached to the review. She noted that an independent audit of the WEDC's fiscal year 2022 financial statements by Sikich LLP found no internal deficiencies in financial reporting and the agency received the Certificate of Achievement for Excellence in Financial Reporting from the Government Finance Officers' Association of the United States and Canada for the 10th straight year. Hughes acknowledged, though, that the audit bureau's review identified five grants that "may need to be recaptured" and the agency plans to use a third party to evaluate its business tax credit program. She promised that information about board meetings will be published in a timely manner. She said WEDC officials will inform legislators by Dec. 6 about other efforts to follow auditors' recommendations. The WEDC has struggled since its creation on a variety of fronts and has become a political target for Democrats. Gov. Tony Evers campaigned on a pledge to dissolve the agency but backed off after he won his first term in 2018. The audit bureau's last review of the agency in 2021 found performance had improved. That audit noted that the agency had largely complied with state law when administering its awards and the amount of past-due loans had decreased from $7.6 million to $6.6 million in 2019 and 2020.

President Biden, while speaking to wildfire recovery efforts in Maui on Wednesday, made an apparent attempt to empathize with residents who will likely be displaced from their homes for quite some time, retelling a nearly 20-year-old story about a minor fire in his Delaware home that prevented him from being in the house for seven months. The president gave reporters a rundown of recovery efforts taking place in Maui after deadly and devastating fires ravaged the island. One of the announcements was that $95 million would be sent to Hawaii to help bolster the grid on Maui. BIDEN BLASTED FOR COMPARING KITCHEN FIRE IN HIS HOME TO DEVASTATING MAUI BLAZE: ‘ABSOLUTELY DISGUSTING’ Biden said the U.S. government had already dedicated $24 million to remove hazardous materials left in the wake of the fire. The materials contain pollution, and as the president said, "you just can’t go in and take bulldozers to clear it all out." Instead, he continued, the pollution must be removed before the debris can be removed, a process that could take some time. HAWAII DEMOCRAT SAYS BIDEN'S ‘NO COMMENT’ ON WILDFIRES ‘SHOCKING’: ‘I WOULD EXPECT MORE’ "It’s going to be frustrating as a devil for people who say, ‘why can’t I go back, the storm’s over,’" Biden said. "It’s really tough. Really, really tough." He then mentioned one of his own experiences. "I didn’t have anything like that, but when lightning struck my house, he had to be out of that house for about seven months for repairs, because so much damage was done to the house and half the house almost collapsed, you know," Biden said. "And you wonder, ‘what’s going to happen?’" BIDEN HAS REPEATEDLY TOLD EXAGGERATED HOUSE FIRE STORY TO VICTIMS OF TRAGEDIES The president brought up the same incident when visiting Maui last week, telling residents lightning struck a wire outside the home, came up through the air conditioning ducts, and he almost lost his wife, his 1967 Corvette and his cat. Biden has recalled the story multiple times in recent years in an apparent attempt to connect with victims of natural disasters. According to a 2004 report from The Associated Press, archived by LexisNexis, lightning struck the Bidens’ home and started a "small fire that was contained to the kitchen."

Rep. Cori Bush is facing even more pressure over her campaign payments to her husband for private security services. The Missouri Democrat added Cortney Merritts, her now spouse, to her campaign's payroll in January 2022 and has since paid him $90,000 from the committee, federal filings show. Merritts did not have a security license in the St. Louis area or Washington, D.C., as of earlier this year and appeared to own a moving company.  The payments and Merritts' lack of a license, which an official previously told Fox News Digital is needed to perform security functions in the St. Louis region, has led to a slew of complaints from watchdog groups such as the Foundation for Accountability and Civic Trust (FACT) and the Committee to Defeat the President. The Committee to Defeat the President is further ramping up the pressure. The group recently sent several supplements to previous complaints, as well as new complaints, to the likes of the Office of Congressional Ethics, the D.C. Department of Licensing and Consumer Protection, the Department of Justice and the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department over Bush's setup and Merrits' failure to register as a security professional. CORI BUSH SLAPPED WITH ETHICS COMPLAINT ALLEGING SHE ABUSED GOVERNMENT RESOURCES FOR CAMPAIGN PURPOSES "It turns out members of 'The Squad' aren't the progressive revolutionaries they claim to be; they're just run-of-the-mill Beltway grifters," Ted Harvey, chairman of the Committee to Defeat the President, told Fox News Digital.  Harvey said Bush is lining her family's pockets at donors' expense and "breaking local and federal laws in the process." "She either paid her ex-lover and now-husband to perform illegal work, or just paid him meretriciously," he added. "But, either way, she broke the law and fumbled the cover-up. Americans deserve better, and our Committee is determined to hold her accountable in Washington, D.C., and back in Missouri, the same way any Republican would be held accountable by the radical Left." Bush's campaign recently switched the language of the payments amid criticism of the arrangement. From the time Merritts initially appeared on the payroll until early April of this year, the campaign marked his checks as "security services."  However, the campaign modified the reported expenditures from "security services" to "wage expenses" in mid-April while the checks remained in identical amounts. They continued using the new language until the end of the most recent reporting period, her filings show.  CORI BUSH'S CAMPAIGN CONTINUES TO SHELL OUT THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS TO HER HUSBAND FOR PRIVATE SECURITY The Committee to Defeat the President requested each of the four entities investigate the matter immediately. Soon after Bush and Merritts married in February, her office announced they had been together before she entered Congress in 2021 — more than a year before she added him to her campaign's payroll in January 2022. Her campaign sent Merritts bimonthly $2,500 checks totaling $60,000 last year while disbursing hundreds of thousands to the protection firm. The campaign added $30,000 in additional payments to Merritts this year in identical amounts. Merritts did not have a private security license as of late February, Fox News Digital reported. Individuals must have a permit to perform security functions in St. Louis and its neighboring St. Louis County, which encompasses Bush's entire congressional district, a local official said at the time. Merritts also did not appear in a Washington, D.C., database of licensed security specialists, and Bush's campaign did not respond to several prior emails on the matter. The payments have subsequently triggered at least two FEC complaints from watchdog groups.  Even before adding Merritts to her payroll, Bush faced criticism for using private security. In July 2021, Fox News Digital first reported on Bush's security payments while pushing to defund police, initiating CBS News inquiries about the cash and whether hiring a security detail while pushing to strip money from law enforcement was hypocritical. 'SQUAD' REP CORI BUSH HIT WITH FEC COMPLAINT OVER PRIVATE SECURITY PAYMENTS TO HUSBAND "They would rather I die?" Bush asked. "You would rather me die? Is that what you want to see? You want to see me die? You know, because that could be the alternative." The progressive lawmaker said she would ensure she has security because she has had attempts on her life and has "too much work to do." "So suck it up, and defunding the police has to happen," she added. Bush's campaign did not immediately respond to a Fox News Digital request for comment.

In a press conference today, President Biden updated the nation on recovery efforts in Maui and Florida. No one, he said, can "deny the impact of the climate crisis anymore."

President Joe Biden on Wednesday pledged enduring support for Americans affected by Hurricane Idalia and the Hawaii wildfires while making clear he's ready to blame congressional Republicans if there isn't enough funding for the response to a confluence of natural disasters.

Even though President Joe Biden's student loan forgiveness program was blocked by the Supreme Court earlier this year, his administration is moving forward with more targeted student debt cancellations allowed under existing programs.

Green Party presidential candidate Cornel West came out swinging against the Democratic Party establishment and progressive Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., for endorsing President Biden. West – a high-profile racial activist and academic who Democrats worry may spoil Biden's re-election bid in 2024 – remarked that the Democratic Party is "beyond redemption," during an interview Tuesday with The Hill’s Rising. The Green Party candidate added that Sanders' recent argument that Biden represents progressives' best hope to stave off authoritarianism wasn't persuasive. "I think that Brother Bernie’s being consistent. He has said that all along, and I can understand the argument. I think it’s a plausible argument. I just don’t think it’s a persuasive one," West said. "I think that the argument he’s making means that there’s never any possibility for breaking from the corporate duopoly, there’s never any possibility of trying to speak to the needs of poor working people." "I think deep down in his heart he knows that the Democratic Party has no fundamental intention of speaking to the needs of poor people and working people," he continued. "They are dominated by their corporate wing, they're dominated by the militarists when it comes to foreign policy. He and AOC and the others are going to be, in a certain sense, window dressing." CORNEL WEST CALLS OUT BIDEN'S PAST 'CONNECTIONS' TO SEGREGATIONISTS, SAYS TRUMP ALSO FLAWED ON RACIAL ISSUES West further argued that the Democratic Party cannot be saved from certain forces within and that voters should be given an alternative to established parties. THIRD-PARTY PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE CORNEL WEST RIPS 'MEDIOCRE, MILQUETOAST' BIDEN: 'GET OFF THE CRACK PIPE' "The Democratic Party is beyond redemption at this point when it comes to seriously speaking to the needs of poor and working people," West stated. "The neofascism that's escalating is predicated on the rottenness of a system in which the Democratic Party facilitates frustration and desperation because it can't present an alternative. If America is not able to present an alternative to the Democratic Party, then we're going fascism." "Now, Brother Bernie understands that, don't get me wrong, he's on my side in that sense. But at this particular historical moment, he's on the side of the Democratic establishment rather than the critics of that establishment trying to generate an alternative." West's comments come as national polling continues to show him taking a key share of the vote from Biden.  According to a poll conducted last week by the Emerson College Polling Center, in a head-to-head matchup between former President Donald Trump and Biden, Trump would receive 44%, Biden would receive 39% and West would receive 4% of the vote. The margin is significantly smaller without West in the race, the survey showed. West first announced his candidacy in June, running originally for the People’s Party before switching to the Green Party. Since then, as he has gained support, Democrats like Sanders and Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., and Jim McGovern, D-Mass., have expressed concern about his ability to potentially hurt Biden's re-election chances.

Hunter Biden has been tied to multiple officials from the Obama-Biden administration, but an email from the chief of staff of the top State Department official reveals how close Hunter was with the upper echelons of power in the administration. Less than six months before Hunter and his longtime business partner, Devon Archer, became board members at the Burisma energy company in Ukraine, email correspondence reviewed by Fox News Digital shows that a top aide to then-Secretary of State John Kerry was telling some of his fellow State Department officials Kerry and Hunter had a close friendship and that Hunter asked Kerry to speak to his Georgetown University grad students March 18, 2014. In an email from the fall of 2013, David Wade wrote to John R. Bass and Jonathan Finer about the possibility of Kerry meeting with Hunter and his students at "HST," which is the State Department's Harry S. Truman headquarters. At the time, Wade was Kerry's chief of staff. Bass is now the under secretary of state for management. Finer served at the time of the email as a senior adviser to former Deputy National Security Advisor Antony Blinken, the current secretary of state. BURISMA'S DEVON ARCHER MET WITH THEN-SECRETARY OF STATE KERRY JUST WEEKS BEFORE SHOKIN WAS FIRED "Just spoke with Hunter Biden, good friend of S, who teaches a class at Georgetown on advocacy," Wade wrote. "He'd like S to speak to his class on 3/18. If S is here, he'll for sure want to do this. Class would come here to HST." Fox News Digital confirmed that "S" refers to Secretary Kerry, based on multiple other email communications. "Can we pencil this in, pls, pending S travel? (Hunter knows that with travel, plans could change.) It'll be an hour somewhere in the 5-730 window, depending on what works best for S," Wade added. The revelation of the email comes as Hunter continues to face questions from federal investigators about potential violations of the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) when his dad was vice president and in the years following the Obama administration. Throughout the Obama administration, Hunter was involved in multiple foreign business dealings and will likely face questions about whether he requested favors on behalf of foreign principals during communications with government officials. Congress enacted FARA to minimize the impact of foreign propaganda in the United States. It requires "certain agents of foreign principals who are engaged in political activities or other activities specified under the statute" to update the Justice Department on their activities periodically. They must also provide receipts and disbursements regarding the work. Months later, in the days before the scheduled appearance by Kerry, several emails reviewed by Fox News Digital show Hunter, his office assistant and Kerry aides planning logistics of the class's visit to the State Department. "I am checking in per Hunter's request to see if everything is all set for Tuesday's class with Secretary Kerry," Rosemont Seneca's office manager Kate Dodge said in an email to Wade March 14, 2014. "Do you need anything from him or the students (ss# etc.)? I am happy to help. Please let me know." HUNTER BIDEN TRAVELED TO AT LEAST 15 COUNTRIES WITH VP DAD: 'I CAN CATCH A RIDE WITH HIM' "So far so good — always a possibility that over the weekend something changes and we learn that the Secretary has to travel — but so far we think he will still be in Washington," Wade said three minutes later. "Julie and John are terrific and they'll know what information we'll need for the students so they can get inside the building." Dodge later emailed Hunter individually and said Kerry's scheduler told her there is "about a 70% chance that the Secretary will have to travel Monday or Tuesday (in spite of what David said)" but added they would "remain flexible" and said "Wade will provide an interesting and knowledgeable person as back up" if Kerry couldn't make it.  A day before the scheduled meeting, Dodge received correspondence confirming that Kerry would be able to attend the class after his meeting at the White House and that there would be 14 graduate students attending the class. Another email from a State Department aide said Kerry had to attend a meeting at the Pentagon that night but said Kerry could attend the class for 30-45 minutes. An email from March 17, 2014, between Dodge and Hunter shows a syllabus lesson that Hunter would be using for the class with Kerry. "Diplomacy Versus Military Action: Multi-national Advocacy and Executive Decision-making to Address Conflict in Syria Discussion with a principal, stakeholder or subject matter expert," the top of the syllabus stated. Hunter Biden helped teach a course at Georgetown's Master of Science in Foreign Service called "The Art of Advocacy: Inside and Outside of Government," according to the school's student newspaper. In October 2014, the paper reported that Hunter Biden had taught the class during the spring semesters of 2012 and 2013. It again appeared as a course option in the 2014 to 2015 school years, but the university's director of media relations told the publication they did not have the time to teach the course that year.  'MONEY GUY': THIS HUNTER BIDEN BUSINESS PARTNER COULD BLOW THE LID OFF BIDEN FAMILY'S BUSINESS DEALINGS In the weeks prior to the class with Kerry and after the class, Hunter and Archer were emailing about Burisma. "Do some fishing around on this company. I am with the owner in meetings today and going to dinner together this evening," Archer wrote March 6, 2014, referring to Burisma. "He's obviously stressed but appears incredibly legit and great guy. Will call to debrief on opportunity but the immediate natural is Bohai." On the day of the class, Archer told Hunter he would send a briefing he put together on Burisma ahead of Hunter's trip the following day to New York City to meet with him. It is unclear whether Kerry had knowledge of the conversations between Hunter and Archer about Burisma in March 2014 or in the weeks following the class.  Kerry's stepson, Chris Heinz, was a business partner of Hunter and Archer at the time, but he reportedly severed ties with the firm later that year. And a spokesperson attributed their Burisma board memberships as a "major catalyst for Mr. Heinz ending his business relationships with Mr. Archer and Mr. Biden."  However, he still remained friendly with them in emails over a year after they joined the Burisma board. Fox News Digital recently reviewed a redacted 2016 email that showed a meeting between Kerry and Archer weeks before Ukraine's top prosecutor was fired.  Archer and Hunter Biden had been sitting on the board of Burisma for about two years when the meeting took place. Former Ukrainian Prosecutor General Viktor Shokin was fired in March 2016, less than four weeks after Archer met with Kerry at the State Department in Washington, D.C., according to a State Department email. It is unclear whether Burisma was discussed during the meeting. At the time, Vice President Joe Biden had recently wrapped up a trip to Ukraine during which he threatened to withhold $1 billion in U.S. aid if Ukrainian officials didn't remove Shokin, claiming he was too lax on prosecuting corruption. Senators Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, and Ron Johnson, R-Wis., expressed concerns about the meeting in 2019 and sent a letter to Secretary of State Pompeo requesting all records relating to it along with another discussion, including a 2015 session Hunter had with Blinken. Shokin on Saturday said he believes he lost his position at Biden's insistence because of his investigation into Burisma, a claim the White House has disputed. "I have said repeatedly in my previous interviews that [then-Ukrainian President Petro] Poroshenko fired me at the insistence of the then-Vice President Biden because I was investigating Burisma," Shokin said during an interview with Fox News' Brian Kilmeade.  "[Poroshenko] understood — and so did Vice President Biden — that had I continued to oversee the Burisma investigation, we would have found the facts about the corrupt activities that they were engaging in. That included both Hunter Biden and Devon Archer and others." HUNTER BIDEN CONTRADICTS DAD'S CLAIM NOBODY IN FAMILY 'MADE MONEY FROM CHINA' In a previous statement to Fox News, the White House pointed to indications Shokin lost his spot because he had been too soft on corruption. The White House also stated that Shokin's office had not been investigating Burisma or Hunter at the time of his ouster in March 2016, and it pointed to three reports published within weeks of each other in 2019 by The Washington Post, Associated Press and New York Times that said Shokin's office wasn't investigating Burisma. In July, however, Archer said in a closed-door interview with the House Oversight Committee that, amid pressure from Shokin's office and other entities investigating Burisma, company leaders turned to Hunter for help. Archer added that Hunter and Burisma executives "called D.C." in December 2015, just days before the vice president's trip to Ukraine, to ask the Obama administration to help get Shokin fired. Burisma executive Vadym Pozharsky emailed Hunter Biden, Archer and fellow Hunter associate Eric Schwerin in early November 2015 about a "revised proposal, contract and initial invoice for Burisma Holdings" from lobbying firm Blue Star Strategies.  Hunter reportedly connected Burisma with Blue Star Strategies to help the energy firm fight corruption charges against Mykola Zlochevsky, the company's owner. Pozharski said in his email that the "ultimate purpose" of the agreement with Blue Star Strategies was to shut down "any cases/pursuits against Nikolay in Ukraine," referring to Zlochevsky, who also went by Nikolay. "The scope of work should also include organization of a visit of a number of widely recognized and influential current and/or former US policy-makers to Ukraine in November aiming to conduct meetings with and bring positive signal/message and support on Nikolay's issue to the Ukrainian top officials above with the ultimate purpose to close down for any cases/pursuits against Nikolay in Ukraine," Pozharsky said. Kerry isn't the only top official Hunter met with or had ties to during the Obama-Biden administration. In July 2015, Hunter met with Deputy Secretary of State Antony Blinken at his State Department office after they appeared to have rescheduled their meeting from May 2015 due to the death of Hunter's brother, Beau.  "Have a few minutes next week to grab a cup of coffee?" Hunter asked Blinken in May 2015. "I know you are impossibly busy, but would like to get your advice on a couple of things." Hunter and his business partner, Eric Schwerin, also frequently kept in contact with Evan Ryan, who is married to current Secretary of State Antony Blinken. She worked in the Obama White House and State Department and frequently emailed with Hunter and Schwerin about attending White House events and keeping Hunter updated on his dad's schedule. She currently works in the Biden White House. Fox News Digital also previously reported on Hunter's ties to Jake Sullivan, who now serves as Biden's national security advisor. Over a dozen current and former officials serving in the White House and Biden administration also have ties to Hunter, according to a previous analysis. The State Department, Hunter Biden's attorney and David Wade did not respond to requests for comment. Fox News Digital's Jessica Chasmar and Thomas Catenacci contributed to this report. For more of Fox News Digital’s reporting on the Hunter Biden investigation, please click here

Donald Trump inflated his net worth by as much as $2.2 billion in one year, lawyers for the New York attorney general's office alleged as part of their civil fraud lawsuit against the former president, his adult sons and the Trump Organization.

Natural disasters can be make-or-break moments for governors, especially when they're campaigning for office.

Organizers of an effort to have Nebraska voters weigh in on whether to use taxpayer money to pay for private school tuition scholarships said Wednesday they have more than enough signatures to put that question on the November 2024 ballot. The Support Our Schools effort turned in 117,000 signatures to the Nebraska Secretary of State, who must now verify them. That's nearly double the roughly 60,000 valid signatures needed to make the ballot, and organizers are confident they have met that goal. "This bill needs to be repealed," Jenni Benson, a Support Our Schools Nebraska sponsor and president of the Nebraska State Education Association, said at a news conference Wednesday. "This wildly successful petition effort has shown that Nebraskans agree." NEBRASKA BILL ALLOWING TAX DONATIONS FOR SCHOOL VOUCHERS ADVANCES The effort was launched even before Nebraska lawmakers passed a bill this spring to funnel millions in taxpayer money from public coffers to scholarships for private school tuition. Support Our Schools was funded mostly through public education unions and individual donations, while public school teachers and advocates volunteered their time to collect signatures at fairs, farmers markets and on street corners across the state. The bill, sponsored by Omaha Sen. Lou Ann Linehan, does not appropriate taxpayer dollars directly toward private school vouchers. Instead, it allows businesses, individuals, estates and trusts to donate a portion of owed state income tax. Businesses and individuals would be allowed to donate up to $100,000 per year while estates and trusts could offer up to $1 million a year. The bill would allocate $25 million a year over the first two years starting in 2024, and up to $100 million annually thereafter to cover such donations. That dollar-for-dollar tax credit is money that would otherwise go into the state’s general revenue fund. The money would be overseen and allocated by nonprofit groups, which are subject to a cap of 10% of what they can take from donations for administrative costs. The measure also requires the groups to track and report on scholarship allocations. The plan includes a tier system for scholarships that prioritizes low-income students and those being bullied. Public school advocates have blasted the measure as a "school voucher scheme" that will hurt the state’s K-12 public school system, arguing that diverting tax dollars to private schools from the state’s general fund is money that could go to struggling public schools. Some lawmakers objected to taxpayer dollars going to private schools that are allowed under religious tenets to discriminate against LGBTQ+ students. One taxpayer spending watchdog group, OpenSky, has expressed concern that the plan could divert enough students to private schools that enrollment in public schools will drop — causing a drop in state funding tied to schools' student populations. NEBRASKA TEACHERS UNION TRYING TO KILL SCHOOL CHOICE LAW OUT OF FEAR, MOTHER SAYS Supporters of the scholarship program deny that it will hurt funding to public schools, noting that lawmakers also passed a bill this year that will pump more than $1 billion -- mostly from federal pandemic recovery dollars -- into public education. The plan has seen powerful public education unions square off with heavily funded efforts from school choice groups backed by conservatives trying to make their mark on school policies following COVID-19 lockdowns and amid battles over transgender policies. The American Federation for Children — founded by Betsy DeVos, who was Secretary of Education in the Trump administration — poured more than $500,000 into a group set up to thwart the petition initiative. That group, Keep Kids First Nebraska, used the money to fund a blizzard of ads and a recent mass mailing to registered Nebraska voters that appeared as a letter from Republican Gov. Jim Pillen — though not on the governor's officials letterhead — urging voters not to sign the petition. It even included an affidavit form one could fill out in an effort to have their signature removed from the petition if they'd already signed. Keep Kids First said in a written statement it would continue its campaign to sway Nebraska voters to support the private school scholarship measure and railed against the petition effort, adding the Support Our Schools effort is "obsessively attempting to rip opportunity away from the children and families that need it most."

Read CNN's Fast Facts to learn more about the 2024 presidential candidates.

In New Hampshire, Republicans are feuding over whether the 14th Amendment bars Donald J. Trump from running for president. Other states are watching closely.

Bryant Messner, a former Republican candidate for Senate in New Hampshire, wants the courts to weigh in quickly on whether the 14th Amendment to the United States Constitution disqualifies Donald J. Trump from appearing on the ballot next year.

Republicans’ ‘Death Star’ law would have hurt many local labor laws, including paid sick leave and mandated water breaks A Texas judge has ruled that a controversial bill dubbed “the Death Star law” is unconstitutional, just days before the law was set to take effect when it would have hurt many local labor laws, including paid sick leave and mandated water breaks for some employees toiling outside in a brutal heatwave. The state district judge Maya Guerra Gamble issued her decision in response to a lawsuit against Texas filed by the cities of Houston, San Antonio and El Paso. Gamble agreed with arguments made by the cities that the bill is vague and unclear on which ordinances the municipalities must cancel before it was set to take effect. Continue reading...

Republican senator Mitch McConnell appeared to have another freezing moment on Wednesday at a Kentucky event prompting further concerns about the minority leader's health. The Republican leader went silent for more than 30 seconds after he was asked if he would re-run for elections. McConnell, 81, froze in July at a news conference in Washington, going silent for 19 seconds before being taken away from cameras

Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell freezes during remarks to reporters – video

Mitch McConnell should step down as Senate minority leader after freezing, GOP senator says

Mitch McConnell appears to freeze again for more than 30 seconds

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Some 3.6 million salaried workers would newly qualify for overtime pay under a proposed rule unveiled by the US Department of Labor on Wednesday. It would guarantee overtime pay of at least time-and-a-half for most salaried workers earning less than $1,059 a week, or about $55,000 a year.

Trump ally, 79, loses judgment after spreading baseless claims and case will now go to trial to determine amount in damages Rudy Giuliani, an attorney and close ally of Donald Trump, is liable for defaming two Georgia poll workers following the 2020 election, a federal judge has ruled in a default judgment. Giuliani failed to produce records during the discovery process while making “excuses” to shroud his noncompliance, according to the opinion by Judge Beryl Howell, of the federal US district court for the District of Columbia. Continue reading...