Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose sued President Biden’s administration on Thursday, accusing officials of “obstruction and outright abuse of power.”

The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. Southern District of Ohio, says the Department of Homeland Security refused on multiple occasions to grant access to federal records that are “necessary to prevent non-citizens from voting.” LaRose’s office has conducted a rolling audit of the state’s voter rolls ahead of Election Day, and he has previously told Fox News Digital that state-level records can only take the process so far.

“I swore an oath to uphold our state constitution, and that document clearly requires that only United States citizens can participate in Ohio elections,” LaRose said in a statement. “The Biden-Harris Administration is engaging in obstruction and outright abuse of power to prevent us from removing non-citizens from our voter rolls. I take my duty seriously, so if they want a fight over the integrity of our elections, they’ve got it.”

The lawsuit claims there were four instances in which Ohio’s requests for access to federal records were denied. Ohio’s audit relies on analysis and cross-checks against records provided by the Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles, the DHS Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements (SAVE) database, the Social Security Administration, federal jury pool data and other resources.

DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST BOASTS PARTY FOUGHT TO UNDERMINE ‘DANGEROUS’ THIRD-PARTY THREAT TO BIDEN

While LaRose’s office can access the SAVE database, states using it have to pay $1.50 for each query for records, and finding the information required to properly search the data is cumbersome, LaRose says.

HARRIS REPEATS DEBUNKED CLAIM TRUMP WANTS TO ‘BAN’ ABORTION

The data the Biden administration is refusing to share would provide a more comprehensive picture of how many non-citizens remain registered to vote in Ohio, LaRose says.

“While the administration is blocking access to these records, the Department of Justice is suing or threatening to sue multiple states, including Ohio, who are trying to enforce their citizenship voting requirements,” LaRose added. “It’s hardly a coincidence. The same administration that’s presided over the most reckless, porous immigration policy in our country’s history is also intentionally blocking states from protecting the integrity of their elections.”

CNN COMMENTATOR SCORCHES DEMS BLAMING TRUMP AT DNC: ‘SHE’S IN THE WHITE HOUSE RIGHT NOW’

In August, LaRose’s office referred 138 non-citizen registered voters to the state’s attorney general. That group came as part of 597 non-citizen voters who were removed from the state’s rolls.

LaRose’s audit has also purged roughly 155,000 voter registrations that were confirmed to be abandoned and inactive for at least four consecutive years.

The 2024 Montana Senate race has shattered spending records with $309 spent per registered voter, a Fox News Digital breakdown of election finance records found.

All eyes are on Montana this cycle, and whether Democratic Sen. Jon Tester can survive his re-election bid against Republican challenger Tim Sheehy in a red state won by former President Trump in 2016 and 2020.

Tester has outspent his Republican opponent this cycle, spending $69.6 million with about $7.4 million cash on hand, according to the latest filings with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) from September.  

Filings show Sheehy, a Navy SEAL and first-time Senate candidate, reported spending about $19.7 million during the same period this cycle.

MONTANA SENATE RACE, WHICH COULD DETERMINE MAJORITY, SEEING ‘INTENSE GROUND GAME OPERATION’: NRSC CHAIRMAN

Super PACs and outside groups have played a significant role in Montana advertising as Democrats pour money into a state where their majority in the Senate hangs in the balance.

Outside spending on the race totals about $154 million, according to a Fox News Digital review of FEC filings. Breaking down the numbers per candidate, outside groups spent about $61.1 million against Tester, while $15.8 million was dropped in support of his re-election bid. 

Sheehy has faced $59.5 million in spending against his campaign, while $17.7 million was spent to help him unseat the three-term Democrat.

Total spending on the campaign, including contributions from outside groups, has reached approximately $243.3 million to date. There are 786,365 registered voters in Montana, according to the Montana Secretary of State, meaning the average spent per vote on the Senate race is about $309 per registered voter.

The race has seen a massive influx of funding from prominent billionaires such as George Soros and the Koch brothers, who founded and fund Americans for Prosperity Action. Other players in Montana include a $29 million investment from the Last Best Place PAC, $20 million from the Senate Leadership Fund and a $20 million investment from American Crossroads.

Other prominent Senate races have seen more spending this cycle, but their higher populations disperse the funds more widely on a per-voter basis. 

For example, more than $363 million has been spent on the Ohio Senate race this cycle, but with 8,159,880 registered voters, per the secretary of state’s office, the spending amounts to about $44 per registered voter.

If the equivalent amount of money spent per registered voter in Montana was applied to the Senate race in Ohio, it would total over $2.5 billion.

Sen. Steve Daines, R-Mont., the National Republican Senatorial Committee chair, told Fox News Digital the spending is a reflection of the national implications of the race.

“On a per capita basis, Montana is in its league because we only have a little over a million people. And so we have a lesser populated state with spending numbers that are equivalent to other large races in states like Michigan, like Wisconsin, Arizona, Nevada,” Daines told Fox News Digital in an exclusive interview. 

“I think it highlights the importance of Montana because Tim Sheehy’s victory is the 51st seat for the United States Senate. This is what secures the majority for the Republicans and takes the gavel out of Chuck Schumer’s hands. And that’s why there’s so much focused attention on this race.”

Despite being outspent, the latest polling from The New York Times shows Sheehy leading Tester by eight points.

Lawyers for former President Trump filed a motion on Thursday to dismiss charges related to the 2020 election brought against him by Special Counsel Jack Smith, claiming he was unlawfully appointed, Fox News Digital has learned. 

Trump lawyers were successful in arguing that Smith was unlawfully appointed in his separate case against the former president related to classified records. 

JUDGE DISMISSES TRUMP’S FLORIDA CLASSIFIED DOCUMENTS CASE

U.S. District Judge for the Southern District of Florida Aileen Cannon in July granted Trump’s request to dismiss the classified records charges, to which he pleaded not guilty, due to the “unlawful appointment and funding of Special Counsel Jack Smith.” 

Trump attorneys on Thursday filed a motion in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. Judge Tanya Chutkan is presiding over the case.

“President Donald J. Trump respectfully requests leave to file this proposed motion to dismiss the Superseding Indictment and for injunctive relief—which is timely and, alternatively, supported by good cause—based on violations of the Constitution’s Appointments and Appropriations Clauses,” the filing states. 

The Appointments Clause says, “Ambassadors, other public Ministers and Consuls, Judges of the Supreme Court, and all other Officers of the United States be appointed by the President subject to the advice and consent of the Senate, although Congress may vest the appointment of inferior officers in the President alone, in the Courts of Law, or in the Heads of Departments.” Smith, however, was never confirmed by the Senate.

TRUMP BLASTS DOJ FOR ‘ELECTION INTERFERENCE,’ CALLS JACK SMITH CASE A ‘SCAM’ AFTER JUDGE UNSEALS KEY FILING

“The proposed motion establishes that this unjust case was dead on arrival— unconstitutional even before its inception,” the Trump filing states.

Trump lawyers argued that in November 2022, Attorney General Merick Garland “violated the Appointments Clause by naming private-citizen Smith to target President Trump, while President Trump was campaigning to take back the Oval Office from the Attorney General’s boss, without a statutory basis for doing so.” 

“Garland did so following improper public urging from President Biden to target President Trump, as reported at the time in 2022, and repeated recently by President Biden through his inappropriate instruction to ‘lock him up’ while Smith presses forward with the case unlawfully as the Presidential election rapidly approaches,” the filing states. 

Trump lawyers were referring to comments made by President Biden this week, in which he said: “we got to lock him up,” Biden said of Trump. However, the president quickly added, “Politically lock him up, lock him out. That’s what we have to do.” 

But Trump lawyers argued that “everything that Smith did since Attorney General Garland’s appointment, as President Trump continued his leading campaign against President Biden and then Vice President Harris, was unlawful and unconstitutional.” 

TRUMP ATTORNEYS ARGUE JACK SMITH’S OBSTRUCTION CHARGES BE DISMISSED CITING SUPREME COURT’S ‘FISCHER’ DECISION

Trump attorneys argued that Smith violated the Appropriations Clause, saying he relied on an appropriation “that does not apply in order to take more than $20 million from taxpayers—in addition to Smith improperly relying on more than $16 million in additional funds from other unspecified ‘DOJ components’—for use in wrongfully targeting President Trump and his allies during the height of the campaign season.” 

Trump attorneys argue that Smith “was not appointed ‘by Law,'” and argue that he “has operated with a blank check by relying on an inapplicable permanent indefinite appropriation that was enacted in connection with a reauthorization of the Independent Counsel Act in 1987.” 

“Smith was not appointed pursuant to that Act, which expired in 1999. The appropriation contemplates the possibility of appointment by some ‘other law,’ but no ‘other law’ authorized Smith’s appointment,” the attorneys continue. “The appropriation also requires that the prosecutor be “independent,” in the very particular, rigorous sense that attorneys appointed pursuant to the defunct Independent Counsel Act were meant to be independent.” 

They added: “That is not true of Smith’s appointment, either.” 

“For these reasons, Smith should have never been permitted to access these huge sums of money, and his use of this funding violated the Appropriations Clause,” the filing states. “Based on these violations of the Appointments and Appropriations Clauses, the Superseding Indictment should be dismissed with prejudice. In addition, an injunction against additional spending by Smith is necessary to prevent ongoing irreparable harm and to ensure complete relief for the Appropriations Clause violation.” 

Trump pleaded not guilty to all charges. 

A spokesperson for Special Counsel Jack Smith declined to comment when reached by Fox News. 

Smith has until Halloween, Oct. 31, to file his response.

The Supreme Court earlier this year ruled that a president is immune from prosecution for official acts. 

Smith was then required to file another indictment against Trump, revising the charges in an effort to navigate the Supreme Court ruling. The new indictment kept the prior criminal charges but narrowed and reframed the allegations against Trump after the high court’s ruling that gave broad immunity to former presidents. 

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Trump pleaded not guilty to all charges in the new indictment as well. 

Trump, in an interview this week with Hugh Hewitt, said he would immediately fire Smith if elected. 

Residents in the town of Logansport, Indiana, say that an influx of migrants from Haiti and other countries into their little town is overwhelming services, a trend of small towns and cities across the U.S. being overwhelmed.

“It’s just overrun. We don’t have space for everybody, so the housing has been taken over and our schools have been taken over; pretty much the whole town has been taken over,” resident Candice Espinoza told “America’s Newsroom.”

Logansport’s mayor estimates the population has grown by 20%-30% since 2021, most of that being Haitians moving in. More than 3,000 Haitians have arrived.

SWING STATE OFFICIAL WARNS VILLAGE STRUGGLING WITH FINANCIAL LOSSES AFTER INFLUX OF ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS 

Meanwhile, in numbers first reported by the New York Post, the number of Haitian students in the schools has gone from 14 to 207.

The school district has pushed back on claims that it is affecting the students.

“We have a total of 207 Haitian students within our student population, which makes up about 5% of our student population,” the school district superintendent said in a statement. “I have not had any complaints of student needs not being met due to services to our English learners population. We are a comprehensive school corporation. English learner students who need extra support are given those supports through specific programs that we offer.”

Espinoza disagreed with the statement and said she believes parents have been complaining.

“I have a child that I help take care of that she’s dyslexic, and she does not get the help she needs. She needs a little extra hands-on, and she needs help to learn to read, and they don’t help her. They are holding her back because they’re trying to specialize with these kids that need more English, and they don’t know English, so it’s harder,” she said.

HAITIAN MIGRATION ROILS TOWN IN KEY BATTLEGROUND STATE WITH SIGNS OF PRO-TRUMP SUPPORT ON THE RISE 

Others have pointed to other effects of Haitian migration, with one mother telling the Post her daughter was accosted by Haitian migrants as she walked to a nearby coffee shop. Multiple residents also told Fox News the new arrivals make them feel uncomfortable and unsafe, with one woman saying some of the male Haitian migrants in town would “stop in front of our porch and just stop and stare. They don’t say a word. They just stare. It’s unnerving.”

The Health Department has seen an uptick in cases of diseases like tuberculosis and HIV.

TRUMP SOUNDS ALARM ON ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT MURDERERS: ‘A LOT OF BAD GENES IN OUR COUNTRY’

“We’re all for compassion,” one resident told Fox. “But you can’t do that at the expense of everyone else either. You got to have compassion for those who are here.”

The city’s mayor is now trying to get the state and federal governments to step up and help his town pay for the increase in city services.

“How do you think us as leaders in this small community feel knowing that not once were we alerted this was going to happen?” Mayor Chris Martin told Fox.

The situation in Logansport echoes those in other U.S. towns like Springfield, Ohio, Charleroi, Pa., and Lockland, Ohio, that have faced challenges with an influx of migrants, whether in the U.S. legally or illegally.

Meanwhile, cities like New York City and Chicago have been overwhelmed by the numbers they have see. Immigration is now a top issue ahead of the 2024 election, with multiple polls showing former President Trump with an advantage over Vice President Harris on the issue.

Welcome to the Fox News’ Politics newsletter, with the latest political news from Washington, D.C. and updates from the 2024 campaign trail. 

Here’s what’s happening…

-Intelligence report says Iran will keep trying to kill Trump regardless of election outcome

-Key swing state’s 6 electoral votes hinge on candidate performances in this county

– Trump blasts Harris over Hitler comparison, rips his former chief of staff: ‘LOWLIFE’

Nearly 1 million illegal immigrants are staying in the U.S. “indefinitely” after their cases were dismissed or closed, or the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) failed to file the necessary documentation, according to a new House Judiciary Committee report released Thursday taking aim at a “sort of quiet amnesty has become a staple of the Biden-Harris Administration’s immigration courts.”

“Through administrative maneuvering at both the Justice Department and DHS, the Biden-Harris Administration has already ensured that nearly 1 million illegal aliens can remain in the United States without the possibility of deportation—and that trend shows no sign of stopping,” the report by the House majority on the committee, first obtained by Fox News Digital, says.

When illegal immigrants are encountered, they can be put into removal proceedings by which they will eventually face an immigration judge to have their case decided. There are around 700 immigration judges across the U.S., and they currently face a backlog of millions of cases after the historic crisis at the border. …Read more

‘DIRECT MILITARY ACTION’: US must weigh ‘military action against’ North Korean forces if they invade Ukraine: House intel chair Turner…Read more

STUMBLING ON STAGE: Harris stumbles on the border when pressed on illegal immigration: ‘Is a border wall stupid?’…Read more

DOUBLING DOWN: Harris doubles down on ‘fascist’ comments at start of CNN town hall: ‘unstable’…Read more

FAITH AND FREEDOM: Pro-life groups slam Harris for uncompromising abortion position: ‘Christians are not welcome’…Read more

MANAGING RISKS: Federal agencies ordered to use ‘most powerful’ AI systems in first-ever National Security Memo on AI…Read more

‘BIG WIN’: House GOP celebrates ‘big win’ after preventing creation of new global advertising coalition…Read more

CHOPPING BLOCK: Jordan subpoenas Biden-Harris admin for cost of housing illegal migrants at taxpayers’ expense…Read more

CELEBRITIES FOR KAMALA: 10 celebrities campaigning for Harris in election’s final weeks…Read more

‘ADMIRES DICTATORS’: ‘Admires dictators’: Harris continues comparing Trump to Hitler during battleground state town hall…Read more

POLL POSITION: Harris-Trump showdown: New national poll shows former president with the edge…Read more

‘HAS TO STOP’: Trump camp says Dem rhetoric ‘directly to blame’ for past assassination attempts…Read more

‘GOING WITH TRUMP’: ‘I’m going with Trump’: 3 former Dems from Pennsylvania explain how former president won them over…Read more

RUNNING ON FUMES: Harris’ ‘mixed messages’ on natural gas production could cost her pivotal Pennsylvania…Read more

‘FREEDOM’: Beyonce to join Kamala Harris at red state campaign rally…Read more

GOING NEGATIVE: Harris adopts Biden playbook of targeting Trump as a ‘fascist’ after discarding strategy for months…Read more

BATTLEGROUND SERIES: Key swing state’s 6 electoral votes hinge on candidate performances in this county…Read more

MEAN GREEN: JD Vance calls out the Left’s hypocrisy for opposing Jill Stein but backing RFK on the ballot…Read more

HISTORIC REALIGNMENT: Trump support among young Black and Latino men spikes in new poll…Read more

VIRTUAL TIE: Competitive Virginia House race tied as Republican incumbent battles challenger…Read more

SWING STATE SUSPENSE: Trump, Harris neck and neck in battleground states Arizona, Georgia, North Carolina…Read more

EARLY VOTING NUMBERS: More than 25M voters have cast ballots so far in 2024 election…Read more

MARYLAND KICKS OFF VOTING: Early in-person voting kicks off in Maryland…Read more

GOOD SIGN: Early voting data may be sign of improved GOP ground game in pivotal swing state…Read more

‘CRITICAL STEP’: North Carolina voters will decide on amendment to explicitly bar non-citizens from voting in elections…Read more

DEPORTED: Guatemalan migrant wanted for child abuse, violence against women, abuse of power ousted from US: ICE…Read more

CHALLENGE DENIED: Battleground state’s high court rejects GOP challenge to provisional ballot rules…Read more

ILLEGALLY VOTING: Ohio grand juries indict six non-citizens for allegedly illegally voting in past elections…Read more

‘ONE OF THE DUMBEST POLITICAL DECISIONS’: Texas politicos launch full court press against Harris ahead of her border state campaign rally: ‘apologize’…Read more

Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more on FoxNews.com.

CLARKSTON, GA. — Vice President Harris teams up on the campaign trail for the first time Friday evening with arguably the most popular Democratic Party politician: former President Obama.

While Obama has been stumping in the key swing states the past couple weeks on behalf of the vice president, he’ll join her on the stage as they aim to energize supporters in the crucial southeastern battleground of Georgia to cast their ballots in early voting.

The event comes with just 11 days to go until Election Day in Harris’ margin-of-error battle with former President Trump in the race to succeed President Biden in the White House.

“I’m honored to have the support of former President Obama,” the Democrat presidential nominee told reporters as she headed to Atlanta. “He’s been on the campaign trail and has been really wonderful and extraordinary in terms of the time and effort that he’s putting into our campaign.”

FROM ‘JOYFUL WARRIOR’ TO CALLING TRUMP A ‘FACIST’ – KAMALA HARRIS CHANGES HER MESSAGING IN THE FINAL STRETCH

But it’s not just political rock stars that are teaming up with Harris. 

Rock legend Bruce Springsteen, who has been supporting Democrat presidential candidates for two decades, will perform at Friday evening’s rally.

Harris called Springsteen “an American icon.”

CHECK OUT THE LATEST FOX NEWS POWER RANKINGS IN THE 2024 ELECTION

Also making appearances at the vice president’s rally in suburban Atlanta are actor, filmmaker and playwright Tyler Perry, film director, producer, screenwriter and actor Spike Lee, and actor Samuel L. Jackson.

While Harris is in Georgia, legendary musician James Taylor was scheduled to perform at a rally in neighboring North Carolina – another key battleground – headlined by Harris’ running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz. Taylor was scheduled to perform at the DNC but was bumped due to timing issues.

Last weekend, Harris rallied supporters at a get-out-the-vote event in Atlanta with pop singer and star Usher. Hours earlier at a campaign event in Detroit on the city’s first day of early voting, the vice president teamed up with Motor City native rapper Lizzo.

WHAT THE LATEST FOX NEWS POLLS INDICATE IN THE HARRIS-TRUMP SHOWDOWN

Another Detroit-born star, rapper, songwriter and music producer Eminem, joined Obama at a Tuesday rally in the battleground state’s largest city to get-out-the-vote for Harris.

And the vice president will reportedly be joined at a rally in Houston on Friday by Beyoncé, who is considered a cultural icon. Beyoncé’s hit song “Freedom” has been adopted by the vice president as her campaign trail anthem.

While she hasn’t joined Harris at a campaign event, singer and songwriting superstar Taylor Swift endorsed the vice president last month on the evening of the only debate between Harris and Trump.

Asked about the star power at her events, Harris said on Thursday, “I think it just shows the breadth and depth of the support that we have and also the enthusiasm that a lot of people are bringing to the campaign and feel about our campaign.”

While he can’t match the surrogate star power that Harris enjoys, Trump has also attracted some well-known celebrities at his events.

The latest, country singer Jason Aldean, took the stage at Trump’s rally on Wednesday evening in Duluth, Georgia.

The former president also enjoys the backing of other celebrities, including Telsa founder and multibillionaire Elon Musk, hip-hop star, rapper and fashion designer Kanye West, singer Kid Rock, actors Jon Voight and Kelsey Grammar, former NFL star quarterback Brett Favre, former Indy racer Danica Patrick, and celebrity chef Paula Deen.

While celebrity endorsements can grab plenty of media attention and add excitement to campaign rallies, it’s questionable how much they move the needle in terms of bringing a new wave of support to a candidate.

Veteran Republican strategist David Kochel noted that using celebrities has “been a big part of the playbook for a long time,” especially with Democrat presidential candidates.

But he argued that they rarely “move people” or “move the message.”

Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more at our Fox News Digital election hub.

Iran’s military forces will get a large influx of cash thanks to a booming energy economy, despite Western sanctions. 

The regime’s upcoming 2025 budget will triple the amount of oil revenue allocated to its armed forces. 

As tensions with Israel and by proxy the U.S. reach a fever pitch, the government expects next year to take in $26 billion from oil exports, 37.5% of its total revenue. Half of that amount, around $13 billion, will be directed toward military spending, according to a report on the budget by Iran International. 

Officially known as the Islamic Republic of Iran Armed Forces, they consist of the Army, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and the Law Enforcement Forces (LEF).

The other 42.5% will go toward the government’s operating budget, with 6.5% earmarked for “special projects.” 

This year’s Iranian armed forces have a total budget of $17 billion, including $4.5 billion from oil revenues. The budget does not say how much money the military will get from other sources next year. 

Around 95% of the nation’s oil exports go to China, which buys it at a discounted rate due to the liability of skirting sanctions. In total, the government projects the nation in total, including non-governmental entities, will bring in $69 billion from oil and gas exports, around $5 billion of that from domestic energy sales. 

IRAN REVOLUTIONARY GUARD OFFICIAL CHARGED IN PLOT TO KILL IRANIAN AMERICAN HUMAN RIGHTS ACTIVIST IN NYC

The budget reveals that Iran expects to increase daily exports by 350,000 barrels, bringing the total to some 3.75 million barrels per day next year. Iran has no plans to build new oil refineries, so the entire increase is intended for export. 

Republicans have long criticized the Biden administration for “turning a blind eye” to illicit oil and gas sales and refusing to enforce sanctions, which they say enriched Iran to fund its proxies Hamas and Hezbollah to attack Israel and the Houthis to attack Western trade routes. 

Despite U.S. sanctions, Iran has been able to export near-record amounts of oil, around 1.7 million barrels per day.  

After the Trump administration pulled out of the Iran nuclear deal in 2018, it imposed harsh sanctions on the regime to stop its funding of proxies abroad, banning U.S. citizens from trading with Iran or handling Iranian money. 

It also punished entities in other countries that did business with Iran by cutting them off from the dollar. 

INTELLIGENCE REPORT SAYS IRAN WILL KEEP TRYING TO KILL TRUMP REGARDLESS OF ELECTION OUTCOME

President Biden often waived enforcement of such sanctions, keen to bring Tehran back to the negotiating table to prevent it from acquiring nuclear weapons and fearful of driving up global oil prices. 

Iran gained access to more than $10 billion through a State Department sanctions waiver that allowed Iraq to continue buying energy from Iran, which the Biden administration argues is necessary to keep lights on in Baghdad. 

White House National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby has insisted none of the funds go to the IRGC or Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, but are “for humanitarian goods.”

Earlier this month, the Energy Information Agency published a report finding Iran sold $144 billion in oil abroad between 2021 and 2023. Under a maximum pressure period in 2020, Iranian oil sales had decreased to $16 billion.

In the first half of 2024, Iran had already brought in $24 billion from oil exports.

On Friday, the U.S. hit Iran with fresh sanctions on its so-called shadow fleet of ships circumventing sanctions to sell Iranian oil in response to the missile attack on Israel at the start of the month. 

Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the black sheep of America’s most well-known Catholic family, is urging the faithful to support former President Trump in a new TV ad.

Kennedy, who first challenged President Biden for the Democrat nomination and then ran as an independent, discusses his faith in the $250,000 ad spot before giving reasons why he now supports Trump for the presidency. 

“President Trump has promised to take bold action on our economy, on the border and on restoring children’s health. The Democratic Party has become the party of war, censorship and corruption,” RFK Jr. says.

“Catholics may disagree on many issues, but we must find a way to love our children more than we hate each other. I hope you’ll join me in supporting Donald Trump.” 

HARRIS’ CATHOLIC DINNER SNUB IS JUST THE LATEST IN CAREER FULL OF SWIPES AT THE FAITHFUL, CRITICS CHARGE

The ad, released by the conservative group CatholicVote, is set to air in Pennsylvania before a wider release in swing states, Semafor reported. It comes less than two weeks before a historically tight election in which Catholic voters could very well determine who next occupies the White House.

CatholicVote President Brian Burch has criticized Harris’ position on abortion, noting the practice violates Catholic social teaching. In a recent interview with NBC News, the vice president said she does not support any concessions on the abortion issue, including religious exemptions for faith-based health care providers who have a conscientious objection to the procedure.

“I think Kamala Harris is making a massive gamble. She’s calculating that she can build a winning coalition without people of faith,” Burch told Fox News Digital in an interview Wednesday. He acknowledged that Trump has also “disappointed” some pro-life voters by opposing a federal ban on abortion but said, “I think Trump’s comments are reflecting where the public is and that there is no consensus abortion.” 

According to Semafor, the collaboration with Kennedy came after months of conversations with CatholicVote talking through their positions on abortion. Burch told the outlet that Kennedy ultimately agreed “we need to be spending an equal amount of money on helping women choose to keep their child as we are on helping them to get abortions.”

DEMOCRATS DRIVING RELIGIOUS VOTE AWAY FROM PARTY AS TRUMP COURTS CATHOLICS: ‘ANTI-CHRISTIAN’ PARTY

The pro-Trump ad comes as the Trump campaign is actively courting Catholic voters. Trump’s running mate, Sen. JD Vance of Ohio, a Catholic convert, penned an op-ed in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette on Thursday that accused Harris of harboring “prejudice against Catholics.” 

“Last week, Michigan governor Gretchen Whitmer, one of Vice President Kamala Harris’s top surrogates, mocked the sacrament of the Eucharist in a cringey skit with a podcaster. Last Thursday, Ms. Harris became the first presidential candidate since 1984 to skip the annual Al Smith dinner, a fundraising event that benefits Catholic Charities,” Vance wrote. 

“The first insults Catholics, while the latter displays a more subtle disregard for an important Catholic cultural event, one that raises money for social services that aid people in need, including people with disabilities and refugees and immigrants. Both show the Harris campaign’s anti-Catholic bigotry.” 

A handful of key battleground states this election cycle have huge Catholic populations. About 24% of the Pennsylvania population, which has been touted as the state that will likely determine the overall outcome of the election, identifies as Catholic; about 25% of the population in Nevada identifies as Catholic; 18% in Michigan; 21% in Arizona; and 25% in Wisconsin. Other notable battleground states have a smaller Catholic population, including Georgia and North Carolina, both of which have a roughly 9% population of Catholics. 

TRUMP APPLAUDS CATHOLIC GROUP’S MULTI-MILLION ANTI-HARRIS CAMPAIGN APPEALING TO CHURCH FAITHFUL

Catholics historically voted for Democrats until the 1960s and early 1970s, when crime and cultural issues came to the fore alongside economic concerns, most notably in 1972 when President Richard Nixon’s campaign slammed Democrat opponent Sen. George McGovern as a candidate who supported “amnesty, abortion and acid.” 

Today, Catholic voters are evenly split between the two parties, and whichever side captures the majority is usually the side that wins the White House.

President Biden, the second Catholic president in the nation’s history (after John F. Kennedy), won the Catholic vote over Trump in 2020 by about five percentage points. In 2016, Trump won the voting bloc at 52% support compared to former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s 44% Catholic support. Former President Obama won the Catholic vote in both 2008 and 2012, as did former President George W. Bush in his 2004 election against John Kerry, Pew Research data shows. 

The exception to the rule came in 2000, when former Vice President Al Gore won the Catholic vote by two points over Bush despite losing the presidential election overall.

The Harris campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

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

Vice President Kamala Harris on Thursday dodged a question about whether her administration would continue the construction of a wall along the southern border, as illegal immigration and the border policies of the Biden administration continue to rank among the top issues for voters.

Harris was speaking to reporters when she was asked about the barrier construction, which was brought up during a CNN town hall meeting in the swing state of Pennsylvania Wednesday. 

“I will tell you that my highest priority is to put the resources into ensuring that our border is secure, which is why I’ve been very clear. I’m going to bring back up as president that bipartisan border security bill and make sure that it is brought to my desk so I can sign it into law,” she said before criticizing former President Trump. 

OBAMA CLAIMS TRUMP ‘DID NOT SOLVE’ IMMIGRATION ‘PROBLEM.’ THE NUMBERS TELL A DIFFERENT STORY

“The biggest issue that we have right now is that Donald Trump has stood in the way of what would have been a proven part of the solution to the bigger problem, which is that we have a broken immigration system in America, and we need to fix it,” Harris continued. 

Harris has repeatedly scorned Trump over his border policies, which resulted in a sharp decline in illegal immigrant crossings into the United States. Trump ran in 2016 on a pledge to build a border wall and have Mexico pay for it, but it never did. 

MIGRANTS CAUGHT AT BORDER BUSED, FLOWN OUT OF SAN DIEGO IN POSSIBLE ‘COVER UP’ BEFORE ELECTION: OFFICIAL

“How much of that wall did he build? I think the last number I saw was about 2%,” Harris said Wednesday. 

Harris was asked at the town hall if she agreed to earmark $650 million to continue construction of the border wall, which Harris previously called “stupid.”

“I pledge that I am going to bring forward that bipartisan bill to further strengthen and secure our border. Yes, I am, and I’m going to work across the aisle to pass a comprehensive bill that deals with a broken immigration system,” she responded. 

On Thursday, Harris said Trump prefers to run on the problem instead of fixing the immigration system. 

“I intend to fix the problem in a way that is just about practical solutions that are within our arm’s reach. If we have the commitment to do it,” she said without responding to the border wall question. 

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On the campaign trail and in media interviews, she has dodged questions about the Biden administration’s border policies that resulted in record-high numbers of illegal immigrants crossing into the U.S. and migrant crime, preferring to criticize Trump and promote a 2021 bill as evidence that Biden tried to strengthen U.S. immigration policies ahead of the migrant crisis.

That bill would have paved the way to citizenship for millions of illegal immigrants. 

Vice President Kamala Harris mentioned former President Trump by name more than two dozen times during her CNN town hall on Wednesday, including when pressed about specific policies she would institute if elected to the White House. 

Fox News found that during the CNN town hall in Chester, Pennsylvania, Harris mentioned Trump by name 26 times, while Trump was mentioned overall by moderator Anderson Cooper or audience members a total of 43 times. The CNN town hall kicked off at 9 p.m. on Wednesday and wrapped up around 10:15 p.m.

Harris was pressed on issues such as her border policies the last three and a half years as vice president, and how she would tackle immigration differently if she was elected president. At one point, Cooper pressed Harris on her support of a bipartisan bill that would provide funding for a border wall that she previously lambasted as a “stupid” idea when promoted by Trump during his administration. 

“Let’s talk about this compromise bill that you want to pass if you are elected. You said that’s going to be a priority. It includes $650 million in funding for the border wall. That’s something Republicans wanted, that was part of the compromise. Under Donald Trump, you criticized the wall more than 50 times. You called it ‘stupid, useless, and a medieval vanity project.’ Is a border wall stupid?,” Cooper asked Harris. 

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Harris pivoted from directly answering the question to citing Trump. 

“Let’s talk about Donald Trump and that border wall,” Harris said while laughing. “So remember, Donald Trump said Mexico would pay for it. Come on, they didn’t. How much of that wall did he build? I think the last number I saw was about 2%. And then when it came time for him to do a photo op, you know, where he did it? In the part of the wall that President Obama built.”

“So you don’t think it’s stupid anymore?” Cooper later asked. 

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“I think what he did and how he did it was, did not make much sense because he actually didn’t do much of anything. I just talked about that wall, right? We just talked about it. He didn’t actually do much of anything,” she responded, not citing Trump by name, but referring to his leadership as president. 

At another point, Cooper asked Harris about her plans to tackle reported price gouging by corporations, with Harris answering that she “took this issue on” when she served as California attorney general before admonishing Trump for not attending the town hall. CNN held the town hall after proposing a second presidential debate between Harris and Trump for Oct. 23. Harris accepted the debate, but Trump declined, spurring the network to host a town hall instead. 

HARRIS LIKENS TRUMP TO HITLER IN SCATHING REMARKS, SAYS HE WANTS SAME MILITARY LOYALTY AS GERMAN DICTATOR

“By the way, again, Donald Trump should be here tonight to talk with you and answer your questions. He’s not, he refused to come. But understand that part of his plan is to put in place a national sales tax of at least 20% on everyday goods and necessities, and that, by economist estimates — independent economists — would cost you, as the American consumer and taxpayer, an additional $4,000 a year,” Harris claimed. 

Harris was also asked about codifying Roe v. Wade, which sparked the vice president to again attack Trump while signaling support to end the filibuster. 

“You’ve talked about codifying Roe v Wade. That would require 60 votes in the Senate, a majority of the House. That’s a big— that’s a big leap. We don’t have that yet. If that’s not possible to codify it in the House, what do you do?” Cooper asked.

“I think we need to take a look at the filibuster, to be honest with you. But the reality of it is this, let’s talk about how we got here. When Donald Trump was president, he hand-selected three members of the United States Supreme Court with the intention that they would undo the protections of Roe v Wade,” she said. “And they did as he intended. And now, in 20 states, we have abortion bans.” 

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Harris was directly asked about Trump a handful of times during the debate — with her answers included in the total count of 26 Trump mentions — most notably when Cooper asked her about an X post comparing Trump to Nazi Germany dictator Adolf Hitler. Earlier Wednesday, former Trump administration chief of staff John Kelly claimed to the media that Trump praised “Hitler’s generals” for their loyalty, which Harris repeated in an X post that day. 

“If the president of the United States, the commander in chief, is saying to his generals, in essence, ‘Why can’t you be more like Hitler’s generals?’ Anderson, come on. This is a serious, serious issue. And we know who he is. He admires dictators, sending love letters back and forth with Kim Jong Un,” Harris said at one point. She also told Cooper that she believes Trump is a “fascist.” 

HARRIS STUMBLES ON THE BORDER WHEN PRESSED ON ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION: ‘IS A BORDER WALL STUPID?’

Harris sat down last week for her first interview with Fox News since rising to the top of the Democratic ticket after President Biden dropped out of the race in July amid mounting concerns over his mental acuity and age. During that interview, Harris cited Trump by name 23 times. 

“More than 70% of people tell the country is on the wrong track. They say the country is on the wrong track. If it’s on the wrong track, that track follows three and a half years of you being vice president and President Biden being president. That is what they’re saying, 79% of them. Why are they saying that?” Fox News chief political anchor Bret Baier asked Harris during the interview. “If you’re turning the page, you’ve been in office for three and a half years.”

“And Donald Trump has been running for office since…” Harris responded, while Baier interjected, “But you’ve been the person holding the office.” 

At another point, Baier asked Harris: “Your campaign slogan is a ‘New way forward’ and ‘It’s time to turn the page.’ You’ve been vice president for three and a half years, so what are you turning the page from?” 

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“Well, first of all, turning the page from the last decade in which we have been burdened with the kind of rhetoric coming from Donald Trump that has been designed and implemented to divide our country and have Americans literally point fingers at each other. Rhetoric and an approach to leadership that suggests that the strength of a leader is based on who you beat down instead of what we all know, the strength of leadership is based on who you lift up,” Harris responded.

Fox News Digital reached out to the Harris campaign regarding the vice president repeatedly citing Trump when asked about her policies, but did not immediately receive a reply. 

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