The Colorado Supreme Court dismissed yet another case Tuesday against Masterpiece Cakeshop owner Jack Phillips, a Christian baker who has been the target of several lawsuits over the last 12 years. The latest lawsuit accused Phillips of discriminating against a transgender attorney for refusing to bake a custom cake celebrating their gender transition.

Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), the lawyer group representing Phillips, first defended Phillips in 2012 when he was sued for refusing to bake a custom cake celebrating a same-sex wedding because it violated his religious convictions.

“Enough is enough. Jack has been dragged through courts for over a decade. It’s time to leave him alone,” Jake Warner, ADF senior counsel, said in a statement.

BIDEN OFFICIALS PUSHED TO DROP AGE LIMIT ON TRANS SURGERIES FOR MINORS: REPORT

“Free speech is for everyone. As the U.S. Supreme Court held in 303 Creative, the government cannot force artists to express messages they don’t believe. In this case, an attorney demanded that Jack create a custom cake that would celebrate and symbolize a transition from male to female. Because that cake admittedly expresses a message, and because Jack cannot express that message for anyone, the government cannot punish Jack for declining to express it. The First Amendment protects that decision.”

While the state court did not issue an opinion regarding Phillips’ First Amendment rights, it was dismissed on the grounds of violating a technicality, stating that plaintiff Autumn Scardina, a man identifying as a woman, did not properly file the lawsuit in Colorado.

“We granted review to determine, among other issues, whether [the attorney] properly filed [this] case,” the Colorado Supreme Court wrote in its opinion in Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Scardina. “We conclude that [the attorney] did not.”

OVER 5,700 CHILDREN IN 5-YEAR PERIOD HAD GENDER SURGERIES, MOST FROM 5 LIBERAL STATES: WATCHDOG

“The underlying constitutional question this case raises has become the focus of intense public debate: How should governments balance the rights of transgender individuals to be free from discrimination in places of public accommodation with the rights of religious business owners when they are operating in the public market?” Justice Melissa Hart wrote in the Colorado Supreme Court’s majority opinion. 

“We cannot answer that question.”

On the same day the U.S. Supreme Court revealed it would hear Phillips’ initial case — which he won in 2018 after Colorado tried to force him to make a custom cake for a same-sex wedding — the transgender attorney contacted Phillips’ shop for a custom order to celebrate a gender transition. Phillips’ declined.

COLORADO STATE WINS IN STRAIGHT SETS AFTER DECIDING TO PLAY AGAINST TEAM MIRED IN TRANS PLAYER CONTROVERSY

The attorney called again later to request a second cake, this one featuring Satan smoking marijuana, to “correct the errors of [Phillips’] thinking,” according to the ADF news release.

“Phillips politely declined both requests because the cakes express messages that violate his core beliefs,” ADF stated. “The attorney then filed the most recent lawsuit, threatening to continue harassing Phillips until he is punished. Phillips serves people from all backgrounds. Like many artists, he decides to create custom cakes based on what they will express, not who requests them.”

The arrest of an Afghan national now accused of plotting an Election Day terror attack on behalf of ISIS, and who entered the United States shortly after the chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan, is reigniting long-standing questions and concerns from Republicans about the vetting of those who came to the U.S. at that time.

Nasir Ahmad Tawhedi is said to have obtained firearms and ammunition to conduct a violent attack on U.S. soil and took steps to prepare for the plot. Tawhedi, who was arrested on Monday, is charged with conspiring and attempting to provide material support to ISIS and receiving a firearm to be used to commit a felony or a federal crime of terrorism. Authorities say he liquidated his family’s assets to finance his plan, including purchasing rifles and one-way tickets for his wife and child back to Afghanistan.

“This defendant, motivated by ISIS, allegedly conspired to commit a violent attack, on election day, here on our homeland,” said FBI Director Christopher Wray in a statement. “I am proud of the men and women of the FBI who uncovered and stopped the plot before anyone was harmed. Terrorism is still the FBI’s number one priority, and we will use every resource to protect the American people.” 

AFGHAN MAN IN OKLAHOMA PLOTTED ELECTION DAY TERROR ATTACK IN US ON BEHALF OF ISIS, JUSTICE DEPT SAYS

Authorities said Tawhedi entered the United States on Sept. 9, 2021, on a Special Immigrant Visa and is currently on parole status pending adjudication of his immigration proceedings. His alleged co-conspirator is a green card holder who arrived in the U.S. on a Special Immigrant Visa in 2018.

Special Immigrant Visas (SIV), made available first during the Bush administration, allowed those who worked with the U.S. armed forces as a translator or interpreter in Afghanistan or Iraq to obtain a visa. The number of SIV applicants increased sharply amid the 2021 withdrawal.

But Tawhedi entered shortly after the withdrawal from Afghanistan, a time that saw planes full of Afghans being quickly evacuated from Kabul’s airport and tens of thousands of Afghans brought to the U.S. The U.S. would go on to admit more than 97,000 evacuees, of which about 77,000 were admitted via humanitarian parole, through a program called Operation Allies Welcome. 

It is unclear how Tawhedi entered the U.S. and also why he would have moved from a SIV to a parole status. But Republicans and watchdog officials have long expressed concern about the vetting of those who came in during that period. Those concerns have been renewed in the case of Tawhedi.

“When tens of thousands of insufficiently vetted individuals are let into the interior, this is the inevitable result,” House Homeland Security Committee Chair Mark Green, R-Tenn., said in a statement. “This Committee has repeatedly warned of the terror threats stemming from the Biden-Harris administration’s failed leadership and disastrous border security policies. 

DHS OIG FAULTS AFGHAN VETTING, WARNS NATIONAL SECURITY THREATS MAY HAVE ENTERED US

“Unfortunately, our calls for transparency regarding the inadequate vetting and screening following the catastrophic withdrawal from Afghanistan continue to go unanswered – and, here, Americans almost paid the price,” he said.

In the Senate, Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, said he had been vocal about the need to thoroughly vet SIV applicants but that the Biden administration had been “quick to dismiss those glaring alarms.”

“The number one job of our government is to protect its citizens. By hiding behind clerical excuses, refusing to take accountability and neglecting to address known vulnerabilities in vetting and resettlement processes, the Biden-Harris administration failed to prioritize Americans’ safety and, once again, projected weakness on the global stage,” Grassley said in a statement. 

House Republican Conference Chair Elise Stefanik of New York also blamed the administration.

“Nasir Ahmad Tawhedi was flown into the U.S. by Joe Biden and Kamala Harris. Their catastrophic America Last foreign policy has made America less safe,” she said in a statement.

Concerns about vetting have been voiced by the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) internal watchdog. In 2022, the DHS Office of Inspector General released a report in which it said it found that officials “did not always have critical data to properly screen, vet, or inspect the evacuees.”

DHS ANNOUNCES TERROR BAR EXEMPTIONS FOR AFGHAN EVACUEES WHO WORKED FOR TALIBAN-ERA CIVIL SERVICE 

“As a result, DHS may have admitted or paroled individuals into the United States who pose a risk to national security and the safety of local communities,” the report said.

A Pentagon inspector general report the same year revealed that at least 50 evacuees were brought to the U.S. whose information indicated “potentially serious security concerns” and that officials were unable to locate dozens with derogatory information.

A 2024 report found “vulnerabilities” in the processes of two DHS agencies for resolving derogatory information. It also found that DHS did not have a process for monitoring the expiration of the two-year parole period and guidelines for determining “re-parole” for parolees are “undefined.”

But the Biden administration has repeatedly defended the vetting process, arguing that there is a multilayered process that includes classified and unclassified vetting, including against Pentagon and FBI databases as well as Interpol notices and other information. It previously pushed back against the 2022 IG report, saying it failed to acknowledge an “unprecedented whole of government effort” and for seeing only one part of the screening process.

“Afghan evacuees who sought to enter the United States were subject to multi layered screening and vetting against intelligence, law enforcement, and counterterrorism information,” a DHS spokesperson said on Wednesday. “If new information emerges after arrival, appropriate action is taken.” 

Officials have noted that vetting is a “point-in-time” check of current information. It is still not clear if there was any derogatory information on Tawhedi  before he arrived.

The arrest comes among broader concerns about the potential for terrorism in the U.S. by foreign nationals. Fox News Digital reported on Tuesday that authorities have started deporting eight Tajik nationals who came to the U.S. at the southern border and were released but later found to allegedly have ties to ISIS.

Fox News’ Louis Casiano and David Spunt, and the Associated Press contributed to this report.

President Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke by phone on Wednesday for the first time in more than 50 days. 

It came after fresh tensions emerged in their relationship: Netanyahu refused to approve his Defense Minister Yoav Gallant’s trip to the U.S. on Tuesday until Biden called him. 

The call came together in short order after that. 

Netanyahu spoke with former President Trump earlier Wednesday before he spoke with Biden. Vice President Kamala Harris joined the call along with the president. 

It comes as Israel has been weighing its options to retaliate for the barrage of missiles Iran fired toward the Jewish state last week. 

Gallant warned on Wednesday the Israeli response was sure to catch Iran by surprise. 

“As we have shown until now in this war and in all arenas – whoever attacks Israel will pay a price. Our strike will be powerful, precise, and above all – surprising. They will not understand what happened and how it happened,” he told the IDF’s intelligence unit in a briefing. 

Biden has warned Netanyahu to make sure his response is “proportional” and to avoid hitting Iran’s nuclear facilities. 

The longtime relationship between the two men soured in the months that followed the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attacks.

Further indication of their mutual disdain came on the one-year anniversary of the attacks, when Biden called Israeli President Isaac Herzog over Netanyahu. 

HOPE FADES FOR A DEAL TO BRING HOSTAGES HOME 

Since the world leaders’ last call, Israel has launched an aggressive offensive operation in Lebanon, and successfully taken out top Hezbollah leadership over a short timeframe. 

Israeli airstrikes killed the group’s leader, Hassan Nasrallah, and now his successor too, according to Netanyahu.

Netanyahu is also known to be distrusting of his defense minister, who he’s tried to fire twice. Gallant has publicly criticized Netanyahu for not articulating a postwar plan for Gaza. 

In a particularly heated April phone call, Biden asked Netanyahu, “What’s your strategy, man?” according to Washington Post journalist Bob Woodward in his new book, “War.” 

KAMALA HARRIS COURTS DISILLUSIONED ARAB AMERICANS OVER JEWISH VOTERS, RECORDS SHOW 

Netanyahu, at the time, said Israel had to go into Rafah, a Gaza-Egypt border city, that he claimed to be a Hamas stronghold. 

“Bibi, you’ve got no strategy,” Biden reportedly told Netanyahu, who he also allegedly claimed “doesn’t give a damn” about Hamas and “only about himself.”

After Israel entered Rafah, Biden said of Netanyahu: “He’s a f—ing liar.”

“That son of a b—-, Bibi Netanyahu, he’s a bad guy,” said Biden privately, according to Woodward. “He’s a bad f—ing guy!”

Biden said he felt, in Woodward’s accounting, that Netanyahu “had been lying to him regularly.” With Netanyahu “continuing to say he was going to kill every last member of Hamas.” Woodward wrote, “Biden had told him that was impossible, threatening both privately and publicly to withhold offensive U.S. weapons shipments.”

MARIETTA, Ga. – Americans living in the Atlanta suburbs appear to have little appetite for another primetime match-up between former President Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris.

“If you don’t know them by now, there ain’t no hope,” one man who declined to give his name told Fox News Digital in Acworth, Georgia, last week.

There is less than a month left until Election Day, and Georgia residents are bracing for early voting to begin in their state next week.

The Peach State is in play this election after President Biden flipped it blue for the first time in years during the 2020 race, winning over Trump by less than 1%.

GEORGIA GOP CHAIR SHARES 2-PRONGED ELECTION STRATEGY AS TRUMP WORKS TO WIN BACK PEACH STATE

A not insignificant amount of that support came from Cobb County, Georgia, where Biden won by an even wider margin than he did statewide.

And like Biden and Trump in 2020, the ex-president and Harris have only had one debate.

Trump has refused to participate in a second one, while Harris and her allies are eager for another head-to-head.

But people in Cobb County who spoke with Fox News Digital seemed unenthusiastic about the prospect of a second debate.

“I really don’t think so,” Howard Segan, who spoke with Fox News Digital outside of a Marietta Whole Foods, answered when asked if Americans needed another debate. “I don’t think Trump is a very good debater at all. And I think [Harris is] an empty suit.”

Another man who identified himself as Scott noted his grandfather was involved in politics and suggested he himself was disenchanted with its pageantry at an early age.

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“I realized most of it is staged anyway, so I really don’t care about the debates,” Scott said.

A woman named Deb who is opposed to Harris said, “She says nothing, it’s word salad. So what’s there to debate? She can’t even answer questions.”

Meanwhile, a man in Marietta named Toli said he “honestly” would like to see another debate but saw little value in the exercise.

“It doesn’t really matter at this point, because people are going to have their own views, no matter what they do,” Toli said. “Maybe 20 years ago we had debates where people watched, they were riveted to the screen trying to figure out what their opinions are. But now it’s so polarized. Because of social media and everything else, people get their opinion of the candidate… every day.”

Sandy, one of the few people who spoke with Fox News Digital who did want a second debate, suggested she was not excited about either of its would-be participants.

FORMER REPUBLICAN US SENATOR ENDORSES KAMALA HARRIS, SAYS ELECTION OFFERS ‘STARK CHOICE’

“I just think a lot of people have questions,” Sandy explained.

“I mean, [Harris has] just touched the surface, and if she wants the votes, she needs to come forth with what she’s going to do, actually do. And also with Trump, I mean, he doesn’t put out any information other than hate.”

A recent Fox News poll taken late last month found Harris with a slim three-point lead over Trump in Georgia.

Peach State residents are heading to the polls for early voting from Oct. 15 through Nov. 1.

Fulton County, Georgia, sued the Georgia State Elections Board this week in what was the latest development in an unfolding battle between the two entities over how to monitor and ensure election integrity in November.

The county board filed the lawsuit on Monday, The Associated Press reported, asking a judge to declare that the state board lacks the authority to force it “to accept, and Fulton County to pay for, additional monitors for the 2024 election that have been hand-picked by certain State Election Board members.”

“The State Election Board has no statutory authority to force the Fulton County BRE [Board of Registration and Elections] to accept, and Fulton County to pay for, election monitors hand-picked by the State Election Board,” the lawsuit says.

On Tuesday, the Georgia State Elections board responded by voting 3-2 to subpoena a trove of 2020 election documents from the Fulton County clerk of court, the Atlanta Journal Constitution reported.

‘TOUGH CALL’: ATLANTA VOTERS SPLIT ON WHO WILL WIN GEORGIA

The State Election Board in May found that the county violated some parts of the state election code. It voted to issue a letter of reprimand, which included instructions for an agreement on a mutually acceptable monitor to be entered into by the board’s August meeting.

However, the county and state election boards have been unable to reach an agreement. The county favors a team it has already approved that was proposed by Ryan Germany, a former chief lawyer for the secretary of state’s office, and the Atlanta-based Carter Center. The Trump-endorsed majority on the State Election Board has proposed an alternative slate that includes people who questioned the results of the 2020 presidential election.

An Aug. 19 legal opinion, written by state Attorney General Chris Carr and obtained by The Associated Press, says final decisions of the State Election Board are “preclusive” and that “re-litigation of all claims which have already been adjudicated, or which could have been adjudicated, is therefore prohibited.” Fulton County attorneys assert that the approval of the motion at the May meeting and resulting reprimand meant the case is closed and cannot be reopened, and that “argument is likely correct,” Carr wrote.

GOV. KEMP SUSPENDS GEORGIA MAYOR CHARGED WITH LEAVING ALCOHOL IN DITCH FOR INMATES

When asked about the attorney general’s guidance, Johnston said, “That was opinion. That’s not a legal finding. That was their advice or opinion. We have different opinions about that.”

The Republican majority on the State Election Board repeatedly said during meetings in August that they did not approve of the county’s team. However, the county board reaffirmed its selection, and county commissioners voted to approve the contract days later.

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A Republican official told Fox News Digital that what the Georgia State Election Board is doing is “delegitimizing Republican governance in the state.”

“They don’t know what they’re doing. Today hit the high water mark when they investigated a county over voter challenge rejections that didn’t have any voter challenges, period.”

‘The recent development comes a week after the Georgia State Election Board sparked controversy by voting 3-2 to approve a rule that requires poll workers to count the number of paper ballots by hand after voting is completed in a decision that was opposed by the state attorney general’s office, the secretary of state’s office and an association of county election officials but supported by many conservatives.

The new rule, according to the Associated Press, requires that the number of paper ballots — not the number of votes — be counted at each polling place by three separate poll workers until all three counts are the same. If a scanner has more than 750 ballots inside at the end of voting, the poll manager can decide to begin the count the following day.

The Associated Press contributed to this report. 

New polling shows former President Trump has a 9-point lead over Vice President Kamala Harris when it comes to handling the economy, the single most important issue for voters going into the 2024 presidential election.

The new poll from Gallup found that 54% of Americans say Trump is more capable of handling the economy, compared to 45% for Harris. The economy ranked as the most important issue for Republicans and for all Americans, but it didn’t rate in the top five for Democrats.

Veteran Democratic strategist Hank Sheinkopf says Democrats are simply confident in Harris’ plan to handle the economy.

“Independents are looking for a reason to vote for a candidate, but they just haven’t found it yet,” Sheinkopf told Fox News Digital in an interview. “Americans focus on the issue most important to them in every election. This time it’s their pockets. And they are still feeling pain no matter what candidates say. Time is running out for Harris to prove she can make it better.”

He went on to argue that the economy is no less politicized an issue as immigration or abortion, suggesting polarization has an outsized impact on voter’s opinions on the economy. 

WHAT THE LATEST FOX NEWS POLLS IN THE 2024 ELECTION SHOW

For Republicans, the top issues after the economy are immigration, terrorism and national security, crime and taxes.

For Democrats, the top issue is democracy in the U.S., followed by the type of Supreme Court justices a candidate would pick, abortion, health care and education.

Trump also holds leads over Harris on immigration (54%-45%) and foreign affairs (52%-47%). Harris holds her own leads on the top issues for Democrats, however, including health care (54%-44%), abortion (56%-40%) and climate change (61%-35%).

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

Climate change ranks as the least important issue for Republicans, with just 5% saying it is a priority. The least important issues for Democrats are the federal budget deficit and trade with other nations, both tied at 16%.

Gallup conducted the poll from Sept. 16-28, surveying 941 registered voters via telephone interviews on cellphones and landlines. The poll advertises a margin of error of 4%.

A New York Times/Siena College survey released on Tuesday found that Harris has a slight lead over Trump in a national poll. The survey found that Harris stands at 49% support among likely voters nationwide, with the former president and GOP nominee at 46%.

According to the poll, Harris stands at 47% and Trump at 44% in a multi-candidate field. Green Party candidate Jill Stein and Libertarian Chase Oliver each grabbed 1%, with roughly 7% supporting another candidate or undecided.

Harris’ edge – which is within the survey’s sampling error – is up from the New York Times/Siena poll from last month, when the two major party nominees were deadlocked at 47%.

Fox News’ Paul Steinhauser and Ashley Papa contributed to this report

Former President Donald Trump will hold a rally this month at New York City’s Madison Square Garden (MSG), Fox News Digital has confirmed. 

The rally is set to take place on Oct. 27, multiple sources told Fox News Digital, just nine days before Election Day.

The event is expected to be first-come, first-serve, and campaign officials are expecting massive attendance. 

“Like Coachella and others to come, MSG is because we are adding some very big venues because we are seeing very high interest in attending events,” a campaign source told Fox News Digital. 

TRUMP VOWS TO ‘SAVE’ DEEP-BLUE NEW YORK CITY IN MASSIVE, HISTORIC BRONX RALLY

MSG is a 19,500-seat venue. 

This will be Trump’s second big rally in the state of New York. 

TRUMP ADVISER UNPACKS WHY FORMER PRESIDENT IS HOLDING RALLY IN DEEP-BLUE STATE WEEKS FROM ELECTION

Trump held a rally at the Nassau Coliseum in Uniondale, Long Island, last month. More than 60,000 tickets were requested, but the venue only seats 16,000. Thousands of supporters who were not admitted to the venue watched him speak on large screens outside. 

Trump also held a rally in the Bronx over the summer at Crotona Park, which had a permit allowance of 3,500 people. The New York Post reported the Bronx rally drew up to 10,000 supporters. 

Meanwhile, Trump has drawn massive crowds for his latest rallies, with more than 20,000 people attending his second rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, over the weekend. 

The campaign also said they saw more than 100,000 people at the former president’s rally in Wildwood, New Jersey, in May. 

The Garden, which is home of the New York Knicks and New York Rangers, hosted the Republican National Convention in 2004 and the Democratic National Convention in 1924, 1976, 1980 and 1992. 

TRUMP HOLDS MASSIVE BEACHFRONT CAMPAIGN RALLY FOR RAUCOUS NEW JERSEY CROWD: ‘WE’RE GOING TO WIN’

Trump, earlier this year, during a campaign stop at an Upper Manhattan bodega, said he would “straighten out New York.” 

“We’re going to come in — number one, you have to stop crime, and we’re going to let the police do their job. They have to be given back their authority. They have to be able to do their job,” Trump said. “And we’re going to come into New York. We’re making a big play for New York, other cities, too. But this city, I love this city.” 

Trump said New York has “gotten so bad in the last three years, four years.” 

“And we’re going to straighten New York out. So running for president, we’re putting a big hit in New York — we could win New York,” Trump said.

The New York Post first reported that Trump would rally at MSG. 

While it is unlikely deep blue New York flips red in the White House race, another rally in the state may help Republicans down the ballot, as they try to hold on to their House of Representatives majority in November’s elections.

Vice President Kamala Harris dismissed hundreds of drug convictions and cases when she served as San Francisco district attorney amid an evidence lab scandal involving cocaine use that rocked her office.

Ahead of her run for the White House, Harris’ district attorney’s office was hit by a scandal in 2010 involving a lab technician with a criminal background who allegedly took cocaine home from the evidence lab and possibly tainted hundreds of other cases. The scandal unfolded as Harris hit the campaign trail to become the Golden State’s attorney general. 

The lab tech had reportedly become unreliable at work in the weeks leading up to the alleged cocaine theft, with the DA’s lead drug prosecutor sounding the alarm in a 2009 email to a colleague, stating the lab tech had become “increasingly UNDEPENDABLE for testimony” and that the situation at the lab was “ridiculous” and jeopardized drug cases, SF Gate reported at the time. Lab techs frequently testified when San Francisco prosecutors headed to court. 

The issue that plagued Harris’ office was that the DA team did not inform defense attorneys of the issues involving the technician and cocaine. Since the Supreme Court’s 1963 ruling in Brady v. Maryland, prosecutors have been required to turn over evidence that could exonerate suspects.

FLASHBACK: DA HARRIS’ PLAN TO PROSECUTE DRUG DEALERS STARTING ON THEIR 3RD OFFENSE SHOT DOWN BY POLICE

In Harris’ office, however, the team had no written procedure on how to handle “Brady material” or “Brady implications,” sparking a scandal that dragged out for months in 2010. Harris said amid the scandal that she was not made aware of concerns surrounding the drug lab and the technician until February 2010, months after lead drug prosecutor Sharon Woo sent an email in November to a colleague outlining the “ridiculous” state of the lab, SF Gate reported. 

Harris is currently running for the White House against former President Donald Trump, and she has heavily relied on her background as a law and order candidate while citing her years as a prosecutor in Alameda County, San Francisco and as attorney general of the state. 

Fox News Digital spoke to Heritage Foundation senior legal fellow Zack Smith, a former assistant United States attorney, who recently published a report on Harris’ “pro-crime policies” that highlighted the 2010 DA scandal. 

‘SICKENING’: VP HARRIS SLAMMED BY SCHOOL SHOOTING VICTIMS’ FAMILIES OVER RECENTLY UNEARTHED COMMENTS

“I think it shows incompetence by Kamala Harris as district attorney. This is the basic blocking attack that is expected of a DA is to make sure that the rights of criminal defendants are being protected and that the community is being kept safe. And she failed at both of those basic tasks,” Smith told Fox News Digital.

Smith explained that informing defense attorneys about issues in the lab and potentially tainted evidence is “prosecutor 101,” noting that Harris had already served as DA for about six years and still did not have a Brady policy in place. 

“This is a big, big deal. It’s kind of every prosecutor’s nightmare scenario, is getting tagged with a Brady violation, because not only does it put your case in jeopardy, but you’re also essentially being accused of committing an ethical and constitutional violation as well,” he said. 

“I can’t emphasize enough, this is prosecutor 101, it’s the basic blocking attack that any district attorney is going to be required to do. And so the fact that Kamala Harris, at that point, had been in office for a number of years that she didn’t have a policy in place to deal with to deal with this type of situation is astounding.”

Harris attempted to pass blame for the issue on the police department, which oversaw the lab, and initially said only about 20 cases would be affected. The DA’s office ultimately dismissed 600-1,000 drug cases, including convictions where criminals were already serving their sentence, according to the Washington Post. 

VOTERS REPORT KAMALA HARRIS IS MORE RADICAL THAN TRUMP: ‘TOO LIBERAL OR PROGRESSIVE’

The lab tech, who had been convicted of a 2007 domestic altercation, ultimately retired in March 2010, admitting to police that she consumed drugs from the police lab, according to SF Gate at the time. Police were aware of the woman’s criminal background and admitted they made a mistake not informing the DA’s office about her previous conviction, SF Gate reported. 

The tech’s supervisor told authorities that cocaine was missing from several cases the tech handled. The police department, which was led by current Los Angeles DA George Gascon at the time, shut the lab down after learning of the allegations, SF Gate reported. 

In May 2010, a superior court judge excoriated Harris and put blame for the scandal squarely on her shoulders. 

Harris “failed to disclose information that clearly should have been disclosed,” Superior Court Judge Anne-Christine Massullo wrote in a decision in 2010. 

Amid the scandal, drug suspects called on the judge to dismiss their cases, sparking the DA’s top narcotics prosecutor, Woo, to testify before the court to answer questions surrounding the handling of evidence and the drug cases. Woo testified that the DA’s office had no written guidelines on how to handle Brady material and that Harris relied on the police department to let her know when evidence was exculpatory, the Washington Post reported in 2019. 

A court transcript between Woo and Massullo showed the judge was shocked. 

HARRIS PROMOTED BAIL FUND DURING HEIGHT OF DEFUND-THE-POLICE PUSH, CONTRARY TO SAYING ‘NOT TRUE’ IN DEBATE

“It’s not the police department who has the affirmative obligation. It’s the district attorney. That’s who the courts look to. That’s who the community looks to, to make sure all of that information constitutionally required is provided to the defense. . . . What I am gathering from what you are saying is that there is no formal way for your office.”

“In terms of a written policy, I don’t think there’s a written policy,” Woo responded. 

After dismissing an estimated 1,000 drug cases and convictions surrounding the scandal, Harris was elected California attorney general during the 2010 election cycle. She parted with the DA’s office in January 2011, when she was sworn in as the state’s top cop. 

In 2019, when Harris unsuccessfully launched a campaign for president before becoming President Biden’s running mate, she took ownership of the scandal. 

HARRIS LEAVES OUT DEADLY BOTCHED AFGHANISTAN WITHDRAWAL IN SOARING PRO-MILITARY DNC SPEECH

“No excuses,” Harris told the Washington Post. “The buck stops with me.”

When asked why she had not implemented a Brady policy across her six-year tenure in the office, Harris said she had worked to implement it for about two years but did not complete the guidelines over complications regarding police personnel information, according to the outlet. 

“I cared a lot about working out a Brady policy. … I was saying in my office, we have to have one. It was a big controversy,” she told WaPo. “We were working on this, and it was much too slow. It took too long.” 

Fox News Digital reached out to the campaign for additional comment on the matter. 

Harris’ office did implement a Brady policy following the scandal, which she said was subsequently lauded as “a model” for other district attorneys. 

“It took too long to implement, but I am proud we implemented a Brady policy in the D.A.’s office that was later called ‘a model for other jurisdictions’” by the California Supreme Court, Harris said in a comment to the Wall Street Journal in 2019. 

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

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has less than 10% of front-line staff available for deployment amid preparations for the second major hurricane to hit the Southeast this month, according to the agency’s daily operations briefing.

FEMA released a daily briefing on Wednesday revealing the agency had only 8%, or 1,115, FEMA staff members currently available as preparations continue for Hurricane Milton, which is expected to hit Florida in the coming days. This number represents a significant drop in availability from a year prior, after an operations briefing from late September 2023 showed the agency had 20% of the same staff available for deployment. 

A FEMA spokesperson indicated to Fox News Digital that the availability numbers released by the agency are only in reference to the cadre of staffers who are part of FEMA’s incident management core capacity. They are the first line of FEMA staffers to deploy in any disaster. 

Meanwhile, the FEMA spokesperson pointed out the agency has a total workforce of 22,000 staffers it can tap, as well as resources from other agencies such as the Department of Homeland Security.  

The fear of front-line FEMA staffing comes amid other concerns about FEMA’s response to Hurricanes Helene and Milton, including claims that the agency spent its money on housing for migrants and is blocking private relief distributors from entering areas in North Carolina impacted by Helene.

FEMA HEAD DENIES AGENCY IS SHORT ON MONEY FOR DISASTER RELIEF BECAUSE FUNDS WENT TO ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS  

In May 2023, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) published a report indicating that, as of the start of Fiscal Year 2022, FEMA was understaffed by 35% with an overall staffing gap of approximately 6,200 employees. FEMA officials attributed the shortage to “responsibilities due to COVID-19 and managing the rising disaster activity during the year, which increased burnout and employee attrition,” according to the GAO.

With Hurricane Helene making a destructive and deadly sweep across the south, FEMA has been under high pressure to deliver aid to those in need. In the latest update on FEMA worker numbers, the agency indicated more than 5,600 personnel from across the federal workforce have been deployed, including more than 1,500 from FEMA. Additionally, the agency noted it has shipped more than 11.5 million meals, more than 12.6 million liters of water, 150 generators and more than 400,000 tarps to the region, while also helping thousands of Helene survivors with more than $45 million in “flexible, upfront” funding.

Despite the current staffing shortage, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorks insisted during an interview with MSNBC that Americans “should rest confident that FEMA has the resources” necessary to recover from Helene and prepare for Milton.

“We have search and rescue teams. The Army Corps of Engineers are there. We are ready,” Mayorkas said of Florida, in reference to the federal government’s preparation for Milton. “FEMA likes to say it is, ‘FEMA-flexible.’ We can respond to multiple events at a single time.”

VIDEO RESURFACES SHOWING FEMA PRIORITIZING EQUITY OVER HELPING GREATEST NUMBER OF PEOPLE IN DISASTER RELIEF

However, despite the optimistic response to concerns about FEMA resources, Mayorkas did say last week during a formal press conference that “FEMA does not have the funds to make it through the [hurricane] season.”

Questions about FEMA funding have been exacerbated by suggestions that the agency was giving disaster relief money to migrants. FEMA has sent aid to migrants, but the money was part of the Shelter and Services Program, which remains separate from disaster relief funds. House Speaker Mike Johnson, R–La., acknowledged that the funds were part of a separate program unrelated to disaster relief, but noted that he didn’t think the agency should be involved in the migrant crisis.

SPEAKER JOHNSON ADDRESSES CLAIMS FEMA DIVERTED FUNDS TO IMMIGRATION EFFORTS: ‘AMERICAN PEOPLE ARE DISGUSTED’

“The streams of funding are different, that is not an untrue statement, of course,” Johnson told Fox News’ Shannon Bream. “But the problem is with the American people, see, and what they’re frustrated by, is that FEMA should be involved.”

Concerns that private relief distributors are being blocked from entering parts of North Carolina that were impacted have also circulated. “Some of the reports that I’ve received through some of my contacts who are trying to provide assistance… they’re being told that they need special requirements from FEMA in order to enter these certain areas,” said Joe Rieck, vice president of My Patriot Supply, an emergency preparedness company. 

Before Helene made landfall, Congress passed a stopgap spending bill that included money for FEMA’s Disaster Relief Fund, but excluded billions in additionally requested supplemental disaster funding. On Friday, President Biden wrote a letter to Congress urging them to provide additional funding because “while FEMA’s Disaster Relief Fund has the resources it requires right now to meet immediate needs, the fund does face a shortfall at the end of the year,” he said. 

“Without additional funding, FEMA would be required to forego longer-term recovery activities in favor of meeting urgent needs,” Biden added. “The Congress should provide FEMA additional resources to avoid forcing that kind of unnecessary trade-off and to give the communities we serve the certainty of knowing that help will be ongoing, both for the short- and long-term.”

When pressed about reconvening the House for a special session to approve additional funding, Johnson suggested FEMA has the funds it needs right now and, in order to approve additional funding, Congress needs requests from individual states to tabulate how much to provide. 

“The way the process works is the states, local authorities, they band together, they assess the damages, they send that to the federal authorities and it’s all worked through in that manner,” Johnson responded when pressed about whether he had plans to reconvene Congress for the matter. “It will take some time to tabulate this storm – it’s one of the biggest in our history – so a lot of that work is being done immediately. I think the timing of that will probably correspond when Congress is expected to return to session right after the election.”

For a year now, freeing the hostages taken by Hamas has been a top goal for Israel, but 101 still remain unaccounted for. Hope of a deal to get them home in the foreseeable future is waning quickly. 

Of the 240 people taken hostage from Israel by Hamas on Oct. 7, 2023, 117 have either been freed during temporary truces or rescued during Israel Defense Forces (IDF) missions. Dozens of the 101 who have not been freed are believed to be dead. 

Four Americans – Keith Siegel, 65, Sagui Dekel-Chen, 36, Omer Neutra, 22, and Edan Alexander, 21 – remain trapped among them.  

Many hostage families have lost faith in the U.S. and Israeli governments. “We don’t believe that Prime Minister [Benjamin] Netanyahu’s priority is to bring home the hostages,” Hannaha Siegel, Keith Siegel’s niece, told CNN on Monday. 

“The ability to negotiate with [Hamas Leader Yaya] Sinwar to try to get the hostages that remain alive out is extremely unlikely,” said Mark Schwartz, a retired Army general and former U.S. security coordinator for Israel and the Palestinian Authority.

“There’s no strategic benefit at all for Hamas. The hostages are useful human shields and getting several hundred Palestinians out of prisons, big deal,” he said, referring to a potential prisoner exchange. “That’s not going to extend the life of Hamas leadership that resides inside Gaza.” 

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President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris have for months implored Netanyahu to agree to a cease-fire deal that would see the hostages returned home. 

However, as war spread from Gaza to Lebanon to Tel Aviv – and with Israel considering an aggressive response to Iran’s most recent missile attack – U.S. calls for a cease-fire increasingly rattle around an empty echo chamber. 

“The mood is poor right now,” said Michael Makovsky, president of the Jewish Institute for National Security of America.

“What’s in Sinwar’s interest to make a deal? Hamas’ military capability is pretty much destroyed. I don’t think he thinks he’s ever going to get out alive. I don’t think he necessarily wants to leave Gaza alive anyway.”

Sinwar, Hamas’ shadowy leader and the architect of the Oct. 7 attacks, is believed to be alive and still committed to the destruction of Israel. 

HARRIS WON’T SAY WHETHER BIDEN ADMIN HAS ANY ‘SWAY’ OVER NETANYAHU

On the eve of the anniversary of the attacks, Netanyahu held his first meeting on the plight of the hostages in a month. According to The Times of Israel, his officials warned him intel on the hostages was quickly drying up. They reportedly told him they believed half of the hostages remained alive and were subject to increasingly squalid conditions. They also warned that Hamas militants were under orders to execute them if they felt the IDF was closing in on their position. 

Hamas executed six hostages in a tunnel in Rafah in August as the IDF drew near. 

“You want to hold out hope for someone to be rescued, but for a hostage deal, it’s not looking good,” said Makovsky. 

“I think Netanyahu should have demonstrated more sympathy towards the hostages early on, and then it became kind of entrenched that half the Israeli electorate didn’t like him anyway, so he didn’t care.

“In fairness to him, he was the prime minister that cut what turned out to be a terrible deal – which they released over 1,000 Palestinian prisoners – for one Israeli hostage in Gaza,” added Makovsky. “One of those prisoners was Sinwar.”

In 2011, Israel agreed to an exchange where it released 1,027 Palestinian prisoners – including Sinwar – for Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit. Sinwar was 22 years into four life sentences he received in Israel for orchestrating the killing of two Israeli soldiers and four Palestinians he believed to be collaborators in 1989. 

Gershon Baskin, who led negotiations on that deal, said he believes Hamas is ready to strike an agreement – and it is not the one U.S. officials have worked on for months. 

“It would end the war in three weeks with an Israeli withdrawal from Gaza. They would release and return all the hostages, military, civilian, alive and dead, and there would be an agreed-upon release of Palestinian prisoners. Hamas has agreed to me in writing that they would transfer the governance in Gaza to a civilian, technocratic, professional government, which they will not be part of.” 

Critics of such ideas say they fall short of eliminating Hamas, which could rebuild itself and once again threaten Israel.

Baskin does not work on behalf of Israel or Hamas in any official capacity, but he said U.S. officials are aware of the offer and need to pressure Netanyahu and Hamas to work it out between themselves. 

In May, Biden unveiled a three-phase deal that would see Hamas return 18–32 hostages in exchange for 800 Palestinian prisoners and a six-week pause in fighting. 

“It’s a bad deal, and I know that the American leadership – [CIA Director Bill] Burns and [White House Middle East coordinator Brett] McGurk and others have invested themselves deeply in these negotiations, but they need to simply recognize that it’s not going anywhere,” Baskin said. “It’s a dead deal, and they need to pick up another deal that might actually work.” 

Efforts to reach the White House and the Israeli government for comment for purposes of this story were unsuccessful at press time.