Vice President Kamala Harris took aim at Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida on Monday for reportedly not taking her calls regarding federal storm relief efforts as a second powerful hurricane bears down on Florida.

“People are in desperate need of support right now and playing political games at this moment in these crisis situations…is just utterly irresponsible, and it is selfish,” Harris charged on Monday. “It is about political gamesmanship, instead of doing the job that you took an oath to do, which is to put the people first.”

The vice president’s comments came a couple of hours after reports from NBC and later ABC News that the Florida governor was not taking calls from Harris regarding storm recovery efforts, citing unnamed aides to the governor who said the calls seemed political in nature.

HEAD HERE FOR THE LATEST FOX NEWS WEATHER UPDATES ON HURRICANE MILTON

Asked about ther reports at a hurricane news conference, DeSantis said he wasn’t aware Harris was trying to reach him.

“I didn’t know that she had called. I’m not sure who they called. They didn’t call me,” he said. “It wasn’t anything that anybody in my office did, in terms of saying it was political.”

CLICK HERE FOR UP-TO-DATE FOX NEWS REPORTING ON THE STORMS

Asked again about the report, the governor reiterated “I didn’t know that she had called.”

The dispute comes as Hurricane Milton, now an extremely dangerous Category 5 storm, is on course to slam into Florida Wednesday evening.

Milton is bearing down on Florida as the death toll rises and roughly a quarter of a million people remain without power or running water a week and a half after Hurricane Helen tore a path of destruction through Florida, Georgia, South and North Carolina, Tennessee, and parts of Virginia.

President Biden made stops last week in the Carolinas, Georgia, and Florida to survey storm damage from Hurricane Helene. While Biden was in Florida, DeSantis was holding a separate press event across the state in another area damaged from the storm.

“We were in Florida, we invited the governor of Florida to come, it was his decision not to attend,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Monday. “The president has reached out around Hurricane Helene. He reached out. It is up to the governor, it is really up to the governor.”

The White House said hours later that the president held separate calls with DeSantis and Tampa Mayor Jane Castor “to get a firsthand report on recovery efforts for Hurricane Helene, and to discuss preparations for Hurricane Milton.”

According to the White House, Biden urged the governor and the mayor to “call him directly if there is anything that can be done to further support the response and recovery efforts.”

Asked about the federal response, DeSantis said during his news conference that “we have gotten what we need from the feds….the president has approved what we asked for….I’m thankful for that.”

“Everything we’ve asked for from President Biden, he’s approved,” DeSantis highlighted.

With four weeks to go until Election Day in November and Harris and former President Trump locked in a bitter margin-of-error showdown in the race to succeed Biden in the White House, and with two of the hardest-hit states from Helene — North Carolina and Georgia — among the seven key battlegrounds that will likely determine the outcome of the 2024 election – the politics of federal disaster relief are once again front and center on the campaign trail.

Trump, for a week and a half, has been repeatedly attacking Biden and Harris over the federal response to Hurricane Helene. Harris, on Monday, clapped back, accusing Trump of pushing “a lot of mis and disinformation.” 

Fox News Nick Rojas contributed to this story.

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

Vice President Kamala Harris said political candidates should have to “earn” support from voters, despite previous criticism for becoming the Democratic presidential nominee without having to run in any primary election in 2024. 

Harris was asked about why voters still have reservations about her during a “60 Minutes” interview that aired Monday night. 

“A quarter of registered voters still say they don’t know you, they don’t know what makes you tick,” “60 Minutes,” journalist Bill Whitaker asked during a sitdown interview. “Why do you think that is? What’s the disconnect?”

BILL MAHER TRASHES KAMALA HARRIS FOR BEING ‘FULL OF S—‘ ON ISRAEL, MIDDLE EAST: ‘JUST SHUT UP’

“It’s an election Bill, and I take it seriously that I have to earn everyone’s vote,” Harris replied. “This is an election for President of the United States. No one should be able to take for granted that they can just declare themselves a candidate and automatically receive support.”

“You have to earn it and that’s what I intend to do,” she added. 

The Democratic Party has been accused by critics of anointing Harris as the party’s nominee after Biden abruptly ended his re-election bid following his first debate against former President Trump. 

Many Republicans and groups like Black Lives Matter accused the Democratic Party of installing Harris as its nominee and sidestepping the voting process. The Democratic Party coalesced around her, winning enough delegate support to secure the nomination at the Democratic National Convention in August. 

In response to the criticism, former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said the party’s presidential nominating process was “open,” and Harris “won it,” despite the absence of any such contest. 

Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson, on Monday, compared the viewpoint of his critics who oppose school spending to that of the confederacy when it came to freeing slaves.

“When our people wanted to be liberated and emancipated in this country, the argument was, ‘you can’t free Black people because it would be too expensive,’” Johnson said. “They said it would be fiscally irresponsible for this country to liberate Black people.”

During a press conference at a South Side church on Monday, Johnson touted that when he ran for mayor, he promised to transform the city’s public education system.

ENTIRE CHICAGO SCHOOL BOARD TO RESIGN OVER TEACHERS UNION DISPUTE WITH DEM MAYOR: ‘DEEPLY ALARMING’

“I’m a man of my word, and that means bold leadership in a moment that doesn’t nibble around the edges and look for incremental gain,” he said. “Our people in this city are tired of political leaders that want the status quo to nibble around the edges, and then when children don’t get what they deserve, they blame the very communities that they’ve divested in. Not on my watch.”

Johnson said the status quo and mistakes of the past that left students behind are not going to continue.

“And then the so-called experts, the so-called fiscally responsible stewards are making the same argument. When our people wanted to be liberated and emancipated in this country, the argument was, ‘you can’t free Black people because it would be too expensive,’” Johnson said. “They said it would be fiscally irresponsible for this country to liberate Black people.

“And now you have detractors making the same argument of the confederacy when it comes to public education in this system,” he added. “These are the people who package these gimmicks, lied to our people, stole money from our people, refuse to pay into the pension system, left the taxpayers with the bill, and for me to fix it.”

CHICAGO SCHOOL BOARD APPROVES MEASURE TO DO AWAY WITH ‘RANKING’ SCHOOLS AFTER ‘LONGSTANDING STRUCTURAL RACISM’ 

Johnson vowed to build a world-class school district rather than leave students behind and fire teachers and staff.

“The city leaders have long resisted investing in our children. I am no longer going to accept the status quo,” he said. “We have schools right now who do not have dollars for buses to take their kids to sporting events. We have a system right now that can’t adequately bus children to the very spaces that they say they believe in, and so that is why I was elected to fight and fight.”

During the press conference, Johnson introduced six new nominees for the school board, noting he would name a seventh at a later date.

STUDENTS LEFT BEHIND AS CHICAGO HIGH SCHOOL SUFFERS FROM STAFFING ISSUES, TEACHER ABSENCES: REPORT 

The mayor referred to his six new school board nominees as members, though he said they are still being vetted as a formality. Once the vetting is complete, Johnson’s nominees could remain on the board when it triples in size in January and changes to more of a hybrid model that includes 11 mayoral appointees and 10 elected members.

“I’m confident that these new candidates will work to lead CPS into the world-class school system that our children deserve,” Johnson said, referring to Chicago Public Schools. “I will continue to nominate Chicagoans who are dedicated to meeting the needs of our students.”

Johnson has tried to oust the district’s CEO, Pedro Martinez, who was named to his position in 2021 by Johnson’s predecessor, then-Mayor Lori Lightfoot.

As a former Chicago Teachers Union organizer, Johnson has clashed with Martinez over the best way to close gaps in the district’s nearly $10 billion budget. Martinez has refused to resign from his post, saying the district needs stability.

On Friday, all seven board members announced they would resign from their posts by the end of the month.

Johnson handpicked all the outgoing members in 2023, just months after he took office.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

The Georgia Supreme Court on Monday stopped a lower court’s ruling from last week that allowed abortions up to 22 weeks, as opposed to six weeks, as it considers an appeal filed by the state.

The order from the state Supreme Court came a week after Fulton County Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney ruled that abortions must be regulated the way they were before the “Heartbeat Law” went into effect, meaning abortions could be allowed until the 22-week mark.

The Associated Press reported that Justice John J. Ellington argued against McBurney’s ruling, saying the case “should not be predetermined in the State’s favor before the appeal is even docketed.”

“The State should not be in the business of enforcing laws that have been determined to violate fundamental rights guaranteed to millions of individuals under the Georgia Constitution,” Ellington wrote. “The ‘status quo’ that should be maintained is the state of the law before the challenged laws took effect.”

GEORGIA JUDGE OVERTURNS STATE’S 6-WEEK ‘HEARTBEAT’ ABORTION LAW, CALLS IT ‘UNCONSTITUTIONAL’

Gov. Brian Kemp, a Republican, signed the “Heartbeat” abortion bill, also known as the Living Infants Fairness and Equality Act, into law in 2019. The law made abortions after the six-week mark illegal.

McBurney called the law “unconstitutional.”

“The authors of our Constitutions, state and federal, entrusted to future generations a charter protecting the right of all persons to enjoy liberty as we learn its meaning,” McBurney wrote in his final order last week. “A review of our higher courts’ interpretations of ‘liberty’ demonstrates that liberty in Georgia includes in its meaning, in its protections, and in its bundle of rights the power of a woman to control her own body, to decide what happens to it and in it, and to reject state interference with her healthcare choices.

GEORGIA GOV BRIAN KEMP SIGNS CONTROVERSIAL ‘HEARTBEAT’ BILL INTO LAW

“That power is not, however, unlimited,” the judge added. “When a fetus growing inside a woman reaches viability, when society can assume care and responsibility for that separate life, then – and only then – may society intervene.”

McBurney continued by saying a law that prevents abortions after six weeks was inconsistent with those rights as well as the proper balance that a viability rule establishes between a woman’s rights and society’s interests in protecting and caring for unborn infants.

There were exceptions written into the law Kemp signed in 2019, including rape and incest as long as a police report was filed.

GEORGIA ABORTION LAW: A LOOK BACK AT WHAT HOLLYWOOD PRODUCTION COMPANIES HAVE SAID ABOUT FILMING IN THE STATE

The law signed by Kemp was blocked by a federal judge in October 2019 – before it went into effect – and ruled it violated the right to abortion as established by Roe v. Wade in 1973.

The Supreme Court then overturned Roe v. Wade in June 2022, clearing the way for Georgia’s law on abortion to go into effect.

McBurney, in November 2022, ruled the law was “unequivocally unconstitutional” because it was enacted in 2019 when Roe v. Wade allowed abortions after six weeks.

But in October 2023, the Georgia Supreme Court rejected the ruling in a 6-1 decision, saying McBurney was wrong.

McBurney’s ruling last week determined that the state, county, municipal and other local authorities are “enjoined” from seeking to enforce the six-week abortion law.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

FIRST ON FOX: The State Department is facing heightened pressure to disclose information regarding its climate office staff members after a new lawsuit accuses them of stonewalling. 

Power the Future (PTF), an energy watchdog group, submitted a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request for an unredacted list of former Special Presidential Envoy for Climate (SPEC) John Kerry’s staff in January.

SPEC has an estimated $13.9 million annual budget from the State Department with approval for 45 personnel, Fox News Digital previously reported, but Kerry has remained quiet about his climate staff over the years.

PTF filed a lawsuit against the State Department in February after reportedly experiencing a system of delays in the disclosure of the names and job titles of Kerry’s staff, which they said were highly redacted in its initial release. As of September, the department has reportedly not disclosed all the members of the climate office, prompting PTF to take their action a step further, Fox News Digital has learned. 

JOHN KERRY CALLS THE FIRST AMENDMENT A ‘MAJOR BLOCK’ TO STOPPING ‘DISINFORMATION’

A new PTF complaint, filed on Oct. 3, claims that the Biden administration’s “climate” operation at SPEC is displaying a “clear pattern and practice” of delayed FOIA responses. 

The lawsuit, one of 14 filed by PTF against the State Department, also names the Department of Justice and U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia on claims that they are keeping information regarding SPEC’s operations from the public. 

“For years, Power The Future has sought legitimate information under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) on John Kerry’s Climate Office, its budget, staff, mission, and outside coordination, and for years we have been told, ‘No,’” Daniel Tuner, Founder & Executive Director of PTF, told Fox News Digital.

FORMER JOHN KERRY STAFFER ARRESTED ON NANTUCKET FOR ALLEGEDLY WRITING $1.5M BAD CHECK

The suit also claims that the agency is going against congressional standards for FOIA response times.

“Despite previous lawsuits, this administration continues to coordinate a blockade keeping any information about this secret office from reaching the public, especially before the November election,” Turner said. “John Kerry is not above the law, and the weaponization of federal agencies turning them into the political machine demonstrates a level of corruption typical of the green movement but deeply disturbing in our federal government.”

The House Oversight Committee launched an investigation into the office of the SPEC regarding potential conflict of interests between the office’s staff members and “leftist environmental groups.”

Kerry stepped down as Biden’s climate envoy in January and was replaced by John Podesta.

Efforts to reach the State Department, the DOJ, the SPEC and the federal U.S. Attorney for D.C. were unsuccessful. 

Republican candidate Hung Cao, running for the Virginia Senate seat currently held by Democrat Sen. Tim Kaine, is confident he can turn Virginia red from purple.

He’s also doubling down on his controversial comments made during last week’s debate about U.S. military personnel “who are going to rip out their own guts, eat them and ask for seconds” in a bid against progressive social training in the military.

Cao, a 25-year Navy veteran endorsed by former President Trump, told Fox News Digital in an interview, “It’s about warriors that are just going to do anything to win, and those are the people we need.”

VIRGINIA SENATE DEBATE: CLINTON’S EX-RUNNING MATE KAINE AND GOP CHALLENGER CAO SPAR ON IMMIGRATION AND DEI IN THE MILITARY

“And that’s what I mean by rip out your own guts, eat them and ask for seconds. That’s a true warrior, whether it’s a alpha male or alpha female, but not some cross-dressing … drag queen,” he said. “That’s not what we need in the military. We need strong men and women that are willing to put their lives online to fight for this country.”

During last week’s debate against Kaine, Cao criticized the military’s collective failure to recently meet recruiting goals. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, fewer than 30% of Americans aged 17 to 24 were eligible to serve in the military, and this number has declined even more since then.

“There’s only so many hours in the day, and there’s so much money. And when you’re spending all your money and time to look at all these woke issues, you’re taking away from time to train for war,” Cao said.

VIRGINIA FAA CONTRACTOR ALLEGEDLY SPIED FOR IRAN, SHARED PRIVATE INFO ON US AIRPORTS, ENERGY INDUSTRY: DOJ

When it comes to flipping Virginia’s Senate seat, Cao is confident he can achieve it despite the Cook Political Report designating the seat as solid blue.

Cao argued that the Cook report is wrong, noting how he reduced Biden’s 19% margin in Northern Virginia to 6% in 2022. He highlighted that despite Trump losing Virginia by 10 points in 2010, Republicans won all statewide races in 2021 and gained a seat in 2022. In 2023, more Republicans voted than Democrats despite Democrat gerrymandering efforts.

“And so, you know, having moved north Virginia the way I did, and if the south comes out, we’re going to win this race,” he said.

VIRGINIA SCHOOL BOARD TO PAY ‘WRONGFULLY FIRED’ TEACHER WHO REFUSED TO USE STUDENT’S PREFERRED PRONOUNS

Trump has endorsed Cao, and political scientists say his path to victory is narrow, given Virginia’s moderate electorate, aversion to Trump in 2020 and Kaine’s salience with voters, according to the Associated Press.

Kaine won his last race in 2018 by 16 percentage points, although he said he was preparing for a tough race this year. The most recent Republican from Virginia to hold a Senate seat was the late John Warner, a centrist with an independent streak who last won in 2002.

Fox News’ Daniel Wallace and the Associated Press contributed to this report.

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

What’s happening…

– Trump-Vance ticket has done combined 65 interviews since August compared to 26 for Harris-Walz

–SCOTUS kicks off historic term under scrutiny amid ethics code debate

– Women for Trump, Goya team up to provide relief to Hurricane Helene victims in Georgia

Anti-Israel protesters set up an encampment outside the home of a Jewish Democratic House member on the eve of the anniversary of the Oct. 7 Hamas terror attacks, the congressman revealed on social media.

Rep. Greg Landsman, D-Ohio, posted on X overnight announcing that a group of people with their faces covered had congregated outside his house, prompting his family to get police escorts in order to exit and enter their home.

“A group of masked anti-Israel protesters assembled outside my home early Sunday morning and remained through the evening, forcing police to escort my family in and out of our house for safety,” the lawmaker declared in a post that included a photo of the group. “The protesters refuse to leave, setting up tents, cots, and sleeping bags in their encampment in the road, and are spending the night harassing my family outside our home. It’s not clear if or when they will leave,” he added in another tweet…Read more

‘WE’VE BEEN FAILED’: American father of Hamas hostage Itay Chen pushes US, Israel on ‘Plan B’ as negotiations falter…Read more

LASTING TRAUMA: One-year anniversary of Oct. 7 attacks arrives with lasting trauma for Israelis, American Jews…Read more

‘BRING THEM HOME’: Vance gives full-throated support for Israel, has choice words for Biden-Harris at Oct 7 memorial rally…Read more

TEXAS LAW UPHELD: Supreme Court denies Biden administration appeal over federal emergency abortion requirement in Texas…Read more

FIRST ON FOX: Kamala Harris courts disillusioned Arab Americans over Jewish groups, records show…Read more

1 YEAR LATER: Senate Republicans mark Oct 7 attack 1 year out as Israel-Hamas war continues…Read more

GEORGIA ON HIS MIND: Georgia GOP chair shares 2-pronged election strategy as Trump works to win back Peach State…Read more

NJ SENATE RACE: GOP New Jersey Senate candidate Curtis Bashaw nearly passes out during debate…Read more

THE EARLY VOTING BEGINS: Early voting begins in California, Texas, 5 other states…Read more

TRUMP GAINING GROUND: New poll shows who Hispanics are backing in southwest swing states…Read more

‘RADICAL AS THEY COME’: Battleground Senate candidate unloads on ‘radical’ Dem opponent for disparaging Trump voters…Read more

CHARGED UP: Michigan Dem launches anti-EV ad in bid for Senate race after voting against a bipartisan pushback on mandates…Read more

‘DOUBLE WHAMMY’: Lake rips Biden-Harris ‘double whammy’ policies affecting Arizonans : ‘Driven us over the cliff’…Read more

‘HAVEN’T DONE THAT MUCH’: ‘We haven’t done that much’: Former Estonia head says US fears of escalation with Putin are unwarranted…Read more

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

Sen. JD Vance blasted the Biden-Harris administration on Monday for not doing enough to bring home the hostages that Hamas took from Israel during the deadly Oct. 7 attack one year ago.

Vance, R-Ohio, spoke during the Philos Project’s Memorial Rally and March on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., briefly taking aim at President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris.

“I’m going to get a little political here. It is disgraceful that we have an American president and vice president who haven’t done a thing,” Vance said. “Vice President Harris, our message is, ‘Bring them home.’ Use your authority to help bring them home. We can do it. We just need real leadership.”

Iran-backed Hamas terrorists launched a massacre against Israel in the Oct. 7 attack last year, killing about 1,200 people, including 46 U.S. citizens, and taking about 250 hostages. A year later, about 100 people, including several Americans, remain in Hamas captivity, as U.S.-led efforts to negotiate a cease-fire and hostage release deal have sputtered out.

ANTI-ISRAEL AGITATORS SET UP ENCAMPMENT OUTSIDE JEWISH DEM REP’S HOME ON EVE OF OCT 7 HAMAS ATTACK ANNIVERSARY

The attack sparked a war in Gaza, where Israel has moved to eliminate Hamas and return those taken hostage. Israel’s military campaign has killed more than 41,000 Palestinians, according to the Hamas-run health ministry, which does not distinguish between militants and civilians.

Harris came under fire Sunday for a lengthy “word salad” answer in which she appeared unable to fully commit to Israel during an interview with CBS’ “60 Minutes.”

US ON ALERT FOR POSSIBLE ‘VIOLENT EXTREMIST ACTIVITY’ ON AMERICANS ONE YEAR AFTER OCT. 7

Meanwhile, Vance gave full-throated support for Israel, saying that former President Trump will make sure Israel has the right to protect itself and that the hostages are returned home.

“I speak for Donald Trump and saying that when he is president, America will protect our American Jewish brothers and sisters. We will stop funding anti-American and anti-Jewish radicals. And we are going to bring home American hostages wherever they’re held and whoever is holding them,” he said.

“We want to give Israel the right and the ability to finish what Hamas started. Israel didn’t start this. Hamas did. But Israel is going to finish it,” Vance continued.

Vice President Kamala Harris appears to prioritize winning back Arab American and Muslim voters who were dejected by President Joe Biden’s handling of war in the Middle East over courting the Jewish voter.

That’s according to an internal review of her calendar meetups with both groups since becoming the Democratic nominee for president. 

Harris met with Arab American advocates ahead of a campaign event in Flint, Michigan, on Friday. That followed a meeting with activists with the Pro-Palestinian Uncommitted Movement, which has declined to endorse her, in Michigan in July. 

Her public schedule hasn’t included meetings with Jewish groups since meeting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu privately in July, after she declined to preside over his joint address to Congress. 

In August, her campaign nominated Ilan Goldenberg as its liaison to the Jewish community, and on Aug. 15, Harris sent campaign officials to meet with Jewish leaders in Michigan. In September, she called the parents of the late Hersch Goldberg-Polin, the American hostage slain by Hamas. Fox News Digital could not find a record of any other face-to-face Jewish outreach by Harris.

Wa’el Alzayat, the CEO of Emgage Action, told CNN that Harris had told the Arab group on Friday “that she also wants the war to end and that she will do all she can to work in this regard.”

The Arab Americans told her she needed “to show distance between how she would govern on this matter with the current administration policies, which we don’t agree with.”

HARRIS REFUSES TO CALL NETANYAHU A ‘CLOSE ALLY’ ONE YEAR AFTER OCTOBER 7 

Michigan, which Biden narrowly won in 2020, is a crucial battleground state this election. It has the second-highest population of Arab American residents, who make up around 3% of its population. 

On the anniversary of the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks, former President Donald Trump will speak to Jewish community leaders at one of his Florida resorts in Doral. Harris will briefly speak to journalists and plant a pomegranate tree on the grounds of the Vice President’s Residence in honor of those killed a year ago.

One year on from the outbreak of war with Hamas in Gaza, Israel is now entrenched in war on other fronts too. The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) recently launched a ground offensive in Lebanon to fight Hezbollah, and last week missiles rained down on Tel Aviv — though most were intercepted — from Iran.

Jewish Americans tend to vote Democratic — in 2020, Biden won 69% of their vote. Trump won 30%.

Harris’ focus on Arab American outreach could in part be due to shifting polling within the community and an aggressive outreach from the Trump campaign to capitalize on that.

Arab Americans also historically favor Democrats — but new polling suggests that could change. Of likely voters in the community, Arab Americans favor Trump over Harris 46% to 42%, according to new polling by the Arab American Institute.

Trump has been airing ads aimed at Arab Americans in Michigan, and his former director of national intelligence Ric Grenell and his daughter Tiffany Trump’s father-in-law Massad Boulos, a Lebanese American businessman, have been leading his outreach to the community.

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

“His outreach now is much better, much different than it was in 2016 and 2020,” Adel Ayoub, leader of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, told Fox News Digital of Trump.

Biden won 60% of the Arab American vote in 2020, but support from that community has cratered since the Hamas attacks of Oct. 7, 2023. 

The National Uncommitted movement launched a campaign calling on voters to cast uncommitted ballots in swing state primaries to send a message to Democrats, and more than a million did so. 

Harris spoke with leaders of the Uncommitted Movement in August. That same month, her campaign manager met with Arab and Muslim leaders. 

Trump has blamed Harris and Biden for loosening sanctions on Iran, thus emboldening Iran’s proxies to carry out the attack last year. 

Trump has repeatedly said that Jewish voters who vote for Democrats “should have their head examined” and that if he loses the Nov. 5 election, “the Jewish people would really have a lot to do with that.”

The U.S. Supreme Court decided not to hear oral arguments about whether a Texas state abortion requirement is at odds with a federal emergency care law – permitting the restriction in the Lone Star State to be upheld. 

Supreme Court justices, for now, are keeping in place a lower court ruling that hospitals in Texas can deny terminating certain emergency pregnancies that violate state law, despite the federal requirement.

The Biden administration had requested that the justices overturn the lower court’s ruling, contending that federal law requires hospitals to provide abortions in emergency situations. They referenced last term, when the Supreme Court permitted emergency room abortions to continue in Idaho while a lawsuit continues in federal court. Texas is asserting that its laws are distinct from Idaho’s because Texas has a health exception for pregnant patients.

TEXAS SUPREME COURT REJECTS CHALLENGE TO STATE ABORTION BAN’S MEDICAL EXCEPTIONS

In Texas, the central legal issue is whether the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act (EMTALA), which mandates hospitals to treat emergency conditions, overrides state laws that prohibit abortion in emergencies. The case focuses on whether a state can stop an emergency physician from performing an abortion if it’s necessary to stabilize a pregnant woman’s health.

Previously, the Texas Supreme Court ruled in June against a group of women who suffered serious pregnancy complications and became the first in the country to testify in court about being denied abortion access since Roe v. Wade was overturned in 2022.

In a unanimous ruling, the court upheld the Texas law after the women filed a lawsuit in March 2023 seeking clarity on when exceptions to the abortion ban are permitted, arguing the law was confusing for doctors who might turn away patients over fears of repercussions.

The court ultimately ruled that the law’s exceptions are broad enough and that doctors would be misinterpreting the law if they decided not to perform an abortion when the mother’s life is in danger.

With the SCOTUS decision looming just a month before Election Day, abortion has become a major focus for the Harris-Walz campaign.

Fox News’ Landon Mion, Shannon Bream and Bill Mears contributed to this report.