Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey immediately implemented new gun legislation on Wednesday that not only cracks down on unserialized “ghost guns,” and attachments like bump stocks and trigger cranks, but also requires applicants to demonstrate basic safety principles and complete live-fire training before being granted a gun license.

State lawmakers approved the gun reform law in July, which was expected to go into effect later this month, and comes as the deep-blue state already has some of the toughest gun laws in the nation. 

The Associated Press reported that gun rights advocates were working to gather enough signatures to suspend the law before it took effect.

But rather than wait for the law to go into effect on Oct. 23, or 90 days after the governor signed it into law, Healey decided to put the law into effect immediately, blocking any temporary suspension of the law being sought by gun rights advocates.

SCOTUS TO TAKE UP CHALLENGE TO BIDEN ADMIN’S GHOST GUN RULE THAT GROUP DEEMS ‘ABUSIVE’

“This gun safety law bans ghost guns, strengthens the Extreme Risk Protection Order statute to keep guns out of the hands of people who are a danger to themselves or others, and invests in violence prevention programs,” Healey said in a statement. “It is important that these measures go into effect without delay.”

The new law expands the state’s “red flag” law that allows police, health care and school officials to alert the courts if they believe someone with access to guns poses a threat and should have their firearms confiscated temporarily.

Gun rights advocates have called the law a “historic attack on our civil rights,” adding it imposes unnecessary barriers on those who are law-abiding citizens and want to own a gun.

SUPREME COURT ALLOWS CONTINUED REGULATION OF SO-CALLED ‘GHOST GUNS’

Gun rights advocates have also sought to suspend the law and place a referendum on a ballot in 2026, to give voters the chance to repeal the measure.

In order to suspend the law from going into effect, gun rights advocates needed to collect at least 49,716 signatures from registered voters.

The law was enacted, in part, as a response to the Supreme Court’s 2022 Bruen decision, which declared citizens have a right to carry firearms in public for self-defense.

Gun rights advocates also filed a federal lawsuit arguing the Massachusetts law is unconstitutional, characterizing it as “onerous firearms legislation that imposes sweeping arms bans, magazine restrictions, registration requirements, and licensing preconditions that are as burdensome as they are ahistorical.”

GUN GROUPS SLAM BIDEN ADMIN OVER NEW ATF RULE: ‘WEAPONIZING EVERY TOOL’

The lawsuit asks the courts to issue a preliminary injunction to prevent the state from enforcing the “burdensome licensing regimes on the possession and carry of firearms for self-defense.”

Fox News Digital has reached out to the Gun Owners’ Action League in Massachusetts regarding Healey’s implementation of the gun reform law.

Healey’s action on Wednesday makes it unlawful for those who are not part of law enforcement to carry guns at schools, polling locations and government buildings.

The law also requires anyone applying for a license to carry firearms to demonstrate a basic understanding of safety principles and provides local licensing authorities with relevant mental health information.

District attorneys are also able to prosecute people who shoot at or near homes and ensure people subject to restraining orders no longer have access to guns.

Additionally, the new law expands on the definition of “assault weapons” to include known assault weapons and other weapons that function like them. It also bans the possession, transfer or sale of assault-style firearms or large-capacity feeding devices.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

RIPON, Wis. — As she turns up the volume on her efforts to court disgruntled Republicans in her battle with former President Trump for the White House, Vice President Harris on Thursday teamed up with the most visible anti-Trump Republican in the town that claims to be the birthplace of the GOP.

Harris campaigned in battleground Wisconsin with former Republican Rep. Liz Cheney, a one-time rising conservative star in the GOP who, in the wake of the Jan. 6, 2021, riot on the U.S. Capitol, has vowed to do everything she can to prevent Trump from returning to power.

“I have never voted for a Democrat, but this year I am proudly casting my vote for Vice President Kamala Harris,” Cheney told the audience as she formally endorsed the Democrat presidential nominee. “As a conservative, as a patriot, as a mother, as someone who reveres our Constitution, I am honored to join her in this urgent cause.”

Harris praised Cheney as a leader who “puts country above party and above self, a true patriot.”

WHITE HOUSE LAWYERS WHO ADVISED REAGAN AND BUSH BACK HARRIS OVER TRUMP

The campaign event took place in Ripon, Wisconsin, where a one-room schoolhouse was designated a national historic landmark due to its role in holding a series of meetings in 1854 that led to the formation of the Republican Party.

Cheney, the daughter of former Republican Vice President Dick Cheney, once rose within the ranks of House Republican leadership.

But she was the most high-profile of the 10 House Republicans who voted to impeach then-President Trump in early 2021 on a charge of inciting the deadly January 6th riot at the Capitol, which was waged by right-wing extremists and other Trump supporters who aimed to disrupt congressional certification of President Biden’s Electoral College victory in the 2020 election.

TRUMP UPS HIS ANTE IN THE 2024 FUNDRAISING FIGHT WITH HARRIS

The conservative lawmaker and defense hawk immediately came under verbal attack from Trump and his allies and was eventually ousted from her No. 3 House GOP leadership position.

Cheney, who has been vocal in emphasizing the importance of defending the nation’s democratic process and of putting country before party, was one of only two Republicans who served on a special select committee organized by House Democrats that investigated the riot at the Capitol.

In 2022, she lost the GOP congressional primary in Wyoming to Harriet Hageman, a candidate backed by Trump.

At a speaking event in early September at Duke University in swing state North Carolina, Cheney announced that she would vote for Harris in the presidential election. Cheney’s father also endorsed Harris.

Cheney on Thursday warned that “our republic faces a threat unlike any we have faced before: a former president who attempted to stay in power by unraveling the foundations of our republic.”

She argued that Trump “can never be trusted with power again” and emphasized that “in this election, putting patriotism ahead of partisanship is not an aspiration, it is our duty.”

“What January 6 shows us is there is not an ounce, not an ounce, of compassion in Donald Trump. He is petty. He is vindictive. He is cruel. And Donald Trump is not fit to lead this good and great nation,” Cheney said.

WHAT THE LATEST POLL IN BATTLEGROUND WISCONSIN SHOWS

Harris, speaking after Cheney, highlighted that “anyone who recklessly tramples on our democratic values as Donald Trump has, anyone who has actively and violently obstructed the will of the people and the peaceful transfer of power as Donald Trump has … must never again stand behind the seal of the president of the United States.”

And Harris also said that “I take seriously my pledge to be a president for all Americans.

Cheney was not always a fan of Harris.

The Trump campaign on Thursday repeatedly pointed to a social media post by Cheney during the 2000 election in which she said, “@KamalaHarris has a more liberal voting record than Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren. Her radical leftist views-raising taxes, banning gun sales, taxpayer $ for abortion & illegal immigrant health care, eliminating private health insurance-would be devastating for America.”

Trump, speaking with Fox News’ Bill Melugin during a rally in Michigan on Thursday, said Cheney was “terrible” and “a stupid war hawk. All she wants to do is shoot missiles at people.”

On Cheney’s backing of Harris, Trump said, “I think they hurt each other. I think they’re so bad, both of them.”

The Cheneys are part of a growing list of prominent Republicans who are supporting Harris.

Two other high-profile anti-Trump Republicans, former Rep. Adam Kinzinger of Illinois and former Georgia Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan, had speaking roles at the Democratic National Convention, which was held six weeks ago in Chicago.

And Harris is backed by more than 200 alumni who served in both Bush administrations or worked for the late Sen. John McCain and Sen. Mitt Romney, the 2008 and 2012 GOP presidential nominees, respectively. She’s also supported by more than 100 Republican former national security officials and other prominent Republicans.

Ripon is not the only town that claims to be the birthplace of the GOP. Exeter, New Hampshire, also has some bragging rites as it was the site of meetings in 1853 – a year ahead of the Ripon gatherings – by disenchanted political leaders who discussed the formation of a new party of Republicans.

But officials in Ripon said the group in Exeter never actually formed a political organization, or chose officials, as they did in Wisconsin.

Wisconsin is one of seven crucial battleground states with razor-thin margins that decided Biden’s 2020 White House victory and are likely to determine if Harris or Trump wins the 2024 presidential election.

With less than five weeks until Election Day in November, Harris and Trump are locked in a margin-of-error race in the key swing states.

While Trump retains vast sway over the GOP, even a small sliver of Republicans supporting Harris could make an important impact in what will likely be a race within the margins in the battleground states.

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

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

Here’s what’s happening…

– Biden says he would not back Israeli strike on Iranian nuclear sites…

– North Carolina congresswoman’s husband is stranded in Hurricane Helene…

– Liz Cheney and Kamala Harris team up on the trail in Wisconsin…
 

A federal judge on Wednesday unsealed a key filing from special counsel Jack Smith’s updated election interference case against former President Donald Trump.

U.S. District Judge for the District of Columbia Tanya Chutkan unsealed Smith’s 165-page filing, in which Smith argues that Trump is not immune from prosecution for his alleged criminal scheme to overturn the 2020 election results. Smith submitted the document after the U.S. Supreme Court earlier this year ruled that a president is immune from prosecution for official acts. 

“Although the defendant was the incumbent President during the charged conspiracies, his scheme was fundamentally a private one,” Smith wrote. “Working with a team of private co-conspirators, the defendant acted as a candidate when he pursued multiple criminal means to disrupt, through fraud and deceit, the government function by which votes are collected and counted — a function in which the defendant, as President, had no official role.” …Read more

‘RECKLESS FAILURE’: Watchdog group wants DOI investigated over ‘failure’ to protect federal property …Read more

‘SOWN CHAOS’: Eye-popping number of migrants with national security concerns arrived in US on Biden’s watch: report …Read more

‘PROPORTIONAL’: Biden says he would not back Israeli strike on Iran’s nuclear sites …Read more

‘POLITICAL MISINFORMATION’: 8 Dem lawmakers demand social media execs protect against ‘misinformation’ …Read more

CUT OFF: NGOs aiding illegal migrants would be barred from federal money under Gaetz bill …Read more

‘SHOCKED BY DEVASTATION’: North Carolina congresswoman’s husband stranded in home in district ravaged by Hurricane Helene …Read more

‘SERIOUS THREAT’: Dozens of lawmakers sound alarm to Garland on noncitizen voting …Read more

EYE OF THE STORM: Trump targets Biden, Harris over federal response to hurricane …Read more

HEATING UP: Ohio GOP Senate candidate Moreno hits Brown on Inflation Reduction Act vote in ad that’s part of $25M buy …Read more

‘ONE CANDIDATE GETS IT’: Voters in key swing county tell Fox what’s driving their vote this November …Read more

HARRIS AND CHENEY: Vice President Kamala Harris will team up with leading anti-Trump Republican Liz Cheney in battleground Wisconsin …Read more

BADGER STATE BRAWL: Trump trails Harris by 4 points in Wisconsin but leads on issues: poll …Read more

VIRGINIA SENATE DEBATE: Clinton ex-running mate Kaine, GOP challenger Cao spar on immigration, DEI in military …Read more

PUNTED: Federal judge blocks California law banning election deepfakes …Read more

‘MOST IMPORTANT THING’: Stevie Nicks releases ‘anthem’ to Roe v. Wade, abortion rights …Read more

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

The U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) clarified a message that warned civilian drone pilots not to fly near Hurricane Helene recovery and rescue efforts — or risk penalty, fines or “criminal prosecution” — after facing intense backlash online. 

Reached by Fox News Digital, a DOT spokesperson said civilian drone pilots are permitted and are assisting in rescue and recovery efforts, and previous “temporary flight restrictions” have since been lifted. 

Some X users — collectively with millions of followers — reacted adversely to a message addressed to drone pilots and with accompanying video from Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg shared by the department earlier this week. The message and video argued the restrictions would prohibit civilian volunteers from legally searching for victims or survivors when response time matters most or capturing their own footage of the disaster.

“The USDOT tweet from yesterday was referring to temporary flight restrictions that were in place but were lifted late last night,” a DOT spokesperson told Fox News Digital Thursday, citing the FAA. 

TRUMP TARGETS BIDEN, HARRIS OVER FEDERAL RESPONSE TO HURRICANE: ‘INCOMPETENTLY MANAGED’

The spokesperson explained the FAA “is not banning drones from providing Hurricane Helene disaster relief and recovery assistance.” 

“At times, local authorities and law enforcement request the Federal Aviation Administration issue a Temporary Flight Restriction (TFR) in order to ensure safety for aircraft or drones operating in certain areas,” the spokesperson said in a statement. “These restrictions occur at the request of local authorities or law enforcement. FAA does not put these into place without requests.” 

The spokesperson said such restrictions apply to both manned and unmanned aircraft, or drones. 

“With proper authorization, drones (and other aircraft) are permitted to operate within a Temporary Flight Restriction,” the statement continued. “These are only for limited areas identified by law enforcement and local authorities. 

“Relief operations, including civilian operations and volunteers, that are coordinated with emergency responders can still access the airspace during these restrictions. Anyone looking to use a drone or other aircraft to assist in Hurricane Helene disaster relief and recovery efforts should coordinate with first responders and law enforcement on scene to ensure they do not disrupt life-saving operations.” 

The clarification comes after the DOT posted to X Wednesday, writing: “Drone pilots: Do not fly your drone near or around rescue and recovery efforts for Hurricane Helene. Interfering with emergency response operations impacts search and rescue operations on the ground.”

In an attached video message, Buttigieg said, “Our goal is to make sure that funding is no obstacle to very quickly getting people the relief that they need and deserve. 

“There’s also some safety issues that come up. For example, temporary flight restrictions to make sure that the airspace is clear for any flights or drone activity that might be involved in helping to allow those emergency responders to do their jobs.” 

The post pointed to the account for FAADroneZone, the Federal Aviation Administration’s site for drone activity. 

“Interfering with emergency response efforts may result in fines or criminal prosecution,” FAADroneZone wrote, reposting Buttigieg’s remarks. “Always check Temporary Flight Restrictions before you fly.” 

The posts quickly received heavy criticism on social media. 

“The statement from Buttigieg comes as the federal government continues to shuffle its feet to help people in need,” Trending Politics co-owner Collin Rugg wrote to his 1.5 million followers on X. 

NORTH CAROLINA COMMUNITY ‘HUNTING’ FOR MISSING TEACHERS IN ‘DEVASTATING’ AFTERMATH OF HURRICANE HELENE

“Kamala Harris announced that survivors could potentially get $750 in federal assistance,” Rugg added. “Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas says FEMA doesn’t have enough money to make it through hurricane season after spending hundreds of millions of dollars on illegals.” 

“U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg tells Americans to stop using drones to help victims of Hurricane Helene. They’re using drones to FIND SURVIVORS,” podcaster Chad Prather wrote to his 496,800 followers.

“Pete Buttigieg has declared that private drones are BANNED from flying over areas affected by Hurricane Helene. They’re deliberately impeding the ability of volunteers to assist in search and rescue and documenting the extent of the disaster,” conservative journalist Ian Miles Cheong, who has 1.1 million followers on X, added. 

The death toll from Hurricane Helene surpassed 200 people across affected states as of Thursday. Hundreds remain unaccounted for in the aftermath. 

Buttigieg visited FEMA headquarters and joined Cabinet members Tuesday to brief President Biden at the White House on the destruction of Hurricane Helene. 

The FAA, meanwhile, deployed teams “to restore communications to impacted towers and airports, including delivering satellite communications kits to the Asheville Regional Airport in North Carolina and ongoing work at Valdosta Regional Airport in Georgia,” the DOT said Tuesday. 

“FAA supported FEMA with two aircraft to conduct flyover assessments and transport emergency personnel and gear, such as satellite communications kits. FAA is also monitoring fuel supplies at several airports in Florida, Georgia, North Carolina and South Carolina that are experiencing reduced fuel delivery due to storm impacts on fuel suppliers.”  

Trump attorneys filed a memo Thursday in support of their motion to dismiss all charges brought against the former president by Special Counsel Jack Smith, discussing the Supreme Court’s recent decision in Fischer v. United States, which they believe further supports their argument to dismiss the obstruction charges. 

The filing Thursday comes as Trump attorneys are using two blockbuster Supreme Court decisions—United States v. Trump, which dealt with presidential immunity, and United States v. Fischer, which dealt with obstruction—to attack the legal theories pressed by Special Counsel Jack Smith.

JUDGE UNSEALS KEY FILING IN SPECIAL COUNSEL’S ELECTION CASE AGAINST TRUMP

Trump attorneys filed a motion to dismiss all charges brought against the former president by Smith last year, but the case was stayed. The filing Thursday is a reply brief to their motion seeking dismissal of all charges. 

Trump attorneys in their brief on Thursday said Smith’s superseding indictment against the former president, which was filed after the Supreme Court ruled that presidents and former presidents had immunity from official acts, “seeks to assign blame for events President Trump did not control and took action to protect against.” 

“The Special Counsel blatantly ignores the fact that federal prosecutors have taken the opposite position in this District,” the filing states. “It is apparently of no consequence, to the Office and those who support their efforts, that former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi was caught on a previously undisclosed video accepting ‘responsibility’  for the events at the Capitol.” 

Trump attorneys also argue that General Mark Milley acknowledged, “long before charges were brought in this case” that Trump “had instructed the Defense Department on January 3, 2021 to ‘make sure that you have sufficient National Guard or Soldiers to make sure it is a safe event.” 

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

Trump was charged with count 1: conspiracy to defraud the United States; count 2: conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding; count 3: obstruction of an attempt to obstruct an official proceeding; and count 4: conspiracy against rights. 

Trump attorneys, though, stressed that Smith and federal prosecutors “cannot ignore or hide from” new precedent from the Supreme Court’s decision in Fischer v. United States, saying it is “another key application of the rule of law to reject lawfare overreach targeting President Trump.” 

“Fischer requires the dismissal of Counts Two and Three of the Superseding Indictment, and its logic fatally undermines Counts One and Four as well,” the filing states. 

U.S. v. Fischer stems from a lawsuit filed by Joseph Fischer — one of more than 300 people charged by the Justice Department with “obstruction of an official proceeding” in the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the Capitol. His lawyers argued that the federal statute should not apply, and that it had only ever been applied to evidence-tampering cases. 

The Supreme Court on Friday ruled in favor of a participant in the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot who challenged his conviction for a federal “obstruction” crime.

In a 6-3 decision, the high court held to a narrower interpretation of a federal statute that imposes criminal liability on anyone who corruptly “alters, destroys, mutilates, or conceals a record, document, or other object, or attempts to do so, with the intent to impair the object’s integrity or availability for use in an official proceeding.” 

The ruling reverses a lower court decision, which the high court said swept too broadly into areas like peaceful but disruptive conduct, and returns the case to the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals, who will have the opportunity to reassess the case with Friday’s ruling in mind.

SUPREME COURT RULES IN FAVOR OF JAN. 6 CAPITOL RIOT PARTICIPANT WHO CHALLENGED OBSTRUCTION CONVICTION

“Under Fischer, the Office [of Special Counsel] may not use the statute as a catchall provision to criminalize otherwise-lawful activities selectively mischaracterized as obstructive by those with opposing political views,” the filing states, noting that the Fischer decision “requires proof of evidence impairment coupled with corrupt intent.” 

“Once stripped of President Trump’s official acts subject to immunity and protected First Amendment political advocacy, the Superseding Indictment lacks sufficient factual allegations to support either element as required by Counts Two and Three,” Trump attorneys argue. “President Trump expressed sincere and valid concerns about the integrity of the 2020 election pursuant to his authority as the Chief Executive.” 

Trump attorneys said Trump was “part of open, public discussion regarding use of contingent slates of electors in a manner consistent with historical practice and contemplated by the then-existing version of the Electoral Count Act.” 

“The congressional record from January 6 reflects lawful debates on certificate objections contemplated by the ECA, as well as acknowledgment of the historical precedent for the contingent slates,” they argued. “There is no precedent for a criminal prosecution based on such a record.” 

Trump attorneys said Smith’s office “cannot establish the required nexus between alleged obstruction and any ‘evidence’ used in the certification proceeding, or that anyone acted with corrupt intent.” 

TRUMP TRIAL STEMMING FROM JACK SMITH’S PROBE DELAYED PAST ELECTION DAY

Trump attorneys also said the Fischer decision “forecloses the Office’s efforts to rely on events at the Capitol on January 6 to support charges.” They said the “superseding indictment does not sufficiently allege that President Trump impaired, or intended to impair, the integrity or availability of any document or other object used in any official proceeding.” 

Meanwhile, when 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 allegations against Trump after the high court’s ruling that gave broad immunity to former presidents. 

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

Last month, Chutkan said she would not hold the trial for Trump on charges stemming from Smith’s Jan. 6 investigation until after the 2024 presidential election. She set deadlines for replies and paperwork from federal prosecutors and Trump’s legal team for Nov. 7 — after Election Day. 

More than 400 national security and foreign policy officials, ex-Cabinet members, retired military officers and Gold Star families endorsed former President Trump on Thursday.

In an open letter organized by former National Security Adviser Robert O’Brien and former NSC Chief of Staff Alex Gray, the signatories condemn the “repeated failures” of the Biden-Harris administration’s foreign policy and urged Americans to re-elect Trump.

“From a world at peace under President Trump, we are closer to a third world war than ever before under the Biden-Harris Administration,” the letter states. “With multiple escalating wars around the world, an open border that allows terrorists to flood into the American homeland, and malign actors like China operating unabated, U.S. national security has been profoundly damaged by the failed policies of Kamala Harris and Joe Biden.”

The endorsement was signed by several prominent officials from the Trump administration, including former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, former Attorney General Bill Barr, former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations and former 2024 Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley, and many more.

TRUMP’S 2ND TERM FOREIGN POLICY LIKELY TO FOCUS ON ‘STRENGTH’ AND ‘DETERRENCE’: EXPERT

Eleven family members of the 13 American troops killed at Abbey Gate at Kabul’s airport during the 2021 U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan also signed the letter, which praised Trump’s foreign policy record in contrast to Biden’s controversial actions. 

“When President Trump took office, the war in Afghanistan had dragged on for almost 16 years. By February 2020, a peace agreement was reached, ensuring no American soldier was killed in combat until the end of the Trump Administration. This agreement held strong because the Taliban understood President Trump’s resolve and U.S. forces were prepared to ensure their compliance,” the letter reads.

VOTERS IN CRITICAL MICHIGAN COUNTY FOCUSED ON ECONOMY, CANDIDATE CHARACTER AS 2024 RACE TIGHTENS

“The botched withdrawal from Afghanistan under the Biden-Harris Administration in 2021, led to the unnecessary deaths of thirteen brave American troops at Abbey Gate and left untold billions of dollars of high grade military equipment to the Taliban, making it the most well-armed terror organization in the world.”

Additionally, 40 retired U.S. ambassadors, 75 retired senior military officers and several hundred officials from previous Republican administrations signed the letter, praising Trump’s diplomatic efforts on cease-fire agreements between Turkey and Kurdish fighters in Syria and the Abraham Accords. The letter refers to Trump as a “peacemaker.” 

TRUMP TARGETS BIDEN, HARRIS OVER FEDERAL RESPONSE TO HURRICANE: ‘INCOMPETENTLY MANAGED’

“Securing peace is in the greatest tradition of American foreign policy and the Judeo-Christian principles upon which our nation was founded,” the letter continues before quoting from Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount in the Gospel of Matthew. “Jesus said, ‘blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be sons of God.’ (Matthew 5:9) Such is the legacy of the Trump Administration.”

Writing on X, O’Brien said he was “honored” to join his colleagues from the Trump administration in “supporting a return to a ‘peace through strength’ foreign policy under President Trump.”

Another signatory, Dr. Jerry Hendrix, former director of the Secretary of the Navy’s Advisory Panel, said it “wasn’t a hard decision” to attach his name to the letter.

“Trump had 1 of the more successful foreign policy presidencies since the Cold War,” Hendrix wrote on X. “He ended sequestration. He invested in the Navy. The Biden-Harris admin has been one foreign policy debacle after another.” 

The Trump campaign did not respond to a request for comment. 

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

The International Association of Fire Fighters (IAFF) on Thursday said it would remain neutral in this year’s presidential race, electing not to endorse a candidate, becoming the second major union to do so in recent weeks.

The union’s executive board backed President Biden’s 2020 White House bid. In a statement, IAFF President Edward Kelly said the union membership voted by a margin of 1.2 percentage points not to endorse either Vice President Kamala Harris or former President Trump.

“Over the past year, the IAFF took unprecedented steps to hear our members’ views on the candidates and the policy issues that matter most to them,” Kelly said of the decision.

“As we have over our 106-year history, the IAFF will continue its work to improve the lives of firefighters and their families,” he added. “The IAFF Executive Board determined that we are better able to advocate for our members and make progress on the issues that matter to them if we, as a union, are standing shoulder-to-shoulder. This decision, which we took very seriously, is the best way to preserve and strengthen our unity.”

2024 SHOCKER: WHY THE TEAMSTERS STAYED NEUTRAL IN THE HARRIS-TRUMP SHOWDOWN

Fox News Digital has reached out to the Harris and Trump campaigns. 

The decision by the IAFF came weeks after the International Brotherhood of Teamsters announced it would not endorse a candidate either. 

WHY HARRIS CHARGED TRUMP’S ‘ONE OF THE BIGGEST LOSERS’

The Teamsters posted the results of internal polling on the 2024 candidates, showing that the union’s members favored Trump by 59.6% over Harris, who received 34% in an online survey. In a phone survey, Teamsters favored Trump over Harris, 58% to 31%. 

“The union’s extensive member polling showed no majority support for Vice President Harris and no universal support among the membership for President Trump,” the union said at the time. 

The Biden administration is “failing” to protect federal property from wanton destruction at the hands of left-wing protesters, says a conservative government watchdog.

In a letter sent to the inspector general for the Department of the Interior (DOI) on Thursday morning, Michael Chamberlain of the nonprofit group Protect the Public’s Trust outlined several instances of protests that ended in some sort of disturbance to land or cultural symbols.

In October 2021, protest groups occupied the DOI headquarters. In June 2024, anti-Israel protesters vandalized federal properties in Washington, D.C., and clashed with police. In July 2024, similar protesters vandalized Columbus Plaza, burned federal property, and assaulted police and bystanders.

HURRICANE HELENE WREAKS HAVOC ACROSS ASHEVILLE, NC; NATIONAL GUARD DEPLOYED, 119 RESCUED

“Is the continued failure of Secretary Haaland’s Department to enforce the law or even the provisions of the permits it provides mere negligence? Or could it be an outgrowth of sympathy among DOI political leadership with the agendas of violent protestors?” Chamberlain asked Fox News Digital.  

“When you look at the behavior of some Department leaders — including multiple determinations by the Inspector General of ethics violations — neither possibility can be dismissed out of hand,” he said.

ISRAEL STRIKES WITHIN LEBANON AFTER HEZBOLLAH BALLISTIC MISSILE FORCES MILLIONS IN TEL AVIV INTO BOMB SHELTERS

In each instance, especially during the June and July 2024 protests, Chamberlain’s letter charges that the National Park Service (NPS) failed to enforce the law and maintain order, allowing key symbols of national history and culture to be defaced and destroyed, “symbols that it is a part of NPS’s core mission to steward and protect.”

“These failures appear to be enabled by a reckless failure to properly enforce demonstration permit conditions and provide the United States Park Police (“USPP”) with the resources they need to effectively do their jobs,” the letter states. “We call upon you to immediately investigate these failures, including determining whether political considerations played an improper role in leaving cultural resources vulnerable to damage and destruction.”

The DOI has also drawn the ire of some Republican lawmakers over their handling of protests. 

“The Union Station rioters over the summer chanted terrorist slogans, hurled what appeared to be human feces at U.S. Park Police officers, destroyed government property, burned American flags and an effigy of Prime Minister Netanyahu, and raised a Palestinian flag in its place,” Rep. Bruce Westerman, chairman of the House Committee on Natural Resources, told Fox News Digital. 

“D.C. is no stranger to protests and free speech demonstrations, but clearly in this case something went horribly off the rails,” the Arkansas Republican said. “The organizers of this event knowingly violated nearly every one of the terms and conditions of their permit, and DOI and NPS also failed to provide critical support for the Park Police. This despite the history of the ANSWER Coalition and knowing well in advance that protests were expected. Oversight is imperative to ensure a security failure of this magnitude does not happen again.”

The top Republican on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo, also demanded answers from the DOI Secretary Deb Haalan in June over its handling of violent protests that engulfed National Park Service property outside the White House.

TOP 5 CLASHES BETWEEN VANCE AND WALZ DURING DEBATE SHOWDOWN: ‘YOUR MICS ARE CUT’

Barrasso demanded that Haaland account for the lack of arrests by describing how she is working with law enforcement to identify suspects. He also called on the department to implement explicit measures to protect federal park rangers on-duty.

No arrests were made following the chaos, but NBC News reported one individual who had scaled a statue slipped away from a law enforcement officer who was attempting to detain them.

Statuary honoring two key French figures in the American Revolution – the Comte de Rochambeau and Marquis de Lafayette – were vandalized during the protests. Ironically, President Biden happened to be in France at the time.

The watchdog group also criticized the DOI earlier this year for allocating $120 million to tribal governments to combat the impacts of climate change. 

The DOI declined to comment to Fox News Digital.

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

As President Biden spends a second straight day surveying damage and getting briefed on recovery and relief efforts in the storm-damaged Southeast, he’s once again coming under political attack from former President Trump.

As the death toll from Hurricane Helene climbs to close to 200 people, with hundreds still missing, millions still without power or running water, and damage estimated in the billions, Trump took to social media on Thursday morning to paint Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris as incompetent.

“Kamala and Sleepy Joe are universally being given POOR GRADES for the way that they are handling the Hurricane, especially in North Carolina,” Trump charged in a social media post. “It is going down as the WORST & MOST INCOMPETENTLY MANAGED ‘STORM,’ AT THE FEDERAL LEVEL, EVER SEEN BEFORE.”

Trump, who’s locked in a margin-of-error race with Harris with less than five weeks to go until Election Day in November, has been attacking the vice president and her boss over the federal response to the powerful storm for nearly a week.

BIDEN, HARRIS INSPECT DAMAGE IN HURRICANE-RAVAGED SOUTHEAST IN WAKE OF TRUMP VISIT

And with two of the hardest-hit states — North Carolina and Georgia — among the seven key battlegrounds that will likely determine the outcome of the 2024 presidential election, the hurricane has become front-and-center in the White House race.

Trump this past weekend accused Biden of “sleeping” at his beach house in Delaware as the storm blasted the Southeast.

NORTH CAROLINA RESIDENTS FIGHT FOR THEIR SURVIVAL

Speaking with reporters as he arrived in Valdosta, Georgia, on Monday to survey storm damage and bring relief aid, the former president charged that “the federal government is not being responsive.” 

And Trump falsely claimed that Biden had not spoken with Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp, a conservative Republican.

Pushing back against the political attacks, Biden has noted that he was on the phone with federal, state and local officials throughout the weekend and returned to the nation’s capital on Sunday afternoon to monitor storm rescue and relief efforts.

“We had over 1,000 federal personnel, including search and rescue teams, at the ready on the ground before it hit,” the president said on Tuesday. “Over the past several days, I’ve been in regular contact with the governors, the mayors, the county officials, and all the affected areas. That includes Florida, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee, Alabama and Virginia.”

Biden emphasized that his administration has sent “every available resource that we have at our disposal to the affected region” and pledged “we’ll be there until this work is done.”

HEAD HERE FOR THE LATEST FOX NEWS REPORTING ON HELENE’S HAVOC

More than half of the deaths from the storm are in North Carolina, where entire communities in the western part of the state were demolished by fast-moving waters.

As the floodwaters from the storm receded, North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper lamented that, in the western part of his state, “communities were wiped off the map.”

The president on Wednesday was in North Carolina, where he surveyed damage from a helicopter flight over the city of Ashville, one of the hardest hit areas. Biden also visited a rescue command center in the state before also stopping in neighboring South Carolina.

“My top priority is to ensure the communities devastated by this hurricane get the help and support they need as quickly as possible,” Biden told reporters Tuesday as he spoke during a Cabinet meeting focusing on the federal response.

Ahead of his trip to the region, the president green-lighted the use of up to 1,000 active duty troops to support relief efforts.

Huddled with Democratic and Republican politicians from the region on Wednesday, Biden emphasized that “in a moment like this, we put politics aside, at least we should put it all aside. We have here — there are no Democrats or Republicans, only Americans — our job is to help as many people as we can, as quickly as we can, and as thoroughly as we can.”

Trump on Sunday attacked Harris for attending “fundraising events with her radical left lunatic donors” in California over the weekend. And he argued that Harris “ought to be down in the area” where the storm caused destruction.

On Monday during his stop in Georgia, Trump repeated the dig, saying, “The vice president, she’s out someplace campaigning looking for money.”

The White House has highlighted that the vice president over the weekend was on the phone with federal, state and local officials. 

Harris said on Saturday that she and the president “remain committed to ensuring that no community or state has to respond to this disaster alone.”

On Monday, Harris visited Federal Emergency Management Agency headquarters in Washington, D.C., where she received a briefing on relief and rescue efforts.

“We will do everything in our power to help communities respond and recover,” she vowed.

Harris on Wednesday traveled to Georgia to survey the impacts of the storm and receive an on-the-ground briefing and provide updates on the federal response.

“We are here for the long haul,” Harris told residents in Augusta. “There’s a lot of work that’s going to need to happen over the coming days, weeks, and months, and the coordination that we have dedicated ourselves to will be long-lasting to get families, to get residents, to get neighborhoods back up and running.”

Harris was originally scheduled to take part Wednesday in a campaign bus swing through central Pennsylvania, another key battleground state, with her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz.

With the vice president headed to Georgia, Walz headlined the bus tour, which came the day after he faced off in the vice presidential debate against Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio.

During his Monday stop in Georgia, Trump highlighted, “I’ve come to Valdosta with large semi-trucks, many of them filled with relief aid. A tanker truck filled up with gasoline, a couple of big tanker trucks filled up with gasoline, which they can’t get now. And we’ll be working to distribute it throughout the day.”

And a GoFundMe page set up by the Trump campaign earlier this week has raised over $4 million so far for storm victims.

“I’m committed to traveling to the impacted areas as soon as possible, but I’ve been told that it would be disruptive if I did it right now. We will not do that at the risk of diverting or delaying any of the response assets needed to deal with this crisis,” Biden told reporters on Monday.

And Harris said on Tuesday, “I plan to be on the ground as soon as possible — but as soon as possible without disrupting any emergency response operations, because that must be the highest priority and the first order of business.”

But the optics of Trump’s Monday stop in Georgia may have put some political pressure on Biden and Harris.

Longtime Republican strategist David Kochel said Trump had been “very aggressive” with his quick trip to the storm-damaged region. 

“I think he put a lot of pressure on them to try to do something,” Kochel, a veteran of numerous GOP presidential campaigns, told Fox News. “He’s out there pushing a line that they don’t care, they’re not doing anything, and I think they’re reacting to it.”

The response by elected officials to natural disasters can impact their political standing.

President George W. Bush was heavily criticized in the summer of 2005 for his initial response to Hurricane Katrina, which devastated New Orleans.

And Trump faced criticism early in his White House tenure as Puerto Rico struggled to recover from a powerful storm. The president was pilloried for throwing paper towels to the crowd as he stopped by a relief center during a storm-related visit to the island.

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

FIRST ON FOX – Ohio Republican Bernie Moreno is hitting incumbent Democrat Sen. Sherrod Brown on his Inflation Reduction Act vote in a new ad that’s part of a $25 million new buy ahead of Election Day. 

The 30-second ad spot, which will run on television and digitally, opens with a single mother from Versailles, Ohio, saying she can’t believe the current prices for groceries. 

“It’s a lot tougher to provide for my kids with the Democrats’ inflation,” the woman, Carla, says. “Sherrod Brown’s only made things worse. Brown supported Kamala, not us, and voted for her radical Inflation Act, and now prices are at a 40-year-high. Bernie Moreno will fight to lower prices and stop inflation. That’s why I trust Bernie Moreno to help Ohio families.” 

The ad, first obtained by Fox News Digital in advance of its planned roll out, also includes the message on screen: “Sherrod Brown voted for Kamala’s Inflation Act.” 

VIRGINIA SENATE DEBATE: CLINTON EX-RUNNING MATE KAINE, GOP CHALLENGER CAO SPAR ON IMMIGRATION, DEI IN MILITARY

It was paid for by Bernie Moreno for Senate and the National Republican Senatorial Committee.

“Hardworking Ohioans are suffering under the record-high inflation created by Kamala Harris and Sherrod Brown,” Moreno said in a statement to Fox News Digital. “While he claims to fight for Ohio, families are unable to afford basic necessities. In November, we will send him packing and get our economy back on track.” 

Moreno’s campaign told Fox News Digital that the ad is part of an additional $25 million in spending. It comes just 33 days before the Nov. 5 election. Early voting in Ohio starts Oct. 8. 

The contest is on track to be the most expensive Senate race this cycle, with $310.4 million in spending from both campaigns as of August, according to Axios.

As of August, Moreno shelled out $158.4 million and Brown spent $152 million, Axios reported. 

Brown’s campaign announced Wednesday it will report raising nearly $31 million in the third quarter. 

Fox News has labeled the race between Moreno and Brown as a toss-up. 

NRA TARGETS SEN SHERROD BROWN IN 7-FIGURE AD BUY IN OHIO: ‘VOTE LIKE YOUR LIFE DEPENDS ON IT’

Fox News Digital reached out to Brown’s campaign and congressional office for comment about the new ad but did not immediately hear back. 

Ohio is center stage on the presidential ticket this cycle with Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, as former President Trump’s vice presidential running mate. Moreno ran against Vance in the 2022 GOP Republican primary for Senate, which Vance won, and has supported the Trump-Vance bid for the White House. 

In August 2023, on the one-year anniversary of President Biden signing his Inflation Reduction Act into law, Brown’s campaign issued a statement championing the legislation as having included “key priorities Brown fought for to save Ohioans money, crack down on Wall Street stock buybacks, and attract investment and good-paying jobs to Ohio.” 

“The Inflation Reduction Act is already saving Ohioans money at the pharmacy counter and spurring Ohio to lead the country in manufacturing the technology of the future – and those cost savings and Ohio jobs will only grow in the coming years,” Brown said in a statement at the time. 

As of August 2024, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) in the Midwest – which includes Ohio – rose by 2.6% over the last 12 months. 

The bureau said the index for all items, less food and energy, advanced 3.2% over the year, while food prices increased 1.8%. Energy prices declined 2.6%, “largely the result of decreasing prices for gasoline,” it added.