Voters in Kent County, Michigan, could play a large role in determining who wins November’s presidential election, but many voters in the area are still undecided about their choice.

“I think there is too much division in his country. I think people on the left and people on the right hate each other a lot and I don’t think that’s right,” said one Kent County voter, who told Fox News Digital he is still undecided.

The comments come as Kent County, which includes Michigan’s second-largest city of Grand Rapids and much of the surrounding area, figures to play an outsized role in November. 

While Michigan is well-known as one of the seven key swing states in the upcoming election, Kent County figures to be one of the key counties. Holding over 6% of the state’s population, the county has traditionally been known as a conservative haven. 

TRUMP TAKES NFL, NBA TO TASK ABOUT KNEELING DURING NATIONAL ANTHEM

However, that trend has started to reverse itself in recent years, starting when former President Obama was able to capture the county in 2008. Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, won the county during his presidential bid in 2012, while former President Trump took Kent County in 2016. It went back to Democrats in 2020, when President Biden was able to capture this important part of Michigan.

This year’s race promises to feature Kent County again, though some voters there remain unconvinced by the candidates.

“Something which stood out to me about Trump is that he didn’t bring us into any wars,” one undecided voter said before noting that he believed Vice President Kamala Harris’ “stance is a lot clearer on LGBTQ rights.”

Immigration stood out as an issue to some Kent County voters, with one telling Fox News Digital the issue was a matter of human rights.

“People having the rights to be in our country and the rights to health care,” said the voter, who indicated he was voting for Harris.

VANCE, WALZ VICE PRESIDENTIAL DEBATE ENDS WITH BOTH CANDIDATES TOUTING ‘NEW’ FUTURE

“Hopefully she can bring down housing costs and pretty much just inflation for young people like myself,” he added. “Trying to buy a house, trying to get loans and cars and things like that is very important for people of my age.”

However, another voter disagreed on the economy, arguing Trump is the right candidate to lead the country forward.

“I believe that a person who has run a company, that’s been in business, can do a better job than a lifelong politician in terms of making decisions,” the voter said.

That voter also indicated support for Trump on foreign policy, arguing he garnered the respect of world leaders.

“I think he was not afraid to stand up for what he felt is right,” he said. “I think other world leaders took note of that.”

Another voter, who indicated foreign policy was a key issue, disagreed.

“One candidate gets it and the other doesn’t,” the voter, who indicated support for Harris, told Fox News Digital of the reason he is voting for Harris.

“She understands the importance of our standing on the global stage, international politics, and our national security. I don’t think Trump understands that,” the voter continued.

Yet others had more trouble picking a candidate, most notably because of the divisive nature of modern politics.

“One day I’ll go one way and another day I’ll go another way,” one undecided voter told Fox News Digital.

“It’s hard to take her seriously, nothing sticks out about her,” she said of Harris, while also noting that he finds it “very hard to believe” that someone as rich as Trump “could care about people that don’t have any money.”

The voter also deducted points from Trump because of the “tone of his voice.”

“The name calling, I don’t particularly care for that,” the voter said.

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

Second gentleman Doug Emhoff denied the veracity of a Daily Mail report in which three unnamed sources accused him of having slapped a former girlfriend during a 2012 trip to the Cannes Film Festival.

Fox News Digital has not been able to independently confirm the allegations.

“This report is untrue,” an unnamed representative for Vice President Kamala Harris’ husband told news outlet Semafor. “Any suggestion that he would or has ever hit a woman is false.”

The Daily Mail’s exclusive story on Tuesday quoted a trio of unidentified sources who claim Emhoff slapped his then-girlfriend while the couple waited in a valet line following an event in Nice, France, in 2012. The alleged altercation was purportedly sparked when the woman — identified only by the pseudonym “Jane” and described as a successful New York attorney — flirted with a valet, according to the article.

The Harris campaign, the Office of the Vice President and a representative for Emhoff’s ex-wife, Kerstin Emhoff, did not comment despite repeated requests from Fox News. 

Several media outlets, including Semafor, noted they had been unable to match the Daily Mail’s reporting, and legacy media companies such as The New York Times have yet to report on the claims. 

The Daily Mail’s article hinged on the recollections of three people described as being Jane’s friends. The outlet said its sources requested anonymity due to fear of retaliation from Emhoff. The three friends reportedly provided the outlet with a photo of the pair when they were still a couple, as well as itineraries and correspondence between Emhoff and Jane to substantiate that they made the trip to France in May 2012.

‘HE IMPREGNATED HIS KID’S NANNY’: PSAKI RIPPED AFTER CLAIMING EMHOFF ‘RESHAPED’ MASCULINITY

One of the sources is described by the Daily Mail as a female New York attorney who learned about the alleged incident from Jane.

“He hauled up and slapped her so hard she spun around,” the source is quoted as saying. “She said she was in utter shock. She was so furious, she slapped him on one side, and then on the other cheek with the other hand.”

Another friend, described by the Daily Mail as a New York businessman, told the outlet Jane called him sobbing following the alleged incident. 

PROGRESSIVE WOMEN’S GROUPS SILENT ON SECOND GENTLEMAN DOUG EMHOFF’S AFFAIR

“It was very clear what she was telling me,” that source said, according to the Daily Mail. “She said she was with a guy, her date, she was at the Cannes Film Festival, and he hit her. She was in the car with the guy at the time.”

The male friend said he learned more details about the alleged episode after the initial phone call. 

“It was something like 3 a.m. They were trying to get out of there and they both had been drinking. There was a gigantic line for taxis,” he told the outlet. “She went up to one of the valet guys, offered him 100 euros or whatever, to get to the head of the line. She told me she put her hand on his shoulder. Doug apparently thought that she was flirting, and came over and slapped her in the face.”

A third friend, described as a female executive, told the Daily Mail that she learned of the alleged incident in 2014, and purportedly found out new details from Jane in 2018, when Harris, then a senator from California, made headlines with her questioning of a Supreme Court nominee who had been accused of sexual assault.

“[She] is a gorgeous, strong woman and you would never expect somebody to hit her,” the third friend told the Daily Mail. “When he hit her she hit him back, like, ‘Don’t you ever do that again.'”

KAMALA HARRIS’ HUSBAND DOUG EMHOFF ‘RESHAPED THE PERCEPTION OF MASCULINITY’: MSNBC HOST

The third Daily Mail source added: “I asked her if he ever apologized. She said ‘no,’ but he commented about the hit she gave him. It was a tennis metaphor. But no apology at all.”

All three friends told the outlet that Jane hit Emhoff back after the alleged initial slap. They also claimed that Jane tried to leave the valet area after the alleged slap, but that Emhoff got into a cab with Jane.

Jane and Emhoff had been dating for about three months before the reported trip to France, according to the friends. Emhoff allegedly cut the trip short and returned to the U.S. for his daughter’s birthday at the end of May, and never saw Jane again, the friends told the outlet. 

Emhoff’s alleged relationship with Jane unfolded after his 2008 divorce from his first wife and before his 2014 marriage to Harris. 

The New York Post on Wednesday slammed Emhoff as “Worst Gentleman” in its cover story detailing the Daily Mail’s article.

Emhoff is fresh off of a Sunday sit-down interview on MSNBC during which host Jen Psaki celebrated him as having reshaped “the perception of masculinity.”

“There is also an important, interesting part about how people have talked about your role is how your role has reshaped the perception of masculinity,” Psaki said. “I’m not sure you planned on that, but you are an incredibly supportive spouse. Has that been an evolution for you? Do you think that’s part of the role you might play as first gentleman?”

Emhoff responded: “It’s funny. I’ve started to think a lot about this. I’ve always been like this. My dad’s always been like this. To me, it’s the right thing to do, support women. It is mutual with Kamala and I. We support each other, we have each other’s back.”

DOUG EMHOFF’S EX-WIFE RESPONDS AFTER SECOND GENTLEMAN ADMITTED TO AFFAIR WITH NANNY

He added: “I’ve said many times when we lift up women, we support women, whether it’s pay equity, child care, family leave, and all of these issues in this post-Dobbs hellscape. Women should not be less than. Women should not have less rights and be treated differently. That’s not the American way.”

Clips of the exchange spread like wildfire on social media as critics noted that, in August, Emhoff admitted to having an affair with his family’s nanny during his first marriage years ago.

Emhoff’s admission came shortly after the Daily Mail published a separate report in August claiming that he got his daughter’s nanny pregnant.

The affair occurred before Emhoff’s relationship with and eventual marriage to Harris. 

“During my first marriage, Kerstin and I went through some tough times on account of my actions. I took responsibility, and in the years since, we worked through things as a family and have come out stronger on the other side,” Emhoff said over the summer, acknowledging the affair, but not naming the nanny. 

Emhoff and his first wife were married from 1992 to 2008 and share two adult children. Harris married Emhoff in 2014, and helped co-parent his children, who call their stepmom “mommala.” 

HOW KAMALA HARRIS’ HUSBAND’S CHEATING SCANDAL COULD HELP TRUMP, EXPERT SAYS

Emhoff reportedly told Jane in 2012 about his divorce, according to her female friend who works as an executive. 

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The Daily Mail’s report was published just five weeks before the election, when Harris will square off against former President Trump at the ballot box. 

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

A federal judge ruled in favor of a southern border rancher who had argued that the Biden administration had violated environmental law in it’s “haste to reverse its predecessor’s border policies” in 2021.

An Arizona rancher, Steven Smith, was part of the lawsuit, Massachusetts Coalition for Immigration Reform et al. v. U.S. Department of Homeland Security, challenging the Biden administration. The suit claimed that the Department of Homeland Security had failed to conduct a mandatory review required by the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) before halting border wall construction, a key Trump-era project.

Under NEPA, a federal agency must conduct an Environmental Assessment to determine whether a federal action has the potential to cause significant effects on the human environment, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.

After a two-day bench trial, Judge Trevor McFadden of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia issued a ruling on Friday that Smith “suffered concrete and particularized injuries” as a result of DHS not meeting the requirements of NEPA. 

ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS WITH ‘TERRORISM TIES’ WILL CONTINUE TO EXPLOIT BORDER, HOMELAND SECURITY REPORT WARNS

The Trump-appointed judge also concluded that the actions taken by DHS, such as ending the “Remain in Mexico” policy, resulted in indirect effects relating to population growth.

Smith testified that migrant activity on his ranch had “dramatically increased” after President Joe Biden was elected, and that he had begun seeing illegal immigrants on his property multiple times a month and finds trash on a daily basis.

Smith claimed that the trash left by the migrants has had negative impacts on the environment, as well as on his own cattle, which were eating the litter. 

GAETZ TO INTRODUCE BILL CUTTING OFF FEDERAL AID TO GROUPS HELPING ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS ENTER US

The rancher also testified that water for cattle and other wildlife was a very scarce resource and that migrants were taking it from a trough on his land. According to court documents: “While this may aid thirsty trespassers, it causes Smith to lose ‘thousands and thousands of gallons of water,’ which ‘can take [him] days and days and days to regain.” 

The judge ruled that Smith, a Cochise County resident, “suffered tangible harms” caused by the migrant crisis and is entitled to relief after illegal immigrants “trespassed onto his land, stole his water, and trashed his property.” 

“At trial, Smith proved as a matter of fact that his harms traced to migrants who reacted predictably to DHS’s decisions,” the ruling reads.

Former first lady Melania Trump is drawing heat from pro-life advocates over an excerpt in her memoir where she suggests a woman’s right to choose an abortion is a “fundamental right of individual liberty,” according to a report Wednesday.

Melania Trump wife of Republican presidential candidate and former President Trump, wrote the memoir entitled “Melania” that is scheduled to come out on Oct. 8, per the Amazon release date. In the book, according to a preview by The Guardian, Melania expresses a viewpoint that has historically been at odds with the Republican Party’s platform. 

“It is imperative to guarantee that women have autonomy in deciding their preference of having children, based on their own convictions, free from any intervention or pressure from the government,” Melania reportedly wrote.

TRUMP RISKS LOSING SOME PRO-LIFE VOTERS UNLESS HE CHANGES ‘HIS TUNE’ ON ABORTION, ACTIVIST WARNS

“Why should anyone other than the woman herself have the power to determine what she does with her own body? A woman’s fundamental right of individual liberty, to her own life, grants her the authority to terminate her pregnancy if she wishes.

“Restricting a woman’s right to choose whether to terminate an unwanted pregnancy is the same as denying her control over her own body. I have carried this belief with me throughout my entire adult life.”

The excerpts quickly drew the ire of pro-life advocates who have already been disgruntled by some of Trump’s seemingly ambiguous comments regarding abortion. 

“Melania Trump’s support of abortion is anti-feminist and clearly outside the teaching of our Catholic faith. She is wrong,” wrote Kristan Hawkins, president of Students for Life of America advocacy group. 

PRO-LIFERS BLAST TRUMP ‘BETRAYAL’ WITH SHIFTING ABORTION STANCE, ANSWER ON FLORIDA AMENDMENT 4

Lila Rose, founder of leading pro-life advocacy group Live Action, also responded to a promotional video Melania posted for her memoir in which she states, “Individual freedom is a fundamental principle that I safeguard… what does my body my choice really mean?”

“Who is this Melania Trump, or Kamala Harris? Functionally the same exact position on abortion,” Rose wrote on X. 

VANCE, WALZ SPAR OVER ABORTION AND IMMIGRATION IN FIRST AND ONLY VP DEBATE 

President of pro-life advocacy group Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, Marjorie Dannenfelser, wrote on X: “The women of America are capable of great strength and creativity. They are naturally inclined to speak for those who are powerless. Abortion is not the source of their freedom and liberation.”

In August, Trump sparked confusion among pro-life supporters about where he stood on an amendment that would upend Florida’s ban on abortions after six weeks’ gestation. Trump, after saying “I think the six-week is too short, there has to be more time,” to an NBC reporter when asked how he would vote, later walked it back and said he would vote against the amendment.

Other spouses of Republican presidents, such as Pat Nixon, Betty Ford, Nancy Reagan, Barbara Bush and Laura Bush, have been recorded either during or after their husbands’ tenure in office expressing pro-choice views.

Trump has also said he opposes a nationwide abortion ban and the GOP’s official platform softened its language about its abortion stances this year.

Fox News Digital has reached out to Melania Trump’s office for comment but did not hear back by publication deadline.

The Department of Homeland Security said Thursday that the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has the funds needed for “immediate response and recovery” in the wake of Hurricane Helene – even as Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas warned about a potential lack of money.

“FEMA has what it needs for immediate response and recovery efforts,” spokesperson Jaclyn Rothenberg said on X. “As [Administrator Deanne Criswell] said, she has the full authority to spend against the President’s budget, but we’re not out of hurricane season yet so we need to keep a close eye on it.”

The agency had recently lifted immediate needs funding, which allows the agency to focus on urgent efforts and pause non-urgent projects, but Rothenberg said the agency may still need to go back to that “and we will be watching it closely.”

HURRICANE HELENE SURVIVOR SAYS WATER ROSE 4 FEET WITHIN MINUTES 

Mayorkas had grabbed headlines on Wednesday when he said that it does not have enough funding to make it through the hurricane season, which lasts until November.

“We are meeting the immediate needs with the money that we have. We are expecting another hurricane hitting,” Mayorkas said. “FEMA does not have the funds to make it through the season.”

He spoke on Air Force Once as the states and the federal government assess the damage from Helene, which hit several states and has killed more than 160 people. His calls echoed those by President Biden, who said that Congress may need to pass a supplemental spending bill to help states.

Congress recently made $20 billion in immediate funding available for FEMA’s Disaster Relief Fund as part of a bipartisan deal to avoid a government shutdown at the end of last month. But Congress is currently out until mid-November, after Election Day

Mayorkas later clarified his remarks at the same event, saying that the short-term funding does not give the agency stability. 

“We have the immediate needs right now. On a continuing resolution, we have funds, but that is not a stable source of supply, if you will,” he said. “This is a multibillion-dollar, multiyear recovery.”

“It’s very important to note that even though we’re on a continuing resolution, we can obtain spend-fast funds so that we can dip into funds that are slated for the duration of the year to meet immediate needs,” he said. “So, we are meeting the moment, but that doesn’t speak about the future and the fact, as I mentioned earlier, that these extreme weather events are increasing in frequency and severity, and we have to be funded for the sake of the American people.  This is not a political issue.”

On the hill, a source familiar with the congressional appropriations process also said that the Disaster Relief Funding is not in immediate danger of running out of money.

FOX CORPORATION LAUNCHES DONATION DRIVE FOR AMERICAN RED CROSS HURRICANE HELENE RELIEF EFFORTS 

“While we will not know the full cost of Helene until the first 30-day estimate comes in, FEMA ended last year with a little less than $2 billion (which carried over). The CR also provided them access to an additional $20.261 billion. That is roughly $22 billion in total for this fiscal year so far,” they said.

Meanwhile, Mayorkas’ remarks about a potential lack of funding had drawn criticism from Republicans and conservatives, who had pointed to funding used by FEMA for grants to house and care for illegal immigrants who had crossed the southern border.

“Mayorkas and FEMA — immediately stop spending money on illegal immigration resettlement and redirect those funds to areas hit by the hurricane,” Gov. Greg Abbott said on X.

Critics referenced the Shelter and Services Program (SSP) spent $650 million in FY 23 on grants to non-profits and local organizations to assist migrants.  But the Biden administration pushed back, noting that the funding is appropriated by Congress and completely separate from disaster relief funding.

“These claims are completely false,” a DHS spokesperson told Fox News Digital. “As Secretary Mayorkas said, FEMA has the necessary resources to meet the immediate needs associated with Hurricane Helene and other disasters. The Shelter and Services Program (SSP) is a completely separate, appropriated grant program that was authorized and funded by Congress and is not associated in any way with FEMA’s disaster-related authorities or funding streams.”

White House spokesperson Angelo Fernandez Hernandez called the claim that money had been spent on services for illegal immigrants instead “false.”

“The Disaster Relief Fund is specifically appropriated by Congress to prepare for, respond to, recover from, and mitigate impacts of natural disasters. It is completely separate from other grant programs administered by FEMA for DHS.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

It was civil. It was cordial. It was substantive.

And there’s no question that JD Vance easily won the vice presidential debate. Tim Walz did better than anticipated – perhaps those expectations were deliberately set low – but despite some strong counterpunching, he frequently stumbled.

Each man had a mission: to defend his running mate and rough up the opposing presidential candidate.

But Vance had a second goal beyond talking up Donald Trump, and that was softening his own image. He made a concerted effort to project empathy, to appear reasonable, to be open to opposing viewpoints.

VOTERS REACT TO GOV TIM WALZ DODGING TIANANMEN SQUARE QUESTION: ‘I’M A KNUCKLEHEAD AT TIMES’

There is a caricature of the Ohio senator as a hard-right ideologue with little sympathy for women, as reflected by the famous childless cat ladies comment. But when the subject of abortion came up, he went out of his way to sound sympathetic to the pro-choice side:

“I know a lot of Americans don’t agree with everything that I’ve ever said on this topic. And, you know, I grew up in a working-class family in a neighborhood where I knew a lot of young women who had unplanned pregnancies and decided to terminate those pregnancies because they feel like they didn’t have any other options. And, you know, one of them is actually very dear to me. And I know she’s watching tonight and I love you. 

“And she told me something a couple of years ago that she felt like if she hadn’t had that abortion, that it would have destroyed her life because she was in an abusive relationship. And I think that what I take from that as a Republican who proudly wants to protect innocent life in this country, who proudly wants to protect the vulnerable, is that my party? We’ve got to do so much better of a job at earning the American people’s trust back on this issue, where they frankly just don’t trust us.”

(Vance’s website describes him as “100 percent pro-life.”)

Walz countered with specific stories of women who died or whose health was damaged because they lived in states that tightly restrict abortion.

The Minnesota governor hit his talking points, but regularly took a long time to get to his main argument. A question about Kamala Harris’ plan to build 3 million housing units produced a detour about how Walz has only bought one home. 

WATCH: VOTERS REACT IN REAL TIME TO KEY VANCE-WALZ DEBATE MOMENTS ON IMMIGRATION, DEMOCRACY, ABORTION

Walz often spoke in a clipped shorthand – the ACA, Springfield, Vance creating stories – without explaining, for instance, that he meant the false tale of Haitian migrants eating pets.

The CBS moderators, Norah O’Donnell and Margaret Brennan, edged into ABC territory by fact-checking only Vance, despite saying they would try to avoid that. After the senator referred to illegal immigrants in the Ohio town, Brennan said Springfield “does have a large number of Haitian migrants who have legal status, temporary protected.” That’s a point Walz should have made, but didn’t.

Many questions were framed from the left. “Senator Vance,” said Brennan, “you oppose most gun legislation that Democrats claim would curb gun violence. You oppose red flag gun laws and legislation to ban certain semi-automatic rifles, including AR-15s.”

Walz’s worst moment was one he should have anticipated, a story in the New York Times and elsewhere saying he was not in China for the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests as he had claimed, but got to Hong Kong months later. The governor began with a word-salad answer about growing up in Nebraska before retreating to “I’ve not been perfect. And I’m a knucklehead at times.”

Pressed again, he said he had misspoken.

Vance’s worst moment was about Jan. 6. O’Donnell began, “You have said you would not have certified the last presidential election and would have asked the states to submit alternative electors that has been called unconstitutional and illegal.”

POLITICS HIJACKS HURRICANE DEVASTATION IN THE SOUTH, BIDEN CALLS TRUMP A LIAR

The senator countered that Trump “said that on January the 6th, the protesters ought to protest peacefully. And on January the 20th, what happened? Joe Biden became the president. Donald Trump left the White House.”

This time Walz was ready. Trump “lost this election and he said he did. 140 police officers were beaten at the Capitol that day, some with the American flag. Several later died.”

He turned to Vance and said: “Did he lose the 2020 election?”

When Vance tried the “focused on the future” line again, Walz called that “a damning non-answer.”

But Vance largely came off as a Bush-style compassionate conservative. He must figure that win or lose, he’ll be running for president in 2028 and needed to combat all the negative coverage.

Walz looked like a man who was happy to survive his turn on the national stage. The debate would have looked very different if Harris had picked Josh Shapiro, given that she’s tied with Trump in Pennsylvania.

The Harris campaign has bubble-wrapped Tim Walz, not allowing him to do a single solo interview. JD Vance is constantly doing interviews, podcasts and press conferences, the best kind of preparation for a big debate. And that, in the end, may have been the difference.

A federal judge on Wednesday blocked a California bill that outlaws AI-generated “deepfake” content and required the removal of “deceptive content” from social media. 

The preliminary injunction comes just two weeks after Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom signed the controversial measure into law, igniting a spat with X owner and Tesla CEO Elon Musk. It also comes roughly a month before Election Day. 

The Hamilton Lincoln Law Institute had filed a lawsuit on behalf of Christopher Kohls, known as “Mr Reagan” online, who created satirical political videos, including one calling out the governor targeted as being “illegal” under the bill he signed. 

In the lawsuit, Reagan argued that the bill was unconstitutional. 

“The court agreed, granting a preliminary injunction that finds California has no ‘license to bulldoze over the longstanding tradition of critique, parody, and satire protected by the First Amendment,’” HLLI said in a news release. “HLLI does not know whether California intends to appeal.”

800-PLUS BILLS LEFT ON NEWSOM’S DESK ILLUSTRATE CALIFORNIA’S OVERREGULATION PROBLEM: EXPERTS

A spokesperson for Newsom’s office warned that deepfakes “threaten the integrity of our elections, and these new laws protect our democracy while preserving free speech — in a manner no more stringent than those in other states, including deep-red Alabama.”

“We’re confident the courts will uphold the state’s ability to regulate these types of dangerous and misleading deepfakes,” the governor’s office said in a statement to Fox News Digital, noting that “Satire remains alive and well in California — even for those who miss the punchline.”

Fox News Digital’s Jamie Joseph contributed to this report. 

President Biden said Wednesday that he would not support an attack by Israel on Iranian nuclear sites in retaliation for Iran’s firing of 181 missiles at Israel amid fears that a lethal regional war is around the corner.

On Wednesday, a day after the massive attack and after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed that Iran would pay for the attack, Biden briefly spoke with reporters before boarding Air Force One.

He said all the leaders on a recent call – France, Canada, Japan, Britain, Italy and Germany – agreed that Israel had the right to “proportionally” respond to Iran’s military strike.

“We’ll be discussing with the Israelis what they’re going to do, but all seven of us [G7 nations] agree that they have a right to respond, but they should respond proportionally,” he said.

ISRAEL URGES UN TO CONDEMN IRAN AFTER LATEST ATTACKS

But when asked whether he would back Israel striking Iranian nuclear sites as it has long threatened, Biden told reporters, “The answer is no.”

ISRAEL STRIKES HEZBOLLAH TARGETS IN LEBANON

Biden said more sanctions would be imposed on Iran and that he would speak with Netanyahu soon.

“Obviously, Iran is way off course,” he said.

Iran’s missile attack escalated tensions in the region, where the Biden administration has for months led negotiations on a cease-fire in the nearly year-old Israel-Hamas war.

ISRAEL’S ‘SWORN ENEMY’ HEZBOLLAH TELLS IRAN IT WOULD FIGHT ALONE IF CONFLICT ESCALATES

The recent assault on Israel follows the Biden administration souring on the prospects of an end to the war between Israel and Hamas. 

“We aren’t any closer to that now than we were even a week ago,” National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby previously told reporters. He called the prospects of a completed deal “daunting.” 

“No deal is imminent,” one U.S. official told the Wall Street Journal. “I’m not sure it ever gets done.”

During Tuesday’s vice presidential debate with Republican Ohio Sen. JD Vance, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz said Democrat nominee Vice President Harris’ “steady leadership” in the region is necessary.

“What we’ve seen out of Vice President Harris is we’ve seen steady leadership. We’ve seen a calmness that is able to be able to draw on the coalitions, to bring them together, understanding that our allies matter. When our allies see Donald Trump turn towards Vladimir Putin, turn towards North Korea, when we start to see that type of fickleness around holding the coalitions together, we will stay committed,” he said.

“And as the vice president said today, we will protect our forces and our allied forces, and there will be consequences,” he said.

Vance voiced support for GOP nominee former President Trump’s “peace through strength” policy toward Israel.

“Donald Trump recognized that for people to fear the United States, you need peace through strength,” Vance said. “They needed to recognize that if they got out of line, the United States’ global leadership would put stability and peace back in the world.”

Vance said it is “up to Israel” how they choose to respond.

“Now, you asked about a preemptive strike, Margaret, and I want to answer the question,” he said during the debate. “Look, it is up to Israel what they think they need to do to keep their country safe,” he said. “And we should support our allies wherever they are when they’re fighting the bad guys. I think that’s the right approach to take with the Israel question.”

Fox News Digital has reached out to the State Department and the White House for comment.

Former President Trump blasted the Justice Department Wednesday for having “disobeyed their own rule in favor of complete and total election interference” after a key filing from Special Counsel Jack Smith’s election case against him was unsealed with just weeks before Americans cast their ballots. 

U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia Judge Tanya Chutkan unsealed Smith’s 165-page filing Wednesday afternoon. The filing lays out his case and the alleged evidence he intends to use in an eventual trial against Trump. 

Trump pleaded not guilty to all charges brought by Smith. 

JUDGE UNSEALS KEY FILING IN SPECIAL COUNSEL JACK SMITH’S ELECTION CASE

But Trump blasted the Justice Department Wednesday evening. 

“For 60 days prior to an election, the Department of Injustice is supposed to do absolutely nothing that would taint or interfere with a case,” Trump posted in all capital letters to his Truth Social. “They disobeyed their own rule in favor of complete and total election interference.”

“I did nothing wrong, they did!” he continued. 

DOJ practice during an election year has often been to hold off on major actions in cases that could impact elections during the 60 days leading up to Election Day, an unwritten policy commonly referred to as the “60-day rule.” The “rule,” which is really more of a tradition because it is not an actual rule, has been cited many times in recent years.

“The case is a scam, just like all of the others, including the documents case, which was dismissed!” 

Trump was pointing to the other case Smith brought against him related to classified records. The case was tossed out by a federal judge in Florida who ruled that Smith was unlawfully appointed as special counsel. 

The former president further blasted Democrats, saying they are “weaponizing the Justice Department against me because they I know I am WINNING, and they are desperate to prop up their failing candidate, Kamala Harris.” 

Trump said the unsealing of the Smith filing, which he called the “latest ‘hit job,’” happened because his running mate, Sen. JD Vance “humiliated” Harris’ running mate Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz during Tuesday night’s vice presidential debate. 

Trump said the Justice Department “has become nothing more than an extension of Joe’s, and now Kamala’s, campaign.” 

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

“This is egregious PROSECUTORIAL MISCONDUCT, and should not have been released right before the Election,” Trump said. “The Democrat Party is turning America into a Third World Country that tries to censor, harass, and intimidate their Political Opponents. What they have done to our Justice System is one of the Great, All Time, Tragedies.” 

The former president added that the Democrat Party “is guilty of the Worst Election Interference in American History.” 

“They are trying to DESTROY OUR DEMOCRACY, allowing millions of people to enter our Country illegally. They are determined to stop us from winning back the White House, sealing the Border, and MAKING AMERICA GREAT AGAIN. BUT THEY WILL FAIL, AND WE WILL SAVE OUR NATION!” Trump posted. 

Trump also blasted Smith as “deranged,” and said that he, the “Harris-Biden DOJ, and Washington, D.C. based Radical Left Democrats, are “HELL BENT on continuing to Weaponize the Justice Department in an attempt to cling to power.” 

“‘TRUMP’ is dominating the Election cycle, leading in the Polls, and the Radical Democrats throughout the Deep State are totally ‘freaking out.’ This entire case is a Partisan, Unconstitutional, Witch Hunt, that should be dismissed, entirely, just like the Florida case was dismissed!” Trump said. 

Trump’s comments came in response to Smith’s newly-unsealed filing, in which he alleges Trump “resorted to crimes to try to stay in office” after losing the 2020 presidential election.

“With private co-conspirators, the defendant launched a series of increasingly desperate plans to overturn the legitimate election results in seven states that he had lost — Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, New Mexico, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin,” Smith wrote. 

“His efforts included lying to state officials in order to induce them to ignore true vote counts; manufacturing fraudulent electoral votes in the targeted states; attempting to enlist Vice President Michael R. Pence, in his role as President of the Senate, to obstruct Congress’s certification of the election by using the defendant’s fraudulent electoral votes; and when all else had failed, on January 6, 2021, directing an angry crowd of supporters to the United States Capitol to obstruct the congressional certification.” 

Smith claims that the “throughline of these efforts was deceit,” claiming Trump and co-conspirators engaged in a conspiracy to interfere with the federal government function by which the nation collects and counts election results, which is set forth in the Constitution and the Electoral Count Act (ECA); a conspiracy to obstruct the official proceeding in which Congress certifies the legitimate results of the presidential election; and a conspiracy against the rights of millions of Americans to vote and have their votes counted.” 

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

TRUMP INDICTED A SECOND TIME IN ELECTION SUBVERSION CASE BROUGHT BY SPECIAL COUNSEL JACK SMITH

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. 

Trump campaign spokesman Steven Cheung told Fox News Digital the release of the “falsehood-ridden, unconstitutional J6 brief immediately following Tim Walz’s disastrous debate performance is another obvious attempt by the Harris-Biden regime to undermine American Democracy and interfere in this election.” 

“Deranged Jack Smith and Washington DC Radical Democrats are hell-bent on weaponizing the Justice Department in an attempt to cling to power,” Cheung said. “President Trump is dominating, and the Radical Democrats throughout the Deep State are freaking out.

“This entire case is a partisan, Unconstitutional Witch Hunt that should be dismissed entirely, together with ALL of the remaining Democrat hoaxes.” 

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. 

Fox News’ Jake Gibson contributed to this report. 

YORK, Pennsylvania — The day after their vice presidential debate in New York City, Republican Sen. JD Vance of Ohio and Democratic Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz jumped back on the campaign trail with stops in two crucial battleground states.

As he arrived at the airport near Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, on Wednesday, Walz pointed toward his debate hours earlier with Vance and told reporters, “New York City was a little crazy last night.”

Most pundits said Vance was the more polished of the two candidates on the vice presidential debate stage Tuesday night, although flash polls indicated debate watchers were mostly divided on which running mate was victorious.

An accidental response by Walz during the debate quickly went viral, as Vice President Kamala Harris’ running mate mistakenly said he had “become friends with school shooters.” 

2024 CASH DASH: TRUMP UPS HIS ANTE AS HE TRIES TO CLOSE GAP WITH HARRIS

The mishap occurred when Walz was asked about changing positions on banning assault weapons, which he previously opposed but now supports. 

“I sat in that office with those Sandy Hook parents. I’ve become friends with school shooters. I’ve seen it,” Walz said.

Asked to clarify his debate gaffe, Walz said Wednesday, “I’m super passionate about this. The question came up about the school shooting. We’re talking about everything except school shootings. And I sat as a member of Congress with the Sandy Hook parents, and it was a profound movement.

“David Hogg [a leading gun control activist and school shooting survivor] is a good friend of mine.”

VANCE, WALZ, SPAR OVER ISSUES AT VP DEBATE SHOWDOWN

Walz acknowledged, “I need to be more specific on that. But I am passionate about this.”

Vance, speaking at a rally in Auburn Hills, Michigan, said he didn’t hear Walz’s comment until he was told about it during a conversation with his running mate, former President Trump, after the debate.

“He said that Tim Walz said that he was friends with school shooters twice,” Vance said, referencing his conversation with Trump. “And that’s something I actually didn’t notice that Tim Walz had said that on the debate stage.

“I said, ‘Did he really say that, sir?’ And he [Trump] said, ‘I’m telling you, man, go and watch the clips.’

HARRIS, BIDEN, HEAD TO STORM-RAVAGED SOUTHEAST IN WAKE OF TRUMP TRIP

“And I said that was probably only the third- or fourth-dumbest comment Tim Walz made that night.”

The debate moderators also confronted Walz on his claim to have been in Hong Kong during the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre in Beijing.

Walz admitted he traveled to Asia in August 1989, several months after the April 15 massacre, adding he can be “a knucklehead at times.”

The governor on Wednesday reiterated that he had his “dates wrong.”

Trump, in an interview Wednesday with Fox News’ Brooke Singman, called his running mate’s performance “fantastic” and that it had “reconfirmed my choice.” 

The former president also argued that Walz had “embarrassed himself” during the debate.

Another major moment in the debate came near the end, when Vance wouldn’t say that President Biden won the 2020 election over Trump. The former president for four years has repeatedly made unproven claims that the election was rigged and rampant with voter fraud.

Walz, on Wednesday, once again emphasized that “it is disqualifying to not acknowledge that the 2020 election was won by Joe Biden. It’s as simple as that.”

An hour later, speaking to a large crowd at a rally at the York Fairgrounds, Walz charged that “you can’t rewrite history. And trying to mislead us about Donald Trump’s record. That’s gaslighting.”

Vance, asked about his avoidance of answering the 2020 election question during the debate, reiterated his charge on Wednesday that “the simple reason” is that “the media is obsessed with talking about the election of four years ago. I’m focused on the election of 33 days from now because I want to throw Kamala Harris out of office and get back to commonsense, economic policies.”

Walz arrived at his rally in York to cheers as he pulled into the York Exposition Center riding his campaign bus.

But York is Trump country. The former president won York County by roughly 25 points over Biden in 2020.

Walz’s Pennsylvania swing through Harrisburg, York and Reading kicked off what the Harris campaign described as a more aggressive post-debate travel and voter engagement blitz by the governor, with stops in two other battleground states — Arizona and Nevada — and a fundraising blitz in Ohio, California and Washington.

And the campaign noted that Walz would participate in more media interviews. Vance has done dozens of interviews and repeatedly fielded questions from reporters on the campaign trail since Trump named the senator as his running mate two and a half months ago.

Vance made the first of his two stops in Michigan in Auburn Hills at Visioneering, an automotive industry tool supplier.

Auburn Hills is in Oakland County, which has swung heavily toward the Democrats in recent election cycles. Biden carried the county by roughly 14 points over Trump four years ago.

Michigan and Pennsylvania are two of seven key battleground states whose razor-thin margins decided Biden’s 2020 victory over Trump and will likely determine whether Trump or Harris win the 2024 presidential election.

Fox News’ Deirdre Heavey and Kirill Clark contributed to this report.

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