Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul’s favorability among likely New York voters has cratered, and former President Trump is viewed more favorably by voters in the historically blue state in a new poll.

Siena College on Thursday released a poll showing that just 34% of voters in the Empire State view Hochul favorably, with 54% viewing her poorly. When asked about their views on Trump, 39% of likely New York voters told pollsters they view the 45th president favorably, and 57% view him poorly, a figure slightly higher than voters’ assessment of Hochul. 

​​”It is also worth noting that Hochul’s favorability rating, 20 points underwater, is worse than Trump’s, 18 points underwater,” Siena College pollster Steven Greenberg said in the poll’s press release. “To repeat, Kathy Hochul has a lower net favorability rating in New York than Donald Trump.”

The poll found that Hochul’s favorability rating dropped from last month’s findings of 39% favorability to 50% disapproval among voters. 

FORMER AIDE TO NEW YORK GOV. HOCHUL, WHO IS ACCUSED OF BEING CHINESE SPY, WENT ON A TOUR OF THE WHITE HOUSE

“While Hochul’s favorability rating has never been outstanding — she’s never been viewed favorably by 50% of voters in a state where 49% of the voters are Democrats — it has now hit an all-time low, 34%-54%,” Greenberg said. “Her job approval rating, 39%-56%, is also a record low.”

Trump traveled to his home state on Wednesday, where he joined thousands of supporters on Long Island at the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum. He vowed to the crowd he would “win New York” and “save” the longtime blue state. 

FORMER AIDE TO DEMOCRATIC NY GOVERNOR ARRESTED IN FEDERAL CASE 

“The reason I’m here,” Trump told the crowd, is because “we are going to win New York.

“That’s the first time in many, many years that a Republican can honestly say it, and we’re going to do it.” 

A Republican presidential candidate has not claimed victory in the Empire State since Ronald Reagan in 1984. 

“We have to do it. We do it, and the election nationwide is over. We take over the White House, and we fix up our country,” he said. 

HOUSE REPUBLICANS PRESS GOV. HOCHUL ON ALLEGED CHINA COMMUNIST PARTY AGENT’S INFLUENCE IN NEW YORK 

“I say to the people of New York: With crime at record levels, with terrorists and criminals pouring in and with inflation eating your hearts out, vote for Donald Trump. What the hell do you have to lose?” Trump told the crowd. 

Trump has previously said he has a good shot at winning the traditionally liberal state, including in May as he faced trial in New York City on 34 counts of falsifying business records. 

“I think we have a chance to win in New York. It hasn’t been done in, you know, many, many decades as a Republican,” he told “Fox & Friends” in May. “I think we have a very good chance.”

Across the Hudson River in New Jersey, Trump has also campaigned on winning the Garden State, another historically blue jurisdiction. 

“We’re going to win New Jersey,” Trump told a massive crowd this spring in Wildwood, sparking exuberant cheers from supporters. 

The Siena survey found that, in New York, Vice President Kamala Harris still has a lead over Trump, though it appears to not be as “deep blue” compared to previous presidential elections.

“New York remains solidly ‘blue’ but perhaps not as deep blue as it has been in the last several presidential cycles. In the six presidential elections this century, Democrats have carried New York by at least 18 points, and at least 22 points in five of the six. President Biden won here by 23 points in 2020,” Greenberg said. “With less than seven weeks till Election Day, Harris leads Trump head-to-head by 13 points, little changed from 14 points last month, and by 12 points in a multi-candidate race, unchanged from August.”

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

A shadowy group has been recruiting unsuspecting candidates to act as potential spoilers in competitive House races in the latest attempt from far-left groups to tip Republican races.

For the past year, a group known as the Patriots Run Project has recruited Trump supporters to run as independent candidates in key swing districts where they could siphon votes from Republicans in races that will help determine which party controls the House next year, an Associated Press review found. In addition to two races in Iowa, the group recruited candidates in Nebraska, Montana, Virginia and Minnesota. All six recruits described themselves as retired, disabled or both.

The group’s operation provides few clues about its management, financing or motivation. But interviews, text messages, emails, business filings and other documents reviewed by the AP show that a significant sum has been spent — and some of it traces back to Democratic consulting firms.

“At that time, I was thinking, ‘Well, it would be nice to be in Congress and get to work with President Trump,’” Joe Wiederien, 54, reflected in an interview outside the Veterans Affairs hospital in Des Moines, where he was seeking treatment for a leaking incision on his head from previous brain surgery. “It looks like it’s a dirty trick now.”

WISCONSIN KICKS OFF ELECTION SEASON WITH FIRST WIDELY AVAILABLE ABSENTEE BALLOTS

A fervent supporter of former President Donald Trump, Wiederien was registered as a Republican until months earlier. A debilitating stroke had left him unable to drive. He had never run for office. For a time, he couldn’t vote because of a felony conviction.

But he arrived last month at the Iowa Capitol with well over the 1,726 petition signatures needed to qualify for the ballot as a conservative alternative to first-term Republican Rep. Zach Nunn. After filing the paperwork, he flashed a thumbs-up across the room at an operative he knew only as “Johnny.”

Thomas Bowman, 71 and disabled after a kidney transplant, said he believes he likely was recruited to run against Democratic Rep. Angie Craig of Minnesota to split the conservative vote and help Craig win reelection in the suburban Minneapolis district. But the self-described constitutional conservative expressed gratitude for free help getting signatures.

TRUMP MAKES A BOLD PREDICTION ABOUT THE 2024 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION

“They got me on the ballot,” Bowman said. “If I had to do that all by myself, I couldn’t do it.”

Patriots Run Project’s actions have resulted in an FEC complaint from the conservative group Americans for Public Trust, which alleges that Patriots Run Project’s “major purpose” was “influencing federal elections” and the organization thus violated campaign finance law by failing to register as a political committee.

That would force the group to file reports that would likely reveal who is managing and financing the operation, as well as the motivation behind it.

The only concrete identifying detail listed on the group’s website is a mailbox inside a UPS store in Washington, D.C.

“It’s clear this shady scheme connected to Democrats is a threat to democracy, yet every single Democrat candidate benefiting from the plot refuses to condemn it,” National Republican Congressional Committee spokesperson Mike Marinella told Fox News Digital. “If they truly mean what they say, they can’t remain silent.”

Patriots Run Project operated a series of pro-Trump pages and ran ads that used apocalyptic rhetoric to attack establishment politicians in both parties while urging conservatives to run in November.

“We need American Patriots like YOU to stand for freedom with President Trump and take back control from the globalist elites by running for office,” one such ad states.

Once recruited, they communicated with a handful of operatives through text messages, emails and phone calls. In-person contact was limited. Patriots Run Project advised them about what forms to fill out and how to file required paperwork.

In at least three races, petition signatures to qualify for the ballot were circulated by a Nevada company that works closely with the Democratic consulting firm Sole Strategies, according to documents, including text messages and a draft contract, as well as the firm’s co-founder. In Iowa, a different Democratic firm conducted a poll testing attacks on Nunn, while presenting Wiederien as the true conservative.

A spokesperson for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, House Democrats’ campaign arm, said the organization had no knowledge of or involvement in the effort. House Majority PAC, the Democrats’ big spending congressional super PAC, was also not involved, a spokesman said.

Democrats are no strangers to boosting extreme candidates. During the midterms, the Left funded ads for fringe Republican candidates, hoping they would be easier to defeat in a general election.

Associated Press and Fox News Digital’s Rich Edson contributed to this report.

President Biden on Thursday falsely claimed he had never spoken to Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell as president, despite having a meeting with him at the White House two years ago.

Biden, during a speech to the Economic Club of Washington, said, “Unlike my predecessor, I respect the Federal Reserve’s independence as they pursued a mandate to bring inflation down.”  

“And that independence has served the country well. And by the way, I’ve never once spoken to the chairman of the Fed since I became president,” Biden added. “We’ll also do enormous damage to our economy if that independence is ever lost.” 

However, in May 2022, Biden met with Powell in the Oval Office in what Bloomberg described in a report as his “third in-person session with Powell” since becoming president. 

FEDERAL RESERVE CUTS RATES FOR FIRST TIME IN FOUR YEARS AHEAD OF PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION 

“My plan is to address inflation. That starts with a simple proposition: respect the Fed, respect the Fed’s independence, which I have done and will continue to do,” Biden said at the time. 

“The president underscored to Chair Powell in the meeting what he has underscored consistently including today – that he respects the independence of the Federal Reserve,” then-White House National Economic Council Director Brian Deese said after the meeting, according to Reuters. 

IRAN TRIED TO INFLUENCE ELECTION BY SENDING STOLEN MATERIAL FROM TRUMP CAMPAIGN TO BIDEN’S CAMP, FBI SAYS 

Before that, in November 2021, Biden also introduced Powell during a news conference to announce his nominees for chair and vice chair of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System. 

During his time as president, Trump once called Powell “clueless” in a tweet, writing, “We should easily be reaping big Rewards & Gains, but the Fed is holding us back. We will Win!” 

Nearly 30 vulnerable House Democrats voted for a bill Wednesday to deport illegal immigrants who commit sex crimes, signaling a shift in the party’s focus on the migrant crisis as the November elections draw near.

The Republican-led bill passed 266 to 158, with 51 Democrats voting with GOP lawmakers.

Democratic critics of the bill have accused it of unfairly targeting illegal immigrants and “weaponizing” the issue of domestic violence. In total, 158 Democrats voted against the bill.

But out of the 31 left-wing lawmakers running for re-election in competitive seats, according to the nonpartisan Cook Political Report, only Reps. Darren Soto, D-Fla., and Val Hoyle, D-Ore., voted against the bill. Twenty-nine vulnerable Democrats, however, crossed the aisle on the measure.

EX-BORDER CHIEF WARNS OF ‘SIGNIFICANT THREAT’ AS MIGRANT NUMBERS SKYROCKET: ‘ENTIRE SECTORS’ MISSING AGENTS

Fox News Digital reached out to Hoyle and Soto’s offices about their opposition to the bill but did not immediately receive a response.

Rep. Greg Landsman, D-Ohio, voted “no” on Wednesday night, but his office told Fox News Digital that it was in error: “Rep. Landsman intended to vote yes on H.R.7909 and has already submitted a statement to the Congressional Record affirming as such,” his office said.

Both Hoyle and Soto are in seats classified as “likely Democrat” but could be vulnerable to an upset. Soto’s seat is rated eight points in favor of Democrats, and Hoyle’s is four. Landsman is closest to a toss-up, being rated “D+2.”

However, the significant number of vulnerable Democrats who supported the bill is a hallmark of the larger shift in focus the party has experienced on border security.

GERMANY CLAMPS DOWN ON ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS AS COUNTRY FORCED TO RETHINK POLICIES AMID VOTER ANGER

Moderate Democrats and those in danger of losing their seats have raced to call for bipartisan measures to tackle the migrant crisis, which has reached states and cities well beyond the U.S.-Mexico border.

In addition to deporting migrants convicted of sex crimes, the legislation would also deem illegal immigrants who admit to domestic violence or sex-related charges — or are convicted of them — to be inadmissible to the U.S.

It was led by Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., herself a survivor of rape.

It’s part of a wider legislative push by the House GOP to spotlight issues stemming from the border crisis.

TOP HOUSE COMMITTEE RAMPS UP PRESSURE TO OBTAIN ‘IMPORTANT’ DOCS ON HARRIS’ ROLE IN BORDER CRISIS 

Among the Democrats who spoke out against the bill is Congressional Progressive Caucus Chair Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash.

“Here we are again, debating another partisan bill that fearmongers about immigrants, instead of working together to fix the immigration system,” Jayapal said during debate on the bill.

“I probably shouldn’t be too surprised. Scapegoating immigrants and attempting to weaponize the crime of domestic violence is appearing to be a time-honored tradition for Republicans.”

A conservative legal watchdog group is heading to court to get the U.S. Secret Service and Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to explain how gunman Thomas Crooks had been able to “fire a relatively simple shot that came within an inch of killing President Trump and struck fellow Americans.”

In a lawsuit filed Thursday, America First Legal alleges that the Secret Service and DHS illegally concealed government records related to the attempted assassination in Butler, Pennsylvania, on July 13. The organization claims it submitted multiple public records requests about the incident but still has not received any documents.

“On July 13, the American people watched in horror as a lunatic attempted to assassinate former President, and current candidate for President, Donald Trump,” Gene Hamilton, AFL senior counsel said in a statement. 

WATCH ON FOX NATION: THE ATTEMPTED ASSASSINATIONS OF DONALD TRUMP

“Today, there is widespread and bipartisan acknowledgment that there were catastrophic failures that tragic day and in the weeks and months ahead of it. We are committed to obtaining these records so that the American people can see for themselves exactly what senior DHS leadership was prioritizing in its mission, and why more resources were not devoted to the protection of President Donald J. Trump,” Hamilton said.

AFL requested documents pertaining to the Secret Service’s staffing shortages, hiring and employment standards and all communications to or from Secretary Alejnadro Mayorkas and two senior DHS official Kristie Canegello and Jonathan Davidson.

According to AFL, the Secret Service said it would not process their expedited public records’ requests, because there was “no threat to the life or safety of anyone” and that there was no urgency to grant their request. 

NEW WHISTLEBLOWER CLAIMS ON FIRST TRUMP ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT ‘HIGHLY DAMAGING’ TO SECRET SERVICE: HAWLEY

Lawmakers on Capitol Hill – both Republican and Democratic – have also been trying to obtain documents from government agencies related to the events that unfolded that day and what security lapses may have occurred.

“Politicians on both sides of the aisle and the American people both agree that USSS and senior officials at DHS are failing to provide well-deserved and well-needed transparency,” AFL said in its news release.

Sen. Richard Blumenthal recently told reporters on Capitol Hill that he is “reaching the point of total outrage,” because the DHS response has been “totally lacking.” 

“In fact, I think it’s tantamount to stonewalling in many respects,” the Connecticut Democrat said.

Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., also recently told Fox News Digital that the Secret Service had refused to release documents about Crooks’ autopsy report, saying, “We don’t have any of the trajectory reports.”

“So, where’d the bullets go? We don’t even know how they handled the crime scene,” he said. “We haven’t been able to interview the sniper who took out Crooks,” Johnson said. Crooks is the would-be assassin that, during the July 13 rally in Pennsylvania, opened fire, grazing the former president’s ear, killing a rally attendee and critically injuring two others.

TRUMP BLAMES BIDEN-HARRIS ‘RHETORIC’ FOR LATEST ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT, SAYS HE WILL ‘SAVE THE COUNTRY’

In light of the second attempted assassination of former President Trump’s life at his golf course in Florida last week, AFL said in it statement: “There is no denying that President Trump currently faces genuine threats, and AFL’s requests would help to ensure that USSS and DHS leadership are suffcieintly trained and staffed to ensure the safety of President Trump.”

“The American people and Congress need total transparency,” the group said.

A new statewide poll in California found that nearly three-quarters of Golden State residents support making changes to “Prop 47” – the 2014 public referendum that reduced penalties for larceny, forgery and drug offenses. 

Critics have blamed the current policy – which includes the provision deeming shoplifting under $950 a misdemeanor – for the crime wave gripping urban areas of the state.

In the poll, conducted by the Public Policy Institute of California, 71% of likely voters say they will vote “yes” on “Prop 36” – the ballot initiative that seeks to make such revisions.

The highest support came from residents of the Inland Empire east of San Diego and bordering Arizona – at 79% – with the lowest coming from the Bay Area at 64%.

KAMALA HARRIS PLAYED ‘CRITICAL ROLE’ IN CALIFORNIA CRIME LAW

Sixty-three percent of Democrats and 85% of Republicans support Prop 36, according to the poll, which met Fox News’ polling standards.

Prop 36 will allow felony charges for certain types of drug possession and thefts under $950, if the defendant has two such prior convictions, according to the California Department of State. It will also apply more serious penalties for fentanyl dealers.

The department said approving Prop 36 could also lead to millions of dollars in “state criminal justice costs,” according to its “Fiscal Impact” section.

Prime supporters include Crime Victims United and the California District Attorney’s Association, while opponents include Contra Costa County District Attorney Diana Becton, according to CDOS.

CALIFORNIA DEMOCRATS ‘PLAYING DIRTY TRICKS’ TO KEEP PROP 47 REFORM OFF BALLOT, GOP LEADER SAYS

The poll surveyed more than 1,000 likely voters and was conducted from Aug. 29 to Sept. 9.

Prop 36 was originally introduced in part by two Democrats, Gov. Gavin Newsom and Senate President Pro Tempore Mike McGuire, in July, according to reports.

“Californians want safer, stronger communities, and we’re delivering exactly that with this commonsense approach,” McGuire said in a statement.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

“These are a methodical set of measures that will crack down on retail theft and hold offenders accountable for hardcore drug crimes, without enacting the Draconian policies of the ‘80s and ‘90s that devastated communities of color and cost taxpayers billions of dollars.”

Fox News Digital also reached out to California Republicans for comment.

The PPIC’s survey director told the Sacramento Bee that of the 10 ballot initiatives primed for November, Prop 36 is getting the most attention:

“Proposition 36 on crime sentences currently leads in support, interest, and importance among the 10 state propositions,” Mark Baldassare said.

A director at a leading Black activist group is expected to slam the Biden administration’s energy agenda for prioritizing climate policies over the affordability crisis, according to an internal preview of Capitol Hill testimony.

Donna Jackson, the director of membership development at Project 21, a Black think tank at the National Center for Public Policy Research that seeks to promote the views of African Americans, is expected to testify during a House Budget Committee hearing Thursday dubbed, “The Cost of the Biden Energy Crisis.”

According to a copy of Jackson’s prepared remarks, she will comment on the cost of household appliances, electric vehicle mandates and how the housing affordability crisis is affecting Black Americans. 

“Cars are also indispensable to raising a family. As a single mom who raised five kids, don’t even try to tell me that I could have done that by relying on public transportation,” Jackson says in prepared remarks. 

BIDEN PLEDGES $7.3B IN ‘CLEAN ENERGY’ SPENDING WITH NATIONAL DEBT AT $35T

“Dangling free money in front of low-income households does not make up for the damage done. Whether it is proposals to give $25,000 to new home buyers or the generous tax credits to buy EVs, or government rebates for politically-correct appliances, no handout can substitute for getting rid of these policies,” the activist is expected to tell the committee.

BIDEN-HARRIS ADMIN HAS ‘FAILED’ REPEATEDLY ON HEALTH CARE: ANALYSIS

Jackson will also rail against the Biden administration’s “Green New Deal-style policies.” 

“These green policies are a bad deal for the American people, and it is low-income households that suffer most when energy affordability is no longer the priority.”

Jackson is expected to conclude her speech by discussing energy poverty, specifically how the continued use of coal, oil and natural gas would “ensure real energy abundance and affordability.”

Other witnesses expected at the hearing include Diana Furchtgott-Roth, director of the Center for Energy, Climate, and Environment at The Heritage Foundation; Alex Epstein, president and founder of the Center for Industrial Progress, and Trevor Higgins, senior vice president for Energy and Environment, Center for American Progress.

FLASHBACK: High-profile Democrats have had their fair share of collaborations with rapper Sean “Diddy” Combs, whom federal authorities have charged with sex trafficking, racketeering conspiracy and more in a disturbing indictment unsealed Tuesday. 

Vice President Kamala Harris, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, New York Mayor Eric Adams and former President Barack Obama have all been connected to the “Hello Good Morning” artist for Democratic causes over the years. Combs has been one of the major celebrities backing Democrats throughout his career.

In 2020, Harris, – now the Democratic frontrunner in the 2024 race – thanked Combs for hosting a political town hall about COVID-19. 

“There’s a lot at stake for our communities right now and it’s critical we bring to the forefront how coronavirus is perpetuating racial inequality and health disparities,” Harris wrote on X.

Combs also played a crucial role in engaging young voters for Democrats at the 2004 Democratic National Convention, where he interviewed young delegates and Democrat lawmakers – including Obama and Clinton – for MTV. 

SEAN ‘DIDDY’ COMBS ARRESTED FOLLOWING RAIDS, HUMAN TRAFFICKING INVESTIGATION

In 2008, just days before the election, Combs made a last effort to court Black voters for Obama’s presidential campaign at a Democratic event – dubbed the “Last Chance For Change Rally” – in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

In 2020, Combs endorsed then-candidate Joe Biden for president and launched the “Political Black Party” while saying that “White men like Trump need to be banished” in a podcast interview with Charlamagne tha God. 

Combs was awarded the key to New York City in September 2023, only to return it later at Mayor Adams’ request following the release of a 2016 video allegedly showing the rapper assaulting his ex-girlfriend, singer Cassie. Adams informed Combs of the key’s rescission in a letter, and the key was returned to the city on June 10.

Combs was part of a group of dozens of Black individuals who sent a letter to Biden in August 2020 urging him to select a Black vice presidential candidate, which appeared to reference reports that then-Sen. Harris was too “ambitious” to be his choice, The Hill reported.

Combs has appeared with former President Donald Trump in photos in the past, primarily at galas and other apolitical celebrity functions.

FOX NATION SPECIAL EXPLORES SEAN ‘DIDDY’ COMBS INVESTIGATION, RAIDS

Combs pleaded not guilty after appearing in a Manhattan courtroom for his arraignment Tuesday. He was arrested Monday by federal agents based on a sealed indictment, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York confirmed. 

The rapper was charged with racketeering conspiracy, sex trafficking by force, fraud or coercion, and transportation to engage in prostitution in the indictment unsealed earlier Tuesday.

CLICK HERE TO VIEW THE INDICTMENT

Authorities claimed Combs ran a criminal enterprise through his businesses, including Bad Boy Entertainment, Combs Enterprises and Combs Global, among others. He used “violence, use of firearms, threats of violence, coercion, and verbal, emotional, physical, and sexual abuse” to fulfill his sexual desires, according to the unsealed indictment obtained by Fox News Digital. 

Combs engaged his victims in “physical, emotional, and verbal abuse” in order to force them into participating in the “freak offs,” the court docs read. Combs would also supply drugs to the sex workers and female victims to facilitate sexual encounters.

DIDDY ALLEGEDLY FORCED STUDENT, EX KIM PORTER TO TAKE ECSTASY DURING SEXUAL ASSAULT, ACCORDING TO NEW LAWSUIT

“Freak Offs were elaborate and produced sex performances that Combs arranged, directed, masturbated during, and often electronically recorded,” authorities stated. Combs often provided IV fluids to his victims following “freak offs” to recover from physical exertion and drug use, the indictment read.

During raids on Combs’ home in March, authorities seized “freak off supplies” along with three AR-15s with defaced serial numbers, the court docs stated. The feds took “cases and cases of the kinds of personal lubricant and baby oil that Combs’ staff allegedly used to stock hotel rooms for the freak offs – more than 1,000 bottles altogether,” Williams said at a press conference.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP

Fox News Digital’s requests for comment sent to Clinton, Obama, Adams and Harris were not returned before publication.

When reached for comment, a White House spokesperson referred Fox News Digital to press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre’s statements during Tuesday’s press briefing. “Look, it’s an ongoing — ongoing situation, legal matter. I would have to refer you to the Department of Justice. Everything, kind of, is happening today. And so, I’m just — we just don’t comment on ongoing legal matter. I’m not going to do that from here. So, I’m going to leave it there.”

Fox News Digital’s Lauryn Overhultz and Andrew Murray contributed to this report.

Former President Trump had presidential-level security in place when officers foiled an attempt on his life last weekend, the U.S. Secret Service told lawmakers on Wednesday.

The House task force probing the July 13 shooting at a Trump rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, received a briefing from USSS after the incident at the ex-president’s golf course on Sunday.

During that briefing, officials told House lawmakers that Trump had nearly all of the same protections afforded to President Biden at the time of the second attempt. It had been put in place after the July 13 shooting, where Trump was injured and one attendee died.

“He had the same coverage as sitting president as he had last Sunday. And we’re talking mainly today with Secret Service,” task force Chairman Mike Kelly, R-Pa., told reporters after the briefing.

‘I’VE NEVER SEEN THIS’: TOP REPUBLICAN DETAILS LEVEL OF SECRET SERVICE ‘LACK OF COOPERATION’ 

“I came away today feeling that the Secret Service on this past Sunday was treating it the same way as when President Trump was a sitting president.”

Rep. Jason Crow, D-Colo., the top Democrat on the panel, told reporters, “It’s our understanding that after July 13 that President Biden ordered the Secret Service to provide the same level of security to both Vice President [Kamala] Harris and to former President Trump that would be a presidential level security, commensurate with what the president would receive, and that that security is being provided.”

A spokesperson for the task force told Fox News Digital on Thursday that USSS told lawmakers Trump was getting protection “commensurate” with Biden’s.

TRUMP MAKES A BOLD PREDICTION ABOUT THE 2024 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION 

“There are a handful of specialized assets only the commander and chief gets, but the rest of his protection is at the same level,” the spokesperson explained.

“They also told us that his level of protection on Sunday was essentially the same as it was when he was the sitting President, many of the assets he had when he was President were there in West Palm Beach.”

Wednesday’s briefing was the first for the task force since USSS arrested 58-year-old Ryan Wesley Routh after spotting him with an AK-47 in the bushes near where Trump was golfing at his West Palm Beach course.

The July 13 Trump rally shooting has already served to heighten scrutiny on USSS, and it is prompted conversations about whether elected officials are being sufficiently kept safe in today’s hyper-partisan environment.

WATCH ON FOX NATION: THE ATTEMPTED ASSASSINATIONS OF DONALD TRUMP

The incident prompted condemnations of political violence on both the right and left.

The bipartisan House task force, which was initially created to focus only on the July 13 shooting, is now examining both events. 

The task force is also seeking a briefing from the FBI on the Sunday arrest. 

Former President Donald Trump has faced two known assassination attempts against his life across a roughly two-month span, and he may still be in danger of others, experts warned Fox News Digital.

“This is not the last attempt that there’ll be. They’re going to keep coming at him,” Gene Petrino, a retired SWAT commander for Florida’s Plantation Police Department for 26 years and an expert on active shooter incidents, told Fox News Digital on Tuesday. 

“Other people are gonna see it that way, and the only responsible thing to do is now increase, even more, his security footprint,” Petrino added. 

Trump was safely escorted from the green at his golf club in West Palm Beach, Florida, on Sunday after suspect Ryan Routh allegedly pointed a rifle towards the 45th president just outside the perimeter of the club. Routh fled the scene but was apprehended shortly thereafter on I-95. 

TRUMP BLAMES BIDEN-HARRIS ‘RHETORIC’ FOR LATEST ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT, SAYS HE WILL ‘SAVE THE COUNTRY’ 

Authorities are investigating the incident as an apparent assassination attempt against Trump.

On July 13, Trump held a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, where he was shot in the ear by 20-year-old Matthew Crooks. Crooks opened fire on the president while perched on a nearby roof, injuring two others attending the rally, and killing local dad and volunteer firefighter Corey Comperatore. 

The attack in July unfolded just two days ahead of the Republican National Convention kicking off in Milwaukee. Trump attended the convention despite the attack and was seen wearing a bandage over his ear when he accepted the GOP’s presidential nomination. 

“The amazing thing is that prior to the shot, if I had not moved my head at that very last instant, the assassin’s bullet would have perfectly hit its mark and I would not be here tonight. We would not be together,” Trump said at the RNC in his acceptance speech. 

“Bullets were flying over us, yet I felt serene. But now the Secret Service agents were putting themselves in peril. They were in very dangerous territory,” Trump continued. “Bullets were flying right over them, missing them by a very small amount of inches. And then it all stopped. Our Secret Service sniper, from a much greater distance and with only one bullet used, took the assassin’s life. Took him out.”

The apparent failed attempted assassination in Sunday’s attack did not fire a shot off – unlike Crooks – as a Secret Service agent spotted him and shot at him first.

RYAN ROUTH, ARMED MAN ARRESTED AT TRUMP GOLF COURSE, POSTED PROLIFICALLY ABOUT TRUMP, POLITICS 

Petrino lauded the actions of the Secret Service and other law enforcement on Sunday for protecting Trump before the unthinkable unfolded, but the attempt has sparked concern among security experts. 

“They did a great job this time. They seemed to be on the ball,” he said before adding he believes “there should have been more” effort on the part of Trump’s security detail to catch Routh before he was located just roughly 300 yards from the 45th president. 

Bill Stanton, a former NYPD officer and an executive protection expert, told Fox News Digital on Tuesday that he also fears bad actors will make another attempt on Trump’s life. 

“This is my fear. When it rains, it pours … I don’t think it stops at two,” Stanton said.

Both Stanton and Petrino called for an increase in security surrounding Trump, which echoed calls from Capitol Hill that Trump be offered heightened protection following the second attempt. 

“It is imperative that the USSS detail assigned to President Trump be afforded additional protective resources, including greater staffing capabilities that would allow agents to secure a broader perimeter,” Sens. Roger Marshall, R-Kan., and Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., wrote in a letter to acting Director Ronald Rowe on Tuesday. 

Marshall and Tuberville, joined by Sens. James Risch, R-Idaho; Mike Lee, R-Utah; Marco Rubio, R-Fla.,;Bill Cassidy, R-La.; Rick Scott, R-Fla.; and Bill Hagerty, R-Tenn., requested that Rowe and the Secret Service “designate President Trump as a protectee with the same level of protective resources afforded to a sitting president.” 

TRUMP ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT SUSPECT LAUGHS, SMILES DURING FIRST COURT APPEARANCE IN FLORIDA

Trump, as well as Petrino and Stanton, pinned blame for the second attempt on inflammatory political rhetoric, with the former president specifically pointing to comments from the Biden-Harris administration. 

“[The suspect] believed the rhetoric of Biden and Harris, and he acted on it,” Trump told Fox News Digital on Monday. “Their rhetoric is causing me to be shot at, when I am the one who is going to save the country, and they are the ones that are destroying the country — both from the inside and out.” 

WHITE HOUSE CONTINUES TO CALL TRUMP ‘THREAT’ TO DEMOCRACY DESPITE MULTIPLE ATTEMPTS ON FORMER PRESIDENT’S LIFE 

In the interview, Trump pointed to President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris’ past comments describing him as a “threat to democracy,” while telling Americans they are “unity” leaders. 

“It is called the enemy from within. They are the real threat,” Trump said.

During the White House press briefing on Tuesday, Fox News’ Peter Doocy asked if the administration planned to drop using words such as “threat” to describe Trump, considering the second assassination attempt. Doocy noted in his question that Trump has lobbed similar attacks against Biden and Harris. 

HOUSE DEM LEADER RAILS ‘WE MUST STOP’ MAGA AMID NEWS OF 2ND TRUMP ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT 

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre defended the use of the word, citing Jan. 6, 2021, when Trump supporters breached the U.S. Capitol. 

Trump is back on the campaign trail this week, heading to Long Island for a campaign rally on Wednesday. False reports spread across social media ahead of the rally that explosives had been found in a car near where Trump was set to speak. 

The reports were quickly dismissed by local officials as false, but underscore ongoing concerns and potential threats against Trump. 

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