The Harris campaign addressed the revelation by federal agencies that individuals tied to the Biden campaign were targeted by Iranian actors with emails containing stolen Trump campaign materials, stating that they do not know of any materials sent “directly” to the Biden campaign, but that some people received emails on their personal accounts.

“We have cooperated with the appropriate law enforcement authorities since we were made aware that individuals associated with the then-Biden campaign were among the intended victims of this foreign influence operation,” Harris-Walz campaign spokesperson Morgan Finkelstein said in a statement.

“We’re not aware of any material being sent directly to the campaign; a few individuals were targeted on their personal emails with what looked like a spam or phishing attempt,” Finkelstein added. “We condemn in the strongest terms any effort by foreign actors to interfere in U.S. elections including this unwelcome and unacceptable malicious activity.” 

In a joint statement released Wednesday, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI), the FBI, and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) said, “Iranian malicious cyber actors in late June and early July sent unsolicited emails to individuals then associated with President Biden’s campaign that contained an excerpt taken from stolen, non-public material from former President Trump’s campaign as text in the emails.” 

PAKISTANI MAN WITH IRAN TIES PLEADS NOT GUILTY IN ALLEGED MURDER-FOR-HIRE PLOT TO ASSASSINATE US POLITICIANS

“There is currently no information indicating those recipients replied,” the statement continued. “Furthermore, Iranian malicious cyber actors have continued their efforts since June to send stolen, non-public material associated with former President Trump’s campaign to U.S. media organizations.” 

The agencies said such “malicious cyber activity” served as the latest example of Iran’s multipronged approach “to stoke discord and undermine confidence in our electoral process.” 

“As the lead for threat response, the FBI has been tracking this activity, has been in contact with the victims, and will continue to investigate and gather information in order to pursue and disrupt the threat actors responsible,” the statement said. “Foreign actors are increasing their election influence activities as we approach November. In particular, Russia, Iran, and China are trying by some measure to exacerbate divisions in U.S. society for their own benefit, and see election periods as moments of vulnerability.” 

Trump in a new TRUTH Social post on Thursday demanded to know, “WHEN DOES KAMALA AND HER CAMPAIGN GO BEFORE A GRAND JURY ON IRAN, IRAN, IRAN?”

“MY CAMPAIGN WHEN THROUGH HELL ON THE RUSSIA, RUSSIA, RUSSIA HOAX. THE BIG DIFFERENCE IS THAT THE IRAN/KAMALA CAMPAIGN CORRUPTION CASE IS REAL!” Trump added. 

Karoline Leavitt, Trump’s campaign spokesperson, said the development “is further proof the Iranians are actively interfering in the election to help Kamala Harris and Joe Biden because they know President Trump will restore his tough sanctions and stand against their reign of terror.”

“Kamala and Biden must come clean on whether they used the hacked material given to them by the Iranians to hurt President Trump. What did they know and when did they know it?” she said in a statement.

A Harris campaign official told Fox News Digital that “the material was not used.”

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

Federal authorities said they have thwarted Iranian assassination plots against U.S. politicians in recent months. U.S. officials say Trump, as well as President Biden and former presidential candidate Nikki Haley, were among the targets. Earlier this week, a Pakistani man with deep ties to Iran was arraigned in Brooklyn federal court for alleging paying undercover agents he believed were hitmen to carry out the assassinations this summer. 

Within two months, Trump has faced two assassination attempts at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, and while golfing at his course in West Palm Beach, Florida, though authorities haven’t publicly linked either plot to Iran. 

Fox News’ Sarah Rumpf-Whitten and Paul Steinhauser contributed to this report. 

Several Democrats responded overnight to news that the Teamsters, under General President Sean O’Brien, decided against issuing a presidential endorsement.

“Unfortunately, neither major candidate was able to make serious commitments to our union to ensure the interests of working people are always put before big business,” O’Brien said in a statement.

Rep. Jim McGovern, D-Mass. who, like O’Brien, hails from the Boston area, called former President Trump the “most anti-labor president we have ever had.”

“It’s clear that these workers are misinformed or uninformed about Trump’s record on labor,” McGovern told the Washington Times. “His allegiance isn’t toward working people.”

McGovern, the top Democrat on the House Rules Committee, said it is obvious that Trump supports “rich people” over the working class.

The Teamsters have not made a non-endorsement since the 1996 contest between former President Clinton and Sen. Bob Dole, R-Kan. Their last GOP endorsement went to former President George H.W. Bush over then-Massachusetts Gov. Michael Dukakis in 1988.

Meanwhile, Rep. Steven Horsford, D-Nev., tweeted that Harris had cast the tie-breaking Senate vote to “protect Teamsters pensions.”

TEAMSTERS BOSS HAS NO REGRETS ON TIFF WITH SEN. MULLIN: ‘SOUNDED LIKE HE WANTED TO DATE ME, NOT FIGHT ME’

Horsford shared that Nevada’s Teamsters councils had bucked the national organization and independently endorsed Harris.

“She’s fighting for us,” Horsford said.

Sen. Catherine Cortez-Masto, D-Nev., echoed Horsford, saying the Silver State’s Teamsters “know that Kamala Harris is a fighter for our union workers.”

“I learned it from my father who was a Teamster in Las Vegas: when we stand together, we win,” Cortez-Masto said.

Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., the former House speaker, meanwhile, called the Teamsters’ decision “disappointing.”

“Donald Trump refused to support a pension bill for Teamsters. It was Biden-Harris and Democrats who saved Teamsters pensions in the Butch Lewis Act of our American Rescue Plan — without one Republican vote,” she said on X. 

Trump, however, called the non-endorsement of Harris a “great honor” for him.

AUTO WORKERS FOR TRUMP LEADER SAYS THOUSANDS POISED TO BREAK FROM DEMS OVER GREEN POLICIES, JOB-KILLING REGS

“They’re not going to endorse the Democrats. That’s a big thing,” Trump said while campaigning in New York City. The GOP nominee added that the internal Teamsters vote showed about 60% of national membership support his bid.

A leading progressive in Congress, Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., called the non-endorsement “unfortunate” while adding that the Evergreen State’s sub-council still supports Harris.

“I think you’re going to see more of that across the country,” she told the Times.

In a more direct shot at O’Brien, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., claimed the national leader has been “boosting Republicans all year while supporting anti-worker, anti-choice Senate candidates.”

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O’Brien has reportedly reached out to some Republican lawmakers, like Sens. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., and JD Vance, R-Ohio, per the BBC, but it was the Sheet Metal, Air, Rail & Transportation union that recently gave Hawley their endorsement.

Two U.S. Senate candidates whom the union did endorse, however, are Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., and Rep. Ruben Gallego, D-Ariz.

A spokesman for Harris’ campaign said in a statement reported by multiple outlets that Trump believes striking workers should be fired, while Harris “literally walked the picket line.”

“The Vice President’s strong union record is why Teamsters locals across the country have already endorsed her — alongside the overwhelming majority of organized labor,” Lauren Hitt said.

In that regard, a council representing 35,000 Teamsters in the key swing state of Pennsylvania ignored O’Brien’s non-endorsement and threw their weight behind Harris. 

The board of Teamsters Joint Council 40, covering Pittsburgh, Erie, State College and Washington, held a separate vote, where they unanimously selected Harris.

“She is the best for our locals and best for our unions,” council president Carl Bailey told the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review.

O’Brien has also not been afraid to tussle with Republicans, as he and Sen. Markwayne Mullin, R-Okla., nearly came to blows during a 2023 hearing in which Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., had to intervene as Mullin rose from his chair — after the men told each other to “stand your butt up.”

Former Democratic Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi insisted on Wednesday that her party’s presidential nominating process after President Biden dropped out was “open,” and Vice President Kamala Harris “won it,” despite the absence of any such contest. 

Prior to Biden stepping down as the Democratic Party’s nominee in mid-July, Pelosi reportedly said she favored a competitive open primary process to replace him if needed. On Wednesday, Semafor’s Kadia Goba asked Pelosi if she had changed her mind after seeing all the “excitement” Harris generated when she was tapped to replace Biden.

“No, I didn’t change my mind. We had an open primary and [Kamala Harris] won it. Nobody else got in the race,” Pelosi said. “Yes people could have jumped in – there were some people who were sort of preparing, but she just took off with it, and actually it was a blessing because there was not that much time between then and the election and it sort of saved time.”

“But it wasn’t that we didn’t have an open primary,” Pelosi added. “It’s just that nobody got in because she had a running start.”

NANCY PELOSI GRILLED FOR TAKING SWIPE AT 30% OF REPUBLICANS: ‘NASTY, UNTRUE AND CRUEL’

Amid intra-party pressure, Biden dropped out of the race for president on July 21 and endorsed Harris as his successor the same day. Harris was the informal nominee from that point forward until the Democratic National Committee decided to implement an unprecedented virtual roll call ahead of its national nominating convention in August. The first-of-its-kind roll call vote ended with Harris getting 99% support from the party’s participating delegates. Harris was the only candidate who qualified for the virtual roll call vote, despite three challengers who wanted to run against her. The failed challengers were reportedly unable to collect the 300 delegate signatures necessary to gain access to the virtual ballot, according to Politico. 

Conservatives focusing on the election called Pelosi’s comments about Harris’ nominating process a “joke” and a “lie.” 

“The votes of 14 million Americans who voted for Joe Biden were thrown away as Harris was installed as the Democrats’ nominee for president – a job for which she has never received a single vote,” said Ryan Walker, executive director at Heritage Action For America, a conservative political advocacy organization in Washington, D.C., affiliated with the Heritage Foundation. “Saying she won an open primary is a joke.” 

‘PAISANS FOR KAMALA’ EVENT FEATURES DE NIRO, PELOSI BLASTING TRUMP ON IMMIGRATION

“Listening to Nancy Pelosi’s comments about Joe Biden, you could almost forget that she was one of many who lied to us about his condition, right up until the moment it was no longer to her political advantage to do so,” Jenny Beth Martin, president of Tea Party Patriots Citizens Fund, added. “It doesn’t surprise me at all that she’d now to try to lie about what she calls the ‘open nomination’ process that led to Kamala’s ascension.”

Meanwhile, academic elections experts told Fox News Digital that nothing illegal or undemocratic took place because ultimately it is each party’s purview how they go about nominating their candidate. 

“You could probably sue the party for a civil tort and say, you know, ‘They did something wrong to me here.’ But it wouldn’t be a violation of election law,” said Jeremy Mayer, a professor at George Mason University’s Schar School of Public Policy and Government. “It’s not a coup, as some would say.”

American University professor Leonard Steinhorn, a political communications expert, questioned what other options the party had at that point with the election being less than four months away.

“One has to ask themselves: What else would a party do?” he asked. 

Mayer and Steinhorn also argued that the Republican Party would likely have done something similar with Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, Trump’s vice presidential running mate, if the GOP nominee faced some sort of hurdle preventing him from running. 

PELOSI SUGGESTS ‘30%’ OF REPUBLICANS ARE RACIST, SEXIST, HOMOPHOBIC: THEY’D ‘NEVER’ VOTE DEMOCRAT

“You can always talk in ideal circumstances about what’s best and what ought to be. But you know, as there’s that old 1980s expression, ‘Reality Bites,’ and you have to be able to adjust and adapt to the circumstances that you have,” Steinhorn said. “In an ideal world, you may want to have the candidates vetted by the public more, whether it’s an open primary – which might have been impossible to set up in any number of critical mass states – or forums that would allow people to sort of evaluate different candidates. But at that point, Vice President Harris moved quickly with Joe Biden’s support, to consolidate her support and get the majority of the delegates. In which case, why would anyone else run?”

Mayer and Steinhorn also pointed out that, while the process did go against contemporary norms, it is not entirely unprecedented.  

“She was picked in the way that we picked our candidates from 1832 to 1968 – the convention – and that produced some pretty good presidents, but we expect today for a president to be picked by the people of the party in an open primary process. And that’s not what happened with Harris,” Mayer said. Meanwhile, Steinhorn pointed to former President Gerald Ford, who he said “did not once face any primaries or any national referendum at all.”

Last week, Pelosi also responded to questions on the fairness of the Democratic Party’s nomination process during an episode of ABC’s “The View.”

“It was an open [process],” Pelosi insisted. “Anybody could have gotten in. She got in, and she won, and a president of the United States had endorsed her who was very respected. So, that meant a lot, but people don’t understand, other people could have gotten in. She just locked it up. Politically astute, as I said to you before.”

Fox News Digital reached out to Pelosi’s office for comment but did not receive a response. 

Unrest has reportedly taken over the North Carolina GOP in anticipation of a forthcoming negative news story about Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson, the current candidate for governor.

Reports say the story, which has yet to be published, has to do with Robinson’s activity on adult websites in the 2000s, according to The Carolina Journal. Robinson and his campaign did not respond to requests for comment from Fox News Digital.

Sources told the Journal that members of Robinson’s staff and former President Donald Trump’s campaign are encouraging Robinson to drop out of the race.

Michael Lonergan, the communications director for Robinson’s campaign, rejected the claims in a statement to the journal.

“Whomever your sources are here, it is complete fiction,” he told the outlet.

REPUBLICAN MARK ROBINSON ON HISTORIC LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR WIN: ‘THIS PARTY IS OPEN TO EVERYBODY’

The reports come after Robinson canceled two campaign events Thursday. He was scheduled to appear alongside Sen. JD Vance, but his campaign said Robinson tested positive for COVID.

NRA SUPPORTS GOP CANDIDATE FOR GOVERNOR WHO WENT VIRAL FOR PRO-GUN SPEECH: ‘I’M THE MAJORITY’

A source reportedly told the Journal that Trump’s campaign told Robinson he is not welcome at campaign events earlier this week. The story reportedly originated from the campaign for Robinson’s opponent, Attorney General Josh Stein, which leaked the information to CNN and a local outlet.

Robinson secured the GOP nomination for governor in March. He would be the state’s first Black governor if he wins the election.

NORTH CAROLINA’S REPUBLICAN LT GOV MARK ROBINSON LAUNCHES CAMPAIGN TO REPLACE DEMOCRAT GOV ROY COOPER

Trump endorsed Robinson this spring, calling him “Martin Luther King on steroids.”

The reported damaging news story about Robinson is expected to drop sometime Thursday, according to the Journal.

Iran envoy Robert Malley may have taken part in a “classified conference call” with the White House after his security clearance was suspended, according to the State Department inspector general’s new report. 

The State Department’s Office of Inspector General (OIG) did not interview Malley and could not confirm that he had been on the call, but his deputy notified a White House official that “Rob will call in” and that Malley had “accessed the controlled office where the call would have occurred.” 

At the time of the call, Malley’s clearance had been paused over misconduct allegations, but the envoy himself had not yet been notified. Malley – a controversial Washington figure who Republicans say is friendly to Iran – had been accused of storing classified information on his personal email account and phone. 

​​That material was later accessed by a “hostile cyber actor,” according to Sen. James Risch, R-Idaho, the Foreign Relations Committee ranking member, and Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Texas, the House Foreign Affairs Committee chair. They revealed this information in May. 

BLINKEN TRAVELS TO EGYPT FOR CEASEFIRE TALKS 

The FBI is investigating whether Malley committed crimes in moving classified information over to his personal email.

OIG found that State had “deviated” from the normal procedure of clearance suspension by not letting Malley know until senior department officials had been made aware. 

Department officials also restored Malley’s access to sensitive but unclassified information after they had paused his clearance, worried that he might use a personal email account to conduct government business if they did not. 

Sen. Bill Hagerty, Tenn., top Republican on the subcommittee on State Department Management, accused the Biden administration of colluding with Russia after the report. 

“We see growing evidence of Iran collusion by members of the Biden-Harris administration amid the FBI’s reported ongoing investigation into Special Envoy for Iran Rob Malley’s mishandling of classified information and news reports that Malley and other Biden-Harris administration officials were part of the Iranian regime’s malign influence network known as the ‘Iran Experts Initiative’,” said Hagerty. 

IRAN SENT STOLEN TRUMP CAMP MATERIAL TO THE BIDEN CAMPAIGN, FBI SAYS 

Two people who had been commissioned by the Iranian Foreign Ministry to bolster the regime’s image in the U.S. ended up as top aides to Malley, according to a Semafor report. 

“The Inspector General’s report today includes new damning revelations about the cover-up, politicization, and systemic lack of accountability in the Biden-Harris Administration’s State Department.” 

OIG found that a “lack of standard policies for political appointees and the lack of supervision of Special Envoy Malley led to significant confusion as to what work Mr. Malley was authorized to do following the suspension.”

The department also “failed to consistently notify employees who regularly interacted with Mr. Malley that he was no longer allowed to access classified information,” according to the report. It did not report the allegations against Malley to OIG, as required by law. 

The Biden administration made Malley special envoy to Iran in April 2021. He reported directly to Secretary of State Antony Blinken and was granted a top secret security clearance. 

On April 20, 2023, the Director of the Department’s Office of Personnel Security and Suitability received a referral to suspend Malley’s clearance pending an investigation, and the next day the director signed off on the referral. Malley, however, was not notified until the following day, April 22. 

On April 22, the department also issued an information and facility access restriction (IFAR) for Malley. Days later, his access to facilities was restored, and he was allowed to continue working on unclassified matters. 

He continued working until June 29, 2023, when he was placed on leave without pay and told to cease all department work. He was told that without a clearance, he could not perform the duties of the job. 

Malley retains the title of special envoy to Iran to this day, even as his employment and clearance remain suspended. He will continue to hold the title until he resigns or his clearance is officially revoked. 

“Instead of taking this seriously, the State Department and the White House have tried to sweep this under the rug and bury Mr. Malley’s egregious violations of our national security. These revelations are quite damning, but not surprising,” House Foreign Affairs Chairman Mike McCaul and Senate Foreign Relations top Republican Jim Risch said in a joint statement. 

“Congress remains in the dark on how Mr. Malley’s infractions impacted the conduct of the administration’s disastrous approach to Iran, or affected the safety of Americans.”

Lawmakers are claiming the Biden-Harris administration’s billion dollar clean bus project is promoting reliance on the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in a new scathing report that details the taxpayer-funded price tag for the energy initiative.

The Biden administration authorized the Clean School Bus Program in 2021, which appropriated $5 billion for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to incentivize the replacement of school buses with “clean” alternatives. 

The House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations released a 51-page report on the project, reviewed by Fox News Digital, that highlighted the push for electric school buses over “cheaper” low-emissions alternatives and how “vulnerabilities for waste, fraud, and abuse riddle this program.”

“Costly subsidies for ESBs are a poor use of federal taxpayer money at a time when school budgets are increasingly strained,” the report said. “Currently, it is only the existence of massive taxpayer-funded subsidies that enables ESBs to compete with diesel buses and low emission buses in the market.”

BLACK ACTIVIST TO BLAST BIDEN ADMIN ENERGY AGENDA ALLEGEDLY CAUSING LOW-INCOME HOUSEHOLDS TO ‘SUFFER MOST’

The committee claims that the EPA funding structure “incentivized districts” to choose the electric school bus options.

The average diesel school bus costs roughly $100,000, while the average electric school bus in the 2022 Clean School Bus Rebate Program costs $381,190, according to the committee’s findings.

Advocates of electric buses told lawmakers that the initiative promoted lower operating costs compared to diesel buses, but the committee argued in the report that the “savings don’t come close to offsetting the tremendous upfront costs.”

TRUMP’S EPA CHIEF OF STAFF SAYS HARRIS ‘HASN’T EVOLVED’ ON HER ENERGY POLICIES: ‘POLITICS AT ITS WORST’

The committee also cited a “serious security vulnerability” over the reliance on China for mineral mining.

“ESB batteries rely on opaque supply chains rife with national security risks and that pose grave human rights concerns, and are to the benefit of adversarial regimes, such as the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), which largely has a monopoly on certain parts of the supply chain for these products,” the report reads. “Promoting EVs like ESBs means enriching the People’s Republic of China and the CCP because, as Morgan Stanley estimates, 90% of the EV battery supply chain relies on China.”

The committee also noted that Chinese companies will mine lithium in Taliban-ruled Afghanistan, “thus enriching both China and the Taliban,” citing Paul A. Brinkley, a former U.S. deputy undersecretary of defense.

During its investigation, the committee said they reached out to some of the schools that received funds from the EPA and found the agency “did not require attestations of truth from applicants, lacked procedures to verify applicant claims, and relied on insufficient self-certification to determine that applicants met EPA requirements.”

“The program, led by the radical Biden-Harris EPA, props up a market that relies heavily upon a supply chain dominated by the Chinese Communist Party. Further, the program was constructed without the necessary safeguards to prevent fraud and incentivizes schools to use buses they otherwise would not choose,” the committee chairs wrote in a statement.

Vice President Kamala Harris, the 2024 Democratic nominee for president, has been a vocal proponent of replacing older buses with electric vehicles.

“Who doesn’t love a yellow school bus, right? Can you raise your hand if you love a yellow school bus? Many of us went to school on the yellow school bus, right? It’s part of our experience growing up,” Harris said while speaking at Lumen Field in Seattle in 2022. “It’s part of a nostalgia, a memory of the excitement and joy of going to school to be with your favorite teacher, to be with your best friends and to learn. The school bus takes us there.”

Asked about the report, the EPA told Fox News Digital that the program is “creating the future that our children deserve – a future with cleaner air on the bus, in bus loading areas, and in the communities in which they operate.”

“EPA appreciates Congress’ continued interest in the EPA Clean School Bus Program. EPA is committed to oversight and accountability and to ensuring that these funds are delivering clean air and climate benefits to communities. EPA continues to work with a diverse set of stakeholders, including the OIG, to continually improve the design, implementation, and monitoring of the program,” the agency said in a statement.

National Security communications adviser John Kirby shot down multiple questions Wednesday about possible U.S. involvement in the explosion of hundreds of electronic devices used by Hezbollah members in Lebanon.

“We were not involved in [Tuesday’s] incidents or [Wednesday’s] in any way. And I don’t have anything more to share,” Kirby said when asked to respond to the attacks. 

Kirby’s comments came hours after several blasts were heard around Lebanon’s capital of Beirut and other parts of the country. Hezbollah’s Al Manar TV reported the explosions were the result of walkie-talkies detonating. 

At least nine people were killed and another 300 were wounded in Wednesday’s attack, according to Lebanon’s Health Ministry. 

The explosions came just a day after pagers used by hundreds of Hezbollah members exploded throughout Lebanon and parts of Syria, killing at least 12 people – including two children – and wounding thousands more. 

HEZBOLLAH’S NEIGHBORS: ISRAELI BORDER COMMUNITY UNDER CONSTANT ATTACK FROM TERROR GROUP

Both attacks are widely believed to have been the work of Israel, which has been fighting with Hezbollah almost daily since Oct. 8, the day after a deadly Hamas-led assault in southern Israel triggered the war in Gaza. 

Since then, hundreds have been killed in strikes in Lebanon and dozens in Israel, while tens of thousands on each side of the border have been displaced. Hezbollah said its strikes are in support of its ally, Hamas.

Reporters repeatedly pressed Kirby on Wednesday to say whether the U.S. was involved in the back-to-back attacks targeting members of Hezbollah or had been informed beforehand.  

Kirby reiterated that he did not “have anything more to share today.” 

“We want to see the war end. And everything we’ve been doing since the beginning has been designed to prevent the conflict from escalating,” Kirby said. “We still believe that there is a diplomatic path forward, particularly up near Lebanon.” 

The attacks have heightened fears that what has been intermittent fighting between Israel and Hezbollah could escalate into an all-out war. 

Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant told Israeli troops Wednesday: “We are at the start of a new phase in the war — it requires courage, determination and perseverance.” 

Gallant made no mention of the exploding devices but praised the work of Israel’s army and security agencies, saying “the results are very impressive.” 

Hezbollah announced three strikes on parts of northern Israel Wednesday, at least one of which took place after the latest round of explosions in Lebanon.

UNIONDALE, N.Y. – Standing in front of a packed arena on New York’s Long Island, former President Donald Trump predicted victory in November in the reliably blue state.

“It hasn’t been done for a long time. But we are going to win New York. And that’s the first time in many, many years that a Republican can honestly say it. And we’re going to do it,” Trump vowed.

“We have to do it. We do it, and the election nationwide is over,” Trump added as he spoke to what his campaign said was a capacity crowd of roughly 16,000 people packed into an arena in Nassau County, a suburban New York City Republican stronghold.

Trump made a similar pledge four years ago before losing his native state to President Biden by over 23 points. And polling strongly suggests that Trump has no serious chance of carrying New York in his 2024 election showdown with Vice President Kamala Harris.

TRUMP TOUTS ‘UNION SUPPORT’ AFTER TEAMSTERS SHOCKING ANNOUNCEMENT

It’s been 40 years since a Republican nominee has carried New York state in a presidential election. 

You have to go back to President Ronald Reagan, who won the state as part of his landslide re-election victory in 1984.

Trump promised New Yorkers that if he wins back the White House, “I’m going to reduce your taxes, reduce your crime, and reduce your levels of stress.”

WHAT THE LATEST FOX NEWS POLL SHOWS IN THE HARRIS-TRUMP SHOWDOWN

And the former president pledged that during a second Trump term, “I will officially make the Ground Zero site at the World Trade Center a national monument protected and maintained by the United States government.”

Wednesday’s rally was Trump’s second large campaign event this year in the Empire State, after drawing a big crowd in the New York City borough of the Bronx in May. 

While there was some chatter of New York potentially being in play as President Biden’s poll numbers started cratering following his disastrous late-June debate performance against Trump, the conversation was fleeting and quickly dissipated when Harris replaced Biden atop the Democrats’ 2024 ticket two months ago.

So why — with less than 50 days to go until Election Day and time becoming a very precious commodity — did Trump hold a campaign rally just outside of New York City?

“Quite clearly, New York is the biggest media hub in the country,” Trump campaign spokesman Tim Murtaugh told Fox News on the eve of the rally.

Murtaugh emphasized that “when [Trump] delivers a message there, it’s piped directly into homes in every market in every battleground state. The most valuable commodity we have is President Trump’s time. And that event is making efficient use of it.”

DOES TRUMP OR HARRIS HAVE THE EDGE IN THESE KEY BATTLEGROUNDS?

While Trump is extremely unlikely to carry New York in the White House race, the rally may help Republicans down-ballot, as they try to hold on to their House of Representatives majority in November’s elections.

Several GOP-controlled House seats in New York state are considered vulnerable this year, including one held by Rep. Anthony D’Esposito of Long Island. A number of them were at the rally and spoke ahead of Trump. And the former president gave the House Republicans and congressional candidates shoutouts as he addressed the crowd.

D’Esposito, in an interview with Fox News’ Bryan Ilenas, said “it is very clear – perhaps New York is not a battleground state, but what there is – is there’s a battleground right here on Long Island. And when Trump wins on Election Night, he is going to need a House majority and that House majority runs through the Empire State.”

Trump’s rally was his first since this past weekend’s apparent second assassination attempt against the former president, and the 78-year-old GOP nominee insisted that the incidents had “hardened my resolve.”

“These encounters with death have not broken my will,” he emphasized. “They have really given me a much bigger and stronger mission. They’ve only hardened my resolve to use my time on Earth to make America great again for all Americans, to put America first.”

And Trump said that “God has now spared my life — it must have been God, thank you — not once but twice.”

Fox News’ Jennifer Johnson contributed to this report

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

With fewer than 47 days until the November election, Vice President Harris and former President Trump are tied with likely voters in Pennsylvania, which could be the state to decide the contest on Election Day. 

Trump and Harris each garnered 49% of likely voters in the Keystone State, per a new Marist Poll. 

Furthermore, 90% of likely voters who said they had a candidate preference also reported strongly supporting them. 

GOP SENS CALL ON SCHUMER, DEMS TO TAKE UP BORDER BILLS AS THEY TOUT IMMIGRATION VIGILANCE

“Pennsylvania is attracting the most attention of the Rust Belt states from the presidential candidates and with good reason,” said Dr. Lee M. Miringoff, director of the Marist Institute for Public Opinion. “It’s the biggest prize in the region and the most competitive. Winning Pennsylvania doesn’t guarantee the White House, but it goes a long way.”

In two other so-called “blue wall” states, Michigan and Wisconsin, Harris topped Trump in the survey. 

The vice president is up five points in Michigan, 52% to Trump’s 47%. However, the margin is razor-thin in Wisconsin, where she only beat him by one point, 50% to 49%. 

According to Miringoff, “of the three so-called blue wall states, Michigan is the one where there is a difference between Harris and Trump.”

SECRET SERVICE TOLD LOCALS THEY WOULD ‘TAKE CARE OF’ BUILDING USED BY THOMAS CROOKS TO SHOOT TRUMP

“The Michigan vote is being driven by Trump’s high negatives with Vance certainly providing no help for the GOP ticket,” Miringoff added, referencing the 53% of Michigan likely voters that view Trump unfavorably. 

Inflation was the top issue for most Pennsylvanians by far, with one-third saying so. Despite it being a campaign priority for Democrats across the country, abortion was the fourth most likely to be a top issue for voters, at just 11%. It was beaten by immigration at 15%, and preserving democracy, which garnered 27%. 

The top issue breakdown among Wisconsin voters was similar to that of Pennsylvania, but in Michigan, the issue of preserving Democracy proved to be the most important for the greatest number of voters. 

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At 30%, the most likely Michigan voters cited it as such. Inflation was close behind, at 29%. Immigration followed at 15%, while abortion received 10%. 

In all three states, an at least 20-point gender gap exists between Harris and Trump, with men breaking more often for the former president and women tending to choose Harris. 

GOP DEMANDS TRUMP HAVE ‘SAME LEVEL’ SECRET SERVICE PROTECTION AS BIDEN AFTER 2ND ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT

While the gap exists for both of them, Trump’s woes with women seem to loom larger than Harris’ issue with men. Trump’s gap is particularly wide with women in Michigan, where Harris leads him by the most. In the state, the distance between Harris and Trump among likely women voters is 15 points. 

The close polls come as Trump seems to be losing his edge in two critical states, according to the most recent Fox News Power Rankings. Both North Carolina and Georgia, which were once considered Republican strongholds, are now rated toss-ups in the presidential race. 

With these presidential race shifts by Fox News Power Rankings, Harris has taken the overall lead in the forecast for the first time. 

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

The mother of a woman allegedly murdered by an illegal immigrant from El Salvador gave emotional testimony to lawmakers Wednesday about the moment she found out about her daughter’s death while testifying that U.S. borders are “not safe.”

Patty Morin, whose daughter Rachel was killed last year in Maryland, testified at a House Homeland Security Committee hearing on the border crisis.

Police found Rachel’s body stuffed in a culvert and, after a months-long investigation, identified her suspected killer as an illegal immigrant from El Salvador who is also accused of murder in his home country and raping a mother and her 9-year-old daughter in Los Angeles.

“It was such a complete shock to our whole family. It took ten months for them to find this suspected illegal immigrant,” she told lawmakers.

TOP HOUSE COMMITTEE SHREDS BIDEN-HARRIS ADMIN ON BORDER CRISIS IN NEW REPORT: ‘ASSAULT ON THE RULE OF LAW’ 

“An illegal immigrant that was a gotaway from El Salvador had waited for her on the trail. I was told that they grabbed her, dragged her through the woods, raped her, strangled her, murdered her. We were told that her body was blanketed in bruises. And I can tell you from looking at her when I went to the funeral home that it was probably the most graphic thing that I’ve ever seen,” she said.

The hearing, “A Country Without Borders: How Biden-Harris’ Open-Borders Policies Have Undermined Our Safety and Security,” saw lawmakers trade barbs over who was responsible for the crisis at the border, which saw a historic number of migrants hit the border and a number of criminals released into the U.S. as part of that wave.

Ahead of the hearing, Republicans released a report slamming the Biden administration’s policies and blaming it for the crisis and the consequences that followed.

“As we continue to witness Biden and Harris’ resistance to doing anything meaningful about this disaster, we have to ask — why? Why did they let this crisis take place and why have they let it continue,” Chairman Mark Green told the committee.

BIDEN-HARRIS BORDER CRISIS: VICTIMS OF ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT CRIME TESTIFY IN HOUSE HEARING

While Republicans blame the Biden administration for the crisis, the administration and Democrats say it is the fault of Congress for failing to pass broader immigration reforms to fix a “broken” system and provide additional funding. They have pointed, in particular, to a bipartisan Senate bill to provide more funding and limits on asylum entries. Republicans refused to back that bill, saying it would codify high numbers at the border.

With that stalling, President Biden signed an order limiting entries into the U.S. in June. The administration says that has led to a sharp drop in encounters at the border since then.

“While you probably won’t hear it from those on the other side, border encounters are at their lowest level in years since the president’s proclamation on June 4, and encounters along the border and ports of entry have decreased by 55%, with Border Patrol recording the lowest number of border encounters since September 2020,” ranking member Bennie Thompson said.

He also scolded Republicans for not backing the Senate bill.

TRUMP MEETS WITH RACHEL MORIN FAMILY AT BORDER

“At the direction of former President Trump, Republicans blocked the Senate bipartisan border deal, and they are refusing to move necessary border security funding. Republicans don’t want border security solutions. They want a political issue,” he said.

But Morin had a warning for Americans watching the hearing. 

“They say that the borders are safe. We live 1,800 miles away from the southern border. They’re not safe. They’re not safe. If you have a sanctuary city in your state, you’re not safe,” Morin warned.

Fox News’ Michael Ruiz contributed to this report.