House Republicans are eyeing a prime pickup opportunity in Virginia, where Rep. Abigail Spanberger, D-Va., announced her retirement early on Monday.

Spanberger, a former CIA officer, is leaving the House to run for governor. 

‘Nothing is going right for Democrats in Virginia’s Seventh District, but the NRCC is all hands on deck to flip this now-open seat and grow the House Republican majority,’ the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC), the House GOP’s campaign arm, said minutes after Spanberger’s announcement. 

‘Spanberger joining the other swing-district Democrats racing for the exits makes House Democrats’ climb out of the minority that much steeper.’

Her 7th Congressional District encompasses part of Northern and Central Virginia. Democrats’ chances of holding onto it sunk in response to Spanberger — the nonpartisan Cook Political Report downgraded the district from a ‘Likely’ Democrat hold to just ‘leaning’ blue.

Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee spokesperson Justin Chermol told Fox News Digital, ‘Virginians have consistently made clear — including just last week — that they want leaders focused on protecting fundamental rights and freedoms, growing the middle-class, and delivering results for working families. That’s why the Seventh District will stay in Democratic hands in 2024.’

The Democratic Party did have a strong performance in Virginia’s statewide elections last month, defending the majority in the state Senate while also flipping the House of Delegates blue.

Spanberger’s district would not be a far-fetched victory for the GOP. She won the seat from Republican incumbent Rep. David Brat in 2018 and only narrowly won re-election both in 2020 and 2022. She was considered one of the most vulnerable Democrats in the last election cycle.

However, like the state of Virginia, her district was won by President Biden in 2020.

Republicans currently hold the House by a narrow four-seat majority.

Holding onto that edge will have to come with both flipping new swing districts like Spanberger’s and defending their own vulnerable members in places like New York. 

Cook Political Report projects 170 solidly Democratic seats compared to Republicans holding 190. The left is also projected to have 40 possible swing seats and 33 on the right.

‘When we rise above the chaos and division, we can focus on what matters most to Virginians — lowering prescription drug prices, growing the middle class, lowering costs and easing inflation,’ Spanberger said in her campaign debut video.

‘No more using teachers and our kids as political pawns. It’s about focusing on recruiting and retaining teachers so all of our kids can succeed, and stopping extremists from shredding women’s reproductive rights.’

If she wins the Democratic primary, it will not be current GOP Gov. Glenn Youngkin who Spanberger would be facing. Virginia’s constitution forbids governors from serving more than one consecutive term.

The Supreme Court on Monday issued a new ‘Code of Conduct’ following months of heightened scrutiny from Senate Judiciary Democrats pushing for new ethics laws for the high court. 

‘The undersigned Justices are promulgating this Code of Conduct to set out succinctly and gather in one place the ethics rules and principles that guide the conduct of the Members of the Court,’ the announcement Monday read. 

‘For the most part these rules and principles are not new: The Court has long had the equivalent of common law ethics rules, that is, a body of rules derived from a variety of sources, including statutory provisions, the code that applies to other members of the federal judiciary, ethics advisory opinions issued by the Judicial Conference Committee on Codes of Conduct, and historic practice,’ the statement reads. 

‘The absence of a Code, however, has led in recent years to the misunderstanding that the Justices of this Court, unlike all other jurists in this country, regard themselves as unrestricted by any ethics rules. To dispel this misunderstanding, we are issuing this Code, which largely represents a codification of principles that we have long regarded as governing our conduct,’ it says. 

The Code is a set of five ‘canons,’ including two new canons that appear to be in response to reports over travel arrangements for private trips taken by Justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas paid by others, and use of Court staff for book promotion — referring to a recent report on that staff of Justice Sonia Sotomayor’s staff urged colleges and libraries to buy her latest book. 

‘A Justice should not to any substantial degree use judicial chambers, resources, or staff to engage in activities that do not materially support official functions or other activities permitted under these Canons,’ the code states. 

‘A Justice may accept reasonable compensation and reimbursement of expenses for permitted activities if the source of the payments does not give the appearance of influencing the Justice’s official duties or otherwise appear improper,’ the rules say.

‘Expense reimbursement should be limited to the actual or reasonably estimated costs of travel, food, and lodging reasonably incurred by the Justice and, where appropriate to the occasion, by the Justice’s spouse or relative,’ the new code says.

The Code also states that, ‘For some time, all Justices have agreed to comply with the statute governing financial disclosure, and the undersigned Members of the Court each individually reaffirm that commitment.’

Fox News has learned that the Court has been meeting privately for months on how to structure a new ethics code, one that would address public concerns over ethics without abdicating what the Chief Justice in particular had said was the court’s independence on such matters from congressional oversight.

Justices Elena Kagan, Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett in recent weeks had all publicly voiced support for a new ethics code.

Chief Justice Roberts in May issued a statement signed by all nine members of the court saying there was more work for the court to do to ‘adhere to the highest ethical standards.’

Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee had mounted relentless pressure on the high court after reports that Justices Thomas and Alito went on luxury vacations paid for by friends. 

Ranking Member Senator Lindsey Graham, R-S.C. accused his Democratic counterparts of launching ‘a concentrated effort’ to delegitimize the conservative majority Supreme Court.

‘This is not about trying to update the ability of the court to be more transparent, it’s about an effort to destroy the legitimacy of this conservative court,’ Graham said in May.

Republican Senator John Kennedy, R-La., called the Democrat-sponsored legislation – the Supreme Court Ethics, Recusal, and Transparency (SCERT) Act –  a ‘court-killing machine’ that was both ‘dangerous’ and ‘unserious.’ 

It’s unclear whether Committee Democrats will continue to push for their reforms in light of the Supreme Court’s announcement Monday. 

President Biden referred to Vice President Kamala Harris as ‘President Harris’ during the White House’s Stanley Cup celebration on Monday.

‘President Harris is here to make sure we do this the right way,’ Biden, 80, said in an apparent joke just moments after taking the stage to honor the Las Vegas Golden Knights, who won the Stanley Cup in June.

The gaffe marks the latest instance in which Biden has mistakenly referred to Harris as the ‘president,’ which has happened on at least six prior occasions. 

On one such occasion in Oct. 2022, Biden called Harris ‘a great president’ while wishing her a happy birthday during a White House event. ‘Happy Birthday to a great president, we know your mom is always with you,’ Biden said.

He called her ‘President Harris’  during remarks in South Carolina in December 2021, and did so at another event earlier that year in January. In March 2022, he also mistakenly called Harris the ‘first lady’ while talking to reporters.

Biden, who turns 81 on Nov. 20, is the oldest person to ever serve as president. If elected to a second term, he would be 82 on inauguration day, and 86 upon leaving office.

Harris, 59, has frequently defended Biden from concerns over his age, including from within their own party. Last month, she told ’60 Minutes’ that ‘Joe Biden is very much alive and running for re-election.’

FIRST ON FOX: House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer and House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan subpoenaed former White House Counsel Dana Remus to appear for a deposition and requested transcribed interviews from several other officials with knowledge of President Biden’s alleged improper retention of classified records, Fox News Digital has learned.

Comer and Jordan subpoenaed Remus Monday. 

Comer first requested she appear for a transcribed interview before the House Oversight Committee in May. That request came after the panel obtained information that they said ‘contradicts important details from the White House’s and President Biden’s personal attorney’s statements about the discovery of documents at the Penn Biden Center, including the location and security of the classified documents.’

Comer has described Remus as a ‘central figure in the early stages of coordinating the packing and moving of boxes that were later found to contain classified materials.’ Comer, in May. Said Remus could be a witness ‘with potentially unique knowledge’ about the matter.

Comer and Jordan also requested an interview with Annie Tomasini, a senior Biden aide and director of Oval Office Operations who took ‘inventory’ of Biden’s documents at the Penn Biden Center over a year before they were said to be found. Tomasini is a close friend of the Biden family, and Hunter Biden.

They also requested an interview with Anthony Bernal, a senior advisor in First Lady Jill Biden’s office and Ashley Williams, a special assistant to the president and deputy director of Oval Office Operations; and Katharine 

House Republicans identified Remus, Bernal, Williams, Tomasini and an unknown staffer, in addition to Kathy Chung, a top aide to Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, as individuals who made multiple visits to the Penn Biden Center and were involved with the retrieval of boxes of documents and materials ahead of early November 2022, which was when Biden’s personal attorneys ‘unexpectedly discovered Obama-Biden documents’ in a locked closet at the Biden think tank.

Biden attorneys claim that classified documents were first discovered at the Penn Biden Center on Nov. 2, 2022, but Comer has pointed to contact between Remus and Cheung dating back to May 2022.

Comer has questioned Remus’ timing of first contacting Chung, flagging that the first contact on May 24, 2022, was ‘notably’ the same day the Justice Department had dated a subpoena return date for former President Donald Trump to turn over any classified records being held at Mar-a-Lago.

Remus left the Biden administration last year and joined Covington & Burling LLP as a partner.

‘Facts continue to emerge showing that the White House’s narrative of President Biden’s mishandling of classified documents doesn’t add up,’ Comer, R-Ky., said. ‘It is imperative to learn whether President Biden retained sensitive documents related to any countries involving his family’s foreign business dealings that brought in millions for the Biden family.’ 

‘The Oversight Committee looks forward to hearing directly from Dana Remus and other central figures to further our investigation into President Biden’s mishandling of classified documents and determine whether our national security has been compromised,’ Comer continued. 

And Jordan, R-Ohio said the subpoenas and interview requests is part of the House’s effort to hold the Justice Department and the president accountable.

‘President Biden’s mishandling of classified documents, including the apparently unauthorized possession of classified material at a Washington, D.C. private office and in the garage of his Delaware residence, raise serious concerns about his mishandling of sensitive intelligence information and his Department of Justice’s double standard of justice,’ Jordan said. ‘Today’s subpoena and transcribed interview requests represent another step in holding President Biden and the DOJ accountable.’ 

Comer, Jordan and House Ways & Means Committee Chairman Jason Smith, R-Mo., are leading the House impeachment inquiry against President Biden. 

‘This is just the latest example of President Biden’s willingness to skirt the law in order to hide the truth,’ Smith told Fox News Digital. ‘If the President himself was illegally holding classified material for some purpose, the American people deserve to know what that purpose is–and whether it constitutes an abuse of office.’ 

Smith added that the Biden administration ‘hasn’t hesitated to scrutinize political opponents’ use of classified materials, and he should be held to the same standard.’ 

Meanwhile, the subpoenas also come after Comer, last month, demanded answers from Special Counsel Robert Hur, who is investigating Biden’s alleged improper retention of classified records, on whether the sensitive, classified documents Biden retained were related to specific countries— countries that were involved in his family’s lucrative foreign business deals.

Comer is investigating the Biden family’s foreign business dealings as part of the House impeachment inquiry, as well as Biden’s alleged mishandling of classified documents.

Comer also requested from Hur a list of the countries named in any documents with classification markings recovered from Penn Biden Center, Biden’s residence, including the garage, in Wilmington, Delaware, or elsewhere; and a list of all individuals named in those documents with classification markings; and all documents found with classified markings.

Biden sat down for an interview with Hur last month.

‘As we have said from the beginning, the president and the White House are cooperating with this investigation, and as it has been appropriate, we have provided relevant updates publicly, being as transparent as we can, consistent with protecting and preserving the integrity of the investigation,’ White House spokesperson for investigations Ian Sams said after the president’s interview with the special counsel. 

Hur’s investigation comes after a batch of records from President Biden’s time as vice president, including a ‘small number of documents with classified markings,’ were discovered at the Penn Biden Center by the president’s personal attorneys on Nov. 2, 2022. 

Additional classified records were discovered at President Biden’s Wilmington home in January. After that discovery, Attorney General Merrick Garland appointed Hur as special counsel to investigate the matter.

Photos showing the mysterious cocaine discovered inside the White House over the summer have been released after being obtained via a Freedom of Information Act request from the Secret Service by the Daily Mail.

The baggie of cocaine was initially discovered on July 2 in a storage locker near the entrance to the White House’s West Wing by a member of the Secret Service, which sparked an evacuation of the building and emergency response. 

A test was then conducted on the substance, which came back positive for cocaine, the Secret Service told Fox News on July 5.

The discovery prompted the Secret Service to launch an investigation, which was later closed after the agency said it was ‘not able’ to identify a suspect.

President Biden was at Camp David at the time of the discovery of the substance. The president’s son, Hunter, who is a recovered crack cocaine addict, was also at Camp David at the time of discovery.

According to the Secret Service, the area of the West Wing in which the cocaine was found is used by both guests and staff.

The Secret Service announced July 12 that it had closed its investigation into the cocaine and said it was ‘not able’ to ‘single out a person of interest’ because of a lack of physical evidence.

The agency said it had received the FBI’s lab results from the cocaine baggie, but the effort ‘did not develop latent fingerprints and insufficient DNA was present for investigative comparisons.’

‘Therefore, the Secret Service is not able to compare evidence against the known pool of individuals,’ it said, adding that the FBl’s evaluation of the substance ‘also confirmed that it was cocaine.’

The investigation’s closure brought condemnation from Republican lawmakers, who referred to it as special treatment for the Biden family.

‘They have cameras 24-7. It just seems to me when it comes to the ‘Biden, Inc.’ family, they get treated different than anybody else,’ then-House Speaker Kevin McCarthy told Fox.

Fox News’ Brooke Singman and Charles Creitz contributed to this report.