A federal judge has ordered that Hunter Biden appear in court for his arraignment on federal gun charges despite his requests to have his first hearing to take place virtually. 

President Biden’s son was charged by Special Counsel David Weiss with making a false statement in the purchase of a firearm; making a false statement related to information required to be kept by a federal firearms licensed dealer; and one count of possession of a firearm by a person who is an unlawful user of or addicted to a controlled substance. 

Hunter’s lawyers on Tuesday told the court the president’s son is expected to plead not guilty, while requesting his first appearance take place on video conference — something Weiss’ team opposed in a filing early Wednesday. 

On Wednesday afternoon, U.S. Magistrate Judge from the District of Delaware Christopher Burke rejected Hunter’s request, saying he should not receive special treatment. 

‘In the end, the Court agrees with both the Defendant and the Government, that Defendant should not receive special treatment in this matter — absent some unusual circumstance, he should be treated just as would any other defendant in our Court,’ Burke stated in the filing. 

Hunter’s court appearance is scheduled for Oct. 3 at 10 a.m. in Delaware. 

Weiss’ opposition filing cited the ‘serious felony gun charges at issue in this case.’ 

The federal gun charges are the first charges Weiss has brought against Hunter since being granted special counsel status. 

‘Hunter Biden possessing an unloaded gun for 11 day [sic] was not a threat to public safety, but a prosecutor, with all the power imaginable, bending to political pressure presents a grave threat to our system of justice,’ Hunter Biden’s attorney Abbe Lowell said in a statement earlier this week. ‘We believe these charges are barred by the agreement the prosecutors made with Mr. Biden, the recent rulings by several federal courts that this statute is unconstitutional, and the facts that he did not violate that law, and we plan to demonstrate all of that in court.’ 

Fox News first reported in 2021 that police had responded to an incident in 2018, when a gun owned by Hunter was thrown into a trash can outside a market in Delaware.

A source with knowledge of the Oct. 23, 2018, police report told Fox News that it indicated that Hallie Biden, who is the widow of President Biden’s late son, Beau, and who was in a relationship with Hunter at the time, threw a gun owned by Hunter in a dumpster behind a market near a school.

A firearm transaction report reviewed by Fox News indicated that Hunter purchased a gun earlier that month.

On the firearm transaction report, Hunter answered in the negative when asked if he was ‘an unlawful user of, or addicted to, marijuana or any depressant, stimulant, narcotic drug, or any other controlled substance.’

Hunter was discharged from the Navy in 2014 after testing positive for cocaine.

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates. 

WINDHAM, N.H. – EXCLUSIVE – Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina appears to be turning up the heat when it comes to taking on his rivals for the Republican presidential nomination.

Scott told Fox News Digital in an interview Wednesday that former President Donald Trump is ‘wrong’ on abortion and charged that Trump and two other rivals — Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and former ambassador and former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley — have ‘run away from protecting life.’

Trump, the commanding front-runner in the race for the GOP presidential nomination as he makes his third straight White House run, handed his rivals some ammunition over the combustible issue of abortion.

The blockbuster move last year by the Supreme Court’s conservative majority to overturn the landmark nearly half-century-old Roe v. Wade ruling, which had allowed for legalized abortions nationwide, moved the divisive issue back to the states.

And it has forced Republicans to play defense in elections across the country, as a party that is nearly entirely ‘pro-life’ has had to deal with an electorate that broadly supports at least some form of abortion access.

Trump declined to endorse a specific number of weeks after which abortion would be banned, with some exceptions, and he refused to say whether he feels the issue should settled at the state or federal levels, during an interview that aired Sunday on NBC News’ ‘Meet the Press.’

‘We’re going to agree to a number of weeks or months or however you want to define it,’ Trump said. ‘And both sides are going to come together and both sides — both sides, and this is a big statement — both sides will come together . . . I think both sides are going to like me.’

Trump also reiterated his criticism of Republicans who take too hard an abortion stance, saying, ‘You’re not going to win on this issue.’

And he called the six-week abortion ban DeSantis signed into law in Florida ‘a terrible thing and a terrible mistake.’

‘I think the former president is wrong on the issue,’ Scott said when asked about Trump’s comments. ‘He was a pro-life president. We need a pro-life president in the future.’

Scott, who was interviewed after headlining the New Hampshire Institute of Politics ‘Politics and Eggs’ speaking series, charged that ‘President Trump and Governor Haley, Governor DeSantis, have all run away from protecting life.’

DeSantis has repeatedly said, ‘I’m pro-life. I’ve been pro-life governor. I’ll be pro-life president,’ but he has not shared specifics on what he would do as president in terms of supporting a federal abortion ban. 

Haley has also showcased her ‘pro-life’ credentials but emphasized that without enough support in the Senate, passing a federal abortion ban is ‘not realistic.’

Scott, along with former Vice President Mike Pence and a couple of other Republican presidential candidates, supports a proposed 15-week federal abortion ban.

The senator’s criticisms of Trump, DeSantis, and Haley in his Fox News interview appear to be the latest indicator that he is sharpening his contrasts with his rivals for Republican presidential nomination.

Scott, a rising star in the GOP and the only Black Republican in the Senate, has been spotlighting an uplifting conservative message as he seeks his party’s presidential nomination. 

The senator was anything but the loudest voice at last month’s first Republican presidential nomination debate, a Fox News showdown in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. And because he mostly avoided the numerous verbal fistfights at the first debate, he rarely enjoyed the glare of the primetime spotlight.

Scott’s campaign says the candidate will draw contrasts and distinctions with the rest of the field at next week’s second debate, a Fox Business hosted showdown at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Museum in Simi Valley, California. 

‘Having an opportunity to talk about where we’re different. I think it’s important for the audience, frankly, at home to understand that there are real differences between the candidates on the stage, and we should have an opportunity to discuss those differences,’ Scott emphasized on Wednesday.

But he seemed to discount poor reviews from political pundits and prognosticators, who gave him a thumbs down.

‘I think you’ll see basically what I did last time. I’ll try to do that again. Frankly, I thought our performance was strong. I want to make sure that we do it again,’ Scott said.

Fox News’ Kirill Clark contributed to this report

FIRST ON FOX: Republican senators, led by Sen. Roger Marshall, R-Kansas, are raising concerns about a ‘significant threat’ to national security posed by an increase in Chinese nationals at the southern border — who the lawmakers say are being almost entirely released into the U.S. and could have ties to the Chinese Communist Party.

The lawmakers wrote to DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas expressing concern about the approximately 18,000 Chinese nationals who have been encountered at the southern border this fiscal year. That’s compared to just over 2,000 in FY 2022, and just 450 in FY 2021.

They note that numbers have continued to increase and that the overwhelming majority are single adults. Lawmakers signed onto the letter include Sens. Mike Braun, R-Ind., Pete Ricketts, R-Neb., Marco Rubio, R-Fla., and Thom Tillis, R-N.C.

‘July set the record for nationwide encounters with Chinese nationals with just over 6,100. 94.8 percent of Chinese national encounters in FY23 have been single adults,’ they say. ‘This trend poses a significant threat to our national security and warrants immediate attention and action from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).’

They go on to say that ‘it is our understanding that not a single one of these individuals encountered has been detained for any length of time but rather benefited from this administration’s policy of catch and release.’

They note prior concerns, including from Republicans in Congress, that some of those single adults could potentially be tied to the Chinese Communist Party.

They say that there could be among those coming across ‘individuals who could engage in espionage activities or cyber-attacks against our critical infrastructure, government agencies, or private sector entities.’

‘There have been numerous documented instances of Chinese nationals, at the direction of the CCP, engaging in espionage, stealing military and economic secrets,’ they say. They also highlight the role China plays in providing precursors to Mexican drug cartels, which are then used to create fentanyl – which is then transported across the U.S. border.

The lawmakers ask a series of questions to Mayorkas, including how it identifies those from China and any potential ties to the CCP or its Peoples Liberation Army. It also asks how many Chinese nationals have been apprehended, released and deported from the United States, and how many nationals Chinese has refused to repatriate.

Lawmakers also want to know what actions are being taken to address the issue, including discussions with China and Mexico. DHS itself has recently noted the national security threat from China. In its most recent threat assessment, DHS warns China will likely use predatory economic practices, including espionage and market manipulation, against the U.S.

In a statement to Fox News Digital, Marshall said that the increased number of single adults coming from China ‘must be a wake-up call within the Biden administration.’

‘We cannot allow the CCP to undermine law and order here on U.S. soil, whether it’s funneling fentanyl into our communities, stealing our intellectual property, setting up CCP spy police stations across the country, infiltrating our public school curriculum, or flying a massive spy balloon through our heartland the Biden Administration has been an abysmal failure when it comes to holding China accountable,’ he said.

The letter comes amid a broader spike in migration at the border. After a relative lull in June, numbers have shot up in July and August and look set to continue in September. Border Patrol facilities have been overwhelmed and have resorted to releases onto the streets in multiple sectors.

Sources have told Fox that there have been multiple days this week of over 8,000 illegal immigrant encounters ad that there are expected to be around 230,000 migrant encounters in August. That 230,000 would be up significantly from over 180,000 in July and 144,000 in June. August’s numbers would mark the highest month in 2023.

Republicans have hammered the administration on the crisis and sought to pass a sweeping border security bill to restart wall construction and limit the use of asylum and parole authorities.

The administration has called on Congress to provide additional funding and to pass an immigration reform bill Democrats introduced in 2021 to fix what it says is a ‘broken’ system.

Former President Trump announced his plans to carry out ‘the largest domestic deportation operation in American history’ if he is elected to a second term in the White House.

Trump, who leads the 2024 Republican primary field by a massive margin, delivered a speech in Dubuque, Iowa Wednesday evening, blasting President Biden for the ‘nation-wrecking catastrophe on our southern border.’

‘Under my leadership, we had the most secure border in U.S. history. Now, we have the worst border in the history of the world,’ Trump said Wednesday— the same day that more than 4,000 predominantly Venezuelan adult illegal migrants crossed the border into Texas.

Trump, in Iowa, said that if elected, his second term would begin by ‘immediately’ terminating ‘every Open Borders policy of the Biden Administration.’

‘Following the Eisenhower Model, we will carry out the largest domestic deportation operation in American history,’ Trump said.

The former president said he plans to also ‘invoke the Alien Enemies Act to remove all known or suspected Gang Members, drug dealers, or Cartel Members from the United States’—an effort he says will end the ‘scourge of illegal alien gang violence once and for all.’ 

Trump also said he plans to ‘shift massive portions of federal law enforcement to immigration enforcement,’ including parts of the FBI, Department of Homeland Security, Drug Enforcement Administration, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF).

‘I will make clear that we must use any and all resources needed to stop the invasion—including moving thousands of troops currently stationed overseas to our OWN southern border,’ Trump said, stressing that ‘before we defend the borders of foreign countries, we must secure the border of our country.’

Trump went on to say he plans to deploy the U.S. Navy to ‘impose a full Fentanyl Blockade on the waters of our region—boarding and inspecting ships to look for fentanyl and fentanyl precursors.’

Earlier this year, Trump said he would deploy U.S. special forces and other military assets to ‘inflict maximum damage’ on cartels crossing the southern border.

As for Title 42, which ended in May, Trump said he would use the provision to ‘end the child trafficking crisis by returning all trafficked children to their families in their home countries immediately.’

Meanwhile, Trump said he plans to reinstate his 2017-era travel ban. Trump, in 2017, signed an executive order suspending entry into the U.S. for individuals from several mostly Muslim countries: Sudan, Syria, Libya, Somalia, Yemen and Iran. The travel ban was updated later that year to include North Korea and Venezuela. The Trump administration expanded the ban again in January 2020 to include an additional six countries. 

President Biden repealed the order on his first day in office and instructed the State Department to restart visa processing for affected countries in an effort to ‘restore fairness and remedy the harms caused by the bans.’

‘I will bring back the travel ban and expand it even further to keep Radical Islamic Terrorists out of our country,’ Trump said. ‘I will also use existing federal law to deny entry to all communists and Marxists to the United States.’

Trump added: ‘Those who join our country must love our country—and we are going to keep foreign Christian-hating communists, Marxists, and socialists the hell out of America.’

Trump has also said he would designate major cartels as foreign terrorist organizations, which would sever their access to global financial systems, and ask Congress to pass legislation that would ensure drug smugglers and human traffickers receive the death penalty.

‘2024 is our final battle,’ Trump said. ‘With you at my side, we will demolish the Deep State, we will expel the warmongers from our government, we will drive out the globalists, we will cast out the Communists, Marxists, and Fascists, we will throw off the sick political class that hates our country, we will rout the fake news media, we will defeat Joe Biden, and we will end illegal immigration once and for all.’ 

Trump’s comments come as numbers are again skyrocketing at the border. Officials have made over 45,000 migrant encounters in the last five days alone both at the ports of entry and between them, sources told Fox on Wednesday, with multiple days of over 8,000 illegal immigrant encounters.

Sources also told Fox News that there were around 230,000 migrant encounters in August — Customs and Border Protection has not yet released its official numbers. That 230,000 would be up significantly from over 180,000 in July and 144,000 in June. August’s numbers would mark the highest month in 2023.

Fox News’ Adam Shaw contributed to this report. 

Government funding expires at 11:59:59 pm et on September 30.

And right now, House Republicans, despite holding the majority, can’t pass any spending bills by themselves.

The House has tried for two weeks to get clearance on a procedural vote for the House to even launch debate on a defense spending bill. That’s a measure most Republicans support. In fact House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., says he’s never heard a Republican articulate what’s wrong with the bill.

Republicans passed one of the 12 annual spending bills in July. And now Republicans have practically torpedoed their trial balloon package rolled out over the weekend. That plan would re-up government funding to avoid a shutdown for 31 days and attach language to bolster border security. The House had planned to vote on that bill Thursday. 

It was a bad omen for a potential government shutdown when Republicans blew up their own procedural vote, blocking the House from beginning debate on the defense bill Tuesday.

‘Is this another blow to you,’ yours truly asked McCarthy.

‘You think it’s a blow. I just think it’s another challenge,’ replied McCarthy.

‘Most Speakers are able to get their defense bills onto the floor,’ I countered.

‘You assume it’s over,’ responded McCarthy. ‘I don’t quit.’

McCarthy then warned that he would keep everyone here this weekend to vote.

‘We’re going to vote on appropriations bills, whether they pass them or not,’ said McCarthy.

That is, if they can even bring them to the floor.

The votes have never caramelized for McCarthy in his efforts to get any spending measure up for debate recently.

And therein lies the potential strategy for McCarthy.

It may look like defeat after defeat after defeat for McCarthy. And it is. But McCarthy has long-known where the solution to this impasse lies. The government may shut down. But the only path to keep the government open is a blend of Democrats and Republicans in the House and Senate. In fact, an interim spending bill to avert a shutdown could likely clear the Senate with 65 to 70 votes. A similar bill would move through the House with anywhere between 275 to 300-plus votes. For reference, the House approved the bill to suspend the debt ceiling in May with 314 votes. 

But McCarthy can’t pivot just yet to something else. He has to let his own GOP members fight it out among themselves. That’s why he gave a wide berth to the more centrist Republican ‘Main Street’ Caucus and Rep. Scott Perry, R-Penn., the head of the Freedom Caucus, to cut a deal on the interim spending bill over the weekend. But that plan appears dead.

Nothing can pass the House right now. And, ironically, that might be what McCarthy needs.

To wit: McCarthy keeps the House here to vote on rules to bring up various procedural matters or the bills themselves. In the process, McCarthy is building a canon of evidence to show that there are 200-plus Republicans willing to vote yes on something – and a crew of five to 20 who will oppose just about anything.

It’s often a bad idea on Capitol Hill to keep members in Washington over a weekend when there aren’t things to pass or items to vote on. Lawmakers grow cranky and insolent. They sometimes then lash out at leadership for marooning them in Washington with little to show for it. In the case of the Freedom Caucus members, leaders have sometimes wanted to separate them. So tethering lawmakers to Washington with little to do often backfires.

But here, McCarthy may actually want people in Washington. It helps members hash things out and conjure their own ideas to end the standoff. McCarthy has publicly said he prefers to defer to Members. But heretofore, that approach hasn’t worked. 

In addition, it’s about the math.

In the sense that there are about 200 Republicans who fully support McCarthy and five to 20 who aren’t completely on board. There is strength in numbers. The stasis in the House will start to draw the ire of the larger group. They already feel that the most extreme voices in the GOP are dragging the majority around by the nose. So, one could see infighting between McCarthy loyalists and those who oppose him. 

So what happens if the spending measures fail in the coming days? McCarthy will have shown that he was willing to fight and ‘never give up,’ as he often says. But the Speaker warned rank-and-file Republicans for days that unless the House passes something, it will likely get jammed by the Senate.

Since McCarthy can’t get votes to caramelize around any proposal to avoid a shutdown, it’s possible the Senate could cobble together an interim spending bill. That involves a lot of parliamentary mechanics. In fact, it may already be too late for the Senate to assemble a stopgap bill and break two filibusters to avoid a shutdown on October 1. But things are definitely a lot better these days in the Senate than the House. 

If that’s the case, McCarthy can tell his members that he tried and the House weakened its position by never passing a bill of consequence in the spending fight. Therefore, the House must accept whatever the Senate comes up with. 

This inherently weakens McCarthy’s stance. We don’t know if a government shutdown is inevitable. But it’s a near certainty that Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., or someone else will call for a no confidence vote in McCarthy’s leadership.

This is known as a ‘motion to vacate the chair.’ And while I’ve seen a lot of Congressional ‘shows’ over the years, this program has never appeared in my TV Guide.

A ‘motion to vacate’ could happen at any time – although it’s more likely to unfold if and when the House adopts an interim spending bill. A ‘CR’ (short for Continuing Resolution, because it renews all old funding at present levels) appears to be the red line for McCarthy’s opponents. 

Here’s what happens if we get a ‘motion to vacate.’

All it takes is one Member to call for a ‘motion to vacate.’ However, that motion is subject to a SECONDARY motion. McCarthy defenders would probably move to table (set aside) or refer the PRIMARY motion to committee (probably House Rules or Administration). If the SECONDARY motion prevails, the effort to ‘vacate the chair’ is euthanized. There’s no threat to McCarthy.

But if the House DEFEATS the SECONDARY motion, the House then votes on the PRIMARY motion (the motion to vacate). If the House okays the motion to vacate, hold on to your hats.

All legislative traffic on the House floor stops. We are essentially back to January 3, the beginning of the Congress. The House can’t do anything on the floor until it elects a Speaker. Remember that it took 15 rounds in January to pick a Speaker. That process consumed five days and was the longest Speaker’s election since 1859. A potential Speaker’s race at this stage could take longer.

Remember, the winning candidate must receive an outright majority of all Members of the House WHO VOTE. 

That said, the House is in a different situation than it was in January. The House has sworn-in its Members. It has committees. So other activity may continue. But NOTHING on the floor until it picks a Speaker.

Here is the doomsday scenario: 

The government shuts down and the House is forced into an election for Speaker. But then the House struggles to elect a Speaker – EVEN IF IT HAS THE VOTES TO RE-OPEN THE GOVERNMENT.

Sigh.

Keep in mind that if the government shutters, it deems certain workers as ‘essential.’ But things like national parks close. And workers who are on the job aren’t paid. In fact, Congress usually must approve a resolution to provide back-pay to federal workers if they miss a paycheck.

Border Patrol, the Transportation Security Agency and air traffic controllers are required to work – even if they aren’t paid. However, air safety was one of the reasons the government re-opened in 2019 after a 35-day government shutdown which began in late 2018. 

A small group of air traffic controllers decided to stay home – paralyzing travel at major air hubs like Philadelphia, Atlanta, Newark, N.J., and at New York’s La Guardia airport. 

That ‘sickout’ compelled the Trump Administration to relent and re-open the government.

Most lawmakers from both parties now believe the government is cruising toward a shutdown. The question is what are the aftershocks on Capitol Hill and for the Speaker.

FIRST ON FOX — Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy is set to unveil his plan to ‘declare economic independence from China’ in a preview of his policy speech obtained by Fox News Digital. 

In his address that will be given Thursday in his hometown of Columbus, Ohio, Ramaswamy says he will ‘delineate the heretofore-unexamined connection between the rise of ‘stakeholder capitalism’ in the West and China’s use of that trend to achieve economic parity with the U.S. by failing to adopt the constraints that multinational institutions apply to the U.S.’

‘This includes the use of forced data and technology transfers and even pro-CCP U.S. lobbying as a condition for acquiring licenses to do business in China, including but not limited to applying constraints (e.g. emissions caps) in the U.S. while failing to apply such caps in China,’ the preview of his speech read.

Ramaswamy will boast what he calls a ‘pro-trade approach to sensibly decoupling from China’ and knocked conservatives who reject a ‘trade-led agenda’ as ‘unserious.’

‘To declare independence from China abroad, we must first declare independence from the climate change agenda at home,’ the preview read. ‘Electric vehicle agenda worsens dependence on China for rare earth minerals and mineral refining capacity: when U.S. taxpayers subsidize EVs, American taxpayers subsidize the CCP.’

Ramaswamy asserts the climate change agenda ‘has nothing to do with the climate and everything to do with letting China catch up to the U.S.,’ adding that ‘this is something that the Republican Party has missed in entirety.’

The political outsider reiterated his call for semiconductor independence, calling the CHIPS Act that was passed and sign into law by the Biden administration a ‘boondoggle’ and describing it as the ‘Green New Deal in chips-related clothing.’

‘The right answer: more narrowly tailored pro-semiconductor policy in the U.S., but without the excesses and political trinkets of the CHIPS Act — not as a matter of economic protectionism, but as a matter of national security,’ the preview read. ‘Key way to stop this from simply serving as corporate ‘pork’ — simultaneously open trade relationships with South Korea, Japan, and other nations that provide market access for their own semiconductors to the U.S. market to compete with domestically supported U.S. semiconductor manufacturers.

He will highlight the U.S. military’s reliance on China, pointing out how the CCP is a leading producer of ’16’ out of the 35 strategic materials identified as critical by the Department of Defense. 

‘Limiting foreign engagement in other parts of the world (e.g. Ukraine and Middle East) will reopen substantial funds to reinvest in our domestic defense base without the need for expanding the overall U.S. military budget,’ the preview read. ‘Vivek will modernize the Reagan Doctrine to the 21st century — from ‘peace through strength’ to ‘prosperity through peace.”

Ramaswamy will also propose weakening America’s pharmaceutical reliance on China by bolstering trade partnerships with Israel and India and will do the same regarding rare earth minerals with countries like India and Brazil, adding that Chile is ‘the world’s third-greatest lithium reserves’ yet ‘our third-largest lithium partner is China.’

‘We don’t have to ban Chinese imports; we just need to buy from other countries that produce the same things. I call on all American companies to declare lithium independence from China and grow their imports from Chile,’ Ramaswamy will declare according to the preview. 

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