Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., dodged a question on why she has not visited the southern border in crisis while President Biden has been in office.

During an interview with the New York Times last week, the ‘Squad’ member was asked why she has nOt traveled to the border under Biden like she did while former President Trump was in office.

Ocasio-Cortez sidestepped the question about why she has nOt yet visited the southern border under Biden, but said she has visited migrant facilities recently — in the New York area.

‘Well, this is something that we’re actively planning on,’ Ocasio-Cortez told the Times. ‘What I have done is tours of our New York-area facilities.’

‘Right now, this crisis is in our own backyard, and we have toured the Roosevelt Hotel, and I think it’s been very important for us to — especially to my constituents, who are demanding accountability on this — to look at that front line that is right here in New York City.’

The New York Democrat made several high-profile trips to the border during the Trump administration, visiting federal migrant detention facilities.

Since Biden took office, the New York Democrat has yet to visit the southern border.

Ocasio-Cortez was famously dogpiled online in 2019 after the Democrat socialist congresswoman posted a picture of herself crying outside a Texas migrant facility. 

The photos, taken during the Trump administration, appeared to be a far cry from Ocasio-Cortez’s attention under the current Democratic president.

Ocasio-Cortez has frequently pushed Democratic narratives about the border and border officials, such as the debunked claim that Border Patrol agents in Texas ‘whipped’ Haitian migrants crossing the border illegally.

Republicans say the southern border under Biden has become a disaster area with 2.3 million illegal migrants crossing the border illegally this fiscal year alone.

New York City has seen buses full of illegal migrants come to the city from border states like Texas, which has born a substantial brunt of the influx of migrants.

Tensions are rising between President Biden and blue state Democrats trying to stem the tide of migrants flowing from Republican-led border states.

New York City Mayor Eric Adams has criticized the Biden administration in no uncertain terms, and New York Gov. Kathy Hochul has leaned on the president to do more for months. Other deep blue cities like Chicago and Boston are also buckling under the weight of Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s bussing program.

Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., said he reached out to Biden and urged him to do more to respond to the crisis.

‘I wrote to him in May, so it’s been like four months. But I hope to find out,’ Durbin told Axios on Tuesday.

Business leaders in NYC also wrote an open letter to Biden and Congress urging them to provide more federal funding for migrant care.

‘We write to support the request made by New York Governor Hochul for federal funding for educational, housing, security, and health care services to offset the costs that local and state governments are incurring with limited federal aid,’ the group wrote.

The signees included top executives from JPMorgan, BlackRock, Wells Fargo, Goldman Sachs and dozens of other major companies.

Fox News Digital’s Anders Hagstrom contributed reporting.

Hunter Biden attended at least six U.S. state dinners during the Obama and Biden administrations, including four when he was chairman of his now-defunct investment firm and two while being federally investigated over his business dealings with the firm.

President Biden has shown no signs of trying to distance himself from his embattled son, appearing alongside him in recent months during multiple public events despite Hunter’s legal troubles, including taking him on an official state trip to Ireland in April.

On June 22, just two days after it was announced Hunter and federal prosecutors had struck a plea deal, which has since fallen apart, the first son was seen hobnobbing among Washington’s elite during a state dinner for Indian Prime Minister Modi at the White House.

The lavish affair came more than six months after Hunter attended his dad’s first state dinner at the White House for French President Emmanuel Macron Dec. 1, 2022.

At the time of the dinners, Hunter was at the center of a years-long federal investigation into his business dealings and tax affairs, which continues today.

Hunter and federal prosecutors in Delaware announced a plea deal June 20, which included misdemeanor tax crimes and a diversion agreement on a felony gun charge, but it deteriorated in court.

During the Obama administration, when his father was vice president and he was founder and chairman of Rosemont Seneca Partners, Hunter attended at least four state dinners.

Hunter attended Obama’s first state dinner Nov. 24, 2009, for Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, five months after he co-founded his firm with Devon Archer and Chris Heinz.

Hunter later attended a state dinner for British Prime Minister David Cameron March 14, 2012.

Roughly two years later, Hunter attended a state dinner for French President François Hollande Feb. 11, 2014.

He attended Obama’s final state dinner more than two years later on Oct. 18, 2016, for Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi.

During that dinner, Hunter was listed as representing his firm. ‘Mr. Hunter Biden, Chairman, Rosemont Seneca Advisors,’ the official guest list states.

Hunter was also invited to multiple State Department luncheons during his dad’s vice presidency, including three for China, where Hunter pursued multiple business deals, previous reporting has shown.

Obama held a state dinner for Mexican President Felipe Calderón May 19, 2010, where Hunter’s Mexican business associate, Carlos Slim, was in attendance.

The New York Post reported in 2021 that Hunter and Slim were both invited to a State Department luncheon during Calderon’s visit, which was hosted by Joe Biden and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

The next year, Obama held a state dinner for Chinese President Hu Jintao Jan. 19, 2011. Earlier that day, Hunter and Archer attended a State Department luncheon that VP Biden held for Hu.

‘You are seated at the same table as a guy who looks like he is the #3 at the Embassy,’ Schwerin wrote Hunter in an email just before the luncheon on Jan. 19, 2011. ‘He’d be the guy to ask for Guardian. Looks like you, Devon, and Paul are all at the same table. Also Ron Klain and Markell at your table. All subject to change, per Carlos. Also, Ann Curry from Today, SB Woo and John Cooney.’

Fox News Digital previously reported that Hunter used the same event as a networking opportunity to help one of his firm’s clients secure an event at the Chinese Embassy in Washington, D.C.

A letter from then-Vice President Biden to Archer one day after the luncheon for Hu thanked Archer for attending the event.

‘I apologize for not getting a chance to talk to you at the luncheon yesterday,’ Biden wrote to Archer Jan. 20, 2011, according to the letter previously reported by Fox News. ‘I was having trouble getting away from hosting President Hu. I hope I get a chance to see you again soon with Hunter. I hope you enjoyed the lunch. Thanks for coming.’

Biden then included a handwritten note: ‘Happy you guys are together.’

Hunter was later invited to at least three more state luncheons — two for China and one for India — during his dad’s vice presidency, according to emails on his laptop, though it is unclear if he attended.

The White House and Hunter’s lawyer did not respond to Fox News Digital’s requests for comment.

Plaintiffs suing Ohio over its congressional map have moved to dismiss the case.The ACLU of Ohio told the state Supreme Court that it is willing to let the current map stand ‘(i)n lieu of the continued turmoil brought about by cycles of redrawn maps and ensuing litigation.’Despite the map largely favoring Republicans, Democrats held onto all four of their Ohio House seats last year, and gained another with then-Cincinnati Councilman Greg Landsman’s defeat of longtime Rep. Steve Chabot.

Ohio voting-rights groups moved to dismiss their lawsuit against Ohio’s unconstitutional congressional map on Tuesday, arguing that prolonging the legal wrangling over where to draw district boundaries isn’t in the best interests of Ohio voters.

The ACLU of Ohio, on behalf of the League of Women Voters of Ohio and others, told the Ohio Supreme Court that they are willing to live with the U.S. House map approved March 2, 2022, and used in last year’s elections, ‘(i)n lieu of the continued turmoil brought about by cycles of redrawn maps and ensuing litigation.’

Democrats netted wins under that map — securing five of 15 U.S. House seats, compared to the four of 16 they had held previously. Ohio had lost one seat under the 2020 Census because of lagging population growth.

‘Petitioners have no desire to launch another round of maps and challenges, given the recent history of map-drawing in Ohio,’ the Tuesday filing said.

That history included the court’s rejection of two separate congressional maps and five sets of Statehouse maps — describing districts for Ohio House and Ohio Senate in Columbus — as gerrymandered in favor of the ruling Republicans. Nonetheless, those maps had to be used to elect candidates in 2022 as the disagreements ended in legal limbo.

Since the voting advocates’ lawsuit was first filed early last year, the political landscape has grown only more conservative. GOP supermajorities at the Statehouse grew, and the state’s high court, which would decide their case, saw the retirement of a Republican chief justice who had provided a swing vote against GOP-leaning maps.

The dismissal request also comes as advocates prepare a redistricting reform amendment for Ohio’s 2024 ballot.

Before Tuesday’s filing, the Ohio Supreme Court had asked both sides in the lawsuit to file briefs explaining how a U.S. Supreme Court ruling in June involving the Ohio map would impact the state case. The nation’s high court set aside ruling in the case and ordered further consideration in light of its rejection days earlier in a North Carolina case of the so-called independent state legislature theory, which holds that legislatures have absolute power in setting the rules of federal elections and cannot be overruled by state courts.

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White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre dodged when questioned Tuesday about President Biden’s claim he hasn’t visited East Palestine, Ohio, the site of a major train disaster earlier this year, because he hasn’t ‘been able to break.’

The exchange occurred during the daily White House press briefing when Fox News’ Peter Doocy noted the derailment occurred on Feb. 3, but that Biden, despite his claim, had taken other personal trips — including one to Lake Tahoe last month when he rented the secluded mansion of a billionaire climate activist.

‘I will say this again. The president is going to go to East Palestine, as he has said that he is committed to do,’ Jean-Pierre said.

‘You saw him, just this Saturday, visit a rural area. Right? That was devastated — some parts were devastated by Hurricane Idalia, and he was there with the first lady. They were able to hear directly from the American people, and he was able to talk about what is it that they need… what else do they need from the federal government. So the president is going to go to East Palestine. I don’t have a time or date to announce at this time, but he will go,’ she added.

East Palestine was devastated by a derailed freight train that spewed toxic chemicals and caused health and environmental worries for locals. Although officials reassured the public that the town’s air and water were safe, residents claimed to suffer from nausea, dizziness and headaches in the days after the disaster.

Biden was sharply criticized for not visiting East Palestine immediately following the derailment, and he has yet to travel to the area since, though he promised on March 2 to visit ‘at some point.’

Biden’s claims he hasn’t ‘been able to break’ since the Feb. 3 derailment came just one week after he returned from an eight-day family vacation in Nevada and several trips to Delaware just in the month of August alone.

Days before the Nevada vacation, Biden was forced to break from a vacation in Delaware to tour Maui amid criticism for his lackluster response to the deadly fires there.

Earlier in August, Biden spent 10 days vacationing at his homes in Wilmington and Rehoboth Beach.

The president was photographed waving to locals while riding his bicycle in Rehoboth Beach on July 31, Aug. 1, Aug. 2 and Aug. 13.

He was also spotted relaxing on the beach in Rehoboth Beach on July 8, July 30, Aug. 2 and Aug. 13.

According to a new report by the New York Post, Biden has spent roughly 40% of his presidency on personal overnight trips away from the White House, more than any other president before him.

The Trump campaign said there is ‘no legal basis’ to use the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution to prevent former President Trump from appearing on the 2024 presidential ballot, accusing those pushing the effort of using ‘lawfare to deprive voters of choosing their next president.’

Some have argued that Trump could be disqualified from appearing on the 2024 presidential ballot due to the ‘Disqualifications Clause’ — or Section 3 of the 14th Amendment.

That clause bars individuals who have ‘engaged in insurrection or rebellion’ against America, or aided those engaged in such, from holding office.

But the Trump campaign is blasting those who suggest the legal theory could be used to block Trump’s presidential bid.

‘Joe Biden, Democrats, and Never Trumpers are scared to death because they see polls showing President Trump winning in the general election,’ a Trump campaign spokesperson told Fox News Digital. 

‘The people who are pursuing this absurd conspiracy theory and political attack on President Trump are stretching the law beyond recognition much like the political prosecutors in New York, Georgia and DC.

‘There is no legal basis for this effort except in the minds of those who are pushing it,’ the spokesperson continued. ‘This is nothing more than a blatant attempt by enemies of America to create fake excuses and use lawfare to deprive voters of choosing their next president.’ 

Trump is the first former president in United States history to face criminal charges. 

Trump was indicted out of special counsel Jack Smith’s investigation into alleged interference in the 2020 election and the Jan. 6, 2021 Capitol riot. He faces criminal charges in Georgia, New York and out of Smith’s separate investigation into his alleged mishandling of classified documents.

Trump pleaded not guilty to all charges, which included conspiracy to defraud the United States, conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding, obstruction of and attempt to obstruct an official proceeding and conspiracy against rights.

Former Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio was sentenced Tuesday to 22 years in prison for his role in the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol.

Tarrio was found guilty of seditious conspiracy by a jury in Washington, D.C., alongside three other leaders of the Proud Boys. The others were each sentenced to between 15 and 18 years.

The Department of Justice sought more than three decades for Tarrio, characterizing him as the ringleader of violent protesters. He was also ordered to 36 months of probation at the end of his sentence. 

‘Tarrio has repeatedly and publicly indicated that he has no regrets about what he helped make happen on January 6,’ prosecutors wrote. 

Tarrio spoke before the court, admitting his mistakes, and apologized to members of law enforcement. 

Tarrio pleaded for leniency, describing Jan. 6 as a ‘national embarrassment,’ and apologizing to the police officers who defended the Capitol and the lawmakers who fled in fear. He expressed remorse for letting down his family and vowed that he was done with politics.

‘I am not a political zealot. Inflicting harm or changing the results of the election was not my goal,’ Tarrio said.

He asked U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly, ‘please show me mercy’ and that he ‘not take my 40s from me.’ 

Tarrio was not in Washington, D.C., at the time of the riot, having been arrested by federal authorities for a separate investigation two days prior. 

Prosecutors successfully argued, however, that Tarrio was instrumental in organizing the Proud Boys demonstrations that sought to enter and occupy the Capitol.

He was originally scheduled to face sentencing last week until U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly fell ill and rescheduled the hearing.

Over 1,100 individuals have been brought to court over alleged involvement in the riot at the Capitol. Prosecutors have convicted more than 600 people for their participation in the violent demonstration. The majority have either pleaded guilty or gone to trial. 

Tarrio’s sentence is the longest, so far, for any Jan. 6 defendants. 

Fox News Digital’s Jake Gibson and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Arizona is channeling $40 million in federal COVID-19 relief funding toward tutoring students falling behind in school, the state superintendent said Tuesday.

Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Horne announced at a news conference that free tutoring will be available for students who failed to pass proficiency tests in reading, writing and math.

The tutoring program, however, will be given on a first-come, first-served basis. Only students between first and eighth grades at public and charter schools will be eligible. Parents can request it through the Arizona Department of Education website.

‘I have one obsession in life. My obsession is that we increase the proficiency levels of the students in the schools and that we help the teachers achieve that,’ Horne said.

The funding will cover over one million hours of tutoring for four days a week over a six-week period. Either a certified teacher or a private vendor approved by the state would do the tutoring, according to Horne.

Teachers will be paid $30 per hour. If they make sufficient progress in that six-week window, they will get an additional $200 stipend. A teacher who can find the time to tutor could potentially make $8,000 overall.

‘This will help the teachers improve their income,’ Horne said.

A spokesperson for the Arizona Education Association, the state’s largest teachers union, did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment.

The federal government earmarked $2.7 billion to Arizona to assist with pandemic-driven learning loss. Roughly 90% of that money went to districts around the state. That left $130 million for the Arizona Department of Education. Funds not used by the end of September 2024 will revert back to the federal government.

The timetable led state education officials to ask vendors of tutoring services to submit data to prove they had made academic gains with students. Those that failed to do so had their contracts canceled.

Some who made gains but weren’t spending the funds at a steady rate had their grants reduced. Twenty-seven grants in all were modified or canceled.

‘We do want to be sure that nothing goes back to the federal government. So we took back part of their funds. That all came to in excess of $40 million,’ Horne said.

A dramatic decline in student learning since the pandemic is a problem schools all over the country are facing. Most education experts say intensive tutoring is the best solution.

Despite billions of dollars in federal funding, only a small fraction of students have received school tutoring, according to a survey earlier this year of the country’s largest districts by the nonprofit news organization Chalkbeat and The Associated Press.

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Democratic Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear on Tuesday announced a plan to invest $386 million in a high-speed internet expansion effort.The plan will cover 46 counties across the Bluegrass State and expand internet access to over 42,600 residences and businesses.‘High-speed internet is no longer a luxury,’ Beshear posited at a news conference. ‘It is an absolute infrastructure necessity.’

Looking to close its digital divide, Kentucky will use a $386 million investment to expand access to high-speed internet to more than 42,600 homes and businesses, Gov. Andy Beshear said Tuesday.

It amounts to a record investment of broadband money for Kentucky, a combination of public and private sector funds that will be spread broadly among 46 counties, Beshear said. It’s the next phase of a bipartisan policy goal to connect every Kentucky home and business to reliable, high-speed internet.

‘High-speed internet is no longer a luxury,’ the Democratic governor said at a news conference. ‘It is an absolute infrastructure necessity.’

Kentucky policymakers are pursuing a long-term effort to connect areas with no internet access or chronically slow service. The persistent lack of access in some parts of the state was laid bare during the COVID-19 pandemic, when remote work and schooling were hampered by significant gaps in connectivity.

The latest round of funding shows the GOP-led legislature’s goal of expanding broadband access ‘is within reach,’ said Republican House Speaker David Osborne. He pointed to legislative initiatives that created and funded the Kentucky Broadband Deployment Fund and Office of Broadband Development.

‘While today’s announcement is a step in the right direction, a great deal of work remains to be done before Kentuckians across the commonwealth have access to high-speed internet,’ Osborne said in a statement after the governor’s announcement.

The broadband awards are the result of a 2021 agreement between lawmakers and the governor to use $300 million of federal pandemic relief funds to extend broadband service.

In mid-2022, the governor announced the first round of awards from the state’s broadband deployment fund, totaling $89.1 million. Combined with matching funds, more than $203 million was committed to ensure access for more than 34,000 families and businesses, the governor’s office said.

On Tuesday, the governor awarded 56 grants totaling more than $196 million in public funds from the broadband deployment fund. Internet service providers receiving grant funding will contribute more than $190 million in matching funds.

Beshear said there are even ‘bigger days to come’ in the state’s broadband expansion work, pointing to a nearly $1.1 billion federal grant that the state secured this year. It will amount to the largest public investment in high-speed internet in the state’s history, the governor’s office said. Beshear said he hopes the state can draw down the first $200 million from that amount by year’s end.

It’s all part of a ‘transformative’ push to achieve universal, reliable internet access statewide, he said.

‘We’re talking about access everywhere,’ Beshear said. ‘It doesn’t mean universal access except where it’s difficult, or except where the terrain is tough. Our goal is high-speed internet to everyone. No exceptions.’

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Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice Janet Protasiewicz on Tuesday released a letter from the state’s Judicial Commission, which informed her that ‘several’ ethics complaints against her were dismissed.The complaints pertained to statements made on the campaign trail during an unusually high-profile race, which wound up being the most expensive judicial election in American history.Among Protasiewicz’s more controversial comments were those calling Wisconsin’s legislative maps ‘unfair’ and ‘rigged,’ which have led to calls for her recusal from redistricting-related cases.

A state judiciary disciplinary panel has rejected several complaints lodged against Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice Janet Protasiewicz that alleged she violated the judicial code of ethics for comments she made during the campaign. It’s a setback to Republicans who argued those remarks could warrant impeachment.

Protasiewicz on Tuesday released a letter from the Wisconsin Judicial Commission informing her that ‘several complaints’ regarding comments she had made during the campaign had been dismissed without action.

The commission’s actions are private unless released by one of the parties involved. Protasiewicz received permission from the commission to release its May 31 letter to her, which she then provided to The Associated Press.

Protasiewicz’s win in April flipped majority control of Wisconsin’s Supreme Court from conservative to liberal for the first time in 15 years. Democrats heavily backed her campaign, during which Protasiewicz criticized Republican-drawn electoral maps and spoke in favor of abortion rights.

In recent weeks, Republican lawmakers have been floating the possibility of impeaching Protasiewicz over her comments calling the legislative maps they drew ‘unfair’ and ‘rigged.’

Protasiewicz never promised to rule one way or another on redistricting or abortion cases.

She took office in August, and in her first week, two lawsuits seeking to overturn the Republican-drawn legislative electoral maps were filed by Democratic-friendly groups. The Supreme Court has yet to decide whether to hear the cases, and Protasiewicz has not responded to a motion from the Republican-controlled Legislature that she recuse herself from the cases.

Protasiewicz sent the commission’s order Tuesday to attorneys in the redistricting cases, ordering them to respond by Sept. 18 on how it affects the request that she recuse herself from the lawsuits.

A lawsuit in a county court seeking to overturn Wisconsin’s 1849 abortion ban was filed before Protasiewicz won election. That case is expected to eventually reach the Wisconsin Supreme Court.

The Wisconsin Republican Party in February released one complaint filed against Protasiewicz by Randall Cook, a Republican supporter. His complaint alleged that Protasiewicz had declared how she would rule on cases related to abortion and redistricting, in violation of provisions of the state judicial code.

‘Wisconsin has never seen a Supreme Court Justice so brazenly declare how she would rule on a case before it ever came to the Court, and we had hoped the principles of equal justice would be seriously considered by the Judicial Commission, despite their liberal bias,’ Wisconsin Republican Party Chairperson Brian Schimming said in a statement. ‘It was clearly asking too much.’

In the letter to Protasiewicz, Judicial Commission Executive Director Jeremiah Van Hecke referred to ‘several complaints’ it had received and dismissed without action. The letter said the complaints pertained to comments she had made at a Jan. 9 candidate forum and several interviews in December and January.

The complaints also alleged that she had made false comments about her opponent, Republican-backed Dan Kelly, in two campaign ads and in social media posts, according to the commission’s letter.

The commission did not give a reason for why it dismissed the complaints, but Van Hecke said that it had reviewed her comments, the judicial code of ethics, state Supreme Court rules, and relevant decisions by the state and U.S. supreme courts.

In one of the cases cited, a federal court in Wisconsin ruled there is a distinction between a candidate stating personal views during a campaign and making a pledge, promise or commitment to ruling in a certain way.

Protasiewicz declined to comment on the commission’s action.

The nine-member Judicial Commission is one of the few avenues through which people can challenge the actions of Supreme Court justices. It is tasked with investigating judges and court commissioners who are accused of violating the state’s judicial code of conduct. Its members include two lawyers and two judges appointed by the Supreme Court and five non-lawyers appointed by the governor to three-year terms.

Republican members of the state Senate judiciary committee on Tuesday and last month grilled judicial ethics commissioners up for reappointment about when justices and judges should recuse themselves from cases, especially if they call a case ‘rigged,’ a clear allusion to Protasiewicz’s campaign remarks.

Republicans, including Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, allege Protasiewicz has prejudged redistricting cases pending before the Supreme Court because of comments she made during her campaign. They also say she can’t fairly hear the cases because she took nearly $10 million in campaign donations from the Wisconsin Democratic Party, which did not file the lawsuits but has long pushed for new maps.

Vos said Protasiewicz must recuse herself from any Wisconsin redistricting case and the commission’s letter only ‘muddies the waters.’

‘The Judicial Commission decided Justice Protasiewicz could not be sanctioned for what she said on the campaign trail,’ Vos said in a statement. ‘The Commission did not address whether she can sit on a case after accepting $10 million in campaign funds from the Democrat Party — the interested party in the redistricting case. Nor did they address whether she may sit on a case having made commitments for how she would rule that are inconsistent with the obligation to be impartial.’

The legislative electoral maps drawn by the Republican-controlled Legislature in 2011 cemented the party’s majorities, which now stand at 65-34 in the Assembly and a 22-11 supermajority in the Senate. It would take only 50 votes to impeach. It takes 22 votes to convict in the Senate, the exact number of seats Republicans hold.

If the Assembly impeaches her, Protasiewicz would be barred from any duties as a justice until the Senate acted. That could effectively stop her from voting on redistricting without removing her from office and creating a vacancy that Democratic Gov. Tony Evers would fill.

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