Vice President Kamala Harris will oddly hold a ‘grassroots reception’ on Martha’s Vineyard in Massachusetts on behalf of the Biden-Harris re-election campaign, despite the island being a playground for America’s rich and famous.

According to a report by The Vineyard Gazette, the Saturday fundraiser will be hosted by the Biden Victory Fund as well as a number of wealthy individuals, including a bank executive, former Obama official, a political consultant and actor Wendell Pierce.

It’s unclear why the event is described as a ‘grassroots reception’ given its ticket prices ranging from $50 to $10,000, and its seemingly well-connected hosts. The Biden-Harris campaign did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.

The report said the exact time and location of the event weren’t disclosed on the invitation, but that it was being paid for ‘by the joint fundraising committee authorized by Biden for President, the Democratic National Committee, and several state democratic parties.’

The report also noted a previous campaign-related visit to the island by Harris last August, and that her sister, Maya Lakshmi Harris, owns a home there.

Martha’s Vineyard status as a haven for liberal elites was elevated last September when Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis sent two planes full of migrants there, sparking outrage from Democrats and members of the liberal media.

Former President Barack Obama also owns a home on the island.

The signing of a Republican Party pledge that all candidates will eventually support the party’s presidential nominee is underway, with White House hopeful Vivek Ramaswamy becoming the first to agree to the language drawn up by the Republican National Committee (RNC).

First reported by the Washington Post and confirmed by Fox News, Ramaswamy, with his signature, became the first candidate to formally qualify for the Aug. 23 Republican debate hosted by Fox in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

RNC Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel made the ‘Beat Biden pledge’ a requirement for her party’s candidates to be able to participate in its official debates, a rule that flies in the face of former President Donald Trump’s previous suggestion he might not support the eventual winner of the Republican nomination.

According to the pledge, candidates must affirm they will only appear in debates sanctioned by the RNC, and, should they fail to sign the pledge or participate in a non-RNC sanctioned debate, they will not be able to participate in any further party sanctioned debates.

‘Additionally, I affirm that if I do not win the 2024 Republican nomination for President of the United States, I will honor the will of the primary voters and support the 2024 Republican presidential nominee in order to save our country and beat Joe Biden,’ the pledge goes on to say.

‘I further pledge that I will not seek to run as an independent or write-in candidate nor will I seek or accept the nomination for president of any other party,’ it adds.

In addition to the pledge, candidates must also reach 1% in three national polls, or 1% in two national polls and two state-specific polls from the early voting states of Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina and Nevada in order to qualify for the debate. The polls must also be recognized by the RNC and must be conducted on or after July 1.

Additionally, to reach the debate stage, candidates must have 40,000 unique donors to their campaign committee (or exploratory committee), with ‘at least 200 unique donors per state or territory in 20+ states and/or territories,’ according to the RNC criteria.

Fox News’ Jessica Loker and Kyle Morris contributed to this report.

President Biden is asking his Cabinet to ‘aggressively execute’ plans for federal employees to return to their offices for work this fall after years of remote work prompted by the coronavirus pandemic.

The White House’s push to cut down remote work comes after a Government Accountability Office report published last month found that 17 of the 24 federal agencies used, on average, an estimated 25% or less of the capacity of their headquarters buildings.

Every Cabinet member received an email last week urging them to bring federal workers back to the office, according to Axios. This, as even some senior administration officials never fully moved to Washington, D.C., including former Labor Secretary Marty Walsh.

‘We are returning to in-person work because it is critical to the well-being of our teams and will enable us to deliver better results for the American people,’ White House Chief of Staff Jeff Zients wrote in the email.

‘As we look towards the fall, and with the end of the COVID-19 public health emergency, your agencies will be implementing increases in the amount of in-person work for your team,’ he continued. ‘This is a priority of the President — and I am looking to each of you to aggressively execute this shift in September and October.’

Zients said the update will not eliminate remote work but instead would combine the flexibility of working from home ‘while ensuring we have the in-person time we need to build a strong culture, trust, and interpersonal connections.’

Biden’s wish for more in-person work is felt by several cities and businesses also struggling to bring workers back to the office after the end of the COVID-19 pandemic, as Americans have grown comfortable with the flexibility telework allows. Even Zoom has asked employees within 50 miles of a company office to return for in-person work at least two days a week on a hybrid schedule.

The president has been discussing, with limited success, efforts to bring federal workers back to the office since the spring of last year. He said in his State of the Union address in March 2022 that ‘the vast majority of federal workers will once again work in person.’

The White House has been gradually reopening up since the summer of 2021, with staff returning and holiday celebrations and White House tours resuming.

The Office of Management and Budget sent guidelines in April for agencies to develop plans to increase in-person work while still allowing some flexibility for telework. 

But Zients wants to speed up these plans to reduce remote work. Since taking over as chief of staff in February, Zients has prioritized returning to in-person work to improve the office culture.

Zients opened the White House’s Navy Mess for in-person dining in March for the first time since Biden became president. The chief of staff has also started hosting in-person town halls, with a Zoom option for people who cannot fit in the room, where lower-level staffers may ask questions. Zients’ senior staff meetings in the mornings and evenings are in-person as well, with Zoom options available if needed.

The White House has faced pressure to reduce remote work from congressional Republicans, who have attributed delays and backlogs in agencies’ work to telework. But Democrats have also joined in on demanding federal workers return to their offices, including Washington, D.C., mayor Muriel Bowser.

‘We agree with the White House that we can deliver more when we come together in person, and we applaud this latest action by President Biden,’ Bowser said in a statement Monday to Fox 5 DC.

Bowser previously expressed support for a return to in-person work in her inaugural address in January.

‘We need decisive action by the White House to either get most federal workers back to the office most of the time or to realign their vast property holdings for use by the local government, by nonprofits, by businesses, and by any user willing to revitalize it,’ she said at the time.

Washington, D.C., has felt the economic impact of telework, as several buildings in the district remain emptier than they once were. Local businesses and politicians in Washington have been pressuring the White House to demand more in-person work.

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The Biden administration is taking a number of actions in response to what appears to be the beginnings of an increase – as well as a shift – in migrant traffic at the southern border. 

Numbers of overall migrant encounters at the southern border itself went down after the highs seen before the end of Title 42 in early May, confounding some predictions. There were over 200,000 encounters in May and that dropped to around 144,000 in June.

However, as the Biden administration touted that decrease in numbers as a sign that its post-Title 42 strategy is working, numbers have reportedly been increasing. The Washington Post reported last week that initial numbers show a 30% increase in July.

Additionally, there are signs of a shift in traffic from Texas to Arizona. CBS News reported that the Tucson Sector has seen a 134% increase from June, in a region that sees blistering heat and extreme conditions.

A Customs and Border Protection (CBP) spokesperson told Fox News Digital on Saturday that the agency has been working to address ‘large numbers of migrants’ crossing into the desert area near Ajo — a typically desolate and quiet part of the border.

‘The U.S. Border Patrol has surged personnel and transportation resources to respond to the increase in encounters in the area – some of the hottest, most isolated, and dangerous area of the southwest border – where individuals have been callously sent by smuggling organizations to walk for miles, often with little or no water,’ a spokesperson said.

Media outlets had highlighted the station in Ajo, where a chain-linked fence had been put up around an area holding migrants — which some described as a ‘cage.’ CBP stressed that only adults were held there in shade and are monitored, and just until they can be transported to larger better-equipped facilities.

‘Border Patrol has prioritized the quick transporting of noncitizens encountered in this desert environment, which is particularly dangerous during current weather conditions, to USBP facilities where individuals can receive medical care, food and water. USBP has utilized outdoor shaded areas only when necessary and for very short times while they await onward transportation to larger facilities,’ the spokesperson said.

More broadly across the border, there are signs that administration is moving to brace for any increase in migrants. 

The Pentagon announced last week that just 1,100 of the 1,500 active-duty troops are being sent back to home base, and that it had approved an extension of 400 to the end of the month.

The troops had been deployed to help Customs and Border Protection (CBP) with processing ahead of the expected post-Title 42 surge.

Separately, Fox News Digital obtained a DHS memo last week sent internally seeking volunteers to aid with processing. The internal memo sent to staff by acting Deputy Secretary Kristie Canegallo says that while there have been ‘positive trends’ at the border since the end of Title 42 in May, ‘we need to remain vigilant and prepared for evolving trends and future increases in migration.’

‘To support this critical mission, I ask that you consider registering to be part of the DHS Volunteer Force (VF),’ it said. A DHS official said those programs have been ‘incredibly successful,’ and the department is encouraging more of the workforce to participate and that it ensures the agency’s operational readiness means filling critical roles before they are needed.

That memo came as Fox News Digital also reported that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) special agents are having their numbers increased at the border from 60 to 200 as part of Operation Expanded Impact. Agents are being deployed to key sectors in Texas, Arizona and California. 

A DHS spokesperson told Fox News Digital then that the numbers of those crossing across the border illegally are still down compared to before Title 42’s May 11 halt.

‘Unlawful border crossings have gone down since our border enforcement plan went into effect and remain well below the levels seen while Title 42 was in effect,’ the spokesperson said. ‘We remain vigilant and expect to see fluctuations, knowing that smugglers continue to use disinformation to prey on vulnerable individuals.’

The agency noted that divisions across the department work collectively and will adjust operations based on a variety of factors. Asylum officers have also increased by 33%, and the agency is now seeking to complete the initial credible fear interview within several days of a claim made by migrants. And it will continue to evaluate operations and work with other governments to address changes in migration flows.

The emotional testimony this week by the families of the 13 U.S. service members killed during President Biden’s chaotic military withdrawal in Afghanistan has cast renewed scrutiny on the president’s past treatment of Gold Star families.

Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., held a congressional forum Monday with the Gold Star families who said they felt misled and betrayed by their own government.

Several called out Biden and his top Cabinet officials by name, calling on them to resign. A father of one fallen U.S. Marine called on the president to ‘be a grown a– man.’

The Biden administration’s series of missteps during the withdrawal nearly two years ago marked a political turning point for the public’s perception of the president’s competency and ability to lead. His decision faced widespread global backlash after Taliban insurgents retook the country in a matter of days on Aug. 15, 2021, essentially winning the war 20 years after their ouster by U.S.-led forces.

Biden had assured Americans just one month before the collapse that the likelihood of a Taliban takeover was ‘highly unlikely.’

Then on Aug. 26, 2021, during the U.S. military’s mass evacuation at the Kabul airport, suicide bombers killed 183 people, including 13 U.S. service members.

The U.S. military evacuation, which required thousands of additional U.S. troops on the ground and significant cooperation from the Taliban to complete, ended a day ahead of deadline on Aug. 30, 2021, leaving behind hundreds of U.S. citizens and tens of thousands of Afghan allies despite Biden’s promise days earlier to ‘get them all out.’

Critics have demanded that heads roll for the Afghanistan debacle with calls for the firings of Secretary of State Antony Blinken, National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley.

Despite telling Americans after Afghanistan’s fall that ‘the buck stops with me,’ Biden repeatedly blamed former President Trump and the Afghan military for the country’s swift collapse, and he has declined to fire a single official over the withdrawal.

During Monday’s hearing, Kelly Barnett, mother of Staff Sgt. Taylor Hoover, addressed the panel first and spoke for nearly 15 minutes, accusing Biden officials of lying to her about her son’s death – and saying she was told that he died immediately only for eyewitnesses to tell her he ‘lived for a little while.’

‘We were told lies, given incomplete reports, incorrect reports, total disrespect,’ Barnett said. ‘I was told to my face he died on impact. That’s not true. The only reason that I know this is because witnesses told me the truth. I was lied to and basically told to shut up.’

Lance Cpl. Kareem Nikoui’s father, Steve Nikoui, accused Biden of using his Marine son ‘as a pawn so we can meet his Sept. 11th deadline and get the optics he wanted.’

‘My life and that of my family’s has been on pause since the early morning of Aug. 26, 2021,’ the emotional father said. ‘The difference between the minutes of my life before that and the minutes that passed after that day are contrasted drastically.’

Christy Shamblin, the mother-in-law of Marine Sgt. Nicole Gee, held back tears when she described her reaction to Biden officials lauding the evacuation as a success.

‘When our leaders, including the secretary of defense and our commander in chief, called this evacuation a success, as if there should be celebration, it is like a knife in the heart for our families and for the people [who] came back,’ Shamblin said. ‘I live [every] single day knowing that these deaths were preventable. My daughter could be with us today.’

‘I can’t even begin to piece together the words that would convey to you the devastation that her murder has brought to our family,’ she said.

A Defense Department spokesperson’s statement on the Gold Star families’ testimony said, ‘The Department of Defense expresses our deepest condolences to the Gold Star Families who lost loved ones during the tragic bombing at Abbey Gate. We are forever grateful for their service, sacrifice, and committed efforts during the evacuation operations. We also commend the historic and monumental efforts of all our service men and women who served honorably during the withdrawal period from Afghanistan.’

Biden received criticism for his treatment of the Gold Star families immediately following the 2021 attack in Kabul.

Following the attack, Biden met in Dover, Delaware, with the family members of the 13 killed, but several of them later spoke out, accusing the president of repeatedly bringing up his late son, Beau, and saying he routinely checked his watch during the dignified transfer of the deceased’s remains.

Cheyenne McCollum, one of the sisters of Marine Lance Cpl. Rylee McCollum, said she met with Biden alongside McCollum’s pregnant widow and that the president would not look at the family in the eye and spent the three-minute conversation talking about Beau, who served in Iraq with the U.S. Army and died in 2015 from brain cancer.

‘I was able to stand about 15 seconds of his fake, scripted apology and I had to walk away,’ Cheyenne told ‘Fox & Friends.’

Roice McCollum, another sister, refused to meet with the president but said he showed a ‘total disregard to the loss of our Marine.’

‘You can’t f— up as bad as he did and say you’re sorry,’ Roice told the Washington Post.’This did not need to happen, and every life is on his hands.’

Shana Chappell, the mother of Lance Cpl. Nikoui, wrote a scathing Facebook post that said Biden hijacked their conversation by talking about Beau and that he rolled his eyes when she challenged him.

‘You tried to interrupt me and give me your own sob story and I had to tell you, ‘This isn’t about you so don’t make it about you!’’ Chappell wrote. ‘You then said you just wanted me to know that you know how I feel and I let you know that you don’t know how I feel and you do not have the right to tell me you know how I feel! You then rolled your f— eyes in your head like you were annoyed with me and I let you know that the only reason I was talking to you was out of respect for my son.’

As Biden turned to walk away, the grieving mother said she let him know that ‘my son’s blood was on your hands and you threw your hand up behind you as you walked away from me like you were saying ‘ok whatever!’’

Mark Schmitz, the father of Marine Lance Cpl. Jared Schmitz, said Biden bristled and bluntly responded to his request that he learn the individual stories of the 13 fallen.

‘Initially, I wasn’t going to meet with him,’ Schmitz said. ‘But then I felt I owed it to my son to at least have some words with him about how I felt – and it didn’t go well.’

Biden was also criticized after he was photographed appearing to check his watch during the dignified transfer of remains of the fallen soldiers to American soil.

Darin Hoover, father of Utah Marine Darin Taylor Hoover Jr., said the president looked down at his watch not once but several times as the caskets were being offloaded.

‘That didn’t happen just once. It happened on every single one that came out of that airplane. It happened on every single one of them. They would release the salute, and he would look down at his watch on every last one, all 13, he looked down at his watch,’ Hoover said on Fox News’ ‘Hannity’ in 2021.

‘As a father, seeing that and the disrespect and hearing from his former leaders, one of [Taylor’s] master sergeants said … that this was avoidable – that they left them over there. They had them over there and let them down, and we can’t have that,’ he said. ‘It can’t happen ever again.’

The controversy at the time also resurfaced Biden’s reported past treatment of Gold Star families that predated the Afghanistan withdrawal. 

For instance, Mike Iubelt, the father of the fallen Army Pfc. Tyler Iubelt, told the Washington Examiner in October 2019 that he had a ‘horrible experience’ meeting the now-president in 2016 after his son’s death in Afghanistan a few days earlier. Iubelt said he left their conversation ‘feeling worse’ than before. 

‘He told my daughter-in-law … that she was too pretty for this to happen to her,’ Iubelt recalled. ‘It’s probably a good thing that he was surrounded by Secret Service, probably for both of us, because I’d probably be locked up in jail right now.’

Meanwhile, Sgt. Tyler Vargas-Andrews, a Marine who was severely injured during the Afghanistan withdrawal, recently recalled an awkward encounter he had with Biden after he arrived at a hospital for treatment in the United States.

Describing his recovery at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, Vargas-Andrews, who lost an arm and leg as a result of the suicide bombing that took place outside the Abbey Gate at Kabul’s airport, said he was greeted by a number of U.S. military officials who were looking to participate in ‘photo ops’ with him – including the president.

Vargas-Andrews said Biden showed up four hours late and tried to shake his hand despite him being immobile.

‘He says, ‘Oh,’ and kind of stands up and then goes over to reach for my fingers … and just like grabs my fingers. Doesn’t greet me or anything, just grabbed my fingers. I was like, ‘OK, that’s weird.”

Vargas-Andrews said the Bidens ‘almost immediately starts talking about how their son served in the military. [He] doesn’t say anything about what happened, just starts talking about how their son served in the military.’

When reached for comment Tuesday, a White House told Fox News Digital that the president and first lady ‘will always honor the sacrifices of the 13 servicemembers who were killed in that attack.’

‘We mourn with them, we remember their loved ones, and we will continue to support these Gold Star families,’ the official said. ‘We are enormously proud of the men and women of our military, our diplomats and the intel community who conducted that withdrawal – they performed bravely and helped evacuate more than 120,000 people in one of the largest airlifts in history.’

‘But more broadly, the President made the tough decision to end the 20-year war in Afghanistan because he was not going to send another generation of troops to fight and die in a conflict that had no end in sight,’ the official added.

Fox News’ Kyle Morris and Elizabeth Elkind contributed to this report.

President Biden’s latest gaffe came Tuesday as he inaccurately said the Grand Canyon is one of the ‘nine’ wonders of the world.

He made the error during a speech at Red Butte Airfield in Arizona, just a few miles south of the Grand Canyon, in a speech focused on his administration’s climate agenda and conservation efforts.

‘Folks, it’s not hyperbole to suggest that there is no national treasure — none that is grander than the Grand Canyon. The Grand Canyon — one of the Earth’s nine wonders, wonders of the world, literally. Think of that. You know, it’s amazing. An enduring symbol of America to the entire world,’ Biden said.

The widely accepted list of world wonders includes seven locations, and the Grand Canyon is not part of that list. The actual wonders included are the Great Wall of China, Chichén Itzá in Mexico, Petra in Jordan, Machu Picchu in Peru, the Christ the Redeemer statue in Brazil, the Colosseum in Italy and the Taj Mahal in India.

However, the Grand Canyon is included on a widely accepted list of the seven natural wonders of the world compiled by CNN in 1997, which also includes the northern lights, or aurora, the Great Barrier Reef, the Harbor at Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Parícutin in Mexico, Victoria Falls on the border of Zimbabwe and Zambia, and Mount Everest.

Biden later tried unsuccessfully to correct himself, saying he intended to say ‘seven’ rather than ‘nine,’ but he still included the Grand Canyon on the list of the world’s seven wonders.

‘The first time I saw the Grand Canyon years ago, I was a young senator. As I stood there and looked out, a phrase came to mind — it was instinctive. I said this must be — this is God’s cathedral. That’s what it reminded me of. It just is so magnificent. As a matter of fact — I said nine. It’s one of the seven wonders of the world,’ he said.