Late revisions to new North Carolina abortion restrictions scheduled to begin this weekend cleared the state Senate on Monday night, changes that if enacted could frustrate pending litigation seeking to stop the law’s enforcement.

The Senate voted overwhelmingly for a measure containing what the Republican supporters have called clarifying and technical changes to a law approved last month over Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper’s veto that in part will ban starting Saturday most abortions after 12 weeks of pregnancy. This will replace current rules that ban nearly all abortions after 20 weeks. The new law also adds exceptions to the 12-week ban.

The bill needs just on more affirmative vote from the House — scheduled for Tuesday — before it goes to Cooper’s desk. A federal judge has scheduled arguments Wednesday in Greensboro on legal motions by Planned Parenthood South Atlantic and a physician to stop much of the new abortion restrictions from taking effect well before any lawsuit trial.

The plaintiffs complained last week in a court filing that many provisions in the new abortion law are ‘riddled with inconsistencies, irrational requirements and unconstitutional restrictions.’

The clean-up language offered by the Senate and tacked on to a pending state health agency bill appears to address several provisions identified in the lawsuit. For example, it makes clear that medication abortions are permitted through 12 weeks just like procedural — often referred to as surgical — abortions. Another change seeks to clarify that it wouldn’t be illegal for someone to help a woman obtain an abortion outside of North Carolina in states where the procedure would remain lawful.

Democrats were vehemently opposed to the new abortion law, developed privately by Republican legislators before its passage, and they voted initially last week against the bill that contains the revisions. But all but two Democrats voted for the bill on Monday, when it received final Senate passage by a count of 45-2.

Sen. Sydney Batch, a Wake County Democrat, said during floor debate that two GOP amendments approved Monday night contained language suggested by Senate Democrats.

‘And so while it still lacks clarity and doesn’t make all of the fixes necessary … it’s a commonsense amendment going in the right direction,’ Batch said about one of the amendments.

Still, Senate Democrats spent Monday’s debate offering a dozen additional amendments, including those that would codify the right to an abortion in state law based on the Roe v. Wade decision and another court decision; declare the right to contraception in North Carolina; and keep private women’s health information. Republicans used parliamentary maneuvers to block all of them.

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The future of Wisconsin’s top elections official was up for a vote Tuesday amid Republican calls for the nonpartisan administrator of the statewide elections commission to resign over how she ran the 2020 presidential contest.

The vote on whether to reappoint Meagan Wolfe could determine who is in charge of elections in a battleground state so narrowly divided that four of the past six presidential elections in Wisconsin have been decided by less than a percentage point. Wolfe has staunchly defended the decisions she’s made and fought back against false claims of election fraud, including those made by former President Donald Trump.

‘When your constituents challenge you about the integrity of Wisconsin elections, tell them the truth,’ she wrote to lawmakers just days before the vote on her reappointment. ‘When people perpetuate false claims about our election systems, push back publicly. Election officials cannot carry the burden of educating the public on elections alone.’

The decision on Wolfe’s future rests with the Wisconsin Elections Commission, whose six members are evenly divided between Republicans and Democrats, leaving open the possibility for a split along party lines. A partisan deadlock could set in motion months of uncertainty over who will oversee elections in the swing state.

A recent Wisconsin Supreme Court ruling would apparently allow Wolfe to continue as administrator, even after her term ends on Saturday, until a replacement is appointed.

Wolfe has served as the state’s elections administrator since 2018 and has become one of the most respected elections leaders in the nation. She defended her record in a letter to state lawmakers, while earlier calling on commissioners to vote for the option they believe offers the most stability for Wisconsin elections even if that’s not her.

‘There is no substitute for my decade-plus of experience in helping run Wisconsin elections at the state level,’ she wrote in a letter to local election officials.

Whoever the elections commission appoints would need to be confirmed by the Republican-controlled state Senate.

Some Republican state senators have already vowed to vote against Wolfe, who has sparred with them over election conspiracy theories on numerous occasions. If a commission appointee is rejected by the Senate, then commissioners would need to make a new appointment within 45 days or else a legislative committee controlled by Republicans could choose the next administrator.

Republican Senate Majority Leader Devin LeMahieu wouldn’t say Tuesday whether he would support confirming Wolfe or rejecting her, saying the Senate was waiting to see whether the commission votes to reappoint her.

The commission’s vote comes as a divided GOP struggles to move past election lies that Trump and his followers have promoted since his loss to President Joe Biden in 2020. Republican state lawmakers across the country have sought to expand their control over elections in recent years, and far-right candidates have won seats in local government with platforms built on election skepticism.

But by and large, election denialism has hurt the GOP. Most candidates in 2022 in swing states including Wisconsin who supported overturning Trump’s defeat lost. A draft Republican National Committee report obtained by The Associated Press earlier this year reviewing the party’s performance in recent elections called for candidates to stop ‘ relitigating previous elections.’

In Wisconsin, the outcome of the 2020 election has withstood two partial recounts, a nonpartisan audit, a conservative law firm’s review, numerous state and federal lawsuits, and a Republican-ordered review that found no evidence of widespread fraud before the investigator was fired. The GOP-controlled Legislature has rejected attempts to decertify the results.

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Wisconsin Republicans announced a two-year state budget proposal that would cut funding for the University of Wisconsin by $32 million. The budget would allow for the university to receive the $32 million if it could prove the money would be spent on workforce development efforts, and not DEI programs.Wisconsin’s governor threatened to veto the budget proposal if the funding for the University of Wisconsin’s diversity, equity, and inclusion program is cut.Even though Gov. Evers threatened to veto the proposal, Republicans plan to make no substantive changes to the budget, putting it at risk of being vetoed.

Republicans plan to make no substantive changes to the state budget, meaning that a cut in funding to the University of Wisconsin System that puts the entire spending plan in jeopardy of being vetoed will remain, legislative leaders said Tuesday.

Democratic Gov. Tony Evers has threatened to veto the two-year spending plan if UW funding for diversity, equity and inclusion, or DEI, programming is cut. The plan passed by a Republican-controlled budget committee reduces UW funding by $32 million and eliminates nearly 190 positions, money and staff dedicated toward DEI staff salaries and programs.

However, the budget does allow UW to come back and get the $32 million if it shows how it would be spent on workforce development efforts, and not DEI programs.

Evers also has the power to make more limited line-item vetoes, but he could not increase funding with a partial veto. Evers on Sunday told WISN-TV that he was waiting to see the final budget text before making decisions on vetoes. His spokesperson Britt Cudaback referred to those comments Tuesday when asked about the governor’s plans.

Assembly Speaker Robin Vos said he ‘can’t imagine’ that Evers would veto the entire budget because of the UW funding cut. But Vos says he had not spoken with Evers about it.

The Senate is scheduled to vote on passing the budget on Wednesday. It would then go to the Assembly, which would have to pass an identical version before it would go to Evers. The Assembly could make changes, which would then send it back to the Senate for another vote.

But Senate Majority Leader Devin LeMahieu and Vos told The Associated Press in separate interviews Tuesday that no changes were planned.

Democratic Attorney General Josh Kaul, along with school and law enforcement leaders, have been pushing Republicans to increase funding for the state’s school safety office. That office, created by Republicans in 2018, was designed to prevent violence in schools after the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida.

The office provides safety grants to Wisconsin schools, maintains a 24/7 tip hotline, offers training and maintains blueprints of school layouts to assist law enforcement when reacting to emergencies. The Legislature’s budget committee voted to cut funding for the office this month, a move that Kaul said would essentially gut it and not allow it to provide all the services it currently does.

The office would have more than half a million dollars in funding to pay for nearly four full-time positions. It currently employs 16 people, with 12 of them paid for by time-limited federal funding that came during the pandemic.

Vos defended the cut, saying the Legislature won’t replace pandemic-era federal funding and that the core functions of the office can continue with the money provided.

If Kaul wants to make a case to the Legislature later for additional funding, ‘we’re always willing to take a look at it,’ Vos said.

Kaul said he was ‘certainly disappointed’ that the Legislature doesn’t plan to continue current funding levels. If funding isn’t found to replace it by the end of the year, Kaul said programming that helps schools around the state may be lost.

Kaul said that all avenues to maintain current funding, including going back to the Legislature, will be pursued.

Democrats and child care providers have also been pushing to restore funding for a pandemic-era child care subsidy program that Republicans cut. Advocates have argued that the move would be devastating for needy families and the state’s economy.

Kaul, the UW System and others advocating for additional funding have argued that it could be done given that the state has a projected budget surplus of nearly $7 billion. Republicans have instead focused on cutting taxes.

The state budget includes a $3.5 billion income tax cut for all taxpayers, a plan Democrats have derided because wealthy people will get a bigger reduction than lower earners. The budget also includes $1 billion more for K-12 public schools, additional funding that Evers secured as part of a deal with Republicans to increase state aid to Milwaukee and other local communities.

Evers signed the past two state budgets passed by Republicans and took credit for tax cuts they included.

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California Gov. Gavin Newsom and the Democrats who control the state Legislature agreed late Monday on how to spend $310.8 billion over the next year, endorsing a plan that covers a nearly $32 billion budget deficit without raiding the state’s savings account.

The nation’s most populous state has had combined budget surpluses of well over $100 billion in the past few years, using that money to greatly expand government.

But this year, revenues slowed as inflation soared and the stock market struggled. California gets most of its revenue from taxes paid by the wealthy, making it more vulnerable to changes in the economy than other states. Last month, the Newsom administration estimated the state’s spending would exceed revenues by over $30 billion.

The budget, which lawmakers are scheduled to vote on this week, covers that deficit by cutting some spending — about $8 billion — while delaying other spending and shifting some expenses to other funds. The plan would borrow $6.1 billion and would set aside $37.8 billion in reserves, the most ever.

‘In the face of continued global economic uncertainty, this budget increases our fiscal discipline by growing our budget reserves to a record $38 billion, while preserving historic investments in public education, health care, climate, and public safety,’ Newsom said.

Republicans criticized the budget plan as unsustainable, noting it would leave the state with projected multi-billion dollar deficits over the next few years. They said the state’s gas tax is scheduled to increase on Saturday, an automatic adjustment that is tied to inflation. Republicans have repeatedly tried to halt those increases, but to no avail.

‘What do Capitol Democrats have in store for you this holiday weekend? Higher gas prices!’ Assembly Republican Leader James Gallagher posted on Twitter.

Budget talks stalled over the weekend as Newsom sought major changes to the state’s building and permitting process. Newsom said the changes are needed to speed up vital construction projects, including expanding the state’s energy capacity and upgrading the state’s aging water infrastructure.

But a group of lawmakers from the Central Valley feared Newsom was using the proposal to push through a long-delayed project to build a giant tunnel to send water to Southern California. In the end, Newsom got most of the changes he wanted — but lawmakers made sure the changes wouldn’t benefit the tunnel project.

GAVIN NEWSOM SAYS HE ‘ASPIRES’ ‘TO BE RONALD REAGAN’ ON THIS KEY ISSUE 

The budget includes a lifeline for public transit agencies struggling to survive following steep declines in riders during the coronavirus pandemic. It allows transit agencies to use some of the $5.1 billion in funding over the next three years for operations.

Still, some San Francisco Bay-area lawmakers said the spending wasn’t enough to forestall painful service cuts over the next few years. Monday, they proposed legislation that would increase tolls on seven state-owned bridges — including the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge — by $1.50 over the next five years. State Sen. Scott Wiener, a Democrat from San Francisco who supports the proposal, said it would generate $180 million in revenue.

Democratic state Sen. Steve Glazer said he would oppose any toll increase, saying in a statement ‘Transit riders and taxpayers have witnessed first hand the trail of broken promises by advocates for bridge toll increases.’

‘The status quo is failure and we should not put in another penny to support it,’ he said.

The budget does not raise income taxes to cover the deficit, but it does impose a new tax on managed care organizations — private companies that contract with the state to administer Medicaid benefits. The tax would generate an estimated $32 billion over the next four years.

Some of that money would go toward increasing how much money doctors get for treating Medicaid patients. It would also offer $150 million in loans to hospitals that are at risk of failing. That’s in addition to $150 million lawmakers approved earlier this year.

‘In good years, we buckled down so that in tough years this one, we could meet our needs,’ Senate President Pro Tempore Toni Atkins said. ‘That pragmatic approach works for household budgeting, and it works for state budgeting.’

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CONCORD, N.H. – Former President Donald Trump insists that he did ‘nothing wrong’ as he reacted to a leaked recording of him apparently discussing what he described as ‘highly confidential’ documents in his possession post-presidency.

Trump, the commanding front-runner in the latest GOP presidential nomination polls as he runs a third straight time for the White House, argued in a Fox News Digital interview on Tuesday that ‘this is just another hoax.’

‘I would say election interference more than anything else. It’s a disgrace that they can do it,’ Trump said. ‘Everything was fine. We did nothing wrong and everybody knows it.’

Trump was indicted and arraigned this month for his alleged improper retention of classified records. He pleaded not guilty in federal court to criminal charges that he illegally retained national security records at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida, following the end of his term in office and that he obstructed federal efforts to recover the documents. In total, Trump faces 37 felony charges.

In an exclusive interview with Fox News’ Bret Baier last week, the former president said ‘there was no document’ and that he was just discussing news clippings.

But an audio recording obtained by CNN appears to show Trump discussing classified materials during a July 2021 meeting at his golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey. The former president is heard saying, ‘These are the papers,’ while he’s apparently discussing top-secret U.S. military attack plans on Iran. Trump said on the tape that the plan came from Pentagon officials.

On the recording, Trump is also heard saying ‘it’s so cool’ and that the information was classified and ‘highly confidential.’ The conversation is believed to be a key piece of evidence in the special counsel’s indictment against the former president.

Asked by Fox Digital how the audio recording squares with what he told Baier last week, Trump answered, ‘I said it very clearly – I had a whole desk full of lots of papers, mostly newspaper articles, copies of magazines, copies of different plans, copies of stories, having to do with many, many subjects, and what was said was absolutely fine. … We did nothing wrong. This is a whole hoax.’

But Trump didn’t repeat his response from a week earlier that there was no document. 

Fox Digital followed up by asking the former president if he was concerned about his own voice on the audio recording.

‘My voice was fine. What did I say wrong on those recordings? I didn’t even see the recording. All I know is I did nothing wrong,’ Trump said. ‘We had a lot of papers, a lot of papers stacked up. In fact, you hear the rustle of the paper. And nobody said that I did anything wrong other than the fake news, which is Fox, too.’

Asked if there were any other recordings that may materialize, Trump said, ‘I don’t know of any recordings that we should be concerned with because I don’t do things wrong. I do things right. I’m a legitimate person.’

And taking aim at President Joe Biden, Trump charged, ‘I’m not like Biden that gets hundreds of millions of dollars from people and countries.’

‘We do things right, so I don’t care about any recordings,’ Trump added.

The former president was interviewed in Concord, New Hampshire, ahead of his keynote address to the New Hampshire Federation of Republican Women’s annual fundraising gala.

Trump arrived in New Hampshire as a new public opinion survey indicated him expanding his already large double-digit lead over Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis in the state that holds the first primary and second overall contest in the GOP nominating calendar. 

DeSantis was also in New Hampshire on Tuesday, holding a town hall in southern town of Hollis. Three other Republican presidential candidates — former ambassador and former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, entrepreneur, author and conservative commentator Vivek Ramaswamy, and ex-CIA spy and former Rep. Will Hurd — were also holding events in New Hampshire on the same day.

Trump has repeatedly targeted DeSantis for months, as his lead over the Florida governor in the GOP nominations polls has increased.

DeSantis, in an interview with Fox News’ Mark Meredith ahead of his Tuesday town hall in New Hampshire, emphasized that ‘we are pushing back’ and said he can effectively respond to Trump’s attacks or ‘otherwise I would be running.’

And DeSantis pointed to his numerous endorsements in New Hampshire and touted that ‘we’re going to continue to build momentum as we go through here.’

Trump’s campaign on Tuesday unveiled its initial New Hampshire grassroots leadership team.

‘We just announced 150 town captains, ward captains, and chairmen of all the counties and cities in the state,’ Trump campaign senior adviser in New Hampshire Steve Stepanek told Fox News. ‘We’ll probably be adding another 150 to that so that every single town, every single ward in the state will have a Trump captain who’s a Trump supporter and then we’re going to build a team around every single one of those people, and we’re going to train those people in the door knocking.’

Stepanek, a former state GOP chairman, predicted that ‘by September we’ll probably have well over 3,000 people who will be local people, Trump supporters who are passionate about the president who are going to be knocking their neighbors doors.’

After keynoting the luncheon in Concord, Trump stopped in Manchester to formally open his New Hampshire 2024 campaign headquarters.

Trump’s double-digit victory in the 2016 New Hampshire primary over a crowded field of rivals boosted him towards the Republican nomination and eventually the presidency.

Asked in his Fox News Digital interview about a potential second Trump administration and who he would possibly ask to return to duty, Trump said ‘we’ve had a lot of people. [Senior adviser] Stephen Miller. [Acting National Security Adviser] Gen. Kellogg. I could name so many. [Acting Director of National Intelligence] Ric Grenell was fantastic. We had mostly fantastic people.’

‘Everybody has bad ones. You have some that are good, but they turn out to be not so good. Not courageous enough like a [Attorney General] Bill Barr. He had no courage,’ Trump said. ‘But for everyone like that, I’ve had I would say at least 10 that were great.’

EXCLUSIVE: Republican Rep. Darrell Issa said President Biden ‘lied’ about his involvement in his son Hunter Biden’s business dealings, and slammed the White House Counsel’s office for providing a ‘shield’ to protect against answers to questions on the matter. 

Issa, R-Calif., in an interview with Fox News Digital, pointed to the White House’s apparent shift in messaging after the House Ways and Means Committee released testimony last week from two IRS whistleblowers who alleged the Justice Department was influenced by politics in its investigation into Hunter Biden; slow-walked the probe; blocked questioning about Joe Biden and his involvement; and more.

Last week, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre began fielding questions on whether the president was involved in his son’s business dealings–questions she then directed to the White House Counsel’s office. 

‘When the White House spokesperson gets caught in what turns out to be untrue, lawyering up becomes the standard,’ Issa told Fox News Digital. 

‘For months and months, both the president and, on his behalf, spokespeople, have been saying the president did not have business communications with his son Hunter Biden,’ Issa said. ‘It switched just a couple of days ago now—it switched to he was ‘never in business’ with his son.’ 

‘Huge difference,’ Issa continued.

‘What we can take from the change is that it is no longer considered to be true that he did not have communications with his son,’ Issa said, pointing to recent reporting of emails, messages, and alleged conversations that have involved the president himself in discussions related to Hunter Biden’s business ventures.

Meanwhile, Issa also went on to tell Fox News Digital that the White House Counsel’s office is ‘providing a shield because the White House Counsel is not answering the questions.’

‘The White House spokesperson is supposed to answer questions, and when they refer a question to a non-answer, that becomes the obstruction,’ Issa said.

But Issa stressed that the White House’s ‘story has changed.’

‘It is clear that the president has lied—he has lied as to his relationship with Hunter Biden in business dealings that netted initially tax-free millions of dollars to Hunter Biden,’ he said.

A spokesperson for the White House Counsel’s Office told Fox News Digital: ‘The President was never in business with his son.’

The president, when asked directly on Monday whether he lied about not having communication with his son regarding his business dealings, said: ‘No.’

Issa’s comments come after an IRS whistleblower shared a WhatsApp message from 2017 in which Hunter Biden allegedly told a Chinese business associate that he and his father would ensure ‘you will regret not following my direction.’

‘I am sitting here with my father, and we would like to understand why the commitment made has not been fulfilled,’ Hunter Biden told Henry Zhao, the director of Chinese asset management firm Harvest Fund Management, in the message provided by IRS whistleblower Gary Shapley. ‘And, Z, if I get a call or text from anyone involved in this other than you, Zhang or the chairman, I will make certain that between the man sitting next to me and every person he knows and my ability to forever hold a grudge that you will regret not following my direction.’

The House Ways and Means Committee released that testimony after the Justice Department announced that Hunter Biden will plead guilty to two misdemeanor counts of willful failure to pay federal income tax as part of a deal that is expected to keep him out of prison. 

The president’s son also agreed to enter into a pretrial diversion agreement with regard to a separate charge of possession of a firearm by a person who is an unlawful user of or addicted to a controlled substance.

The Biden White House has repeatedly claimed they are the ‘most transparent administration in American history,’ but a Fox News Digital review found that the visitor logs from the beginning of the Biden administration through February 2023 have not included any of Hunter Biden’s White House visits or extended stays.

Fox News Digital reviewed several articles to piece together Hunter Biden’s whereabouts during his dad’s administration and found that he has visited the White House over a dozen times through February 2023, the month accounted for in the most recent batch of visitor logs released last month.

A majority of the White House visits that Fox News Digital found were from 2022, which include the annual egg roll, Medal of Freedom ceremony, France State Dinner on the South Lawn, Christmas tree lighting, his daughter’s wedding, among others. However, they are all absent from the visitor logs, including what appear to be extended stays at the White House.

While many of these events are ceremonial and a tradition at the White House, Fox News Digital previously reported how Hunter Biden sought to use such events for his personal financial gain during the Obama administration. 

Hunter and his longtime business partner, Eric Schwerin, would coordinate with his father’s White House staff to invite business associates and potential business partners they were courting to official events. 

When asked why the White House logs omit Hunter Biden’s visits, a spokesperson pointed Fox News Digital to a policy released at the start of the administration. 

‘The White House will not release access records related to purely personal guests of the First and Second Families (i.e., visits that do not involve any official or political business),’ the policy states, which appears to be less transparent than the Obama administration.

A Fox News Digital review found that while the Obama administration does not reveal all the Biden family member visits and omitted several Hunter visits, they included over 70 logs, including Hunter, Hunter’s daughters and now ex-wife, Biden’s brothers and other relatives.

In addition to Hunter, several other Biden family members are absent on the visitor logs from the Biden administration, including President Biden’s brothers, his daughter, his granddaughters, among others. While his sister, Valerie Biden Owens or Valerie J. Owens, shows up a few times as visiting the White House, she has likely visited several more times due to her role as her brother’s closest confidante and her close working relationship with several members of Biden’s senior staff.

Hunter and his wife, Melissa Cohen Biden; Hunter’s sister, Ashley Biden; and his aunt, Valerie Owens, were all guests at the state dinner honoring French President Emmanuel Macron in December 2022, but their names are not listed.

Between March and June 2023, months that have not been cataloged yet through visitor logs, Hunter Biden has been seen frequently at the White House, igniting rumors that he is living there full-time, according to the New York Post. Fox News White House Correspondent Peter Doocy said back in April on ‘Fox & Friends’ that it is ‘unclear’ whether Hunter has been living there full-time, but said, ‘We do see him there a lot.’

Hunter was listed as a guest at the White House state dinner for Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his wife last Thursday, which drew scrutiny because it was hours after the House Ways and Means Committee revealed its interview with an IRS whistleblower, who shared a WhatsApp message from 2017 in which Hunter Biden allegedly told a Chinese business associate that he and his father would ensure ‘you will regret not following my direction.’

‘I am sitting here with my father, and we would like to understand why the commitment made has not been fulfilled,’ Hunter Biden told Henry Zhao, the director of Chinese asset management firm Harvest Fund Management, in the message provided by IRS whistleblower Gary Shapley. ‘And, Z, if I get a call or text from anyone involved in this other than you, Zhang or the chairman, I will make certain that between the man sitting next to me and every person he knows and my ability to forever hold a grudge that you will regret not following my direction.’

Videos of the state dinner surfaced showing him rubbing elbows with other guests while smiling and laughing. A couple days later, he was seen boarding Marine One to go to Camp David where he would stay until he returned to the White House on Monday afternoon with his dad and young son.

In April, he attended the White House egg roll during that same week he flew off with his dad and Aunt Valerie for the multi-day trip to Ireland where he was seen helping explain a question from a child to President Biden, drawing mockery online.

Biden’s brother, Francis or ‘Frank,’ was also at the White House in April, attending the White House state dinner alongside his partner, Mindy Ward, for South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol. It is unclear if the visitor logs for March-June 2023 and future months will show any of the Biden family members attending events at the White House. 

Bloomberg published an analysis Monday on Biden’s White House visitor logs, finding ‘duplications, anomalies and missing names’ in the records. The publication said the gaps raise ‘questions about the accuracy and completeness of the logs that record business meetings, social functions and receptions with Biden and other officials at the White House complex, which includes adjacent office buildings.’

Bloomberg’s deep dive, for example, found that former White House Chief of Staff Ron Klain reported only six visitors over two years despite his high-level position. 

The records can also conceal who visitors are meeting. A White House official previously confirmed to Fox News Digital that George Soros’ son, Alex Soros, twice visited Klain, but the records did not outright list Klain as the intended host. Instead, it listed lower-level staffers.

Biden’s lack of transparency for visitors at both of his Delaware residences, including the beach house, has also come under scrutiny as Biden faces questions about his role in his son’s foreign business dealings and who is visiting him while he takes frequent weekend trips back to Delaware. Earlier this year, Republicans requested the records after Biden’s lawyers discovered classified documents inside his home’s garage. However, the president’s lawyers said they do not maintain a list of who visits the house.

‘Like every President in decades of modern history, his personal residence is personal,’ the White House Counsel’s Office told Fox News Digital in January. ‘But upon taking office, President Biden restored the norm and tradition of keeping White House visitors logs, including publishing them regularly, after the previous administration ended them.’

House Oversight and Accountability Committee chairman James Comer, R-Ky., demanded to see the residence logs following the discovery of the classified documents at Biden’s home.

‘Given the serious national security implications, the White House must provide the Wilmington residence’s visitor log,’ Comer wrote to then-White House Chief of Staff Ron Klain. ‘As Chief of Staff, you are head of the Executive Office of the President and bear responsibility to be transparent with the American people on these important issues related to the White House’s handling of this matter.’

Comer also sought records of any home searches conducted by Biden aides. The letter noted that Biden’s assistants and personal attorneys had scoured the premises even though the Justice Department was already investigating the situation. The lawyers continued to go there even after the appointment of a special counsel.

Biden is facing a special counsel investigation into his handling of the classified documents, which were discovered between November and January at the Wilmington home and the Washington, D.C., office for the president’s think tank, the Penn Biden Center for Diplomacy and Global Engagement.

Fox News’ Anders Hagstrom, Peter Doocy and Ronn Blitzer contributed to this report.

FIRST ON FOX: Tim Sheehy – businessman, firefighting pilot, and former Navy SEAL – is ‘answering the call to serve’ in officially launching a 2024 campaign for the U.S. Senate in Montana.

The Republican officially announced his candidacy exclusively with Fox News Digital Tuesday calling for ‘a new generation of leadership’ in his bid to unseat vulnerable incumbent Sen. John Tester, D-Mont., in 2024.

‘From inflation to our border to our deficit, America is ready for change. And I think it’s time for a new generation of leaders to step up,’ Sheehy told Fox News Digital in an exclusive interview. ‘Leaders who understand servant leadership, which is putting the mission before yourself, and leaders who understand how to get results.’

‘I think Americans are feeling underrepresented. They’re tired of a government that they don’t feel is working for them,’ the candidate said when asked why he decided to throw his hat into the ring for the Democrat-held seat.

Sheehy is running in one of the most closely watched races of the 2024 cycle that could likely determine whether Republicans gain a majority in the Senate – but shifting the focus away from political parties, Sheehy said that ‘one thing I learned in a foxhole in Afghanistan or the belly of a submarine, is when the chips are down there is really only one political party – and that’s American.’

Before entering the political scene, Sheehy served in Iraq, Afghanistan, South America, and the Pacific region, receiving the Bronze Star with Valor for Heroism in Combat and the Purple Heart Medal. On top of also owning several businesses, the veteran recipient shares four kids with his Marine veteran wife, Carmen Sheehy. 

‘I joined the military right out of high school and did several deployments overseas,’ Sheehy told Fox News Digital. ‘And after I was wounded, I started my company and created a lot of jobs here. And those jobs are all still in service of this country, fighting wildfires and building critical protective gear for our troops.’

Sheehy, who is running in the state of fellow former Navy SEAL Rep. Ryan Zinke, R-Mont., noted that ‘we’re in one of the lowest participation rates in history of veterans in Congress. And that’s a huge problem. We want to get combat veterans in and those who understand service back to help fix this government and get things working right.’ 

As CEO of veteran-founded Bridger Aerospace, a Montana-based company that builds aerial firefighting aircraft, Sheehy touched on how forest management and wildfire suppression in the U.S. is currently ‘held back by bureaucracy.’

Sheehy suggested that rather than the federal government dictating land management with ‘2000 mile away environmental policies that put a chain and a padlock around our resources and around our forests,’ preventative wildfire decisions should be dealt with locally, using ‘common sense land management policy that’s rooted in local governance and business principles.’

Along with founding Bridger Aerospace in 2014 that created over 200 jobs in Montana, Sheehy helped grow Ascent Vision Technologies and owns Little Belt Cattle Company, a local beef production company. 

‘One thing that I’ve done with my businesses is create good, high paying jobs here in the state,’ Sheehy said. ‘These aren’t jobs that are dependent on out-of-state visitors or out of state revenue. These are jobs that exist here in our state that are creating careers in our state. And I think that’s a very important trajectory we want to put our state economy on.’

‘Whether it’s our deficit, whether it’s the southern border, or our kid’s education, Montanans don’t want more federal government in their lives every day,’ the businessman told Fox that he’s hoping to bring Montanans ‘commonsense government that runs like a business.’

Each election has seen more Republicans elected up and down the ballot in Montana, and Tester remains the only Democrat with a state-wide seat in the Big Sky State, which Sheehy believes is due to the Democratic Party turning on the cultural values prized by the state’s residents.

‘I actually don’t think Montana has gotten redder,’ Sheehy said when asked about the state shifting red in past elections. ‘I think the Democrat Party has left Montana. I think Montanans have always been socially conservative, hardworking people that have a mindset of accountability and get’er done.’

The Senate candidate said that the Democrats and Tester, who announced re-election in February, want ‘more government, not less.’

‘Democrats made their blueprint for America incredibly clear during COVID, and that is more government, not less,’ Sheehy told Fox. ‘Jon Tester has been in lockstep with that vision his whole life. And now I think it’s going to be hard for him to run away from that path because it’s very clear.’

‘Jon Tester has been in lockstep with that vision his whole life. And now I think it’s going to be hard for him to run away from that path because it’s very clear,’ Sheehy said of the vulnerable Democrat.

When asked about other potential Republican contenders launching a campaign, Sheehy said ‘we’ll have to see who throws their hat in.’

No other Republican contenders have entered into the Senate primary thus far, however, Rep. Matt Rosendale, R-Mont., is rumored to be seriously mulling a bid.

‘Montanans can know that I’ve laid everything on the line for this country. I’ve been wounded in combat. I’ve led hundreds of missions and put it all on the line for all Americans, Republicans and Democrats,’ the Republican candidate said.

‘We have serious challenges as a nation, and I think we need serious people who want to bring common sense solutions to actually move the country forward,’ Sheehy told Fox News Digital. ‘I think Americans and Montanans, who are an incredibly practical people, they just want things to get done, and they want a leader who can actually bring common sense solutions to some of our serious problems.’

Former President Donald Trump, who is for running for a second term in 2024, won Montana in both the 2016 and 2020 elections. Sheehy said that while he doesn’t know if the former president will play in the Montana Senate primary, the two ‘had one conversation a while back that was very positive.’

‘I think he’s going to be supportive of our campaign. I think he likes a profile like mine, but I’m not sure what he’s going to do,’ the Republican said.

In a press release obtained first by Fox News Digital, Sheehy described his Democrat opponent Tester as ‘not representing our Montana values’ and called for ‘a new generation of leadership to rebuild America.’

The Montanan detailed his ‘positive vision for the future of our country’ that includes standing ‘against Jon Tester and the Democratic Party’s agenda of inflation, open borders, criminals over cops, drugs and violence in our communities, and a woke culture impacting our classrooms and military bases,’ as stated in the press release.

‘Jon Tester has been in office for nearly a quarter of a century, and he’s lost sight of our Montana values,’ Sheehy said in his highly anticipated Senate announcement. ‘Like any good politician, Jon talks one way but votes another. Montanans have had enough of these career politicians who are full of empty promises and are not representing our Montana values. It’s time for a new generation of leadership to rebuild America.’