President Biden issued a presidential memorandum Sunday on what would have been the 50th anniversary of Roe v. Wade in an effort to protect access to abortion pills across the country. 

Vice President Kamala Harris made the announcement during her remarks in Florida as she spoke on the administration’s efforts to expand abortion rights. 

‘Members of our Cabinet and our administration are now directed as of the president’s order to identify barriers to access to prescription medication and to recommend actions to make sure that doctors can legally prescribe, that pharmacies can dispense and that women can secure safe and effective medication,’ Harris said during her remarks in Tallahassee, Florida.

The Presidential Memorandum on Further Efforts to Protect Access to Reproductive Healthcare Services will direct the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) with the Attorney General and the Secretary of Homeland Security (DHS) ‘to consider new guidance’ for entities and individuals – including patients, medical providers, and pharmacies – that wish to ‘legally access, prescribe, or provide mifepristone’ across the US, according to a statement released by the White House. 

The memorandum also directs the Secretary of HHS along with the Attorney General and the Secretary of DHS to look into other means through which patients can access ‘legal reproductive care,’ including abortion medication from pharmacies, ‘free from threats or violence.’

The Attorney General and the HHS and DHS Secretaries will also work with the White House Interagency Task Force on Reproductive Healthcare Access in addressing ‘barriers’ patients, pharmacies, and medical providers currently face when attempting to acquire abortion medication. 

‘At the same time that we work to protect this aspect of reproductive care, many states have gone even further and now have total bans in effect,’ Harris said during her remarks before continuing on to list several states that have already issued near-total abortion bans. 

Harris also called upon Congress to pass a reproductive rights bill, saying Biden will sign it if so. 

‘So to all the friends and leaders, I say, let us not be tired or discouraged because we’re on the right side of history,’ Harris said. 

Harris’ remarks come several months after the US Supreme Court overturned the landmark decision in June 2022, ending the constitutional right to abortion and handing states the individual power to allow, limit, or ban abortion altogether. The ruling came in the Dobbs. v Jackson Women’s Health Organization opinion, wherein the state of Mississippi asked the Supreme Court to strike down a lower court ruling that stopped a 15-week abortion ban from taking place. 

Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin, D-Ill., on Sunday said that the classified material found at President Biden’s Delaware home and the Penn Biden Center ‘diminishes the stature of any person who is in possession of it’ and that Biden ‘bears ultimate responsibility.’

During an appearance on CNN’s ‘State of the Union’ Durbin was pressed about whether he believed Biden had ‘lost the high ground’ on the handling of classified documents after former President Trump was grilled on the same issue last year following classified documents being discovered at Mar-a-Lago.

‘Let’s be honest about it. When that information is found, it diminishes the stature of any person who is in possession of it because it’s not supposed to happen,’ Durbin said. ‘Whether it was the fault of a staffer or an attorney, it makes no difference. The elected official bears ultimate responsibility.’

In another part of the interview, Durbin was asked whether he was ‘concerned’ after a Saturday night report that said the FBI found more classified documents at Biden’s Wilmington home following a 13-hour search on Friday.

‘Well, I’m concerned. There’s a standard that we follow when it comes to members of Congress and classified information. The door to my office is closed. The person that presents the document to me takes it out of a locked briefcase, hands it to me and watches as I read it. When I finish reading it, he takes it back, puts it in the briefcase and leaves the scene,’ Durbin said. ‘That’s how carefully we review these documents. To think that any of them ended up in boxes in storage one place or the other is just unacceptable.’

Durbin then pivoted to the talking point that many Democrats have repeated in recent days about Biden and the White House being ‘transparent,’ calling it a ‘sharp contrast’ with Trump and the classified documents that were at Mar-a-Lago.

‘Those documents should not have been in the personal possession of either Joe Biden or Donald Trump, but what happened and followed from it is significantly different,’ Durbin said. ‘Donald Trump defied those who knew the documents were in place and ultimately led to, involuntarily, a court order and a search of his Mar-a-Lago hotel resort to find out how many documents were there.’

‘Contrast that with Joe Biden, embarrassed by the situation, as he should have been. He invited the government agencies in to carefully look through all the boxes he had accumulated,’ The Illinois Democrat continued. ‘It’s a much different approach. It is outrageous that either occurred, but the reaction by the former president and the current president could not be in sharper contrast.’

Durbin’s critique of Biden’s handling of classified documents follows other Democrats who have been critical including, Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., who told Fox News Digital that the ‘reports about President Biden’s mishandling of classified documents are extremely irresponsible and disturbing,’ and that the matter ‘should be investigated fully.’

‘This news raises serious questions and the appointment of an unbiased special prosecutor to investigate the matter is the right step,’ Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., said.

Rep. John Garamendi, D-Calif., told ‘Fox News Sunday’ last week that the classified documents scandal is ‘an embarrassment, no doubt about it.’

Fox News’ Brooke Singman, Patrick Ward, and Brandon Gillespie contributed reporting

Arrests of terror watch list members skyrocketed at the U.S.-Mexico border from fewer than 10 annually under former President Donald Trump to 98 in 2022 under President Biden.

The spike in arrests looks likely to continue as well, with border authorities already apprehending 38 terror watchlisters in fiscal year 2023, which began October 1. The stat is only the latest border measure to smash records under Biden, who has presided over unprecedented levels of illegal immigration.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) data says there were some 36,000 border encounters in February 2020, Biden’s first full month in office. Biden’s most recent full month in office, December 2022, says 251,000 border encounters.

Those statistics don’t tell the full story either, as the CBP has also tracked roughly 1.2 million known ‘gotaways’ since Biden entered office. The CBP defines ‘gotaways’ as migrants border officials could detect but not apprehend.

Biden visited the border for the first time in his presidency in early January, but many border agents argued it was too little, too late. The border crisis has drawn even staunch Democrats like New York City Mayor Eric Adams to criticize Biden’s handling of the issue.

Adams described the border crisis as a national issue last week and called on Biden and Congress to take action. The Northern governor has been dragged into the immigration fight thanks to bussing policies from Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, who has transported thousands of migrants to New York City.

The Republican argues the flow of migrants to powerful Democratic cities like NYC, Chicago and Washington, D.C. is the only way to force Democrats to confront the realities of the border crisis.

Statistics suggest terror organizations are also seeking to take advantage of the border chaos, with terror watchlist apprehensions rising from fewer than 10 annually under former President Donald Trump to 98 in 2022.

The CBP saw an estimated 718,000 border encounters in the first 100 days of fiscal year 2023.

The White House long sought to dismiss the surge as an annual occurrence, but historical data shows the current crisis is far beyond traditional yearly surges.

Democratic Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear is facing sharp scrutiny as the state’s campaign season begins to heat up and a dozen Republican gubernatorial hopefuls seek to distinguish themselves as the candidate most likely to flip the governor’s mansion red in November.

One of those candidates, Kentucky Agriculture Commissioner and former state legislator Ryan Quarles, isn’t holding back on how he thinks Beshear has failed the state’s citizens, especially on the issues he says can be linked to the Biden administration’s ‘porous’ border policy and the governor’s ‘unwillingness’ to address it.

‘Everyone in Kentucky, including myself, knows somebody who’s been affected by the scourge of drugs across the commonwealth,’ Quarles told Fox News Digital during an exclusive interview last week. ‘I think the disconnect between Andy Beshear and those families that have suffered through this is his unwillingness to address the issue.

‘He occupies the most powerful office in our state. If I was governor, I would call Governor [Greg] Abbott down in Texas and say, ‘What can we do to help?’ Because we know that the fentanyl is coming through the porous Mexican border. 

‘And Andy Beshear, who supports Joe Biden’s policies, doesn’t get it that when the drugs are pouring over the border, we as Kentucky — we may not be a border state. We have border state problems.’

Kentucky has been one of the most hard-hit states by the fentanyl crisis. In 2021, the drug accounted for 70% of the 2,250 overdoes deaths in the state, according to state figures.

The state surpassed 2,000 deaths again in 2022, reaching that figure with four months still remaining in the year and with 73% of the deaths involving fentanyl. The state’s final report on overdose deaths for 2022 has not yet been released.

The nation’s border crisis has also continued to worsen, with migrant encounters in December smashing previous records and exceeding 250,000 for the first time ever. That number tops the most recent record of 241,136 in May 2022, according to Customs and Border Protection.

Quarles said that, in addition to standing up to the Biden administration on its border policies and providing support to border states to combat the crisis, he would ensure drug dealers were thrown in jail and the proper resources were provided for those battling addiction. 

‘I’ll be a governor that allows folks, and understands the need for a second chance in life, that if you’re suffering from addiction, we should provide the resources and the atmosphere for someone to go through recovery so they can get back into the job market and rejoin us,’ Quarles said.

‘I think that this is going to be a major issue in the campaign because President Biden is the one that has the most influence over what’s being implemented at the border. And you’re not seeing Andy Beshear lift a finger to oppose him on his porous border policy.’

Among the 11 candidates facing Quarles in the Republican primary are former U.N. Ambassador Kelly Craft and Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron, both of whom have national name recognition and are more widely known.

When asked how he planned to overcome that gap, Quarles pointed to his second term as agriculture commissioner, a state-wide elected position; his election to multiple terms in the Kentucky State House; and his support from the state’s farmers, who he says are ‘solidly’ behind him.

He also touted his long list of endorsements from elected officials across the state, including over 200 county judge executives, general assembly members and magistrates.

‘That’s a major distinguishment between my race and others, because we have the support of the grassroots,’ Quarles said. ‘And, in a primary race with low voter turnout, where we expect there to be only about 300, maybe 325,000 votes total across the state, this grassroots strength and local endorsements will pay off.’  

Fox News Digital reached out to Beshear’s campaign for comment but did not receive a response.

White House lawyers reportedly requested the FBI search that uncovered a fourth batch of misplaced classified documents inside President Biden’s private residence on Friday.

Justice Department officials had previously stated that the 13-hour search of Biden’s Wilmington, Delaware home was ‘consensual,’ but it was unclear which party had initiated it. It now appears that the White House requested the search of its own accord, NBC News reported, citing White House sources.

Friday’s batch of documents was the fourth to be found since November, and the third to be found inside Biden’s Wilmington home.

‘On Jan. 20, 2023, the FBI executed a planned, consensual search of the President’s residence in Wilmington, Delaware,’ Joseph D. Fitzpatrick, an assistant U.S. attorney to U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Illinois John Lausch, told Fox News Saturday.

FBI and other DOJ personnel arrived at Biden’s home at 9:45 a.m., and searched the house for roughly 12 hours, leaving at 10:30 p.m. U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Illinois John Lausch coordinated the effort. Lausch is maintaining a prominent role in the investigation while special counsel Robert Hur gets up to speed.

Biden lawyer Bob Bauer reiterated on Saturday that the president and his administration were cooperating fully with the DOJ’s investigation.

‘At the outset of this matter, the President directed his personal attorneys to fully cooperate with the Department of Justice,’ Bauer said. ‘Accordingly, having previously identified and reported to DOJ a small number of documents with classification markings at the President’s Wilmington home.

‘In the interest of moving the process forward as expeditiously as possible, we offered to provide prompt access to his home to allow DOJ to conduct a search of the entire premises for potential vice-presidential records and potential classified material,’ he added.

The DOJ search resulted in the confiscation of six items with classification markings. While the previous batches of classified documents were dated to Biden’s time as vice president, this fourth batch came from his time in the Senate.

It is unclear where in the home the documents were found. Previous stashes were located in Biden’s garage.

Fox News’ Brooke Singman and Patrick Ward contributed to this report.

Noted climate activist and former Vice President Al Gore, who made headlines this week after he claimed global warming was ‘boiling the oceans,’ has a history of making climate-related proclamations later proven to be false.

During remarks made Wednesday at the World Economic Forum summit in Davos, Switzerland, Gore warned that continued carbon emissions into the atmosphere would destroy the planet and lead to widespread calamities.

‘We’re still putting 162 million tons [of greenhouse gas] into it every single day and the accumulated amount is now trapping as much extra heat as would be released by 600,000 Hiroshima-class atomic bombs exploding every single day on the earth,’ Gore said. ‘That’s what’s boiling the oceans, creating these atmospheric rivers, and the rain bombs, and sucking the moisture out of the land, and creating the droughts, and melting the ice and raising the sea level, and causing these waves of climate refugees.’

Gore then noted a prediction that the number of climate refugees worldwide would surge to a billion within the century. He added that such a surge would lead to nations losing their ‘capacity for self-governance.’ But while Gore has been provided large platforms, giving speeches at the World Economic Forum, United Nations conference and other high-profile events, many of his past statements have already been disproven.

For example, Gore said during a speech at the Copenhagen Climate Conference in 2009 that there was ‘a 75% chance that the entire north polar ice cap, during some of the summer months, could be completely ice-free within the next five to seven years.’ The former vice president made similar comments at least twice before in speeches, citing research.

However, the Arctic ice cap hasn’t been eliminated at any point over the last decade. According to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, the Arctic ice minimum extent, or ice coverage during the warmest month of the year, is declining at 12.6% per decade.

In addition, in his 2006 global warming documentary ‘An Inconvenient Truth,’ Gore predicted that the global sea level could rise as much as 20 feet ‘in the near future.’

Since 1880, the global sea level has risen 8-9 inches and, between 1993-2021, the sea level has ticked up 3.8 inches, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). At that rate, it would take approximately 1,136 years for the world’s sea level to rise 20 feet.

Gore also claimed in 2006 that there would be no solving climate change if drastic measures weren’t taken around the world to reduce greenhouse gases by 2016. However, annual global carbon emissions increased from 30.59 billion tons in 2006 to 35.52 billion tons in 2016 and 37.12 billion tons in 2021, according to the Global Carbon Project. Gore has continued to argue for climate action to save the planet.

‘Well, some changes, unfortunately, have already been locked in place,’ Gore said when asked by ABC News about the prediction in 2019. ‘Sea level increases are going to continue no matter what we do now. But, we can prevent much larger sea level increases — much more rapid increases in temperatures.’

And in a 2007 speech delivered in Norway after receiving a Nobel Peace Prize for his work informing the public about the dangers posed by climate change, Gore noted research that said the Earth’s average temperature would increase by ‘many degrees’ if the amount of carbon in the atmosphere doubled.

Scientists, though, have projected the world’s temperature to increase by at most 2.9 degrees Celsius above the pre-industrial period by 2100 when the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is expected to double, the New York Times reported in November. That would amount to an increase of 1 degree Celsius compared to 2022, according to the NOAA.

In the same speech, Gore warned that stronger storms would continue to threaten entire cities. However, there has been a slight downward trend over the last 30 years of the Accumulated Cyclone Energy index, a tool used to measure tropical storm activity around the world, according to meteorologist and NOAA’s former chief scientist Ryan Maue.

‘The climate movement’s real weakness is that, besides the intellectual bankruptcy of what they’re trying to do, is that they’re led by these clowns like Al Gore and John Kerry and Joe Biden,’ Steve Milloy, a senior legal fellow at the Energy & Environment Legal Institute and publisher of JunkScience.com, told Fox News Digital in an interview.

‘They say such extreme things — and all the institutions, the government and the media. How do they ever walk any of that back?’ he continued. ‘The answer is they can’t. So, they’ve got to move forward providing cover.’

Two and a half months after the midterm elections, traditionally the starting point for the next presidential election cycle, former President Trump’s the only major Republican to declare his candidacy for the GOP nomination.

But behind the scenes — far from the spotlight and media headlines — likely and potential Republican White House hopefuls are making moves, which include apparent elbowing between some of the more well-known contenders.

On Friday, former Vice President Mike Pence’s team nabbed a top adviser to a likely rival for the nomination — former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, who served alongside Pence in former President Donald Trump’s administration as ambassador to the United Nations.

Tim Chapman, who had been working as executive director of a political advocacy group aligned with Haley, joined Pence’s team to serve as a senior adviser on the former vice president’s Advancing American Freedom non-profit.

‘I am grateful for my time working with Nikki Haley and her dedicated team,’ Chapman said in a statement. 

Chapman’s working relationship with Pence dates back two decades to when he served at the conservative Heritage Foundation and Pence was a congressman from Indiana.

‘Advancing American Freedom is one of the fastest growing and increasingly influential conservative groups in the nation, and I am thrilled to join the incredible team that is building AAF as a leader for commonsense conservative policies that will help restore America,’ Chapman said. 

Pence described Chapman as ‘one of the brightest stars in the conservative movement, and we are so thrilled he’s joining the team to advance the cause of American culture, American opportunity and American leadership.’

Team Haley released a cordial statement, with Betsy Ankney of Haley’s Stand for America PAC saying, ‘Chapman is terrific, and we’re happy he found a great spot to continue to advocate for conservative policy ideas.’

But the pilfering of Chapman comes as the likely contenders are starting to recruit and staff up not only in their headquarters but also in the crucial early voting states, like Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina and Nevada, which hold the first four contests in the GOP 2024 presidential nominating calendar.

Pence was seen by Fox News during his visit last month to New Hampshire walking to meet with a couple of seasoned Republican strategists and operatives. 

‘Whether it’s New Hampshire, Iowa or South Carolina, there’s always a finance component, a press component and a political component,’ a source in the former vice president’s wider political orbit told Fox News. ‘A big part of that political component is spending time building relationships with the folks in these early states that know how to get things done.’

The recruiting and staff building is a time-honored tradition in presidential politics.

‘There’s a finite pool of talent for presidential campaigns available, and in large, multi-candidate fields there’s intense competition for them. You see this before every presidential cycle when there’s an open shot at the nomination,’ Ryan Williams, a longtime Republican consultant and veteran of multiple presidential campaigns, told Fox News.

‘Additionally, even though President Trump starts as the front-runner for the Republican nomination, there’s a lot of trepidation among staffers about working for him. He’s been volatile in the past, and staff haven’t always ended their service with him on great terms. So there’s a desire to look at some of the other candidates in the field and jump on board.’

Williams emphasized that ‘now’s the time. We’re early in the process. People who join now are going to get some of the top positions and reap the benefits if the candidate goes on to win the nomination and the White House. The earlier you get in, the more upside you have.’

Pence and Haley may soon be facing off on the campaign trail.

The former vice president, who’s crisscrossing the country on a book tour for his new memoir ‘So Help Me God,’ has been making the moves needed ahead of launching a presidential campaign.

And Haley, who’s long publicly mulled a White House run, said a few days ago in an interview on Fox News’ ‘Special Report’ that ‘I think we need a young generation to come in, step up and really start fixing things. …Can I be that leader? Yes, I think I can be that leader.’

Behind the scenes, there’s been strained relations between some in the Pence and Haley camps dating back to the 2020 Trump-Pence re-election campaign, when rumors surfaced that Haley would replace Pence as the president’s running mate.

Former Trump Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who’s also likely to launch a presidential bid, mentions in his upcoming autobiography the suggestions Haley was behind the jockeying to potentially replace Pence.

Haley, in her Fox News interview with Brett Baier, called such claims ‘lies and gossip.’

Asked about the episode and the latest comments, a source in Pence world wrote ‘lol’ in responding to Fox News’ Rich Edson.

Trump’s poll position

More than two years after his 2020 election defeat at the hands of Joe Biden, Trump remains the most influential politician and ferocious fundraiser in the Republican Party. Until recently, he was the clear and overwhelming front-runner in the early 2024 GOP presidential nomination polls.

But in a handful of public opinion polls released last month, Trump trailed Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, a potential Republican White House hopeful whose standing with conservatives across the country has soared the past three years.

Last week, after the release of a new slate of surveys that indicated the former president holding a double-digit lead over DeSantis and the rest of the possible GOP nomination field in hypothetical primary matchups, the main Trump-aligned super PAC touted the results.

‘Multiple polls conducted this past week show President Trump with a commanding lead over the field of potential Republican presidential primary candidates. Poll after poll confirms that President Trump is the leader of the Republican Party,’ a Make America Great Again (MAGA) Inc. release to supporters argued.

Following November’s elections, the former president took plenty of incoming fire over his role in the GOP’s lackluster performance in the midterms due to his elevation of polarizing candidates who lost key statewide races. He received some unfavorable reviews following his mid-November campaign launch at his Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Florida, and faced plenty of criticism over controversial comments and actions the past two months.

But with recent electoral history as a guide, it’s politically unwise to count Trump out.

‘Saving America from Joe Biden and the Democrats is going to take bold leadership and transformative change — it’s not a job for untested career politicians,’ MAGA Inc.’s Taylor Budowich argued in a statement to Fox News.

‘President Trump will not only dominate the Republican primary, but he will unite the nation around his America First agenda that produced generational economic prosperity, global peace and safe communities. MAGA Inc. will ensure any RINOs or self-serving politicians who decide to challenge President Trump are exposed and their political futures are extinguished for good.’

Trump holds his first 2024 campaign event of the new year next weekend in South Carolina.

President Biden kicked off the new year with multiple endorsements from those on the left who have vowed to support his 2024 bid for president. But his intentions are still unknown.

Despite no official announcement from Biden as it relates to 2024, the White House has said he ‘intends’ to run for re-election in 2024 with Vice President Kamala Harris.

While there has been no announcement from the president, several prominent Democrats — some of whom were rumored to make a run for president themselves — have already tossed their support behind him for a second term in the White House.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom

California Gov. Gavin Newsom, a rising star in the Democratic Party whose name has been floated as a potential presidential candidate, told CBS News last year he has confidence in Biden’s re-election bid.

‘I don’t think there’s been two years of more effective policymaking of a modern American president,’ Newsom told CBS.  ‘The president talks a lot about a unifying agenda. Focus on the fact that we all need to be respected, connected, protected; these universal values start speaking to those values again. That gives me confidence not just in a re-election for Joe Biden, but a successful final two years of his first term.

‘I’m enthusiastically supportive, count me in. I’m waiting for the phone call,’ Newsom added of Biden seeking another four years in the White House. ‘I’m ready to join, I’m ready to make the case. He’s a man of decency and character in a time when that is in limited supply. I don’t see that with Ron DeSantis, I don’t see that with Donald Trump.’

Similarly, Newsom, who was first elected to serve as governor of California in 2018, downplayed rumors he would enter the 2024 presidential race and affirmed his support for Biden’s re-election in a November interview with Politico.

‘I’ve told everyone in the White House, from the chief of staff to the first lady,’ Newsom said, adding his message is ‘I’m all in, count me in’ on Biden’s re-election bid.

Rep. Jim Clyburn, D-S.C.

South Carolina Democrat Rep. Jim Clyburn has also tossed his support behind Biden for 2024, telling CBS News last week he is ‘all in for President Biden.’

‘I think he’s demonstrated, in these two years … that he is deserving of re-election. And I do believe he will be re-elected irrespective of who the Republicans, they put up,’ Clyburn, who has represented South Carolina’s 6th Congressional District since 1993, told the outlet.

Clyburn is the assistant Democratic leader in the House and a well-respected and influential ally of the White House. His endorsement of Biden in 2020 is widely credited with delivering South Carolina for the president in the Democratic primaries, resurrecting Biden’s campaign after defeats in Iowa and New Hampshire.

‘I’ve told him on many occasions that I believe that he ought to announce for re-election and get the playbook laid down by Harry Truman back in 1948 and use that as their mantra upon which to run for re-election,’ Clyburn said.

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg

Asked during a November interview with Fox News Digital whether he would support Biden should he seek re-election, Buttigieg, thought to be one of the leading 2024 contenders for the Democratic Party, said he supports ‘everything the president is doing’ and stopped short of endorsing the president during a trip to Memphis.

‘I can’t talk about campaigns and elections while I’m in this capacity, but the president’s made clear his intentions,’ said Buttigieg, who sought the Democratic nomination for president in 2020. ‘I’m proud to be part of this team and very proud to support everything the president is doing. We’ve got a lot to show for it and our work is just beginning.’

Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn.

Last June, Minnesota Democrat Rep. Ilhan Omar said she would ‘of course’ support Biden should he seek re-election in 2024.

In a video obtained by Fox News, Omar was asked outside the Capitol whether she would support Biden in his re-election endeavors in 2024. ‘Of course,’ Omar responded twice.

Omar’s comments come after her fellow ‘Squad’ member Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., made an appearance on CNN’s ‘State of the Union’ and avoided stating that she would back Biden for a second term.

Since making those comments, Omar has expressed support for a special counsel investigation into Biden’s handling of classified documents, which was revealed recently to the public and has the potential to impact Biden’s re-election chances.

‘Anytime there is a deviance in regards to security protocols, that should be taken serious, it should be investigated,’ Omar told MSNBC host Symone Sanders-Townsend last week.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., & Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif.

During a joint interview with CNN in December, both Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif, agreed Biden should seek re-election in 2024 and insisted they would support his candidacy in the race.

CNN’s Jamie Gangel asked the Democratic congressional leaders during an interview at a Chinese restaurant whether they think that 80-year-old Biden should consider moving aside so that a younger candidate can represent the party in 2024. Pelosi shook her head and said, ‘No.’

‘I think president Biden has done an excellent job as president of the United States. I hope that he does seek re-election. He’s a person with a great vision for our country. He’s been involved for a long time, so he has great knowledge of the issues and the challenges we face,’ Pelosi said.

Schumer agreed Biden, who will be 81 by Election Day 2024, should run again. 

‘Yes. He’s done an excellent, excellent job,’ Schumer told CNN. ‘If he runs, I’m going to support him all the way.’

Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J.

In a June 2022 statement to the Daily Caller, a spokesperson for New Jersey Democratic Sen. Cory Booker confirmed he would support Biden’s 2024 endeavors.

‘Yes, Sen. Booker supports President Biden for re-election should he run again in 2024,’ the Booker spokesperson said, according to the outlet.

Like Buttigieg, Booker also sought the Democratic nomination for president in 2020. Booker took part in a total of five Democratic presidential debates but failed to qualify for the sixth debate.

Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del.

Delaware Democrat Sen. Chris Coons will also support Biden in 2024 should he announce a re-election campaign, according to a Coons spokesperson.

Asked by the Daily Caller whether Coons would support Biden receiving a second term in the White House, the spokesperson told the outlet, ‘Yes, If President Biden runs, he’ll support him.’

During a June 2022 appearance on ‘Fox News Sunday,’ Coons was asked whether Biden should seek re-election in 2024. Coons pointed to Biden’s ‘impressive’ leadership on the world stage and said he understands why the president ‘intends to seek a second term.’

‘He’s got clear plans for how to tackle inflation, and he’s helping lead the United States to a position of strength on the world stage,’ Coons added. ‘I can understand why he might think running for reelection is a good idea.’

Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., & Sen. Jack Reed, D-R.I.

Similar to Coons and Booker, spokespeople for Democrat Sen. Tim Kaine of Virginia and Democrat Sen. Jack Reed of Rhode Island confirmed to the Daily Caller last year the two senators would support a Biden 2024 White House run.

Asked the question, spokespeople for both senators responded to the outlet with a simple ‘yes.’

Kaine’s focus on Biden in 2024 could be hampered, however, as he announced Friday he will be running for a third term in office in 2024.

Kaine’s decision is a major relief for Democrats who have been pushing for him to run and avoid the uncertainty of a newcomer in the 2024 election.

Biden will not make an announcement on whether he will run for re-election in 2024 until after he delivers the State of the Union address, according to sources.

A Democratic strategist told Fox News it wouldn’t make sense for Biden, who has reportedly received support from his family to seek re-election next year, to announce plans for 2024 anywhere near, or directly after, the State of the Union. The strategist said Biden would be better off touting his administration’s accomplishments and let it breathe before launching another major campaign.

While other Democratic endorsements for Biden are sure to come should he announce he is seeking re-election in 2024, others from the party have made it clear that they would like to see new leadership, including two Minnesota Democrats — Rep. Dean Phillips and Rep. Angie Craig.

Phillips was asked last summer during a town hall if he would support Biden in a bid for re-election, and he responded with a blunt ‘no.’ Phillips explained that the country ‘would be well-served by a new generation of compelling, well-prepared, dynamic Democrats who step up.’

Similarly, Craig was asked a similar question last year about Biden in 2024 and agreed with Phillips that the Democratic Party needs a ‘new generation of leadership.’ 

‘I’m going to do everything in my power as a member of Congress to make sure that we have a new generation of leadership,’ Craig added.

A Five Thirty Eight/Ipsos survey from December found that Biden led among top Democratic contenders for the presidential election in 2024, but not by much. Biden received 14% support from respondents who said they would vote for in the 2024 presidential Democratic primary.

Fox News’ Chris Pandolfo, Timothy H.J. Nerozzi, Jacqui Heinrich, and Adam Sabes contributed to this article.

Embattled Rep. George Santos, R-N.Y., admitted he dressed up as a woman ‘for fun’ at a party in Brazil, but denied ever performing as a drag queen.

Santos made the comments to reporters while caught at the airport Saturday, days after he first denied reports of his drag queen past as ‘categorically false.’

‘No, I was not a drag queen in Brazil, guys. I was young, and I had fun at a festival. Sue me for having a life,’ Santos told reporters, according to the New York Post.

Santos is facing widespread calls for his resignation from Congress for lying about his resume on the campaign trail. Santos has admitted to fabricating most of his education and work history.

Images showing Santos apparently dressed in drag were released last week. Eula Rocharde, a drag queen who says he knew Santos during his time in Brazil, said Santos performed under the name ‘Kitara’ between 2005 and 2008.

Santos initially rejected those claims completely before acknowledging having dressed as a woman this weekend.

‘The most recent obsession from the media claiming that I am a drag Queen or ‘performed’ as a drag Queen is categorically false,’ Santos argued on Twitter.

‘The media continues to make outrageous claims about my life while I am working to deliver results. I will not be distracted nor fazed by this,’ he continued.

Santos has been plagued by a slew of scandals since being elected to Congress in November. Another recent incident saw a homeless veteran accused him of stealing $3,000 in fundraised cash that was meant to pay for his dog’s surgery.

Santos denied that report as well. He said he has no knowledge of the purported scheme, which involved a charity he claimed to have founded.

‘Fake. No clue who this is,’ Santos told Semafor when asked about the issue.

Santos faced his first major call to resign when Nassau County GOP leaders condemned him in a Jan. 11 press conference. Nassau County lies in his New York Congressional district.

‘George Santos campaign last year was a campaign of deceit, lies, and fabrication,’ Nassau County GOP Chairman Joe Cairo said in a statement. ‘He has no place on the Nassau County Republican committee, nor should he serve public service, nor as an elected official. He’s not welcome here at GOP HQ.’

Santos is embroiled in multiple local, federal and international investigations regarding allegations of fraud and fabricating his past. During his congressional campaign, Santos falsely claimed he graduated from college with degrees in finance and worked for Goldman Sachs and Citibank. Nassau County District Attorney Anne Donnelly opened an investigation into Santos in late December.