President Biden is taking a weekend trip to his Rehoboth Beach, Delaware home just over one week after classified documents were found at his other Delaware home.

During a press briefing on Friday, Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre declined to share if his trip to Rehoboth Beach is due to classified documents being found at his Wilmington home.

‘The president is going to his home in Rehoboth Beach today. Does that have anything to do with classified documents being found at Wilmington and nothing being found in the other home?,’ a reporter asked.

‘I’m just going to continue to be prudent and consistent and respect the Department of Justice process. As it relates to his travel, as you know, he often travels to Delaware on the weekends. I just don’t have anything else to share,’ Jean-Pierre responded.

On Jan. 12, White House special counsel Richard Sauber found classified documents in the garage of Biden’s Wilmington, Delaware residence. Classified documents were also found at Biden’s private office at the Penn Biden Center in Washington, D.C. on Nov. 2, 2022, and more classified documents were found inside his Wilmington home on Dec. 20, 2022.

During a trip to California on Thursday to tour storm damage, Biden said that he has ‘no regrets’ over his handling of the classified documents in deciding not to reveal their existence when discovered, which was less than a week before the midterm elections.

‘I think you’re going to find there’s nothing there. I have no regrets. I’m following what the lawyers have told me they want me to do. It’s exactly what we’re doing. There’s no there there,’ Biden said.

‘We found a handful of documents were filed in the wrong place,’ Biden added. ‘We immediately turned them over to the Archives and the Justice Department. We’re fully cooperating and looking forward to getting this resolved quickly.’ 

Biden told Fox News’ Peter Doocy on Jan. 12 that the classified documents were in a locked garage.

‘Classified documents next to your Corvette? What were you thinking?’ Doocy asked Biden.

‘I’m going to get the chance to speak on all of this, God willing it’ll be soon. But I said earlier this week — and, by the way, my Corvette is in a locked garage — it’s not like it’s sitting out in the street,’ Biden responded.

‘So the documents were in a locked garage?’ Doocy asked.

‘Yes, as well as my Corvette. But as I said earlier this week, people know I take classified documents and classified material seriously,’ Biden said. ‘I also said we’re cooperating fully and completely with the Justice Department’s review.’

Attorney General Merrick Garland appointed a special counsel on to investigate Biden’s handling of Obama-era classified documents.

Fox News’ Bradford Betz contributed to this report.

White House Press Secretary Karine Jean Pierre said that Florida Governor Ron DeSantis wants to ‘block’ the study of Black Americans after his administration rejected the College Board’s Advanced Placement African American Studies course.

Jean Pierre made the comments during a White House Press briefing on Friday, calling the move by the DeSantis administration ‘incomprehensible.’

‘If you think about the study of Black Americans, that is what he wants to block,’ Jean Pierre said. ‘These types of actions aren’t new. They are not new from what we’re seeing, especially from Florida. Sadly, Florida currently bans teachers from talking about who they are and who they love.’

‘They didn’t block AP European history. They didn’t block our music history. They didn’t block our art history. But the state chooses to block a course that is meant for high achieving high school students to learn about their history of arts and culture. It is incomprehensible,’ she added.

Bryan Griffin, DeSantis’ press secretary, said in a statement that the Florida Department of Education rejected the course because it ‘lacks educational value and historical accuracy.’

‘As submitted, the course is a vehicle for a political agenda and leaves large, ambiguous gaps that can be filled with additional ideological material, which we will not allow. As Governor DeSantis has stated, our classrooms will be a place for education, not indoctrination,’ the spokesperson said.

Griffin told Fox News Digital that Jean Pierre’s comments are ‘demonstrably incorrect.’

‘The study of African American history is not only permitted in Florida under Governor Ron DeSantis but required by law. In fact, the teaching of African American History has been expanded in Florida since Governor Ron DeSantis took office.,’ Griffin said.

Griffin pointed to a Florida statute which requires the teaching of African American history K-12 education throughout the state. He also provided a list of concerns that the state’s department of education found within the course, which includes the ‘Reparations Movement,’ ‘Movements for Black Lives,’ and ‘Black Queer Studies.’

In a letter to the College Board, the Florida Department of Education’s Office of Articulation states that the course is ‘inexplicably contrary to Florida law and significantly lacks educational value. In the future, should College Board be willing to come back to the table with lawful, historically accurate content, FDOE will always be willing to reopen the discussion.’

According to the College Board website, the AP African American studies course is in a pilot phase and will be available to all high schools in the 2024-2025 academic year.

The College Board states that the course is ‘designed to offer high school students an evidence-based introduction to African American studies.’

A spokesperson for the College Board told Fox News Digital that the course is ‘is undergoing a rigorous, multi-year pilot phase, collecting feedback from teachers, students, scholars and policymakers.’

‘The process of piloting and revising course frameworks is a standard part of any new AP course, and frameworks often change significantly as a result. We will publicly release the updated course framework when it is completed and well before this class is widely available in American high schools. We look forward to bringing this rich and inspiring exploration of African-American history and culture to students across the country,’ the spokesperson said.

Democratic Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs issued an executive order on Friday that would establish an independent review commissioner for death penalty cases in the state. 

The executive order, announced alongside Attorney General Kris Mayes, was issued as part of Hobbs’ First 100 Days initiative. She took office on Jan. 2. 

The as-yet unnamed commissioner will review and establish transparency for how the Arizona Department of Corrections, Rehabilitation, & Reentry procures lethal injection drugs and gas chamber chemicals, execution protocols and experience and training of staff.

Convicts sentenced to death before 1992 can choose to be executed in a gas chamber, according to USA Today. A gas chamber execution hasn’t occurred since 1999. 

AZ INMATE ON DEATH ROW WITHDRAWS HIS REQUEST TO BE EXECUTED 

ARIZONA DEATH ROW INMATE’S EXECUTION REMAINS ON TRACK AFTER JUDGE REJCETS TESTIGN BID 

The commissioner will write a report after the review with recommendations for improving the death penalty process. 

‘With the Arizona Department of Corrections, Rehabilitation and Reentry now under new leadership, it’s time to address the fact that this is a system that needs better oversight on numerous fronts,’ Hobbs said in a release. ‘Arizona has a history of mismanaged executions that have resulted in serious questions and concerns about ADCRR’s execution protocols and lack of transparency. I’m confident that under Director Thornell, ADCRR will take this executive action seriously.’

The state resumed executions last year after a nearly eight-year halt and 110 prisoners remain on death row. 

The number of migrant encounters at the southern border in December surpassed 250,000 in December alone, Customs and Border Protection (CBP) confirmed Friday evening — marking a new high for the Biden-era border crisis as it enters its third year.

There were 251,487 migrant encounters at the southern border for the month of December, surpassing the 179,253 encountered in December 2021, and the 73,994 encountered in December 2020.

Sources had told Fox News earlier this week that the number of encounters would surpass 250,000, which is even higher than the peak in 2022’s historic year, which came in May when numbers hit 241,136, during what are typically busier summer months.

That brings the three-month sum for FY 2023, which began on Oct. 1, to 717,660 total encounters already. Of the migrants encountered, 66.78%, or 479,229, were single adults.

The figure comes after two years of a historic and record-breaking migrant crisis that has overwhelmed communities and officials, caused tensions between cities deep in the U.S. interior over the bussing of migrants and marked a significant political headache for the administration.

December brought significant uncertainty with a dramatic back-and-forth over the status of Title 42, which has been used to expel migrants at the border rapidly since March 2020. A court had ordered the public health order be ended on Dec. 21. The uncertainty around the order saw migrants flood to the border, but the ending of the order was put on hold by the Supreme Court.

Republicans and some Democrats expressed concern that the order’s end would lead to a surge in encounters at the border. The Biden administration said it had a plan in place to handle any additional numbers, and repeatedly said that the border was not open, even if and when Title 42 ends.

‘Of course the numbers will be higher when Republican elected officials, like smugglers, falsely proclaim the border is open because of a court order to lift Title 42,’ an administration official told Fox News Digital on Friday.

The official also said that new measures announced in October to deal with a surge in Venezuelan migrants, which combined a limited humanitarian parole program with expanded removals under Title 42, are working. CBP said in its release that there was an 82% drop in encounters since September, dropping from roughly 1,100 a day the week before the process was announced to about 100 a day in December.

‘Despite their misinformation, our border enforcement measures continue to hold strong with the number of Venezuelan nationals arriving at the border unlawfully continuing to drop dramatically,’ the official said.

Republicans have blamed the Biden administration’s rolling back of Trump-era border protections such as the Migrant Protection Protocols, as well as its moves to narrow interior immigration enforcement and to push for pathways to citizenship for millions of illegal immigrants.

The Biden administration, meanwhile, has blamed Republicans for failing to pass a sweeping immigration reform bill in Congress — while also touting its efforts to crack down on international smuggling, increase cooperation with Western Hemisphere countries and expand legal asylum avenues that were cut during the prior administration.

‘We’re executing a comprehensive strategy to secure our borders and build a safe, orderly and humane immigration system working within a broken system in desperate need of legislative reform,’ DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said Thursday in a speech to the U.S. Conference of Mayors.

Mayorkas has emphasized that the migration challenge is hemisphere-wide, saying that ‘mass migration has gripped our hemisphere.’

There have been signs of tougher approach to enforcement this month by the administration. President Biden visited the border in El Paso, Texas, and preceded it by announcing that the parole program and Title 42 expulsions for Venezuelans will also be expanded to include Haitians, Nicaraguans and Cubans.

DHS has also introduced a rule that would make migrants ineligible for asylum if they had passed through a safe country and failed to claim asylum there, a move that led to condemnation from left-wing groups as well as the United Nations.

A source told Fox News Digital that because of the enforcement measures taking place, at the current rate, CBP is on track to see the lowest levels of encounters since February 2021.

In a statement, acting CBP Commissioner Troy Miller said that there were signs in the data that the measures are working.

‘The December update shows our new border enforcement measures are working. Even as overall encounters rose because of smugglers spreading misinformation around the court-ordered lifting of the Title 42 public health order, we continued to see a sharp decline in the number of Venezuelans unlawfully crossing our southwest border, down 82% from September 2022,’ he said. ‘Early data suggests the expanded measures for Cubans, Haitians and Nicaraguans are having a similar impact, and we look forward to sharing the additional data in the next update.

However, the new numbers are likely to only ramp up political pressure on the administration — including Mayorkas — who is facing calls for his impeachment from Republicans, who have taken the House majority this month and have pledged to make the border crisis one of their main priorities. The House Oversight Committee announced this week that it will hold a hearing on the crisis in February.

Fox News’ Griff Jenkins and Bill Melugin contributed to this report.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Marching forward — that was the theme for the 50th annual March for Life in Washington D.C. on Friday. Thousands of people gathered in the nation’s capital for the first time since the historic Dobbs v. Jackson decision that overturned Roe v. Wade in June.  

Every year since 1974, pro-lifers have been bringing their signs and slogans to show their support for the unborn, praying and hoping that Roe v. Wade would be overturned. The first march took place on the one-year anniversary of the Roe v. Wade decision, which was handed down by the Supreme Court on January 22, 1973. 

Those prayers were answered last year and now, organizers of the March for Life say their fight is just getting started. Jeanne Mancini, president of March for Life, told Fox News Digital said this year’s event will be an opportunity to reflect, celebrate and look forward to what’s next. 

‘Our biggest focus in addition to our national march is our state march initiative,’ Mancini said. ‘In 2022, we were in five states. This year, in 2023, we’re doubling that: we’ll be in ten states. And we plan, over the course of the next 5 to 7 years, to be in all 50 states.’

Fox News Digital spoke to attendees at the March for Life who say their work in the pro-life movement is ‘far from over.’

‘It’s actually the beginning of a new movement because now the marches are for next generations and future generations to even abolish the word abortion,’ one woman shared. 

‘People think that just because Roe v. Wade was overturned, that this is the end of the battle, so to speak,’ one man told Fox News Digital. ‘But this is just the beginning.’

‘People think that just because Roe v. Wade was overturned, that this is the end of the battle, so to speak. But this is just the beginning.’

When asked what work still needs to be done, an Anglican priest said it should be ‘easier for women to make the right decision. And there’s only one decision.’

‘Students for Life Action is pushing ‘protection at conception’ bills in a lot of states around America. So we need to push for protection at conception,’ a Students for Life student spokesperson said. 

One attendee says despite the new ruling, ‘the meaning of the event is still very strong because we have to work for this on the state level now, trying to change hearts and minds, to respect life in the womb, and to protect the unborn.’

Mancini said there is ‘a lot of joy’ at the event this year following the Dobbs ruling last summer. 

‘There is this zeal and enthusiasm and joy that is just contagious. And they’ve got their creative slogans, their signs,’ Mancini remarked. ‘The enthusiasm is very palpable this year.’

Mancini added that the March for Life has become ‘the largest, longest-running human rights demonstration worldwide.’

An $80 million initiative begun last spring to support election offices across the country is the latest chapter in an ongoing effort by Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg to influence election officials, according to a new report.

In April, a coalition of left-wing nonprofits led by the Center for Tech and Civic Life (CTCL), a Chicago-based group funded by Zuckerberg, launched the U.S. Alliance for Election Excellence, whose stated purpose was to send money to election offices for training, equipment, consulting and other resources.

However, the Honest Elections Project (HEP) on Thursday released a report in conjunction with the John Locke Foundation that described the Alliance as ‘merely a continuation’ of CTCL’s so-called ‘Zuck Bucks scheme,’ a term critics use to describe the private funding of elections by left-wing donors in 2020.

CTCL issued about $400 million in grants during the 2020 election to fund a variety of work and equipment. That included ballot drop boxes, voting equipment, additional manpower, protective gear for poll workers and public education campaigns on new voting methods, among other expenses.

Democrats defended the money as necessary to conduct the election safely during the COVID-19 pandemic, while Republicans noted most of the grants targeted Democrat-leaning districts. In several states, counties that broke heavily for Joe Biden received more ‘Zuck Bucks’ donations, according to an analysis by the Capital Research Center.

House Republicans found in an investigation that less than 1% of the funds were spent on personal protective equipment. Instead, the U.S. Alliance for Election Excellence appears to be another effort by Zuckerberg and CTCL to influence local election operations, according to critics.

‘The work of the U.S. Alliance for Election Excellence is Zuck Bucks 2.0, which is why they avoided states that have instituted bans on the private funding of election administration,’ Andy Jackson, director of the Civitas Center for Public Integrity, said in a statement.

Twenty-four states have enacted bans or restrictions on private funding of local election offices. But the U.S. Alliance for Election Excellence has been working to ingratiate itself with local offices.

In November, the Alliance announced its first ten member offices — dubbed ‘Centers for Election Excellence’ — including two counties in North Carolina, Brunswick and Forsyth. Other grant recipients on the list are from California, Connecticut, Illinois, Michigan and Nevada. More are expected to be added in the coming months.

The first offices will receive grants over a two-year period leading up to the 2024 presidential election, CTCL Executive Director Tiana Epps-Johnson told The Associated Press last month.

Epps-Johnson added that grant amounts will vary based on the size of each jurisdiction, from $50,000 for those with fewer than 5,000 registered voters to $3 million for those with more than 1 million voters.

While the effects of the Alliance’s creation remain to be seen, the HEP report says its activities show the group is working to target local election offices and influence their operations to push left-wing voting policies.

HEP and the John Locke Foundation used the report to highlight documents they obtained through public records requests that, they argue, show the Alliance ‘is actually designed to systematically influence every aspect of election administration in target offices and push progressive voting policies.’

The report describes, for example, how after the Alliance recruited its first members, it announced plans to begin charging offices to join. The Alliance also created ‘scholarships’ to cover these membership costs, which are instantly converted into ‘credits’ that member offices can use to buy services from CTCL and other Alliance partners.

‘As a result, offices receive access to funds they can spend exclusively on services provided by left-wing companies and nonprofits, entirely outside normal public funding channels,’ the report said. ‘Based on documentation obtained through the public records process, these services range from ‘legal’ and ‘political’ consulting to public relations and guidance on recruitment and training.’

In exchange for grants and services, offices are expected to provide CTCL and its partners ‘substantial in-kind contributions,’ help the Alliance develop its programming and turn over information regarding their inner workings, according to HEP. Such efforts are designed, in part, so election offices can work with the Alliance to develop and implement an ‘improvement plan’ that may change the way each office operates.

‘Elections should be transparent and accountable to the people. No matter what it claims to be, the U.S. Alliance for Election Excellence is nothing more than a dark money-fueled scheme to push liberal voting policies and influence election administration in key states and localities,’ Jason Snead, executive director of HEP, said in a statement.

‘This report should make clear that a private funding ban, vigorous oversight and complete transparency from officials are essential to restoring trust in our election system and making it easier to vote and harder to cheat.’

Proponents of the Alliance have argued its planned investments — $80 million over five years — are necessary to ensure a fair voting process.

‘Every American voter, no matter their zip code, should have access to a process that is fair and trustworthy,’ Epps-Johnson said at the time of the Alliance’s launch. ‘Unfortunately, years of under-investment means many local election departments often have limited capacity and training. The U.S. Alliance for Election Excellence will bring together world-class partners so that local election officials no longer have to go it alone.’

The Alliance did not respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital about the report.

Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot said that street vendors in an area seeing an increased number of robberies should consider not using cash to conduct transactions.

Lightfoot made the comment during a mayoral debate hosted by ABC7 Chicago on Thursday night.

‘I heard a lot of rhetoric here, a lot of soundbites, but not a lot of concrete solutions on how we get the job done and make our residents and our workers safe. We’re doing it every single day,’ Lightfoot said. ‘We have been in Little Village working with those street vendors, understanding what the nature of the crime is, making sure that we’re doing things in concert with them to help them, to make sure that their money is secure. Not use money, if at all possible, using other forms of transactions to carry themselves.’

The Chicago mayor said that street vendors in Little Village can protect themselves by not using cash in transactions.

‘We’ve been in Little Village working with those vendors hand and glove to make sure that they are doing things that they can do to protect themselves like not using cash, making sure that the cash that they do take in is secure,’ Lightfoot added.

In the 10th police district, where Chicago’s Little Village neighborhood is located, there has been a 13% increase in robberies in 2022 when compared to 2021, with 477 robberies taking place in 2022, according to public data.

So far in 2023, robberies in the 10th district are already up by 114% when compared to the same time in 2022 with 30 robberies taking place this year.

Citywide, while the number of shootings decreased by 20% in 2022 versus 2021, violent crime as a whole increased by 41%.

In 2022, there were 8,996 reports of robberies versus 7,911 in 2021.

The city’s crime crisis has even forced the CEO of McDonald’s to speak out during a speech at the Economic Club of Chicago in September.

‘Everywhere I go, I’m confronted by the same question,’ Chris Kempczinski said. ‘‘What’s going on in Chicago?’ There is a general sense out there that our city is in crisis.’

The McDonald’s CEO said that people need to ‘face facts’ and acknowledge that companies are leaving Chicago in part due to the rising crime in the city.

After Kempczinski made his comments, Lightfoot fired back, saying that he needs to ‘educate himself.’

‘I think what would have been helpful is for the McDonald’s CEO to educate himself before he spoke,’ Lightfoot said.

Fox News’ Bradford Betz contributed to this report.