House Republicans’ campaign arm has rolled out a new political ad filled with images created using artificial intelligence (AI).

The video runs just under a minute long and features AI-generated pictures depicting migrant encampments across some of the United States’ most famous open-air landmarks. 

The political ad targets swing district Democrats near national parks. It comes after House Republicans passed a bill earlier this week that would ban the use of U.S. government funds going toward housing undocumented migrants on federally owned land. 

‘National parks overrun with illegal immigrants. This is the future extreme House Democrats want,’ text at the beginning of the video reads.

A voiceover reminiscent of mid-20th century newscasts says, ‘A symbol of our vanished frontier, the early pioneers pushed their way laboriously across this country. But it’s only in our great national parks that we preserve the really wild things and the immense wilderness they knew.’

It cycles through places like Olympic National Park in Washington, the National Mall in Washington, D.C., and Joshua Tree National Park, all crowded with tents.

‘President Roosevelt famously said the ‘fundamental idea behind the parks is that the country belongs to the people.’ But in Joe Biden and extreme House Democrats’ America, it belongs to unvetted illegal immigrants and human traffickers, instead of families enjoying the natural wonders of the USA,’ National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) press secretary Will Reinert told Fox News Digital in a statement. 

The bill, the Protecting Our Communities from Failure to Secure the Border Act of 2023, passed on Friday by a margin of 224 to 203, with one member voting ‘present.’ It was introduced by Rep. Nicole Malliotakis, R-N.Y.

The legislation would cancel an agreement between the federal government and New York City to house migrants in Floyd Bennett Field in Brooklyn.

All but six Democrats voted against the bill. Reps. Jared Golden, D-Maine, Henry Cuellar, D-Texas, Don Davis, D-N.C., Vicente Gonzales, D-Texas, Mary Peltola, D-Alaska, and Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, D-Wash., voted for it. 

The bill is unlikely to be taken up in the Democrat-controlled Senate, but if it were, the White House has signaled that President Biden may veto it if it came to his desk.

After his expulsion from Congress last week, George Santos is finding a new way to make some cash: Cameo. 

Cameo is a website where people can pay celebrities to make personalized videos such as for the holidays or a birthday. 

A link to Santos’ Cameo profile is available on his X profile. On his Cameo profile, Santos describes himself as a ‘former congressional ‘icon’’ and ‘The Expelled member of Congress from New York City.’

Interested parties can book a personal video with Santos starting at $200. 

Santos joins the league of former politicos — including former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich, former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani and Roger Stone — who have joined Cameo to make some extra money.  

Later Monday, Santos posted a video addressed to embattled Democratic Senator Bob Menendez of New Jersey. Democrat Sen. John Fetterman of Pennsylvania took credit for the video. 

‘I thought my ethically-challenged colleague @BobMenendezNJ could use some encouragement given his substantial legal problems,’ Fetterman tweeted. ‘So I approached a seasoned expert on the matter to give ‘Bobby from Jersey’ some advice.’ 

‘Hey Bobby!’ Santos begins the video. ‘Uh, look. I don’t think I need to tell you but these people that want to make you get in trouble and want to kick you out and make you run away, you make ‘em put up or shut up! You stand your ground sir, and don’t get bogged down by all the haters out there. Stay strong! Merry Christmas!’ 

The freshman lawmaker from Pennsylvania has been outspoken in his calls for Menendez — who is facing federal charges for participating in a bribery scheme — to step down from Congress if Santos deserves to be kicked out. 

Santos’ move to Cameo comes as he faces serious legal trouble, and likely hefty legal bills, in his post-congressional life. Federal prosecutors in a 23-count indictment have accused him of duping donors, stealing from his campaign and lying to Congress.

The House voted Friday to expel the New York Republican representative after a blistering ethics report on his conduct heightened lawmakers’ concerns about the scandal-plagued freshman. 

Santos became just the sixth member in the chamber’s history to be ousted by colleagues, and the third since the Civil War.

The vote to expel was 311-114, easily clearing the two-thirds majority required. House Republican leaders opposed removing Santos, whose departure leaves them with a razor-thin majority, but in the end, 105 GOP lawmakers sided with nearly all Democrats to expel him.

The expulsion marked the final congressional chapter in a spectacular fall from grace for Santos. Celebrated as an up-and-comer after he flipped a district from Democrats last year, Santos’ life story began to unravel before he was even sworn into office. Reports emerged that he had lied about having Jewish ancestry, a career at top Wall Street firms and a college degree, among other things.

Then, in May, Santos was indicted by federal prosecutors on multiple charges, turning his presence in the House into a growing distraction and embarrassment to the party.

Santos’ expulsion narrows the GOP’s majority to 221-213 and Democrats will have a good opportunity to fill the vacancy. 

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. says foreign terrorists are responsible for a Sunday bombing during a Catholic mass in the country’s south that killed four people and wounded dozens of others. ⁠⁠

The bomb went off during in a gymnasium at Mindanao State University in southern Marawi city, officials said. 

The military has confirmed that the blast killed four people, including three women. At least 50 others were brought to two hospitals for treatment. Six of the wounded were fighting for their lives in a hospital, said Gov. Mamintal Adiong Jr. of the Islamic province of Lanao del Sur, of which Marawi is the capital.

‘I condemn in the strongest possible terms the senseless and most heinous acts perpetrated by foreign terrorists upon the Mindanao State University,’ President Marcos said in a statement. ‘Extremists who wield violence against the innocent will always be regarded as enemies to our society.’

Army troops and police cordoned off the university shortly after the bombing and began an investigation. Security checkpoints were set up around the city. Police and other state forces were put under ‘heightened alert’ in metropolitan Manila, security officials said.

Police Lt. Gen. Emmanuel Peralta told reporters that military and police bomb experts found fragments of a 60mm mortar round at the scene of the attack. Such explosives fashioned from mortar rounds had been used in past attacks by Islamic militants in the country’s south.

ISIS has claimed responsibility for the attack, saying on its Telegram channels: ‘The soldiers of the caliphate detonated an explosive device on a large gathering of Christians…in the city of Marawi.’ 

Military chief of staff Gen. Romeo Brawner Jr. said the bomb attack could be retaliation by Muslim militants for a series of battle setbacks. He cited the killing of 11 suspected Islamic militants in a military offensive backed by airstrikes and artillery fires on Friday in southern Maguindanao province.

Regional police director Brig. Gen. Allan Nobleza said the slain militants belonged to an armed group affiliated with ISIS that operates in Lanao del Sur province.

‘The U.S. condemns in the strongest terms the horrific terrorist attack that occurred today during a Catholic service being held at Mindanao State University in Marawi, the Philippines,’ State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said in a statement. 

‘We mourn those killed in the attack, and our thoughts are with the injured. The United States is in close contact with our Philippine partners and stands with the people of the Philippines in rejecting this act of violence.’ 

The Philippine coast guard said it ordered all its personnel to intensify intelligence gathering, stricter inspections of passenger ferries and the deployment of bomb-sniffing dogs and sea marshals.

The southern Philippines is the homeland of minority Muslims in the predominantly Roman Catholic nation and the scene of decades-old separatist rebellions.

The Associated Press contributed to this report. 

In early November, Bentley University and Gallup released the results of its 2023 Bentley-Gallup Business and Society Report, which among other topics, focuses a portion of its study on surveying Americans on their opinions of how businesses will use artificial intelligence (AI) technologies in the future.  

When asked ‘In general, how much do you trust businesses to use artificial intelligence responsibly?’, 38% of survey respondents answered, ‘not at all’; 41% responded ‘not much’; and 21% answered ‘a lot/some.’  

What is particularly telling, is that across education levels, ethnic background, age groups, and political party, the range of those trusting AI a ‘lot/some’ was only between 17% and 28%.  

When asked ‘In your opinion, what type of effect will artificial intelligence have on the total number of jobs in the United States over the next 10 years?’, 6% of survey respondents believe AI will increase the number of jobs; 19% responded that there will be no effect on the number of jobs; and 75% answered that they anticipated a decrease in the number of jobs.  

Across education levels, ethnic background, age groups and political party, those believing that AI will decrease the number of jobs ranges from 66% to 80%. 

Moreover, only one in 10 American adults believe AI technologies do greater good than harm, 50% believe AI technologies offer equal amounts of harm and good, while 40% replied that AI technologies do more harm than good.  

By racial category, Black American adults (70%) and Asian Americans adults (67%) responded that AI technologies do more good than harm, or equal amounts of harm and good, compared to 60% of Hispanic adults and 59% of White adults.  

Lastly, when asked, ‘In your opinion, how well does artificial intelligence do the following as compared with a person?’, the respondents were asked to comment on a list of nine different tasks presently performed by human workers.  

Examples of the percent of respondents believing that AI technologies ‘performs better than a human’ include ‘customize the content I see’ (38%), ‘recommend products or services to me’ (27%), and ‘assist students with homework or studying’ (26%).  

Examples of the percent of respondents believing that AI technologies ‘performs worse than a human’ include ‘recommend medical advice to me’ (62%); ‘drive me somewhere in a car’ (68%); and ‘recommend which employees a company should hire’ (69%). 

In 2023, 63% of U.S. adults who responded in the Bentley-Gallup Business and Society Report say that businesses have an ‘extremely’ or ‘somewhat positive’ impact on Americans’ lives, which is an eight-point increase from the 2022 Bentley University-Gallop Force for Good Study. 

Yet, how will this ‘extremely/somewhat’ positive view of American business – by five of eight American adults in 2023 – remain in the ‘positive view’ category going forward? In the near future, AI technologies are forecasted to be rapidly adopted by the American business community. 

Given that 79% of U.S. adult survey respondents ‘do not trust businesses to use artificial intelligence responsibly,’ this issue is rapidly emerging as a serious challenge for the image of American business going forward. And this challenge to American business is likely to happen sooner than later.  

Goldman Sachs Research estimates that U.S.-based AI investment could approach $100 billion by 2025. This economy-wide, AI investment, says Goldman Sachs Research, is expected to be concentrated in four key business segments: companies that train and develop AI models, those that supply the infrastructure (for example, data centers) to run AI applications, companies that develop software to run AI-enabled applications, and enterprise end-users that pay for those software and cloud infrastructure services.  

This is where the conundrum occurs. On one side, American consumers who ‘do not trust businesses to use artificial intelligence responsibly,’ and on the other side, American businesses across industries enthusiastically embracing the latest AI technologies for improving existing products and services, developing new products and services, and using AI technologies to increase efficiencies in their operational processes. 

The American business community needs to thoughtfully manage this transition to adopting AI technologies, or if this transition is mismanaged, face the consequences of increasing antipathy from American employees and consumers. 

The House committees leading the impeachment inquiry against President Biden are expected to grill top witnesses behind closed doors this month as the investigation reaches a critical phase.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Lesley Wolf is up first this month. She is expected to answer questions during a deposition that begins at 10 a.m. Tuesday before the House Judiciary Committee.

House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, subpoenaed Wolf last month amid whistleblower allegations that she sought to block investigators from asking questions related to President Biden throughout the years-long federal investigation into Hunter Biden.

Jordan, over the summer, initially asked Wolf to appear for a voluntary transcribed interview as part of the committee’s oversight investigation into the DOJ’s handling of the Hunter Biden probe, but she denied that request.

IRS whistleblower Gary Shapley alleged that Wolf worked to ‘limit’ questioning related to President Biden and apparent references to Biden as ‘dad’ or ‘the big guy.’

Wolf allegedly said there was ‘no specific criminality to that line of questioning’ relating to President Biden, which Shapley said ‘upset the FBI.’

In October 2020, Wolf reviewed an affidavit for a search warrant of Hunter Biden’s residence and ‘agreed that probable cause had been achieved,’ Shapley testified. However, Shapley said Wolf ultimately would not allow a physical search warrant on the president’s son.

Shapley said Wolf determined there was ‘enough probable cause for the physical search warrant there, but the question was whether the juice was worth the squeeze.’

Wolf allegedly said ‘optics were a driving factor in the decision on whether to execute a search warrant,’ Shapley said, adding that Wolf agreed that ‘a lot of evidence in our investigation would be found in the guest house of former Vice President Biden but said there is no way we will get that approved.’

Wolf also allegedly tipped off Hunter Biden’s legal team ahead of a planned search of his storage unit.

Jordan, who is co-leading the House impeachment inquiry against President Biden, is focusing on depositions and transcribed interviews of witnesses related to whether politics improperly influenced prosecutorial decisions throughout the Hunter Biden investigation.

The Judiciary Committee has heard from top prosecutors involved in the probe, including now-Special Counsel David Weiss, who has been leading the investigation into Hunter Biden since its inception in 2018.

Weiss, during his interview before the committee last month, admitted he ‘wasn’t granted’ special attorney authority in his Hunter Biden investigation by the Justice Department despite requesting that status, but he told investigators he did not interpret that decision as a ‘denial in any way, shape or form,’ according to a transcript of his testimony reviewed by Fox News Digital.

That response confirmed Shapley’s recollection that Weiss requested special counsel authority but was denied, that he did not have ‘ultimate authority’ in the probe to pursue charges against the president’s son.

Weiss said he followed steps requested by the DOJ, asking U.S. attorneys in separate districts if they would like to partner with him in the prosecution.

Both U.S. Attorney for D.C. Matthew Graves and U.S. Attorney for the Central District of California Martin Estrada testified during their voluntary transcribed interviews before the House Judiciary Committee that they declined to partner with Weiss – also confirming Shapley’s allegations.

The House Judiciary Committee is expecting additional witnesses for transcribed interviews before the end of the year.

Meanwhile, House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Jason Smith, R-Mo., will hold a public executive session on Tuesday that is to feature testimony from IRS whistleblowers Gary Shapley and Joseph Ziegler. They are expected to defend their claims related to the Hunter Biden investigation in a public setting.

Fox News Digital has also learned that Smith will be releasing additional information related to his investigation on Tuesday. 

And the House Oversight Committee is expecting Hunter Biden for his closed-door deposition next week on Dec. 13. Oversight Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., subpoenaed Hunter Biden last month.

The president’s son’s attorney, Abbe Lowell, said Hunter Biden would appear for the deposition but instead requested a public hearing to answer questions before the American people.

Comer said a deposition has to come first in order for the committee to continue its fact-finding efforts, but he told Fox News Digital he would release Hunter Biden’s deposition transcript and will schedule a public hearing for the president’s son.

Comer also subpoenaed the president’s brother, James Biden. It is unclear when his deposition will take place.

Comer has requested sit-down transcribed interviews with a number of Biden family members and Hunter Biden business associates, like Rob Walker.

Separately from the Hunter Biden-related investigative steps, Comer has also subpoenaed former White House counsel Dana Remus to appear for a deposition and answer questions related to President Biden’s alleged improper retention of classified materials. Comer requested several other officials for interviews on the matter in an effort to determine whether the classified materials he held contained information related to the foreign countries with which his family was engaged in business.

In the nearly three weeks since Sen. Tim Scott suspended his campaign for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, there’s been a push by some of the remaining GOP White House hopefuls to land the senator from South Carolina’s endorsement.

Scott was pretty clear as he ended his 2024 presidential bid that he had no immediate plans to support another candidate.

‘The best way for me to be helpful is to not weigh in,’ he said in a live interview on Nov. 13 on Fox News’ ‘Sunday Night in America with Trey Gowdy.’

But a source familiar with Scott’s thinking told Fox News that the senator’s been approached for an endorsement from some of his former rivals.

The source added that Scott remains open to backing a candidate but that any potential endorsement would not happen until after the start of the new year.

Meanwhile, there’s no letup in the race to secure the senator’s top dollar donors and GOP lawmakers – officials in the crucial early voting state of South Carolina who had endorsed Scott – and top staffers on this campaign.

Scott’s departure came as fellow South Carolinian Nikki Haley, a former two-term governor of the state who later served as ambassador to the United Nations in former President Trump’s administration, battles Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis for a distant second place behind Trump, who remains the commanding front-runner for the GOP nomination.

In the days after Scott dropped out, two prominent donors who were backing him switched their support to Haley.

‘I’m on board with Nikki Haley. She’s got a lot of good attributes. She was always my second choice. Unbelievably good on foreign policy, her view on abortion is close to mine,’ metals magnate Andy Sabin told host Charles Payne on Fox News’ ‘Your World.’ 

Sabin, who has donated millions to conservative candidates and causes the past couple of election cycles, was backing Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis earlier this election cycle before switching his financial support to Scott, the only Black Republican in the Senate.

Eric Levine, a New York-based donor who was raising money for Scott, is holding a fundraiser to support Haley next week. 

Meanwhile, billionaire hedge fund founder Ken Griffin has said he’s considering financially backing Haley after remaining on the sidelines in the GOP primary. 

And Home Depot co-founder and billionaire Ken Langone plans to meet with Nikki Haley next week in New York.

‘The only person I see who can give Trump a run for his money is Nikki Haley,’ Langone said in a CNBC interview on Monday.

South Carolina is a crucial early voting state in the GOP presidential nominating calendar. It holds the first southern contest and votes fourth overall, after Iowa, New Hampshire and Nevada. And Scott’s departure from the race made his endorsers in the state valuable free agents.

DeSantis quickly picked up the backing of 10 state and local lawmakers and officials who had previously endorsed the senator.

‘Ron DeSantis is the leader we need for this exact moment,’ state Rep. Tom Hartnett Jr. said in a statement. ‘He not only is the only candidate who I know can win, but he will be a president who will follow through on his promises to reverse the decline of our country.’

Separately, a newly formed DeSantis-aligned super PAC named Fight Right grabbed Blake Harris, who served as a Scott campaign senior political adviser, to helm its operations.

Alex Stroman, a South Carolina Republican operative and former state GOP executive director who is currently unaligned in the 2024 race, pointed out that ‘Haley’s locked up a lot of Tim Scott donors.’ 

Many who endorsed Scott are moving to endorse Haley, Stroman said: ‘I think Haley’s done the best since Scott got out.’

But Stroman also noted that ‘Trump’s locked up some of Scott’s electoral supporters. He’s had some of the senator’s endorsers come his way.’

Trump remains leagues ahead of Haley and the rest of the field in the latest South Carolina polls.

Trump returned to South Carolina last weekend, the state where he’s long enjoyed the backing of Sen. Lindsey Graham and Gov. Henry McMaster, Haley’s successor.

The former president drew plenty of cheers, as well as some boos, as he walked onto the field during the South Carolina-Clemson Palmetto Bowl game.

Two days later, Haley drew roughly 2,500 people to her first town hall in her home state since Scott dropped out of the race.

Longtime South Carolina-based Republican consultant Dave Wilson told Fox News that the Trump stop in the state and Haley’s campaign event ‘show that two of them are deciding that South Carolina is competitive ground between them.’

DeSantis returned to South Carolina on Friday, but he’s been concentrating his efforts on Iowa, whose Jan. 15 caucuses kick off the GOP presidential nominating calendar.

DeSantis last month landed the high-profile endorsement of Gov. Kim Reynolds, who remains very popular with Iowa Republicans. And two weeks later, he won the backing of Bob Vander Plaats, the president and CEO of The Family Leader, an influential social conservative organization in a state where evangelical voters play an outsized role in Republican politics.

Haley recently won the backing of Americans for Prosperity Action, the political wing of the influential and deep-pocketed fiscally conservative network founded by the billionaire Koch Brothers. AFP Action has pledged to spend tens of millions of dollars and mobilize its formidable grassroots operation to boost Haley and help push the Republican Party past Trump.

While it appears to be a three-person fight, there are other candidates still in the race.

Multimillionaire biotech entrepreneur and first-time candidate Vivek Ramaswamy is basing his campaign in Iowa for the final stretch as he barnstorms across the state. Ramaswamy’s also continuing his campaign efforts in New Hampshire, which holds the first primary and votes second in the Republican calendar.

North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, who failed to make the stage at the third GOP presidential primary debate, is also spending plenty of time in Iowa and New Hampshire.

Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who is running for the White House a second time, is avoiding Iowa as he once again concentrates much of his firepower in New Hampshire, where his support is in the double digits.

Former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson, who registering at less than 1% in the polls, also remains in the race.

As the first contest on the GOP presidential nominating calendar, Iowa always plays a crucial role in winnowing the field.

‘I think Iowa’s going to be more determinative than ever as to who’s going to have momentum going into New Hampshire and South Carolina,’ longtime Republican strategist David Kochel predicted.

Kochel, a veteran of numerous presidential and statewide campaigns in Iowa, emphasized that ‘Trump already has a ticket. There’s maybe two more and maybe one more’ coming out of Iowa.’