Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. on Friday dropped his White House bid and announced support for former President Donald Trump, issuing broadsides against the Democratic Party’s handling of the primary election and media censorship.

‘…I’ve made the heart-wrenching decision to suspend my campaign and to support President Trump. This decision is agonizing for me because of the difficulties it causes me, and my children and my friends,’ said Kennedy.

Kennedy said in Phoenix that the Democratic Party ‘waged continual legal warfare against both President Trump and myself,’ and ‘ran a sham primary.’

‘In an honest system, I believe I would have won the election,’ he said. ‘I no longer believe that I have a realistic past of electoral victory in the face of this relentless, systematic censorship and media control.’

Kennedy’s campaign is asking swing states to remove his name from the ballot because he does not want to be a ‘spoiler,’ he said. He will remain on the ballot in states that he considers ‘red’ or ‘blue,’ he said. ‘If you live in a blue state, you can vote for me without harming or helping President Trump or or Vice President Harris,’ Kennedy said. ‘In red states, the same will apply.’

The former Democrat spoke a couple of hours before Trump was scheduled to hold a campaign event in nearby Glendale, Arizona. The Trump campaign on Thursday advertised that the former president would be joined by a ‘special guest,’ which further sparked speculation of a Kennedy endorsement of the Republican 2024 presidential nominee.

The announcement ends the presidential run by the longtime environmental activist and high-profile vaccine skeptic, who is the scion of the nation’s most storied political dynasty.

Kennedy launched his long-shot campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination in April of last year, but last October the 70-year-old candidate switched to an independent run for the White House.

While Kennedy had long identified as a Democrat and repeatedly invoked his late father Sen. Robert F. Kennedy and his uncle President John F. Kennedy, who were both assassinated in the 1960s, Kennedy in recent years built relationships with far-right leaders. Kennedy repeatedly invoked his father and uncle Friday in Phoenix.

President Biden’s campaign and the Democratic National Committee for months repeatedly slammed Kennedy as a potential spoiler whose supporters could hand Trump a presidential election victory in November.

And the DNC battled Kennedy and his supporters at nearly every step as he worked to place his name on the ballot in all 50 states.

According to Kennedy, ‘Vice President Harris declined to meet or even to speak with me.’

But Kennedy remained a thorn in Biden’s side from last year through the president’s announcement last month that he was ending his re-election bid and endorsing Harris.

The Trump campaign, which had cheered on Kennedy when he was running against Biden as a Democrat, also started taking aim at him after he switched to an independent run, labeling him a member of the ‘radical left,’ and criticizing him for his environmental activism.

Kennedy described the modern Democratic Party as ‘the party of war, censorship, corruption, big pharma, big tech, big ag, and big money.’

‘The DNC waged continual legal warfare against both President Trump and myself,’ said Kennedy. ‘Each time that our volunteers turned in those towering boxes of signatures needed to get on the ballot, the DNC dragged us into court, state after state, attempting to erase their work and disappear with the will of the voters, which signed those petitions.’ 

‘It deployed DNC aligned judges to throw me and other candidates off the ballot, and to throw President Trump in jail.’

But the relationship between Kennedy and Trump started warming earlier this year, and the two spoke last month after the assassination attempt against Trump and met in person the following day. 

‘In a series of long, intense discussions, I was surprised to discover that we are aligned on many key issues and those meetings,’ said Kennedy of the meetings.

Earlier this week, Kennedy running mate Nicole Shanahan sparked headlines by saying in a podcast interview that the campaign was considering whether to ‘join forces’ with Trump to prevent the possibility of Vice President Kamala Harris winning the 2024 election.

‘If he endorsed me, I would be honored by it. I would be very honored by it. He really has his heart in the right place,’ Trump said on Thursday in an interview on ‘Fox & Friends.’

And the former president’s running mate, Sen. JD Vance of Ohio, said Wednesday in an interview on ‘Fox & Friends’ that he hoped Kennedy ‘endorses the president, gets on the team, because this is about saving the country.’

Kennedy’s departure from the race comes as his campaign was cratering.

The last public event put on by his campaign came on July 9, in Freeport, Maine. But even before that, his poll numbers – which once stood in the teens – had faded.

The most recent Fox News national poll, conducted August 9-12, indicated Kennedy at 6% support. 

His fundraising was also in a free fall, with campaign finance reports indicating he had just $3.9 million cash on hand as of the start of July, with nearly $3.5 million in debt.

‘The more voters learned about RFK Jr. the less they liked him. Donald Trump isn’t earning an endorsement that’s going to help build support, he’s inheriting the baggage of a failed fringe candidate. Good riddance,’ said DNC Senior Advisor Mary Beth Cahill following Kennedy’s speech.

Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. said in a Friday court filing that he will endorse former President Donald Trump, The Associated Press reports.

The Kennedy campaign asked Pennsylvania to remove him from the ballot in the court filing, according to the AP. The filing didn’t say explicitly if he would be suspending his campaign.

The former Democrat is making an announcement in Phoenix a couple of hours before Trump was scheduled to hold a campaign event in nearby Glendale, Arizona. The Trump campaign on Thursday advertised that the former president would be joined by a ‘special guest,’ which further sparked speculation of a Kennedy endorsement of the Republican 2024 presidential nominee.

The announcement is expected to end the presidential run by the longtime environmental activist and high-profile vaccine skeptic, who is the scion of the nation’s most storied political dynasty.

Kennedy launched his long-shot campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination in April of last year, but last October the 70-year-old candidate switched to an independent run for the White House.

While Kennedy had long identified as a Democrat and repeatedly invoked his late father Sen. Robert F. Kennedy and his uncle President John F. Kennedy, who were both assassinated in the 1960s, Kennedy in recent years built relationships with far-right leaders.

President Biden’s campaign and the Democratic National Committee for months repeatedly slammed Kennedy as a potential spoiler whose supporters could hand Trump a presidential election victory in November.

And the DNC battled Kennedy and his supporters at nearly every step as he worked to place his name on the ballot in all 50 states.

But Kennedy remained a thorn in Biden’s side from last year through the president’s announcement last month that he was ending his re-election bid and endorsing Harris.

The Trump campaign, which had cheered on Kennedy when he was running against Biden as a Democrat, also started taking aim at him after he switched to an independent run, labeling him a member of the ‘radical left,’ and criticizing him for his environmental activism.

But the relationship between Kennedy and Trump started warming earlier this year, and the two spoke last month after the assassination attempt against Trump and met in person the following day. 

Earlier this week, Kennedy running mate Nicole Shanahan sparked headlines by saying in a podcast interview that the campaign was considering whether to ‘join forces’ with Trump to prevent the possibility of Vice President Kamala Harris winning the 2024 election.

‘If he endorsed me, I would be honored by it. I would be very honored by it. He really has his heart in the right place,’ Trump said on Thursday in an interview on ‘Fox & Friends.’

And the former president’s running mate, Sen. JD Vance of Ohio, said Wednesday in an interview on ‘Fox & Friends’ that he hoped Kennedy ‘endorses the president, gets on the team, because this is about saving the country.’

Kennedy’s departure from the race comes as his campaign was cratering.

The last public event put on by his campaign came on July 9, in Freeport, Maine. But even before that, his poll numbers – which once stood in the teens – had faded.

The most recent Fox News national poll, conducted August 9-12, indicated Kennedy at 6% support. 

His fundraising was also in a free fall, with campaign finance reports indicating he had just $3.9 million cash on hand as of the start of July, with nearly $3.5 million in debt.

: Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign manager dodged questions about whether the Democratic presidential nominee would hold a press conference as her presidential bid recently passed one month since being launched. 

Campaign manager Julie Chávez Rodríguez ducked questions from Fox News Digital on Thursday at the Democratic National Convention (DNC) in Chicago, keeping her head down and speeding away when pressed about Harris speaking to the press, which she has been avoiding. 

‘Will Kamala talk to the press? Will she do a press conference?’ Fox News Digital asked Chávez Rodríguez, who is also the granddaughter of labor activist Cesar Chavez. 

‘Will Kamala do a press conference? Will she do a press conference?’ she was asked a total of four times. 

Chavez Rodriguez looked away and rushed to an open door without responding to the queries. 

Harris officially announced her campaign on July 21, following President Biden’s decision to drop out and endorse her as his successor. Since then, 33 days have passed without Harris holding a press conference or sitting down for a news interview. 

Her campaign has remained silent on whether she will hold a press conference prior to the presidential election in 74 days. Early voting begins even sooner, kicking off in just 14 days, meaning there are just two weeks before some voters can cast their ballots without hearing Harris answer difficult questions about her record and policy positions. 

Harris’ campaign website is also devoid of any policy positions. She recently released an economic agenda, which featured a proposal for price controls in the food industry, which was heavily scrutinized. However, no new policy prescriptions were introduced during the DNC this week. 

After being continuously pressed on when she would sit down for an interview, Harris told reporters earlier this month that she wants to get an interview on the schedule by the end of August. A campaign spokesperson repeated this on CNN, claiming last week that they would be doing a sit-down interview by the end of the month. 

However, no such interviews have been announced.

The lack of access to Harris on her presidential campaign could foreshadow what can be expected in terms of transparency out of a Harris and Gov. Tim Walz, D-Minn., administration. 

Former President Donald Trump’s campaign has used Harris’ avoidance of the press as an opportunity to show contrast, holding frequent press conferences and taking questions from reporters. He has further challenged Harris to speak to the press herself. 

A dozen Republican White House lawyers who served in the administrations of then-Presidents Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush are endorsing Vice President Kamala Harris in her race against GOP nominee former President Donald Trump.

‘We endorse Kamala Harris and support her election as President because we believe that returning former President Trump to office would threaten American democracy and undermine the rule of law in our country,’ the lawyers wrote in a letter that the signatories shared first with Fox News Digital.

The letter was released on Friday, the day after Harris delivered her nomination acceptance speech in the culminating moment of the Democratic National Convention, which was held in Chicago.

The signatories added that ‘we urge all patriotic Republicans, former Republicans, conservative and center-right citizens, and independent voters to place love of country above party and ideology and join us in supporting Kamala Harris.’

The list includes Michael Luttig, the prominent right-of-center legal scholar and retired federal appeals court judge who previously served as assistant counsel to the president in the Reagan White House. Luttig made headlines at the start of the week by endorsing Harris as the Democrats’ convention kicked off.

The letter notes, ‘Donald Trump’s own Vice President and multiple members of his Administration and White House Staff at the most senior levels – as well as former Republican nominees for President and Vice President – have already declined to endorse his reelection.’

Those signing the letter pointed to what they called ‘the profound risks presented by his [Trump’s] potential return to public office. Indeed, Trump’s own Attorney General and National Security Adviser have said unequivocally that Donald Trump is unfit for office, dangerous, and detached from reality.’

And pointing to the then-president’s attempts to reverse the results of his 2020 election loss to President Biden, the Republican lawyers argued that ‘Trump’s attempt to prevent the peaceful transfer of power after losing the election proved beyond any reasonable doubt his willingness to place his personal interests above the law and values of our constitutional democracy.’

‘We cannot go along with other former Republican officials who have condemned Trump with these devastating judgments but are still not willing to vote for Harris,’ they added. ‘We believe this election presents a binary choice, and Trump is utterly disqualified.’

And they charged that Trump ‘was guilty of grave wrongdoing to our Constitution, democracy, and rule of law, and who remains unfit, dangerous, and detached from reality.’

Trump’s numerous indictments in four different legal cases dating back to the spring fueled support for him among Republicans as he fended off over a dozen challengers for the 2024 GOP presidential nomination.

His fundraising skyrocketed this spring after he was found guilty of all 34 felony counts in the first criminal trial of a former or current president in the nation’s history.

While Trump easily captured the Republican nomination as he cruised through the GOP’s primaries and caucuses, his final rival – former ambassador and former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley – continued to win up to 20% of the vote in Republican contests long after she dropped out of the race.

President Biden’s campaign – which transformed into the Harris campaign after the president’s blockbuster announcement last month that he was ending his re-election bid – has made efforts for months to court Republican voters disaffected with Trump.

The Harris campaign during the four-day convention in Chicago this week showcased Republicans who are supporting the vice president.

Among them were former Georgia Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan and former Rep. Adam Kinzinger of Illinois.

Trump has dramatically transformed the Republican Party since he first won the GOP nomination and the White House in 2016, turning it from a conservative-dominated party to one where the populist wing of MAGA (Make America Great Again) supporters and followers dominate. 

The list of signatories to the letter, besides Luttig, includes (in alphabetical order) John B. Bellinger III, Senior Associate Counsel to the President and Legal Adviser to the NSC under George W. Bush, Phillip D. Brady, Deputy Counsel to the President under Reagan, Benedict S. Cohen, Associate Counsel to the President under Reagan, Peter D. Keisler, Associate Counsel to the President under Reagan, and Robert M. Kruger, Associate Counsel to the President under Reagan.

Also included are John M. Mitnick, Associate Counsel to the President and Deputy Counsel, White House Homeland Security Council under George W. Bush, Alan Charles Raul, Associate Counsel to the President under Reagan and General Counsel, OMB under Reagan and George H.W. Bush, Nicholas Rostow, Special Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs and Legal Adviser to the NSC under Reagan and George H.W. Bush, Peter J. Rusthoven, Associate Counsel to the President under Reagan, David B. Waller, Senior Associate Counsel to the President under Reagan, and Wendell L. Willkie II, Associate Counsel to the President under Reagan.

CHICAGO – One month after replacing President Biden atop the Democrats’ 2024 ticket, Vice President Kamala Harris accepted her party’s presidential nomination as she delivered the most important speech of her political career.

In a roughly 40 minute speech that was the crowning and concluding moment of the four-day Democratic National Convention in Chicago’s United Center, the vice president promised to chart ‘a new way forward’ if Americans elect her to succeed her boss – President Biden.

And Harris warned Americans against returning former President Trump, the Republican nominee, to power. 

‘In many ways, Donald Trump is an unserious man,’ the vice president argued. ‘But the consequences of putting Donald Trump back in the White House are extremely serious.’

And Harris cast herself as someone who could bring a deeply polarized nation together, saying ‘with this election, our nation has a precious, fleeting opportunity to move past the bitterness, cynicism, and divisive battles of the past.’

‘I will be a president who unites us around our highest aspirations,’ she pledged. ‘A president who leads — and listens. Who is realistic. Practical. And has common sense. And always fights for the American people.’

Harris noted that ‘there are people of various political views watching tonight. And I want you to know: I promise to be a president for all Americans.’

Pointing to her years as a prosecutor, San Francisco district attorney and California attorney general before winning election to the U.S. Senate and four years ago as the nation’s vice president, she said ‘from the courthouse to the White House, that has been my life’s work.’

Harris made history in 2020 as the first woman elected vice president. And she made the record books again this month as the first Black woman and first person of South Asian descent to win a major party’s presidential nomination. And if she wins in November, Harris could become the nation’s first female president.

Harris has been riding a wave of energy and enthusiasm – both in polling and in fundraising – since replacing President Biden at the top of the Democrats’ 2024 ticket four weeks ago.

And she walked out on to the stage at Chicago’s United Center arena to thunderous applause and a sustained standing ovation that included chants of ‘yes, you can.’ 

After describing herself as the daughter of an Indian scientist who immigrated to America ‘with an unshakable dream to be the scientist who would cure breast cancer,’ she recounted how the sexual abuse of a childhood friend fueled her desire to become a prosecutor. 

‘Like the people I grew up with, people who work hard, chase their dreams, and look out for one another, on behalf of everyone whose story could only be written in the greatest nation on earth, I accept your nomination to be President of the United States of America,’ Harris said. 

Trump repeatedly took to social media throughout the vice president’s address to take aim at his 2024 rival. 

As Harris talked about her early years, Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform, ‘A lot of talk about childhood, we’ve got to get to the Border, Inflation, and Crime!’

Minutes later, as Harris in her speech pledged that building the middle class ‘will be a defining goal of my presidency, Trump pointed toward her three and a half years as the nation’s vice president during the Biden administration and asked, ‘Why didn’t she do something about the things of which she complains?’

Harris, as expected, spent a portion of her address spotlighting reproductive rights, an issue that has energized and mobilized Democrats in the two years since the blockbuster ruling by the Supreme Court’s conservative majority to overturn the landmark Roe v. Wade ruling, which had legalized abortion nationwide.

She argued that ‘Donald Trump hand-picked members of the United States Supreme Court to take away reproductive freedom.’

And she vowed that ‘when Congress passes a bill to restore reproductive freedom, as President of the United States, I will proudly sign it into law.’

But she also touched on border security, an issue that Trump and fellow Republicans have hammered the Biden administration over the surge of migrants into the country in the past three and a half years.

Harris pointed to a border security bill with some bipartisan support that was making its way through Congress earlier this year before Republicans turned against the measure after prompting from Trump.

‘As President, I will bring back the bipartisan border security bill that he killed.  And I will sign it into law,’ Harris reiterated.

Harris also pledged that ‘as Commander-in-Chief, I will ensure America always has the strongest, most lethal fighting force in the world. I will fulfill our sacred obligation to care for our troops and their families. And I will always honor, and never disparage, their service and their sacrifice.’

The comments spurred chants of ‘USA, USA’ from the crowd of Democratic politicians, officials, activists, and supporters in the arena.

Taking aim at Trump, Harris said ‘I will not cozy up to tyrants and dictators like Kim-Jong-Un, who are rooting for Trump.’

She pledged that if elected, she would continue the Biden administration’s efforts in ending two major international conflicts.

‘I will stand strong with Ukraine and our NATO allies,’ she said as she pointed to the eastern European nation’s ongoing war against Russian aggression.

And pointing to the Middle East, she emphasized, ‘Let me be clear: I will always stand up for Israel’s right to defend itself and I will always ensure Israel has the ability to defend itself. Because the people of Israel must never again face the horror that the terrorist organization called Hamas caused on October 7th.’

But she added that ‘at the same time, what has happened in Gaza over the past 10 months is devastating. So many innocent lives lost. Desperate, hungry people fleeing for safety, over and over again. The scale of suffering is heartbreaking.’

Pro-Palestinian demonstrators have been protesting outside the Democrats’ convention the entire week, as the party remains partially divided over the Biden administration’s support for Israel in its war with Hamas in Gaza.

‘President Biden and I are working to end this war such that Israel is secure, the hostages are released, the suffering in Gaza ends, and the Palestinian people can realize their right to dignity. Security. Freedom. And self-determination,’ in a line that elicited loud cheers.

Biden ended his re-election bid on July 21, after his disastrous late June performance in a debate with Trump fueled questions over whether the 81-year-old president was physically and mentally able to handle another four years in the White House – and sparked calls from within the Democratic Party for him to drop out of the race.

Biden, in a well regarded and emotional address, spoke on the first night of the convention before heading to California for a brief vacation.

Harris, near the top of her speech, praised her boss.

‘To our president, Joe Biden. When I think about the path that we have traveled together, Joe, I am filled with gratitude,’ she said. ‘Your record is extraordinary, as history will show, and your character is inspiring.’

Harris also gave a shutout to her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, who addressed the convention the previous night.

‘To Coach Tim Walz. You are going to be an incredible vice president,’ she said.

Since Harris took over for Biden atop the Democrats’ ticket, the former president has tried to paint her as a far-left extremist.

Trump, in an interview with Fox News anchors Bret Baier and Martha McCallum following the vice president’s speech, charged that Harris is ‘a Marxist. She always was. She always will be.’

The former president described Harris’ speech as ‘a lot of complaining.’

‘She didn’t talk about China. She didn’t talk about fracking. She didn’t talk about crime. She didn’t talk about 70% of our people living in poverty. She didn’t talk about housing,’ he emphasized. ‘She presided over the weakest border in the history of our country.’

Former President Donald Trump praised Republican Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp for supporting his election effort in the key battleground state after previously slamming the Peach State’s executive as ‘disloyal.’

‘Thank you to @BrianKempGA for all of your help and support in Georgia, where a win is so important to the success of our Party and, most importantly, our Country,’ Trump posted to Truth Social on Thursday evening. 

‘I look forward to working with you, your team, and all of my friends in Georgia to help MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!’

The comments come after Trump repeatedly slammed the popular Georgia governor across the last four years for opposing Trump’s challenge to the 2020 election results in the state. The final election results found President Biden defeated Trump in Georgia by 11,779 votes that year. 

‘I’ll be here in about a year and a half campaigning against your governor. I guarantee that,’ Trump said back in 2021 of Kemp. ‘I shouldn’t say this, I shouldn’t say this. I just don’t want you to tell anyone outside of this room, other than the millions of people. You know, I endorsed him. He was in last place and I endorsed him. He went to first place, like, immediately.’

Even earlier this month, Trump slammed Kemp as ‘disloyal’ during a rally in Atlanta. 

‘He’s a bad guy. He’s a disloyal guy. And he’s a very average governor. Little Brian, little Brian Kemp. Bad guy,’ Trump said during the rally, which included more than 10 minutes of slamming th governor. 

Trump’s favorable comments towards Kemp on Thursday evening followed the governor joining Fox News, where he endorsed Trump for president. Kemp had not endorsed anyone in the GOP primary, but said he would support the GOP ticket come November. 

‘We got to win. You know, we got to win from the top of the ticket on down. I’ve been saying consistently for a long time, we cannot afford another four years of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris. And I think, you know, Kamala Harris and Tim Walz would be even worse,’ he told Fox News’ Sean Hannity on Thursday. 

‘So we need to send Donald Trump back to the White House. We need to retake the Senate. We need to hold the House. We need to hold our legislative majorities that we have in the great state of Georgia. And it takes hard work. That’s what we’ve been doing.’

Georgia is a key battleground state this year, following Trump winning in 2016 against former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, but losing the state in 2020 when he squared up against Biden. 

Republicans in the state told Politico earlier this month that the pair should bury the hatchet in order to win the majority of votes comes November. 

‘During the Atlanta rally, President Trump criticized Governor Brian Kemp and revisited the 2020 election results,’ strategist Eric Tanenblatt told the outlet. ‘With Georgia being a pivotal state, it’s crucial for the Republican Party to look ahead and avoid dwelling on past elections. To win in the upcoming election, Republicans need to present a united front and prioritize future-focused policies.’

Trump’s Truth Social post lauding Kemp comes as the Democratic Party wraps up its convention in Chicago, with Vice President Harris delivering her speech accepting the nomination for the ticket. 

Trump called into Fox News later Thursday to give his assessment of Harris’ speech, when he also spoke favorably of Kemp. 

‘He was very nice, and he said he wants Trump to win, and he’s gonna work with me 100%. And I think we’re going to have a very good relationship with Brian Kemp,’ he told Fox News’ Bret Baier and Martha MacCallum. 

In an unsurprising ruling, the regime-dominated Venezuelan Supreme Court has sided with President Nicolás Maduro’s claims he won last month’s election and said voting tallies published online showing he lost by a landslide were fake.

In a courtroom packed with Maduro supporters, the decision was read Thursday in response to a request made by Maduro to review vote totals showing he had won by more than 1 million votes.

The court’s ruling certifying the results contradicts the findings of experts from the United Nations and the Carter Center who were invited to observe the election and who both determined the results announced by authorities lacked credibility.

The main opposition coalition has accused Maduro of trying to steal the vote.

Venezuela’s government officials have claimed a foreign cyberattack staged by hackers from North Macedonia delayed the vote counting on election night and publication of the results, but they have not provided any evidence. 

Gabriel Boric, the leftist president of Chile and one of the main critics of Maduro’s election scam, blasted the high court’s certification.

‘Today, Venezuela’s TSJ has finally consolidated the fraud,’ he said on his account, referring to the initials of the high court. ‘The Maduro regime obviously welcomes with enthusiasm its ruling… there is no doubt that we are facing a dictatorship that falsifies elections.’

The ruling is the latest attempt by Maduro to blunt protests and international criticism that erupted after the contested July 28 vote in which the self-proclaimed socialist leader was seeking a third, six-year term, The Associated Press reported. 

Maduro is widely believed to have fraudulently won his country’s election last month. Numerous regional governments cast doubt on the official vote tally, which showed Maduro with 51.2% of the vote with 80% of polling stations reporting.

The opposition contends the results are not accurate and claims that it won the election with 70% of the vote. 

‘In Venezuela, an occupied territory of the Axis of Evil, the judicial system is essentially non-existent due to the complete absence of the rule of law,’ Isaias Medina III, a former U.N. Security Council diplomat and Harvard Mason fellow, told Fox News Digital. 

‘The separation of powers was effectively dismantled when Chavismo took control, resulting in ‘courts’ with unqualified personnel that are merely extensions of Maduro’s regime, parroting his dictates without independent judgment or integrity. The courts are a third-rate play, directed by Maduro, who pays their bills.’

Polls taken over the course of the summer consistently showed opposition candidate Edmundo González winning by double-digit margins.

González was the only one of ten candidates who did not participate in the Supreme Court’s audit, a fact noted by the justices, who in their ruling accused him of trying to spread panic, the AP reported. 

When the National Electoral Council announced around midnight that Maduro had received 51% of the vote compared to main opposition candidate González’s 44% support, National Electoral Council President Elvis Amoroso said the results were based on 80% of voting stations and represented an irreversible trend.

‘For the past two decades, the socialists completely destroyed the division of powers in Venezuela. Just like the former Soviet Union, Maduro controls and leads not only the executive branch but also the parliament, electoral commission and Supreme Court,’ Jorge Jraissati, a Venezuelan and president of the Economic Inclusion Group, told Fox News Digital.

‘This process began in the 2000s, when former President Hugo Chavez (who died in 2013) packed the Supreme Court with loyalists. In fact, there are shocking videos of Supreme Court judges chanting songs that belong to the Venezuelan Socialist Party. Ultimately, it shows that the Venezuelan crisis cannot be resolved using the institutions of the country, as these are completely loyal to Maduro and are responsible for the political crisis we live in today.’ 

Despite Maduro being declared the winner for a third term, the opposition claimed victory, setting up a showdown with the government over the results.

Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., condemned the result and criticized the policies of the Biden administration.

‘Another foreign policy fiasco from the Biden-Harris team,’ he wrote on X. ‘They gave Maduro relief from Trump oil sanctions and released his top money launderer & his two convicted drug dealer nephews in exchange for a ‘promise’ to hold fair elections monitored by neutral international observers.’

Officials and lawmakers in the U.S. and elsewhere expressed concern about the legitimacy of Venezuela’s presidential election results after Maduro was declared the winner. 

A bipartisan group of congressional leaders also alleged that Maduro’s victory was fraudulent. 

‘To no one’s surprise, dictator Nicolás Maduro has once again stolen a presidential election. However, what the narco-regime will never steal is the Venezuelan people’s desire to return to democracy and live in freedom after decades of tyranny.

‘We must prioritize uniting the free world in rejecting these sham election results and securing the release of the more than 300 Venezuelans that remain arbitrarily detained in torture centers as political prisoners.’

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken previously said the Biden administration has ‘serious concerns’ about the results and insisted they do not ‘reflect the will or the votes of the Venezuelan people.’ 

Protests broke out across the country on both sides after the announcement last month. 

Venezuelans took to the streets to protest what is widely believed to be a rigged election. The protests started peacefully, but riot gear-equipped police escalated the matter, leading to violence both from the protesters and the police. 

Protesters threw objects, including stones, at the police, while police used tear gas on the crowds in an effort to make them disperse. 

Maduro dismissed the pushback against his victory as an ‘attempt … to impose a coup d’etat in Venezuela,’ adding that ‘we already know this movie, and this time, there will be no kind of weakness.’ Maduro added that Venezuela’s ‘law will be respected.’

Fox News Digital’s Landon Mion, Peter Aitken, and The Associated Press contributed to this report.