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A new report from the House of Representatives is accusing the Biden administration of failing to recover some $200 billion in fraudulent COVID-19 pandemic loans.

The House Small Business Committee, led by Chairman Roger Williams, R-Texas, has been conducting a years-long investigation into how the Small Business Administration (SBA) has handled the emergency financial aid programs that sprung up when state governments shut down businesses across the country during the pandemic.

‘In creating the COVID Lending Programs, Congress understood that the relief funds needed to be issued quickly to help businesses cope with the economic strain of the pandemic,’ a new report released by the committee said.

‘The rush to get pandemic relief funding out quickly resulted in shortcuts being taken to deliver aid quickly to small businesses in hopes of recouping improper disbursements on the back end.’

The report also accused the SBA of making ‘numerous decisions that decreased the likelihood’ the government would be able to recoup any money given under false pretenses.

‘In total, it is likely that $200 billion from the COVID Lending Programs were disbursed to fraudulent recipients,’ the report said.

Out of roughly $5.5 trillion Congress approved for aid during the pandemic, roughly $1.2 trillion went to the SBA.

It was largely disbursed by two major pieces of legislation, the CARES Act, signed by former President Trump, and the American Rescue Plan, signed by President Biden.

While making recommendations for reform across the entire COVID loan system, the report accused Democrats of devoting disproportionate attention to the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), which accounted for roughly $64 billion in fraudulent loans, rather than the Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL), which the report said saw $136 billion in fraud.

Written by staff for the committee’s Republican majority, the report acknowledged that the additional responsibility given by the Trump administration in 2020 strained its comparatively smaller federal agency infrastructure. 

‘In the days after Congress passed the initial COVID relief legislation, SBA employees worked night and day to craft the rules and policies for its new lending programs,’ the report said.

The SBA had already issued more money in the first 14 days of these programs than it had in the previous 14 years combined, the report said.

It said SBA staff ‘did a remarkable job’ setting them up, ‘but under the circumstances, these SBA employees did not have adequate support, staff, or time to design these programs to be fraud resistant.’

The report accused the Biden administration of not doing enough to put in anti-fraud guardrails and failing to recover the funds lost after taking over the White House in January 2021.

The report also knocked the previous Democratic majority Congress for focusing on PPP, while the ‘fraud rate’ for EIDL ‘was approximately four times higher.’

It accused Democrats of focusing on PPP because of the involvement of private sector partners.

‘It is likely that this misplaced focus by Congressional Democrats, and their surrogates in the media, obscured the realities of fraud in these programs, at least to some degree,’ the report said. ‘While there should be investigations to ensure private companies are following the rules, Members of Congress and their staff should be careful to direct their efforts toward oversight that is beneficial to the American people, and not just part of a broader messaging push against an emerging industry.’

Republicans noted that PPP needed ‘substantial changes’ to be made more effective and less vulnerable to fraud.

Fox News Digital reached out to the SBA and the House Small Business Committee’s Democratic minority for comment.

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Billionaire Mark Cuban appeared to try and spin him out of a mess, after making some insulting comments on ‘the View’ about women who support former President Trump.

Cuban appeared on ABC’s ‘The View’ on Thursday morning when he made the comments.

‘Donald Trump, you never see him around strong, intelligent women. Ever,’ Cuban said. ‘It’s just that simple. They’re intimidating to him. He doesn’t like to be challenged by them, and, you know, Nikki Haley will call him on his nonsense with reproductive rights and how he sees and treats and talks about women. I mean, he just can’t have her around. It wouldn’t work.’

After taking a verbal beating for his remarks on social media, Cuban turned to social media on Thursday afternoon to clear up his statements.

‘This is what I said during a conversation about why Nikki Haley was not active in his campaign,’ Cuban said. ‘I know many strong, intelligent women voting for Trump, including in my extended family. I’m certainly not saying female voters are not smart, strong and intelligent.

‘I know he has worked with strong, intelligent women, like Elaine Chao, Kelly Anne, Ivanka and many others,’ Cuban added. ‘I stand by my opinion that he does not like being challenged publicly.’

Jimmy Failla commented on Cuban’s post, saying, ‘Shoulda just told us there was an apostrophe in your statement. This is junk, babe.’

Failla was referring to the White House’s spin on President Biden’s remarks earlier this week, when he apparently described Trump supporters as ‘garbage’ during a Zoom call with Voto Latino on Tuesday.

‘The only garbage I see floating out there is his supporters,’ Biden said in response to comments made by comedian Tony Hinchcliffe, who called Puerto Rico a ‘floating island of garbage’ during Trump’s rally at Madison Square Garden.

The White House immediately denied that the president was referring directly to Trump’s supporters, but instead added an apostrophe in the word ‘supporter’s,’ and claimed he was referring to the comedian’s garbage.

Failla was not the only person commenting on Cuban’s spin.

‘Everyone heard what you said, Mark. Now you’re trying to rewrite history. You insulted tens of millions of American women, and they won’t forget this!’ one person wrote.

Another wrote, ‘You know exactly what you said Mark. Be a man and own up to it instead of back [pedaling].’

Trump also responded to Cuban’s remarks on Thursday evening.

‘Mark Cuban, a really dumb guy, who thinks he’s ‘hot stuff’ but he’s absolutely nothing, is now out there saying that I don’t surround myself with strong women,’ the former president said. ‘Actually, he is very wrong. I surround myself with the strongest of women – with the understanding that ALL women are great, whether strong or not strong.

‘This guy is such a fool, he’s constantly on television being critical, and only for the reason that I tuned him out completely while President because he called incessantly. I told him, very pointedly, ‘Look Mark, I’ve got a lot of things to do, I just can’t be taking so many pointless calls from you,’’ Trump continued. ‘In any event, that affected him greatly, because he’s a very insecure guy, and a MAJOR LOSER, always has been and always will be! Nobody likes him, nobody respects him, and he’s unattractive both inside and out! He should go back to talk about the person he was forced to support, because I didn’t want it, Lyin’ Kamala Harris. Also, he’s got no clubhead speed!

‘I may, in fact, be surrounded by the strongest women in the world, including Heads of Countries, who make Mark look like a ‘baby!’ All strong women, and women in general, should be very angry about this weak man’s statement,’ he concluded.

Fox News Digital’s Brooke Singman and Michael Lee contributed to this report.

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: A top House Republican is questioning the Department of Justice about what he says is ‘apparent coordination’ with left-wing civil rights groups over its lawsuits against two Republican-led states over efforts to remove non-citizens from its voter rolls.

‘The Subcommittee on the Constitution and Limited Government is conducting oversight of the apparent coordination between the Civil Rights Division and left-wing advocacy groups to impede the ability of states to ensure the accuracy of their voter rolls,’ Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, who is chairman of the subcommittee, says in a letter obtained by Fox Digital.

The Department of Justice sued Alabama and Virginia in recent months over their moves to remove non-citizens from the voter rolls. The DOJ has claimed that the states have violated clauses that say states must complete their maintenance program no later than 90 days before an election under a clause known as the Quiet Period Provision.

‘This systematic voter removal program, which the State is conducting within 90 days of the upcoming federal election, violates the Quiet Period Provision,’ the DOJ said as it filed suit against Virginia. 

Virginia has insisted that the state’s process is ‘individualized’ and conducted in accordance with state and federal law. A lower court ordered 1,600 individuals to be restored to the voter rolls, but that has since been blocked by the Supreme Court.

The DOJ sued Alabama on similar grounds, alleging that changes to the voter registration lists took place 84 days before Election Day.

‘The right to vote is one of the most sacred rights in our democracy,’ Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division said in a statement. ‘As Election Day approaches, it is critical that Alabama redress voter confusion resulting from its list maintenance mailings sent in violation of federal law.’

But Roy says the lawsuits from the DOJ came after lawsuits by left-wing civil rights groups. In the letter, Roy says that the Sept. 27 Alabama lawsuit came weeks after a Sept. 13 lawsuit from a coalition of left-wing civil rights groups. The cases were consolidated on Sept. 28.

In Virginia, a civil rights lawsuit was filed on Oct. 7, and the DOJ filed its lawsuit on Oct. 11. 

‘The cases involve the same or similar plaintiffs and lawyers and follow a similar pattern with respect to the timing of each complaint. These circumstances raise questions as to whether the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division is working with these groups to file cases to keep noncitizens on voter rolls just before the 2024 election and prevent states from ensuring that only eligible citizens vote in federal elections,’ Roy says.

He also says the DOJ ‘did not object to consolidating its cases with those filed by left-wing organizations and attorneys with a public history of opposing bipartisan efforts to prevent noncitizens from voting.’

Roy says many of the groups have objected to the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act, which would require proof of citizenship to vote in federal elections. 

‘The American people deserve to know whether left-wing activist groups are dictating the DOJ’s legal strategy with respect to noncitizens voting in the upcoming election,’ he writes.

Roy is asking for all documents and communications relating to the lawsuits and any of the civil rights groups involved in the suits, as well as documents to show whether the DOJ plans to file any additional lawsuits against the states.

Virginia was handed a legal victory this week when the Supreme Court halted the lower court’s decision to reinstate 1,600 potential noncitizens to the rolls. A divided court granted the state’s stay application pending appeal in the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals on Wednesday. Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson dissented. 

The DOJ said in a statement Wednesday after the Supreme Court’s ruling, ‘The Department brought this suit to ensure that every eligible American citizen can vote in our elections. We disagree with the Supreme Court’s order.’

Fox News’ Haley Chi-Sing contributed to this report.

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Harris campaign surrogate Mark Cuban’s suggestion that women in Donald Trump’s orbit are weak and dumb is blowing up on her campaign even as the furor continues to rage over President Biden’s dismissal of Trump supporters as ‘garbage.’

‘Donald Trump, you never see him around strong, intelligent women. Ever,’ Cuban said during an appearance on ABC’s ‘The View’ Thursday. ‘It’s just that simple. They’re intimidating to him. He doesn’t like to be challenged by them and, you know, Nikki Haley will call him on his nonsense with reproductive rights and how he sees and treats and talks about women. I mean, he just can’t have her around. It wouldn’t work.’

The comments resulted in a firestorm of criticism from Trump supporters – both men and women. 

‘Obviously, I wasn’t talking about Nikki Haley, and I wasn’t talking about all Trump supporters,’ Cuban told Fox News Digital. ‘That’s ridiculous.’ 

Asked if he would have chosen his words differently in hindsight, Cuban said: ‘I would probably just add that I’m only speaking to the point that I haven’t seen [Trump] side-by-side on the campaign trail with women I consider strong and intelligent. Like Nikki Haley, Kellyanne [Conway] and Tulsi [Gabbard], among others.’

Cuban also sought to add context with a post on X, formerly Twitter, shared Thursday afternoon, noting that he knows ‘many strong, intelligent women voting for Trump,’ citing members of his ‘extended family’ as an example. He also said that women who have worked for Trump in the past, such as Ivanka Trump and Kellyanne Conway, represent ‘strong, intelligent women.’ 

Cuban stated in his post on X that he still stands by his opinion that Trump ‘does not like being challenged publicly.’  

Meanwhile, In a statement to Fox News Digital, Trump campaign national press secretary Karoline Leavitt called Cuban’s comments ‘extremely insulting to the thousands of women who work for president Trump, and the tens of millions of women who are voting for him.’

‘These women are mothers, entrepreneurs, and industry leaders, and they are, indeed, strong and intelligent, despite what Mark Cuban and Kamala Harris say.’ 

She added: ‘The joy at Kamala HQ has been replaced by division, vitriol, and a disturbing level of disrespect for the millions of Americans who are supporting President Trump after four years of destruction under Kamala Harris.’

Biden called Trump supporters ‘garbage’ during a Zoom call with Hispanic voters earlier this week. During Cuban’s appearance on ‘The View,’ he argued Biden’s remarks did not ‘matter at all.’   

Fox News Digital reached out to the Harris campaign for comment but did not receive a response by publication time.

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One Apprentice alum and attorney has joined the campaign for Donald Trump as some alumni of the reality show have publicly endorsed Kamala Harris ahead of Tuesday’s presidential election.

Erin Elmore appeared on season three of NBC’s The Apprentice in 2006 and was ‘fired’ after nine episodes, but she says the experience was immeasurable in the impact both it and Trump have had on her career.

Elmore is one of the 11 Apprentice contestants who recently penned a public letter in support of former President Trump’s re-election bid after another cohort publicly endorsed Vice President Harris.

Their letter read, ‘it is disappointing and shameful that these contestants would use the platform that Donald Trump gave them to attack him in this manner. Is this the thanks he gets for literally changing the trajectory of our lives?’ 

A letter obtained by Politico from six people formerly involved with The Apprentice claimed that former President Trump is a ‘divisive, self-interested, and erratic leader with a fragile ego.’

Elmore wholeheartedly disagrees with the letter’s characterization, claiming in an interview with Fox News Digital that ‘every bit of success I have in this life and everything that I’m doing is because of Donald Trump.’

She joined the show in 2006 as a 26-year-old who had recently graduated law school and made it nearly all the way through season 3. 

‘Yes, I heard the words, ‘you’re fired.’ But I was rehired on the campaign many, many years later,’ said Elmore in an interview with Fox News Digital. ‘But before we get into that, you know, Donald Trump was someone that saw a young person who was ambitious; he gave me every opportunity in the world. After I left the show, he asked me, ‘what do you want to do?’ And I said, ‘I want to get into journalism.’ And he wrote me a letter of recommendation, handed me a folio with people that I could contact. He said, This is on you. This is your job to do it.’

‘And he wrote me a letter of recommendation, handed me a folio with people that I could contact. He said, ‘This is on you. This is your job to do it.’

— Erin Elmore

Elmore landed a job in news media after her time on the show in Jacksonville, Florida before going on to work at QVC. She says everything changed when Donald Trump first went down that escalator in 2015 and threw his hat in the ring for commander-in-chief.

‘I was there for about ten years and I was very comfortable,’ said Elmore to Fox News Digital. ‘I had gotten married. I had had a child. And by the way, in both of those monumental situations in my life, who did I get surprise phone calls from Donald Trump saying, ‘congratulations on your wedding. I heard you had a beautiful son. Congratulations.’ So our paths were always connected.’ 

‘But when he came down that golden escalator and said he was running for president, I called his personal assistant that I kept in touch with over those ten years. I said, ‘Rona, I am quitting my job. I have a six-month-old baby at home. I am going to dedicate my life to getting this man elected.’

Erin Elmore served as a deputy press secretary in 2016 for the RNC and as a Trump surrogate in the same cycle. She has stepped up again in 2024 for re-election efforts as part of the Women for Trump bus tour visiting swing states with figures like Lara Trump.

She says that she finds it ‘sad’ that other alumni from the Apprentice haven’t seen the character she sees in former president Trump.

‘Not only were you exposed to the American platform, you had everyone in America watching you,’ said Elmore to Fox News Digital. ‘But Donald Trump gave us the opportunity to meet with titans of industry, business leaders, CEOs–the networking opportunities were absolutely to the moon.’

‘And I just don’t know how anyone could possibly say that they weren’t afforded every opportunity in the world. Yes, I approached Donald Trump after I was on the show and I said, ‘Would you write me a letter of recommendation? Would you help me with some job opportunities?’ But you know what? That’s how the world works. We have to pick ourselves up by the bootstraps and make ourselves successful. And the fact that these people can’t really see what the show has done for them is just sad and it speaks more about them than it does about us,’ added Elmore.

As for what’s in store after next week’s presidential election, Elmore says she plans to first focus on her family, including her son’s student council campaign.

‘We’re all scared. We’re all emotional. But to me, the most important thing is being a good wife and a mother,’ said Elmore. ‘And I’ve been in this game a long time and I know so many people want so many amazing things. I think what I’m going to do is I’m going to manage my son’s student council campaign, because I know exactly what to do in politics.’

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Former President Trump is suing CBS News for $10 billion in damages, stating the network practiced ‘deceptive conduct’ for the purpose of election interference in its interview with Vice President Kamala Harris.

Fox News Digital exclusively obtained the lawsuit filed Thursday. 

Trump attorneys said the complaint comes due to ‘CBS’ partisan and unlawful acts of election and voter interference through malicious, deceptive, and substantial news distortion calculated to confuse, deceive, and mislead the public.’ 

Trump attorneys also argued the edits were done in an effort to ‘attempt to tip the scales in favor of the Democratic Party as the heated 2024 Presidential Election — which President Trump is leading — approaches its conclusion.’ 

‘President Trump brings this action to redress the immense harm caused to him, to his campaign, and to tens of millions of citizens in Texas and across America by CBS’s deceptive broadcasting conduct,’ the lawsuit states.

The lawsuit comes after Trump’s attorneys wrote letters to CBS News demanding the network release the full transcript of the ’60 Minutes’ interview with Harris after it aired two different answers to the same question. Trump attorneys asked CBS to preserve all documents and communications related to the interview pending a potential legal battle. 

CBS News refused to release the full transcript, citing the First Amendment, and rejected the assertion that it had ‘doctored’ the Harris interview to mislead the American people. The network insisted that ‘the interview was not doctored’ and that the program ‘did not hide any part of the vice president’s answer to the question at issue.’ 

The lawsuit filed Thursday specifically references the exchange Harris had with ’60 Minutes’ correspondent Bill Whitaker. In a preview clip that aired on ‘Face the Nation,’ Harris was asked why it seemed like Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu wasn’t listening to the U.S. 

‘Well, Bill, the work that we have done has resulted in a number of movements in that region by Israel that were very much prompted by, or a result of, many things, including our advocacy for what needs to happen in the region,’ Harris responded in the ‘Face the Nation’ clip. 

Harris was mocked by conservatives for offering a lengthy ‘word salad’ to Whitaker. But when that same question aired the following night in the primetime election special, a shorter, more focused answer from the vice president followed.

‘We are not going to stop pursuing what is necessary for the United States to be clear about where we stand on the need for this war to end,’ Harris said in the primetime special. 

Critics accused CBS News of editing Harris’ ‘word salad’ answer to shield the vice president from further backlash, and there have been growing calls for the network to release the full transcript after it only shared transcripts of what had aired. 

‘To paper over Kamala’s ‘word salad’ weakness, CBS used its national platform on 60 Minutes to cross the line from the exercise of judgment in reporting to deceitful, deceptive manipulation of news,’ the lawsuit states.

Trump lawyers argue that news organizations ‘are responsible for accurately representing the truth of events, not distorting an interview to try and falsely make their preferred candidate appear coherent and decisive, which Kamala most certainly is not.’

‘Due to CBS’ actions, the public could not distinguish which Kamala they saw in the Interview: the candidate or the actual puppet of a behind-the-scenes editor,’ the lawsuit states, noting that Whitaker’s question ‘was of the utmost public significance — U.S. foreign policy on the matter of the Israel/Gaza war — at a time of immense importance, mere weeks before the most critical presidential election in American history.’ 

Trump is demanding a jury trial and at least $10 billion in damages for CBS’ alleged ‘ongoing false, misleading, and deceptive acts; the attorneys’ fees and costs associated with this action; and such other relief as the court deems just and proper.’ 

CBS News did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment. 

Fox News’ Brian Flood and Joseph Wulfsohn contributed to this report. 

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U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken confirmed on Thursday that 8,000 North Korean soldiers in Russia are expected to begin combat operations against Ukrainian troops in Kursk ‘in the coming days.’

The secretary said that of the 10,000 North Korean soldiers believed to have been sent to Russia for training, 80% of that force is now in the Kursk region, where Ukraine first launched an incursion in August.

Ukraine has since captured and held onto roughly 460 square miles according to reports earlier this month, not only prompting civilian evacuations from the region but also forcing Russia to fight its war on its own territory. 

Blinken, speaking alongside Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin and their South Korean counterparts in a joint press conference Thursday, said Russia has been training the North Korean troops in artillery and UAV basic infantry operations like trench clearing in an indication that Moscow ‘fully intend[s] to use these forces in frontline operations.’

The Russian military has also apparently provided these troops with uniforms and equipment in what Austin also said ‘strongly indicates that Russia intends to use these foreign forces in frontline operations in its war of choice against Ukraine.’

‘[Russian President Vladimir] Putin has been throwing more and more Russians into a meat grinder of his own making in Ukraine. Now he’s turning to North Korean troops, and that is a clear sign of weakness,’ Blinken said. 

The secretary also said Russian troops are seeing record high casualty rates with some 1,200 casualties reported a day in eastern Ukraine – a rate that is more than Russia has endured at any other time since the war began more than two and half years ago.

The deployment of North Korean troops to Russia, first confirmed by the Pentagon a week ago, is the first time in 100 years that Russia has invited foreign troops onto its soil, confirmed Blinken. 

When pressed by reporters about whether Ukrainian forces can continue to hold onto the territory in Kursk, Austin said simply, ‘Yes.’

‘If you take a look at what I said earlier in terms of the numbers of casualties that Russia is suffering on a daily basis… [and] you do the math on a given month – those are pretty big numbers,’ Austin said. ‘Ten thousand pales in comparison to those kinds of casualties.’

Blinken said additional security assistance will be announced for Ukraine in ‘the coming days.’

The joint address came just hours after North Korea on Thursday also launched its longest ever intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) roughly 620 miles over an 86-minute period in the direction of the East Sea, reported Japanese authorities.

Austin told reporters on Thursday he did not believe Russia had any involvement in the latest missile test but said the U.S. is continuing to work with allies and partners in the region to analyze the missile launch. Though Austin also warned that North Korea’s partnership with Russia is likely to ’embolden’ it.

‘[North Korea] stands a chance of gaining in this exchange,’ Austin said in reference to its partnership with Russia. ‘This is something we’re going to have to continue to watch very, very closely. 

‘It will… potentially embolden them to do more of the kinds of things that we’ve seen them do here recently,’ he added in reference to the ICBM launch. 

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Prominent conservative women are pushing back against billionaire and Harris campaign surrogate Mark Cuban for arguing that former President Trump would never surround himself with ‘strong, intelligent women.’

‘@mcubanI’ve been a CEO and professional sports team owner JUST like you,’ former Sen. Kelly Loeffler, R-Ga., said Thursday in response to Cuban on X. ‘I’m one of the millions of strong, conservative women who back Trump. You might think we’re stupid, or that we’re garbage. We think it’s time to replace you and Kamala with leaders who don’t hate us.’

Loeffler’s comments came in response to Cuban’s remarks on ABC’s ‘The View’ on Thursday morning.

‘Donald Trump, you never see him around strong, intelligent women. Ever,’ Cuban said. ‘It’s just that simple. They’re intimidating to him. He doesn’t like to be challenged by them.’ 

The remarks were quickly condemned by the Trump campaign, with campaign national press secretary Karoline Leavitt calling the comment ‘insulting.’

‘This is extremely insulting to the thousands of women who work for President Trump, and the tens of millions of women who are voting for him,’ Leavitt said. ‘These women are mothers, entrepreneurs, and industry leaders, and they are, indeed, strong and intelligent, despite what Mark Cuban and Kamala Harris say.’ 

Speaking to Fox News Digital, Leavitt added that ‘joy at Kamala HQ has been replaced by division, vitriol, and a disturbing level of disrespect for the millions of Americans who are supporting President Trump after four years of destruction under Kamala Harris.’

However, Loeffler and Leavitt weren’t the only conservative women to respond to Cuban, with many others taking to X to voice their frustrations with the billionaire’s remarks.

‘I’ll take this seriously when @mcuban can define what a woman is,’ conservative columnist Carly Bird said.

‘More of the same condescending rhetoric from Harris allies,’ said Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa. ‘This strong, intelligent woman voted for Donald J. Trump — and I’ve been proud to be on the road across this great country with @TeamTrump!’

‘Trying to think of a response to sissy man @mcuban but I’m too dumb and weak to do so,’ quipped conservative columnist Julie Kelly.

‘Just when you think the Kamala camp can’t possibly alienate and divide people any more than they already have…now they attack women who support Trump. Nice job, Mark,’ added Republican National Committee co-chair Lara Trump.

Cuban’s comments came just a few days after President Biden apparently described Trump supporters as ‘garbage’ during a Zoom call with Voto Latino on Tuesday.

‘The only garbage I see floating out there is his supporters,’ Biden said in response to comments made by comedian Tony Hinchcliffe, who called Puerto Rico a ‘floating island of garbage’ during Trump’s rally at Madison Square Garden.

The White House has denied that the president was referring directly to the former president’s supporters with the remark.

Nevertheless, Trump has seized on the Biden comments, telling supporters in Wisconsin on Wednesday that Democrats have expressed too much ‘hatred’ towards those who disagree with them.

‘My response to Joe and Kamala is very simple: You can’t lead America if you don’t love Americans,’ Trump said. ‘And you can’t be president if you hate the American people, and there’s a lot of hatred there.’ 

The Harris campaign did not immediately respond to a Fox News Digital request for comment.

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Top House Republicans are coalescing behind the House Administration Committee’s subpoena of Democratic fundraising giant ActBlue.

Republicans have accused the company of having insufficient donor verification standards. Committee Chair Bryan Steil, R-Wis., has argued that the site is vulnerable to fraudulent and illegal foreign donations, though ActBlue has said it ‘rigorously protects donors’ security.’

‘ActBlue has a lot of explaining to do, and Chairman Steil is right to demand answers on these very serious allegations of foreign funds being funneled through the platform,’ Rep. Richard Hudson, R-N.C., chairman of House Republicans’ campaign arm, told Fox News Digital.

‘Just as we must protect the right to vote for American citizens, we must ensure our elections are free from foreign financial interference.’

House GOP Conference Chairwoman Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., also credited Steil and pointed out that his accusations come amid reports that China and Iran are trying to influence the election.

‘Malign foreign actors are attempting to hijack American elections through the Far Left Democrat fundraising platform ActBlue by tipping the scales in favor of Kamala Harris and Congressional Democrats,’ Stefanik said. ‘It has never been more critical to ensure American elections are free from foreign manipulation.’

ActBlue did not require a card verification value (CVV) to be input for donations until recently, prompting a flurry of concern from Republican lawmakers and some GOP state attorneys general.

Steil sent multiple letters and requests for information to the platform, which has insisted it holds donor security to a high standard.

A spokesperson for House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., said he was ‘supportive’ of the subpoena, adding, ‘Only American citizens should be participants in our elections, and this investigation is critical to ensure that our elections remain secure and shielded from foreign actors.’

Steil issued a subpoena Wednesday to ActBlue for ‘documents and communications related to ActBlue’s donor verification policies and the potential for foreign actors, primarily from Iran, Russia, Venezuela, and China to use ActBlue to launder illicit money into U.S. political campaigns.’

ActBlue responded to Steil in a statement, ‘ActBlue has received Chairman Steil’s latest inquiry and will respond to address the continued inaccuracies and misrepresentations about our platform, as we have done previously. We rigorously protect donors’ security and maintain strict anti-fraud compliance practices. We have zero tolerance for fraud on our platform.’

But fellow Republicans on his committee are standing firm that the subpoena was necessary.

Rep. Laurel Lee, R-Fla., the chair of the panel’s subcommittee on elections, told Fox News Digital, ‘In our investigation so far, we have found that loopholes in ActBlue’s insufficient security protocols may be exploited by bad actors, potentially leading to countries like China, Russia and Venezuela donating to campaigns in the names of Americans without their consent.’

‘With the general election just five days away, Americans need to have confidence that our elections are secure and that there is no foul play involved,’ she said.

Committee member Rep. Greg Murphy, R-N.C., said, ‘The subpoena is critical for the committee to ensure federal campaign finance laws are not being violated, including laundering money into campaign coffers through inadequate security protections.’

Meanwhile, Rep. Stephanie Bice, R-Okla., told Fox News Digital, ‘Like the chairman, I have been concerned by the inadequate security protocols at ActBlue, who haven’t required CVV verification and allow for pre-paid cards for political donations.’

The accusations come at a critical time, with Election Day less than a week out.

The platform denied all GOP allegations of wrongdoing in a statement to Fox News before Steil’s subpoena, ‘These false claims about ActBlue have been discredited repeatedly by campaign finance experts. ActBlue protects donors’ information by maintaining a robust security program and fraud prevention measures, often beyond what is required by law.’

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Vice President Kamala Harris criticized former President Trump’s remarks at a rally about protecting Americans, particularly women, from migrant crime ‘whether the women like it or not,’ calling his comment ‘offensive.’ 

Speaking with reporters Thursday morning, Harris said, ‘It’s just, it actually is being very offensive to women in terms of not understanding their agency, their authority, their rights and their ability to make decisions about their own lives, including their own bodies,’ tying his comments on illegal immigration to abortion. 

During his Green Bay, Wisconsin, rally, Trump talked about the southern border under President Biden and Harris. ‘Kamala has imported criminal migrants from prisons and jails, from insane asylums and mental institutions all over the world, from Venezuela to the Congo, including savage criminals to assault, rape and murder our women and girls,’ he said. 

He then discussed conversations with his staff on whether he should profess that he specifically wants to protect women from the consequences of an unsecured border. According to Trump, his advisers suggested it could be inappropriate to say. 

‘I said, well, I’m going to do it. Whether the women like it or not, I’m going to protect them,’ he told the crowd before being met with cheers. 

‘I’m going to protect them from migrants coming in. I’m going to protect them from foreign countries that want to hit us with missiles, and lots of other things.’

Harris told reporters that ‘this is just the latest in a series of revelations by the former president of how he thinks about women and their agency.’

Trump is notably against a federal abortion ban and has emphasized that he wants the issue to remain in the individual states. 

The vice president referred to state-level abortion restrictions as a ‘Trump abortion ban,’ claiming, ‘one in three women live in a Trump abortion ban state and has legal restrictions on the right she rightly should have to make decisions about her own body.’ 

In a 2023 survey by the AP-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research, the nuance of public sentiment on abortion was revealed in greater detail. While most Americans believed that abortion should be legal to a certain extent, opinions changed drastically when the 15-week and 24-week markers were addressed. 

Overall, nearly three quarters believed in legal abortion at six weeks, including more than half of Republicans. However, just 51% supported legal abortion at 15 weeks, and only 27% backed it as far as 24 weeks. 

The poll was conducted June 22-26, 2023, and featured 1,220 respondents. The margin of error was +/- 3.9 percentage points.

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