Former President Donald Trump appears to be further cementing his commanding front-runner status in the race for the 2024 GOP presidential nomination, thanks to another large quarterly fundraising haul.

Trump’s presidential campaign announced on Wednesday evening that it raked in a whopping $45.5 million during the July-September third quarter of 2023 fundraising.

The former president’s political team also reported over $37.5 million in their campaign coffers as of the end of last month.

Trump’s fundraising the past three months is up from the roughly $35 million he brought in during the April-June second quarter of fundraising, which nearly doubled his haul from the first quarter of the year.

‘The Q3 numbers are even more impressive considering the Summer months are usually when most campaigns experience lagging fundraising support. President Trump and his campaign have completely shattered that notion,’ the campaign touted in an email release.

With three and a half months to go until the Iowa caucuses kick off the 2024 GOP presidential nominating calendar, Trump is leagues ahead of his large field of challengers in the latest national polling and crucial early state surveys.

Trump’s lead expanded over the spring and summer as he made history as the first former or current president in American history to be indicted for a crime. Trump’s four indictments — including in federal court in Washington D.C. and in Fulton County court in Georgia on charges he tried to overturn his 2020 presidential election loss — have only fueled his support among Republican voters in both polling and fundraising.

Earlier on Wednesday, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ campaign reported a $15 million fundraising haul the past three months. But DeSantis figures were down from the $20 million he brought in during the second quarter of fundraising.

Trump’s campaign, in their release, took aim at DeSantis for what they described as an ‘exponential drop’ in the governor’s fundraising. 

Fundraising, along with polling, is a key metric in determining a candidate’s strength and grassroots appeal. Fundraising dollars can be used to build up candidate’s campaign structure, grassroots outreach, and get out the vote efforts, and to pay for travel and ads.

Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more at our Fox News Digital election hub.

As the House searches for a new speaker and the Senate works to get Ukraine assistance back into a spending bill come November 17 when the current deal expires, Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., says there is a ‘growing movement’ within the Republican party to cut additional funding altogether.

‘We have problems funding Social Security, we have problems funding, Medicare, Medicaid, all the things that have already been promised to our people we have trouble funding, and we just don’t have extra money just to be sending to another country,’ Paul told Fox News Digital in an interview this week. 

The U.S. has sent more than an estimated $100 billion of taxpayer dollars to Ukraine since the war began, according to the White House. 

Republicans who are opposed to additional funding the war-torn nation scored a victory last weekend when then-House Speaker McCarthy passed a spending patch without the additional multi-billion dollar Ukraine assistance as requested by President Joe Biden, ultimately averting a government shutdown. The temporary funding patch expires Nov. 17, bringing Congress to another potential showdown in a few weeks. 

Paul — prior to Rep. Kevin McCarthy’s ouster — said that all eyes will be on what the House speaker does in the next go-around of spending discussions, citing a caveat that may ‘dampen’ efforts to continue sending funds to Ukraine, which has been gripped by a Russian invasion since last year.

‘The Republican Conference in the house has a rule, that if a majority of the Republican Conference is for something or against something, the speaker can’t bring it up by rule,’ he said. 

That unwritten practice is known as the Hastert Rule, which sets the precedent that the speaker will not bring a bill to the floor unless ‘the majority of the majority’ is in favor of it. 

‘I think it’s a good question for some of the opponents on the House side,’ Paul said. ‘Will the conference rule hold that will prevent [the speaker] from bringing it up? Because if it does, that ends up being perhaps a deal killer on this as it moves forward.’

Other GOP lawmakers in the upper chamber opposed to more assistance, at least without additional oversight, include Sens. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., Sen. J.D. Vance, R-Ohio, John Kennedy, R-La., Jim Risch, R- Idaho and Roger Wicker, R-Miss.

Aside from being trillions in debt, Paul said the secondary reason is that Ukraine ‘is not really a shining example of democracy, they canceled the elections.’ 

‘So, a country that doesn’t have elections is hard-pressed to be describing themselves as a paragon of democracy,’ he said.

And Republicans aren’t the only ones concerned about Ukraine’s purported ethical failures. A recent U.S. State Department strategy memo detailing the top priorities for Ukraine — ravaged by war against Russia since last year — shows even the Biden administration has concerns over purported corruption in the Eastern European country but still supports continued aid to the region.

According to the 22-page document, called the Integrated Country Strategy, the ‘biggest challenge is winning the war,’ but ‘Ukraine has a unique opportunity in the current moment to commit to the anti-corruption and judicial reforms needed to realize the aspirations of the Ukrainian people.’

‘I think it’s obscene to do it [send more aid] without an inspector general in place,’ Paul said. ‘There’s still a healthy amount of corruption in Ukraine.’

Meanwhile, Sen. Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said Wednesday following the GOP’s weekly luncheon that adding more aid is ‘still a major priority.’

‘I think a majority of the members of both parties still support it,’ McConnell said of assistance to Ukraine. ‘We need some direction from the [Biden] administration as to how they intend to go forward.’

The House impeachment inquiry against President Biden will continue ‘full steam ahead,’ with ‘further action’ expected in the coming days, despite the uncertainty surrounding who will take the helm as speaker of the House of Representatives following the ouster of Rep. Kevin McCarthy, Fox News Digital has learned.

McCarthy, R-Calif., who served as speaker of the House from late January through October and is the first in United States history to have been voted to be removed from the post supported the launch of an impeachment inquiry against the president last month, after months of GOP-led investigations into his family’s business dealings and whether he was involved.

House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., and House Ways & Means Committee Chairman Jason Smith, R-Mo., were tasked by McCarthy with leading the impeachment inquiry.

But even with McCarthy ousted, their investigations are expected to continue.

‘Full steam ahead,’ a senior Judiciary Committee aide told Fox News Digital.

Jordan announced his bid for speaker of the House on Wednesday morning, just hours after McCarthy’s ouster.

And an Oversight Committee spokesperson told Fox News Digital that the committee’s work ‘continues.’

‘The committee is continuing to review documents, records, and communications and will take further action in the coming days,’ the Oversight spokesperson said.

A spokesperson for the Ways & Means Committee concurred. 

‘The Ways and Means Committee remains committed to holding the following the facts where the evidence leads,’ the spokesperson told Fox News Digital. 

Despite the speaker vacancy, subpoenas that have already been issued by committees as part of the impeachment inquiry—like subpoenas for Hunter Biden and James Biden’s personal and business bank records—as well as those issued as part of general Biden administration oversight, remain valid.

The next steps in the investigation come after the committees hold their first joint-panel impeachment inquiry hearing last week.

The GOP lawmakers say the financial records that the Oversight Committee has obtained to date ‘reveal a pattern where the Bidens sold access to Joe Biden around the world to enrich the Biden family.’

Fox News Digital first reported that the House Oversight Committee has learned that the Biden family and their business associates brought in more than $24 million between 2014 and 2019 by ‘selling Joe Biden as ‘the brand’ around the world.’

The scope of the impeachment inquiry covers the span the time of Biden’s vice presidency to the present, including his time out of office.

But beyond investigating Biden’s ties to his family’s business dealings, House Republicans are also probing the alleged obstruction of the Justice Department’s years-long federal investigation into Hunter Biden. The allegations stem from IRS whistleblowers who allege politics influenced prosecutorial steps throughout the probe.

The White House maintains that President Biden was never in business with his son and never discussed business with his son or his family. White House officials have blasted the impeachment inquiry against the president as an ‘evidence-free’ political stunt. 

He has been the most prolific fundraiser in House Republican history.

The unprecedented ouster this week of Speaker Kevin McCarthy raises plenty of question marks for the House GOP as it aims to hold its fragile majority in the chamber in the 2024 elections.

‘It will 100% be a setback,’ predicted a Republican in McCarthy’s political orbit, who asked to remain anonymous to speak more freely.

A GOP strategist involved in congressional races, who asked for anonymity, warned that ‘House Republicans are going to need to pick up the pieces quickly of what was the most impressive fundraising organization we have seen in politics if they want to be successful in 2024.’

The speaker’s removal has already caused a ripple in the GOP’s fundraising efforts. The National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC), the main fundraising arm for the House GOP, will postpone a fall gala that was scheduled for next week that McCarthy was slated to headline, Fox News confirmed Wednesday. Organizers said Republicans needed to focus on electing a new speaker instead.

McCarthy, a former state lawmaker from California who was first elected to the House 17 years ago and who’s been in GOP leadership in the chamber since 2009, long had a reputation as a top Republican fundraiser, even before he became speaker.

As minority leader, McCarthy helped party defy expectations in the 2020 elections by taking a big bite out of Democrats’ House majority — despite Democrats winning the White House. He personally hauled in $150 million in the last election cycle to help Republicans win back the House majority. 

But after Republicans gained the House majority in last November’s midterms, McCarthy still had to secure his party’s backing as he clawed his way through an historic 15-ballot speakership election over five days at the beginning of the year. 

That fight set back fundraising efforts, but McCarthy quickly made up for lost time as he hauled in an eye-popping $12.3 million at his first major fundraiser, which was held in early February at a downtown D.C. hotel.

As speaker, he hauled in a whopping $62.5 million during the first six months of the year through the McCarthy Victory Fund. 

‘It is a huge question mark,’ said another Republican operative who works on House races. ‘He’s a very prolific fundraiser. He was our best asset in that arena.’

The operative, who also asked to remain anonymous to speak more freely, noted that ‘it’s really hard to know that the practical impact will be. We don’t know who the next leader is going to be and what their fundraising capacity is like.’

While the GOP captured the House majority last year, hopes of a red wave never materialized and the party is holding onto a fragile 222-213 majority (currently 221-212 with seats in a red district and a blue district currently vacant. That means Democrats need a net gain of just five seats to win back control of the chamber next year.

‘I intend to make sure that we gain and keep the majority in the next cycle,’ McCarthy vowed at a news conference on Tuesday after he was booted from the speakership.

Veteran Republican strategist and former National Republican Congressional Committee national press secretary Jesse Hunt noted that when it comes to fundraising going forward, ‘there seems to be a pretty good existing apparatus there, and I’m sure McCarthy and members of the current leadership will try to help make the transition as seamless as possible.’

While Republicans focused on the 2024 House elections acknowledge the ousting of McCarthy’s a distraction, they counter that they still enjoy an ‘amazing’ political environment, with leading issues such as the economy, border security, and crime that polling suggests favors the GOP.

‘We have a message that works and Joe Biden’s unpopular. We have a lot going for us,’ the Republican operative said.

They also point to their 2024 recruitment class ‘that’s on the field already,’ which McCarthy had a hand in shaping.

‘We’ve got good pieces on the chess board and we’ve got a good message to talk about,’ the operative added.

Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more at our Fox News Digital election hub.

North Korea is warning Wednesday that its military will deliver ‘the most overwhelming and sustained response strategy’ to the U.S. after the Pentagon last week issued a report on weapons of mass destruction that called the country a ‘persistent’ threat. 

The Pentagon’s ‘2023 Strategy for Countering Weapons of Mass Destruction’ said that while China and Russia present the ‘principal WMD challenges, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), the Islamic Republic of Iran, and Violent Extremist Organizations remain persistent regional threats that must be addressed.’ 

North Korean state media quoted a defense ministry spokesman as saying Wednesday that ‘the U.S. has just revealed its dangerous intention for aggression to seriously violate the sovereignty and security of the DPRK and other independent sovereign states by threatening them with WMDs, and realize its wild ambition for seizing global military hegemony.’ 

The spokesman added that Kim Jong Un’s military ‘will counter the U.S. imperialist aggressors’ military strategy and provocations with the most overwhelming and sustained response strategy,’ according to a translation by the website KCNA Watch. 

NORTH KOREA ADDS ‘NUCLEAR FORCE-BUILDING’ MISSION TO ITS CONSTITUTION 

North Korea’s nuclear program has taken on new urgency since it enacted a law last year that authorizes preemptive use of nuclear weapons, which is referenced in the Pentagon report.  

‘The DPRK is developing and fielding mobile short-, intermediate-, and intercontinental-range nuclear capabilities that place the U.S. homeland and regional Allies and partners at risk,’ the Pentagon report said.  

US SOLDIER TRAVIS KING BACK ON AMERICAN SOIL AFTER BEING FREED BY NORTH KOREA 

‘The DPRK’s longstanding chemical and biological weapons capabilities remain a threat, as the DPRK may use such weapons during a conflict,’ it added. ‘The DPRK maintains up to several thousand metric tons of chemical warfare agents and the capability to produce nerve, blister, blood, and choking agents. The DPRK chemical employment methods include artillery, ballistic missiles, and unconventional forces.’ 

Since the beginning of 2022, North Korea has conducted more than 100 missile tests, many of them involving nuclear-capable weapons potentially able to target the U.S. and South Korea. 

Last week, North Korea’s parliament amended the country’s constitution to include the nuclear law, an indication that the North is further boosting its nuclear doctrine. During the parliament meeting, leader Kim Jong Un called for an exponential increase in production of nuclear weapons and for his country to play a larger role in a coalition of nations confronting the United States in a ‘new Cold War.’ 

The Associated Press contributed to this report. 

House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., on Wednesday announced his intent to run for speaker.

In a letter sent to Republican colleagues, Scalise referenced the 2017 congressional baseball game practice where he was shot and critically wounded, crediting the members of his conference for helping him get through.

‘I firmly believe this Conference is a family. When I was shot in 2017, it was Members of this Conference who saved my life on that field. When I made it to the hospital and my family was told my chances of surviving were low, it was the prayers from all of you that carried us through,’ Scalise wrote. 

‘God already gave me another chance at life. I believe we were all put here for a purpose. This next chapter won’t be easy, but I know what it takes to fight and I am prepared for the battles that lie ahead. I humbly ask you for your support on this mission to be your Speaker of the House.’

It comes after former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., was ousted from the top job on Tuesday by a small number of GOP hardliners and all House Democrats.

A senior GOP aide told Fox News Digital on Tuesday night that Scalise could be a viable ‘frontrunner’ and much of the conference would be ‘open’ to his candidacy for speaker.

Scalise is McCarthy’s longtime No. 2, a partnership that has caused public friction between the two at times. In June, the two leaders publicly blamed each other when conservative hardliners protesting McCarthy’s debt limit deal with President Biden derailed legislative proceedings on the House floor.

But he’s already managed to snag support of key Republicans, including House Majority Whip Tom Emmer, R-Minn. 

A source familiar with Emmer’s thinking confirmed to Fox News Digital that he is supporting Scalise for speaker while making his own calls to gauge interest in a possible run for majority leader himself.

Others have also jumped behind Scalise, like Rep. Tony Gonzales, R-Texas, who said, ‘For a time such as this… Steve is the right man to lead our country.’

Conservative Rep. Lisa McClain, R-Mich., also said she would be supporting Scalise. 

‘Our next speaker should be someone with top-notch leadership skills and great experience. That someone is [Scalise], and I am proud to support him for speaker,’ McClain said.

Scalise is a member of the Republican Study Committee, whose chair, Rep. Kevin Hern, R-Okla., is also giving the speakership serious thought. 

House Judiciary Chair Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, was the first to announce his bid for the speaker’s gavel.

House Judiciary Chair Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, announced he is running for speaker — the first GOP lawmaker to put his hat in the ring for what’s sure to be a competitive race.

The House of Representatives is without an elected leader after former Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., was ousted by a small group of rebels within his own party.

Jordan said Wednesday morning that he would step up to run for the job. House Republicans plan to hold a candidate forum next Tuesday and an election the following day.

He’ll likely have the support of conservatives and others in the right wing of the GOP conference, but it’s unclear if he can win the support of enough moderates.

To help broaden his support, Jordan will have the help of Rep. Mike Carey, R-Ohio, who Fox News Digital was told is whipping votes for Jordan among moderate Republicans and more mainstream conservatives. 

Carey, like Jordan, is an ally of former President Donald Trump. But Carey is known much more for working with moderates and Democrats, particularly in the Ohio delegation.

Other names that have been floated for the speaker’s gavel are Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La.; Republican Study Committee Chair Kevin Hern, R-Okla.; and Rep. Byron Donalds, R-Fla.

Jordan is the leader of one of three House committees investigating President Biden and his family. That investigation culminated into an impeachment inquiry being led by the House Oversight Committee.

A faction of Republicans immediately jumped to support him, including Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., a McCarthy ally.

‘We face difficult challenges, but the choice is clear: We need Jim Jordan as our next speaker of the House,’ Issa said. 

He also appears to have the support of Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., who moved to oust McCarthy in the first place.

‘My mentor Jim Jordan would be great!’ Gaetz posted on X, formerly Twitter, in response to a conservative who voted to keep McCarthy, Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., calling Jordan his ‘first choice if he will run.’ 

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell spoke out in support of ousted House Speaker Kevin McCarthy on Tuesday, applauding his service in a ‘thankless role.’ 

McConnell, R-Ky., released the statement thanking McCarthy, R-Calif., for his short tenure following the successful rebellion of eight GOP lawmakers culminating in his removal as speaker.

‘Speaker McCarthy has my sincere thanks for his service to our nation in what is often a thankless role,’ McConnell wrote. ‘The Speaker’s tenure was bookended by historic fights, but as he reminded his colleagues when he took the gavel, ‘our nation is worth fighting for.”

Eight hard-line Republican lawmakers joined every present House Democrat in Tuesday’s historic vote to oust McCarthy from the top job.

The Senate minority leader’s comments on the former speaker struck a gushing tone, saying McCarthy ‘brought the hopes, dreams, and concerns of the people’ to Congress.

‘The Speaker’s appetite for worthy causes steered a narrow majority to seize historic opportunities for the American people and for conservative principles,’ McConnell wrote. ‘His willingness to face the biggest challenges head-on helped preserve the full faith and credit of the United States and showed colleagues how to handle every outcome with grace.’

McCarthy angered hardliners over the weekend when he passed a short-term spending bill known as a continuing resolution (CR) to keep the government open for 45 days in order to avert a government shutdown and give lawmakers more time to cobble together 12 individual spending bills.

Ninety House Republicans voted against the CR on Saturday, arguing that it was a ‘clean’ extension of the previous Democrat-held Congress’ policies. But the speaker’s previous attempts to put a CR on the table that would cut spending for its short duration were upended by several of those same conservatives who were opposed to any such measure on principle.

‘We’re concerned about the future of the conservative agenda in the House,’ said Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla, who was the informal leader of McCarthy’s critics. ‘I would say that the conservative agenda was being paralyzed by Speaker McCarthy.’ 

McCarthy said Gaetz’s move was ‘personal’ and suggested it was done in retaliation for an ongoing Ethics Committee investigation into his conduct. 

Fox News Digital’s Elizabeth Elkind , Brandon Gillespie and Jamie Joseph contributed to this report.

COVID exposed the danger of being heavily reliant on a foreign country for medications and medical supplies when China and other countries put a halt on PPE and other exports. As a result of inaction, we are seeing headlines announcing medication shortages of life-saving drugs, like chemotherapeutics, and generics like amoxicillin are higher than ever.

All Americans, not only those in medical professions, should share the same grave concerns expressed by former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley at the recent presidential primary debate. For decades, administrations from both political parties have sat idly by while America’s pharmaceutical manufacturing moved overseas, primarily to China and India. 

Haley is right when she said, ‘We need to be focusing on companies that produce in America and supporting those companies that produce in America; not companies that are helping China.’

It is a national security and public health crisis that nearly 90% of the chemical ingredients needed to make antibiotics and other medications are sourced from China. And it’s not just the ingredients. Our government is purchasing final products from China too. 

Our troops and our entire population are at risk when an adversary has the ability to provide tainted or ineffective products, if they provide them at all. Until we control our medication supply chain, we are at risk.

In 2015, China’s government released a 10-year plan to dominate 10 high-tech industries, especially geopolitically important sectors like bio-medicine. They directed enormous subsidies into these industries and implemented policies that favored their domestic companies while punishing any foreign competition. Since 2016, U.S. pharmaceutical imports from China have climbed 655%. This reliance is worst when it comes to antibiotics.

A pharmaceutical plant in Bristol, Tennessee, USAntibiotics, is the only remaining American manufacturer of amoxicillin finished doses. At its peak, the plant employed more than 500 American workers and manufactured ‘billions of pills,’ but as is the case of many American pharmaceutical manufacturing plants, has faced challenges in its over 30-year history.

The federal government is supporting Chinese manufacturers while plants like the one in Tennessee, are overlooked. Opportunities to strengthen our domestic supply chain are missed. This is in stark contrast to governments around the world, including Austria and France who have committed $53 million and $168 million to support their domestic antibiotics operations. 

If our federal government would redirect these contracts to domestic companies, then they would be able to expand operations, create stable jobs and improve national security.

As China aims to achieve dominance in these industries by 2049 – the hundredth anniversary of the People’s Republic of China – our vulnerability is only likely to get worse. With our health industrial base on life support, we are already facing shortages of key drugs and costly disruptions that inevitably occur when you are relying on a supplier like China.

As China continues to attack one of our most vital industries, federal leaders have a choice to make. Purchasing from American manufacturers should be the easy part of this challenge. Politicians love to talk buy American on the campaign trail because voters overwhelmingly recognize why it’s important. 

We must put those campaign promises into action. When the stakes are this high, the least the federal government can do is the bare minimum.

President Biden didn’t create this problem, but he has the opportunity to do something about it. All Americans benefit when critical medications and their ingredients are manufactured in America. This bipartisan issue deserves action now before we have another crisis and the most vulnerable Americans suffer due to a lack of this life-saving medication. 

It’s time to prioritize domestic pharmaceutical manufacturing to enhance our national and public health security.

Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy is siding with members of the GOP who voted to oust House Speaker Kevin McCarthy.

Ramaswamy, who has never held elected office, said he understood McCarthy’s critics and supported the desire to inject ‘chaos’ into the legislature.

‘The point of removing the House Speaker was to sow chaos. That’s what the critics of Matt Gaetz and everybody else is saying,’ Ramaswamy said Tuesday in a video posted to social media. ‘And my advice to the people who voted to remove him is [to] own it.’

‘Admit it. There was no better plan of action of who’s going to fill that Speaker role. So was the point to sow chaos? Yes, it was,’ Ramaswamy said. ‘But the real question to ask, to get to the bottom of it, is whether chaos is really such a bad thing?’

Eight hard-line Republican lawmakers joined every present House Democrat in Tuesday’s historic vote to oust McCarthy from the top job.

‘We’re concerned about the future of the conservative agenda in the house,’ said Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla, who was the informal leader of McCarthy’s critics.’I would say that the conservative agenda was being paralyzed by Speaker McCarthy.’

McCarthy said Gaetz’s move was ‘personal’ and suggested it was done in retaliation for an ongoing Ethics Committee investigation into his conduct. 

McCarthy angered hardliners over the weekend when he passed a short-term spending bill known as a continuing resolution (CR) to keep the government open for 45 days in order to avert a government shutdown and give lawmakers more time to cobble together 12 individual spending bills.

Ninety House Republicans voted against the CR on Saturday, arguing that it was a ‘clean’ extension of the previous Democrat-held Congress’ policies. But the speaker’s previous attempts to put a CR on the table that would cut spending for its short duration were upended by several of those same conservatives who were opposed to any such measure on principle.

Ramaswamy listed a series of issues facing the US that he feels do not yet have a solution in motion — the national debt, border crisis, lawlessness in cities, and more — and said a comprehensive plan was more important than a ‘babysitter’ to ‘shepherd’ votes.

‘For everybody out there who’s asking the question, ‘What’s the plan to get a new speaker?’ — you’re asking the wrong question,’ Ramaswamy said. ‘What’s the plan to actually revive this country?’

Fox News Digital’s Elizabeth Elkind , Brandon Gillespie, and Jamie Joseph contributed to this report.