President Biden is asking his Cabinet to ‘aggressively execute’ plans for federal employees to return to their offices for work this fall after years of remote work prompted by the coronavirus pandemic.

The White House’s push to cut down remote work comes after a Government Accountability Office report published last month found that 17 of the 24 federal agencies used, on average, an estimated 25% or less of the capacity of their headquarters buildings.

Every Cabinet member received an email last week urging them to bring federal workers back to the office, according to Axios. This, as even some senior administration officials never fully moved to Washington, D.C., including former Labor Secretary Marty Walsh.

‘We are returning to in-person work because it is critical to the well-being of our teams and will enable us to deliver better results for the American people,’ White House Chief of Staff Jeff Zients wrote in the email.

‘As we look towards the fall, and with the end of the COVID-19 public health emergency, your agencies will be implementing increases in the amount of in-person work for your team,’ he continued. ‘This is a priority of the President — and I am looking to each of you to aggressively execute this shift in September and October.’

Zients said the update will not eliminate remote work but instead would combine the flexibility of working from home ‘while ensuring we have the in-person time we need to build a strong culture, trust, and interpersonal connections.’

Biden’s wish for more in-person work is felt by several cities and businesses also struggling to bring workers back to the office after the end of the COVID-19 pandemic, as Americans have grown comfortable with the flexibility telework allows. Even Zoom has asked employees within 50 miles of a company office to return for in-person work at least two days a week on a hybrid schedule.

The president has been discussing, with limited success, efforts to bring federal workers back to the office since the spring of last year. He said in his State of the Union address in March 2022 that ‘the vast majority of federal workers will once again work in person.’

The White House has been gradually reopening up since the summer of 2021, with staff returning and holiday celebrations and White House tours resuming.

The Office of Management and Budget sent guidelines in April for agencies to develop plans to increase in-person work while still allowing some flexibility for telework. 

But Zients wants to speed up these plans to reduce remote work. Since taking over as chief of staff in February, Zients has prioritized returning to in-person work to improve the office culture.

Zients opened the White House’s Navy Mess for in-person dining in March for the first time since Biden became president. The chief of staff has also started hosting in-person town halls, with a Zoom option for people who cannot fit in the room, where lower-level staffers may ask questions. Zients’ senior staff meetings in the mornings and evenings are in-person as well, with Zoom options available if needed.

The White House has faced pressure to reduce remote work from congressional Republicans, who have attributed delays and backlogs in agencies’ work to telework. But Democrats have also joined in on demanding federal workers return to their offices, including Washington, D.C., mayor Muriel Bowser.

‘We agree with the White House that we can deliver more when we come together in person, and we applaud this latest action by President Biden,’ Bowser said in a statement Monday to Fox 5 DC.

Bowser previously expressed support for a return to in-person work in her inaugural address in January.

‘We need decisive action by the White House to either get most federal workers back to the office most of the time or to realign their vast property holdings for use by the local government, by nonprofits, by businesses, and by any user willing to revitalize it,’ she said at the time.

Washington, D.C., has felt the economic impact of telework, as several buildings in the district remain emptier than they once were. Local businesses and politicians in Washington have been pressuring the White House to demand more in-person work.

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A Venezuelan migrant has been accused of raping a woman in front of a 3-year-old child, authorities announced on Tuesday.

Jesus Guzman-Bermudez is accused of restraining the victim by holding their head down while raping her in a hotel room in Cheektowaga in Erie County, New York, last week. Erie County District Attorney John Flynn announced that Guzman-Bermudez, 26, was arraigned on Friday on one count of rape in the first degree, one count of unlawful imprisonment in the second degree, one count of endangering the welfare of a child and one count of harassment in the second degree. 

He was held without bail and faces a maximum of 25 years in prison if convicted. Prosecutors say the suspect and victim knew each other, and the alleged crime is said to have occurred in front of their 3-year-old child who was also present in the hotel room.

‘It wasn’t like an incident where this individual went out in town, grabbed some victim and took them back to the hotel room. That’s not the case here. They clearly knew one another,’ Flynn told WBEN.

He stressed that it is only the fourth incident among migrants in the county.

‘The first three were petty larceny, so very small crimes, minor offenses. This is obviously much more serious,’ he said. ‘But four out of over 500, obviously, the vast majority over 95% are abiding by the laws and behaving.’

The announcement immediately drew criticism from state Republicans, who have objected to the transport of migrants to their communities as part of New York City’s strategy to cope with what it says is an overwhelming migrant surge.

‘This disgusting individual was brought to Western New York courtesy of failed Democrat ‘sanctuary’ and open border policies which have created chaos across our country, state and now here in Western New York, ‘Senate Republican leader Rob Ortt said in a statement. ‘All while hardworking, tax-paying New Yorkers and Americans continue to foot the bill.’

It marks the latest fallout from the migrant crisis, which has overwhelmed the southern border and caused knock-on effects in states and cities across the country. 

New York City has been overwhelmed by the approximately 54,000 migrants it is caring for in its shelter system, some of whom have been bussed there from Texas. The city earlier this year began bussing migrants elsewhere in the state.

On Tuesday, Massachusetts became the latest liberal jurisdiction to declare a state of emergency over the number of migrants, calling for additional funding from the federal government and immigration reform to allow migrants to work.

Meanwhile, Border Patrol agents have documented a number of encounters with sex offenders at the southern border. Border Patrol Chief Jason Owens announced on Tuesday that agents encountered six previously convicted sex offenders at the southern border.

The Department of Homeland Security, meanwhile, is sending ICE special agents to the border in increasing numbers — while also putting out fresh calls for federal employees to volunteer to aid Customs and Border Protection (CBP) in processing and other tasks.

Fox News’ Maria Paronich contributed to this report.

Beware the ides of August.

I have written that line since the late ‘aughts’ here on Capitol Hill.

Shakespeare penned the line, ‘Beware the ides of March,’ in his play ‘Julius Caesar.’

A soothsayer had warned the Roman leader to not let up his guard around the middle of the month. And as it turns out, that’s when Caesar was assassinated on the ‘ides of March’ — March 15.

What an omen.

Foreboding. Cursed. Ominous.

In fact, the entire month of March can sometimes appear that way meteorologically.

We use a different metric in politics and specifically on Capitol Hill. August shouldn’t be such a terrifying month. After all, it’s summer. But without a doubt, some of the most utterly strange and consequential political events form in August.

This is ironic in Washington. That’s because the House and Senate are usually out of session for most of August.

But periodically, the vacuum of Congress being away from Washington actually generates its own news. That’s because some major issue may erupt, pressing Congress into meeting in August when it’s not supposed to do so. Occasionally an event is so significant that lawmakers are summoned back to Washington to tackle a catastrophic issue.

Congress is long gone from Washington this August. Both the House and Senate abandoned the nation’s capital in late July. The House even cut town a day early after Republicans couldn’t reach consensus on approving an agriculture appropriations bill. So it would take a lot to siphon lawmakers back to town this August.

But real world events have a way of doing that.

Congress remained in session into early August in 2011 to wrestle with the debt ceiling. That coincided with the day that former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, D-Ariz., miraculously returned to Congress just months after being shot in the head. And a few days later, Standard & Poor’s downgraded the credit worthiness of the federal government due to the debt ceiling drama.

Lawmakers returned in late August 2013 for intelligence briefings on Syria. Former President Obama was trying to engineer support for potential military action in and around Syria. But the votes on Capitol Hill never materialized.

The Democratically-controlled House famously failed to approve a crime bill in August 1994, when crime spiked around the nation. Democrats viewed adoption of the crime bill as key to their electoral success heading into the midterm elections. A few weeks later, Democrats successfully marshaled the votes, and recalled the House in late August to approve the crime bill.

As it turned out, Republicans tethered the bill to the Democrats and won the House that fall for the first time in 40 years.

All because of what unfolded in August.

Something similar unfolded in August 2009. And, to a lesser degree, in August of 2010.

Congress was out for the month in 2009. But congressional Democrats were trying to pass Obamacare. Republicans met this effort with vitriolic town halls. The tea party was on the rise, opponents of the then-president and Republican loyalists showed up at town meetings to heckle and taunt Democrats. These raucous August sessions helped energize Republicans — especially after Congress approved the health care bill in March of 2010. Moreover, they captured a lot of news oxygen and dominated the headlines that August. That set the table for Republicans to win back the House in the 2010 midterms, capturing a staggering 63 seats.

All because of August.

In fact, Republicans began to hone this ‘August strategy’ in the summer of 2008.

The House voted to leave for more than a month. Being a presidential election year, both Democrats and Republicans were holding their presidential conventions in August and early September.

But that didn’t stop Republicans from commandeering the House chamber on a daily basis to hold rump sessions and rail against the Democratic majority. House GOPers rotated a set of members on a daily basis — even dragging some members of the Capitol press corps into the chamber to observe the action. The GOPers would also bring in tourists. Republicans made sure they focused on their target: then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif.

Republicans even claimed that Pelosi adjourned the House by herself and locked them out of the chamber. Never mind that roll call vote I mentioned earlier to adjourn for the conventions. And the speaker certainly didn’t lock anyone out. After all, the Republicans wouldn’t have made it into the chamber each day if the doors were locked.

But the rhubarb made a good show for Republicans in August 2008.

Sometimes non-political forces force Washington, D.C., into action in August. Congress returned to session in August 2006 after Hurricane Katrina pulverized the Gulf Coast.

Still, these episodes surrounding Congress in August pale to other major political news stories that emerged in August.

The late President Truman dropped bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945.

Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his ‘I Have a Dream’ speech in Washington in August 1963.

President Nixon resigned in August 1974 as President Ford took over.

It was still August 31, 1983, in Washington (barely) when the Soviets shot down a Korean Air Lines flight, killing all 269 people on board. Among the dead: late Rep. Larry McDonald, R-Ga.

Late Rep. Mickey Leland. R-Texas and congressional aides died in a plane crash in August 1989.

Iraq invaded Kuwait in August 1990, teeing up the first Gulf War in 1991.

Princess Diana died in Paris in August 1997.

Russia invaded Georgia in August 2008 — a partial prelude to today’s war in Ukraine.

Late Sen. Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, died in a plane crash in August 2010.

A 5.8 magnitude earthquake centered in Virginia rocked Washington, D.C., damaging the Capitol complex in August 2011.

The white supremacist ‘Unite the Right’ rally unfolded in Charlottesville, Virginia, in August 2017.

And so far, this August has been far from inconsequential.

Special Counsel Jack Smith indicted former President Trump on charges of trying to overturn the election and linking him to the Capitol riot on Aug. 1. Trump appeared in federal court in the shadow of the Capitol on Aug. 3.

Sandwiched between that was a wild scene on the Senate side of the Capitol on Aug. 2. U.S. Capitol Police searched the Senate office buildings, in pursuit of a potential active shooter. The episode frightened hundreds of congressional aides, workers, reporters and tourists, all in the Senate office buildings.

This all unfolds as there is chatter about another indictment looming for the former president in Georgia. And congressional Republicans are sure talking about trying to impeach President Biden when lawmakers return in September. There will be lot of talk about impeachment this August, even if it doesn’t result in impeachment for the president.

Discussion about impeachment for then-President Trump really accelerated in August 2019 — resulting in his first impeachment later that year. It wouldn’t have happened but for the events of that August.

And, much like S&P in 2011, credit rater Fitch downgraded the federal government’s credit ratings this August due to the debt ceiling drama of the spring. That sparked a market selloff.

So August is seminal in politics.

We’re now approaching the middle of August. If history is our guide, beware the ides of August.

Even if the ides of March get most of the attention.

President Biden’s latest gaffe came Tuesday as he inaccurately said the Grand Canyon is one of the ‘nine’ wonders of the world.

He made the error during a speech at Red Butte Airfield in Arizona, just a few miles south of the Grand Canyon, in a speech focused on his administration’s climate agenda and conservation efforts.

‘Folks, it’s not hyperbole to suggest that there is no national treasure — none that is grander than the Grand Canyon. The Grand Canyon — one of the Earth’s nine wonders, wonders of the world, literally. Think of that. You know, it’s amazing. An enduring symbol of America to the entire world,’ Biden said.

The widely accepted list of world wonders includes seven locations, and the Grand Canyon is not part of that list. The actual wonders included are the Great Wall of China, Chichén Itzá in Mexico, Petra in Jordan, Machu Picchu in Peru, the Christ the Redeemer statue in Brazil, the Colosseum in Italy and the Taj Mahal in India.

However, the Grand Canyon is included on a widely accepted list of the seven natural wonders of the world compiled by CNN in 1997, which also includes the northern lights, or aurora, the Great Barrier Reef, the Harbor at Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Parícutin in Mexico, Victoria Falls on the border of Zimbabwe and Zambia, and Mount Everest.

Biden later tried unsuccessfully to correct himself, saying he intended to say ‘seven’ rather than ‘nine,’ but he still included the Grand Canyon on the list of the world’s seven wonders.

‘The first time I saw the Grand Canyon years ago, I was a young senator. As I stood there and looked out, a phrase came to mind — it was instinctive. I said this must be — this is God’s cathedral. That’s what it reminded me of. It just is so magnificent. As a matter of fact — I said nine. It’s one of the seven wonders of the world,’ he said.

A retired health care executive has entered next year’s race for North Carolina governor, with Jesse Thomas describing himself Tuesday as a ‘no-nonsense Republican’ who aims to attract voters within the ‘wide middle ground between the two extremes.’

Thomas, who led the Medicaid plan offered by Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina to hundreds of thousands of consumers, announced his bid on a Greensboro-area podcast last week, when he also filed his candidate committee paperwork.

Recently involved in the North Carolina chapter of the Forward Party — founded by former presidential candidate Andrew Yang — Thomas joins an already crowded GOP gubernatorial field. Candidates include Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson, State Treasurer Dale Folwell, former U.S. Rep. Mark Walker and ex-state legislator Andy Wells.

‘North Carolinians are ready for a Governor that will provide real results for our citizens, not one who opines to the Nonsense of the hour,’ Thomas said in a news release.

A Cary resident, Thomas said he would work to make North Carolina ‘first in healthy’ if he became governor. His platform includes eliminating the state income tax, expanding alternatives to traditional public schools and managing successfully the soon-anticipated expansion of Medicaid to hundreds of thousands of adults.

Thomas was born in Mississippi and has had an over 30-year career in health care, including Medicaid managed care. His resume lists him as an executive for health insurance plans in Michigan, Ohio and Illinois. In 2018 he joined Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina, during which the company landed one of the state’s Medicaid managed care contracts, creating what is now known at Healthy Blue.

Thomas said he’s been a congressional candidate and a health care adviser to then-Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder, as well as a trustee at the University of North Carolina at Pembroke.

Thomas’ news release describes him as a ‘peacemaker’ who wants to attract more unaffiliated voters to the GOP. He said people are sick of ‘career politicians’ and ‘extremists’ who espouse acrimony, bigotry and anger.

‘I come with a political savvy, and I do come with a perspective and a background of a tried, tested and true individual who has been there and done something,’ he said on the ‘Common Ground’ podcast, which focuses on racial issues.

In a brief interview Tuesday, Thomas accused Robinson — the leading GOP fundraiser in the race — of failing to show leadership as the state Senate’s presiding officer in helping get a state budget passed that would permit Medicaid expansion to begin this fall, giving health care to more residents. Robinson has taken criticism while lieutenant governor for his sharp comments about LGBTQ+ rights, abortion and the role of women.

‘He is focused on the culture war and the bedroom issues, instead of the kitchen-table issues,’ Thomas said. For years, the office of lieutenant governor has had little involvement in General Assembly budget negotiations. A Robinson campaign spokesperson did not immediately respond to an email Tuesday seeking comment.

North Carolina Attorney General Josh Stein is the lone high-profile Democrat to date to announce a gubernatorial bid to succeed Democrat Roy Cooper, who is barred by law from seeking a third consecutive term. Primaries will be held in March.

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Former President Donald Trump mocked fellow Republican presidential hopeful and former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie over his weight during a campaign stump speech in New Hampshire on Tuesday.

The moment took a turn though when Trump jokingly admonished a member of the audience who, according to the former president, called Christie a ‘fat pig.’

‘Christie — he’s eating right now. He can’t be bothered,’ Trump said during the speech as the crowd laughed.

‘Sir, please do not call him a fat pig. That’s very disrespectful. Don’t call him — See, I’m trying to be nice,’ Trump then said, addressing the audience member who Trump said called Christie the name. 

‘Don’t call him a fat pig. You can’t do it. You can’t do that. So now, because you’re not allowed to do that, and, therefore, we’re not going to do it, okay? We want to be very civil, right?’ Trump said as he chuckled.

Trump’s comments were just the latest instance of his poking fun at Christie’s weight, something he’s done on multiple occasions in the past.

In June, Trump appeared to target Christie’s size in multiple social media posts following the former governor’s launch of his second presidential campaign.

‘How many times did Chris Christie use the word SMALL? Does he have a psychological problem with SIZE?’ Trump wrote on Truth Social, referencing Christie’s launch speech.

‘Actually, his speech was SMALL, and not very good. It rambled all over the place, and nobody had a clue of what he was talking about. Hard to watch, boring, but that’s what you get from a failed Governor (New Jersey) who left office with a 7% approval rating and then got run out of New Hampshire. This time, it won’t be any different!’ he added.

In September, Trump posted a photo of a man that looked like Christie standing at a buffet. ‘Chris Christie at a Roy Rogers at 11 PM in the evening trying to console himself,’ Trump wrote.

Fox News Digital has reached out to Christie’s campaign for comment. 

Minyon Moore, the former Biden adviser who served on the board of directors of the Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation last year, will chair the 2024 Democratic National Convention in Chicago, the party announced Tuesday.

Moore, a Chicago native who currently serves as a co-chair of the DNC’s Rules and Bylaws Committee, previously served on Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign and as assistant to the president and director of White House Political Affairs under President Bill Clinton.

‘I am thrilled for the opportunity to serve as Chair to the 2024 Democratic National Convention in my hometown of Chicago, Illinois,’ Moore said in a DNC press release. 

‘I am grateful to the team members who have already been working hard, and know that through their work, and the strong team we continue to build, that this convention will be a success,’ she said.

The press release made no mention of Moore briefly serving on the board of the Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation in 2022. 

While Moore was listed as a board member during the group’s February 2022 tax filings, she was absent from the registration forms submitted in Florida and Oklahoma on behalf of the group on April 28, 2022, signaling she had stepped down, the Washington Examiner reported at the time.

The DNC did not respond to Fox News Digital’s inquiry seeking clarification.

Moore, who has been described by media outlets as an informal adviser to Vice President Kamala Harris, was tapped in February 2022 to advise President Biden during his nomination of Ketanji Brown Jackson to the Supreme Court, Fox News Digital reported at the time. 

In 2020, Moore served as a member of the advisory council of the Biden-Harris transition team. She is also a former CEO of the DNC and currently leads the public affairs firm Dewey Square Group.

The convention is slated for Aug. 19-22, 2024, in Chicago.

Moore’s involvement with the BLM movement followed painstaking efforts by Biden and mainstream Democrats to distance themselves from the anti-police rhetoric of the defund the police movement embraced by the party’s progressive wing.

Officials in New York City say that eight buses of migrants are expected to arrive in the city between Tuesday and Wednesday.

Aries Dela Cruz, a spokesperson for the New York City Emergency Management Department, told Fox News Digital on Tuesday afternoon that three migrant buses are expected to arrive on Tuesday, with an additional five buses on Wednesday.

Their arrivals come as New York City Mayor Eric Adams said Monday that Randall’s Island will house some migrants in a new tent city.

‘As the number of asylum seekers in our care continues to grow by hundreds every day, stretching our system to its breaking point and beyond, it has become more and more of a Herculean effort to find enough beds every night,’ Adams said in a press release. ‘We will continue to work with the governor and elected officials across the state to address this crisis as New York City continues to do more than any other level of government.’

Since spring, over 93,000 migrants have entered New York City, according to the mayor’s office. 

Adams said during a press conference last week that there’s no longer room for migrants to stay in the city.

‘Our next phase of this strategy, now that we have run out of room, we have to figure out how we’re going to localize the inevitable that there’s no more room indoors,’ Adams said.  ‘Here’s where we are right now. Yes, there were people sleeping in cooling vans. There were people along the sidewalk. We have to localize this madness. We have to figure out a way of how we don’t have what’s in other municipalities where you have tent cities all over the city.’

Fox 5 reported that The Roosevelt Hotel, where some migrants have been staying, has reached full capacity.

Pictures and video last week showed migrants sleeping outside the hotel, wrapping around the building.

WINDHAM, N.H. – In his first stop in a crucial early voting state in the Republican presidential nominating calendar since his arraignment in federal court last week, former President Donald Trump blasted the latest federal charges he’s facing, complaining that they’ll keep him off the campaign trail.

Speaking to supporters at a campaign event in Windham, New Hampshire on Tuesday, Trump called his two federal indictments ‘bulls—,’ and blamed President Biden for his legal controversies.

The former president’s stop in New Hampshire came in the wake of his indictment and arraignment last week on charges he attempted to overturn his loss in the 2020 election.

Trump, who’s making his third straight White House run, this spring became the first sitting or former president in U.S. history to be charged with a crime.

And in early June Trump was indicted and arraigned in federal court in Florida on criminal charges that he illegally retained national security records at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida, following the end of his term as president and that he obstructed federal efforts to recover the documents.

‘How can my corrupt political opponent, crooked Joe Biden, put me on trial during an election campaign that I’m winning by a lot, but forcing me nevertheless to spend time and money away from the campaign trail in order to fight bogus, made-up accusations and charges,’ Trump argued.

‘I’m sorry, I won’t be able to go to Iowa today, I won’t be able to go to New Hampshire today because I’m sitting in a courtroom on bulls— because his attorney general charged me with something,’ Trump claimed.

Trump’s comments sparked chants of ‘bulls—‘ from the crowd of a couple of thousand supporters who were packed into a hot and humid high school gymnasium in this Republican stronghold in southern New Hampshire.

While Trump reiterated his criticism of Biden, the president has largely refrained from discussing Trump’s legal controversies and has repeatedly stressed that he’s had no contact with the Justice Department over the investigations of his predecessor in the White House.

Trump pleaded not guilty in federal court in Washington D.C. last Thursday to four counts: conspiracy to defraud the United States, conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding, obstruction of official proceeding, and conspiracy against rights. 

The indictment came after Trump was informed that he was a target in the probe into his actions and state of mind on Jan. 6, 2021, and in the lead-up to that infamous day – when right wing extremists and other Trump supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol. The attack temporarily disrupted congressional certification of Biden’s Electoral College victory over Trump.

The indictment alleges that Trump pursued unlawful means of discounting legitimate votes and subverting the 2020 presidential election results and that he corruptly obstructed and impeded the certification of the electoral vote.

Trump railed against the indictments throughout his nearly 90 minute speech and doubled down on his unproven claims that the 2020 election was ‘rigged,’ ‘stolen’ and ‘disgusting.’

Trump also charged that that prosecutors are trying to restrict his rights guaranteed by the First Amendment of the Constitution, which is an argument that his lawyers in the case have highlighted.

‘You know, they want to take away your freedom of speech,’ the former president argued. ‘The case is a ridiculous case. It’s a First Amendment case. But we don’t want Trump to speak.’

Trump, who’s the commanding front-runner in the race for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, spotlighted a number of polls that he said showed him way ahead of his rivals. And he said that ‘every time I get indicted, I like to check the polls,’ which elicited laughter from the crowd.

The former president reiterated that ‘one more indictment and I think this election’s over.’

Trump campaign senior adviser in New Hampshire Steve Stepanek told Fox News that when it comes to the former president’s indictments, ‘We ignore it. We are focused on building the ground game and pushing forward and that’s just background noise as far as we’re concerned.’

Stepanek, a co-chair in New Hampshire of Trump’s 2016 campaign who later served as state GOP chairman, said that the indictments get Trump supporters ‘more aggravated and dedicated. Period.’

James Geschwindner, a longtime Trump supporter from Loudon, New Hampshire, told Fox News following the campaign event in Windham that the indictments ‘absolutely’ fuel his support for the former president. ‘There’s no way he doesn’t have my vote.’

Geschwinder said that the indictments are’backfiring. Every time that they attack him, he goes up.’

FIRST ON FOX: Former Vice President Mike Pence has met the requirements to qualify for the first Republican presidential nomination debate, his campaign tells Fox News.

Pence’s 2024 presidential campaign said on Monday that earlier in the day they crossed the 40,000-donor threshold – one of two criteria set by the Republican National Committee for GOP White House hopefuls to reach the debate stage. Pence had already passed the polling threshold mandated by the RNC. 

The former vice president’s political team said they reached out to inform the RNC that Pence had qualified and spotlighted that they were the first campaign to submit their numbers for the national party committee’s verification process. 

Fox News is hosting the debate, which will be held August 23 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

Pence becomes the eighth Republican presidential candidate to announce they’ve passed the thresholds to qualify for the debate. The other contenders who’ve already reached the criteria are former President Donald Trump, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina, former ambassador and former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, South Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, and entrepreneur and best-selling author Vivek Ramaswamy.

Trump has yet to say if he’ll attend the first debate.

Pence’s campaign said they have 200 or more donors in 40 states, far higher than the 20-state threshold mandated by the RNC. They also highlighted that the former vice president – who launched his 2024 campaign in early June – reached the donor threshold in nine weeks, which was quicker than three of his rivals, Scott, Haley, and Ramaswamy.

And Pence’s team emphasized that they met the donor threshold without any giveaways or gimmicks. Burgum, a wealthy former software executive who’s been mostly self-funding his campaign, made headlines by offering $20 gift cards in return for one-dollar donations. The former vice president’s team also noted that they brought in less than half of their donors through digital outreach and said that events with the candidate and direct mail continue to be strengths for their campaign.

Pence has campaigned extensively in the early voting states of Iowa, New Hampshire, and South Carolina since launching his presidential bid. But his support in the latest Republican presidential primary polls stands in the single digits, far behind Trump, his former running mate, who remains the commanding front-runner for the 2024 GOP nomination as he makes his third straight White House run. 

But Pence grabbed plenty of attention last week after the former president was indicted and arraigned in federal court on charges he attempted to overturn his loss in the 2020 election. Trump, over the weekend, turned up the volume on his attacks towards Pence after the former vice president sharpened his criticism of Trump over the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol by Trump supporters who temporarily disrupted congressional certification of President Biden’s Electoral College victory, which was overseen by Pence.

‘Mike Pence made quick and easy work of the donor threshold, and he’s looking forward to a substantive debate about the issues important to the American people. Hopefully, former President Trump has the courage to show up,’ Pence campaign spokesman Devin O’Malley said in a statement.

Pence had been saying for the past couple of weeks that he would qualify for the debate in time. And last week, in a conference call with donors in which reporters were invited to attend, Pence campaign manager Steve DaMaura highlighted that the campaign had topped 30,000 unique donors and was averaging over 1,000 new, unique donors per day in recent days.