Donald Trump’s rivals for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination were split on how to read his indictment Thursday in a Washington, D.C., courtroom, one saying the former president’s actions invited his legal woes. Another said the legal system has been politicized.

Trump pleaded not guilty Thursday to four felony counts related to the Jan. 6, 2021 storming of the U.S. Capitol, including conspiracy to defraud the nation, brought by Justice Department Special Counsel Jack Smith.

While Trump has accused the Biden administration of orchestrating a witch hunt against him, GOP candidate Will Hurd told Fox News Digital just ahead of the arraignment, ‘This is not about the weaponization of the government.’

‘This is not about individuals in Washington, D.C., that serve on a grand jury,’ said Hurd, a former CIA spy and member of the House Texas delegation. ‘This is about a former president who lost an election and tried to use everything within his power to overturn that election, failed, and now he’s trying to stay out of prison.

‘This could have been preventable. It didn’t have to happen,’ added Hurd, a long shot for the 2024 GOP presidential nomination and a vocal Republican critic of Trump.

Hurd, who drew plenty of boos from a crowd last weekend at the Iowa GOP’s annual Lincoln Dinner when he criticized Trump, spoke with Fox Digital Thursday during a stop at the New Hampshire Institute of Politics in Manchester.

‘If he had been like every other president and accepted the election, he wouldn’t be in this position,’ Hurd argued. ‘Also, when he learned he had classified documents, all he had to do was turn them back. Instead, he lied about them and then tried to destroy evidence that he knew about them. If he wouldn’t have done those things, we wouldn’t be in this position today.’

Former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson, who like Hurd is a vocal Trump critic, said in a social media posting that ‘Today’s arraignment of #DonaldTrump is a sad day for the Party of Lincoln & Reagan. He hoodwinked his supporters on #January6th & he is trying to do it again. The GOP needs a course correction.’

On the opposite end of the spectrum was multimillionaire biotech entrepreneur, best-selling author and culture wars crusader Vivek Ramaswamy, who charged that Trump’s indictment was the ‘politicized persecution of political opponents.’

Ramaswamy arrived in New Hampshire hours after shooting a video in front of the federal courthouse in the nation’s capital where Trump was arraigned later in the day.

‘I wanted to make a point to say we the public deserve to know what did [Attorney General] Merrick Garland tell Jack Smith? What did [President] Joe Biden tell Merrick Garland? Just tell us. Be transparent with the public,’ Ramswamy told Fox News Digital. ‘And I think, right now, we live in a time when we feel like the government suppresses the truth.’

Ramaswamy, who was interviewed by Fox Digital following a mini-town hall at a restaurant in Milford, New Hampshire, claimed ‘the first three indictments – they reeked of politicization. And I think that that’s just a reality. I think that sets a terrible precedent. I think there’s a difference between a bad judgment and a crime. Criminalizing every bad judgment is a dangerous slippery slope to go down in this country.

‘I think what we need is a government that trusts its people, and that’s when the people will start trusting the government again. And that’s what this campaign is all about – speaking truth. It’s how we restore trust in this country. It’s what I’m doing.’

Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, who served as ambassador to the United Nations during the Trump administration, said during an interview on a morning talk radio program in New Hampshire that ‘like most Americans, I’m tired of commenting on every Trump drama. I’ve lost track of whether this indictment is the third or fourth or the fifth.’

But Haley, who launched her 2024 presidential campaign in February, reiterated in her ‘Good Morning NH,’ appearance that she’s ‘said that Jan. 6 was a terrible day. I’ve also said that Donald Trump bears some responsibility for what happened. But Trump didn’t attack the Capitol. It’s not a crime to say that you think an election was stolen. He should not be prosecuted for that. I think the Justice Department has become way too political.’

Michigan businessman and quality control expert Perry Johnson, who like Hurd is a long-shot for the GOP nomination, claimed in a statement to Fox News that ‘the witch hunt perpetrated against Trump is unlike anything I have ever witnessed, which is why I have never shied away from defending Trump from this political persecution despite being his competitor in this race.’ 

Republican White House contender and North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, in an interview on Fox News’ ‘Special Report,’ told host Bret Baier that ‘the Biden administration loves it when we’re talking about indictments because then they don’t have to talk about their horrible track record on national security.’

The former president – who pleaded not guilty – was indicted on four counts: conspiracy to defraud the United States, conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding, obstruction of official proceeding, and conspiracy against rights. 

Trump was informed two weeks ago 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 hundreds stormed the U.S. Capitol. The attack temporarily disrupted congressional certification of President 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 through three criminal conspiracies and that he corruptly obstructed and impeded the certification of the electoral vote.

Trump, the commanding front-runner in the GOP nomination race as he makes his third straight White House run, this year became the first sitting or former president in U.S. history to be charged with a crime.

Trump pleaded not guilty in early April in New York City to charges brought by the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office. The former president was indicted for allegedly giving hush money payments to adult film actress Stormy Daniels in 2016 to keep her quiet ahead of that year’s presidential election over her claims she had sexual encounters years earlier with Trump.

The former president denies sleeping with Daniels and denies falsifying business records to keep the payment concealed.

Trump was indicted and arraigned in early June for his alleged improper retention of classified records. He pleaded not guilty in federal court in Miami to 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.

But the indictments have only strengthened Trump’s standing among his base of devoted supporters. And his lead over his GOP rivals has increased in the wake of the indictments.

Trump, speaking as he departed the nation’s capital following his arraignment, targeted the president, charging that ‘this is the persecution of the person that’s leading by very, very substantial numbers in the Republican primary and leading Biden by a lot. So, if you can’t beat him, you persecute him, or you prosecute him. We can’t let this happen in America.’

This is a developing story. Check back for updates on FoxNews.com.

Former President Donald Trump’s allies are painting his Thursday arraignment as an attempt by President Biden to crush his political rival ahead of the 2024 election and distract from bribery allegations against his own family.

Trump pleaded ‘not guilty’ to four federal counts stemming from alleged efforts to overturn his 2020 loss to Biden. It’s his second federal indictment and third criminal indictment in the span of less than five months. 

His Republican allies in Congress have continued to stick by him, however. GOP Conference Chair Elise Stefanik, the No. 3 leader in the House, echoed Trump’s repeated insistence that investigations into his conduct are ‘witch hunts.’

‘The unconstitutional and unprecedented arrest of President Donald J. Trump is truly a chilling chapter in Joe Biden’s weaponization of the Department of Justice against his leading political opponent who is beating Biden in many independent polls. President Trump had every right under the First Amendment to correctly raise concerns about election integrity in 2020,’ Stefanik, R-N.Y., said. 

‘The American people are smart, and they know this is a politically charged witch hunt orchestrated by Joe Biden’s corrupt DOJ in a desperate attempt to distract the American people from the mounting evidence of Joe Biden’s direct involvement in his family’s illegal influence peddling scheme,’ she added,

Rep. Mary Miller, R-Ill., cited a 2014 statement from Biden expressing concern about Malaysia’s encroachment on its own rule of law.

‘Today, Joe Biden’s DOJ did what Joe Biden used to condemn other countries for doing: arrest his political opposition to silence and intimidate them,’ Miller said. 

Another House Republican, Rep. Diane Harshbarger, R-Tenn., went a step further than condemnation and called for both a congressional investigation and Biden’s immediate impeachment. 

‘Today’s politically-motivated arraignment of President Trump marks a dark day for our nation. Joe Biden’s persecution of President Trump is a blatant power grab and an attempt to silence the voices of millions of Americans,’ Harshbarger said. ‘I call on Congress to launch a full investigation into the politicization of our government agencies, and for an immediate impeachment inquiry against Joe Biden, who is directly responsible for this despicable witch hunt.’

Both Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., and Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., also accused Biden of trying to tip the scales, despite the White House’s repeated insistence that the DOJ is independent.

‘Trump is being targeted because the left knows he’s Biden’s greatest political threat,’ Blackburn said.

Greene said, ‘Biden’s DOJ is actively participating in election interference by trying to put his top political opponent, President Donald Trump, behind bars. It’s pure corruption.’

Trump himself made similar comments after his arraignment and just before boarding his plane. ‘This is a very sad day for America,’ the former president said. ‘When you look at what’s happening, this is a persecution of a political opponent.’

Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Thursday credited the House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6 Attack on the United States Capitol for laying ‘the foundation’ to Special Counsel Jack Smith’s indictment of former President Donald Trump.

‘The courageous Members of the Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack knew the evidence and they knew the law,’ Pelosi said in a tweet.

‘The Committee’s patriotic work laid the foundation to this historic moment. No one is above the law – not even a former President of the United States,’ she said.

The 45th president pleaded not guilty to charges related to his alleged role in the Capitol riot during his arraignment proceedings in federal court in Washington, D.C., on Thursday.

Trump, the 2024 GOP front-runner, is charged with conspiracy to defraud the United States, conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding, obstruction of and attempt to obstruct an official proceeding and conspiracy against rights.

Other Democrats weighed in after Trump’s court appearance, including the ranking member on the House Rules Committee, Rep. Jim McGovern, D-Mass., who said, ‘The First Amendment protects lies — and even liars. But it doesn’t protect criminal activity.’

‘It certainly doesn’t shield Trump from liability for engaging in an illegal conspiracy to throw out the lawful election results just because he didn’t like them,’ he said.

The indictment comes out of Smith’s investigation into whether Trump or other officials and entities interfered with the peaceful transfer of power after the 2020 presidential election, including the certification of the Electoral College vote on Jan. 6, 2021.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Moxila Upadhyaya presided over Thursday’s proceedings. Judge Tanya Chutkan will preside over the trial. Chutkan, a former assistant public defender before her appointment to the bench by former President Barack Obama, has handled several cases involving people who entered the Capitol on Jan. 6.

Before departing the nation’s capital for his home in Bedminster, New Jersey, Trump gave a brief statement to the media.

‘This is a very sad day for America,’ said Trump. ‘And it was also very sad driving through Washington, D.C. and seeing the filth, and the decay, and all of the broken buildings and walls and the graffiti. This is not the place that I left. It’s a very sad thing to see it.’

‘When you look at what’s happening, this is a persecution of a political opponent. This was never supposed to happen in America. This is the persecution of the person that’s leading by very, very substantial numbers in the Republican primary and leading Biden by a lot. So, if you can’t beat them, you persecute them or you prosecute them. We can’t let this happen in America,’ he said.

Fox News Digital’s Brooke Singman and Houston Keene contributed to this report.

North Dakota lawmakers and education officials are examining potential responses to Minnesota’s North Star Promise program.North Star Promise subsidized income-based free college tuition.Roughly 1,400 Minnesotans enrolled at eastern North Dakota schools are eligible for their home state’s program.

North Dakota lawmakers and higher education leaders are beginning to chart a path for how to respond to neighboring Minnesota’s upcoming program that will offer income-based free tuition to thousands of students.

Higher education leaders on Wednesday detailed the situation to an interim legislative panel. A state senator also presented a bill draft proposing a North Dakota program similar to Minnesota’s North Star Promise.

North Star Promise takes effect in fall 2024. It will cover undergraduate tuition and fees at the state’s public post-secondary schools for Minnesota residents whose family income is under $80,000, after they have used other sources of financial aid.

North Dakota higher education leaders are worried about losing Minnesota students. About 1,400 of them at five eastern North Dakota schools could be eligible for North Star Promise. Minnesotans make up nearly half the student body at North Dakota State University in Fargo, the No. 1 out-of-state choice for first-year Minnesota students.

Legislative staff and higher education officials will work on potential options in response to North Star Promise, said Republican state Rep. Mark Sanford, who chairs the Legislature’s interim Higher Education Committee.

Tuition cost is ‘certainly not the only element’ Minnesota students consider in where to go to college, he said. Quality and availability of programs ‘are important parts of this, too,’ Sanford said Thursday.

Admissions offices already are recruiting 2024 and 2025 high school graduates.

Marketing ‘the overall quality’ of North Dakota programs to Minnesotans will be key, said North Dakota University System Chancellor Mark Hagerott. He said he’s confident current Minnesota students will stick with North Dakota.

‘The concern is really the new students making decisions, and they and their parents may be confused by what might be a headline and not understanding the total value package, so that’s why we need to be sure we get that information out,’ Hagerott said.

Lawmakers and state officials see higher education as a key component to addressing North Dakota’s labor shortage by keeping graduates to fill open jobs.

An estimated 15,000 to 20,000 Minnesota students annually will use North Star Promise. In one scenario, education officials in North Dakota projected an $8.4 million loss in combined tuition and fees just in the first year.

Democratic state Sen. Tim Mathern has pitched a $17 million ‘Dakota Promise’ forgivable student loan program for high school graduates of North Dakota and neighboring states, but ‘targeted to North Dakota residents,’ he said.

His proposal, which is in early draft form, would cover undergraduate tuition and fees at North Dakota’s 11 public colleges and universities as well as the five tribal colleges. The proposal has the same income limit as North Star Promise.

Loan recipients would have to live and work in North Dakota for three years after graduation for their loans to be completely forgiven.

‘It’s a new way for more North Dakotans to afford to go to college, so if five Minnesotans leave, this gives five more North Dakotans the idea to go to college,’ Mathern said.

His proposal also includes an income tax credit for employers who pay for an employee’s tuition.

North Dakota’s Legislature meets every two years and will convene next in January 2025.

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Pennsylvania’s overdue state budget moved closer to completion Thursday after Senate Republican leaders summoned their colleagues back to the Capitol to complete work they had held up when budget negotiations with Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro soured a month ago, but about a billion dollars in spending is still in limbo.

A final signature in the Senate sent the main spending plan to the governor’s desk on Thursday afternoon, allowing millions of dollars to begin flowing to counties and school districts that were preparing to empty out their reserves or consider taking out loans to continue necessary operations. The governor signed but vetoed an education voucher program.

There is still more work to be done to move out the last portion of the entire $45 billion budget, however. The Legislature must write language directing at least $1.1 billion to fund initiatives such as student teaching stipend, student mental health grants, funds to boost some of the state’s poorest school districts and home repair subsidies, according to Senate Republicans. Also in need of legislative action are hundreds of millions of dollars earmarked for state-owned universities.

Majority Leader Sen. Joe Pittman, R-Indiana, said during floor remarks that the outstanding, undirected funds show that ‘the Legislature holds the power of the purse whenever it comes to determining how taxpayer dollars are spent.’

‘This is not a final completed product. This is not a final and complete process,’ he said.

The budget hit a roadblock in early July amid discord over a GOP priority — their proposal to create a $100 million program subsidizing students in the lowest performing districts so they can attend private and religious schools.

Shapiro initially supported the proposal, to the consternation of most Democrats and teachers’ unions. In an attempt avoid an impasse, Shapiro announced that he would veto it. As the Senate convened to send the bill on to him, Pittman implored that Shapiro keep it, but shortly after the budget reached him on Thursday, the governor vetoed that provision.

‘Improving and expanding opportunities for children remains a priority for me, and I consider this to be unfinished business all parties must work together on as we move forward,’ Shapiro wrote in a veto message.

A spokeswoman for House Democratic leadership said all parties continue to meet, and the chamber will return to session to complete the outstanding pieces needed ‘as negotiations are finalized.’

Pennsylvania is one of four states that did not complete a budget by the start of the fiscal year, according to data compiled by the National Conference of State Legislatures. Pennsylvania is the only one that does not allow spending to continue automatically.

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Former President Donald Trump is scheduled to appear in federal court in Washington, D.C., Thursday afternoon after being indicted on charges that stem from Special Counsel Jack Smith’s investigation into 2020 election interference and the Capitol riot on Jan. 6, 2021.

Trump, the 2024 GOP front-runner, faces four federal charges, including conspiracy to defraud the United States, conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding, obstruction of and attempt to obstruct an official proceeding, and conspiracy against rights.

The former president is expected to travel from Bedminster, New Jersey, to Washington, D.C., on Thursday. He was ordered to appear in federal court for a 4 p.m. arraignment.

This is the second federal indictment the former president faces out of Smith’s investigation. Trump, who leads the 2024 GOP presidential primary field, has already pleaded not guilty to 37 counts related to his alleged improper retention of classified records from his presidency.

Those charges include willful retention of national defense information, conspiracy to obstruct justice, and false statements. Trump was charged with an additional three counts as part of a superseding indictment out of that probe last week.

Trump is the first former president in U.S. history to face federal criminal charges. 

‘The Defendant, Donald J. Trump, was the forty-fifth President of the United States and a candidate for re-election in 2020. The Defendant lost the 2020 presidential election,’ Smith’s indictment states. ‘Despite having lost, the Defendant was determined to remain in power.’

Smith alleged that ‘for more than two months following election day on November 3, 2020’ Trump ‘spread lies that there had been outcome-determinative fraud in the election and that he had actually won.’ It lists various claims that Trump’s team made during post-election state challenges in Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.

‘These claims were false, and the Defendant knew that they were false,’ Smith alleged. ‘But the Defendant repeated and widely disseminated them anyway — to make his knowingly false claims appear legitimate, create an intense national atmosphere of mistrust and anger, and erode public faith in the administration of the election.’

Smith said Trump, between Nov. 14, 2020, and Jan. 20, 2021, ‘did knowingly combine, conspire, confederate, and agree with co-conspirators, known and unknown to the Grand Jury, to defraud the United States by using dishonest, fraud and deceit to impair, obstruct and defeat the lawful federal government function by which the results of the presidential election are collected, counted, and certified by the federal government.’

There are six unnamed co-conspirators in the indictment.

Reacting to the charges, a Trump campaign spokesperson told Fox News Digital in a statement that ‘this is nothing more than the latest corrupt chapter in the continued pathetic attempt by the Biden Crime Family and their weaponized Department of Justice to interfere with the 2024 Presidential Election, in which President Trump is the undisputed front-runner, and leading by substantial margins.’

‘But why did they wait two and a half years to bring these fake charges, right in the middle of President Trump’s winning campaign for 2024? Why was it announced the day after the big Crooked Joe Biden scandal broke out from the Halls of Congress?’ the spokesperson wrote.

‘The answer is, election interference!’ the spokesperson continued. ‘The lawlessness of these persecutions of President Trump and his supporters is reminiscent of Nazi Germany in the 1930s, the former Soviet Union, and other authoritarian, dictatorial regimes.’

‘President Trump has always followed the law and the Constitution, with advice from many highly accomplished attorneys,’ the spokesperson added.

The indictment comes after Trump had announced that he received a target letter from the Justice Department, which also asked that he report to the federal grand jury. Trump said he anticipated ‘an arrest and indictment.’

Smith was investigating whether Trump or other officials and entities interfered with the peaceful transfer of power following the 2020 presidential election, including the certification of the Electoral College vote on Jan. 6, 2021.

On Jan. 6, 2021, pro-Trump rioters breached the U.S. Capitol during a joint session of Congress to certify the Electoral College results in favor of President Biden.

The House of Representatives drafted articles of impeachment against him again and ultimately voted to impeach him on a charge of inciting an insurrection for the Jan. 6 Capitol riot — making him the first and only president in history to be impeached, and ultimately acquitted, twice.

The Senate voted to acquit but, had Trump been convicted, the Senate would have moved to bar the 45th president from holding federal office ever again, preventing a 2024 White House run.

Trump has also pleaded not guilty to 34 counts in New York in April stemming from Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s investigation. Trump is accused of falsifying business records related to hush-money payments made during the 2016 campaign.

Elsewhere, prosecutors in Fulton County, Georgia, are looking to wrap up their criminal investigation into Trump’s alleged efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election in the state.

WASHINGTON – Lawmakers were torn on whether actors and writers should be concerned about artificial intelligence taking their jobs, with one Republican lawmaker saying the ‘spoiled’ Hollywood professionals should get back to work at their ‘overpaid’ jobs.

‘Hollywood is a bunch of spoiled brat degenerates, and they ought to get back to work,’ Tennessee Rep. Tim Burchett, a Republican, said. ‘They are overpaid and under worked. The rest of this country gets by on a lot less.’ 

SHOULD HOLLYWOOD BE CONCERNED ABOUT AI ADVANCEMENTS? LAWMAKERS WEIGH IN:

But Connecticut Rep. Jim Himes, a Democrat, said Hollywood’s actors and writers should be worried about AI development. 

‘If I was an actor and somebody could create a digital representation of me and my voice and put me in a movie and I don’t get any say about that and I don’t get any compensation from that, I’d be concerned,’ the Connecticut Democrat said. 

Hollywood actors and screenwriters’ ongoing protest against studios, streaming services and production companies represented by the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) marks the first time in over 60 years the two unions have been on strike at the same time. The strikes have focused on renewing contracts with increased pay rates and guaranteed protections from artificial intelligence developments taking away their jobs. 

‘AI cannot replace people,’ Rep. Jamaal Bowman said. ‘In some industries it will, but when we talk about the creative arts, there’s going to be a disconnect between the soul and the essence of what humans create and what AI creates.’ 

‘They’re the ones who build the wealth in Hollywood,’ the New York Democrat said. ‘Pay them what they’ve earned.’ 

AI has been a central focus in the strikes, since recent developments have made the technology able to easily write scripts and replicate an actors’ image and likeness without their consent. As it continues to advance, AI could reduce or eliminate 300 million jobs globally, according to a March report from Goldman Sachs. 

‘The writer’s strike shows the critical importance of protecting artists, writers and other creators against [AI], in effect, taking their product without just compensation, which AI enables more and more others to do,’ Connecticut Sen. Richard Blumenthal, a Democrat, said.

But South Carolina Rep. Nancy Mace, a Republican, said the film industry should be brainstorming how to use AI to its advantage. 

‘It’s going to be the future,’ she said. ‘I also understand people don’t want to lose their jobs, so they should look at the technology and utilizing it to make all their work better.’

Up to 30% of hours worked across the U.S. economy could become automated by 2030, creating the possibility of around 12 million occupational transitions in the coming years, according to a McKinsey Global Institute study published in July. Lower-wage workers are up to 14 times more likely to need to change occupations than those in the highest-wage positions, and women are 1.5 times more likely to lose their jobs than men with continued AI development.

AI is ‘a serious threat to a lot of workforce industry,’ California Rep. Robert Garcia, a Democrat, told Fox News. ‘That’s what we’re trying to figure out, is ways that we can regulate AI in a way that is fair, that doesn’t stifle innovation, but certainly is not taking away really important jobs.’

To watch lawmakers’ full interviews, click here. 

Fox News’ Yael Halon contributed to this report.

First son Hunter Biden sent a series of texts to his now-former friend and business partner in 2019 defending his family’s name when pressed about them not stepping in when the Obama-Biden administration’s DOJ arrested him, insisting the friend was ‘a Biden’ also and saying his legal troubles were the ‘price of power.’ 

Text messages reviewed by Fox News Digital show an awkward March 6, 2019 conversation between Biden and Devon Archer a little over a month before hid dad announced he was running for president in April 2019.

‘Why did your dad’s administration appointees arrest me and try to put me in jail?’ Archer asked Biden. ‘Just curious. Some of our partners asking out here.’

‘Why would they try and ruin my family and destroy my kids and no one from your family’s side step in and at least try to help me. I don’t get it,’ Archer continued.

Archer went on to say he was ‘depressed’ and ‘curious’ because ‘these Asians,’ appearing to refer to their Chinese business partners, were asking the same questions and ‘getting in [his] head.’

‘Buddy are you serious,’ Biden responded. ‘Because. There’s no connection between the two, the same the justice department can investigate and prosecute this president and his family it does for all administrations. It’s democracy. Three co equal (sic) branches of government.’

‘You are always more vulnerable to the overreach of those Co equal branches when you are in power. Every presidents family is held to a higher standard is a target (sic),’ Biden continued. ‘It’s the price of being the most powerful group of people in the world. It’s why our democracy remains viable.’

‘It’s unfair at times but in the end the system of justice usually works and like you we are redeemed and the truth prevails,’the first son added. ‘The unfairness allows for the greater good.’

Archer responded that he was ‘depressed’ and that he loves Biden ‘anyway,’ writing everyone other than the younger Biden ‘sucks including them all.’

‘And your brother was with me,’ Archer added, referring to Biden’s late brother, Beau.

‘Yes he was and I always am and turn the discussion around Devon. Every great family is persecuted prosecuted in the us (sic),’ Biden wrote. ‘You are part of a great family — not a side show not deserted by them even in your darkest moments.’

‘That’s the way Bidens are different and you are a Biden. It’s the price of power and the people questioning you truly have none whereas you do through perseverance and poise,’ Biden added, appearing to refer to the DOJ.

Archer responded that he loved Biden and apologized for the texts, saying he was a ‘long way from home for a couple weeks and [the] demons are talking to [him].’

‘I love you too buddy. And know that I understand, but please of all the people in the world to decide to put the blame on please don’t let it be me. Almost Every other person in my life has done that and I’m somehow the source of all their disappointments. I’m beginning to believe all of them.’

‘And we aren’t a banana republic buddy. The powerful are targets in this country the more powerful they become,’ Biden continued. ‘But the truth prevails if you have the stamina and guts and enough love to stay the course.’

‘I never blame you [by the way,]’ Archer responded.

Archer was a co-founder of Biden’s now-dissolved investment firm, Rosemont Seneca Partners (RSP), managing director of Rosemont Seneca Technology Partners (RSTP), an RSP affiliate, and he co-founded BHR Partners, a Beijing-backed private equity firm controlled by Bank of China Limited.

However, Archer was forced to resign from BHR Partners in May 2016 after he came under federal investigation for defrauding a Native American tribe.

The 2019 texts, which were sent months after Archer expressed excitement that U.S. District Judge Ronnie Abrams in Manhattan threw out his conviction in November 2018, were reviewed by Fox News Digital a couple of days after Archer spoke to members of the House Oversight Committee about his business dealings with Hunter Biden on Monday.

Biden told his longtime friend and business partner that they would get the ‘last laugh’ after Archer said a judge threw out his conviction, according to 2018 text messages previously reviewed by Fox News Digital.

‘Thank f—ing god! First good news in way too long my friend. I am so happy for you. I know its (sic) been a living hell but put it behind you now and take great steps forward,’ Biden replied.

‘Love you brother,’ Archer said.

Biden then appeared to refer to the Department of Justice as ‘motherf—ers’ and said he and Archer will ‘have the last laugh.’

‘I know. And I mean it. Can I please come see you now that I’m not a felon!?!’ Archer said. ‘Don’t answer that. Just when and where?’

Biden joked that he liked Archer ‘better as a felon’ and that he was in Newburyport, Massachusetts, for the next week but to call him.

During the closed-door interview on Monday, Archer confirmed President Biden ‘lied to the American people when he said he had no knowledge about his son’s business dealings and was not involved,’ according to House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer. 

Archer also said that Hunter Biden put his father, then-Vice President Joe Biden, on speakerphone while meeting with business partners at least 20 times. Archer described how Biden was put on the phone to sell ‘the brand.’

Lawyers for Hunter Biden and Archer did not respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.

Fox News’ Brooke Singman and Jessica Chasmar contributed to this report.

Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy said Wednesday he doesn’t believe the U.S. government ‘has told the truth’ concerning the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, specifically on the possible involvement of the Saudi Arabian government.

Ramaswamy made the comments during an appearance on BlazeTV. 

‘I don’t believe the government has told us the truth,’ Ramswamy said. ‘Again, I’m driven by evidence and data. What I’ve seen in the last several years is we have to be skeptical of what the government does tell us.’ 

‘I haven’t seen evidence to the contrary, but do I believe everything the government told us about it? Absolutely not. Do I believe the 9/11 Commission? Absolutely not,’ he said.

When reached for comment, Ramaswamy’s campaign pointed to a post he made on social media following the interview in which he reiterated the government had not been ‘completely forthright’ about the attacks.

‘Do I believe our government has been completely forthright about 9/11? No. Al- Qaeda clearly planned and executed the attacks, but we have never fully addressed who knew what in the Saudi government about it. We *can* handle the TRUTH,’ he wrote.

Fox News Digital has reached out to the Saudi Arabian embassy for comment. 

FIRST ON FOX: Sens. Kyrsten Sinema, I-Ariz., and Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., are warning that the Biden administration is clearly misinterpreting a bipartisan law passed last year as it works to withhold funding from schools that offer hunting and archery courses.

The warning from the two senators comes after Fox News Digital reported the Department of Education is interpreting the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act (BSCA) to preclude federal funding for school hunter education and archery programs nationwide. Sens. John Cornyn, R-Texas, and Thom Tillis, R-N.C. — who both sponsored the bill with Sinema and Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn. — have also criticized the administration for its BSCA implementation.

‘We agree with Sens. Cornyn and Tillis — this is not Congressional intent, hunting and archery classes should be eligible for funding and not penalized, and we are working with lawmakers on both sides and the Administration to ensure this gets fixed,’ Hannah Hurley, a spokesperson for Sinema, told Fox News Digital.

The BSCA — which was criticized as a ‘gun control’ bill, but touted by proponents as an effort to promote ‘safer, more inclusive and positive’ schools — was introduced, passed overwhelmingly by Congress and signed into law by President Biden in June 2022 after subsequent mass shootings at a grocery market in Buffalo, New York, and a school in Uvalde, Texas.

The BSCA included an amendment to a subsection in the 1965 Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) listing prohibited uses for federal school funding. That amendment prohibits ESEA funds from helping provide any person with a dangerous weapon or to provide ‘training in the use of a dangerous weapon.’

Federal guidance obtained last week by Fox News Digital was circulated among hunting education groups earlier this week, highlighting that the Department of Education has interpreted the BSCA’s amendment to the ESEA to mean elementary and secondary school courses teaching children about shooting sports are prohibited from receiving critical federal funds.

‘The Bipartisan Safer Communities Act was an overwhelmingly bipartisan bill that addressed gun violence and mental health in our schools,’ Manchin told Fox News Digital in a statement Wednesday. 

‘Any defunding of schools who offer critical programs like archery and hunting clubs would be a gross misinterpretation of the legislation and yet another example of this Administration trying to advance their radical agenda with blatant disregard for the law,’ he continued.

In a letter to Education Secretary Miguel Cardona last month, Cornyn and Tillis added that the Education Department’s interpretation of the BSCA ‘contradicts congressional intent and the text of the BSCA.’

Murphy, the fourth sponsor on the BSCA and only sponsor who hasn’t weighed in on the Education Department’s guidance blocking funding for hunting and archery programs, didn’t respond to multiple requests for comment.

Several other GOP lawmakers have also blasted the Biden administration in response to the funding decision. On Tuesday, Rep. Mark Green, R-Tenn., who chairs the Homeland Security Committee, introduced legislation that would clarify school programs ‘training students in archery, hunting, or other shooting sports’ are eligible for funding.

‘Letting Washington bureaucrats, sitting in a half-empty air-conditioned building in the Swamp, make arbitrary decisions about what kids in Tennessee should and should not learn is the antithesis of federalism,’ Green told Fox News Digital on Tuesday. ‘Archery and other shooting sports are valuable to our children. The federal government’s overreach needs to stop, now.’

In addition, hunting and pro-Second Amendment groups like Safari Club International, National Shooting Sports Foundation, International Order of T. Roosevelt, Outdoors Tomorrow Foundation and National Rifle Association have also criticized the Education Department.

‘Without the next generation of hunters, the conservation programs that our nation relies on to preserve wildlands and wildlife will be in peril. This is a direct attack by anti-hunting forces via their allies in the Biden Administration,’ said Luke Hilgemann, the executive director of the International Order of T. Roosevelt.

‘The International Order of T. Roosevelt will explore every means possible to block this ridiculous overstep. We must protect our heritage for the next generation.’