A 26-year-old self-made billionaire whose company is helping the Pentagon adopt artificial intelligence technology warned this week the Chinese government is spending three times as much as the U.S. government is to become the world’s undisputed AI leader.

‘The country that is able to most rapidly and effectively integrate new technology into warfighting wins. If we don’t win on AI, we risk ceding global influence, technology leadership and democracy to strategic adversaries like China,’ Alexandr Wang, CEO of Scale AI, told members of the House Armed Services Committee on Tuesday.

‘The Chinese Communist Party deeply understands the potential for AI to disrupt warfare and is investing to heavily capitalize on the opportunity,’ he said.

Wang, raised by two parents who worked as nuclear physicists at Los Alamos National Laboratory, started his company in 2016 after dropping out of MIT when he was 19. Scale AI was recently valued at more than $7 billion, and Wang told lawmakers that he saw the scale of China’s ambition during an investor trip there four years ago.

‘China was making rapid progress developing AI technologies like facial recognition and computer vision and using these for domestic surveillance and repression,’ he testified. ‘China is investing the full power of its industrial base for AI.’

‘This year, they’re on track to spend roughly three times the U.S. government on AI,’ he added. ‘The PLA is also heavily investing in AI-enabled autonomous drone swarms, adaptive radar systems, autonomous vehicles, and China has launched over 79 large language models since 2020.’

‘AI is China’s Apollo Project,’ he concluded.

But while China is gunning to take the lead in the race for AI domination, Wang cited several reasons why the U.S. still has the edge today. He said the U.S. is still the ‘place of choice’ for the world’s most talented AI scientists and said America’s access to data gives it another important edge.

‘When it comes to data, I actually also agree that we have a potential very powerful advantage here, specifically when it pertains to military implementations,’ he said. ‘In America, we have the largest fleet of military hardware in the world.’

Wang said that fleet generates 22 terabytes of data every day – data that can be harnessed to train AI and give the U.S. an ‘insurmountable data advantage when it comes to military use of artificial intelligence.’

Wang did say, however, that the U.S. needs to take rapid steps to ensure it takes advantage of this oversupply of data. He said collecting data is a new reality that the Pentagon must adapt to if it’s going to stay ahead on AI, and that processes need to be put in place so this data can be collected and turned into ‘AI-ready data sets.’

‘I think this is one of the most important things that we can do to set up America for decades and decades of leadership in military use of AI,’ Wang said.

‘Every service, every group, every program needs to be thinking about how… all of the data that their programs are collecting and that are being generated within their purview, how can they ensure that all this data flows through into one central data repository, and then are prepared and tagged and labeled for AI-ready use down the line,’ he said.

But he stressed that China cannot be ignored and rejected the possibility that the U.S. and China might be able to work together on AI since both nations might feel threatened by AI systems that seek to take over governance of their citizens.

‘I think it would be a stretch to say we’re on the same team on this issue,’ Wang said, noting that China’s first instinct was to use AI for facial recognition systems in order to control its people. ‘I expect them to use modern AI technologies in the same way to the degree that they can, and that seems to be the immediate priority of the Chinese Communist Party when it comes to implementation of AI.’

President Biden’s move to authorize calling up to 3,000 reservists to augment U.S. forces in Europe comes as the military struggles to recruit enough troops to the active-duty ranks.

The president’s executive order last week authorized the secretary of defense and secretary of homeland security to call members of the Selected Reserve and Individual Ready Reserve to active duty ‘for the effective conduct of Operation Atlantic Resolve in and around the United States European Command’s area of responsibility.’

The order follows Russia’s invasion of Ukraine entering a new phase of unpredictability. 

Most notable was an apparent coup attempt by Russia’s private military company, the Wagner Group, which ended with thousands of its fighters reportedly taking new homes in Belarus, raising fears about the vulnerability of NATO’s eastern flank.

Russia’s war with Ukraine has prompted the U.S. to beef up its presence in Europe, with the Pentagon deploying an additional 20,000 troops to the continent since the conflict began last year.

The increased rotations to international theaters has strained the military, which was already battling its worse recruiting crisis in decades when the war in Ukraine began. 

While all branches of the military struggled to hit their fiscal 2022 recruiting goals, the Army was the only one to fall short of its objective. Earlier this year, the Army, Navy and Air Force all admitted they were likely to fall thousands of recruits short of meeting their fiscal 2023 targets. 

Only the Marine Corps, which is seeking to add 29,000 recruits in 2023, is expected to meet its recruiting targets.

Reached for comment by Fox News Digital, a Pentagon spokesperson said the move to call up reserves ‘was not related to recruiting.’

According to Lt. Gen. Douglas Sims, troops called up to serve will not increase the number of service members in Europe but allow the military to pull qualified reservists to fill roles currently being filled by active members.

‘As an example, over time, where we may have had someone from an active component organization doing something, that job now under these authorities may be something that a reserve component unit may be able to do,’ Sims said, according to a Military Times report.

Members of the Individual Ready Reserve, or IRR, are former active duty or reservist troops who, while not actively participating in military activities, are still under contract to be called up to active duty by executive order of the president.

According to a statement by the Army, these troops ‘are trained soldiers who may be called upon, if needed, to replace soldiers in active duty and Army Reserve units.’

Speaking to Fox News last week, National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby said many of the reservists being called up will serve in ‘administrative functions’ as the military continues to send members to Europe to reinforce NATO.

‘This basically is a realization of the fact that the president knows that the security environment in Europe is changed,’ Kirby said. ‘We’ve got to make sure that we’ve got the proper force posture to support an additional eastern flank presence for the long haul.’

Several House Democrats sidestepped questions on whether Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government is racist on Tuesday, a day before the country’s president is expected to address a joint meeting of Congress.

Congressional Progressive Caucus Chair Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., has been under fire from both sides of the aisle for calling Israel a ‘racist state’ over the weekend. She then released a follow-up statement, clarifying that she does not ‘believe that the idea of Israel as a nation is racist’ but that ‘Netanyahu’s extreme right wing government has engaged in discriminatory practices and outright racist policies.’

House Democrats, ranging from moderates to progressives, were hesitant to say whether they agreed with her, and some switched topics altogether to recent antisemitic comments made by 2024 presidential candidate Robert Kennedy Jr.

Rep. Jared Moskowitz, D-Fla., a freshman Democrat who’s been among the most vocally opposed to Jayapal’s comments, told Fox News Digital he was ‘very happy’ she clarified the remarks but did not weigh in directly on Netanyahu’s governing.

‘Israel is not a racist state nor is it an apartheid state,’ Moskowitz said. ‘I thought her comments … were unacceptable and outrageous, to say a whole country is racist. … That being said, I’m very happy that she clarified those comments. I think that was important.’

‘Especially, you know, look, we’re just seeing a rise of antisemitism around the country. We’ve got RFK Jr., who’s going to be testifying this week because the Republicans want him to come and tell people how, you know, the Jews, I guess, engineered COVID because it didn’t affect the Jews. I’m not really sure what RFK Jr. is trying to say, but it just feeds into all this.’

Kennedy is slated to come before a GOP-led House panel on Thursday to discuss censorship.

Rep. Eric Swalwell, D-Calif., similarly pivoted to RFK Jr.’s upcoming testimony.

‘Israel is not a racist state. Pramila Jayapal apologized,’ Swalwell said. ‘You know who has not apologized? Speaker McCarthy for bringing an antisemitic witness to Congress in RFK Jr. He should apologize for that, and RFK Jr. should not be given that audience.’

A freshman Democrat, Rep. Jeff Jackson, D-N.C., simply said, ‘I was glad she walked back her initial statement.’

Ways and Means Committee ranking member Rep. Richard Neal, D-Mass., was more pointed in distancing himself from Jayapal’s comments on Netanyahu.

‘I think you can have honest disagreements with any … democratically elected government,’ Neal told Fox News Digital. ‘I don’t think that we should question a nation based upon the election of one prime minister or another.’

On the other end, progressive Rep. Mark Takano, D-Calif., said there are ‘extreme’ officials in Netanyahu’s government, but he stopped short of saying the entire administration falls into that category.

‘I would categorize, at the very least, certain members of his cabinet as very extreme. And I think there are plenty of people who would say that,’ Takano told Fox News Digital. ‘I’m concerned about Netanyahu’s — the direction he’s going with the independence of the Israeli Supreme Court and the rule of law because these pertain to Israel’s status as a vibrant democracy.’

‘That’s also important to me because it’s what ties our countries together, this sense that both countries share liberal democratic ideals,’ he said.

Two whistleblowers who alleged the Justice Department politically interfered with an investigation into President Biden’s youngest son, Hunter, will testify before Congress at 1 p.m. Wednesday, including ‘Whistleblower X,’ a 13-year special agent of the IRS whose identity will be revealed for the first time during the hearing, and former investigation supervisor Greg Shapley.

According to an opening statement released ahead of the hearing, the unidentified official intends to describe himself as a ‘whistleblower compelled to disclose the truth’ and to shed light on ‘the shadow that looms over our federal legal system.’

‘I have witnessed the corrosion of ethical standards and the abuse of power that threaten our nation. It is within this context that I have chosen to shed light on these actions and expose those responsible. I recognize that while I was present at the start of this investigation and was closely involved with the investigation for roughly five years —  that I am just a part of the story,’ the opening statement continued. ‘My aim is to address systemic problems that have allowed misconduct to flourish. It is not a call for blame but a call for accountability and reform.’

‘Transparency is the foundation of our democracy,’ the unidentified IRS agent will tell Congress Wednesday. ‘Without it, people lose their trust in the institutions and the bonds that tie the fabric of our nation start to fray. The American people deserve to know the truth no matter how uncomfortable or inconvenient it may be for either political party.’

The IRS whistleblowers claim there was a pattern of ‘slow-walking investigative steps’ into Hunter Biden, which included instructions not to speak with him at his residence, tipping the president’s son and staff off about the ongoing efforts and delaying enforcement actions in the months before the 2020 presidential election.

Leaders of the House Judiciary, Oversight and Accountability, and Ways and Means committees will join together Wednesday to host the IRS whistleblowers for what is expected to be an intense hearing.

The two IRS agents were assigned to the federal investigation into Hunter Biden’s tax and gun charges. Biden ultimately pleaded guilty to the misdemeanor tax offenses as part of an agreement with federal prosecutors in a lenient deal that prompted criticism from Republican lawmakers. The hearing comes as House Republicans continue to investigate the president and his family after the Justice Department failed to find evidence of criminal conduct.

The congressional inquiry into the Justice Department’s case against Hunter Biden was launched last month, days after Hunter Biden’s plea deal was announced.

The House Ways and Means Committee previously voted to publicly share hundreds of pages of testimony from the IRS employees. In the testimony, the agents described several roadblocks agents on the case, such as trying to interview individuals relevant to the case or issue search warrants, which they ultimately claim impeded their investigation.

In one specific case, Shapley described IRS agents’ efforts to execute a search warrant of a storage facility in Virginia where the younger Biden’s documents were being stored. He said the assistant U.S. attorney involved in the case reached out to Hunter Biden’s lawyers and the tip-off ruined ‘our chance to get to evidence before being destroyed, manipulated, or concealed.’

Shapley also claimed that U.S. Attorney David Weiss, the federal prosecutor who led the investigation into Hunter Biden, asked to be provided special counsel status in order to bring the tax cases to jurisdictions outside Delaware, including Washington, D.C., and California

Shapley claims Weiss was denied this request but both Weiss and the Justice Department refuted the claim. They said Weiss had ‘full authority’ of the case and never sought to bring charges in other states.

The second IRS whistleblower said he started the investigation into Hunter Biden in 2015 and described persistent frustrations with the way the case was handled, including under the Trump administration and then-Attorney General William Barr.

He said he began to hit roadblocks when he attempted to delve deeply into Hunter Biden’s life and finances. Other agents involved in the case have so far not been willing to testify.

The three chairmen of the committees —Reps. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, James Comer, R-Kentucky, and Jason Smith, R-Missouri — have jointly claimed the Justice Department is rife with political interference and bias.

They have also called the plea agreement Hunter Biden made with prosecutors to likely avoid jail time a ‘sweetheart deal.’

High-ranking officials at the Justice Department have provided some information confirming certain accounts of the whistleblowers but have mostly countered their claims and those from the Republican leaders.

The officials have said federal prosecutors and investigators often disagree about how to conduct an investigation and can reach different determinations and conclusions. They have also pointed to the extraordinary circumstances of investigating the son of a leading presidential candidate. And, Department policy warns prosecutors to take care in charging cases with potential political overtones especially around the time of an election, to avoid any possible influence on the outcome, they have said.

House Democrats have defended the Justice Department, pointing out that Weiss was appointed by former President Donald Trump and the federal investigation into Hunter Biden was initiated by Trump’s Justice Department. Biden also kept Weiss on the case after he won the presidency.

Hunter Biden is scheduled to appear for his plea hearing next week.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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IRS whistleblowers are expected to testify at the House Oversight Committee Wednesday that they witnessed an ‘undeniable pattern of preferential treatment’ for the Bidens, and ‘obstruction of the normal investigative process’ throughout the years-long federal investigation into Hunter Biden.

IRS whistleblower Gary Shapley, who served as the supervisor on the investigation at the IRS, and a second anonymous whistleblower bringing similar accusations, will offer testimony to the House Oversight Committee starting at 1 p.m.

The anonymous whistleblower, who previously testified before the House Ways & Means Committee last month, is expected to reveal his identity as a 13 year-special agent within the IRS’ Criminal Investigation Division and as a ‘gay Democrat married to a man,’ according to his prepared testimony obtained by Fox News Digital.

The whistleblowers have alleged officials at the Justice Department, FBI and IRS interfered in the investigation into Hunter Biden and said decisions in the case seemed to be ‘influenced by politics.’ 

They also alleged federal prosecutors blocked lines of questioning related to President Biden and said the U.S. attorney in charge of the probe, David Weiss, did not have full authority to bring charges.

The anonymous whistleblower, according to his prepared testimony, will say that Hunter Biden ‘should have been charged with a tax felony, and not only the tax misdemeanor charge,’ and that communications and text messages reviewed by investigators ‘may be a contradiction to what President Biden was saying about not being involved in Hunter’s oversea business dealings.’

That whistleblower is also expected to testify on several instances in which prosecutors ‘did not follow the ordinary process, slow-walked the investigation, and put in place unnecessary approvals and roadblocks from effectively and efficiently investigating the case,’ including prosecutors blocking questioning and interviewing of Hunter Biden’s adult children.

The whistleblower is also expected to ask Congress and the Biden Administration to ‘consider a special counsel’ for the Hunter Biden investigation and ‘all the related cases and spin-off investigations that have come forward from this investigation.’

‘Related cases that I believe are subject to the same problems and difficulties we had,’ the whistleblower is expected to say, and expected to add that Congress should consider ‘establishing an official channel for Federal investigators to pull the emergency cord and raise the issue of the appointment of a special counsel for consideration by your senior officials.’

It is unclear, at this point, to which ‘related cases and spin-off investigations’ the whistleblower is referring. 

Meanwhile, Shapley, who has participated in multiple media interviews since the House Ways & Means Committee released his transcribed interview last month, is expected to testify that prosecutors ‘had decided to conceal some evidence from the investigators’ that they found on Hunter Biden’s laptop.

Shapley is also expected to say that the Delaware’s U.S. Attorney’s Office ‘slow-walked steps like conducting interviews, serving document requests, and pursuing physical search warrants in California, Virginia and Delaware’ until after the 2020 presidential election. 

‘The warrants were ready as early as April 2020, but the Delaware USAO pushed them off until after the November 2020 election and then never pursued them,’ Shapley will say. 

‘After an electronic search warrant on Hunter Biden’s Apple iCloud account led us to WhatsApp messages with several CEFC China Energy executives where he claimed to be sitting and discussing business with his father Joe Biden, we sought permission to follow up on the information in the messages,’ Shapley will say. ‘Prosecutors would not allow it.’

Shapley will again testify that a search warrant for the guest house at the Bidens’ Delaware residence was being planned, but, despite agreeing there was ‘probable cause,’ Assistant U.S. Attorney Lesley Wolf ‘cited the ‘optics’ of executing a search warrant at President Biden’s residence as the deciding factor for not allowing it to be completed.’ 

‘This was the decision even though she admitted there would be evidence at that location that would further the investigation,’ Shapley will say. ‘AUSA Wolf also told investigators they should not ask about President Biden during witness interviews even when the business communications of his son clearly referenced him.’ 

‘What I witnessed reflects poorly not he DOJ and raises serious questions about their objectivity and ethics,’ Shapley will say.

Shapley is expected to say that his ‘red line’ in coming forward was when U.S. attorney for Delaware David Weiss said he was ‘not the deciding person on whether charges are filed.’ 

‘I had seen an undeniable pattern of preferential treatment and obstruction of the normal investigative process,’ Shapley will say, and add that Weiss allowed the statute of limitations to expire for tax charges against Hunter Biden from 2014 and 2015 in D.C.

Their testimony comes as the committee, led by Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., investigates the Biden family’s business dealings.

‘Since assuming our Republican majority in January, the House Oversight and Accountability Committee has made historically fast progress in our investigation into the Biden family’s influence peddling schemes,’ Comer is expected to say in his opening statement, obtained by Fox News Digital. 

Comer is expected to lay out the committee’s findings ‘in just six months,’ including ‘astonishing’ financial records. 

‘What were the Bidens’ selling? Nothing but influence and access to the Biden network,’ Comer will say. ‘This is an influence peddling scheme to enrich the Bidens.’ 

Comer will go on to stress the importance of ‘whether Joe Biden is compromised by these schemes and if our national security is threatened.’ 

Comer is expected to tout the ‘brave and credible’ whistleblowers and acknowledge that they have ‘risked their careers to come forward and provide important testimony.’ 

‘Their testimony about the DOJ, FBI, and IRS’s investigation of Hunter Biden confirms the committee’s findings,’ Comer will say. ‘That there is nothing normal about the Biden family’s business activity.’ 

The hearing comes after a former FBI supervisory special agent assigned to the FBI’s Wilmington office and the investigation into Hunter Biden ‘confirmed key portions’ from the whistleblowers’ allegations in testimony before the House Oversight Committee Monday.

Comer said that agent testified that ‘the night before the interview of Hunter Biden, both Secret Service headquarters and the Biden transition team were tipped off about the planned interview.’

‘On the day of the Hunter Biden interview, federal agents were told to stand by and could not approach Hunter Biden — they had to wait for his call,’ Comer said. ‘As a result of the change in plans, IRS and FBI criminal investigators never got to interview Hunter Biden as part of the investigation.’

Comer added that the DOJ’s ‘efforts to cover up for the Bidens’ showed there was ‘a two-tiered system of justice,’ and vowed the committee would ‘continue to seek the answers, transparency and accountability that the American people demand and deserve.’

But the top Democrat on the committee, Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., is expected to say that the IRS whistleblowers’ ‘disagreements and frustrations’ ‘began in 2020 when President Trump’s own appointees ran both the IRS and the Department of Justice.’

‘But make no mistake, the only political interference at play in this case is taking place right now with Donald Trump and our GOP colleagues who continue their full-scale assault on the rule of law and our independent justice system,’ Raskin is expected to say, according to an excerpt of his prepared testimony obtained by Fox News Digital.

The highly-anticipated hearing also comes amid a joint-congressional investigation by the Oversight Committee, Judiciary Committee and House Ways and Means Committee into the federal probe into Hunter Biden and whether prosecutorial decisions were influenced by politics.

The Justice Department announced last month that Hunter Biden had entered a plea agreement that would likely keep him out of prison. As part of the deal, the president’s son will plead guilty to two misdemeanor counts of willful failure to pay federal income taxes and to one charge of possession of a firearm by a person who is an unlawful user of or addicted to a controlled substance.

Hunter Biden is scheduled to make his first court appearance July 26.

The Justice Department has denied the investigation was influenced in any way. U.S. Attorney David Weiss of Delaware, who is in charge of the probe, has said the investigation is ‘ongoing.’

Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds signed a law on July 14, 2023, banning abortion after six weeks of pregnancy in the state.Multiple organizations, including Planned Parenthood North Central States, challenged the law leading to the law being temporarily blocked.Reynolds says that she plans to appeal the block, claiming ‘it’s just a matter of time.’

Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds said on Tuesday that plans are in progress to appeal a temporary block on the state’s new, restrictive abortion law, previewing a likely emotional court battle that could take months to resolve.

Reynolds told reporters at the Iowa Capitol that her staff is working with lawyers in Attorney General Brenna Bird’s office to work out the details, so ‘it’s just a matter of time,’ she said.

The Republican-controlled Legislature approved the measure to ban most abortions after about six weeks of pregnancy during a special session last week, and the law went into effect Friday, immediately after Reynolds signed it. The ACLU of Iowa, Planned Parenthood North Central States and the Emma Goldman Clinic launched a legal challenge and on Monday, Judge Joseph Seidlin granted their request to pause the law as the courts assess its constitutionality.

Abortion remains legal in Iowa up to 20 weeks of pregnancy since the new law is on hold.

Abortion providers said they scrambled to fit in as many appointments as possible before the governor signed the bill, making hundreds of calls to prepare patients for the uncertainty and keeping clinics open late.

After the ruling, providers at Planned Parenthood and the Emma Goldman Clinic indicated they were relieved but conscious of the long legal fight ahead.

‘The state’s relentless efforts to ban abortion even before many people know they are pregnant continue, but whenever that appeal is filed, we will keep working together to protect the rights of Iowans to safe and legal abortion care,’ Rita Bettis Austen, legal director at ACLU of Iowa, said in a statement.

Seidlin wrote that the law must stand up to the ‘undue burden’ test until the state Supreme Court says otherwise. That means it must not be too difficult for individuals to exercise their rights. He said that under that test, abortion advocates are likely correct in saying the new law violates Iowans’ rights under the state Constitution.

Lawyers for the state argued — and would likely continue to argue — that the law should be judged against a lower standard. Because the government has an interest in protecting life, they argue, the law should withstand legal challenges.

‘I think the bill that we passed is constitutional, especially with the changes that we’ve seen,’ said Reynolds, who alluded to the Iowa Supreme Court and the U.S. Supreme Court reversing previous rulings that affirmed a woman’s fundamental right to abortion.

‘We passed it, it went into law, and for three days we were saving babies,’ she said. ‘I think the right to life is the most important right that we have.’

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EXCLUSIVE: An influential conservative political group has started getting involved in elections earlier than ever, endorsing conservatives in primaries rather than waiting to support whoever wins the GOP primary.

Americans For Prosperity’s grassroots election arm (AFP Action) announced its first slate of Senate and governor endorsements Tuesday, following an impressive $70 million in fundraising and a first round of House endorsements in key races across the nation.

The goal, according to AFP Action director Nathan Nascimento, is to back quality candidates early to ensure better choices for voters in the general election at every level of elected office.

‘The last three election cycles have made it clear that if we want better policies from Washington, we need better candidates who can lead our country forward,’ Nascimento told Fox News Digital in a statement.

The engagement in primary battles is new for AFP Action, and Nascimento said the effort will be paired with ‘unmatched data capabilities to bring new voters into the political process.’ 

‘We are ready to deploy the strongest and most effective grassroots army in the country to change the outcome of critical races and elect champions for policies that will empower Americans.’

With the 2024 Senate map favoring the GOP — due to the sheer number of Democrats defending seats in Republican-leaning and swing states — the first round of Senate endorsements from AFP Action includes three Republicans in crucial races. 

AFP endorsed Sam Brown for the Nevada Senate seat currently held by Sen. Jacky Rosen. Brown attempted to run for Senate in the 2022 midterms against Democratic Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, but lost the GOP primary to Adam Laxalt — who had secured with former President Donald Trump’s endorsement. Laxalt lost to Masto in November by less than 8,000 votes.

Nebraska Sen. Pete Ricketts — who is running in a special election to fill the remainder of former Sen. Ben Sasse’s term — also will get AFP’s support. Ricketts has one declared GOP challenger in former Rep. John Glen Weaver — whose campaign hasn’t gathered much steam yet. Weaver told Nebraska Public Media that he had not yet raised $5,000 in his campaign, but would increase fundraising in the third quarter.

The third initial endorsement is for Dave McCormick, who has not yet formally announced a Senate campaign against Democratic Sen. John Casey in Pennsylvania. McCormick narrowly lost the GOP primary in 2022 to Mehmet Oz — the physician and former TV show host who earned Trump’s endorsement and later lost the general election to now-Sen. John Fetterman.

Trump took a lot of blame for costing the GOP the Senate in 2022, despite Republicans winning a narrow majority in the House of Representatives.

In the closest-watched Senate races during what many pundits predicted would be a ‘red wave’ election, several candidates hand-picked by Trump failed to win the general election. Along with Oz and Laxalt, Georgia Republican candidate Scott Walker, a former University of Georgia football coach who handily won the GOP primary after Trump encouraged him to run, went down in defeat.

Trump deflected blame for the losing candidates from himself and argued Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell undercut, and underfunded, his candidates. Trump also blamed abortion — which Democrats made an election issue following the overturn of Roe v. Wade — for Republican losses. 

AFP is also endorsing Mike Braun for governor of Indiana and Patrick Morrisey for West Virginia governor.

In a February memo, AFP CEO Emily Seidel highlighted two takeaways from the 2022 midterms: The Republican Party was nominating bad candidates, and the Democrats were taking advantage of it.

According to Seidel, ‘the loudest voice in each political party sets the tone for the entire election. In a presidential year, that’s the presidential candidate.’

Though AFP hasn’t endorsed a candidate in the GOP primary, the group promised in February to support a nominee ‘who can lead our country forward, and who can win.’

AFP was founded and financed by Kansas-based billionaire industrialists Charles and David Koch, known as the Koch brothers. 

David Koch stepped away from involvement in AFP ahead of his death in 2019.

JERUSALEM — Prior to Israel’s ceremonial President Isaac Herzog’s planned speech to Congress on Wednesday, and in the face of mounting pressure from Republicans to invite Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel to the U.S. for a meeting, President Biden on Monday reached out to the Israeli leader to solidify a get-together this year.

Herzog, who will deliver his congressional address as part of Israel celebrating the rebirth of its country 75-years-ago, told Biden on Tuesday ‘I was pleased to hear about your conversation with Prime Minister Netanyahu, which focused on our ironclad military and security cooperation. Because there are some enemies of ours that sometimes mistake the fact that we may have some differences, as impacting our unbreakable bond. I truly believe that if they would know how much our cooperation has grown in recent years and achieved new heights, they would not think that way.’

Biden told Herzog that he conveyed to Netanyahu that ‘America’s commitment to Israel is firm and it is ironclad.’

Biden’s alleged interference in Israeli domestic affairs has been a source of acute anger among some in the Jewish state and several Republican politicians and candidates running for president.

In an interview with Fox News Digital on Tuesday, Caroline Glick, a prominent American Israeli commentator, said, ‘The Biden administration is siding with the opposition and against the democratically elected government’ over Netanyahu’s efforts to reform the judiciary. 

Glick said Biden has inserted himself into Israeli domestic political fights over the legal reform process like no U.S. administration before and ‘That is why Israelis in general and, not just the government, are very, very angry at the Biden administration.’ She termed the Biden administration policy toward Israel as ‘totally hostile to more than half of the country’ in the Jewish state.

Israel’s government is seeking to rope in the power of the judiciary while critics argue that the legal reform process will weaken the system of checks and balances in the Middle East’s only democracy. 

NETANYAHU TELLS PIERS MORGAN DEMOCRACY IS SAFE IN ISRAEL DESPITE HIS MOVES TO WREST CONTROL OF ‘TOO POWERFUL’ 

After Democratic progressive Rep. Pramila Jayapal of Washington called Israel a ‘racist state’ over the weekend, Glick said the ‘Democrats are under the ideological control of this progressive wing and are walking away from Israel as a party.’ Glick took Jayapal and her fellow progressive congressional ‘Squad’ members to task because, she claimed, their ‘progressive wing has mainstreamed contemporary antisemitism.’ 

Fox News Digital reported that more than 40 House Democrats slammed Jayapal in a public letter on Monday, declaring ‘Israel is the legitimate homeland of the Jewish people and efforts to delegitimize and demonize it are not only dangerous and antisemitic, but they also undermine America’s national security.’

Yaakov Katz, the author of ‘Shadow Strike: Inside Israel’s Secret Mission to Eliminate Syrian Nuclear Power’ and former editor-in-chief of the Jerusalem Post, told Fox News Digital with respect to Herzog’s invitation to Washington that ‘On the one hand, the visit is a clear illustration of the intimate and strategic relationship between Israel and the U.S. On the other hand, it is hard to ignore the fact that President Herzog has been invited to meet Biden and only on the eve of Herzog’s trip did Biden call and invite Netanyahu.’

Katz continued, ‘This is in line with Biden’s approach to the Israeli government which he called the most extreme in Israeli history. Netanyahu has until now not been welcome in Washington and even in their call Biden made clear that he disapproves of the judicial reform. The relations between the two leaders are not good at the moment.’

BIDEN DROVE ‘HISTORICALLY’ CLOSE MIDDLE EAST ALLIES INTO THE ARMS OF AMERICA’S GREATEST ENEMIES, EXPERTS SAY 

Ariel Kahana, a senior diplomatic commentator for Israel’s most read Hebrew-language daily newspaper, the Israel Hayom, told Fox News Digital regarding Biden’s Israel’s policies that the Israeli ‘government is certainly not satisfied with those policies. Those conversations they had (Monday) night by phone definitely made the atmosphere better, including the invitation Netanyahu got to visit Biden.’

Kahana expressed cautious optimism about improved relations between the U.S. and Israel. He said while there are ‘gaps’ in policy between the two allies, Kahana added that ‘The boycott has ended’ with respect to Biden snubbing Netanyahu.

Biden’s alleged hostility toward the Jewish state’s government triggered outrage from Republican politicians running for president on Monday at the Christians United for Israel (CUFI) annual summit in Arlington, Virginia. 

Florida’s Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis on Monday told attendees at CUFI, ‘I think we’re in dire need of repairing the U.S.-Israel relationship,’ calling the Biden administration’s policies towards Israel ‘disgraceful.’

Former U.S. ambassador to the U.N. and presidential candidate Nikki Haley said during her speech to CUFI, ‘From day one, Joe Biden has weakened America and failed to stand by Israel. America is in global retreat. Israel is in greater danger. It doesn’t have to be like this. And we can’t afford four more years of weakness – or even a year and a half. We need a pro-Israel president – whoever she may be.’

The former South Carolina governor brought up Iran in her speech noting that, ‘Many believe Iran is only months or even weeks away from having the capability to get a nuclear bomb. But the Biden administration has done absolutely nothing. Actually, that’s a little unfair. Biden hasn’t done nothing. He’s given Iran exactly what it wants. The president waived sanctions on Iran’s nuclear program.’ 

A spokesperson for the U.S. State Department previously told Fox News Digital, ‘As the president has made clear, the United States is committed to never allowing Iran to acquire a nuclear weapon. We believe diplomacy is the best way to achieve that goal, but President Biden has also been clear that we have not removed any option from the table.’

White House press secretary, Karine Jean-Pierre, said last week that Biden and Herzog ‘will also discuss Russia’s deepening military relationship with Iran, and Iran’s destabilizing behavior in the region.’  

Israeli commentators noted that Herzog will likely mention Iran’s reported nuclear weapons program in his speech to Congress and how it endangers security in the region.

When asked what Netanyahu aims to achieve during Herzog’s visit in conjunction with the prime minister’s view of a Fox News Digital report about the Biden administration using an antiquated definition of Iran’s atomic program, a spokesman for Netanyahu told Fox News Digital, ‘The prime minister’s position on Iran has been steady and unchanged.’

In June, Netanyahu responded to reports that the Biden administration was inching toward a deal with Iran’s regime to release at least $17 billion in sanctions relief to Tehran in exchange for temporary restrictions on the Islamic republic’s alleged atomic weapons program.

Israeli governments have consistently viewed Iran’s reported nuclear weapons program as an existential threat to the Jewish nation. Israel maintains a policy called the Begin Doctrine (name after former Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin) to bar countries that are hostile to Israel from constructing nuclear weapons with military capability.

Israel’s air force destroyed nuclear reactors in 1981 in Iraq and in 2007 in Syria to stop its enemies’ nuclear weapons ambitions. 

Fox News’ Peter Petroff contributed to this report.

The United States is reportedly planning to send Ukraine another $1.3 billion in military aid as it continues a counteroffensive against Russia.

The weapons package includes air defenses, counter-drone systems, exploding drones and ammunition, Reuters reported, citing two unnamed U.S. officials. 

Weapons manufacturers will provide the arms purchased by the United States to Kyiv through President Biden’s Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative (USAI) program, so U.S. weapons stocks will not be depleted.  

Among the systems and ammunition the U.S. plans to buy for Kyiv are counter-air defenses made by L3Harris Technologies called the Vehicle-Agnostic Modular Palletized ISR Rocket Equipment or VAMPIRE, Reuters reported.

Also included are two different types of loitering munitions, the Phoenix Ghost drone made by Aevex Aerospace, a private company in California, and the Switchblade, made by AeroVironment Inc.

Another person briefed on the matter told Reuters that Ukraine will get a significant number of counter-drone systems manufactured by Australia’s DroneShield Ltd., along with radars, sensors and analysis systems. 

Reached for comment, a Defense Department official declined to confirm the report.

‘We’ve seen those reports, but we don’t have any security assistance announcements to make at this time,’ said Marine Corps Lt. Col. Garron J. Garn.

Reuters reports that an announcement about additional security assistance is imminent. Coinciding with the report Tuesday is a virtual meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contract Group, a gathering of allies providing assistance to Kyiv as Ukraine presses its counteroffensive against Russia.

The Pentagon has sent more than $10.8 billion in security assistance for Ukraine under Biden’s USAI program in seven separate installments. This reported package would be the eighth, bringing the total to $12.1 billion.

Garn told Fox News Digital that as of June 22, there is an additional $1.7 billion in the fiscal 2023 Presidential Drawdown Authority that has not yet been committed to Ukraine, in addition to USAI and the State Department’s Foreign Military Financing funding.

There is currently $1.9 billion remaining in fiscal year 2023 USAI funds, according to the Defense Department.

In total, the United States has committed more than $42 billion in security assistance to Ukraine since Biden took office, including more than $41.3 billion since Russia began its invasion last year. That assistance includes more than 2,000 Stinger anti-aircraft systems, more than 10,000 Javelin anti-armor systems, more than 70,000 other anti-armor systems and munitions, 198 155 mm howitzers with more than 2 million 155 mm artillery rounds, as well as rockets, tactical support vehicles, mortar systems and medical supplies.

Reuters contributed to this report.