Democrats supporting President Biden are more openly attacking presidential challenger Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. as the president struggles to unite the blue party behind him.

Several Biden-backing operatives have opened fire on Kennedy amid online drama between him, podcast host Joe Rogan, Twitter owner Elon Musk, and Baylor College of Medicine tropical medicine dean Dr. Peter Hotez.

Kennedy appeared on Rogan’s podcast last week, prompting a response from Hotez that ignited an online firestorm between the foursome of prominent Americans and a challenge for Hotez to debate Kennedy on vaccines.

Since then, Biden-linked accounts on Twitter have been unloading on Kennedy, even going after his heroin addiction and possession felony..

‘Why does the MSM never mention that  RFK Jr. is actually a convicted felon?’ Democrat strategist Chris Jackson wrote. ‘How is this normal?’

‘Robert F. Kennedy Jr., hands shaking but voice loud and clear, pleaded guilty Friday to a felony charge of heroin possession,’ Jackson continued.

Jackson went on to write he is ‘all for second chances, especially in regards to drug use,’ but ‘that doesn’t mean your slate is wiped clean when you decide you want to run for president.’

Former Draft Biden finance chair Jon Cooper likened Kennedy to the Democrat boogeyman, former President Donald Trump.

‘So many similarities between Robert Kennedy Jr. and Donald Trump: Both have legions of QAnon-believing supporters, [b]oth are Putin apologists,’ Cooper wrote. ‘Both are backed by far-right fascists like Steve Bannon and Roger Stone, [b]oth are serial philanderers, [b]oth are arrogant narcissists.’

Democrat social media influencer Harry Sisson, who has been given access to the Biden White House, attacked Kennedy as ‘a complete and total fraud.’

‘The guy pretends to be a Democrat and then attacks Biden and pushes his anti-vax conspiracy crap,’ Sisson said.

‘Can’t wait to watch Biden trounce him in the primary,’ Sisson added.

Podcast host and 2020 Biden delegate Victor Shi tweeted a thread challenging Kennedy ‘to go on Jon Stewart’s show.’

‘I want RFK Jr. to face what real, tough questions are like. I want RFK Jr. to sit face to face with Jon Stewart, one of the best interviewers of our time,’ Shi said about the comedian.

‘Jon Stewart will rip RFK Jr. into shreds [and] it will be glorious,’ he continued.

‘Same goes for Joe Rogan and Elon Musk. If they’re so confident about their claims about the vaccine, surely joining Jon Stewart on his show won’t be a problem, right?’ Shi wrote. ‘Time for them to experience what a real, smart interviewer is like.’

‘[Stewart], I hope you [and] your team will try and get them on. And I hope you’ll update us as to whether or not they agree,’ Shi said. ‘If there’s anyone who could own them like they’ve never seen before, it’s you.’

Rogan and Musk touched off a firestorm over the weekend as they pushed a prominent vaccine scientist to debate Democratic candidate and noted vaccine skeptic Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., on Rogan’s popular podcast.

Rogan offered Dr. Peter Hotez $100,000 to the charity of his choice if he agreed to debate Kennedy on Rogan’s program after Hotez slammed a recent interview Kennedy had on Rogan’s program as ‘awful’ and ‘nonsense.’ Kennedy, who is making a bid for the 2024 Democratic nomination, repeated unfounded claims he has long made like vaccines cause autism, and he and Rogan also discussed what they viewed as the dangers of 5G technology and the power of the pharmaceutical industry.

Several other figures also offered large sums to encourage Hotez – a frequent guest on CNN and MSNBC during the pandemic who pushed controversial mask and vaccine mandates – to debate with Kennedy, the Democratic scion who has been praised by some corners of the right for his criticisms of COVID-19 vaccines.

After Hotez said he would be happy to talk to Rogan, Rogan shot back it was a ‘non-answer’ and that Hotez had agreed with a ‘dogs–t’ Vice article that attacked his interview with Kennedy. Several other outlets along with Vice also attacked Spotify, the streaming giant that airs Rogan’s show, for not labeling the interview misinformation. 

Musk, the billionaire Twitter owner who often ventures into debates and discussions on the platform, chimed in that Hotez was ‘afraid of a public debate.’ Hotez called Musk’s posture ‘monstrous,’ to which Musk responded that he was generally pro-vaccine but had concerns about the COVID shots.

Fox News Digital’s David Rutz contributed reporting.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott on Monday vowed to hold district attorneys accountable if they fail to enforce the law and protect state residents. 

In a tweet, the Republican governor invoked House Bill 17, which he signed into law earlier this month. Abbott said the new law ‘will help reign in rogue district attorneys.’ 

‘Those who want to work in Texas law enforcement must uphold the laws and protect Texans,’ he said. ‘If not, they will be held accountable.’

Abbott has said previously that the bill was intended to crack down on ‘rogue’ district attorneys who refuse to prosecute entire classes of crime like abortion, thefts, or drug-related offenses. 

The bill, which the governor signed into law on June 6, expanded the definition of ‘official misconduct’ for which a prosecutor can be removed from office. The law allowed for Texans to call for the removal of district attorneys who refuse to prosecute a class or type of criminal offense by filing a petition. 

HB 17 came in response to left-wing DA’s and like-minded attorneys general who vowed not to enforce abortion bans since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in the summer of 2022. 

Many DA’s, including New York’s Alvin Bragg and Los Angeles District Attorney George Gascon, have declined to prosecute low-level crimes or misdemeanor offenses, including marijuana and prostitution. In Texas, Travis County District Attorney Jose Garza has been criticized for similar policies. He has also controversially indicted more than 20 Austin police officers for their actions during the violent 2020 riots, during which intersections were overtaken, rioters attempted to seize the city’s police headquarters, and the state capitol building was vandalized. Garza accepted campaign funds from Soros-linked groups. 

Fox News’ Chris Pandolfo contributed to this report. 

EXCLUSIVE: A government watchdog group filed an ethics complaint against Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry on Tuesday morning, alleging he spread misinformation about climate change.

In its complaint, Protect the Public’s Trust (PPT) alleged that Kerry violated federal scientific integrity policy — which requires officials to communicate scientific information accurately based on the best available evidence — when he said in May that greenhouse gas emissions kill 15 million people per year worldwide. PPT requested a federal investigation into Kerry’s comments.

’15 million people are dying every single year around this planet as a consequence of greenhouse gas emissions in the atmosphere, in the air which travels around and drops in the form of pollution and is warming the ocean at record rates, changing the chemistry of the ocean itself,’ Kerry remarked on May 10 at the Department of Agriculture’s AIM for Climate Summit. 

‘Without action, millions of lives and the livelihood of the planet is at risk,’ he said.

Kerry later added that, in addition to the 15 million people who die due to the ‘lack of quality’ air, another 10 million people die on an annual basis globally as a result of extreme heat.

However, PPT’s complaint Monday, sent to the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) and the State Department’s Office of Inspector General, noted Kerry’s figures appear to greatly overstate the death toll attributed to greenhouse gas emissions. 

According to data from Lancet Countdown and Climate Vulnerable Forum presented during the United Nations climate summit in November, climate change is expected to cause 3.4 million deaths by the year 2100. The excess deaths are expected to be caused by increased wildfire frequency, heatwaves and higher incidence of mosquito-borne tropical disease.

And a 2021 study from Harvard University published in the journal Environmental Research calculated that fossil fuel emissions are responsible for more than 8 million annual deaths. 

Another analysis, the Global Burden of Disease Study from the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, determined 4.2 million people died per year as a result of outdoor airborne particulate matter pollution.

‘Despite the enormity of Mr. Kerry’s claim, he did not cite any scientific evidence for its basis,’ the PPT complaint stated. ‘Nor is there any apparent scientific research that supports a claim that there are currently 15 million people dying yearly due to greenhouse gas emissions — or any other single cause of death that is tracked.’

‘Such a blatant misstatement of scientific information to the public is, by its nature, a threat to public trust and good governance,’ it continued. ‘It is made far worse when such misinformation is used to publicly support sweeping policy changes like trying to reach net-zero emissions in agriculture, which would have untold effects upon the economy and lives of the American people writ large.’

The complaint further stated that conduct like Kerry’s ‘inevitably erodes the public’s trust in its scientific and governing institutions’ and harms the nation ‘by reducing science from a great, dispassionate tool of public policy that transcends party lines to yet another political football.’ 

PPT cited three policies — President Biden’s early 2021 memo on scientific trust; the OSTP’s Framework for Federal Scientific Integrity Policy released this year; and the State Department’s own scientific integrity policy — that it said provide a mandate for officials including Kerry to communicate scientific information to the public accurately. 

Biden’s memo dated Jan. 27, 2021, states that his administration’s policy is to ‘make evidence-based decisions guided by the best available science and data.’ The OSTP’s framework published in January stresses the need for scientific accuracy of communications to the public. And the State Department’s policy states that information shared by officials ‘should be representative of well-established scientific processes.’

‘The Biden Administration vowed to bring about a renewal of norms, a restoration of trust in government, and commitments to scientific integrity and relying on science over politics in its decision making,’ PPT Director Michael Chamberlain told Fox News Digital. ‘Yet its most powerful officials are too often its worst enemies when it comes to fulfilling these promises. John Kerry’s recent claim of 15 million annual deaths from greenhouse gas emissions appears to be a hysterical pronouncement of the most dangerous type.’ 

‘It seems to have been made entirely without evidence – a phrase the American public frequently heard when evaluating statements from the previous administration – and designed to frighten the public to advance a political agenda,’ he said. ‘In short, it is precisely the sort of disinformation the administration’s and State Department’s scientific integrity policies were intended to prevent.’

Kerry’s office didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

EXCLUSIVE – As he runs for re-election in a crucial 2024 Senate showdown that may determine if Republicans win back the chamber’s majority, longtime Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown’s coming under a new attack over border security, the drug crisis, and crime.

Former prosecutor and Republican state lawmaker Matt Dolan, who’s one of the two major Republican candidates running to challenge Brown next year, is launching a major ad blitz in Ohio targeting the incumbent senator.

‘Liberal Sherrod Brown votes with Joe Biden 98% of the time. They’ve opened our borders, created the worst violent crime in decades, and allowed fentanyl to pour into Ohio communities,’ charges the narrator in the spot, which was shared first with Fox News on Tuesday.

Dolan’s campaign says they’ll spend seven-figures to run the ad statewide on TV and digital.

The commercial includes a clip of Dolan at the nation’s southern border, where he argues that Brown touts his record, saying ‘as a prosecutor, I locked up drug dealers and violent felons. In the state Senate, I voted to designate the cartels as terrorist organizations.’

Dolan – who was joined by some members of Ohio law enforcement during an April trip to the Tucson Sector in Arizona, which is one of the busiest border sectors in both apprehensions and narcotic seizures – charges that ‘Sherrod Brown isn’t willing to fight, but I am.’

And if elected to the Senate, Dolan pledged in a statement to Fox News that ‘I will take the necessary steps with infrastructure, civilian and military personnel to stop the flow of human trafficking and fentanyl into the country, save American lives and restore our nation’s sovereignty.’

Dolan, who’s also a former Ohio assistant attorney general, is making his second straight bid for the Senate. Last year, he was the Senate candidate who was the biggest surprise as he surged during the closing weeks of Ohio’s crowded and combustible 2022 Republican nomination race.

While much of the crowded and combustible field of Republican Senate candidates in Ohio last cycle showcased their loyalty to former President Donald Trump (who won Ohio by eight points in his 2016 presidential election victory and 2020 re-election defeat) and took aim at each other, Dolan kept his distance from both the crossfire and from Trump while showcasing his conservative credentials and agenda.

Dolan — whose family owns Major League Baseball’s Cleveland Guardians — also shelled out millions of dollars of his own money to run ads for his Senate bid. He surged near the end of the primary race, winning 23.3% of the vote, just behind former state Treasurer Josh Mandel at 23.9%. Former hedge fund executive and best-selling author JD Vance won the early May primary with 32.2% of the vote, thanks in part to a last-minute endorsement from Trump. 

As Fox News was first to report, now-Sen. Vance last month endorsed Bernie Moreno, the other major Republican Senate candidate in the 2024 Senate race. The Cleveland based business executive is also making his second straight Senate run. Moreno ended his first Senate bid a couple of months ahead of the primary.

Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose is also seriously mulling a 2024 Republican Senate bid.

The winner of next year’s GOP primary will challenge Brown, who’s the only Democrat to win statewide in Ohio in the past decade. Brown is being heavily targeted by Republicans in a state that was once a premiere battleground but has shifted red over the past six years.

Democrats currently control the Senate with a 51-49 majority, but Republicans are looking at a very favorable Senate map in 2024 with Democrats defending 23 of the 34 seats up for grabs. Three of those seats are in red states that Trump carried in 2020: Ohio, Montana and West Virginia. Five others are in key swing states narrowly carried by Biden in 2020: Arizona, Michigan, Nevada, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.

Former Special Counsel John Durham will testify twice this week before congressional lawmakers, just weeks after releasing a report that found the Justice Department and FBI never should have launched the Trump-Russia investigation.

Durham is first set to testify behind closed doors in the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence on Tuesday afternoon.

On Wednesday morning, Durham will sit before the House Judiciary Committee for his first public statements and questioning.

The two sessions will give Republicans and Democrats a chance to question Durham, whose report lent weight to Republican complaints that federal government officials abused the public trust by rushing to investigate then-President Donald Trump. Durham’s report found that the Justice Department and the FBI ‘failed to uphold their mission of strict fidelity to the law’ by launching the probe.

Durham was picked in 2019 by then-Attorney General Bill Barr to investigate the origins of the FBI’s original Trump-Russia investigation, known as ‘Crossfire Hurricane.’ That investigation looked into whether the Trump campaign coordinated with Russia to influence the 2016 presidential election.

But Durham found that senior FBI personnel ‘displayed a serious lack of analytical rigor’ toward the information that they received from politically affiliated people, which he said ‘triggered’ then-Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation. Durham found that there was ‘significant reliance on investigative leads provided or funded (directly or indirectly) by Trump’s political opponents.’

‘The Department did not adequately examine or question these materials and the motivations of those providing them, even when at about the same time the Director of the FBI and others learned of significant and potentially contrary intelligence,’ the report said.

For example, Durham found the FBI ‘failed to act’ on a ‘clear warning sign’ that the FBI was the target of a Hillary Clinton-led effort to ‘manipulate or influence the law enforcement process for political purposes’ ahead of the 2016 election.

Durham was referring to intelligence on a plan stirred up by Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign in July 2016 to tie then-candidate Trump to Russia in an effort to distract from the investigation into her use of a private email server and mishandling of classified information.

Durham found that then-CIA Director John Brennan ‘realized the significance’ of the intelligence that Clinton was stirring up a plan to tie Trump to Russia – so much so that he ‘expeditiously’ briefed then-President Barack Obama, then-Vice President Joe Biden and other top national security officials.

But nothing came of that briefing or of his subsequent referral of the information to the FBI, which Durham’s final report said was ‘startling.’

‘Had the FBI opened the Crossfire Hurricane investigation as an assessment and, in turn, gathered and analyzed data in concert with the information from the Clinton Plan intelligence, it is likely that the information received would have been examined, at a minimum, with a more critical eye,’ the report said.

The anti-Trump Steele dossier, which has been largely discredited, was also linked to the Clinton campaign. The dossier contained allegations of purported coordination between Trump and the Russian government. It was authored by Christopher Steele, an ex-British intelligence officer.

The Clinton campaign and the DNC funded the dossier through the law firm Perkins Coie, where both Marc Elias and Michael Sussmann were employed at the time.

The Justice Department inspector general revealed that the unverified anti-Trump dossier helped serve as the basis for controversial Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) warrants obtained against former Trump campaign aide Carter Page.

The FBI’s investigation was handed off to Mueller after Trump was elected. But Mueller’s team, like the FBI, did not investigate the allegations linked to Clinton-affiliated people.

While Democrats are expected to downplay Durham’s report, his investigation led to three people: former Clinton attorney Sussmann in September 2021, Igor Danchenko in November 2021 and Kevin Clinesmith in August 2020.

Sussmann and Danchenko were found to be not guilty. Clinesmith pleaded guilty and served community service time.

But Durham’s team could not charge anyone related to omission or failure to act on the ‘Clinton Plan intelligence.’

‘Although the evidence we collected revealed a troubling disregard for the Clinton Plan intelligence and potential confirmation bias in favor of continued investigative scrutiny of Trump and his associates, it did not yield evidence sufficient to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that any FBI or CIA officials intentionally furthered a Clinton campaign plan to frame or falsely accuse Trump of improper ties to Russia,’ the report said.

After the release of the Durham report, Trump told Fox News Digital that former FBI Director James Comey and Democrats need to be held accountable for spending years investigating alleged collusion.

‘I, and much more importantly, the American public have been victims of this long-running and treasonous charade started by the Democrats – started by Comey,’ Trump told Fox News Digital. ‘There must be a heavy price to pay for putting our country through this.’

Julian Castro, who ran against President Biden for the 2020 Democrat presidential nomination, warned of a ‘softness’ around the president’s ‘electability’ come 2024.

In a Monday New York Times article, Castro warned of Biden’s ‘electability’ in the upcoming presidential election, saying he thinks there are some people who don’t believe the president has followed through on his 2020 campaign promises.

‘It’s clear there is a softness that perhaps is born out of a worry about electability in 2024,’ former President Obama’s Housing and Urban Development (HUD) secretary said.

‘While he’s accomplished a lot, there have been areas where I think people feel like he hasn’t quite delivered what was promised on voting rights, immigration reform, police reform and some aspect of climate,’ Castro continued.

Castro and Biden frequently butted heads on the campaign trail in 2019, with the former HUD secretary initially endorsing Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren’s ill-fated presidential bid after ending his own in early 2020.

The former HUD secretary eventually did endorse Biden for president — in June 2020, two months after Biden had become the de facto Democrat nominee.

Castro’s comments come as Biden faces two Democratic primary challengers ahead of 2024.

Democratic presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., came out of the gate with double-digit polling numbers while fellow Democrat candidate Marianne Williamson has been gaining steam, as well.

The polls have not gotten better for Biden, either, and are a flashing warning sign for the president’s campaign ahead of 2024.

The Democratic National Committee (DNC) said they will not be having primary debates this election cycle, which provides cover for Biden and helps him avoid being challenged by his Democratic opponents. Fox News Digital recently asked multiple House Democrats about whether Biden should debate RFK Jr. in a Democratic primary, prompting them to dismiss this proposal, calling Kennedy a ‘fringe candidate.’

‘No,’ Rep. Glenn Ivey, D-Md., said bluntly when asked whether the Kennedy scion should get to debate the sitting president. ‘I, you know, love the Kennedy family. I was a huge fan of his father, in fact, he was an inspiration to me. But I don’t think he’s a serious candidate. I think Joe Biden’s going to be our nominee, and he deserves to be.’

Rep. Zoe Lofgren, D-Calif., was equally opposed to the idea, saying, ‘He’s a fringe candidate, so I don’t think Biden is going to necessarily debate fringe candidates. Nor should he.’

In a recent Newsweek op-ed, Marianne Williamson said the Democratic Party ‘must allow President Biden to debate his opponents,’ blasting the current move as ‘candidate suppression.’

‘They believe in the power of democracy; they just don’t want to facilitate it. In fact, they’re not above thwarting it when it might challenge their own power or lay bare some inconvenient truths about how this country operates,’ she wrote. ‘They don’t really think the people can be relied upon to make their own decisions about pretty much anything, least of all who should be president of the United States.’

Fox News Digital’s Paul Steinhauser and Liz Elkind contributed reporting.

Pat Sajak’s retirement from ‘Wheel of Fortune’ will not mark his exodus from public life altogether.  

The long-time game show host will remain the chair of Hillsdale College’s Board of Trustees, a position he has held since 2019. He served as vice chair from 2003 to 2019. 

‘Hillsdale College is fortunate to have an even closer relationship with Mr. Sajak,’ Hillsdale College executive director of media relations and communications Emily Stack Davis told Fox News Digital. ‘Since 2019, we have benefited from his wisdom, intellect, and good humor as chairman of Hillsdale’s board of trustees.’

Sajak has been an icon of radio and television for decades, Davis said. He hosted ‘Wheel of Fortune’ for 42 years, starting shortly after the show premiered in 1975.

‘There are few things more intimate than appearing in the living rooms of countless Americans every evening,’ Davis said. ‘We know that he will be missed and congratulate him on his well-deserved retirement.’

Sajak shared the news of his retirement on Twitter on June 12. 

‘Well, the time has come. I’ve decided that our 41st season, which begins in September, will be my last,’ he said on Twitter.

Davis said the Michigan liberal arts college hopes to maintain its relationship with the Sajak Family. 

‘We look forward to continuing our important work together and to what we are sure will be a bright future for Mr. Sajak and his family,’ she said. 

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), the world’s largest animal advocacy organization, was grilled on Twitter for claiming that people eat animals because of their ‘supremacy.’

‘Supremacy is at the root of why people think it’s okay to eat other animals,’ the controversial group tweeted Saturday.

Meat lovers immediately began flooding the comment section with responses such as ‘let me ponder this as I eat my burger.’

‘I will fully admit I am supreme to animals. Feels good to be able to eat 100% beef fed beef tonight,’ one user wrote.

‘So why do animals think it’s ok to eat other animals?’ another user questioned.

PETA hit back at the comment, claiming that the reason animals have to eat other animals is because they aren’t capable of making ‘ethical decisions.’

‘Most of the animals who kill for food could not survive if they didn’t. That’s not the case for us. We are capable of making ethical decisions,’ PETA argued.

The group has previously referred to meat eaters as ‘slumbering in speciesism’ – the belief that all other animal species are inferior to humans. 

Ingrid Newkirk, president of PETA, recently updated her will to request that after she passes, her body parts be used for a ‘human barbecue,’ her skin used to make leather goods, and sent to various individuals and groups in an effort to ‘inspire animal advocates.’

‘Newkirk’s bodily bequests will inspire animal advocates while also encouraging everyone still slumbering in speciesism to wake up,’ PETA said in defense of the will change.

When asked about the Tweet, Newkirk told Fox News Digital that ‘bragging about eating animals is a pathetic thing to do.’

‘Other animals have their own desires and needs and live complex lives, and it’s ignorant and arrogant to pretend otherwise. Bragging about eating animals is a pathetic thing to do and shows a lack of understanding and empathy. It’s easy to be kind and simply opt for a non-violent meal,’ she said in a statement Monday.

Fox News’ Hannah Grossman contributed to this report.

A conservative watchdog group is launching an investigation into the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) for building a government-run tax filing program that critics argue would give the agency too much power.

The American Accountability Foundation (AAF) is making public records requests, first obtained by Fox News Digital, seeking communications and other documents from the IRS and the Office of Management and Budget concerning the creation of an IRS-run electronic tax filing system, commonly referred to as ‘direct file.’

The Inflation Reduction Act, a mammoth Democrat-backed spending bill signed into law last year, included $15 million for the IRS to look into creating a free direct tax return system. Specifically, the legislation required a study by an independent third party examining the idea’s feasibility, as well as a report by the IRS for Congress assessing the study, the cost of such a system, and taxpayer opinions based on surveys.

IRS Commissioner Daniel Werfel told lawmakers several times over the past two months that no decision had been made about direct file, adding that the agency would ‘reflect’ on the issue, consult Congress, and wait for the report to determine how to move forward.

‘No decision has been made on moving forward with direct file solution,’ he testified to the Senate Finance Committee in April.

Days later, Werfel echoed that sentiment to the House Ways and Means Committee: ‘I don’t know yet whether the direct file solution is the right additional menu item to put in place so that taxpayers that prefer to engage that way can do it. What I’d like to do is have the report issued. And then engage in a conversation with the right set of stakeholders and then figure out what the go-forward is.’

However, the IRS had been quietly building an actual prototype of direct file before submitting the report to Congress, as the Washington Post first reported in May. The IRS announced its final report one day after the Post’s revelation. The IRS system will reportedly be available through a pilot program for a small group of taxpayers by January, when the 2024 filing season begins.

Critics blasted the IRS for having a prototype before its report and the third-party study were released.

‘This suggests a pre-determined outcome and flies in the face of previous commitments Commissioner Werfel made to publicly consult Congress on a potential free-file solution, and for the IRS to not act without explicit legal authority,’ Idaho Sen. Mike Crapo, the top Republican on the Senate Finance Committee, told the Post.

Rep. Jason Smith, R-Mo., chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, expressed similar sentiments following the IRS’s announcement last month. 

‘Americans don’t want to give the IRS such sweeping control and authority, yet the Biden administration refuses to listen,’ Smith said in a statement. ‘The announcement of a pilot program raises serious questions about how long the Biden administration’s decision to move forward on such a program has been in the works, whether the agency had any intention of following Congress’ direction that this study be conducted in an independent and impartial way, and whether the IRS is acting outside the law in establishing a program that Congress has not authorized.’

When reached for comment for this story, the IRS told Fox News Digital that the prototype was built only to help with survey data to gauge the opinions of taxpayers on a direct file system.

‘The prototype was developed to augment survey data so taxpayers had a tool to share their views on – it is not a fully functional direct file tool and no real tax information was used in usability testing sessions or for any other purpose,’ said an agency spokesperson.

AAF’s Freedom of Information Act requests seek various correspondence and calendars in an effort to figure out what exactly is going on behind the scenes with direct file.

Supporters of a direct file system argue it would be free, easy to use, and efficient by allowing taxpayers to file directly to the government.

Critics counter that such a system would centralize too much power in the hands of the IRS as not only the auditor but also the preparer and filer of taxes, noting the infamous technical problems that plagued the government-run Healthcare.gov for people wanting to sign up for ObamaCare.

‘IRS’s ‘direct file’ option is a recipe for disaster,’ AAF president Tom Jones told Fox News Digital. ‘Imagine what will happen when the technology fails – and it will if the rollout of Healthcare.gov is any guide – and the federal taxpayers are faced with a legion of 87,000 new IRS agents waiting to audit their tax returns. Adding insult to injury, the Biden administration has decided to contract this project out to a bunch of former staffers from the Obama administration.’

The Inflation Reduction Act granted $80 billion to the IRS to hire tens of thousands of new employees over the next decade.

In February, the IRS announced that it would contract New America Foundation – a left-wing think tank funded by nonprofits founded by liberal billionaires Bill Gates, George Soros, Mike Bloomberg and Eric Schmidt – to study direct file.

House Republicans were quick to note that New America employees – several of whom are alumni of the Obama administration and Hillary Clinton’s staff – in 2021 wrote favorably about Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s Tax Simplification Act, which would set up a government-run filing system at the IRS.

The Biden administration also appointed Ariel Jurow-Kleiman, a tax attorney and professor, to work with New America. Jurow-Kleiman earlier this year co-authored a paper that stated, ‘Speaking directly to the question of a government-run e-file program: The IRS should adopt the most expansive version of the program, one that includes the maximum amount of taxpayer information and requires the least amount of taxpayer input for each individual taxpayer.’

Smith has suggested the decision to tap New America and Jurow-Kleiman was meant to ‘cook the books’ by ensuring the IRS’s final report would present direct file in a favorable light.

‘The administration handpicked a think tank with ties to the liberal wing of the Democrat Party that has already advocated for this bureaucratic expansion,’ Smith previously told Fox News Digital. ‘Can we really trust the IRS to file Americans’ taxes for them in a fair and impartial way when it already stacks the deck toward a predetermined conclusion to gain more power?’

Smith has also argued that, under direct file, Americans would be ‘powerless when the IRS completely controls the tax filing process from start to finish.’

Republicans and other critics have expressed concern that the IRS will ramp up its number of audits, including those targeting lower- and middle-income Americans, due to the additional resources granted by the Inflation Reduction Act. Both Werfel and Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen have said the government won’t raise audit rates above historic levels for small businesses and households making less than $400,000.

Yellen has reportedly ordered the IRS to move forward with a pilot direct file system to test the program after reviewing the agency’s report.

‘The approach directed by the U.S. Treasury is consistent with best practices for new product launches in both the government and the private sector where the transition from research and development to customer-facing is done in an incremental manner to enable additional testing of hypotheses considered during the research and development phase,’ Werfel told reporters on a call last month, adding that taxpayers will always have options for how they file their taxes and saying the IRS can’t run the tax system alone.

Direct file would present a unique challenge to private companies in the tax-prep industry.

‘Filing taxes is expensive and time-consuming for American taxpayers,’ Laurel Blatchford, a Treasury Department official tasked with overseeing IRA implementation, told reporters on the same call. ‘On average, individual taxpayers spend approximately eight hours and $140 preparing their taxes each year. Taxpayers with income from a business or those who work in the gig economy pay even more.’ 

‘Dozens of other countries have provided free tax filing options to their citizens and American taxpayers who want to file their taxes for free online should have an accessible option,’ she continued. ‘IRS’ report released today found the majority of taxpayers support having the option to file their taxes for free directly with the IRS.’

However, the public opinion findings of the IRS’s final report were based, in part, on a study conducted late last year by the nonpartisan MITRE Corp. showing direct file was relatively unpopular among Americans compared to private software or a system where the IRS automatically files returns for taxpayers.

The MITRE study found just 15% of Americans would use an IRS direct e-file system even if it was able to prepare state returns and provided the same functionality as a free commercial software. In that scenario, 48% preferred the current software they use and 37% would use a system in which the IRS automatically filed individuals’ taxes for them.

In another scenario where state returns aren’t included, just 12% of taxpayers would use direct file while 60% would opt for a commercial software.

AAF’s records requests include documents dating back to Aug. 1, 2022, about two weeks before the Inflation Reduction Act was signed into law.

Missouri Republican Sen. Josh Hawley said during a Father’s Day interview that strong male role models are necessary to encourage masculine traits in society’s current ‘epidemic of fatherlessness.’

Speaking with the Washington Examiner, Hawley explained that fathers have a responsibility to provide for and protect their families — despite what some critics of traditional gender roles are currently saying about fatherhood.

‘As I continue to grow as a dad, I think providing for your family, protecting them, and then really nurturing them, looking to their growth, those are the key things that I think as a dad, at least in the stage that I’m in right now, are so important,’ Hawley said.

‘Men are told all the time that to be a man is to be toxic, that if you’re a man, you make the world a worse place, and that fathers are irrelevant or maybe they contribute to the great injustice of the world,’ Hawley said. ‘All of that stuff is false. We need dads desperately.’

Hawley, who has two sons and a daughter, told the Examiner that being a father is ‘the best thing you can do with your life.’

‘There’s tremendous value in being a father, you know,’ he said. ‘I mean, I just say unapologetically the best thing you can do with your life, you want your life to matter. Get married, have a family, be a husband, be a father, invest your life in somebody else’s life, don’t just live for yourself. That will be the path to true happiness and true significance.’

The GOP lawmaker said young men lacking strong male role models has been a generational problem that can lead to the absence of purpose and life goals that builds a constructive family life.

There has been a recent decline among Americans in getting married, starting a family, moving out of their parents’ houses and becoming financially independent, which Hawley attributes to fatherlessness and the media.

Hawley also criticized ‘the Left and their messaging in the media’ for oftentimes putting men down. He said they often show fathers that are ‘either absent or abusive or idiots.’

The senator acknowledged that some men are absent or abusive and that those behaviors are ‘bad’ but explained that men need to be shown the importance of their contributions to their families.

The 43-year-old Republican emphasized that men who grew up without positive male role models can ‘break the cycle’ by committing to ‘change the destiny of your family.’

‘You don’t have to do it perfectly, but if you will try to spend time with your kids, if you will try to invest in them, that will pay huge dividends in their life and in your life,’ he said.

According to Hawley, young men lacking role models can fill that void by resorting to content widely available online.

‘Just think about the stuff that kids are exposed to today, on mobile platforms, on the internet, social media, and I think, as a parent, there’s so much out there, there’s so many people who really want to influence my kids, who would really like to raise my kids rather than me,’ he told the Examiner. ‘You’ve got [President] Joe Biden saying they’re all our kids. No, they’re not. They belong to their parents. There’s a reason for that.’

Hawley was referring to recent comments made by Biden in celebration of Pride Month in which the president said LGBTQ+ youth are ‘all our kids.’ The president said in the video these children are ‘not somebody else’s kids, they’re all our kids.’

The senator said many young men are never mentored at all and these individuals ‘are the guys who are still … in mom and dad’s basement or … living somewhere on their screens at age 30 and can’t hold down a regular job … I mean, just don’t have any sense of purpose.’

Other young men will embrace messages they hear about male toxicity and find other men who will encourage destructive, aggressive or violent behavior, according to Hawley.

‘What we need to find are role models who show what good, strong, healthy manhood looks like — that is self-sacrificial, that is willing to give up your own interests and ambitions for other people and is willing to use the strength and influence you have to benefit others,’ he added.

Hawley said this advice for young men begins at his own home as he balances his work as a senator with caring for his family.

The senator’s book, ‘Manhood: The Masculine Virtues America Needs,’ was published last month.

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