Presidential candidate Chris Christie slammed the Republican National Committee’s requirement that candidates pledge support for the GOP’s eventual presidential nominee.

‘Look, I think the pledge is just a useless idea,’ Christie, the former governor of New Jersey, told CNN’s Jake Tapper on Sunday during ‘State of the Union.’

Earlier this month, the RNC released the requirements Republican candidates must fulfill in order to take part in primary debates, including reaching 1% in three national polls, amassing 40,000 unique donors to their campaign committee, and signing a pledge agreeing to support the eventual Republican presidential nominee. 

The RNC said last week it would not amend its presidential campaign pledge following pushback from 2024 candidate Asa Hutchinson, who criticized the possibility that candidates would be pledging support for a potential ‘convicted felon.’ 

Former President Donald Trump, the GOP front-runner for 2024, was indicted on federal charges this month related to alleged willful retention of national defense information, conspiracy to obstruct justice, and false statements. Trump pleaded not guilty and dismissed the charges as a ‘witch hunt.’ 

‘In all my life, we never had to have Republican primary candidates take a pledge. You know, we were Republicans, and the idea is you’d support the Republican whether you won or whether you lost, and you didn’t have to ask somebody to sign something,’ Christie said Sunday of the pledge. 

‘It’s only in the era of Donald Trump that you need somebody to sign something on a pledge. So I think it’s a bad idea,’ he said. 

Christie – who ran for president in 2016 – announced his 2024 campaign for the White House earlier this month, when he took aim at Trump and slammed him as ‘a bitter, angry man who wants power back for himself.’ 

The former New Jersey governor added Sunday that he voiced his disagreements over the pledge to RNC chief Ronna McDaniel, but said he will take the necessary steps in order to take the debate stage. 

​​’I’ll take the pledge in 2024 just as seriously as Donald Trump took it in 2016,’ Christie said, referring to Trump refusing to take a GOP pledge during the first 2016 debate. 

The RNC referred Fox News Digital to McDaniel’s comments last week to CNN regarding the pledge when asked about Christie’s remarks Sunday. 

‘Once it’s all done and the dust is settled and you’ve made your best case, if the voters choose someone else, then you need to get behind who the voters chose and make sure we beat Joe Biden,’ McDaniel said Friday on CNN. ‘We can’t have division. We can’t have people who get on the debate stage who are going to come out and say, ‘I’m not going to support the eventual nominee.’’

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Former Vice President Mike Pence defended former President Donald Trump’s right to have his day in court, but dodged questions about whether Trump should be convicted if the allegations against him are proven true.

Pence appeared on NBC’s ‘Meet the Press’ on Sunday for a lengthy interview with host Chuck Todd. Todd kicked off the conversation by mentioning Trump’s indictment and subsequent appearance at a Miami federal courthouse, but Pence repeatedly skirted around the host’s questions.

‘You’ve read this indictment. If the allegations are true, and it’s proven in a court of law, do you think the former president should be convicted?’ Todd asked.

‘Well first, let me begin with the news in our life, Chuck,’ Pence said, referencing that he had launched a presidential campaign the week before. ‘I think this country is in a lot of trouble. I think that President Biden has weakened this country at home and abroad. Virtually every crisis we are facing in this country both at home and abroad has been literally a result of the decisions made by this president.’

Pence went on to lament that America was in a position where one of its former presidents was in federal court, but he did not weigh in on a possible conviction. Todd then pressed the president again.

‘Please address it. Do you think if the allegations are true that he deserves to be convicted?’ Todd asked once again.

‘Well first, in moments like this I think it’s important for leaders in this country… to return to first principles. The first principle is that no one is above the law. The second principle is that everyone is entitled to a presumption of innocence,’ Pence responded.

‘I’ve read the indictment in detail, and the allegations in the indictment are serious, and I can’t defend what is alleged. But the former president deserves his day in court. He deserves the opportunity to make his defense in a court of law. So I want to reserve judgment about this,’ he continued.

Trump pleaded not guilty in federal court on Tuesday to 37 federal charges stemming from Special Counsel Jack Smith’s investigation into his alleged improper retention of classified records at Mar-a-Lago.

Pence criticized Trump more heavily in another interview with the New York Post, in which he blasted the former president’s willingness to increase spending just as much as President Biden. Reaffirming his support for the pro-life movement, Pence also criticized Trump for his claim that the 2022 midterm election losses were a result of the Supreme Court’s decision last year to overturn Roe v. Wade.

Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., had scathing words for President Barack Obama on ‘Fox News Sunday,’ blasting the former commander in chief for his handling of race and education.

The 2024 presidential hopeful spoke with host Shannon Bream and homed in on the poor state of public education systems across the country, and addressed some criticism leveled at him by Obama last week.

‘There’s no higher compliment than to be attacked by President Obama,’ Scott said. ‘Whenever the Democrats feel threatened, they pull out – drag out – the former president, have him make some negative comments about someone running, hoping that their numbers go down.’

‘The truth of my life disproves the lies of the radical left,’ he added, referring to claims of systemic racism in the U.S.

Scott went on to blast Obama and the Democrats for refusing to allow school choice programs in ‘big blue cities.’ The candidate highlighted his own efforts to raise funding for historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs), but said Obama and the ‘radical left’ have not produced results when it comes to education.

‘They have failed, they have failed, and they have failed,’ he said.

The comments came just days after Scott and Obama exchanged barbs on racial issues. Scott repeated his argument from last week that the former president had missed a key opportunity to develop racial unity during his two terms in office.

‘If anyone should be standing and shouting at the mountaintops that America is not a racist country, it should be the man that Americans supported twice for the nomination and becoming president. The evolution of America is palpable,’ he said. ‘Progress in this nation is undeniable.’

Democratic strategist David Axelrod interviewed Obama for CNN last week and asked the former president what he thought of Scott’s discussions of race, prompting Obama to offer criticism of minority conservatives in general.

‘I think there’s a long history of African American or other minority candidates within the Republican Party who will validate America and say, ‘Everything’s great, and we can make it.’ Nikki Haley, I think, has a similar approach,’ Obama told Axelrod. ‘I’m not being cynical about Tim Scott individually, but I am maybe suggesting the rhetoric of ‘Can’t we all get along’… that has to be undergirded with an honest accounting of our past and our present.’

Marc Short, who served as chief of staff for former Vice President Mike Pence, condemned the pardons former President Donald Trump handed down in the final hours of his administration.

Short made the comments during an appearance on ‘Fox News Sunday,’ telling host Shannon Bream that the pardons were among the worst parts of the end of Trump’s administration.

‘One of the most unseemly parts of the end of our administration was the pardons that Donald Trump gave to cocaine traffickers, to family members, to people guilty of violent crimes,’ Short said.

‘I think we have to have a real conversation of what would people actually do with the power of the pardon,’ he continued. ‘There’s a couple people on the stage who have been governors and understand it, but I think even when you look at Donald Trump’s record when it came to pardons, it was indefensible.’

Trump issued 73 pardons and 70 sentence commutations on Jan. 20, 2021, his final day in office. The pardon recipients included former White House adviser Steve Bannon and rappers Lil Wayne and Kodak Black.

Former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, who was serving a near-30-year sentence on corruption charges, was among the 70 who had their sentences commuted.

Short’s comments came the same day that Pence defended former President Donald Trump’s right to have his day in court, but dodged questions about whether Trump should be convicted if allegations against him are proven true.

Pence appeared on NBC’s ‘Meet the Press’ on Sunday for a lengthy interview with host Chuck Todd. Todd kicked off the conversation by mentioning Trump’s indictment and subsequent appearance at a Miami federal courthouse, but Pence repeatedly skirted around the host’s questions.

Boston Mayor Michelle Wu rejected a City Council proposal that would have cut funding for the city’s police department and veteran services.

‘Our budget must be responsive to the needs of our constituents, fiscally responsible, and built on a foundation of effective delivery of City services that are central to our residents’ quality of life,’ Wu said in a letter to members of the Boston City Council on Friday, according to a report from the Boston Globe.

The Democrat mayor’s letter comes after the council approved a $4.2 billion operating budget for the city that would have reduced funding for the Boston Police Department by $31 million and $900,000 in cuts to veteran services. Along with the proposed cuts were an $8 million increase funding for participatory budgeting, a city process that allows for more engagement on how tax dollars are spent by Boston residents.

The figures came in vastly different from Wu’s proposed budget, which only included $2 million for the participatory budget process. In her letter to members, the mayor said the council’s proposed cuts to the police budget ‘are illusory, as the City is obligated to cover salary and overtime expenses incurred by the department.’

The veto means the budget will now be sent back to the council where it will need two-thirds of the members to override Wu. With 12 members serving on the council, that would mean eight members would have to vote to override the veto. Seven of the 12 members voted to approve the proposal sent to Wu.

Councilor Tania Fernandes Anderson, chair of the city’s Ways and Means Committee, told the Boston Globe on Friday that the council’s proposed cuts would not have led to any city employees losing their jobs, instead arguing that her analysis found the Boston Police Department could have close to $25 million in extra funds next year.

Fernandes Anderson also blasted the Wu administration for not providing more transparency, saying the ‘administration does not work well with the council.’

But Fernandes Anderson, who has a son who serves in the Marines, expressed regret about the proposed cuts to veteran services, noting that funding would not have been affected because the proposed cuts were a line item that was eligible to be reimbursed by the state.

‘I want to extend my apology, I don’t want to send that message,’ she said.

Fernandes Anderson’s office did not immediately respond to a Fox News request for comment.

Wu’s veto was also criticized by the Better Budget Alliance, a group that has advocated for more participatory budgeting.

‘It is unacceptable that Mayor Wu vetoed a higher $10 million [allotment] for participatory budgeting and used false criticisms to undo the council’s critical investments in Boston’s underfunded working class, BIPOC communities,’ the alliance said in a statement, adding that Wu ‘has chosen to protect unused police funds and excessive overtime in the bloated BPD budget instead of funding real community investments.’

The decision to veto the proposal was praised by the head of the city’s largest police union.

‘Undoubtedly, we’re grateful the mayor saw fit to reject the council’s misguided efforts to dramatically and disproportionately impact the BPD budget, and, by extension, the department’s ability to effectively protect and serve the people of Boston,’ Larry Calderone, the president of the Boston Police Patrolmen’s Association, said in a statement, according to the Boston Globe.

The mayor’s office did not immediately respond to a Fox News request for comment.

Westchester County District Attorney Mimi Rocah announced Thursday that a multiyear-long investigation into the Trump Organization’s valuations of a golf club in New York was officially closed. 

‘Part of why I’m saying anything at all is that I think it’s really important, more important than ever in our country, to make sure that people understand that we have independent prosecutors, we have a justice system that operates independent of politics,’ Rocah told CBS News. ‘I can stand here and proudly say that I’m one of those prosecutors, and I look at every subject of any investigation, every organization that’s a subject of an investigation, the same way.’

Rocah, a Democrat, opened her investigation in 2021 seeking to unveil whether former President Donald Trump or the Trump Organization had provided misleading valuations to officials in an effort to shrink the tax bill on his Trump National Golf Club in Briarcliff Manor. No charges were filed against Trump or his company.

‘AFTER GOING THROUGH A CRIMINAL INVESTIGATION FOR TWO YEARS BY THE DISTRICT ATTORNEYS OFFICE IN WESTCHESTER COUNTY, NEW YORK, IT WAS JUST ANNOUNCED THAT THE CASE HAS BEEN DROPPED, AND NO CHARGES WILL BE FILED,’ Trump posted on his Truth Social platform Thursday evening. ‘THIS WAS THE HONORABLE THING TO DO IN THAT I DID NOTHING WRONG, BUT WHERE AND WHEN DO I GET MY REPUTATION BACK? WHEN WILL THE OTHER FAKE CASES AGAINST ME BE DROPPED? ELECTION INTERFERENCE!!!’

The investigation was led by former assistant U.S. Attorney Elliott Jacobson, who came out of retirement to serve as special prosecutor for the Westchester County DA. He told CBS News in May that he concluded his service in November 2022 after working part-time as a volunteer in the office. 

Rocah’s office subpoenaed records from the golf course and the town of Ossining, which handles the course’s taxes, as part of the investigation.

DONALD TRUMP TO SPEAK AT THE ALABAMA REPUBLICAN PARTY SUMMER DINNER IN AUGUST 

The Trump Organization once valued the golf club at approximately $1.4 million for tax purposes and later increased its estimate to $6.5 million. The town of Ossining, on the other hand, valued the golf club at more than $15 million for several years. 

A New York judge ruled on a compromise in 2021 that would ultimately cut the assessment to $9.5 million for that year. The compromise also cut assessments going back several years by about 30%, resulting in refunds to the company of about $875,000 for overcharges on its back taxes.

Rocah’s announcement came just a few days after Trump pleaded not guilty in a Miami courtroom to 37 federal charges stemming from Special Counsel Jack Smith’s investigation into his alleged improper retention of classified records at Mar-a-Lago. The charges included willful retention of national defense information, conspiracy to obstruct justice, and false statements. 

Trump is currently the front-runner in the 2024 Republican presidential primary, ahead of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who announced his campaign in late May. Just a few months prior in April, the former president pleaded not guilty to state charges in New York in relation to Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s investigation of alleged falsified business records related to hush-money payments made during the 2016 campaign.

Fox News’ Brooke Singman, Jake Gibson, and The Associated Press contributed to this report. 

The artist who sketched former President Donald Trump’s arraignment last week in Florida responded to criticisms that he portrayed Trump as younger and more physically fit than reality.

‘It’s rare I get any kind of feedback,’ sketch artist William J. Hennessy Jr., 65, told the Boston Globe.

Hennessy was one of three artists who captured Trump’s appearance at his arraignment in federal court in Miami last Tuesday. Trump was indicted on 37 federal charges related to alleged willful retention of national defense information, conspiracy to obstruct justice and false statements. Trump pleaded not guilty and slammed the charges as a ‘witch hunt.’

The sketches came under criticism by some on social media who claimed that Hennessy portrayed Trump as younger than his age of 77 and thinner than reality.

‘Is this William J Hennessy Jr’s audition to do Trumps official Whitehouse portrait?’ one Twitter user asked of the sketch. 

‘They got Trump looking like ‘Prince of Tides’ Nick Nolte in this sketch,’ another Twitter user wrote.

‘That last sketch of Trump looks almost exactly like the recent photo of his son Barron,’ another wrote.

Hennessy told the Globe that he received a mix of responses to his sketches, about half being favorable and half criticizing him.

‘Some said he looked too thin, too young, and some said he looked too good,’ Hennessy said, telling the outlet that the negative comments appeared to come from people who ‘didn’t care much for Trump.’

For Hennessy, he said the day in the Miami court was ‘a pretty stressful’ one but that he drew his sketches just how he saw them. 

‘I don’t editorialize,’ he said. ‘I just draw what I see.’

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Former Vice President Mike Pence says he will fire FBI Director Christopher Wray and insisted that former President Donald Trump’s ‘policy is the same’ as President Biden’s.

The comments from Pence — who launched a Republican presidential primary campaign earlier this month — came during an interview released Saturday by the New York Post. During his conversation with the outlet, Pence, 64, discussed a range of subjects and homed in on what he believes are missteps by the Department of Justice and Trump, as well as the potential for America to lose its positioning on the world stage if a different Republican gets elected.

‘The American people have lost confidence in the Department of Justice. And if I’m President of the United States, on day one, we’re going to clean house on the top floor of the Department of Justice and bring in a whole new group of people,’ Pence said, adding that he would fire Wray, a Trump appointee, if he’s elected president.

The former vice president also took aim at Trump on a number of fronts and concluded during the discussion that he ‘was’ his friend at one time.

Pence, who served in the Trump administration for the totality of his tenure, also said he believes the recent indictment wielded against Trump ‘includes serious charges, and I can’t defend what is alleged.’

On Tuesday, Trump pleaded not guilty to 37 federal charges stemming from Special Counsel Jack Smith’s investigation into his alleged improper retention of classified records at Mar-a-Lago in federal court in Miami.

Pence said he will ‘always be proud of the record of the Trump administration’ and reiterated that he ‘was always loyal to President Trump . . . right up until when my loyalty to the Constitution required me to do otherwise.’

Asked about the differences between the documents found at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate and those found within his own home, Pence, a former governor of Indiana, noted that he was fully cooperative with authorities and overturned the materials quickly.

‘I’m pleased that they concluded that it was an innocent mistake. But let me be clear. It was a mistake. I took full responsibility for it, because the protection of classified materials of the United States is a very serious matter,’ he said.

Pence also recognized that the Trump administration didn’t meet certain expectations for spending, which contributed to the nearly $32 trillion national debt of today.

‘Frankly, we didn’t do as good a job as we could on controlling spending. And truth is, we have a national debt the size of our nation’s economy today,’ he said.

Under the Trump administration, the national debt grew by $7.8 trillion, with a total of three debt ceiling increases by Congress and no cuts to spending.

‘Donald Trump’s policy is the same as Joe Biden’s. I mean, they both have refused to engage in any discussion about reforming Social Security and Medicare,’ Pence said.

Reaffirming his support for the pro-life movement, Pence bashed Trump for his take that the 2022 midterm election losses were a result of the Supreme Court’s decision last year to overturn Roe v. Wade and allow states to rule on the issue.

‘My former running mate has taken to blaming overturning Roe versus Wade for election losses of ’22, suggesting that pro-life legislation in states around the country is too harsh,’ he said.

As for the coronavirus pandemic and whether he believes Trump should have fired Dr. Anthony Fauci from his post during his time in the White House, Pence declined to comment.

‘I’ve thought very deeply about that,’ he said. ‘I regret the way Dr. Fauci became a symbol for, and a justification for, the heavy hand of government by Democrat governors and mayors. And it’s among the lessons that we should learn.’

‘But at the end of the day, I’m very proud of what the American people accomplished during the worst pandemic in 100 years,’ Pence added.

Taking aim at his fellow presidential hopefuls, Pence also expressed concern over how they would handle the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war and its impact on the world.

‘When I look at where my former running mate and frankly, others in the field want to take our party . . . you know, as war rages in Eastern Europe, my former running mate and others in this primary would diminish America’s obligation as the leader of the free world and the arsenal of democracy,’ Pence said.

Fox News’ Brooke Singman contributed to this report.

President Biden on Saturday pledged the federal government’s full support for reconstruction efforts in Pennsylvania after a portion of Interstate 95 near Philadelphia collapsed last weekend.

The president delivered remarks at the Philadelphia airport after taking an aerial tour of the damage on I-95, where a tanker truck caught fire below an overpass causing the collapse last weekend. A delegation of Pennsylvania officials was with the president, including Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro, senators Bob Casey, D-Pa., and John Fetterman, D-Pa., and Rep. Brendan Boyle, D-Pa., who represents the Philadelphia area. 

‘I want to say that we’re with you. We’re going to stay with you until this is rebuilt, until it’s totally finished,’ Biden said. 

‘There’s no more important project in the country right now as far as I’m concerned.’

The collapse is snarling traffic in Philadelphia as the summer travel season starts, upending hundreds of thousands of morning commutes, disrupting countless businesses and forcing trucking companies to find different routes.

One body was pulled from the wreckage. The resulting fire caused the collapse of the northbound lanes of I-95. The southbound lanes were compromised by the heat from the fire, authorities say. 

Construction crews began work on building a temporary roadway after debris from the collapse was demolished days ahead of schedule, the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation said Friday. 

Biden praised those who worked quickly to clear debris and said $3 million in federal emergency funds were immediately made available to offset the cost of repairs. 

‘This is just a down payment,’ Biden said. ‘We’ll be getting a lot more federal funding out the door in the coming weeks.’ 

Shapiro said Saturday that, with assistance from the federal government, I-95 will be reopened within the next two weeks. 

‘We are going to get traffic moving again thanks to the extraordinary work that is going on here by these union trade workers,’ Shapiro said. 

Fetterman spoke as well, comparing the moment to when he and Biden visited a collapsed bridge in western Pennsylvania last year. 

‘He promised to make sure that any resources that they needed and any help and support — and guess what? And guess what? That bridge was rebuilt less than a year well, well in front of time and again,’ the senator said. 

Biden said the federal government will reimburse Pennsylvania ‘100%’ of the costs during the first 200 days of reconstruction and 90% afterward. The president said more than 150,000 vehicles use I-95 daily, including 14,000 trucks. 

‘It’s critical to our economy. It’s critical to our quality of life,’ Biden said. ‘We’re going to continue to do everything within our power to get this back open as quickly and easily as possible, not leaving until it’s done.’

The Associated Press contributed to this report. 

Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., donned a hoodie and a pair of shorts with sneakers for a Saturday event with President Biden and Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro in Philadelphia, where officials discussed Interstate-95 and the reconstruction efforts underway.

Fetterman was seen in the outfit while meeting Biden at the airport upon his arrival in the state, and later at an event where Biden and Shapiro updated Americans on the work that has taken place to ensure a safe reopening of the major highway.

The combination of clothes — a Carhartt hoodie and athletic-wear shorts with sneakers — has become a part of the junior senator’s wardrobe for official functions. Fetterman was seen numerous times on the campaign trail last year wearing the same get-up, and last month he appeared at a Senate news conference wearing a similar outfit.

Speaking at the event, Fetterman touted Biden’s accomplishments and insisted he is ‘committed to infructure [sic].’

‘Little over a year ago, the president and I were standing right next to each other at a collapsed bridge in Western Pennsylvania, a bridge that I drove over just the night before with my young son. He showed up within just hours after that bridge collapsed there,’ Fetterman said of Biden. ‘And he promised to make sure that any resources that they needed and any help and support and guess what? That bridge was built less than a year well, well in front of time.’

‘And now I’m standing next to the president again next to a collapsed bridge here,’ he added. ‘He is here to commit to work with the governor and the [delegation] to make sure that we get this fixed quick, fast, as well, too. This is a president that is committed to infructure [sic], yeah, and then on top of that the jewel kind of a law of the infraction [sic].’

After he concluded his remarks, Fetterman introduced Rep. Brendan Boyle, D-Pa., to the podium, referring to him as ‘Congressman Boyle Bile.’

Clay Travis of Outkick.com reacted to Fetterman’s speech in a Saturday tweet.

‘If the Lincoln-Douglas debates represented the pinnacle of American democracy Biden-Fetterman represents the all time bottom,’ Travis wrote.

Fetterman’s office did not immediately respond to a Fox News Digital request for comment about his attire at the Saturday event.

During his time as mayor of Braddock and campaign for the Senate, Fetterman was known for wearing sweats on the job, but he raised eyebrows when he showed up to the United States Senate in a hoodie.

Fetterman has been seen wearing a hoodie and shorts in the Senate several times since his return from a six-week hospital stay, where he was being treated for clinical depression.

Fetterman initially checked himself into the hospital in February and did not return in person to the Senate until April.

In his first appearance in the chamber since his weeks-long hospital stay, Fetterman was seen wearing a black Carhart hoodie and blue casual shorts.

Among the debate about Fetterman’s controversial Senate attire, Fox News Digital recently reported that the senator’s office had doctored his remarks in their transcriptions from several hearings, amid concern over the senator’s health.

Fox News’ Aubrie Spady contributed to this report.