Two criminal counts were filed Monday against an Indiana state legislator who was arrested on suspicion of drunken driving after state police say he crashed his pickup truck through an interstate highway guardrail and drove away.

The prosecutor in southern Indiana’s Jackson County filed misdemeanor charges of driving while intoxicated and leaving the scene of an accident against Republican Rep. Jim Lucas of Seymour in connection with the May 31 crash at the interchange of Interstate 65 and Indiana 11, court records show.

Police said officers stopped Lucas, 58, walking near where they found the badly damaged truck, which has a state legislator license plate, parked behind a Seymour carpet store nearly 3 miles from the crash at the interchange of Interstate 65 and Indiana 11.

A state trooper’s affidavit said Lucas smelled of alcohol, failed a field sobriety exam and had a blood-alcohol level of 0.097% on a portable breath test device more than an hour after the crash. The state’s legal limit to drive is 0.08%. Police said a blood test was conducted at a Seymour hospital but that result was not included in court documents filed Monday.

No defense attorney for Lucas was immediately listed in court records. Lucas has not responded to voicemail messages left on his cellphone, and his legislative office hasn’t commented on the arrest.

Lucas, who was first elected to the Legislature in 2012, is a prominent supporter of legalizing marijuana and loosening state gun laws. He has faced controversy several times for what critics called racist social media posts.

Lucas’ pickup truck was found with major front-end damage and three flat tires, two of which had been worn down to the metal wheel rims, police reports said.

Lucas told a state trooper that he drove away from the crash scene to get help and that he parked behind the business because he didn’t want to leave an oil leak in its front parking lot, the affidavit said.

When asked what caused the crash, Lucas told the trooper, ‘I thought I saw a deer, how’s that?’

The lawmaker said he swerved to miss the animal, losing control of his truck, which veered off Indiana 11, down a hill at the interchange with I-65, through a guardrail and across traffic lanes to hit the median guardrail, the police affidavit said.

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The Biden administration has taken steps to mitigate efforts by China to potentially spy on the United States following confirmed reports that Beijing has an intelligence base in Cuba. 

‘We’re confident that we can continue to protect our nation’s secrets in this hemisphere and beyond and that we can continue to defend the country appropriately,’ White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters Monday. 

Administration officials confirmed on Sunday that China is working to ramp up its spying capabilities in Cuba. China has had a spy base on the island, which is 90 miles off of South Florida, since at least 2019, officials have said. 

The Wall Street Journal first reported Thursday that China and Cuba have reached a secret agreement for China to establish an electronic eavesdropping facility on the island, allowing Chinese intelligence services to ‘scoop up electronic communications throughout the southeastern U.S., where many military bases are located, and monitor U.S. ship traffic.’ 

The report, citing officials familiar with the matter, said that China had agreed to pay Cuba several billion dollars to allow it to build the eavesdropping station. The report says U.S. officials described the intelligence on the plans as ‘convincing.’ 

The Biden administration initially said the report was ‘not accurate’ before confirming the news. 

‘The sensitive nature of this information is such that we simply couldn’t go into more detail,’ Kirby said before criticizing those who leaked the news to the media. 

An anonymous official said the Biden administration said China was looking to expand its overseas logistics, including sites spanning the Atlantic Ocean, Latin America, the Middle East, Central Asia, Africa and the Indo-Pacific. 

The news of the spy base comes weeks after White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan met with his Chinese counterpart in Vienna last month to relay that the administration wanted to improve communications with Chinese officials.

Fox News’ Adam Shaw and Tara Prindiville contributed to this report. 

First lady Jill Biden is kicking off the summer by headlining campaign events for her husband in New York and California.

While the 2024 presidential election is more than a year away, the first lady will be conducting her first solo outings of the campaign season during a three-day fundraising series in New York City, San Francisco and Los Angeles beginning Monday.

Most of her time will be spent at four political events, including two in California’s Bay Area, to help her husband’s re-election, the Democratic National Committee and Democratic state party committees.

Biden, 72, will also join Gabrielle Giffords at an event in Los Angeles to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the Giffords Law Center, an anti-gun nonprofit led by the former congresswoman. Giffords was shot in the head in 2011.

Biden’s events will be her first since a comment during an event Thursday didn’t get the reaction she was expecting.

‘I’ve visited red states and blue states, and I’ve found that the common values that unite us are deeper than our divisions,’ Biden said before taking a moment to pause.

When the crowd failed to react enthusiastically, the first lady added: ‘I thought you might clap for that.’ 

The crowd promptly clapped, earning wide comparison to Jeb Bush’s gaffe in the 2016 presidential election when he urged a crowd to ‘please clap.’ 

Biden, who also works as a community college English professor, urged people at various events last year to prioritize voting in the 2024 presidential election.

‘Like a lot of educators, to stay organized, I use to-do lists,’ she said. ‘So this election is going to be won or lost by where voting falls on your to-do list.’

Biden would then urge: ‘Put voting at the top of your to-do list.’

Elizabeth Alexander, a senior campaign adviser who previously served as Jill Biden’s communications director, said the first lady – who introduces herself simply as ‘Jill’ – is well-liked and would remain a ‘formidable presence’ on the campaign trail.

‘As she has been for all her husband’s presidential campaigns, she will continue to be a formidable presence on the stump,’ Alexander said. ‘Her warmth and approachability, combined with her 30-plus years as a classroom teacher, make her an effective messenger on the campaign trail.’

The first lady has been described as one of her husband’s strongest assets as Democratic consultants and pollsters say voters see her as kind and relatable.

‘Some people go to presidential fundraisers because, quote, unquote, it’s necessary,’ Bob Mulholland, a Democratic campaign strategist, told The Associated Press. ‘People go to Jill Biden’s fundraisers because they want to hear from her.’

Mulholland added: ‘As a teacher, she knows how to listen and single out people that she thinks needs extra attention or extra conversation.’

Steve Westly, a Bay Area venture capitalist who raised money for Biden in previous campaigns, added: ‘Everybody who meets this woman loves her.’

He also described Jill Biden as the ‘most genuine, sunny, warmhearted, kind person you’re ever going to meet. She just exudes that.’

Republican strategist Doug Heye said presidents’ wives are generally liked by independent voters. He also suggested she can provide the president a layer of protection against criticism as Republicans run the risk of scrutinizing her and subsequently drawing ire from those who like her.

‘If you’re criticizing the first lady, that can backfire,’ Heye said.

The first lady has become a seasoned public speaker through her husband’s decades of public service, and she participated in nearly 40 campaign and fundraising events in the fall of 2022.

However, her campaigning has occasionally sparked some controversy.

The Biden team was criticized last year after Jill Biden likened the diversity of Hispanics to the flavor of breakfast tacos.

The comment became a meme widely shared by the Republican Party and its supporters.

Earlier this year, she made another off-hand remark when she encouraged the losers of the NCAA women’s basketball final to come to the White House in addition to the winners. The idea was widely criticized and never materialized.

Jill Biden previously told The Associated Press that her husband is ‘not done’ and has more he wants to get done for the American people.

Biden is nine years younger than the president, who turns 81 in November.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, who often claims to have ‘fought’ lobbyists and railed against them for having ‘too much power,’ has a history of hiring lobbyists to his own staff — including this year.

Last month, Brown wrote an op-ed for the Ironton Tribune in which he said lobbyists who work with big rail companies had ‘too much power and influence for far too long,’ pledging to ‘finally stand up to powerful special interests.’

The op-ed built on Brown’s previous remarks speaking out against lobbyists. In March, for example, the senator tweeted a video in which he slammed rail and banking lobbies and politicians who are friendly to them, saying their actions caused the East Palestine train derailment and Silicon Valley Bank collapse.

‘I want to say a few words about the people in East Palestine, Ohio, and the aftermath of the Silicon Valley Bank collapse,’ said Brown. ‘They both have one thing in common: Companies followed the Wall Street business model, obsessed with short-term profits at the expense of everything and everyone else. They were aided and abetted by corporate lobbyists and the politicians here who do their bidding, weakening rules meant to protect the people whom we serve. And now working people in Ohio and around the country pay the price.’

Months earlier, Brown touted on Twitter how he ‘took on’ and ‘fought’ corporate lobbyists to pass the Inflation Reduction Act.

Despite the rhetoric, Brown has a history of hiring lobbyists to his own staff.

Most recently, Brown hired former lobbyist Logan Basch to be the digital director at his Capitol Hill office in Washington, D.C. According to Basch’s LinkedIn page, he began the role in February.

Logan Basch lobbied for Exact Sciences between the fourth quarter of 2021 and the fourth quarter of 2022, according to lobbying disclosure records. Some of the bills he previously lobbied on came before Brown in the Senate Finance Committee, particularly those concerning health care, such as the Medicare Multi-Cancer Early Detection Screening Coverage Act of 2021.

Beyond Basch, at least three of Brown’s former chiefs of staff had worked as lobbyists. Jack Dover, for example, served as Brown’s chief of staff between January 2005 and January 2007 and as his senior adviser between January 2007 and January 2013, according to Legistorm.

Lobbying disclosure records indicate Dover was a lobbyist from 1999 to 2004. And, according to Federal Election Commission (FEC) records, he donated nearly $7,000 to Brown’s campaigns before joining his staff in 2005.

Dover’s firm — known at the time as Griffin, Johnson, Dover & Stewart before later changing names — lobbied for the Hong Kong Trade Development Council on legislation meant to strengthen trade between the U.S. and China. Hong Kong stood to gain from the normalization of trade between the U.S. and China.

While Dover was a senior adviser in Brown’s office, James Heimbach was serving as the senator’s chief of staff from 2007 to 2009 after previously working as a lobbyist.

Heimbach lobbied for various clients from 2001 to 2007 and, since 2012, has given nearly $20,000 to Brown’s campaign, according to FEC records.

Heimbach is a lobbyist for Cigna Corporation, a company being sued by Ohio for allegedly driving up the costs of prescription drugs by charging high fees for pharmacy benefit management services.

In 2016, Congressional Quarterly Magazine called Heimbach a ‘hot commodity’ in the lobbying world for his ties to powerful figures, including lawmakers on Capitol Hill.

As recently as the first quarter of this year, Heimbach was named as a lobbyist in a report for Bank of America, one of the country’s largest financial institutions.

Former lobbyist Mark Powden worked for Brown from 2007 to 2019, including as his chief of staff from 2009 to 2015. He became staff director for the Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee in 2015, when Brown became the panel’s top Democrat.

Before that, he lobbied for Education Finance Council, Inc., which seeks to make college more accessible, between 2002 and 2005, according to lobbying disclosure records.

Lastly, Elizabeth Farrar worked as a lobbyist for the Independent Telephone and Telecommunications Alliance before serving as Brown’s press secretary from November 2005 to January 2007. Farrar had lobbied for the alliance just months before going to Brown’s office.

Farrar lobbied on multiple bills that were directed to the House Telecommunications and the Internet Subcommittee, of which Brown was a member. 

‘It’s surprising that Sherrod Brown keeps railing against lobbyists while hiring them in key positions,’ Philip Letsou, spokesman for the National Republican Senatorial Committee, told Fox News Digital.

These are hardly the first examples of people switching between lobbying Congress and working on Capitol Hill. Many observers have raised issues about a so-called ‘revolving door’ of Washington, D.C., insiders shuttling professionally between the federal government and outside special interest groups working as lobbyists, consultants and strategists able to influence public policy.

When lawmakers and top congressional aides leave Congress for lobbying jobs, they must undergo a ‘cooling-off period’ when they can’t contact former colleagues to seek official actions. However, lobbyists who take jobs in the House or Senate are not subject to such restrictions.

Some experts have raised concerns about potential conflicts of interest if members of Congress hire ex-lobbyists, arguing the staffers will give their one-time lobbying colleagues better access to lawmakers.

‘They may give more access to their colleagues who they used to work with in the lobbying community,’ Donald Wolfensberger, a fellow at the Bipartisan Policy Center and former staff director of the House Rules Committee, told the Telegraph Forum.

Still, other voices counter that former lobbyists have extensive legislative expertise and know how to accomplish tasks effectively, making them good hires for lawmakers.

Brown’s office did not respond to a request for comment for this story.

Two government watchdog groups are calling for senators to thoroughly vet President Biden’s pick for the number two spot at the Department of Veterans Affairs in part because she had authority over a system that left veterans’ personal information vulnerable, causing one federal investigative agency to conclude there was a ‘substantial likelihood of wrongdoing.’

Tanya Bradsher, the chief of staff to VA Secretary Denis McDonough is Biden’s nominee to be deputy secretary. She has had authority over the VA’s Integrated Enterprise Workflow Solution, also known as the VIEWS system. 

In August, the Office of Special Counsel asked the department to complete the investigation of VIEWS within 60 days. Now, almost a year later, the VA still has no answers. 

‘Yet under Secretary McDonough and Tanya Bradsher’s leadership, the VA has requested extensions every 60 days since then, repeatedly punting its obligations to investigate and report to OSC on these serious whistleblower disclosures,’ says a letter sent late Friday from Tristan Leavitt, president of Empower Oversight and Jacqueline Garrick, founder of Whistleblowers of America. 

The letter was sent to Senate Veterans Affairs Chairman Jon Tester, D-Mont., and ranking member Sen. Jerry Moran, R-Kan., and obtained by Fox News Digital. 

‘Its latest request for an extension, made on June 1, would delay a response to the whistleblower disclosures until August 1,’ the letter continues. ‘Yet, in the ten months since the referral to the VA, there has apparently been no progress whatsoever in correcting the problems. According to additional whistleblower disclosures as recently as this month, June 2023, the private information of veterans, whistleblowers, and your constituents is still widely, insecurely, and improperly accessible in VIEWS—vulnerable to compromise.’

Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, has already insisted on answers about Bradsher. Earlier this year, Grassley — not a member of the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee — delayed the confirmation of a different Biden VA nominee.

‘The VIEWS system is under the authority of Chief of Staff Tanya Bradsher’s office. Based on reports that are supported by documents in my possession, a VA certified fraud examiner and certified auditing professional notified Ms. Bradsher’s office last year that personal identifiable information (PII), protected health information (PHI), and whistleblower information was widely accessible across VA to the thousands of VA employees with access to VIEWS, regardless of their need to know,’ Grassley says in a June 2 letter to McDonough. 

Grassley asked the VA senior leadership to provide information by June 16 to his office. 

‘As you know, Ms. Tanya Bradsher, whose office has authority over the VIEWS system and promised to look into the matter nearly 11 months ago, is currently before the Senate as a nominee to the position of Deputy Secretary,’ Grassley’s letter later adds. ‘In that position, she would have a key role in the VA’s electronic health records (EHR) modernization. However, the VIEWS system that is under her authority contains names, social security numbers, dates of birth, and apparently even medical records of many veterans, accessible to thousands of VA employees and not restricted to those with a direct need to know. VA and Ms. Bradsher must immediately explain their failure to protect this information for so long, even after being notified of these potential violations of federal data privacy laws.’

Bradsher was a 20-year Army veteran, and has been a public affairs official for the White House National Security Counsel, for the Defense Department and for the Department of Homeland Security. 

During her May 31 confirmation hearing before the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee, she got no questions about the VIEWS system, according to the two watchdog groups. However, she did reference electronic health records.

‘I will ensure that we continue to build an electronic health record system that improves care for Veterans — and that we only deploy it when fully ready,’ Bradsher said during her opening statement at the confirmation hearing. 

She later said during the hearing, ‘The deputy secretary is ultimately responsible for the electronic healthcare record program, and if confirmed, that responsibility… will fall fully on my shoulders.’

The letter from the two watchdog groups says, ‘In light of that responsibility, it is crucial to examine the nominee’s record in protecting the confidentiality of electronic records.’

The Department of Veterans Affairs did not respond to inquiries from Fox News Digital for this story. 

The letter from the watchdog groups notes that two days before the Senate confirmation hearing, Peter C. Rizzo, a certified fraud examiner, and former VA program manager, signed a statement about problems with the VIEWS system and complained about ‘unconscionable mishandling’ of the data in the system. 

‘In her current capacity as VA Chief of Staff, Ms. Bradsher is responsible for VIEWS. Ms. Bradsher is also fully aware of VIEWS’ deficiencies and its ongoing misuse by VA employees,’ Rizzo says in the statement. ‘I know this because on July 13, 2022, I reported these issues directly to Ms. Bradsher’s Deputy Chief of Staff, Maureen Elias, both by video chat and by email. That day, Ms. Elias gave me her word that she would immediately brief Ms. Bradsher on my concerns about VIEWS.’ 

The statement says that ‘thousands of authorized VIEWS users are able to access the system without logging in ever again after their initial VIEWS log-in.’ He also states, ‘VA leadership has long known of VIEWS’ security vulnerabilities, and yet not one of them—Ms. Bradsher included—has demonstrated the courage and will to take necessary corrective action.’

On Aug. 2, 2022, the OSC, an independent agency that investigates whistleblower disclosures and complaints, informed Rizzo of its referral. 

‘Disclosures referred to the agency for investigation and a report must include information sufficient for OSC to determine whether there is a substantial likelihood of wrongdoing,’ the OSC letter to Rizzo says. ‘After reviewing the information submitted, we have requested that the Secretary conduct an investigation into these allegations and report back to OSC… We have provided the Secretary 60 days to conduct the investigation and submit the report to OSC. However, you should be aware that these investigations usually take longer, and agencies frequently request and receive extensions of the due date.’ 

VIEWS wasn’t the only matter the watchdogs raised in their letter Friday. The letter also includes exhibits the groups obtained through the Freedom of Information Act that showed the chief of staff was on numerous emails regarding Grassley’s concerns about matters such as conflicts of interest and whistleblower retaliation in the VA.

‘We are disappointed that the committee has thus far shown no interest in thoroughly vetting the nominee’s record despite the serious issues raised by these whistleblowers on her watch,’ the letter says. ‘The committee has a duty to scrutinize nominees to senior leadership positions like this and to inform fellow Senators about facts relevant to the exercise of their independent vote and participation in the constitutional advice and consent function.’

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Former President Donald Trump’s lawyer said Sunday that she advises against a plea deal in the classified document case that led to an indictment. 

‘I know, I would never advise that, especially when he’s not done anything wrong. You take a plea deal to make something go away,’ Attorney Alina Habba told Fox News Sunday. ‘That’s an admission of guilt. He would never admit guilt. Because there was nothing wrong with declassifying documents, taking documents with you.’

Special Counsel Jack Smith unsealed the indictment Friday against Trump, which included 37 federal counts such as willful retention of national defense information, conspiracy to obstruct justice, and false statements. The indictment claims Trump not only kept classified documents at his residences but shared them with others on two occasions in 2021 at the Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, New Jersey.

‘The classified documents TRUMP stored in his boxes included information regarding defense and weapons capabilities of both the United States and foreign countries; United States nuclear programs; potential vulnerabilities of the United States and its allies to military attack; and plans for possible retaliation in response to a foreign attack,’ the indictment states. ‘The unauthorized disclosure of these classified documents could put at risk the national security of the United States, foreign relations, the safety of the United States military, and human sources and the continued viability of sensitive intelligence collection methods.’

Trump announced the indictment Thursday and said he will plead not guilty.

‘This is the most corrupt administration in history — there has never been an administration so corrupt, and they’re just starting to find it right now,’ Trump told Fox News Digital on Thursday. ‘They are trying to deflect all of their dishonesty by bringing this ridiculous boxes hoax case.’

Habba said Trump has a ‘strong defense’ because as president, he had the power to declassify documents. She noted that President Biden did not have this power in regard to classified documents found at his residences from his time as vice president. 

‘An indictment is a one-sided document,’ Habba told Fox News Sunday. ‘He has a defense — the defense is real. He had the Presidential Records Act, which only he has in play. Hillary Clinton didn’t have that. Biden didn’t have that. And we’ll put that defense on.’

The FBI raided Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club in August and obtained an extensive list of classified documents. 

EXCLUSIVE – Rep. Jack Bergman has raised national security alarm bells by calling on the Justice Department to investigate ongoing efforts of an anti-American website that is allegedly promoted by Iran’s regime and incites assassination attacks against U.S. law enforcement personnel and American Jews.

Bergman, R-Mich., sent a letter to U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland earlier this month. The letter, exclusively obtained by Fox News Digital, called for immediate action. 

He wrote, ‘To protect Americans’ national security interests and religious freedoms, the Justice Department should commission a full investigation into the origins and funding of the Mapping Project, including possible collaboration with the Islamic Republic.’

Fox News Digital has reported extensively on the Mapping Project in 2022, when it was first revealed, and in March with respect to the role of the Iranian regime in supporting the terrorism aims of the Mapping Project.

Bergman stated in his letter to Garland, ‘I write to express my concern that the Islamic Republic of Iran is covertly supporting a purported social justice movement in the United States known as ‘the Mapping Project’ as part of a sophisticated campaign to sew social discord and undermine public faith in American institutions.

‘Launched in 2022, the Mapping Project maintains a website with an interactive map that pinpoints the precise geographic locations of more than 500 civil society, government, national security, religious, and community organizations in the state of Massachusetts that it claims should be ‘dismantled’ for advancing perceived ‘harms’ in the United States and in Israel.’

He noted, ‘Among the entities whose precise locations are shared on the Mapping Project website are some 271 police stations – law enforcement is a frequent target for the Mapping Project, which publicly called for the abolition of the Boston Police Department – nine U.S. military bases and installations, and several Homeland Security, Federal Bureau of Investigation and Secret Service offices. Nearly 300 of the approximately 500 organizations mapped by the Mapping Project contribute to the nation’s national security.’

Bergman referenced the Zachor Legal Institute in his letter because of its March report on the Mapping Project. The congressman wrote the Zachor report was ‘endorsed by 17 additional and highly respected American NGOs’ and resulted in ‘finding that Iranian elements are likely involved in the development and promotion of the Mapping Project.’

According to Bergman’s letter, ‘The Mapping Project combines elements of far-left extremism with anti-Western and pro-Communist ideologies to demonize and attack organizations not aligned with its profoundly illiberal and un-American worldview. It often uses extremist – and sometimes violent – rhetoric to name and shame organizations that run afoul of its views.’

The Mapping Project is taking place at time when there are outbreaks of deadly antisemitic attack in the U.S., ‘from the mass shootings at Chabad of Poway and Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh to the recent hostage standoff at a synagogue in Colleyville, Texas,’ noted Bergman. 

He added, ‘The Mapping Project is rife with antisemitism and anti-Israel sentiment; an outsize number of the organizations the Mapping Project singles out are Jewish institutions, including synagogues, schools and NGOs.’

Bergman’s letter stated, ‘On multiple occasions, the Mapping Project was endorsed by Iranian-owned media organization PressTV, which said that the Mapping Project should be expanded to additional states beyond Massachusetts, and by Al Mayadeen, which is affiliated with Hezbollah.’

Iran’s PressTV was sanctioned by the U.S. government and was reportedly involved in the torture of a Canadian-Iranian reporter for Newsweek.

The United States government has classified Iran as the world’s worst state-sponsor of terrorism, and designated the Lebanese-based Hezbollah a foreign terrorist organization.

A Justice Department official wrote to Fox News Digital by email and said to fill out a press query on the Justice Department’s website. Fox News Digital sent two press queries to the Justice Department via its website seeking comment about whether it will launch an investigation into the Mapping Project.

Miami Mayor Francis Suarez said on ‘Fox News Sunday’ that he’s going to make a ‘major announcement’ in the coming weeks as he’s expected to throw his hat in the ring seeking the Republican nomination for president.

Suarez is expected to join the growing field of Republican candidates that already includes two fellow Floridians, former President Donald Trump, the current front-runner, and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who announced late last month.

‘My announcement is to stay tuned,’ he said Sunday. ‘Next week, like you said, I’m going to be making a big speech in the Reagan Library, and I think it’s one that Americans should tune into.’

Suarez has been mulling a presidential run for several months, including visiting four of the early key states for presidential primaries. Fox News Digital previously interviewed Suarez during an April visit to New Hampshire, where he expressed optimism about the GOP primary.

‘You have to compete with other things, by inspiring people. You have to compete by explaining to people you have a track record of success, a vision for the future. That you can inspire people with a positive view of what their future can look like in ways other candidates can’t,’ Suarez told Fox News Digital.

Suarez’s expected campaign announcement comes weeks after The Miami Herald reported that Suarez, who receives $130,000 in compensation to serve as mayor, is facing an ethics investigation for outside payments he received for private consulting.

The Miami-Dade Commission on Ethics and Public Trust has opened an investigation in coordination with the Miami-Dade State Attorney’s office into Suarez’s work for developer Rishi Kapoor, who paid him at least $170,000 since 2021, according to the report.

Suarez has repeatedly denied any possible conflicts of interest. Speaking to Fox News, he accused The Herald of liberal bias.

‘All of a sudden, they assign three reporters and come up with all these allegations in advance of what appears to be a major announcement that you indicated next week,’ he told anchor Shannon Bream.

The mayor will deliver remarks at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation and Institute in Simi Valley, California, this Thursday as part of its ‘A Time for Choosing’ speaker series.

According to the Reagan Foundation, Mayor Suarez, whose father, Xavier Suarez, was Miami’s first-ever Cuban-American mayor, was ‘elected with a mandate of 86 percent’ in 2017 and then ‘re-elected with a mandate of nearly 79 percent’ in 2021.

The crowded Republican field includes former Vice President Mike Pence and former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley, as well as multiple long-shot candidates, including Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson, Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., Vivek Ramaswamy and Larry Elder.

Former President Donald Trump is ‘toast’ if ‘even half’ of the material in his indictment is true, former Attorney General Bill Barr told Fox News Sunday.

Barr made an appearance with Host Shannon Bream regarding last week’s indictment against Trump. He argued that the incident is ‘very damning’ for the Republican candidate, who has claimed he will continue running for president in 2024 even if he is convicted.

‘If even half of [the indictment] is true then he’s toast. It’s a very detailed indictment, and it’s very, very damning,’ Barr said.

‘This idea of presenting Trump as a victim here–the victim of a witch hunt–is ridiculous. Yes, he’s been a victim in the past. Yes his adversaries have obsessively pursued him with phony claims, and I’ve been at his side defending him when he is a victim, but this is much different. He’s not a victim here,’ Barr added. ‘He was totally wrong that he had the right to have those documents. Those documents are among the most sensitive secrets the country has.’

Barr’s statement reflected Trump’s claims that he is the victim of a ‘political hit job’ in the wake of last week’s indictment.

The 2024 front-runner was indicted Friday on 37 federal counts, including willful retention of national defense information, conspiracy to obstruct justice and false statements.

‘They took one charge, and they made it 36 different times. And we have a thug who is in charge. This is a political hit job, Republicans are treated far differently at the Justice Department than Democrats,’ Trump said in a speech at the Georgia Republican state convention.

The indictment accuses Trump of failing to comply with demands to return classified documents — including plans for a retaliatory attack on an unnamed foreign power — he had gathered in Mar-a-Lago. Other documents include defense and weapon capabilities of the U.S. and details of the U.S. nuclear program.

‘The unauthorized disclosure of these classified documents could put at risk the national security of the United States, foreign relations, the safety of the United States military, and human sources and the continued viability of sensitive intelligence collection methods,’ the indictment says.

Fox News’ Adam Shaw and Brooke Singman contributed to this report.

President Joe Biden’s administration is receiving backlash online over its Pride Month display at the White House on Sunday as many Twitter users are saying it violates the U.S. Flag Code.

Biden celebrated the LGBT community in a post Saturday, revealing a set of flags hanging from the White House that faced the South Lawn. The display includes a rainbow-colored Pride flag flanked by two American flags.

Twitter users argue the display violates a section of the U.S. Flag Code that mandates the American flag be in the center of any display featuring multiple national flags or pennants.

‘To advance revolutionary transgender agenda targeting children, Biden violates basic tenet of US Flag Code and disrespects every American service member buried under its colors,’ wrote Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton.

Fitton went on to cite U.S. Flag Code §7. (e), which reads, ‘The flag of the United States of America should be at the center and at the highest point of the group when a number of flags of States or localities or pennants of societies are grouped and displayed from staffs.’

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital.

The display was featured prominently during Biden’s Pride Month celebration at the White House on Saturday.

The event, which hosted performers and speakers representing LGBT causes, acclaimed the Pride community as ‘the bravest and most inspiring people’ and an example for the U.S. and the entire world.

‘Outside the gates of this house are those who want to drag our country backwards, and so many battles yet to be braved. But today, we’re not here to be strong. We’re not here to be courageous. Even though for so many of you, just coming to this event is an act of bravery,’ said first lady Jill Biden.

Biden also praised the LGBT community as ‘some of the bravest and most inspiring’ people he has ever known.

‘You know, we all move forward when we move together with your joy, with your pride lighting the way,’ the president continued. ‘So today, let us proudly remember who we are – the United States of America.’

Fox News’ Timothy H.J. Nerozzi contributed to this report.