In an unsurprising ruling, the regime-dominated Venezuelan Supreme Court has sided with President Nicolás Maduro’s claims he won last month’s election and said voting tallies published online showing he lost by a landslide were fake.

In a courtroom packed with Maduro supporters, the decision was read Thursday in response to a request made by Maduro to review vote totals showing he had won by more than 1 million votes.

The court’s ruling certifying the results contradicts the findings of experts from the United Nations and the Carter Center who were invited to observe the election and who both determined the results announced by authorities lacked credibility.

The main opposition coalition has accused Maduro of trying to steal the vote.

Venezuela’s government officials have claimed a foreign cyberattack staged by hackers from North Macedonia delayed the vote counting on election night and publication of the results, but they have not provided any evidence. 

Gabriel Boric, the leftist president of Chile and one of the main critics of Maduro’s election scam, blasted the high court’s certification.

‘Today, Venezuela’s TSJ has finally consolidated the fraud,’ he said on his account, referring to the initials of the high court. ‘The Maduro regime obviously welcomes with enthusiasm its ruling… there is no doubt that we are facing a dictatorship that falsifies elections.’

The ruling is the latest attempt by Maduro to blunt protests and international criticism that erupted after the contested July 28 vote in which the self-proclaimed socialist leader was seeking a third, six-year term, The Associated Press reported. 

Maduro is widely believed to have fraudulently won his country’s election last month. Numerous regional governments cast doubt on the official vote tally, which showed Maduro with 51.2% of the vote with 80% of polling stations reporting.

The opposition contends the results are not accurate and claims that it won the election with 70% of the vote. 

‘In Venezuela, an occupied territory of the Axis of Evil, the judicial system is essentially non-existent due to the complete absence of the rule of law,’ Isaias Medina III, a former U.N. Security Council diplomat and Harvard Mason fellow, told Fox News Digital. 

‘The separation of powers was effectively dismantled when Chavismo took control, resulting in ‘courts’ with unqualified personnel that are merely extensions of Maduro’s regime, parroting his dictates without independent judgment or integrity. The courts are a third-rate play, directed by Maduro, who pays their bills.’

Polls taken over the course of the summer consistently showed opposition candidate Edmundo González winning by double-digit margins.

González was the only one of ten candidates who did not participate in the Supreme Court’s audit, a fact noted by the justices, who in their ruling accused him of trying to spread panic, the AP reported. 

When the National Electoral Council announced around midnight that Maduro had received 51% of the vote compared to main opposition candidate González’s 44% support, National Electoral Council President Elvis Amoroso said the results were based on 80% of voting stations and represented an irreversible trend.

‘For the past two decades, the socialists completely destroyed the division of powers in Venezuela. Just like the former Soviet Union, Maduro controls and leads not only the executive branch but also the parliament, electoral commission and Supreme Court,’ Jorge Jraissati, a Venezuelan and president of the Economic Inclusion Group, told Fox News Digital.

‘This process began in the 2000s, when former President Hugo Chavez (who died in 2013) packed the Supreme Court with loyalists. In fact, there are shocking videos of Supreme Court judges chanting songs that belong to the Venezuelan Socialist Party. Ultimately, it shows that the Venezuelan crisis cannot be resolved using the institutions of the country, as these are completely loyal to Maduro and are responsible for the political crisis we live in today.’ 

Despite Maduro being declared the winner for a third term, the opposition claimed victory, setting up a showdown with the government over the results.

Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., condemned the result and criticized the policies of the Biden administration.

‘Another foreign policy fiasco from the Biden-Harris team,’ he wrote on X. ‘They gave Maduro relief from Trump oil sanctions and released his top money launderer & his two convicted drug dealer nephews in exchange for a ‘promise’ to hold fair elections monitored by neutral international observers.’

Officials and lawmakers in the U.S. and elsewhere expressed concern about the legitimacy of Venezuela’s presidential election results after Maduro was declared the winner. 

A bipartisan group of congressional leaders also alleged that Maduro’s victory was fraudulent. 

‘To no one’s surprise, dictator Nicolás Maduro has once again stolen a presidential election. However, what the narco-regime will never steal is the Venezuelan people’s desire to return to democracy and live in freedom after decades of tyranny.

‘We must prioritize uniting the free world in rejecting these sham election results and securing the release of the more than 300 Venezuelans that remain arbitrarily detained in torture centers as political prisoners.’

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken previously said the Biden administration has ‘serious concerns’ about the results and insisted they do not ‘reflect the will or the votes of the Venezuelan people.’ 

Protests broke out across the country on both sides after the announcement last month. 

Venezuelans took to the streets to protest what is widely believed to be a rigged election. The protests started peacefully, but riot gear-equipped police escalated the matter, leading to violence both from the protesters and the police. 

Protesters threw objects, including stones, at the police, while police used tear gas on the crowds in an effort to make them disperse. 

Maduro dismissed the pushback against his victory as an ‘attempt … to impose a coup d’etat in Venezuela,’ adding that ‘we already know this movie, and this time, there will be no kind of weakness.’ Maduro added that Venezuela’s ‘law will be respected.’

Fox News Digital’s Landon Mion, Peter Aitken, and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

In a 1988 interview with Oprah Winfrey, the celebrity talk show host appeared to be amazed at Americans’ ‘fascination’ with Donald Trump and even described him as a ‘folk hero’ for being so popular. 

‘Various celebrities in New York, because it was the opening concert in New York, and there were all kinds of celebrities – very, very famous people coming in to be seated. When you were seated, you got the loudest applause. People stood up and roared and cheered when you walked in,’ Winfrey said during the interview. ‘Why is that? What is this fascination?’

‘I don’t know, maybe I should be a rockstar,’ Trump replied.

‘They thought you were going to moonwalk,’ Oprah quipped. 

After Trump pondered his popularity with Oprah, she also referred to him as a ‘folk hero.’

The unearthed interview came to light a day after Winfrey made a surprise appearance at the Democratic National Convention Wednesday night, during which she railed against Trump, her former friend. 

‘We know all the old tricks and tropes that are designed to distract us from what actually matters,’ Winfrey told those gathered at Chicago’s United Center. ‘But we are beyond ridiculous tweets and lies and foolery. These are complicated times, people, and they require adult conversation. And I welcome those conversations because civilized debate is vital to democracy, and it is the best of America.’

Winfrey also took aim at comments Trump made last month, when he told supporters they ‘won’t have to vote anymore’ if they elect him because he will fix all their problems. 

‘Now, there’s a certain candidate that says if we just go to the polls this one time, that we’ll never have to do it again. Well, you know what? You’re looking at a registered Independent who’s proud to vote again and again and again because I’m an American. And that’s what Americans do. Voting is the best of America.’

Shortly after her speech, the Trump campaign posted a thank you letter that Winfrey wrote to Trump in 2000, suggesting he would be a good president and they would make a good team working together in politics.

‘I might have thought it back then,’ Winfrey said in a 2023 interview. ‘I might have thought it 23 years ago.’

Fox News Digital reached out to Winfrey for comment but did not receive an immediate response prior to publication.

‘This is typical. Many of the liberal celebrities attacking President Trump now used to love him,’ Karoline Leavitt, Trump campaign national press secretary, told Fox News Digital. ‘They only pretend to hate him now because he’s a Republican, and because they are phonies like Kamala Harris.’

RFK Jr’s running mate, Nicole Shanahan, shared a post to X claiming that Democrats are ‘terrified’ their campaign may endorse Donald Trump.

In a post on X on Thursday, the independent VP pick said ‘My old Dem buddies have been flooding me with frantic calls, texts, and emails. Unlike Ro, I wouldn’t dream of airing those private conversations publicly, but the message is clear: they’re terrified of the idea of our movement joining forces with Donald Trump.’

‘When I point out what the Democratic Party and their super PACs have done to sabotage our campaign, their response is always, ‘but Trump is worse.’ Here’s an idea: stop suing us. Let us debate. Quit rigging the media and the polls. It’s a simple formula, people—get with it,’ the post concluded.

A source close to the campaign told the NY Post on Thursday that RFK Jr’s campaign suspension will be announced Friday in Phoenix, Arizona.

Shanahan joined Fox News @ Night on Tuesday, saying ‘You know, it’s Bobby’s decision. I came into this supporting him wholeheartedly to win this election. And I have to say, there’s only one party that has obstructed fair, a fair election for us. And unfortunately, it was the Democratic Party. They’ve done everything they can, including creating PACs to prevent us from being able to have ballot access.’

The Kennedy/Shanahan ballot has faced uphill climbs in order to get on the ballot state-by-state nationwide. Most recently, it faced a roadblock in New York State due to a residency dispute.

CHICAGO – It’s a sight you wouldn’t expect to see.

A longtime Republican who ran for the 2024 GOP presidential nomination making the rounds at the Democratic National Convention.

But that’s the case for former two-term Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson.

‘I’m doing media. I’m not here to endorse the Democratic nominee,’ Hutchison said in an interview this week with Fox News Digital. ‘This is my first Democratic convention.’

But Hutchinson, who waged an unsuccessful long-shot bid last year for the Republican nomination, shared, ‘I did go on the floor to see the Arkansas Democratic delegation here, and I want you to know that lightning didn’t strike and so everybody was safe.’

Asked if he felt out of place among a sea of Democrats, Hutchinson said ‘a little bit but at the same time, this is well reflective of American democracy that I’m greeted with a friendly fashion… This is a good part of politics that you can disagree but still be here and be welcomed.’

The former governor remains a very vocal GOP critic of former President Trump, who crushed Hutchinson and the rest of the field of challengers to cruise to the party’s nomination. 

Asked how he’ll cast his ballot in the presidential election, Hutchinson said he’s going to ‘write in a candidate, a good Republican candidate. It’s important to me to be a Republican and support the Republican cause.’

But he added, ‘We need to define it differently than Donald Trump and the rule of law is important to me. I said on the debate stage I’m not going to vote for a convicted felon. That still holds true.’

Since Vice President Kamala Harris a month ago replaced President Biden atop the Democrats’ 2024 ticket, Trump has repeatedly slammed the vice president as a far-left politician.

Hutchinson, pointing to a controversial plan by Harris to ban price gouging, said that in order to appeal to independent voters and dissatisfied Republicans, the vice president needs ‘to persuade them [voters] that her economic policy is not so far left and the argument about price controls is doing damage to her.

‘She needs to make clear that when she talks about her economic policy it’s a fight against price gouging, which attorneys general do all across America, and not price controls. She needs to make that clear either in her convention speech or elsewhere.’

He emphasized that ‘if you want to get independents, if you want to get swing voters and even some Republicans, you’ve got to show an economic policy that makes sense for America and doesn’t scare people.’

Hutchinson, a former federal prosecutor who later served in Congress and in Cabinet-level positions in President George W. Bush’s administration, dropped out of the White House race in January, the day after he finished a distant sixth in the Iowa caucuses.

Asked whether there’s another political chapter in his long career, he said, ‘I hope so.’

‘But right now I really want to teach. I’ll be teaching at the University of Arkansas Law School next semester. I’ll be doing some things on college campuses beyond that,’ he shared. ‘We’ll see what happens in the future.’

Former President Donald Trump’s campaign called out a veiled dig at running mate, Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, made by Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz at the Democratic National Convention. 

Walz, who formally accepted the Democratic vice presidential nomination Wednesday night, addressed the United Center in Chicago by speaking of his upbringing in the Midwest. 

‘Now, I grew up in Butte, Nebraska, a town of 400 people. I had 24 kids in my high school class, and none of them went to Yale,’ Walz said, prompting laughter from the audience. ‘But I’ll tell you what. Growing up in a small town like that, you’ll learn how to take care of each other. That that family down the road, they may not think like you do. They may not pray like you do. They may not love like you do. But they’re your neighbors. And you look out for them, and they look out for you.’

The Trump War Room X account posted a clip of Walz’s remark about Yale, where Vance attended law school.

‘Walz: ‘I had 24 kids in my high school class and none of them went to Yale,’’ Trump War Room noted, adding, ‘Weird flex!’ 

Vance is the author of ‘Hillbilly Elegy,’ a memoir about his time as a Yale Law School student reflecting on growing up in Appalachia that was adapted into a Netflix film. In his debut as Trump’s running mate at the Republican National Convention, Vance was open about being raised by his grandmother, whom he described as tough and keeping him away from drugs, and who would barter with the Meals on Wheels volunteers to help feed him growing up. Vance, credited for appealing to working-class Midwesterners in the Rust Belt, also spoke of his mother’s long battle with addiction. She is now nearly 10 years sober. 

Vance enlisted in the Marine Corps right after graduating from high school in Middletown, Ohio. He attended Ohio State University and later Yale Law School. 

Fox News host Martha MacCallum asked Vance to respond to Walz’s reference to Yale, suggesting he was deeming Vance ‘Mr. Fancypants Ivy League.’ 

‘I grew up in a very poor family. I was raised by my grandmother who didn’t graduate from high school, much less from college,’ Vance responded. ‘And I am proud of the fact that she really worked her tail off – she went to her grave fighting to give me opportunities. I’m not ashamed of the fact that my grandmother sacrificed for me, and I was able to live the American Dream. I’m proud of what I accomplished, and, more importantly, I’m proud of all the people who sacrificed in order to give me a better life.’

‘I would think Tim Walz would want to praise people who sacrificed to give their children and grandchildren a better life, not put me down, but I guess this is the political order of the day,’ Vance added. ‘He’s going to attack me. That’s fine. But I’m proud of my family. I’m proud of what they sacrificed to make my life possible.’ 

Walz, by comparison, enlisted in the Army National Guard at age 17 and served for 24 years. 

He has faced recent ‘stolen valor’ attacks from fellow veterans for reportedly opting to retire to run for Congress, while his unit went to Afghanistan months later. 

According to his congressional biography, Walz earned a Bachelor of Science from Chadron State College in Nebraska. The former Minnesota high school teacher is not without Ivy League ties himself. He spent 1989-1990 teaching high school in China as part of a group of government-sanctioned American educators sent to the communist country through a program at Harvard University.