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Most Americans have never heard of Tim Walz, Harris’ VP pick

Governor who? Senator what’s-his-name? 

The leading candidates to be Vice President Harris’ running mate on the Democratic presidential ticket are Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly, Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz. If those names are unfamiliar to you, count yourself among the majority of Americans who don’t know or have never heard of the Democrats who could be the next vice president, according to an NPR/PBS News Marist poll. 

The survey found Kelly has the highest favorability of the three candidates for the No. 2 job in the White House, 31% favorable to 18% unfavorable, but 52% of respondents still said they were unsure or have never heard of him. 

Shapiro, who is speculated to be the front-runner in the veepstakes since Harris will make her first appearance with her running mate in Philadelphia, has a 25%-23% favorable to unfavorable rating. Still, 53% of Americans are unsure. 

As for Walz, the progressive favorite is by far the most unknown of the three, with 71% of survey respondents saying they were unsure or had never heard of him. 

Meanwhile, Harris has improved her favorability numbers, which are now 46-48% favorable-unfavorable compared to 40-44% in the previous Marist survey. 

The Republican nominee, former President Trump, is viewed mostly unfavorable, 53%, in contrast to 44% of respondents who have a positive view of the GOP candidate. Trump’s unfavorable score increased four points since the last Marist poll, which was taken right after the Republican National Convention and the assassination attempt on his life in Butler, Pennsylvania. 

The survey of 1,613 adults was conducted between Thursday and Sunday and has a +/- 3.3 percentage point margin of error. Respondents were contacted via cellphone, landline or online research panels in both English and Spanish. 

Harris is scheduled to announce her selection at a rally in Philadelphia on Tuesday evening. 

This will be Harris’ first visit to Pennsylvania as the presumptive Democratic nominee for president, after formerly securing the nomination on Monday. The trip also marks her seventh visit to the commonwealth this year and the 17th since she was sworn in as vice president in 2021.

Kelly, Shapiro and Walz are the finalists for the VP job in a truncated vetting process after President Biden shocked the nation by dropping out of the 2024 race and endorsed Harris to succeed him. 

Harris was in Washington, D.C., over the weekend conducting in-person interviews with her potential running mates, Democratic sources confirmed to Fox News. Others under consideration include Govs. Andy Beshear of Kentucky and JB Pritzker of Illinois, and Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg.

Ahead of her meetings with the contenders, Harris was briefed by a vetting team led by former Attorney General Eric Holder.

The rollout of the announcement is not known, but it’s likely it could come through a video introduction, similar to how Biden announced Harris as his running mate four years ago. But the Harris campaign’s plans could be upended on Monday or Tuesday by a media leak of the announcement.

After the rally in Philadelphia, Harris and her to-be-named running mate will team for an ambitious and jam-packed swing state tour through Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Michigan, North Carolina, Georgia, Arizona and Nevada, the seven battlegrounds that will likely determine the outcome of the presidential election.

The vice president drew over 10,000 at her first major rally since taking over for Biden at the top of the Democrats’ ticket, last week at the Georgia State Convocation Center in Atlanta.

Harris will be shadowed on her tour by Republican candidate for vice president JD Vance, forces confirmed to Fox News. The Ohio senator will act as the Trump campaign’s attack dog, attempting to persuade voters against Harris in key swing states. 

Fox News Digital’s Paul Steinhauser and Landon Mion contributed to this report.

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Vance needs to fix ‘off-putting’ comments or Trump campaign is ‘doomed,’ say undecided and GOP women voters

Since former President Donald Trump selected ‘Hillbilly Elegy’ author and Ohio Sen. JD Vance as his running mate, Vance has been forced to contend with a trove of old media clips that women who support the Trump-Vance ticket are concerned will hurt their election chances. 

Years ago, Vance said in a media interview that ‘a bunch of childless cat ladies who are miserable at their own lives and the choices that they’ve made’ should not be in a position to run the country, lumping Vice President Kamala Harris into that category. He also said that Congress should ‘tax the things that are bad, and not tax the things that are good’ by imposing a higher tax rate for individuals without children. 

Vance’s team says his launch at the Republican National Convention last month was a success, and that the Harris campaign dredged up old media clips to demonize her opponent. But women supporting the Republican ticket still think his comments and attempts to correct course are so far falling short, and hope that the junior senator with an ‘inspiring story’ can ‘take back control’ of the narrative.

‘JD’s phrasing is extremely off-putting to undecided women voters. He needs to fix his delivery to relay the messaging, or the Trump-Vance brand is doomed,’ Jessica Reed Kraus, founder of the House Inhabit Substack, told Fox News Digital. 

Rachael Dean Wilson, the managing director of the Alliance for Securing Democracy (ASD) at the German Marshall Fund and former adviser to the late Sen. John McCain added that ‘attempting to divide women along the lines of mothers vs. non-mothers is poisonous’ and only ‘benefits’ American adversaries.

‘Taking a step back from the campaign tit-for-tat, attempting to divide women along the lines of mothers vs. non-mothers is poisonous to our communities and political discourse,’ she said. 

‘I would encourage women of all political stripes to resist the tribalism these attack lines encourage on both sides. While this is an undoubtedly domestic conversation, I always like to remind people that deep domestic division and polarization benefits our adversaries abroad and weakens the United States on the world stage,’ she added. 

Vance has made strides to leave the past behind him. Last week he took a trip to the southern border and railed against the Biden administration’s policies that have led to record border crossings, contributing to spikes in violent and drug crime. He appeared on the Full Send podcast, which caters to a male, Gen-Z audience. 

In an interview with ‘Fox and Friends,’ Usha Vance, wife to JD Vance, said that the ‘cat ladies’ comment he made was a ‘quip in service of making a point that he wanted to make that was substantive.’

‘And I just wish sometimes that people would talk about those things and that we would spend a lot less time just sort of going through this three-word phrase or that three-word phrase.’ 

The ‘substance’ of what JD Vance meant in those remarks, he says, is that public policy in this country has become ‘anti-family.’ 

‘Obviously, it was a sarcastic comment. I’ve got nothing against cats. I’ve got nothing against dogs. I’ve got one dog at home and I love ’em,’ Vance said of the cat comment in an interview with Megyn Kelly. 

‘But look, this is not— people are focusing so much on the sarcasm and not on the substance of what I actually said, and the substance of what I said, Megyn, I’m sorry, it’s true. It is true that we become anti-family. It is true that the left has become anti-child. It is simply true that it’s become way too hard to raise a family,’ he said.

That message has not fallen entirely on deaf ears. Hannah Claire Brimelow, co-host of ‘Timcast IRL,’ says she agrees with Vance, that ‘we should want leaders who have children because our values depend on being passed down to the next generation, and having children changes your view on your role in a civic society.’ 

She added that the Harris campaign strategy of ‘bringing up a clip from 2021 to attack Vance seems like proof they don’t have much else to criticize him for.’

But it’s been roughly two weeks since the proverbial cat got out of the bag, and Vance is still playing defense. Vanessa Santos, president and CEO of public relations firm Renegade DC, says Vance ‘needs to take back control of the narrative.’ 

‘The Harris campaign and the media are working together to make sure this ‘cat lady’ news cycle sees as much attention and does as much damage to Trump-Vance as possible. JD needs to take back control of the narrative. He needs to go on adversarial media, look at these dishonest media people in the eyes, defend himself, and expose them for their unapologetic hypocrisy,’ she said. 

‘Since she announced her candidacy, the media has completely whitewashed Kamala Harris’ radical record, especially her abandonment of her border czar position, and continues to blindly accept her moderating positions,’ Santos added.

‘JD has an inspiring story and a beautiful family. His story resonates with men and women alike, and especially with parents and young Gen Z voters who are worried that the American dream is out of reach for them. Pivot from the ‘cat lady’ media storm and double down on attacking Democrats on their terrible and destructive policies,’ she said.

Taylor Van Kirk, a spokeswoman for Vance, responded in a statement to Fox News Digital, ‘Senator Vance is laser focused on exposing Kamala Harris’s weak, failed, and dangerously liberal record, and that’s exactly what he’ll do across key swing states over the coming days.’

‘Kamala Harris’s policies created crushing inflation, a historic crisis at our southern border, and rising crime – her agenda is to make Americans less prosperous and less secure. Democrats are creating false narratives about JD because they know their policies have been a disaster for American families,’ she said.

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Josh Shapiro, Tim Walz: Most Americans have never heard of possible Harris VP picks

Governor who? Senator what’s-his-name? 

The leading candidates to be Vice President Harris’ running mate on the Democratic presidential ticket are Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly, Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz. If those names are unfamiliar to you, count yourself among the majority of Americans who don’t know or have never heard of the Democrats who could be the next vice president, according to an NPR/PBS News Marist poll. 

The survey found Kelly has the highest favorability of the three candidates for the No. 2 job in the White House, 31% favorable to 18% unfavorable, but 52% of respondents still said they were unsure or have never heard of him. 

Shapiro, who is speculated to be the front-runner in the veepstakes since Harris will make her first appearance with her running mate in Philadelphia, has a 25%-23% favorable to unfavorable rating. Still, 53% of Americans are unsure. 

As for Walz, the progressive favorite is by far the most unknown of the three, with 71% of survey respondents saying they were unsure or had never heard of him. 

Meanwhile, Harris has improved her favorability numbers, which are now 46-48% favorable-unfavorable compared to 40-44% in the previous Marist survey. 

The Republican nominee, former President Trump, is viewed mostly unfavorable, 53%, in contrast to 44% of respondents who have a positive view of the GOP candidate. Trump’s unfavorable score increased four points since the last Marist poll, which was taken right after the Republican National Convention and the assassination attempt on his life in Butler, Pennsylvania. 

The survey of 1,613 adults was conducted between Thursday and Sunday and has a +/- 3.3 percentage point margin of error. Respondents were contacted via cellphone, landline or online research panels in both English and Spanish. 

Harris is scheduled to announce her selection at a rally in Philadelphia on Tuesday evening. 

This will be Harris’ first visit to Pennsylvania as the presumptive Democratic nominee for president, after formerly securing the nomination on Monday. The trip also marks her seventh visit to the commonwealth this year and the 17th since she was sworn in as vice president in 2021.

Kelly, Shapiro and Walz are the finalists for the VP job in a truncated vetting process after President Biden shocked the nation by dropping out of the 2024 race and endorsed Harris to succeed him. 

Harris was in Washington, D.C., over the weekend conducting in-person interviews with her potential running mates, Democratic sources confirmed to Fox News. Others under consideration include Govs. Andy Beshear of Kentucky and JB Pritzker of Illinois, and Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg.

Ahead of her meetings with the contenders, Harris was briefed by a vetting team led by former Attorney General Eric Holder.

The rollout of the announcement is not known, but it’s likely it could come through a video introduction, similar to how Biden announced Harris as his running mate four years ago. But the Harris campaign’s plans could be upended on Monday or Tuesday by a media leak of the announcement.

After the rally in Philadelphia, Harris and her to-be-named running mate will team for an ambitious and jam-packed swing state tour through Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Michigan, North Carolina, Georgia, Arizona and Nevada, the seven battlegrounds that will likely determine the outcome of the presidential election.

The vice president drew over 10,000 at her first major rally since taking over for Biden at the top of the Democrats’ ticket, last week at the Georgia State Convocation Center in Atlanta.

Harris will be shadowed on her tour by Republican candidate for vice president JD Vance, forces confirmed to Fox News. The Ohio senator will act as the Trump campaign’s attack dog, attempting to persuade voters against Harris in key swing states. 

Fox News Digital’s Paul Steinhauser and Landon Mion contributed to this report.

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Israel strike in Lebanon reportedly kills 4 Hezbollah operatives as region braces for possible Iran attack

As Israel braces for a possible attack from Iran, Israel Defense Forces on Tuesday said it carried out an airstrike in southern Lebanon, reportedly killing four Hezbollah operatives.

The strike was carried out in the Nabatieh area, where the IDF said its fighter jets targeted a building used by Hezbollah in the Southern Front.

A second building in which Hezbollah operates was also struck in Khiam, the IDF said.

While the IDF did not immediately note any casualties, Lebanese security sources told the AFP that four Hezbollah members were killed in the strike, according to the Times of Israel.

Meanwhile, Israel continues to be attacked while preparing for a potential larger conflict. 

Fox News Foreign Correspondent Trey Yingst reported that Hezbollah launched a rocket and drone attack into northern Israel on Monday. First responders reported that shrapnel injured two people, one of them critically. 

Israel and the Iranian-backed Hezbollah have exchanged near-daily strikes for the past 10 months. The conflict was sparked after Iranian proxy Hamas carried out a massacre against Israel on Oct. 7, slaughtering 1,200 people, including over 30 Americans.

Tensions have escalated in recent weeks as world leaders worry that the conflict could boil over into a larger regional war.

Israel confirmed last week that its forces killed top Hezbollah commander Fuad Shukr and Hamas commander Muhammad Deif in recent strikes.

The assassination of Hamas political chief Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran last week ratcheted up tensions in the Middle East tinderbox further. Israel has not come out publicly to claim responsibility for the killing, but Iran and Hamas are accusing the Jewish state of being behind it.

Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei has said it is ‘Iran’s duty to avenge Haniyeh’s blood, because he was martyred on our soil.’

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other Israeli officials have reiterated that Israel remains ready for any scenario.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Israel stares down ‘ring of fire’ as Iran pledges retaliation

Security officials in Israel and the U.S. have been scrambling for days to bolster the Jewish state’s defenses following the back-to-back assassinations of Hezbollah and Hamas terror leaders last week. 

Iran on Monday gave credence to security concerns after it claimed stability in the region could only be achieved by ‘punishing’ Israel for its alleged assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran.

Though an attack on Israel would only mark the second time Iran has directly hit it, despite years of aggressive rhetoric and force posture, it plays in to Tehran’s long-held ‘ring of fire’ strategy to encircle Israel with militant forces and engage in hostilities against the Jewish state. 

‘The Ring of Fire strategy… is not designed to be theoretical. It’s how the regime fights its ‘death by a thousand cuts’ strategy against Israel,’ Behnam Ben Taleblu, Iran expert and senior fellow with the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD), told Fox News Digital. 

Taleblu pointed to how nearly every militant and terrorist organization in the area surrounding Israel is not only backed by Iran but has access to an array of Iranian armaments, including rockets, mortars, drones, cruise missiles and, in some cases, ballistic missiles. 

‘What the regime is likely to try to do,’ Ben Taleblu continued, ‘is to go for a 360-degree attack-vector trying to strike Israel from both sides.’

Tehran has long relied on proxy groups in the Middle East to fight its battles without Iranian troops having to get directly involved in lengthy and deadly wars. 

Iran has provided funding, training and or weapons to at least 19 terrorist organizations spread out across Gaza, the West Bank, Lebanon, Syria, Iraq and Yemen, according to open-source findings by the FDD.

Some groups have received vast amounts of support, including Hezbollah, which receives $700 million annually, and Hamas, which receives $100 million each year, along with the tens of millions also sent to the Islamic Jihad, according to figures cited by Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant.

‘The Iraqi militias, the Syrian militias and the Houthis, within the last decade, have really begun to become a key part of Iranian strategy,’ Bill Roggio, senior fellow at the FDD and founding editor of ‘The Long War Journal,’ also told Fox News Digital. ‘They’re not paying the human cost for their involvement. 

‘The Iranians, they could play this game all day long,’ he added. 

Both security experts pointed out that the U.S. and Israeli strategy has been to respond to Iranian attacks through more sophisticated methods, signaling they can create pains for the Islamic Republic at a much lower cost to them than Tehran is capable of achieving. 

But this approach has also led Tehran to believe that neither nation will respond with the same level of force that Iran is willing to throw at Israel in particular. 

On Monday, Iranian foreign ministry spokesperson Nasser Kanaani claimed that ‘Iran seeks to establish stability in the region, but this will only come with punishing the aggressor and creating deterrence against the adventurism of the Zionist regime.’

Israeli officials have been readying their defensive and offensive capabilities on the ground and in the air as security officials around the globe await Iran’s imminent attack. 

‘It seems to be… a matter of when, and not if,’ Ben Taleblu said.

Iran issued its first direct assault on Israel in April after the IDF hit an Iranian consulate in Syria and killed 13 people, including Brig. Gen. Mohammad Reza Zahedi, an Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) senior commander, and his deputy, Gen. Mohammad Hadi Hajriahimi.

In response, Tehran levied some 300 rockets and drones at Israel, causing minor damage, and no Israeli deaths were reported as 99% of the strikes were intercepted.

Taleblu said the April attack was a balancing act as Tehran looked to simultaneously respond with force but without escalating to an all-out regional conflict. 

But this time officials believe Iran has something to prove following the assassination of Haniyeh on Iranian soil through a sophisticated bombing scheme, which is believed to have taken months in planning and preparation. 

‘It highlighted the level of penetrability in Iran’s security services given that this was a pre-placed bomb that was able to be remotely detonated,’ Taleblu said. ‘They’re trying to make up for that embarrassment.’

Israel has not taken responsibility for the killing of Haniyeh, but Iran and Hamas have accused Jerusalem of carrying out the attack and pledged to retaliate.

Officials believe that this time Iran may try to overwhelm Israeli and American defenses in a multipronged attack using not only more advanced IRGC munitions but by relying on a layered approach with its regional proxy forces sitting in wait on Israel’s borders. 

‘The Iranians have fought a four-plus decade-long shadow war against the Israelis and the Americans,’ Taleblu said. ‘And the trend line indicates that they feel increasingly comfortable coming out of the shadows.’

‘That’s a problem for everyone who wants less conflict in the region,’ he warned.

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Morning Glory: Justice Gorsuch takes his case public

It is unusual for the fireman to actually pull the fire alarm, but that is exactly what Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch has done in his new book, co-authored with Janie Nitze: ‘Over Ruled: The Human Toll of Too Much Law.’

Readers familiar with the excesses of the ‘Administrative State’ will not be particularly surprised by the horror stories emerging from the regulatory behemoth that are the executive branches of federal and state government. The outline of every single story retold by Gorsuch and Nitze is familiar: Government crushing citizens who happen to cross their paths. 

It might by an Amish family trying to maintain its way of life in rural Minnesota, a famous race car driver (Bobby Unser) who barely survived a wilderness ride on a snowmobile only to face prosecution and conviction in a ludicrous proceeding, or a magician who discovered that his act’s rabbit needed a license from the Department of Agriculture. They all get their stories told in succinct and compelling fashion by Justice Gorsuch and Ms. Nitze, and there is no doubt satisfaction in that telling for every victim of bureaucratic excess. But did any of them receive justice, or even an imperfect remedy?

The answer is, sadly, no. For all the tales of regular overreach and abuse of process that Gorsuch recounts, the list of rebuked bureaucrats is…well, non-existent. Because while federal and state agencies can be told to stop violating the Constitution, or ordered to stop exceeding their authority, or simply shamed for the absurdity of their endless rules, there is precious little accountability for individual bureaucrats drunk on power. 

Which is why I jested with Justice Gorsuch on Monday’s program that he and his colleagues really needed to get back to work. (The Supreme Court traditionally wraps up its term at the end of June or very early July and then reconvenes on the first Monday in October.) The justice in good humor replied that he and his colleagues work pretty hard as it is, and he’s right. But measured against the vastness of the federal, state and local governments, the Supreme Court could hear and decide cases on behalf of aggrieved citizens 24/7/365 and it still would not make a dent in the power of unelected and unaccountable employees of the hundreds of federal, state and local agencies to make life miserable for citizens of the Republic. 

I pointed out to the justice that 2.8 million people are employed as civilians by the feds and more than 19 million more people are employed by the state and local governments. (These numbers do not include the uniformed military.) The chances of an ordinary citizen getting a fair and just result in expeditious fashion from any corner of this almost endless federal, state and local governments is simply next to zero. It is hard enough to get a phone call returned much less to litigate to victory against the government. 

Even when an eventual adjudication of an aggrieved litigant’s case results in a decisive win —as when the Archdiocese of Philadelphia triumphed over the ideological extremists of the City of Philadelphia’s social services— it does not really repair the damage done. In this case the city’s bureaucrats wanted to bar the Diocese’s Catholic Social Services (‘CSS’) foster program from the city’s sprawling network of providers of foster care services despite the Archdiocese’s long record of exemplary service to children in need of foster care, a record that dates to 1917.

The City had barred CSS in 2018 because, consistent with the theology of the Roman Catholic Church, CSS would not accept as potential foster parents whom CSS would ‘vet’ as qualified to care for foster kids either unmarried couples or gay and lesbians individuals or couples. Just before being barred, CSS was providing homes for more than 120 children. ‘How did it work out in the end?’ Gorsuch and Nitze ask. ‘In the Spring of 2021 the Supreme Court unanimously held that the city’s refusal to renew its contract with CSS on the basis of the group’s religious ideas violated the First Amendment.’

‘But consider what it took,’ the authors add. ‘The group had to endure years of litigation. It had to persist too, through losses both in the trial court and on appeal. In the meantime, children in need were left unserved and available beds in loving homes sat empty.’

That’s one story with a semi-happy ending but the book is full of the tragedies wrecked upon individuals and organizations by bureaucrats drunk on power and zealous for evidence that their jobs must exist. The ‘Administrative State’ never willingly relinquishes power, never ever declares any of its tentacles to be superfluous. 

The scope of the problem is laid out in ‘Over Ruled,’ but as Justice Gorsuch noted to me on air, any comprehensive solution to the problem of too many laws, regulations and penalties must come from the Congress or state legislatures. Justice Gorsuch is at least half correct. It is not for the Court to legislate, but it and the lower federal courts could seriously consider reviving the long dead ‘non-delegation’ doctrine as well as putting real teeth into the punishment of agencies and employees of the federal government who are found to have abused their authority in those federal cases brought by heroic plaintiff. 

The ‘Administrative State’ is not a ‘deep state.’ It doesn’t hide. It’s easy enough to see their work and God help you if you cross their most aggressive rule-enforcers. But curbing the excesses of untouchable bureaucrats should not be as hard as it is. The cases should not take so long to move towards resolution and redress. Courts need to move with urgency to rescue citizens from bureaucrats gone wild. And the president and governors deserve the authority they need over their ‘executive branches’—including the robust authority to dismiss the offenders of citizens’ rights.

Hugh Hewitt is host of ‘The Hugh Hewitt Show,’ heard weekday mornings 6am to 9am ET on the Salem Radio Network, and simulcast on Salem News Channel. Hugh wakes up America on over 400 affiliates nationwide, and on all the streaming platforms where SNC can be seen. He is a frequent guest on the Fox News Channel’s news roundtable hosted by Bret Baier weekdays at 6pm ET. A son of Ohio and a graduate of Harvard College and the University of Michigan Law School, Hewitt has been a Professor of Law at Chapman University’s Fowler School of Law since 1996 where he teaches Constitutional Law. Hewitt launched his eponymous radio show from Los Angeles in 1990.  Hewitt has frequently appeared on every major national news television network, hosted television shows for PBS and MSNBC, written for every major American paper, has authored a dozen books and moderated a score of Republican candidate debates, most recently the November 2023 Republican presidential debate in Miami and four Republican presidential debates in the 2015-16 cycle. Hewitt focuses his radio show and his column on the Constitution, national security, American politics and the Cleveland Browns and Guardians. Hewitt has interviewed tens of thousands of guests from Democrats Hillary Clinton and John Kerry to Republican Presidents George W. Bush and Donald Trump over his 40 years in broadcast, and this column previews the lead story that will drive his radio/ TV show today.

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What is GARM? ‘Collusive’ ad group allegedly targeting conservatives faces grilling from top House committee

A controversial advertising alliance has drawn the attention of one of the most powerful House committees in Congress as critics allege it has fostered corporate collusion in order to silence certain political messages. 

The Global Alliance for Responsible Media (GARM) describes itself as a ‘cross-industry initiative’ started as part of the World Federation of Advertisers that, according to a spokesperson, ‘was established in 2019 to help the advertising industry address the challenge of illegal or harmful content on digital media platforms and its monetization via advertising.’

‘It was set up in the wake of the Christchurch Mosque shootings in which the killer livestreamed the attacks on Facebook,’ the spokesperson told Fox News Digital. ‘This followed a slew of high-profile cases where brands’ advertisements appeared next to illegal or harmful content, such as child pornography and content promoting terrorism. This included the 2017 London Times exposé entitled ‘Big brands fund terror through online adverts.’’

The group claims to be ‘apolitical’ and ‘voluntary’ and says that it benefits its members by providing use of ‘resources and information about best practices to learn where their advertising investments go, and to avoid placement next to illegal or harmful content that could damage their brands’ reputation.’

‘GARM offers voluntary frameworks to help brands choose the content they want their ads to appear next to,’ GARM’s website says. 

However, GARM’s critics have a different view of the organization and suggest that it has colluded with dozens of major U.S. corporations to push boycotts and suppress speech in a manner that targets conservatives.

In discussing his views on freedom of speech, GARM’s leader and co-founder, Rob Rakowitz, has expressed frustration with an ‘extreme global interpretation of the US Constitution’ and complained about using ‘‘principles for governance’ and applying them as literal law from 230 years ago (made by white men exclusively).’ With this worldview, GARM pushed what it called ‘uncommon collaboration’ to ‘rise above individual commercial interest.’

The House Judiciary Committee released an extensive report outlining how it believes ‘large corporations, advertising agencies, and industry associations participated in boycotts and other coordinated action to demonetize platforms, podcasts, news outlets, and other content deemed disfavored by GARM and its members.’

GARM is alleged to have worked with large companies to implement advertising crackdowns on Elon Musk, Joe Rogan, Spotify, political candidates and news outlets, including Fox News, The Daily Wire and Breitbart News.

‘The Committee’s oversight has shown that GARM has deviated far from its original intent, and has collectively used its immense market power to demonetize voices and viewpoints the group disagrees with — even intervening in situations that do not have a so-called ‘brand safety’ concern,’ Committee Chairman Jim Jordan wrote in a letter to over 40 companies last week. 

‘Through its oversight, the Committee has learned that collusive activity is occurring within the Global Alliance for Responsible Media (GARM), of which your company is a member. In particular, the Committee has uncovered evidence of coordinated action by GARM and its member companies, including boycotts of disfavored social media platforms, podcasts, and news outlets.’

‘The Committee on the Judiciary is conducting oversight into the adequacy and enforcement of U.S. antitrust laws,’ the letter said.

Along with Adidas, the letter was sent to a variety of other companies, including American Express, Bayer, BP, Carhartt, Chanel, CVS and General Motors, asking them to preserve documents related to their involvement with GARM.

Musk has also publicly criticized GARM and suggested taking legal action against the group while referring to it as an ‘advertising boycott racket.’

The WFA spokesperson, Will Gilroy, told Fox News Digital this week that the ‘recent allegations by the US House Judiciary Committee against GARM for anti-competitive behavior are unfounded.’

 ‘Membership of GARM is entirely voluntary. Its frameworks and tools are intentionally broad, and individual companies are free to review, adopt, modify, or reject them, as they see fit,’ Gilroy said. ‘The decision where and when to advertise is always down to the individual advertiser, in collaboration with their agency partners where relevant.’

‘Recent engagement with industry leaders suggests that GARM’s work remains valuable and increasingly relevant as digital media continues to develop,’ he continued. ‘As such, GARM will continue to live up to its commitment to help allow its members to drive more responsible marketing practices.’

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It’s official: Vice President Kamala Harris formally wins the Democratic presidential nomination

Vice President Kamala Harris is now formally the Democratic Party’s 2024 presidential nominee.

The Democratic National Committee (DNC) announced the news on Monday, following the conclusion of a five-day virtual roll call of pledged delegates to the party’s national convention, which kicks off in two weeks in Chicago.

The securing of the nomination comes hours before Harris is expected to announce her choice for running mate. The vice president and her to-be-announced running mate kick off a seven-battleground state swing Tuesday evening with a rally in Philadelphia.

Monday’s formal winning of the nomination came three days after Harris secured the votes of a majority of pledged delegates.

‘I am so proud to confirm that Vice President Harris has earned more than a majority of votes from all convention delegates and will be the nominee of the Democratic Party following the close of voting on Monday,’ DNC chair Jaime Harrison said in a statement on Friday.

Harris, on a call Friday with supporters, said, ‘I am honored to be the presumptive Democratic nominee for President of the United States.’

The nomination of Harris was never in doubt, as the vice president was the only candidate to qualify for the presidential nomination roll call. But it marks an historic milestone in the nation’s history, as Harris becomes the first woman of color to lead a major political party’s national ticket.

While the official nomination vote by the delegates was held remotely, the DNC said a ceremonial roll call will be held at the Democratic National Convention, which is set to kick off Aug. 19 in Chicago.

Harris’ formal winning of the nomination comes two weeks and one day after President Biden’s blockbuster announcement that he was ending his 2024 re-election campaign against former President Trump, the GOP’s nominee.

Biden’s stunning news came amid mounting pressure from within the Democratic Party for him to drop out after a disastrous performance in last month’s first presidential debate with Trump. The 81-year-old Biden’s halting and stumbling delivery fueled questions about his physical and mental abilities to serve another four years in the White House.

But Biden’s immediate backing of Harris ignited a surge of endorsements for the vice president by Democratic governors, senators, House members and other party leaders. Within 36 hours, Harris announced that she had locked up her party’s nomination by landing the verbal backing of a majority of the nearly 4,000 convention delegates.

With the presidential nomination virtual roll call now concluded, DNC rules allow for Harris to place the name of her running mate into nomination. 

According to the DNC, the convention chair would then declare that candidate to be the party’s vice presidential nominee.

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Top Venezuelan prosecutor launches criminal investigation into Maduro opposition

Venezuela’s attorney general announced a criminal investigation on Monday, into President Nicolás Maduro’s opponents for calling on the country’s armed forces to stop supporting their leader and stop repressing demonstrators.

The Associated Press reported that Attorney General Tarek William Saab released a statement on the investigation tied to a written appeal by presidential candidate Edmundo González and opposition leader Maria Corina Machado. The appeal, sent hours before Saab announced the investigation, was about Maduro and the demonstrators who protested in defense of their votes cast during the July 28 election.

In a post on X, Saab accused the duo of falsely announcing ‘a winner of the presidential election other than the one proclaimed by the National Electoral Council, the only body qualified to do so.’

Saab also said González and Machado openly incited ‘police and military officials to disobey the laws.’

According to Saab, the written appeal by González and Machado exhibits that they committed various crimes like usurpation of functions, dissemination of false information to cause fear and conspiracy.

The two suspects called on leaders of security forces to reconsider their loyalty toward Maduro.

‘We appeal to the conscience of the military and police to put themselves on the side of the people and their families,’ González and Machado wrote. ‘We won this election without any doubt. It was an electoral avalanche.’

‘Now it’s up to all of us to respect the voice of the people,’ they added.

The Maduro-controlled National Electoral Council handed victory to the incumbent with an alleged margin of 51%, compared to 44% support for the opposition. They have yet to produce voting tallies to prove Maduro won the race.

Pre-election polling (which is illegal in the country) indicated that opposition candidate González received double the votes of Maduro. The opposition also claims to have collected records from over 80% of the 30,000 polling booths across Venezuela showing it beat Maduro.

The U.S. eventually recognized González as the winner after claiming to have reviewed the tally sheets.

On Saturday, Maduro announced his government had arrested 2,000 opponents and at a rally in Caracas he pledged to detain more and send them to prison. The uprising following the election results has also claimed the lives of at least 11 people, according to Foro Penal, a Caracas-based human rights group, the AP reported.

González and Machado called on Venezuelans with family members serving in the security forces to urge their loved ones to not obey illegal orders and to not attack protesters. The duo said they would offer ‘guarantees’ to soldiers who follow the constitution, even while promising there would be no impunity for those behind abuses and following illegal orders.

González is a former diplomat and Machado was barred by the government from running for office. Both of them are in hiding and have said they fear they will be arrested or killed. Maduro has threatened to lock González and Machado up.

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

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UN forced to fire 9 employees over likely involvement in Hamas massacre: ‘Tip of the iceberg’

JERUSALEM — The United Nations said on Monday that nine employees from the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) likely participated in the Hamas slaughter of 1,200 people, including more than 30 Americans, on Oct. 7 in southern Israel.

‘For nine people, the evidence was sufficient to conclude that they may have been involved in the 7th of October attacks,’ Farhan Haq, spokesperson for the U.N. secretary general said during a press briefing.

The U.N. announced that the world body will sever its employment from UNRWA, an agency that supports the relief and human development of Palestinian refugees.

In January, U.N. Secretary General António Guterres tasked the U.N.’s investigative arm, the Office of Internal Oversight Services, to investigate allegations that UNRWA staff took part in the Oct. 7 massacre.

Reuters reported that 19 staff members were investigated, but apart from the nine dismissed, the other cases lacked evidence to support their involvement.

The head of UNRWA, Philippe Lazzarini, wrote in a statement posted on the agency’s website that ‘I have decided that in the case of these remaining nine staff members, they cannot work for UNRWA. All contracts of these staff members will be terminated in the interest of the Agency.’

The criticism of UNRWA’s criminal misconduct was swift. Rabbi Abraham Cooper, the associate dean of the Los Angeles-based Simon Wiesenthal Center, told Fox News Digital, ‘Now is the time for major donor nations to UNRWA to end funding for this corrupted pro-Hamas anti-peace entity. UNRWA is part of the problem for Palestinians, not part of any peaceful solution.’

IDF spokesperson Nadav Shoshani criticized the agency on X, noting in part that ‘A UN investigation (yes, UN as in the first two letters of UNRWA) has concluded that 9 of your workers might have taken part in the raping, killing and slaughtering of Israelis and Israeli communities during the Oct. 7 massacre. Your ‘relief’ agency has officially stooped to a new level of low, and it is time that the world sees your true face.’

David Bedein, the director of the Center for Near East Policy Research in Jerusalem, told Fox News Digital the investigation was just ‘the tip of the iceberg.’

Bedein, who has published numerous reports on UNRWA’s curriculum that documented pro-terrorism and antisemitic teaching, added, ‘UNRWA is coming out of October 7 strengthened and there is no supervision and there is no demand from Israel and donor countries that there be inspections of UNRWA facilities for weapons.’

He said he recommended to the Israeli security establishment in September 2023 that there be ‘close supervision of UNRWA.’

Fox News Digital reported in late July that Israeli lawmakers approved the first reading of a bill that would cut ties with the controversial U.N. agency and declare it a terrorist entity. Speaking in the Knesset in July, Yulia Malinovsky, the bill’s sponsor, called UNRWA ‘a fifth column within the State of Israel’ and said it was high time that the agency was outlawed in the country. 

The House Foreign Affairs Committee also passed initial legislation that would build on an already existing funding freeze for the multimillion-dollar organization and direct the State Department to recover previously donated monies. 

The U.S. suspended funding for UNRWA after Israeli allegations over its members taking part in the attack on Israel. However, many countries, including Germany, Austria, Japan and also the European Union have restarted their funding to the organization.

A State Department spokesperson told Fox News Digital that they had not yet reviewed the report’s findings.

Fox News’ Yonat Friling, Ruth Marks Eglash and Reuters contributed to this report.

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