Voters in the greater New Hampshire area gathered at St. Anselm’s College in Manchester for a question-and-answer session with the West Virginia Democrat and former Utah governor John Huntsman (R., Utah). Both Manchin and Huntsman flirted with the prospect of potentially running together on a "unity ticket," should they believe voters are unhappy with the Democratic and Republican Party options in 2024.

But Manchin was characteristically coy about his presidential ambitions.

"I’m not here running for president tonight. I’m not," the centrist Democrat said at the town hall’s conclusion. "I’m here trying to basically save the nation. I’m more concerned now than I’ve ever been concerned in my lifetime."

Whether No Labels—which says it will announce by Super Tuesday next year whether it plans to run a candidate—has the resources to mount a serious challenge to the two-party system is unclear. The group has repeatedly said it will spend up to $70 million on a campaign, but controlled just $10 million in assets at the end of 2021.

"We’re going to gain, as an insurance policy, ballot access," former North Carolina governor Pat McCrory (R.) said at the start of the event.

As of June, No Labels has gained ballot access in just four states. The Arizona Democratic Party filed a lawsuit in March to remove No Labels from the 2024 ballot. That litigation is still ongoing.

Still, the prospect of No Labels offering voters a viable third option in 2024 has caused severe anxiety among many Democrats, who are convinced such a scenario would hand the 2024 election to former president Donald Trump. A group of veteran Democratic operatives and former White House staffers, including former chief of staff Ron Klain, met with No Labels last month to implore the group to ditch their plans.

Manchin and Huntsman brushed aside fears from Democrats that a No Labels presidential ticket would hand the election to Trump, who holds a wide lead in the Republican presidential primary. Huntsman compared efforts by Democrats to intimidate No Labels out of the 2024 race as something out of "China or Russia."

"This is the latest talking point," Huntsman said when asked about one poll that showed a third party would siphon more votes away from Biden than Trump. "The only element of American society that hasn’t been transformed … is politics."

For most of the town hall, Manchin and Huntsman discussed the issue of partisanship in Washington, D.C. Partisan gridlock, as well as both parties allegedly playing to their respective bases, has stopped any serious efforts to tackle the nation’s record-high debt.

Manchin, who has not yet announced whether he will seek another Senate term, said Democrats are "putting the cart in front of the horse" over whether he will run for president. But, Manchin said, if he won, he wouldn't cost Biden anything.

"I’ve never spoiled a race," he continued. "If I get into the race, I’m going to win."

The post 'If I Get Into the Race, I’m Going to Win': Manchin Teases Third-Party Run At No Labels Event appeared first on Washington Free Beacon.

Those Democrats are talking to "possible replacement presidential candidates," according to the report, and urging them to "get ready." They say that "time is already running out" for Biden, who has officially announced his candidacy but hasn't named a campaign finance director, hired any on-the-ground staff in competitive states, or even opened a campaign headquarters.

What CNN called the "persistent sense" that Biden isn't running will likely heighten on Saturday, when the president is required to disclose the fundraising for the first few months of his campaign. It's already clear, the report found, that "multiple big donors aren't locking in," while "grassroots emails are sometimes bringing in just a few thousand dollars."

"Almost two dozen current Biden aides, top Democratic operatives and donors, and alumni of other recent campaigns" are worried about the Biden reelection campaign, CNN reported.

Biden's polling numbers, which have been underwater for two years, in June hit an all-time low of 35 percent. Nearly 60 percent of Democrats say they want the party to run another candidate, a Washington Post poll found in April.

Recent polls have found Biden either running even with or losing to Republican frontrunners Donald Trump and Ron DeSantis, according to FiveThirtyEight.

The president's unpopularity has led some Democrats to embrace primary opponent Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who has consistently polled at around 20 percent against Biden. Kennedy's candidacy was bolstered last month by an Economist/YouGov poll that showed him with a net 19-point favorability rating. Biden, by contrast, has a net 9-point unfavorability rating.

Democrats' rush to find alternatives to Biden comes as the party seeks to avoid running Vice President Kamala Harris, whose poll numbers are even lower than Biden's. "Kamala Harris can't win" a general election, one Capitol Hill Democrat told New York magazine last year. Another alternative, California governor Gavin Newsom, is dead-set on running if Biden bows out, sources close to Newsom told the Wrap last year. Michigan governor Gretchen Whitmer and Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, meanwhile, have already launched or relaunched super PACs.

The president could also face a challenge from Democratic senator Joe Manchin (W.Va.), who has not ruled out a third-party presidential bid. The centrist group "No Labels" is floating Manchin as its candidate, the Washington Free Beacon reported.

The post Top Dems Prepare Replacement for Biden appeared first on Washington Free Beacon.

The event, first reported by the Daily Mail, will take place on July 17 at St. Anselm’s College in Manchester, a popular spot for presidential primary candidates. Former Republican governor John Huntsman will also attend what was described as a "townhall meeting." The moderate Manchin has been floated by senior No Labels staff as a top contender for the group’s presidential gambit for months.

It is unclear whether No Labels is capable of mounting a serious political operation in 2024. The Washington Free Beacon reported that No Labels controlled just $10 million in assets at the end of 2021, a far cry from the $70 million it says it is prepared to spend on a presidential candidate. The group has not even committed to running a candidate, saying only that it is "preparing for the possibility of nominating a candidate" should "proper environmental conditions" arise.

Still, Democrats are anxious to keep those proper conditions at bay. A group of Democratic operatives and former White House staffers, including former chief of staff Ron Klain, convened in June to discuss No Labels. During that meeting, according to the Washington Post, Democrats implored No Labels to ditch their presidential ambitions, pointing to polls that show a moderate candidate jumping into the race would heavily favor Republicans as Biden faces historically low approval ratings. A coalition led by former House minority leader Dick Gephardt (D., Mo.) and former senator Doug Jones (D., Ala.) is also working to stop the bipartisan group from entering the race, the Washington Post reported.

No Labels says its research shows that Democrats are overreacting.

"They are really working overtime to prevent the voters from a choice," No Labels cofounder and former senator Joe Lieberman (D., Conn.) said. "We feel that the voters in this country deserve a third choice, a bipartisan choice. And I will also repeat that we will not be spoilers in this."

Although Manchin has yet to announce a Senate reelection bid, polls routinely find him behind his likely Republican challenger, West Virginia governor Jim Justice. Manchin has been coy about his presidential ambitions, recently dismissing speculation by saying "everybody’s getting so worked up and scared to death and we’re a year and a half away."

"I don’t rule out anything," he said. "There’s tremendous concern about our country and the direction the country is going in. That’s all."

No Labels says it would not announce a candidate until next year. For now, it is working on gaining ballot access in all 50 states.

The post Manchin to Headline No Labels Event as Democrats Race to Stop Third-Party Bid appeared first on Washington Free Beacon.

Brown announced his campaign Monday, saying Rosen and President Joe Biden have "abandoned Nevada and divided America with extreme policies."

"As your senator, I will get the job done for Nevada," Brown said in a statement. "I am ready to lead and fight for you again."

Brown's entrance into the race comes as a win for Senate Republican leaders, who recruited the wounded veteran to challenge Rosen. National Republican Senatorial Committee chairman Steve Daines (R., Mont.) quickly endorsed Brown on Monday, praising his "service and sacrifice." "I am very pleased that Sam is stepping up to run for the U.S. Senate," Daines said in a statement.

Daines's immediate backing of Brown reflects the Montana Republican's willingness to influence GOP primaries as the party looks to reclaim a Senate majority in 2024. Daines's predecessor, Florida Republican senator Rick Scott, opted not to intervene in top primaries during last year's races, prompting a rift with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R., Ky.), who lamented the party's poor "candidate quality." Daines has reversed that policy as Senate Republicans' campaign chief—in addition to Brown, Daines in late June endorsed former Navy SEAL Tim Sheehy, who is running to unseat Montana Democratic senator Jon Tester.

Brown applied to West Point following the 9/11 terrorist attacks and graduated from the U.S. Military Academy in 2006. Two years later, he was deployed to Afghanistan, where his vehicle was hit with a roadside bomb during a mission. The explosion left Brown with severe burns and visible scarring. After medically retiring from the military, Brown pursued a business degree and moved to Nevada to start a small business that provides pharmaceuticals to veterans. The Republican ran a grassroots Senate campaign in 2022 but finished second in the primary behind Adam Laxalt, Nevada's former attorney general.

"When I was in a combat environment, nobody cared what sort of political party you were affiliated with or how you grew up. They just cared that you were going to get the job done and that everyone would be able to accomplish the mission," Brown told Fox News. "Something I bring is leadership and being focused on the mission and the people. That's what I've been trained to do and that's what I've done."

To face Rosen, Brown will first have to win a primary against former state lawmaker Jim Marchant, who in 2022 ran to become Nevada's secretary of state. Marchant lost to Democrat Francisco Aguilar by roughly 2 percentage points.

The post Senate GOP Lands Top Recruit To Challenge Democrat Jacky Rosen in Nevada appeared first on Washington Free Beacon.

In reality, the group funds research with the goal of promoting DEI practices in education and partners with other left-wing organizations to promote "inclusive mathematics environments" and push universities to abandon standardized tests. Earlier this month, the Student Experience Research Network took a victory lap after the University of California system said it would toss out the SAT in its admissions process.

The Student Experience Research Network and hundreds of other left-wing activist groups like it are controlled from the top down by Arabella Advisors, a for-profit consultancy that plays an integral role in Democratic causes, fueled by donations from billionaires including George Soros and Pierre Omidyar. The company, which distributes billions to Democratic pet projects, has established five tax-exempt nonprofit groups that pay Arabella a hefty fee—ostensibly for back-office work—and in turn operate a vast array of left-wing advocacy groups including the Student Experience Research Network.

In fact, the Student Experience Research Network’s ostensible employees don’t even work there. They are employees of an Arabella offshoot, the New Venture Fund. The average citizen would have no idea who’s pulling the strings.

This is the first of two reports based on internal Arabella documents obtained by the Washington Free Beacon. They provide a rare window into the inner workings of the Left’s dark-money network, revealing just how centrally controlled a vast swath of activist organizations are by a central clearinghouse based in the nation’s capital—as well as the lengths to which Arabella’s leaders go to disguise that control and create the illusion of grassroots political activism.

This is hardly the sort of relationship that Arabella and two of its offshoots, New Venture Fund and the Sixteen Thirty Fund, described to the IRS when seeking tax-exempt status.

The agency challenged New Venture Fund when it first applied for that status in 2006, over its obvious conflicts of interest with Arabella. At the time, Arabella founder and sole owner Eric Kessler served as both New Venture Fund’s chairman and president, and the New Venture Fund proposed paying Arabella a 5 percent overhead fee to handle administrative tasks. Arabella’s current ownership is unclear: It is owned by a Delaware business called Arabella Acquisition, LLC, which doesn’t disclose its ownership.

The IRS had concerns that New Venture Fund didn’t seek competing bids for the contract and that Kessler would reap illegal profits from his own charity. But the feds ultimately relented, granting the fund nonprofit status after Kessler claimed New Venture Fund’s contract with Arabella would last only a year, or until New Venture Fund could run its own human resources department.

"The Advisors are providing management and administrative support services until such time as the Organization has sufficient financial resources to make the operation of its own back office cost-efficient," New Venture Fund told the IRS. "Further, the Agreement is anticipated to be temporary and, indeed, only has a one-year term. As soon after this period as the Organization has adequate funding, it would no longer require the services of the Advisors."

Suffice it to say, the services are still flowing. What is true for the Student Experience Research Network is also true for hundreds of other activist groups, including Stop Deficit Squawks, Americans for Tax Fairness, the Institute for Responsive Government, Defend American Democracy, Fix our Senate, the Voter Engagement Fund, the Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition, and hundreds of other groups—they are controlled by the Democratic elites who staff Arabella Advisors.

"If the New Venture Fund anticipated their agreement with Arabella Advisors to only be temporary when seeking a tax exemption, why has this arrangement continued for nearly two decades?" said Americans for Public Trust executive director Caitlin Sutherland. "For Arabella to collect over $200 million in fees for a ‘temporary’ agreement warrants a second look from the IRS."

Arabella’s five funds serve as fiscal sponsors of the network’s pop-up groups, organizations that exist for a brief period and then disband, often rallying support for or opposition to a particular political objective. Fiscal sponsorship is a unique arrangement that allows the initiatives to operate as nonprofit entities without disclosing their board members and obfuscates the sources of their revenue, expenses, or to whom they distribute grants. From protest movements to lobbying, if there is a new liberal pet cause, there is usually an Arabella group to advocate on its behalf.

Some of Arabella’s more prominent pop-up groups, such as Demand Justice, end up breaking away from the network and establish themselves as independent nonprofits. Others, such as Kansans for Secure Elections, SoCal Healthcare Coalition, and Justice March exist for a brief period and then disband.

Arabella’s former CEO, Sampriti Ganguli, has described the company as a humble business that provides human resources, accounting, and legal guidance to clients. However, the New Venture Fund’s employee handbook, obtained by the Free Beacon, paints a different picture of centralized control.

It reveals that Arabella controls New Venture Fund and its various pop-up groups with management teams of Arabella employees.

"NVF’s board of directors has hired Arabella Advisors, to provide staffing and management services," the handbook states. "Arabella Advisors provides support to NVF projects via dedicated oversight by a managing director (MD), an account manager (AM), accounting and financial services, and human resources support."

The account manager serves as the "first point of contact at NVF for all transactions and inquiries related to the project," according to the handbook. In some cases the manager has a team of Arabella employees assisting in the operations of a pop-up group.

Those teams, including the manager, are considered contractors. Therefore they are hidden from IRS disclosure forms and not listed as staff members of New Venture Fund or its pop-up groups.

New Venture Fund’s pop-up groups do not operate within typical nonprofit parameters outlined by federal law. They are effectively departments of the New Venture Fund and each of their employees are on the fund’s payroll. That means a group like the Student Experience Research Network or the Institute for Responsive Government doesn’t have its own employees, but rather, New Venture Fund employees under the guise of the Institute for Responsive Government. The same goes for the Compassion Project, the Alaska Venture Fund, the Healthy Voting Project, and countless other New Venture Fund "pop-up" groups.

IRS does not require New Venture Fund to report how many pop-up groups operate under its wings, let alone the names of the groups or how many of its employees work at each initiative. The fund employed 986 people in 2021, according to its tax return that year.

And the staff of New Venture Fund’s pop-up groups are prohibited from discussing their ties to the broader network, according to the fund’s employee handbook, which, according to the document’s metadata, was prepared in April 2019 by Arabella senior director Gideon Steinberg.

"In general, only staff with designated authority may represent NVF or its projects externally," the handbook states. "NVF staff should always clearly state the project they are representing and not imply that they are representing all of NVF unless explicitly authorized to do so."

New Venture Fund does not hide the ball from its employees. The handbook refers to itself as well as the network’s other funds—the Sixteen Thirty Fund, the Hopewell Fund, and the Windward Fund—as "managed organizations," each of which is overseen by a team of Arabella staffers.

The benefits of Arabella’s centralized control over the network are made clear to New Venture Fund employees. With Arabella in control, it can "coordinate collaborative initiatives between donors" and gain access to "expert philanthropic strategy development, execution, and evaluation support services."

In practice, this means Arabella can shuffle around big money between its funds, and it does: The network’s five funds passed a combined $189 million between themselves those two years, according to their tax returns.

Arabella’s funds hauled in a combined $3.3 billion in 2020 and 2021. Its primary political arm, the Sixteen Thirty Fund, doled out $61 million to Democratic Super PACs during the 2020 election cycle, second only to Majority Forward, a dark money group associated with Senate Democrats. The Sixteen Thirty Fund spent so much on politics in 2020 that the Federal Election Commission’s general counsel urged the commission in June 2022 to "find reason to believe" the fund violated federal law by failing to register as a political committee. The FEC, however, went against its attorney’s recommendation and closed the case in September.

More than a decade after New Venture Fund and the Sixteen Thirty Fund filed for nonprofit status, Arabella still controls the funds. Its management fee for some of them has increased to 15 percent. New Venture Fund ended 2021 with assets exceeding $1.2 billion and funneled nearly $30 million in service fees to Arabella. The Sixteen Thirty Fund, which ended 2021 with more than $97 million in the bank, paid Arabella more than $5 million the same year.

The post Documents Provide Rare Glimpse Into How Arabella Advisors Exerts Centralized Control Over a Vast Left-Wing Advocacy Network appeared first on Washington Free Beacon.

Pressed at a New Hampshire campaign event on whether he would be willing to withdraw funding for Israel, Ramaswamy said he would draw back the foreign aid as "part of a broader disengagement with the Middle East."

"I would not do that as an isolated policy," Ramaswamy said on Saturday, according to a video of the event obtained by the Free Beacon. "I would do it as part of also making sure that we're not leaving other people we've also propped up, from Saudi Arabia to even Iran, in other ways. It has to be part of a comprehensive strategy."

While Ramaswamy has tied himself closely to Trump on the campaign trail, donning a Trump hat and promising to pardon the former president if he's convicted, his advocacy for slashing foreign aid to the entirety of the Middle East, including Israel, seems to differentiate the two. While Trump is skeptical of foreign aid, he was a staunch supporter of Israel, signing the largest ever aid package for the Jewish State into law in the 2019 National Defense Authorization Act.

Ramaswamy, who is also a strong critic of U.S. financial support for Ukraine's war with Russia, says his comments at the campaign event were actually a show of support for Israel. Ramaswamy told the Free Beacon on Tuesday that he was not expressing support for cutting Israel funding, adding that he was "opposed to selectively criticizing U.S. aid to Israel. That was my point."

"When someone asked about aid to Israel, I said we can’t narrowly criticize our financial aid to Israel in isolation when our other policies of engagement in the Middle East have indirectly contributed to the threats that Israel faces (e.g. the disastrous Iran nuclear deal which Iran regularly cheats on)," said Ramaswamy.

The clarification comes as Ramaswamy, who describes himself as an "American nationalist," has seen an uptick in support. Ramaswamy is polling at six percent among Republican primary voters, according to a Morning Consult survey on Tuesday, just one point below former Vice President Mike Pence and three points ahead of former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley and South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott.

While a growing segment of far-left Democrats objects to funding Israel, it has almost universal support among Republican lawmakers.

Ramaswamy told the voter who asked about Israel that all foreign spending will come under the microscope if he's president.

"My view is we need to stand for American interests, full stop. And the answer is, I don't believe in answers ad infinitum," said Ramaswamy at the event on Saturday, according to a video of the exchange obtained by the Free Beacon. "My question number one, in foreign policy, will be how do we advance the interests of Americans who actually live here? That sets a really high bar before giving a lot of money to other countries, even when it comes to foreign aid."

"Even in Africa and other parts of the world. I think those are problems that need to be solved, but using the U.S. taxpayer, military resources to do it has to answer a narrow question of how it actually advances the American interest," he added. "So that's my litmus test for every use of federal dollars abroad, full stop."

The post Vivek Ramaswamy Told a Voter He's Open to Ending Foreign Aid to Israel. Now He Says It Was a Misunderstanding. appeared first on Washington Free Beacon.

Sheehy—a Bronze Star with Valor for Heroism in Combat and Purple Heart Medal recipient—launched his candidacy Tuesday, telling Fox News he's "answering the call to serve."

"From inflation to our border to our deficit, America is ready for change. And I think it's time for a new generation of leaders to step up," Sheehy said. "One thing I learned in a foxhole in Afghanistan or in the belly of a submarine, is when the chips are down there's really only one political party, and that's American."

Sheehy's entrance into the race will likely test Senate Republican leaders as they look to avoid another disappointing election cycle come 2024. During last year's races, the National Republican Senatorial Committee and Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell (R., Ky.) sparred on the party's nominees, with McConnell lamenting poor "candidate quality" as then-committee chair Rick Scott (R., Fla.) opted not to intervene in top primaries. This time around, however, new committee head Steve Daines (R., Mont.) is willing to wade into those races—and the Montana Republican could face his first battle in his home state.

That's because Montana Republican congressman Matt Rosendale, a House Freedom Caucus member, is planning a Senate bid of his own. But Rosendale has run against Tester before, losing to the Democrat in 2018 by roughly 4 percentage points. As a result, some in the party have suggested Rosendale could face the same electability issues that plagued top GOP Senate nominees in 2022. Daines is already touting his support for Sheehy, whom he called a "decorated veteran, successful businessman, and a great Montanan."

"I could not be happier that he has decided to enter the Montana Senate race," Daines said in a Tuesday morning statement.

Prior to his entry in the race, Sheehy "did several deployments overseas" after joining the military "right out of high school." The Republican moved to Montana in 2014 to start a business "after being medically separated from active duty due to wounds being received in Afghanistan," his résumé says. Sheehy is CEO of Bridger Aerospace, an aerial firefighting company that supports "front-line firefighters with world-leading technology and aerial fire suppression systems."

Sheehy on Tuesday said a lack of veterans in Congress motivated him to enter the race.

"We're in one of the lowest participation rates in history of veterans in Congress, and that's a huge problem," he said. "We want to get combat veterans in and those who understand service back to help fix this government and get things working right."

The post 'Answering the Call To Serve': Former Navy Seal Launches Bid To Take Down Montana's Jon Tester appeared first on Washington Free Beacon.

More than $200,000 worth of contributions to Beshear's campaign and the state Democratic Party came from family members and employees of a small town mayor named Randall Weddle, who had those individuals use his credit card to make the contributions, according to the Kentucky Lantern. Many of those contributions came after Beshear last year appointed Weddle to the Kentucky Transportation Center Advisory Board, a state entity that provides transportation policy recommendations. Weddle's family members and associates—including the mayor's wife and children—sent Beshear and the Kentucky Democratic Party maximum donations in the months following the appointment, campaign finance disclosures show.

The contributions will likely attract scrutiny as Beshear navigates a difficult reelection bid against Republican challenger Daniel Cameron. Under Kentucky law, individuals may contribute no more than $2,000 to a primary campaign and no more than $15,000 to a political party. By having family members and associates make contributions with his credit card, Weddle massively exceeded those limits. The contributions are especially bizarre given that Weddle is a registered Republican who in 2020 and 2021 sent tens of thousands of dollars to a group supporting former president Donald Trump. Weddle was elected mayor of London, Ky., in November 2022, months after Beshear appointed him to the transportation board.

The Beshear campaign initially defended the contributions it received from Weddle's family, telling the Lantern in April that it's "no surprise that a broad, bipartisan coalition is enthusiastically supporting his bid for a second term." Yesterday, however, Beshear campaign manager Eric Hyers acknowledged that Weddle's credit card was used to fund $202,000 in contributions from other people. As a result, Beshear's campaign refunded $12,000 in illegal contributions, while the Kentucky Democratic Party refunded $190,000.

Beshear's campaign, which did not return a request for comment, on Tuesday blamed its "credit card processor" for failing to notify the campaign "that a single credit card was processed multiple times, exceeding contribution limits."

"Because the credit card processor did not catch the issue, we have implemented an additional step in our compliance process," the campaign said in a statement. "We think it is important that campaigns are forthcoming when actions need to be corrected, which is why we are providing this accounting of how this matter came to our attention and the steps we took to make sure that all contributions in our possession are compliant with all campaign finance statutes."

While Beshear's campaign blamed the ordeal on a technical error, the Kentucky Republican Party quickly alleged that Weddle's contributions implicated the governor in a "pay-to-play scandal." In addition to the board appointment, Beshear in May awarded a $1.4 million grant to Weddle's city of London, money that will pay for new sidewalks. Beshear in April 2022 also headlined a ribbon cutting ceremony for a freight hauling company Weddle co-founded.

"Andy Beshear and the Democrats only returned this money after being caught in a pay-to-play scandal," Kentucky Republican Party spokesman Sean Southard said. "Wouldn't it be nice to have a governor who doesn't have to constantly play catch up with ethics and state law?"

Weddle, who did not return a request for comment, told the Lantern in April that he supported Beshear's candidacy despite being a Republican because his party will have too much power if Beshear loses.

"We need a balance of powers," Weddle said. "We'll have a superpower if Beshaer don't [sic] win."

This is not the first time Beshear has been caught up in a campaign finance scandal. In 2016, Beshear's former top deputy, Tom Longmeyer, was sentenced to nearly six years in prison on federal bribery charges. While serving under Beshear's father, former Kentucky governor Steve Beshear, Longmeyer steered state contracts to a public relations firm, which then paid him more than $200,000 in kickbacks.

Beshear's race against Cameron is expected to be a tight one. Both candidates are tied at 47 percent support, according to a Cygnal poll conducted in May. The pair will square off at the ballot box in November.

The post Kentucky Businessman Illegally Shoveled Thousands to Andy Beshear's Campaign After Dem Governor Appointed Him to State Board appeared first on Washington Free Beacon.

Manchin has flirted with a third-party presidential bid, an endeavor that self-described centrist group No Labels—which has pledged to spend $70 million on a third-party candidate in 2024 but has yet to reveal its most recent financial figures—could fund. For Manchin's Senate Democratic colleagues, the idea is a full-blown disaster. Sen. John Hickenlooper (D., Colo.), for example, told Politico he "advised [Manchin] against" a third-party presidential run, which he called a "terrible idea" that would "help Donald Trump." Manchin remained coy in response—he merely "looked at me and nodded," Hickenlooper told Politico.

Manchin's political indecisiveness comes as the senator approaches a difficult reelection bid in 2024, which could see him face off against West Virginia's popular governor, Republican Jim Justice. Manchin has so far declined to commit to a reelection bid and says he's in "no hurry" to determine his political future, which, in addition to a presidential bid, could see the Democrat run to replace Justice as governor, a position he held from 2005 to 2010.

Senate Democrats are, for now, taking Manchin's White House ambitions seriously. Sen. Gary Peters (D., Mich.) told Politico Manchin is "still thinking" about running for president, while Sen. Jon Tester (D., Mont.) said "you never know about Joe." Should Manchin run for president, those lawmakers and others say, Republicans would likely win West Virginia's Senate race in 2024 and could even take the White House. Still, that argument has not moved Manchin, who questioned the notion that a third-party presidential run would help the GOP.

"Everybody's getting so worked up and scared to death, and we're a year and a half away," Manchin said. "I don't rule out anything. There's a tremendous concern about our country and the direction the country is going in. That's all."

As Manchin approaches a potential reelection bid, the Democrat has worked to position himself as a critic of President Joe Biden's spending. Manchin's criticism, however, is centered on the Democrats' Inflation Reduction Act, which Manchin himself named and orchestrated. Manchin heaped praise on the bill as recently as February, saying he did not regret voting for it "at all."

"The Inflation Reduction Act will be the most transformative bill that we've ever had in the United States, in Congress, as far as I've been here," he said.

Manchin's Inflation Reduction Act support has already brought the Democrat political headaches. A spending group aligned with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R., Ky.), has already spent millions on ads dinging Manchin for his work on the bill, which the group says "could cost West Virginia 100,000 fossil fuel jobs."

Should Manchin square off against Justice next November, he may be in trouble. Forty-three percent of likely general election voters back Justice, compared with just 29 percent who back Manchin, according to a National Journal poll released in May.

The post Democrats Scramble To Stop Joe Manchin From Running Against Biden appeared first on Washington Free Beacon.

But how much money has the group actually raised to fund its effort to get on the ballot? It’s hard to say. No Labels won't say how large its staff is, so, in the face of several resignations last year -- a POLITICO report put the number at at least 11 out of a staff of 20, while its website lists just three staff members -- it is difficult to know whether the group has the manpower to shake up the two-party system.

Several news reports have indicated the group is in the midst of a $70 million fundraising haul. That figure has a single source, a September 2022 New York Times column by David Brooks, who wrote then that the "No Labels operation is a $70 million effort, of which $46 million has already been raised or pledged." Brooks has since reneged on his enthusiasm for a third-party bid, writing earlier this month that "this is not the right election to carry out their strategy." He nonetheless repeated that No Labels is a "$70 million effort."

It's possible that No Labels has seen a fundraising surge in the last two years, but publicly available evidence suggests otherwise. The group controlled just $10 million at the end of 2021, according to tax documents. Its 2022 IRS filings have not yet been released, and a spokesman for the group did not respond to a request for comment about its fundraising since that time. Nor did a spokesman indicate how much of that $46 million was raised, how much was pledged, and whether there were any contingencies attached to the pledges. Brooks did not respond to a request for comment about the source of the $70 million figure.

No Labels has recently made headlines for its efforts to gain ballot access in several states. The tip of the spear in that project is the political action committee Insurance Policy for America, Inc. (IFPA).

No Labels launched IFPA in 2021 with a $2.4 million donation. IFPA nonetheless told the Internal Revenue Service that it had no related entities, though it listed No Labels’ Washington, D.C., headquarters on Connecticut Ave. as its address. The group changed its name to No Labels Ballot Access, Inc. in July of 2022, but continued to submit IRS filings under the IFPA name. At the end of 2022, it had raised just $190,800 from 36 donors. No Labels Ballot Access Inc. did not respond to a request for comment.

The group’s strategy has been as much of a muddle as its finances, and even its chief strategist, Ryan Clancy, has said he has little clue how an independent bid would impact the presidential race. "To sit where we are and say we know exactly how an independent ticket would impact a race, it’s cherry-picking," he told NBC News last month.

Since then, the group has dialed back its ambitions. No Labels co-chair Dr. Ben Chavis told the network on Thursday that the group would shut down its efforts if polls showed Biden "way, way out ahead" of Trump. "No Labels is not and will not be a spoiler in favor of Donald Trump in 2024," Chavis said.

That statement came on the heels of another from Clancy, who told Politico days earlier that if Florida governor Ron DeSantis or former U.N. ambassador Nikki Haley leads the Republican ticket, No Labels might also pack things up: "Polling and modeling," Clancy said, could lead them to conclude a third presidential option is no longer necessary.

Even so, the group remains remarkably cagey about its plans. Its website is an exercise in empty prose: No Labels is "preparing for the possibility of nominating a candidate"; it will proceed with that project only if "proper environmental conditions" are met; it will release a policy agenda "in the summer of 2023," chock-full of "commonsense solutions."

No Labels has gained access to the ballot in just four states as of April, although that number may dwindle to just three. The Arizona Democratic Party filed a lawsuit in March to kick No Labels off the 2024 ballot in the state.

A senior White House official told the Free Beacon that the Biden campaign has no plans to comment on No Labels' plans.

In the meantime, the group has a six-point outline that summarizes "what we believe." Those principles include "America isn’t perfect, but we love this country and would not want to live any place else" and "We support, and are grateful for, the U.S. military."

The post Why No Labels May Have No Cash and No Plan appeared first on Washington Free Beacon.

Biden's campaign speech rehashed familiar themes—Republicans, he told the Philadelphia crowd, want to slash Social Security and Medicaid benefits, and the wealthy need to "pay their fair share." The message appeared to resonate with the union members in attendance, but several who spoke with the Washington Free Beacon said their colleagues at home felt different. Inflation and a leftward lurch on social issues, those members told the Free Beacon, had alienated many blue-collar voters who once were the bedrock of the Democratic Party but now don't want to show up to support the president.

"I'm a little worried about my membership in my union, and how they feel," said Eric Houghtaling, a retired electrician who served as a Democrat in the New Jersey Legislature. "They don't think he's rough-and-tumble enough, they think he's too old. I gotta tell you, the guys at home want to talk more about stuff like guns and immigration."

Biden is one of the most unpopular first-term incumbents in recent history, a reality that even his staunchest supporters who gathered in Philadelphia acknowledged. The RealClearPolitics average of recent polls shows his approval rating at a meager 41 percent, while nearly 66 percent of voters think the country is headed in the wrong direction.

Voter dissatisfaction with Biden is evident in his own party as well. Only about half of Democrats want Biden to seek a second term, and his most significant Democratic primary challenger, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., consistently registers double-digit support in polls.

Brad Schneider, 54, said his fellow steelworkers in Pittsburgh feel as though Biden has forgotten them.

"The members here think Biden's in good shape, but the members at home? Not so much," said Schneider. "The members at home don't really think he’s done enough. They don't see him enough."

A senior White House official in attendance insisted that the speech—which featured signs displaying the slogan "LABOR FOR BIDEN HARRIS 2024"—was not a campaign event. That same official declined to comment on Kennedy's challenge and said Biden's team doesn't "feel that we have to be out there campaigning."

The AFL-CIO on Friday backed Biden's reelection bid, the earliest the organization has ever given an endorsement to a presidential candidate.

AFL-CIO president Liz Shuler told the Free Beacon that the early endorsement was not meant to rally Democratic voters behind an unpopular president, but rather to "unlock support" early on in the campaign. Union member support for Democrats has slipped in recent years.

David Wu, a member of the Screen Actors Guild and staunch supporter of the president, blamed Biden's poor numbers on political polarization, which he said has increased since 2021. Asked about Biden's reelection chances, Wu said that anyone would have a hard time winning a second term in this "oddly divided political environment." Wu, however, discounted Kennedy's support in polls as a real threat to Biden.

"People say they want RFK because you've got to protest, and you want to send a message," Wu said. "Those poll results are good tools for political advisers, but a lot of it is just about how the wind is blowing that day."

Biden's speech did not outline a vision for a second term but rather was a laundry list of his legislative accomplishments, such as the $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill and the $500 billion Inflation Reduction Act.

"I came with a plan and it started with passing the American Rescue Plan, a plan to vaccinate the nation and get our economy going again," Biden said. "And that's exactly what it did."

Issues that polls say are on the minds of voters, such as inflation, crime, and immigration, were unmentioned by the president.

The post 'A Little Worried': Union Members at Biden's Philly Speech See Uphill Climb for 2024 appeared first on Washington Free Beacon.

Suarez launched his campaign during an interview with ABC host and longtime Clinton ally George Stephanopoulos, arguing that he represents "generational change." Suarez's entry into the race could lead to an escalation in his long-running feud with DeSantis, whom Suarez has criticized for opposing COVID restrictions and passing laws that clamp down on illegal immigration.

In January 2021,  Suarez expressed frustration that DeSantis would not allow him to pass a mask mandate in Miami, calling the policy "commonsense" and "backed by science." Suarez boasted one year earlier that Miami was the "last city in the entire state of Florida to open" and that he would fine residents who failed to wear a mask in public. Suarez in May also said he would not direct his police department to enforce a DeSantis law that made it a felony to willingly transport an illegal immigrant. "We don't usually get involved in the federal immigration system," Suarez added. 

Suarez continued to criticize DeSantis during the buildup to his presidential campaign launch, saying in May that the governor "seems to struggle with relationships" before blasting DeSantis's "personal vendetta" against Disney.

Suarez has longstanding opposition to DeSantis. In 2018, he openly opted to vote for DeSantis's gubernatorial opponent, Democrat Andrew Gillum, who would later face federal corruption charges following a high-profile drug overdose incident in which he was found unconscious with two men in a meth-filled hotel room. Suarez also voted for failed presidential candidate Hillary Clinton in 2016. DeSantis cruised to reelection by nearly 20 points last November and is the only GOP presidential hopeful besides former president Donald Trump to consistently poll in the double digits.

In addition to his interview with Stephanopoulos, Suarez released a campaign video Thursday morning, which showed him literally running down Miami's streets and playing soccer with children. 

"I'm going to run for president. I'm going to run for your children and mine," Suarez says in the video. "It's time to take things into our own hands. It's time to get things started."

Beyond his COVID and illegal immigration stances, Suarez has endorsed liberal police reforms. In 2020, he cosigned a U.S. Conference of Mayors report on "Police Reform and Racial Justice" that accused America of having a "militarized and aggressive policing model." The report recommended that cities "assess" their police budgets, hire a "chief diversity officer," and "minimize the use of provocative and unnecessarily aggressive tactics and equipment, such as riot gear and armored vehicles." When DeSantis in 2021 signed a bill that increased penalties for rioters, meanwhile, Suarez argued the law was not "necessary."

"The question is, what is the need for any sort of enhanced set of rules?" Suarez asked during a CNN appearance. "I just don't understand what the need was to change the laws on the books that we use and that we use effectively."

Suarez will now look to emerge from a crowded GOP primary field, which, in addition to Trump and DeSantis, includes former vice president Mike Pence, former United Nations ambassador Nikki Haley, and South Carolina senator Tim Scott.

The post Miami Mayor Who Sparred With DeSantis Over COVID Mandates, Immigration Enforcement Enters GOP Presidential Primary appeared first on Washington Free Beacon.

The Free Beacon reviewed political donations over the past four election cycles from those who identified their occupation as "fact checker." $22,580 of the $22,683 in political donations that came from self-identified fact checkers during that time—a whopping 99.5 percent—went to Democrats and liberal groups. Only three of the fact checker donations made during that period went to Republicans. Top recipients include socialist Vermont senator Bernie Sanders, who during the seven-year period received ten times more fact checker money than every Republican combined.

The findings contradict claims of neutrality from top fact-checking operations. Fact checkers for the New York Times and Reuters, for example, contributed to President Joe Biden, failed South Carolina Democratic Senate candidate Jaime Harrison, and liberal Massachusetts senator Elizabeth Warren's presidential campaign. The Times fact checker, Cecilia Nowell, contributed three times to Warren's failed presidential bid from 2019 to 2020 and still accepts "fact-checking assignments" from the outlet on a freelance basis, according to her LinkedIn. Reuters, meanwhile, from 2020 to 2021 employed Carrie Monahan, daughter of veteran journalist Katie Couric, as a "fact check producer." Monahan during that time contributed to Biden, Harrison, and Georgia Democratic senator Jon Ossoff.

Both the Times and Reuters say they approach fact checking in an unbiased and balanced manner. Those organizations and others, however, have a long history of botched fact checks on high-profile conservatives.

In a 2020 fact check, for instance, the Times accused Arkansas senator Tom Cotton of flirting with conspiracy theories when the Republican suggested that COVID-19 may have originated in a Chinese research lab. Federal investigations have since corroborated the lab leak theory Cotton promoted.

Fact checkers working for Facebook, meanwhile, last year erroneously designated as misinformation a Free Beacon report on Biden's Department of Health and Human Services, which was set to fund the distribution of safe smoking kits with crack pipes. Facebook's fact checker, Lead Stories, kept the piece in place even after the Free Beacon proved that federally-funded harm reduction organizations distributed crack pipes.

Fact checkers have even gone as far as to tell readers how they can (and can't) respond to factual information. When the Free Beacon in July reported that the Biden administration sold one million Strategic Petroleum Reserve barrels to a Chinese state-controlled gas giant, the Washington Post acknowledged in a subsequent fact check that the sale happened. Still, the Post's Glenn Kessler wrote, there's "no reason for outrage" and "anyone who suggests the Biden administration is doing something wrong here … earns Three Pinocchios."

Since the 2016 presidential election, the number of fact checking organizations has dramatically increased. Liberal academics and pundits argue that the extraordinary dishonesty of former president Donald Trump and other Republicans has created the need for an army of fact checkers. Tech giants like Facebook and Google have poured millions of dollars into fact-checking initiatives. While those fact checkers claim they are neutral, industry giants such as PolitiFact are more likely to accuse Republicans of aggressively lying than their liberal counterparts.

In addition to the New York Times and Reuters, federal disclosures reviewed by the Free Beacon show that fact checkers at Appen Global, a data management firm that Facebook contracted in 2019 to help build its fact checking infrastructure, donate exclusively to Democrats. Recipients include Sanders, Warren, and Progressive Takeover, a group that's "dedicated to mobilizing the Democratic Party."

The Free Beacon contacted Appen Global to ask how they vet fact checkers for potential biases but did not hear back. The Times also failed to return a request for comment, while Reuters told the Free Beacon it doesn't "comment on current or past newsroom staffers."

One of the few fact checkers who contributed to Republicans seemingly felt the need to obscure her identity—the Google employee listed her address as "123 No Name Drive." Conservative tech employees have long said they feel the need to self-censor their views, including on topics as seemingly benign as the nuclear family. "The issue of cultural norms when it comes to family and sexual orientation, those are difficult conversations, they are just intensified in the Bay Area," Lincoln Network cofounder Garrett Johnson told Wired in 2018.

The campaign finance disclosures reviewed by the Free Beacon show contributions from fact checkers at Reuters, the Times, Google, New York Magazine, CBS News, the New Republic, Vox, the New Yorker and National Geographic, among others. Overall, fact checkers at 40 different organizations donated to Democrats.

The post Fact Check: Nearly 100 Percent of Political Contributions From Fact Checkers Go to Democrats appeared first on Washington Free Beacon.

• The Fight Like Hell PAC plans to support President Joe Biden's campaign reelection campaign as well as Democrats running in House and Senate races across the country.

• This will allow Whitmer to "carve out a visible and supportive role in 2024 races," NBC News reports.

Context: Whitmer's announcement comes less than two weeks after Biden, 80, suffered a hard fall at the Air Force Academy graduation ceremony in Colorado Springs.

• Falls are the leading cause of injury-related death among adults aged 65 and older, according to the Centers for Disease Control.

Why it matters: Biden, sometimes referred to as "Slippy Joe," probably won't survive his next fall. That's why Whitmer and other Democrats are jockeying to be the one who replaces him as the party's nominee in 2024. Launching a PAC is a crucial first step in terms of positioning oneself to jump into the presidential election on short notice.

• Pete Buttigieg, the embattled secretary of transportation, reactivated his own political action committee ahead of last year's midterm elections. The Win the Era PAC jolted to life in June 2022, several days after Biden fell off a bicycle in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware.

• No one really wants Vice President Kamala Harris to be the party's nominee in 2024, but a prominent liberal activist group recently announced a multimillion-dollar campaign to bolster her reputation. EMILY's List, the abortion-focused political action committee, will spend "tens of millions of dollars" in 2024 to defend Harris from her many, many, many critics.

Bottom line: Hold on to your butts.

The post Dems Jockey To Replace Biden in Case 'Slippy Joe' Doesn't Survive His Next Fall appeared first on Washington Free Beacon.

Biden, 80, will attend a rally with union members in Philadelphia on June 17, the statement said.

Biden said in April he would run again for president, citing his administration's investment in infrastructure and job creation, and a need to push back against extremism popularized by his predecessor Donald Trump.

Pennsylvania has been a fiercely contested state in recent elections.

(Reporting by Susan Heavey; editing by Rami Ayyub and Heather Timmons.)

The post Biden To Hold First 2024 Campaign Event in Pennsylvania appeared first on Washington Free Beacon.

The Justice Department typically notifies people when they become targets of an investigation to give them an opportunity to present their own evidence before a grand jury. The notification does not necessarily mean Trump will be charged.

News of the notification to Trump's legal team surfaced just two days after his attorneys met with Justice Department officials to discuss the case.

The Trump campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Trump's attorneys in the documents case could not be reached for comment.

Trump's legal team was notified on Monday, the person said. Although there are some signs that the documents investigation is coming to a close, the timing of when a person is told they are a target cannot necessarily be used as a predictor of when charges might be brought, said David Schoen, an attorney who represented Trump ally Steve Bannon during his criminal trial on contempt of Congress charges.

"Sometimes they are issued at the beginning of a long investigation and sometimes at the conclusion of an investigation," he said.

Trump, the front-runner in the race for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, has repeatedly described the multiple investigations as politically motivated.

A federal grand jury has been investigating Trump's retention of classified materials after leaving the White House in 2021.

A second criminal investigation is looking into alleged efforts by Trump and his allies to overturn his 2020 election loss to Democrat Joe Biden.

A spokesperson for Special Counsel Jack Smith, who is leading the probes, declined to comment.

BOXES OF DOCUMENTS

Investigators in August 2022 seized roughly 13,000 documents from Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida. One hundred of these were marked as classified, even though one of Trump's lawyers had previously said that all records with classified markings had been returned.

Trump has defended his retention of documents, suggesting that he declassified them while he was president. However, Trump has not provided evidence of this and his attorneys have not made that argument in court filings.

Trump is the first current or former U.S. president to face criminal charges, having pleaded not guilty in April to felony charges for allegedly falsifying business records relating to hush money paid to a porn star before the 2016 presidential race.

Trump handed over 15 boxes of records in January 2022, a year after leaving office, but federal officials came to believe he had not returned all the documents.

The Justice Department issued Trump a grand jury subpoena in May 2022 asking him to return any other records bearing classified markings, and top officials traveled to Mar-a-Lago to retrieve the materials.

Trump's attorneys turned over 38 pages marked as classified to FBI and Justice Department officials and showed them a storage room at Mar-a-Lago, but did not permit the agents to open any of the boxes.

One of Trump's lawyers also signed a document attesting that all records with classified markings had been returned to the government - a claim later proven false after the FBI searched his home.

Trump's legal woes are growing.

A jury in federal court in Manhattan in May decided in a civil lawsuit that Trump must pay $5 million in damages for sexually abusing former Elle magazine columnist E. Jean Carroll and then defaming her by branding her a liar.

Trump also faces a criminal investigation by a county prosecutor in Georgia relating to his efforts to undo his 2020 election loss in that state.

(Reporting by Dan Whitcomb in Los Angeles and Sarah N. Lynch and Jacqueline Thomsen in Washington; Editing by Ross Colvin, Noeleen Walder, Lisa Shumaker and Lincoln Feast.)

The post Biden DOJ Tells Trump He Is the Target of Investigation, Signaling Potential Indictment appeared first on Washington Free Beacon.

Burgum, 66, a former software company executive, is largely unknown beyond his state, and he will begin his White House bid well behind rivals such as Trump and Florida governor Ron DeSantis.

Burgum filed paperwork for his candidacy with the Federal Election Commission and said on Twitter he would make an announcement later Wednesday morning.

His personal wealth, derived from selling his startup to Microsoft more than two decades ago, could help fund advertising aimed at raising his national profile.

Burgum, in a campaign-style video released before Wednesday's event, describes his ascent from a young boy in rural North Dakota to the founder of a billion-dollar software company and a governor who has cut red tape and taxes.

Burgum's low-key style provides a sharp contrast with the pugnacious Trump. In the video, entitled "Change," the governor argues that listening to each other "with respect" is how to solve America's problems, rather than "anger, yelling, infighting."

While he doesn't name other candidates, he also appears to distance himself from DeSantis' "anti-woke" culture wars.

"I grew up in a tiny town in North Dakota," Burgum says. "'Woke' was what you did at 5 a.m. to start the day."

His announcement event was being held in Fargo, near his hometown of Arthur, North Dakota.

Like many other Republican governors, Burgum has signed laws banning abortion and restricting transgender rights, including gender-affirming care for minors, although the measures go unmentioned in the video.

Unlike many Republican governors, however, Burgum has called for North Dakota to achieve carbon neutrality by decade's end, although his strategy involves improving carbon capture technology rather than any limits on fossil fuels.

The race to challenge Democratic President Joe Biden in the November 2024 election took further shape this week, with former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie and former Vice President Mike Pence both declaring candidacies.

(Reporting by Joseph Ax, additional reporting by Doina Chiacu; Editing by Colleen Jenkins and Mark Porter)

The post Aw, Geez: Canada-Adjacent Governor Enters GOP Primary appeared first on Washington Free Beacon.

Christie, 60, was an adviser to Trump's successful 2016 White House campaign but has since become a vocal critic over the former president's false claims that the 2020 election was rigged.

A former federal prosecutor, Christie presented himself as the lone Republican contender willing to go toe-to-toe with the bellicose Trump.

"A lonely, self-consumed, self-serving mirror hog is not a leader," he said.

At one point, he delivered a mocking impression of Trump claiming he would build a southern border wall at Mexico's expense and said Trump, more than Biden, was to blame for the country's failed immigration policy.

In a post on his social media site, Trump made a reference to Christie's weight and called him a "failed governor."

Christie has not fared well in public opinion polling thus far. He netted just 1 percent support from potential Republican primary voters in a Reuters/Ipsos poll in May, compared with Trump's 49 percent support and Florida governor Ron DeSantis's 19 percent support.

Other Republicans seeking the party's nomination to challenge President Joe Biden include former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley and U.S. Senator Tim Scott. Trump's former vice president, Mike Pence, is set to enter the race on Wednesday.

Taking the stage to the sounds of Bruce Springsteen, Christie accused both Trump and Biden of "making us smaller" by dividing Americans. He called Biden a "nice guy" but said he was out of his depth, in a reference to the 80-year-old's age.

Christie, who has always enjoyed the town hall format, answered questions for nearly two hours after his initial remarks on everything from his anti-abortion stance to his views on China.

When an attendee asked him about the recent debt ceiling agreement struck by Biden and congressional Republicans, Christie praised both sides for averting catastrophe.

"When did compromise become such a dirty word?" he said.

Christie ran for president in 2016 but ended his bid after a disappointing finish in the New Hampshire primary and became the first major figure in the party to back Trump.

He has since disavowed Trump, a shift that may attract Republicans ready to move past Trump. But it remains unclear whether any Republican can prevail in a crowded field without the support of Trump's still-loyal base.

As an underdog, Christie could end up playing the role of spoiler, as he did in 2016, when his dissection of U.S. Senator Marco Rubio at a debate days before Christie dropped out of the race blunted Rubio's momentum.

Christie dismissed that notion that he was only running to stop Trump, rather than win.

"How are those two things mutually exclusive?" he asked to laughter. "The guy's ahead in the polls. Who am I supposed to be worried about, Nikki Haley?"

As a Republican governor in Democratic-leaning New Jersey from 2009 to 2017, Christie was once seen as a rising political star whose confrontational approach earned him plaudits from admirers and accusations of bullying from detractors.

But his tenure was tarnished by the "Bridgegate" scandal, in which two allies shut down lanes at the heavily trafficked George Washington Bridge between New Jersey and New York City to punish a local mayor for failing to endorse Christie's re-election.

Christie has said he was unaware of the plot, but witnesses at a criminal trial for the two allies testified that the governor knew about the lane closures. On Tuesday, he said he took responsibility for putting his trust in the wrong people, calling it his biggest mistake.

Despite his early support for Trump, Christie was passed over for vice president and for attorney general, and was fired as the head of Trump's transition team just three days after the 2016 election.

(Reporting by Joseph Ax; Additional reporting by Eric Beech; Editing by Colleen Jenkins, Kieran Murray, Stephen Coates and Gerry Doyle)

The post WATCH: Chris Christie Goes Hard Against Trump in Launch of 2024 Campaign appeared first on Washington Free Beacon.

"I'll always be proud of the progress we made together for a stronger and more prosperous America," Pence said in his campaign video, criticizing current Democratic President Joe Biden but never citing Trump by name.

It is extremely rare for a vice president to run against a president he served under, and it has happened just a handful of times in U.S. history. Pence enters the Republican presidential primary with a mountain to climb, polling at just 5 percent and trailing Trump by 44 points, according to a Reuters/Ipsos opinion poll in May.

Pence, who turns 64 on Wednesday, will face Trump and at least 10 others in a crowded Republican field that is essentially a two-man race between Trump and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis.

Pence will hold a campaign kick-off event later on Wednesday near Des Moines, Iowa's capital followed by a CNN town hall event Wednesday evening. Pence's campaign declared his candidacy to the Federal Election Commission on Monday.

Pence, a conservative Christian, will focus much of his campaigning on Iowa, the first state to vote in the nominating contest next year. Iowa has a significant number of evangelical voters among its Republican electorate. Pence hopes a strong showing in the state will give him momentum and propel him into contention.

During Trump's tumultuous four years in the White House, Pence repeatedly defended him through multiple scandals.

But Pence incurred the wrath of Trump and his supporters when, as ceremonial president of the Senate, he refused to stop the certification of Biden's victory over Trump in the 2020 election.

Pence said he had no constitutional authority to meddle with the election results. Trump supporters stormed the Capitol during the certification process on Jan. 6, 2021, forcing Pence, lawmakers and staff to flee to safety.

"I had no right to overturn the election, and his reckless words endangered my family and everyone at the Capitol that day, and I know that history will hold Donald Trump accountable," Pence said in March.

In Tweets during the certification, Trump accused Pence of cowardice. Some rioters chanted for Pence to be hanged.

"I like Mike Pence very much. He's a very fine man. He's a very nice man. He made a mistake," Trump told a CNN town hall last month.

Representatives for Trump's campaign could not be immediately reached for comment on Wednesday.

Many of Trump's diehard supporters view Pence's refusal to overturn the election result as treachery, potentially complicating his path to the nomination.

Pence, who served as a governor of Indiana and is a former congressman, still embraces many of Trump's policies while portraying himself as an even-keeled and consensus-oriented alternative.

The success of his campaign will hinge on whether he can attract enough backers of Trump's policies who are turned off by the former president's rhetoric and behavior to build a viable coalition.

Pence in his video cited inflation, immigration and recession risk. He also said, over images of the leaders of Russia and China, that "the enemies of freedom are on the march around the world".

"Worse still, timeless American values are under assault as never before," he added over video naming culture war issues such as transgender Americans and drag queens.

He did not mention the topic of abortion but did cite efforts to "give America a new beginning for life".

(Reporting by Tim Reid; additional reporting by Susan Heavey; editing by Ross Colvin, Grant McCool and Angus MacSwan)

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Christie, who served as an adviser to Trump's successful 2016 campaign but has since become a vocal critic over his false claims that the 2020 election was rigged, filed paperwork declaring his candidacy. He is scheduled to announce his White House bid later on Tuesday at Saint Anselm College in Manchester, New Hampshire.

A former federal prosecutor, Christie, 60, has argued he is the only potential rival with the skills and willingness to attack Trump directly.

Christie has not fared well in public opinion polling thus far, however. He netted just 1 percent support from potential Republican primary voters in a Reuters/Ipsos poll in May, compared to Trump's 49 percent support and Florida governor Ron DeSantis's 19 percent support.

Other Republicans seeking to challenge President Joe Biden include former U.N. ambassador Nikki Haley and U.S. senator Tim Scott. Former vice president Mike Pence is set to enter the race on Wednesday.

Christie ran for president in 2016 but ended his bid after a disappointing finish in the New Hampshire primary and became the first major party figure to throw his support behind Trump.

He since has urged Republicans to disavow Trump's assertions about the 2020 election and told reporters he would not vote for Trump in 2024, even if Trump won the nomination.

That strategy may entice Republican voters who are ready to move past Trump, but it remains unclear whether any Republican can prevail without the support of Trump's still-loyal base.

As an underdog, Christie could end up playing the role of spoiler, a position he found himself occupying in 2016, when his dissection of U.S. Senator Marco Rubio at a debate days before Christie dropped out of the race blunted Rubio's momentum.

Christie first emerged as a national figure on the strength of his two terms from 2009 to 2017 as governor of Democratic-leaning New Jersey, where his confrontational approach to politics earned him plaudits from admirers and accusations of bullying from detractors.

His tenure was tarnished by the so-called "Bridgegate" scandal, in which two allies deliberately shut down lanes at the heavily trafficked George Washington Bridge between New Jersey and New York City to punish a local mayor for failing to endorse Christie's reelection.

Christie has said he was unaware of the plot at the time, but witnesses at a criminal trial for the two allies testified that the governor knew about the lane closures.

Despite his early support for Trump, Christie was passed over for vice president and for attorney general, and was fired as the head of Trump's transition team just three days after the 2016 election.

(Reporting by Joseph AxEditing by Colleen Jenkins and Alistair Bell)

The post Born To Run: Chris Christie Files Paperwork for Presidential Run appeared first on Washington Free Beacon.