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President Joe Biden's son Hunter Biden is set to plead guilty Wednesday to two federal misdemeanors for not paying taxes on time, a major step toward concluding the highly scrutinized Justice Department investigation into his troubled finances.

Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas will face House Republicans who have been making the case to potentially impeach him over his handling of the US-Mexico border in a House panel hearing Wednesday.

The former first lady has mostly retreated from public view — and steered clear of the campaign trail — while her husband fights to return to the White House and faces increasing legal peril.

In her post-presidential life, Melania Trump has pursued what could not get in the White House: a sense of privacy.

The president’s son is scheduled to appear in Federal District Court in Wilmington to plead guilty to two misdemeanor tax charges and accept an agreement that would avert prosecution on a gun charge.

If a judge approves the agreement, which Republicans have assailed, Hunter Biden would receive no prison time.

California, already struggling with an exodus of residents fleeing the state, will have about the same population in 2060 as it does now and fewer people than it had just three years ago, according to new government projections. The forecasts released by the California Department of Finance show the Golden State's population in 2060 is estimated to be 39.51 million people, which is lower than the 39.52 residents who lived there in 2020. Just under 39 million people live today in California, the country's most populated state. Just three years ago, forecasters estimated California's population in 2060 would be 45 million. A few years earlier, the projection was over 50 million, indicating an expected population boom.  Meanwhile, the latest projections show the Golden State having 40 million residents in 2050, a shocking drop from the 59.5 million residents predicted in the Department of Finance's forecasts in 2007. The difference between the two figures — 19.5 million people — is equivalent to the total population of New York state. CALIFORNIA EXODUS: REMOTE WORKERS MOVE TO MEXICO DUE TO SKY-HIGH GAS AND HOUSING COSTS California saw its first-ever population decline in 2020, when the state imposed rigid lockdowns during the COVID-19 pandemic. Since then, Californians continue to leave in droves, moving their homes and businesses to other parts of the country and creating problems for their former state. From January 2020 to July 2022, the state lost well over half a million people, with the number of residents leaving surpassing those moving in by almost 700,000. The U-Haul Growth Index, which measured more than 2 million one-way trips last year, found that California ranked last on the index as demand for trucks out of the Golden State spiked. HIGH-TAX STATE EXODUS ACCELERATES AS MORE AMERICANS FLEE TO FLORIDA, TEXAS Demographers note such an exodus can have compounding effects into the future as people who move take not only themselves but their children. California's population decline is having real consequences. In 2021, the state lost a House seat for the first time since achieving statehood in 1850. If the population continues to decline, another House seat could be at risk. Another effect of fewer people could be an erosion of California's tax base, already one of the country's most taxed populations with the nation's highest top income tax rate at 13.3% among other onerous taxes. In May, Newsom announced the state's budget deficit had grown to nearly $32 billion, which is about $10 billion more than he anticipated in January when he offered his first budget proposal. One reason for the higher figure was lower than expected tax revenue. The 10 states with the highest taxes lost nearly 1 in 100 residents in net domestic migration between July 2021 and July 2022, while the 10 states with the lowest taxes gained almost 1 in 100, according to a recent analysis by James Doti, president emeritus and economics professor at Chapman University.  "The latest census has shown that the highest tax states — California, New York and Illinois — have all seen massive population exodus," Nicholas Robinson, director of accountancy at Illinois University, recently told WalletHub. "The states that have grown the most, Florida and Texas, do not have an income tax. The benefits or detriments of being in a high-tax state versus a low-tax state could be assessed by the population voting with its feet." Still, California Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, defended his state and expressed optimism about the future despite a declining population. GOV. GAVIN NEWSOM ADDRESSES CALIFORNIA EXODUS, TELLS AMERICANS 'DON'T COUNT US OUT' "I love this state," Newsom said recently during an interview with Fox News host Sean Hannity. "Don’t count us out." Newsom added that, per capita, "more Floridians move to California than California is moving to Florida." Last year, however, Florida saw the biggest rush of new residents migrating from predominantly blue states with steep taxes, with about 319,000 Americans making the move there, according to data from the National Association of Realtors. That amounts to a population increase of nearly 2%, well above the 0.4% national growth rate in the U.S. from July 2021 to July 2022. Texas, the second most populated state and another popular destination beyond Florida for moving Californians, is projected to expand from 30 million people to 36.7 million by 2060, according to its latest forecast from last year. According to Census data, Florida and Texas easily had the highest net migration of people moving there in 2021, while California by far had the lowest as twice as many people left as moved in. LA HOMELESS CRISIS DEEPENS, ENGULFS CITY IN CHAOS AS MAYOR EMPOWERS HERSELF WITH EMERGENCY DECLARATION As for California, the state is expected to return to its 2020 population level in the 2030s, regaining its population decline from the pandemic, and hit its peak in 2044 before declining. The forecasts are based on both net migration and a natural increase in population, which means births minus deaths. The number of deaths in California will exceed births by 2035, according to the data. California's total fertility rate, which has been below replacement level of 2.1 births per woman since 2009, is projected to decline to 1.5. This will be supplemented by an expected surge in the number of deaths over the next three decades as so-called baby boomers grow older. Experts warn to be wary of long-term projections, noting many factors can change, and the calculations can't be full-proof. However, in the near term, at least, many signs indicate California's exodus will continue. More than 40% of Californians are considering leaving the Golden State, according to a new poll from a consortium of California nonprofits. Almost a third of residents said their urge to leave was fueled by California's liberal politics. A high cost of living is another major factor for many. Some have also cited other social and cultural factors, such as the homeless crisis that is devastating major cities such as Los Angeles.  LA has seen a growing number of homeless encampments popping up along the streets of the city, coinciding with rising crime rates and creating scenes of trash, needles and even human feces and urine in public areas. Many business owners have complained, expressing outrage about such encampments being close to their establishments and potentially driving away customers. According to Department of Finance data, the County of Los Angeles is expected to shrink by 1.7 million people from 2020 to 2060.

Hoping to persuade G.O.P. voters that Donald Trump cannot win another general election, the Republican Accountability Project is running ads that feature voters who grew disillusioned with him.

The Republican Accountability Project’s goal is to help lift another contender to the G.O.P. nomination — anyone but Donald J. Trump.

Hunter Biden is set to make his first court appearance in Delaware where he is expected to plead guilty to misdemeanor tax charges Wednesday morning stemming from the years-long federal investigation into his tax affairs.  President Biden's son is expected to appear in front of Judge Maryellen Noreika at 10:00 a.m.  Hunter Biden, 53, has agreed to plead guilty to two misdemeanor counts of willful failure to pay federal income tax.  HUNTER BIDEN AGREES TO PLEAD GUILTY TO FEDERAL TAX CHARGES "Despite owing in excess of $100,000 in federal income taxes each year, he did not pay the income tax due for either year," the U.S. Attorney for the District of Delaware David C. Weiss’ office said upon announcing the charges last month. "According to the firearm Information, from on or about October 12, 2018 through October 23, 2018, Hunter Biden possessed a firearm despite knowing he was an unlawful user of and addicted to a controlled substance."  Weiss' office said if convicted, Hunter Biden faces a maximum penalty of 12 months in prison on each of the tax charges – a total of two years. There is a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison on the firearm charge for which he agreed to a pretrial diversion program.  Such programs according to the DOJ website, "divert certain offenders from traditional criminal justice processing into alternative systems of supervision and service" such as mental health or substance abuse treatment. Those who successfully complete diversion programs, the DOJ says, can see "declination of charges, dismissal or reduction of charges, or a more favorable recommendation at sentencing." EXCLUSIVE: JOE BIDEN ALLEGEDLY PAID $5M BY BURISMA EXECUTIVE AS PART OF A BRIBERY SCHEME, ACCORDING TO FBI DOCUMENT "A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after taking into account the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors," Weiss' office said.  "The investigation is ongoing," the office said in a statement last month.  Hunter Biden will also enter into a pretrial diversion agreement regarding a separate felony charge of possession of a firearm by a person who is an unlawful user of or addicted to a controlled substance. The plea deal, which has faced ire from Republicans and opponents of the president, is likely to keep Hunter Biden out of jail.  Hunter Biden's first court appearance comes after highly-anticipated public testimony from two IRS whistleblowers – Gary Shapley and Joseph Ziegler – who were part of the IRS' investigative team on the Hunter investigation. They alleged the investigation and prosecutorial decisions were influenced by politics. The Justice Department has denied the allegations.  The appearance also comes a day after Judge Noreika has threatened Hunter Biden's legal team with sanctions over allegations about lying to the clerk's office. His counsel is accused of avoiding proper court procedure to allegedly get information about IRS whistleblowers removed from the docket.  Specifically, a lawyer from Hunter's legal team is accused of misrepresenting who she was when asking to remove amicus materials from the docket. She allegedly called to ask the clerk to seal the information instead of making a formal request to the court. Noreika gave Biden's legal team until 9 p.m. on Tuesday to explain their side. Hunter Biden has been under federal investigation since 2018. That investigation into his "tax affairs" began amid the discovery of suspicious activity reports (SARs) regarding funds from "China and other foreign nations." IRS whistleblowers said the investigation began as an "offshoot" from an existing probe into a foreign pornography platform.  DOJ OFFERS HUNTER BIDEN INVESTIGATOR FOR TESTIMONY BEFORE THE HOUSE Fox News first reported in 2020 that the FBI had subpoenaed a laptop and hard drive purportedly belonging to Hunter Biden in connection with a money-laundering investigation in late 2019.  In December 2020, weeks after the 2020 presidential election, Biden publicly acknowledged he was under investigation related to his taxes. At the time, Biden said he took the matter "very seriously" and was "confident that a professional and objective review of these matters will demonstrate that I handled my affairs legally and appropriately, including with the benefit of professional tax advisors."  BIDENS ALLEGEDLY 'COERCED' BURISMA CEO TO PAY THEM MILLIONS TO HELP GET UKRAINE PROSECUTOR FIRED: FBI FORM The firearms charge stemmed from allegations that Hunter Biden lied during a gun purchase in 2018.  Fox News first reported in 2021 that police had responded to an incident in 2018, when a gun owned by Hunter Biden was thrown into a trash can outside a market in Delaware. A firearm transaction report reviewed by Fox News indicated that Hunter Biden purchased a gun earlier that month. On the firearm transaction report, Hunter Biden answered in the negative when asked if he was "an unlawful user of, or addicted to, marijuana or any depressant, stimulant, narcotic drug, or any other controlled substance?" CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP Hunter Biden was discharged from the Navy in 2014 after testing positive for cocaine.  When asked for comment after the charges were announced, the White House released a statement saying: "The President and First Lady love their son and support him as he continues to rebuild his life. We will have no further comment."

Decision has been made in Hunter Biden investigation: David Spunt

Fox News correspondent David Spunt has more on AG Merrick Garland's expected decision into the Hunter Biden criminal probe on 'Special Report.'

Vivek Ramaswamy performs 'Lose Yourself' by Eminem

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A federal judge has vacated Bowe Bergdahl's dishonorable discharge from the US Army, roughly seven years after the former soldier was convicted of desertion and misbehavior before the enemy after abandoning his outpost in Afghanistan in 2009.

The House Republican majority is hitting its stride as a fully weaponized arm of Donald Trump's bid for a second White House term as it seeks to drag President Joe Biden into a swamp of so far unsubstantiated corruption allegations.

The judge presiding over the Hunter Biden criminal case threatened Biden's legal team with sanctions over allegations about lying to the clerk's office. Hunter Biden's counsel is accused of avoiding proper court procedure to allegedly get information about IRS whistleblowers removed from the docket. Delaware Judge Maryellen Noreika gave Biden's legal team until 9 p.m. on Tuesday to explain their side. Specifically, a lawyer from Hunter's legal team is accused of misrepresenting who she was when asking to remove amicus materials from the docket. She allegedly called to ask the clerk to seal the information instead of making a formal request to the court. "The Court has discussed the matter with the relevant individuals in the Clerk's Office and has been informed that the caller, Ms. Jessica Bengels, represented that she worked with Mr. Kittila and requested the amicus materials be taken down because they contained sensitive grand jury, taxpayer and social security information," the order read.  BIDEN'S CLAIM TO HAVE NO KNOWLEDGE OF HUNTER'S BUSINESS DEALINGS IS BECOMING HARDER TO MAINTAIN "It appears that the caller misrepresented her identity and who she worked for in an attempt to improperly convince the clerk's office to remove the amicus materials from the docket," the judge added.  "The Court will temporarily place the document under seal until close of business on July 26, 2023 to afford Defendant the opportunity to try to make the requisite showing," the order read. "Should Defendant fail to make that showing, the document will be unsealed in its entirety." In a letter obtained by Fox News, Biden's legal team told the judge that the lawyer who called the clerk had accurately represented her affiliation with her law firm. BIDEN REPEATEDLY DENIED DISCUSSING BUSINESS DEALS WITH HUNTER, BUT EVIDENCE SUGGESTS OTHERWISE "The matter under consideration appears to stem from an unfortunate and unintentional miscommunication between a staff member at our firm and employees of the Court," the lawyers' defense read. "We have no idea how the misunderstanding occurred, but our understanding is there was no misrepresentation." "We hope this letter and the attached declaration dispels any suggestion that undersigned counsel or our staff would ever intentionally misrepresent or mislead the Court with respect to any matter," the letter added. Biden will plead guilty to two misdemeanor counts of willful failure to pay federal income tax on Wednesday. The First Son reportedly failed to pay more than $100,000 in taxes on over $1.5 million of earnings in 2017 and 2018. Biden is also set to enter a pretrial diversion agreement over a separate gun-related felony charge. A plea agreement – which has been called a sweetheart deal by critics – was negotiated between Biden and the Department of Justice, which Noreika has the power to reject or accept. Fox News Digital has reached out to Hunter Biden's defense.  Fox News' Claudia Tenney and Kyle Morris contributed to this report.

A former U.S. Army soldier who pleaded guilty to desertion after leaving his post while deployed in Afghanistan and was subsequently captured and tortured by the Taliban had his court-martial conviction vacated Tuesday.  The ruling by U.S. District Judge Reggie Walton in Washington D.C. said that military judge Jeffrey Nance, who presided over the court-martial of Bowe Bergdahl, failed to disclose that he had applied to the executive branch for a job as an immigration judge, creating a potential conflict of interest. Fox News Digital has reached out to the Army and Justice Department.  I TRULY UNDERSTOOD MEMORIAL DAY WHEN I BECAME PART OF THIS GOLD STAR FAMILY Walton noted that former President Trump criticized Bergdahl during the 2016 presidential campaign. Bergdahl's lawyers argued that the criticism placed command influence on Nance.  Walton rejected that argument, but he said a reasonable person could question the judge’s impartiality under the circumstances. It was not clear if the ruling could possibly result in the reinstatement of rank or change of status for Bargdahl's dishonorable discharge. "This case presents a unique situation where the military judge might be inclined to appeal to the president's expressed interest in the plaintiff's conviction and punishment when applying for the immigration judge position," Walton wrote. Bergdahl, from Hailey, Idaho, pleaded guilty in 2017 to desertion. He was spared prison time but was dishonorably discharged from the military and had his rank reduced to private, as well as the forfeiture of $10,000 in pay.  In 2009, he walked away from his post in Afghanistan and was captured by the Taliban and held for five years. Some of his fellow soldiers were injured trying to find him.  In 2014, then-President Barack Obama brought Bergdahl home in a controversial prison exchange for five Taliban prisoners, a deal that was roundly criticized by Republicans.  The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.

A top election security official who was fired by President Donald Trump weeks after the 2020 election has confirmed to CNN that he was interviewed in recent months by the special counsel investigating Trump's efforts to overturn the election.

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy revealed Republicans' red line for possible impeachment proceedings against President Biden, telling Fox News Digital in an exclusive interview on Tuesday that his party would, for now, continue seeking information related to the Biden family finances unless that information began being withheld. "What I've said is if they withhold information, the impeachment inquiry allows Congress to have the apex of power to get all the information they need. All this information people are finding out now is only because Republicans have investigated," McCarthy told Fox.  "The people of America have a right to know what went on. They have a president who lied to the American public and said they didn't get any money from China. We know that's true. We've had whistleblowers from the IRS come say the Biden family is treated differently and that other things were going on. And then you have a[n] informant with the FBI saying there was a bribe. We need to know the answer to this," he said.  McCarthy added that if "at any time" he felt they weren't going to be able to get the information they needed to progress through the investigation, then they "would have to rise to the level of impeachment inquiry."  MCCARTHY: BIDEN CASE WILL ‘RISE TO IMPEACHMENT’ AS 16 ROMANIAN PAYMENTS ALLEGEDLY WENT TO ‘SHELL COMPANIES’ "That's not happening today. But what I'm explaining to everybody that if we don't get the information, I will go to impeachment inquiry to make sure we get all the answers," he said. When asked whether he thought a sitting U.S. president could be impeached based off actions that occurred before they took office, McCarthy dismissed dealing in hypotheticals. "What we're looking right now is getting an answer to the questions and seeing, did [Attorney General Merrick] Garland lie to the American public or not? We know what has been said in these meetings, and we're going to get the answers," he said. McCarthy predicted during a Monday appearance on Fox News' "Hannity" that House Republicans would soon have enough evidence gathered to mount an impeachment inquiry against Biden as the corruption scandal enveloping him and his son Hunter continues to grow. HOUSE CONSERVATIVES HUNGRY FOR BIDEN IMPEACHMENT AFTER MCCARTHY'S COMMENTS: ‘GROUND SHIFTED’ During the interview, McCarthy said that 16 of the 17 payments the Bidens allegedly received from a Romanian national went to what he described as "Biden shell companies" while Biden was vice president. According to House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer, R-Ky., the elder Biden had been "lecturing Romania on anti-corruption policies" while instead being a "walking billboard for his… family to collect money." "When President Biden was running for office, he told the American public that he's never talked about [Hunter's] business. He said his family has never received a dollar from China, which we now prove is not true," McCarthy said during the interview. Biden has long denied discussion or involvement in Hunter's business deals, recently rebuffing a New York Post reporter who asked why he is reportedly referred to as the "big guy" in the FBI form – which is the same nickname purportedly used as a pseudonym in a message gleaned from previously released documentation connected to Hunter. DOJ OFFERS HUNTER BIDEN INVESTIGATOR FOR TESTIMONY BEFORE THE HOUSE McCarthy's comments have riled up members of the House Freedom Caucus, who appeared eager Tuesday for him to make good on his veiled impeachment threats, with one saying the leader's words marked a "paradigm shift." "When he does speak to … impeachment, it carries a tremendous amount of weight. And that's why I think the ground shifted on that a little bit when he opened up the door," Rep. Bob Good, R-Va., said after the group's Tuesday press conference. "I don't think there's any question that him speaking to that has caused a paradigm shift." CLICK TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP Fox News' Charles Creitz and Elizabeth Elkind contributed to this report.

A longtime friend and ally of Hunter Biden and the Biden family served as a prosecutor in the Delaware U.S. Attorney's office when that office led the federal investigation into Hunter Biden and has visited the White House at least five times during the Biden administration, a Fox News Digital investigation has found. Alexander Snyder-Mackler, a former legal counsel to Joe Biden when he was vice president and a press secretary for then-Sen. Biden between 2007 and 2008, served as an assistant United States attorney in the Delaware U.S. Attorney's office under David Weiss from August 2016 to May 2019. During that time, Weiss was leading the federal investigation into Hunter Biden for tax fraud and illegal foreign business dealings.  According to emails from Hunter’s abandoned laptop, which were reviewed and verified by Fox News Digital, Mackler and Hunter Biden remained in close contact, with Mackler once signing off an email saying, "Love you brother."  It's unclear what, if any, role Mackler played in the probe. Even if Mackler played no role in the Hunter Biden investigation, his professional closeness with Weiss' team is sure to lead to conflict of interest questions from Republicans on Capitol Hill. Fox News Digital has reached out to Weiss and Mackler for comment. BIDEN’S NARRATIVE ON NEVER DISCUSSING BUSINESS DEALS WITH HUNTER CONTINUES TO CRUMBLE Hunter Biden had been under federal investigation since 2018. That investigation into his "tax affairs" began amid the discovery of suspicious activity reports (SARs) regarding funds from "China and other foreign nations."  Mackler, who also worked for Joe Biden in 2008 as his press secretary during his time in the U.S. Senate, previously told The Washington Times he did not know about the case when he was a federal prosecutor and only learned about it with the rest of the world through Hunter Biden’s press statement Dec. 9, 2020, which came a month after his father's presidential win. Last month, Biden agreed to a deal with the Justice Department to plead guilty to two misdemeanor counts of willful failure to pay federal income tax and entered a pretrial diversion agreement regarding a separate charge of possession of a firearm by a person who is an unlawful user of or addicted to a controlled substance. WHO IS DAVID WEISS? HUNTER BIDEN PROSECUTOR COMES UNDER MICROSCOPE AFTER CONTROVERSIAL PLEA DEAL Mackler has been the Deputy Attorney General of Delaware since May 2019, according to his LinkedIn profile.  According to visitor logs reviewed by Fox News Digital, he visited the White House five times last year, including a one-on-one meeting with President Biden.  On March 28, 2022, Mackler met with White House counsel Steve Ricchetti for a one-on-one meeting. On April 11, he met with President Biden in a one-on-one meeting. On Aug. 28, he met with Biden's 2024 campaign manager, Julie Rodriguez, who was also serving as Biden's senior adviser, for a one-on-one meeting. And on Sept. 21, he met one on one with Claudia Marconi, senior adviser for congressional engagement. Mackler also attended a White House event in December.  Fox News Digital reviewed emails and text messages that reveal Mackler has maintained relatively frequent contact with the younger Biden for many years.  In a text message dated March 10, 2019, well after the federal investigation was underway, Mackler texted Hunter Biden, saying he was "in the car for a long drive" and "just wanted to say hi."  Biden responded the next day, calling him "buddy." HUNTER BIDEN REVEALED LONGTIME BUSINESS PARTNER WAS VP BIDEN'S 'CLOSE CONFIDANT AND COUNSEL' IN 2014 EMAIL On Oct. 16, 2018, Mackler emailed Biden "wondering how life is on [his] end" before signing off, "Love you brother."  Two years earlier, in August 2016, when he first started working under Weiss, Mackler emailed Hunter Biden and Eric Schwerin, president of Hunter Biden’s now-dissolved Rosemont Seneca Partners, boasting about his "first day at the new job," according to an Aug. 22, 2016, email. "Literally the first page on all the paperwork I have to review--the first page!--was about preserving all federal records, especially emails. Just like at the WH. Incredible how this all could've happened," Mackler said, referring to a Politico report about the State Department being ordered to review 15,000 emails for a potential release. One week later, Mackler gave his two cents on a drafted statement regarding the launch of the Biden Institute at the University of Delaware, writing to Hunter Biden and others, "Looks good to me." HUNTER BIDEN RIPPED BILL CLINTON AS ‘A--HOLE’ WHO ‘LOOKS LIKE S---,' SAID CLINTON AIDES ARE 'GREEDY': EMAILS Mackler also frequently vented to Hunter Biden and Schwerin following Hillary Clinton’s upset defeat to former President Donald Trump later that November.  "I'm trying very hard to take solace in the fact that more people in this country feel like us than like Trump's people," Mackler said. "It's hard," he wrote to Hunter Biden and Schwerin Nov. 9, 2016, one day after the election. The next day, he wrote to Hunter Biden and Schwerin, "I truly hope he picks all these clowns," referring to Trump’s potential cabinet picks at the time, including former Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson. A few days later, he blasted the Democrats backing Hillary Clinton at the time as "pompous … a--holes." Six months later, Mackler was still perceivably upset about the election after Schwerin shared a story about David Axelrod, who had criticized Clinton for blaming her loss on virtually everything but her own campaign. "I'm old enough to remember when he took a whole afternoon of JRB's [Joseph Robinette Biden] time in the West Wing, arguing that he needed to get out of HRC's [Hillary Rodham Clinton] way because she was the better candidate and would win," Mackler fumed. Weiss has repeatedly denied claims by two IRS whistleblowers who alleged officials at the Justice Department, FBI and IRS interfered with Weiss’ five-year investigation into President Biden’s son. The House Oversight Committee, House Judiciary Committee and House Ways and Means Committee are conducting a joint investigation into the federal probe into Hunter Biden and whether prosecutorial decisions were influenced by politics. Attorney General Merrick Garland said in June that Weiss, who was nominated by President Donald Trump in November 2017, "was given complete authority" in the prosecutorial decisions concerning Hunter Biden. In June, House Republicans demanded testimony from Weiss and more than a dozen federal officials, including Assistant U.S. Attorney Lesley Wolf, who allegedly blocked lines of questioning in the investigation related to President Biden. In a Monday letter obtained by Fox, Assistant Attorney General Carlos Felipe Uriarte wrote to House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, that the DOJ has accepted the offer for Weiss to testify "at a public hearing before the committee." A source close to the Delaware Biden probe told the Daily Mail this month that Mackler worked with Wolf on at least one Delaware federal case and that the two were friends.  "The source said there were concerns about Wolf's ties to the ex-Biden advisor while she was investigating Hunter and that their collegiate relationship was even allegedly referred to the 'Designated Agency Ethics Officer' for Weiss's office," the Daily Mail reported July 14. Fox News' Brooke Singman contributed reporting.

Arkansas Treasurer Mark Lowery is leaving office in September after experiencing two strokes over the past several months, his office announced Tuesday. Lowery, a Republican who took office in January, will retire on Sept. 30. The state treasury will be run by the chief of staff and deputy treasurer until Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders appoints a replacement, his office said. "Treasurer Lowery has been a dedicated public servant and has had a successful political and professional career that spans over 30 years. We are incredibly sad to see him retire, and his leadership will be missed," Chief of Staff Stephen Bright said in a statement. ARKANSAS STATE TREASURER HOSPITALIZED FOR SECOND STROKE THIS YEAR Lowery, 66, experienced two strokes, one in March and another in June. After the first, Lowery spent several weeks rehabilitating in Arkansas before recovering with his daughter in Maryland. Lowery's office described the second stroke as more severe and said it led him and his family to decide to announce his retirement. "It was the joy of his life traveling across Arkansas and building lasting relationships with constituents throughout the state," Lowery's family said in a statement. "Every moment of every day he lived his dream by serving others and fighting for Arkansans." The treasurer oversees the state’s investments and serves on several panels including the boards of trustees for the state employees and teacher retirement systems. Alexa Henning, a spokeswoman for Sanders, said the governor was praying for Lowery and his family. ARKANSAS FORMER TREASURER JIMMIE LOU FISHER DIES AT 80 "She appreciates his decades-long service to the state and to Arkansans," Henning said. Before being elected treasurer in November, Lowery had served 10 years in the state House. Lowery sponsored a 2017 law that reinstated the state’s requirement that voters show photo identification before being allowed to cast a ballot. A previous voter ID law had been struck down by the state Supreme Court, but justices in 2018 upheld Lowery’s revision. Lowery also sponsored a 2021 law that removed the ability of people without identification to cast a ballot, even if they sign an affidavit affirming their identity.

The judge presiding over the Hunter Biden criminal case threatened Biden's legal team with sanctions over allegations about lying to the clerk's office. Hunter Biden's legal team is accused of avoiding proper court procedure to allegedly get information about IRS whistleblowers removed from the docket. Delaware Judge Maryellen Noreika gave Biden's legal team until 9 p.m. on Tuesday to explain their side. Specifically, a lawyer from Hunter's legal team is accused of misrepresenting who she was when asking to remove amicus materials. She allegedly called to ask the clerk to seal the information instead of making a formal request to the court. "The Court has discussed the matter with the relevant individuals in the Clerk's Office and has been informed that the caller, Ms. Jessica Bengels, represented that she worked with Mr. Kittila and requested the amicus materials be taken down because they contained sensitive grand jury, taxpayer and social security information," the order read.  BIDEN'S CLAIM TO HAVE NO KNOWLEDGE OF HUNTER'S BUSINESS DEALINGS IS BECOMING HARDER TO MAINTAIN "It appears that the caller misrepresented her identity and who she worked for in an attempt to improperly convince the clerk's office to remove the amicus materials from the docket," the judge added.  "The Court will temporarily place the document under seal until close of business on July 26, 2023 to afford Defendant the opportunity to try to make the requisite showing," the order read. "Should Defendant fail to make that showing, the document will be unsealed in its entirety." BIDEN REPEATEDLY DENIED DISCUSSING BUSINESS DEALS WITH HUNTER, BUT EVIDENCE SUGGESTS OTHERWISE Biden will plead guilty to two misdemeanor counts of willful failure to pay federal income tax on Wednesday. The First Son reportedly failed to pay more than $100,000 in taxes on over $1.5 million of earnings in 2017 and 2018. Biden is also set to enter a pretrial diversion agreement over a separate gun-related felony charge. A plea agreement – which has been called a sweetheart deal by critics – was negotiated between Biden and the Department of Justice, which Noreika has the power to reject or accept. Fox News Digital has reached out to Hunter Biden's defense.  Fox News' Claudia Tenney and Kyle Morris contributed to this report.

The chairman of the Ways and Means Committee filed a brief in federal court saying the plea agreement for the president’s son had been tainted by political interference.

Representative Jason Smith of Missouri has urged Attorney General Merrick Garland and David C. Weiss, the U.S. attorney in Delaware, to enter materials into the court file in an attempt to undermine the plea deal.

President Biden said on Tuesday, during a speech on mental health, that over 100 people died of COVID-19 during the pandemic. The president delivered remarks on the expansion of mental health care in the East Room of the White House on Tuesday afternoon. After an introduction by Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., and Richele Keas, a mother who hit several snags with insurance companies while trying to access mental health services for her daughter, Biden took to the podium. He thanked Keas for sharing her story, which he said was the story of millions across the country. BIDEN'S DOG COMMANDER TERRORIZES SECRET SERVICE IN ‘EXTREMELY AGGRESSIVE’ RAMPAGE: EMAILS "One of the things that the pandemic demonstrated is a need for a lot more help," Biden said. "Over a million people died from COVID. That’s estimated to mean 8 million people left behind who are close to them." Toward the end of the speech, the president’s numbers changed. "We’re still feeling the profound loss of a pandemic, as I mentioned, of over 100 people dead," Biden said. "That's 100 empty chairs around the kitchen table, every single loss. There are so many people left behind and broken folks." BIDEN SUPPORTERS DISAGREE WITH PRESIDENT'S REFUSAL TO ACKNOWLEDGE 7TH GRANDKID: ‘A BIT HYPOCRITICAL' While there have been more than 100 deaths from the pandemic, he was a bit shy of the correct number of deaths. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), there were 1,127,152 deaths caused by COVID in the U.S. between Jan. 3, 2020 and July 19, 2023. Biden announced that his administration is taking new steps to expand access to mental health care, requiring health insurance companies to find gaps in the mental health care they provide. TEXAS GOV ABBOTT SWIPES BIDEN IN LATEST WAR OF WORDS OVER BORDER SECURITY, IMPENDING DOJ LAWSUIT In the Biden administration’s plan, they will require insurance companies to measure how many mental health providers are in their network, how much they pay the providers, how difficult it is for someone to join the network and how often doctors must get prior authorization before treating a patient. Then, insurance companies will be required by law to fix the gaps. When it comes to mental health coverage, Biden said, "it should be provided," but to do so, coverage, care and causes must be addressed. He said care needs to continue to be expanded by increasing access to telemedicine, expanding the mental health workforce. Biden also said his administration needs to address prevention and the root cause of pain and trauma people feel, like loneliness, isolation, social media, online bullying and gun violence. "It's important for people to realize they're not alone," he said. "That's what I want everyone to want. Everyone in America, not to feel isolated."

Oklahoma’s new Republican attorney general accused Gov. Kevin Stitt on Tuesday of failing to follow state law and said he’s stepping into a long-running legal dispute over tribal gambling agreements Stitt signed in 2020. In a letter and personal phone call to the fellow Republican, Attorney General Gentner Drummond said he notified Stitt that he’s joining the lawsuit to represent the state’s interest at the request of House Speaker Charles McCall and Senate President Pro Tempore Greg Treat. OKLAHOMA SENATE BUCKS STITT VETO, VOTES TO EXTEND TRIBAL COMPACTS FOR ANOTHER YEAR "As you should fully understand, this long running and costly litigation is a direct result of your refusal to follow Oklahoma law," Drummond wrote. "The four tribal gaming compacts you signed were invalid from the start because you did not have the approval or authorization from the Oklahoma Legislature to enter the gaming compacts." Stitt's office did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Drummond's action. The Cherokee, Chickasaw, Citizen Potawatomi and Choctaw nations filed a federal lawsuit in federal district court in Washington over the governor's gambling compacts with four other tribes: the Comanche Nation, the Otoe-Missouria, the Kialegee Tribal Town and the United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians. Private law firms hired by Stitt to defend the compacts have already racked up nearly $600,000 in legal fees, Drummond said. FEDERAL APPEALS COURT RULES TULSA POLICE LACK JURISDICTION TO PROSECUTE NATIVE AMERICAN FOR SPEEDING Stitt entered into those agreements after his failed attempt in 2019 to renegotiate the gambling compacts with all of the Oklahoma-based tribes, seeking a greater share of revenue for the state and arguing that the compacts approved by voters in 2004 had expired. A federal judge ultimately sided with the tribes and said the compacts automatically renewed. Since then, Stitt's relationship with tribal leaders has continued to worsen, prompting criticism from fellow Republicans about his hostile approach to tribal negotiations. Treat, the Republican leader of the state Senate, said this week lawmakers may consider taking control of negotiating tribal compacts away from the governor. Casino gambling is a booming industry in Oklahoma, with more than 130 casinos dotting the state, ranging from gas station annexes to resort-style hotel casinos, many of them in border communities, since voters approved a gambling expansion in 2004. The fees the tribes paid to the state for the exclusive right to casino-style gambling totaled nearly $200 million last year, most of which was earmarked for public schools.

The speaker’s comments came on the eve of a hearing in the tax case against Hunter Biden, and ahead of a potential third indictment of former President Donald J. Trump.

“You’ve got to get to the bottom of the truth, and the only way Congress can do that is go to impeachment inquiry that gives Republicans and Democrats the ability to get all the information,” Speaker Kevin McCarthy said.

Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose announced Tuesday that organizers submitted enough valid signatures to put an amendment on the November ballot to enshrine abortion rights in the state's constitution.

The House Judiciary Committee has announced it will hold a hearing on Thursday to begin contempt proceedings against Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg for failing to comply with a series of subpoenas to turn over documents related to the panel's investigation into whether the company censored free speech on its platform.

Top colleges' preferential treatment of children of alumni has been facing new scrutiny since the Supreme Court last month struck down the use of affirmative action​ as a tool to diversify college campuses.

Gov. Kim Reynolds next month will hold “Fair-Side Chats” with candidates including Ron DeSantis, Tim Scott and Perry Johnson, but not the former president.

Gov. Kim Reynolds, right, interviewing Casey DeSantis, the wife of Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida, in July.