Politics

Who is Adam Kinzinger? Conservative congressman turned anti-Trump leader

The news on Sunday that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi will appoint Rep. Adam Kinzinger as the second Republican representative on the special House committee investigating the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol is once again putting the congressman from Illinois in the national spotlight.

Kinzinger made headlines at the beginning of this year as one of the most high profile of the 10 House Republicans to vote to impeach then-President Trump for his role in inciting the deadly attack on the Capitol by right wing extremists and other Trump supporters bent on disrupting congressional certification of now-President Biden’s Electoral College victory.

PELOSI TAPS KINZINGER TO SERVE AS SECOND REPUBLICAN ON JAN. 6 INVESTIGATION PANEL

But Kinzinger, one of the most well-known Republican critics of Trump on Capitol Hill, has been making headlines for over a decade.

Kinzinger joined the Air Force after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, serving in both the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. He’s currently a lieutenant colonel in the Air National Guard. As a 32 year old, he was first elected to Congress in the Tea Party wave election of 2010, beating a Democratic incumbent by nearly 15 points in a north central and north eastern Illinois district, thanks in part to Sarah Palin’s endorsement. Two years later, after redistricting, he took down 10-term GOP Rep. Don Manzullo in the primary before winning the general election.

While he’s drawn praise from Democrats for his anti-Trump language, Kinzinger doesn’t come close to aligning with the Democrats on policy. He’s long opposed the Affordable Care Act, best known as Obamacare, opposes increasing taxes, and advocates against abortion rights.

Kinzinger was never a Trump loyalist, but the attack on the Capitol magnified his opposition to the then-president.

KINZINGER HAULS IN BIG BUCKS AFTER FACING TRUMP’S WRATH OVER IMPEACHMENT

The storming of the Capitol occurred soon after Trump urged a large crowd of supporters he addressed at a rally near the White House to march to the Capitol and show strength in protesting the certification of the election.

The then-president was impeached by the House a week later on one count of inciting an insurrection. Ten Republicans – including Kinzinger – joined all 222 Democrats in voting to impeach Trump, with 197 Republicans voting against impeachment. In February, after leaving the White House, Trump was acquitted in a Senate trial, with 7 GOP senators joining all 50 Democrats in the chamber to vote to convict the former president.

In an interview with Fox News earlier this year, Kinzinger lamented that “today’s Republican Party is not the one I joined.”

KINZINGER CHARGES THAT HOUSE GOP LEADER MCCARTHY ‘FAILED TO TELL THE TRUTH’

“The party that always spoke about a brighter tomorrow no longer does. It talks about a dark future instead. Hope has given way to fear. Outrage has replaced opportunity. And worst of all, our deep convictions are ignored. They’ve been replaced by poisonous conspiracies and lies. This is not the Republican road and now we know exactly where new and dangerous road leads. It leads to insurrection and an armed attack on the Capitol,” he argued.

Trump reshaped the Republican Party during his four years in the White House and ruled over it with an iron fist. And six months removed from his presidency, Trump’s sway over the GOP hasn’t diminished.

Kinzinger stressed that “Republicans must say enough is enough. It’s time to unplug the outrage machine, reject the politics of personality and cast aside the conspiracy theories and rage.”

“The future of the GOP is on the line,” he emphasized. “Let’s take back our party.”

Representative Adam Kinzinger, a Republican from Illinois, speaks during a House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing in Washington, D.C., U.S., on Wednesday, Sept. 16, 2020. Photographer: Kevin Dietsch/UPI/Bloomberg via Getty Images

The now 43-year-old Kinzinger, who was easily reelected last November, is facing a primary challenges, including one from a Republican who named his campaign committee “Impeach Adam Kinzinger 2022.”

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But Kinzinger’s stance against Trump has boosted his fundraising. His reelection campaign’s hauled in nearly $2 million during the first half of this year, and he has more than $3 million cash on hand. And the Future First Leadership PAC, which he formed earlier this year to support other anti-Trump Republicans, is also bringing in big bucks.

Kinzinger will join Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming as the two Republicans on the panel investigating the insurrection. Cheney, the most high profile House Republican to vote to impeach the then-president, was stripped of her House GOP leadership position in the spring for her anti-Trump sentiments.

Rep. Mace touts Free Britney Act as ‘good, bipartisan first step’ in ending conservatorship abuse

Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., said Sunday her “Free Britney” Act is a “good, bipartisan first step” to protecting the rights of the roughly 1.3 million Americans currently living under conservatorships like pop singer Britney Spears.

Appearing on “Fox News Live,” Mace thanked Spears for her “courage” in coming forward last month to detail the alleged abuse she’s suffered under her conservatorship that controls her life and money. After more than a decade of silence on the issue, Spears asked a judge to terminate the agreement that deemed her mentally unfit, accusing her father and management team of abusing the conservatorship and mistreating her.

NANCY MACE CARRYING GUN AFTER DEATH THREATS AND VANDALISM AT HER SOUTH CAROLINA HOME

On July 14, Spears was permitted to choose her own attorney, Mathew S. Rosengart, who said he is working to have the agreement terminated. After the resignation of her management team, Spears’ father is the sole conservator of her financial dealings.

“Her situation is a total nightmare, and if it can happen to her, of all people, then it can happen to anyone,” Mace said Sunday. “We want to allow more accountability and transparency and this bill will do that.”

“If you listen to Britney Spears, a lot of people are making a lot of money off of her,” she continued. “She’s been working every year since she was in this conservatorship. As a mom, one of the things I was really disturbed by is they’re forcing her on birth control, an IUD, to not allow her to have kids. I mean, it’s just really crazy what’s going on. These are things that happen in communist China, not the United States of America. And I think this is a really good bipartisan first step to seeing reform.”

Mace said her legislation, co-sponsored by Rep. Charlie Crist, D-Fla., would allow people under a conservatorship to petition the court for an independent caseworker or public guardian, who would not have a financial interest in the case, to oversee the agreement.

“To see a woman like Britney Spears have her most basic human rights permanently stripped away from her under the guise of ‘protection’ should be illegal,” the congresswoman said in a Tuesday press release announcing the bill.

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Crist said the legislation would provide people with “an escape hatch out of abusive guardianships” by giving them a caseworker to monitor for signs of abuse and to advise them of their rights.

“Abusive conservatorships can be an unending nightmare, and tragically we don’t know how many people are being held captive against their will under the broken guardianship system,” he said in a statement. “Under the FREE Act, we would Free Britney along with the countless number of seniors and persons with disabilities being abused and exploited by the broken system.”

Pelosi to blame for Capitol security ‘breakdown’ on Jan. 6, wants to ‘stick to her narrative’: Rep. Banks

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., is responsible for the “breakdown” in security at the Capitol during a deadly riot on Jan. 6, and only wants to “stick to her narrative” as she appoints anti-Trump Republicans to the committee investigating the attack, Rep. Jim Banks said Sunday.

Banks, R-Ind., made his claims against Pelosi during an interview on “Fox News Sunday” while responding to Pelosi’s decision to reject him from the Jan. 6 inquiry committee and her intention to appoint Rep. Adam Kinzinger, R-Ill., to the committee.

HOUSE FREEDOM CAUCUS CALLS ON MCCARTHY TO ATTEMPT TO REMOVE PELOSI AS SPEAKER

“Due to the rules of the United States Capitol, the power structure of the Capitol, Nancy Pelosi, the speaker of the House, has more control and authority and responsibility over the leadership of the Capitol police than anyone else in the United States Capitol,” Banks said. “So she doesn’t want us to ask these questions because at the end of the day, she’s ultimately responsible for the breakdown of security at the Capitol that happened on Jan. 6.”

Pelosi as speaker does not directly oversee the U.S. Capitol Police (USCP), according to the Associated Press, but does appoint a House sergeant at arms, who is on the Capitol Police Board that oversees the department. The department is also overseen by committees from both houses of Congress.

Banks claimed that Pelosi does not want to talk about what happened at the Capitol on Jan. 6 and that she’s “already predetermined a narrative about Donald Trump, about Republicans.”

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., left, is joined by his picks for the Jan. 6 Select Committee after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi rejected two Republicans, Rep. Jim Banks, R-Ind., center, and Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, right, for the committee investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection, at the Capitol in Washington on Wednesday. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

Pelosi last week rejected Banks and Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio – both allies of former President Donald Trump – saying it was to preserve the “integrity” of the committee’s work. Pelosi had accepted House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy’s three other Republican nominees before her decision to ban Banks and Jordan prompted McCarthy to withdraw all five of his picks.

“It’s clear that Pelosi only wants members on this committee who stick to her talking points and stick to her narrative,” Banks said. “That’s why she’s picked the group that she’s already picked and anyone who she asks to be on this committee from this point moving forward will be stuck to her narrative, to her point of view.”

Kinzinger joins Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., as the only Republicans on the select committee. Both Kinzinger and Cheney were among 10 Republicans who voted to impeach Trump a second time, claiming he played a role in inciting violence at the Capitol on Jan. 6.

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About 140 police officers were injured during the Jan. 6 attack. Two police officers died by suicide in the days that followed, and a third, Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick, collapsed and later died after engaging with the protesters. A medical examiner later found he died of natural causes.

Four Trump supporters died that day, including Ashli Babbitt, an Air Force veteran, who was shot by police as she tried to enter into the speaker’s lobby of the House of Representatives. The three others died after experiencing medical emergencies.

Roughly 500 people have since been arrested around the country and charged with federal crimes related to the Jan. 6 riot.

Fox News’ Marisa Schultz contributed to this report.

Warner regrets Harry Reid’s filibuster change: ‘I wish we wouldn’t even have started this’

Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., said Sunday he regrets that his party opened the door to changing the filibuster, even as he sounded open to changing it further to exempt voting rights legislation from the 60-vote legislative threshold.

When asked whether President Biden should support eliminating the filibuster, Warner pointed out that Democratic leadership in the Senate was the first in 2013 to enact what’s been dubbed the “nuclear option.”

“I would wish we wouldn’t even have started this a decade ago. When the Democratic leaders actually changed the rules, I don’t think we would have the Supreme Court we did if we still had a 60-vote margin on the filibuster, but we are where we are,” Warren told host Martha McCallum on “Fox News Sunday.” “And the idea that somehow to protect the rights of the minority in the Senate, we’re going to cut out rights of minorities and young people all across the country – that’s just not right to me.”

Warner was referencing actions taken by former Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada, in 2013 to push through the so-called “nuclear option,” which lowered the Senate vote threshold from 60 to just 51 votes to confirm most presidential nominations – except for the Supreme Court. Reid made the move after Senate Republicans mounted filibusters against several nominees brought by former President Barack Obama for the court of appeals, the Department of Defense and the National Labor Relations Board.

DEMOCRATS CALLING FOR FILIBUSTER ELIMINATION ‘HYPOCRITES,’ GOP CHAIR SAYS

Republicans five years later pushed the filibuster line even further.

After Democrats mounted a filibuster in 2017 to oppose former President Donald Trump’s first Supreme Court nomination, Neil Gorsuch, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., implemented his own nuclear option, also lowering the threshold for Supreme Court nominees to a simple majority vote.

Two additional Trump Supreme Court nominees, Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett, became justices under the new rule.

“I don’t want the Senate to become like the House,” Warner said Sunday. “But I do believe when it comes to voting rights, when it comes to that basic right to exercise and participate in democracy, I get very worried what’s happening in some of these states where they are actually penalizing, saying if you give somebody water waiting in line to vote, or in states like Texas where they’re saying a local government can overcome the results of a local election. That is not democracy, and if we have to do a small carve out on filibuster for voting rights – that is the only area where I’d allow that kind of reform.”

Republicans in June blocked the For the People Act with a filibuster, claiming the sweeping election law represents a federal infringement on states’ authority to conduct their own elections without fraud.

Progressives have called on Biden to abolish the legislative filibuster to pass a big voting rights bill. But doing so would only “throw the entire Congress into chaos and nothing will get done,” Biden argued during a recent CNN town hall.

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Fox News’ Edmund DeMarche contributed to this report.

Pelosi picks GOP Rep. Kinzinger for Jan. 6 commission after rejecting Banks, Jordan

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., on Sunday announced that she is appointing Rep. Adam Kinzinger, R-Ill., to the Jan. 6 select committee after rejecting two Republican allies of former President Donald Trump.

Shortly after suggesting on ABC’s “This Week” that it was her “plan” to appoint Kinzinger, Pelosi’s office sent out a press release making the announcement official.

“Today, I am announcing the appointment of Republican Congressman Adam Kinzinger, an Air Force veteran and Lieutenant Colonel in the Air National Guard, to serve on the Select Committee,” Pelosi said in the press release. “He brings great patriotism to the Committee’s mission: to find the facts and protect our Democracy.”

“On January 6th, insurrectionists attempted to overthrow the government during the worst assault on the Capitol since the War of 1812,” Pelosi continued. “It is imperative that we get to the truth of that day and ensure that such an attack can never again happen. That is why we established the Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the U.S. Capitol, which is bipartisan.”

PELOSI BANS GOP REPS. JIM JORDAN, JIM BANKS FROM SERVING ON JAN. 6 COMMITTEE, MCCARTHY THREATENS TOTAL BOYCOTT

Kinzinger, who voted to impeach Trump following the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol for inciting an insurrection, is the second Republican to be appointed to the committee. Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., was selected earlier this month and also supported Trump’s impeachment.

Kinzinger sent out a press release in response to the appointment, saying he “humbly accepted” the position and “will work diligently to ensure we get to the truth and hold those responsible for the attack fully accountable.”

“This moment requires a serious, clear-eyed, non-partisan approach,” Kinzinger continued. “We are duty-bound to conduct a full investigation on the worst attack on the Capitol since 1814 and to make sure it can never happen again.”

Pelosi announced this past Wednesday she was rejecting Reps. Jim Jordan from Ohio and Jim Banks from Indiana – two strong allies of former President Donald Trump – from joining the Jan. 6 committee due to past statements that she claims will hurt the “integrity of the investigation.”

“With respect for the integrity of the investigation, with an insistence on the truth and with concern about statements made and actions taken by these Members, I must reject the recommendations of Representatives Banks and Jordan to the Select Committee,” Pelosi said in a statement. “The unprecedented nature of January 6th demands this unprecedented decision.”

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Cheney defended Pelosi’s decision to reject Jordan and Banks, telling reporters “I agree with what the Speaker has done.”

“At every opportunity, the minority leader has attempted to prevent the American people from understanding what happened to block this investigation,” Cheney said.

Rep. Ronny Jackson, ex-White House doc, predicts Biden will be forced to resign

Rep. Ronny Jackson, the former White House physician-turned-congressman, says he’s “terrified for our country” in the wake of President Joe Biden’s televised town hall this week — and doubts whether the commander in chief has the cognitive ability to make it through a full term.

“He’s completely LOST it!” Jackson, R-Texas, tweeted Saturday, along with a video clip in which Biden answers a reporter’s question about defunding the police by claiming that Republicans accuse him of “sucking the blood out of kids.”

“Needs a cognitive exam NOW!” Jackson posted.

In Biden’s performance on CNN Wednesday night, widely mocked by conservatives on social media, he made false assertions about the efficacy of COVID vaccines, talked about helping children “find out whether there’s a man on the moon or whether those aliens are here or not” and confused some in the audience with references to obscure conspiracy theories.

“I mean, Qanon, the idea that the Democrats or that Biden is hiding people and sucking the blood of children and — no, I’m serious,” he said.

Earlier this month, Biden was forced to rely on notes to answer a reporter’s question at a Michigan pie shop.

“This is a national security issue at this point,” Jackson told Fox News host Sean Hannity on Thursday.

“I think he’s either going to resign — they’re going to convince him to resign from office at some point in the near future for medical issues — or they’re going to have to use the 25th Amendment to get rid of this man,” Jackson said.

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Last month Jackson, who served as the personal physician of both President Obama and President Trump, joined a dozen Republican House members in a letter calling on Biden to take a cognitive function test — as Trump did while he was in office — and publicly release the results.

“The American people … deserve full transparency on the mental capabilities of their highest elected leader,” the Republicans wrote.

“I’ve been saying that it’s only going to get worse,” Jackson said Thursday on Fox News. “And guess what? We’re watching that happen right before our eyes right now.”

Click here to read more on the New York Post.

Gov. Abbott rips Biden’s ‘reprehensible’ attacks on Texas voting bill: He’s ‘willing to lie’ to ‘get his way’

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott on Sunday slammed President Biden’s “completely reprehensible” attacks on the Republicans’ election integrity bill in his state, saying the president is “willing to lie” to the American people in order to further his political agenda.

During an appearance on Fox News’ “Sunday Morning Futures,” the Republican governor told host Maria Bartiromo that Democrats are “flat-out lying” about what the GOP is doing in Texas, with the media echoing their claims.

TEXAS GOV. ABBOTT CALLS OUT DEMOCRATS’ ‘DISASTER OF A TRIP’ FLEEING AUSTIN FOR DC: ‘CONSTITUENTS GETTING UPSET’

“In Texas, we truly have made it easier to vote and harder to cheat,” Abbott said. “The one thing that you pointed out that we are cracking down on is mail-in ballots,” he continued, stating that a judge who was appointed by former President Barack Obama acknowledged that there voter fraud is a problem when it comes to mail-in ballots.

“We all have to agree that if there’s cheating in the election process, we need to stop that cheating, and the best way to stop that cheating is to tighten up restrictions concerning mail-in ballots,” he added.

The comments come after more than 50 State House Democrats fled Texas for Washington, D.C., earlier this month in an effort to block Republicans from having the quorum needed to vote on an election reform bill during the special legislative session. The bill would ban drive-through voting, increase early voting hours, and add new identification requirements for people voting by mail.

TEXAS DEMOCRATS TO REMAIN IN WASHINGTON THROUGHOUT SPECIAL SESSION

Abbott said Sunday that the Democrats’ stunt accomplished “nothing,” and he repeated his threat to arrest returning members and compel them to remain in the state House chamber until they “get the job done.”

He also ripped Biden for “diminishing” the experience of Black Americans after the president referred to the Texas bill and others like it as a “21st-century Jim Crow assault” on voting rights.

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“So this is the same president who called me a Neanderthal, now he’s invoking Jim Crow, too,” Abbott said. “And I’ve got to tell you what. That’s diminishing to the people in the United States of America who did have to suffer through Jim Crow. Anybody who says this is a Jim Crow law, they don’t either know Jim Crow laws or they don’t know what’s going on in the state of Texas. Because there is no segregation, there is no attempt to make it harder for people of color.

“It’s easier today than it’s ever been for people of color, for all Texans, to be able to cast a vote,” the governor continued. “So these aspersions that are being cast by the president of the United States are completely reprehensible, and it shows the American people that the president of the United States is willing to lie about what’s going on to try get his way. And that’s one reason why you’re seeing President Biden’s polling numbers continue to plummet.”

Pelosi insists on ‘no partisanship’ in Jan. 6 committee after rejecting 2 Republicans

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., on Sunday insisted that the Jan. 6 select committee should have “no partisanship,” despite rejecting two Republican House members this past week.

During an interview on ABC’s “This Week,” Pelosi told anchor George Stephanopoulos that she believes that the only way the committee can “retain the confidence of the American people” is through “no partisanship” and “patriotism.”

AP REPORTER PUTS BLAME ON GOP, SUPPORTS DEMS, PELOSI IN JAN. 6 COMMITTEE CHAOS

“We have to, again, ignore the antics of those who do not want to find the truth,” Pelosi said. “We will find the truth. That truth will have the confidence of the American people because it will be done patriotically and not in a partisan way.”

Stephanopoulos followed up to ask Pelosi whether she will be appoint Republicans like Rep. Adam Kinzinger, R-Ill., prompting her to say, “That’s my plan.” When asked about the announcement, Pelosi said that “perhaps” she will make an announcement after she talks to the Illinois Republican.

On Wednesday, Pelosi announced she was rejecting Reps. Jim Jordan from Ohio and Jim Banks from Indiana – two strong allies of former President Donald Trump – from joining the Jan. 6 committee due to past statements that she claims will hurt the “integrity of the investigation.”

PELOSI BANS GOP REPS. JIM JORDAN, JIM BANKS FROM SERVING ON JAN. 6 COMMITTEE, MCCARTHY THREATENS TOTAL BOYCOTT

Pelosi’s decision immediately sparked backlash from House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., who threatened a Republican boycott of the committee over the “unprecedented” decision.

“Unless Speaker Pelosi reverses course and seats all five Republican nominees, Republicans will not be party to their sham process and will instead pursue our own investigation of the facts,” McCarthy said in a statement.

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Jordan said Pelosi’s Jan. 6 committee is “nothing more than a partisan political charade” and Banks said it is “purely partisan exercise by the Democrats.”

Fox News’ Marisa Schultz contributed to this report.

Sen. Tim Scott warns of the ‘one thing you cannot do’ in passing police reform

Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., warned that with rises in violent crime in cities across the country, there is one thing that lawmakers cannot do if they hope to pass effective police reform.

In a conversation with “Fox News Sunday,” Scott emphatically stated that police officers have to feel that the government is on their side.

SAYING IT’S TIME TO ‘GO BACK TO THE FUTURE,’ TIM SCOTT LAUNCHES 2022 SENATE REELECTION BID

“One thing you cannot do in police reform is leave the impression that somehow we’re going to demonize police officers,” Scott said. “That’s not going to happen. It can’t happen.”

The South Carolina Republican pointed to Baltimore as a cautionary tale, saying that the city has had to request federal officers to come in because there are 400 vacant spots on the local police force. Maryland lawmakers earlier this year overrode governor’s vetoes to pass sweeping police reforms that included removing protections in police due process for alleged misconduct, increasing the civil liability limit for officers from $400,000 to $890,000, and changing the standard for what is deemed “necessary” force.

“When you demonize police officers, when you defund police and you start talking about this war on police and prosecution and not on crime, you’re going to have a reduction in forces. And if you tell officers that their personal liability is on the line, it is a bad decision.”

The Maryland bills stopped short of eliminating officers’ qualified immunity, which affords them some protection from liability – something New Mexico eliminated in April.

LAW ENFORCEMENT GROUPS REBUKE DEM ACCUSATIONS OF SABOTAGING POLICE REFORM NEGOTIATIONS

Scott said that while certain issues are up for debate – specifically use of choke holds, no-knock warrants, and a program that provides police departments with military weapons – ending qualified immunity would be a non-starter at the federal level, and has not been up for discussion.

“It’s just bad policy, I won’t support it,” Scott said.

Scott also discussed the ongoing efforts from lawmakers in Washington to pass an infrastructure bill, criticizing Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., for trying to hold a procedural vote on the bill before it has been finalized.

“You can’t see it, you can’t negotiate it. I don’t support that,” he said.

Scott has seen much success as of late when it comes to fundraising for his 2022 reelection campaign, raising 9.6 million during the April-June second quarter of fundraising. The eye-catching figure, and his recent trip to Iowa, have led to speculation that he could make a bid for the White House in 2024.

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Scott himself has said that this is his last Senate campaign, raising the question of what comes next, and if the presidential run is in his future. Scott would not reveal what his next step would be, but he claimed his self-imposed limit on his days in the Senate is due to his belief that all elected officials should have term limits.

“I had a job before I went into the Senate, I want a job when I leave the Senate,” he said.

Fox News’ Brie Stimson and Paul Steinhauser contributed to this report.

Biden, Trump trade shots in potential 2024 preview

The next race for the White House remains far down the road. It doesn’t officially begin until the conclusion of the 2022 midterm elections, which are still more than a year and a quarter away.

But with President Biden and former President Trump taking a few jabs at each other while they were both headlining campaign style events this weekend, Americans were witness to a what could be considered a little taste of a potential 2024 presidential election rematch.

BIDEN’S BATTLEGROUND STATE STOPS SPARK 2024 SPECULATION

Biden, back on the campaign trial for the first time since succeeding Trump in the White House in January, did something on Friday night he rarely does – he mentioned his predecessor.

“I ran against Donald Trump, and so is Terry,” Biden said at a rally for former Democratic Gov. Terry McAuliffe of Virginia, who’s running this year to return to office.

“I whipped Donald Trump in Virginia, and so will Terry,” noted Biden, who topped Trump by 10 points in the state last November.

President Joe Biden speaks at a campaign event for Virginia democratic gubernatorial candidate Terry McAuliffe at Lubber Run Park, Friday, July 23, 2021, in Arlington, Va. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)

And Biden tied McAuliffe’s opponent this November, Republican nominee Glenn Youngkin, to the former president, arguing that Youngkin was “an acolyte for Donald Trump — for real.”

A night later, Trump once again took aim at Biden.

BIDEN BRIEFLY HECKLED AT MCAULIFFE RALLY

“Joe Biden and the radical Democrats are wrecking our nation,” the former president charged at a rally in Phoenix, Arizona, on Saturday. “I don’t even believe it’s him. I don’t think Joe knows where the hell he is.”

“Our country is being destroyed by people who have no right to destroy it. People that won an election illegally, people that should not have been elected. They lost in a landslide,” Trump once again claimed, repeating unsubstantiated claims he’s made since losing the 2020 presidential election.

The former president has repeatedly flirted with making another run for the White House in 2024, as he continues to play a kingmaker’s role in Republican Party politics and remains extremely popular with GOP base voters.

Former President Donald Trump speaks to supporters at a Turning Point Action gathering, Saturday, July 24, 2021, in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)

There’s been intense speculation – dating back to the launch of his 2020 White House bid over two years ago – whether the now-78-year-old Biden would run for a second term. The former vice president made history last November when he became the oldest person ever elected president.

Asked in March at the first formal news conference of his young presidency about his 2024 plans, Biden said, “My answer is yes. I plan on running for reelection. That’s my expectation.”

WHAT BIDEN SAYS ABOUT A 2024 RE-ELECTION CAMPAIGN

If he campaigns for reelection in 2024 and wins, Biden would be 82 at his second inaugural and 86 at the end of his second term.

Trump, if he runs and wins in 2024, would be 79 at his second inaugural and 83 at the end of his second term.

Trump’s GOP primary prowess

In 2016, Trump easily bested the competition in New Hampshire’s first-in-the-nation presidential primary, launching him towards the Republican nomination and eventually the White House.

A new University of New Hampshire Granite State poll suggests that if the 2024 presidential primary were held right now, the former president would once again crush his GOP rivals in the Granite State.

Trump grabbed the support of 47% of likely New Hampshire Republican voters in a hypothetical presidential primary, with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis a distant second at 19%, in a survey conducted July 15-19 and released on Wednesday.

Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, who served as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations during the Trump administration, landed 6% support, with former Vice President Mike Pence at 5%. Everyone else came in at 2% or less in the survey.

While Trump’s 47% support stands far above the rest of the field, it’s nearly 20 points lower than the 66% of New Hampshire Republicans who said in a separate question that they’d like to see the former president make another White House bid in 2024.

Trump’s favorable rating among all New Hampshire voters stands at just 33%, but his favorable rating among self-identified Republicans is a healthy 70%.

Cruz sparks 2024 speculation

Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas was the runner up to Trump in the 2016 battle for the Republican presidential nomination. And pundits consider the two-term conservative senator a likely 2024 contender.

CRUZ AUGUST TRAVEL PLANS SPARK 2024 SPECULATION

But to date, Cruz has yet to headline an event this year in Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina or Nevada, the first four states to vote in the Republican presidential nomination calendar.

That will change next month, when Cruz speaks at an August 28th fundraiser at the Linn County, Iowa, fairgrounds for GOP Rep. Ashley Hinson, a first term congresswoman and rising start in the party who narrowly won election last November and could potentially face a challenging reelection next year.

“We have to win back the majority and the road to firing Nancy Pelosi runs right through Iowa’s First Congressional District,” Cruz said in a statement about Hinson’s event. “Ashley has my full support and I can’t wait to be with all of Team Hinson in Iowa.”

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Looking ahead to a potential 2024 White House run, Cruz told Newsmax last month that “I’m certainly looking at it” and shared that “2016 was the most fun I’ve ever had in my life.”

Cruz narrowly won the 2016 Iowa Republican caucuses, but finished a distant third the following week in the New Hampshire presidential primary, behind Trump and then-Ohio Gov. John Kasich.

Fox News’ Ronn Blitzer contributed to this report

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