Politics

WESTERVILLE, Ohio — President Trump’s re-election campaign is once again taking to the skies over a Democratic presidential debate site to highlight the Democratic presidential candidates’ “socialist policies.”

The campaign started flying an aerial advertising banner over Otterbein University in this suburban Columbus, Ohio town, which is the site of Tuesday night’s fourth-round Democratic nomination debate.

WARREN, BIDEN BATTLE FOR TOP SPOT IN POLLS ON EVE OF DEBATE

“SOCIALISM DESTROYS OHIO JOBS. VOTE TRUMP,” read the advertisement. The banner was visible starting at noon EST and the Trump campaign said it would fly the banner until 6:45 p.m., with a short break during the afternoon.

The Trump campaign flew similar aerial banners at the previous Democratic presidential primary debates.

The president, his re-election campaign, and the Republican National Committee have long accused the Democrats of making a “far-left lurch toward big government socialism.”

“While Democrats will use the debate stage to paint a glamorous view of their socialist agenda, Team Trump is here to expose the truth behind their job-killing policies and remind Ohioans what’s at stake in 2020,” Trump campaign communications director Tim Murtaugh said in a statement.

The campaign also placed a full-page ad in the Columbus Dispatch, the major daily newspaper in the Columbus metropolitan area.

THE LATEST FROM FOX NEWS ON THE 2020 PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN

“DEMOCRATS WILL KILL OHIO JOBS,” screamed the headline in the newspaper ad.

While many of the Democratic candidates are proposing progressive polices as they run for their party’s presidential nomination, only Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont openly describes himself as a “Democratic socialist.”

Fox News’ Tara Prindiville contributed to this report.

A motion to censure House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff, D-Calif., for his “parody” reading of President Trump’s July phone call with Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky during a hearing last month is gaining steam with House Republicans, as Fox News has learned 125 lawmakers have now signed on as co-sponsors.

The resolution to censure Schiff — who has become a favorite target of Republicans for his role in the Trump impeachment inquiry — was first introduced late last month by Rep. Andy Biggs, the Arizona Republican who chairs the conservative House Freedom Caucus, and has the support of House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., House Minority Whip Steve Scalise, R-La., and House Republican Conference Chair Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., among other ranking Republicans in the lower chamber of Congress.

Democrats have the majority and control the floor in the House, but Republicans could still attempt to force a vote on the matter.

“Schiff simply does not have the gravitas that a weighty procedure such as impeachment requires,” Biggs wrote in an opinion piece for Fox News. “He has repeatedly shown incredibly poor judgment. He has persistently and consistently demonstrated that he has such a tremendous bias and animus against Trump that he will say anything and accept any proffer of even bogus evidence to try to remove the president from office.”

Fox News has requested comment from Schiff’s office.

BOLTON INSTRUCTED FORMER RUSSIA ADVISER TO ALERT NSC LAWYER OVER UKRAINE, ADVISER TESTIFIES

Schiff, who is leading one of the committees investigating Trump in the impeachment inquiry announced by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., has been under fire from conservatives for the “parody” of the president’s call with Zelensky that he read at the testimony last month of Acting Director of National Intelligence Joseph Maguire.

Maguire was on Capitol Hill to defend his handling of the explosive whistleblower complaint detailing how Trump pressured his Ukrainian counterpart to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden and his son, Hunter.

The complaint contains allegations related to Trump’s call with Zelensky in July, when he urged him to investigate alleged corruption involving the Bidens.

The White House last month released an unclassified version of the transcript of the phone call. The memo, which does not reflect a “verbatim transcript” but is based on “notes and recollections” of those memorializing the call, shows Zelensky asking for more military aid before Trump asks him to pursue some kind of investigation into Joe and Hunter Biden.

GIULIANI ‘DISAPPOINTED’ IN BOLTON AMID CLAIM HE TOLD AIDE TO ALERT LAWYER TO UKRAINE PROBE

On the dais during Maguire’s testimony, Schiff gave his own exaggerated version of the phone call.

“I have a favor I want from you,” Schiff said while appearing to read from a paper. “And I’m going to say this only seven times, so you better listen good. I want you to make up dirt on my political opponent, understand? Lots of it, on this and on that.”

Schiff has defended the version of the phone call he read at the testimony and chalked up his fictional summary of the controversial phone call to parody.

“My summary of the president’s call was meant to be at least, part, in parody,” Schiff said. “The fact that that’s not clear is a separate problem in and of itself. Of course, the president never said, ‘If you don’t understand me I’m going to say it seven more times’; my point is, that’s the message that the Ukraine president was receiving in not so many words.”

GAETZ SPEAKS OUT AFTER SCHIFF THROWS HIM OUT OF IMPEACHMENT INQUIRY HEARING

Schiff’s explanation, however, did little to quell the outrage of his Republican colleagues who were already on the defensive following Pelosi’s announcement last Tuesday of the impeachment inquiry into Trump.

“Chairman Adam Schiff has been lying to the American people for years,” McCarthy said in a tweet announcing that he signed on to co-sponsor Biggs’ resolution. “Now he is so desperate to damage the president that he literally made up a false version of a phone call. Enough is enough.”

The president also voiced his anger with Schiff – who he has labeled with the nickname “Shifty Schiff” — calling the California Democrat “desperate” and accusing him of lying to Congress.

“Rep. Adam Schiff fraudulently read to Congress, with millions of people watching, a version of my conversation with the President of Ukraine that doesn’t exist,” Trump tweeted. “He was supposedly reading the exact transcribed version of the call, but he completely changed the words to make it sound horrible, and me sound guilty.”

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Schiff, however, did not take Trump’s taunt sitting down, firing back an accusation that the president was trying to “shakedown” a foreign leader and then trying to cover it up.

“You engaged in a shakedown to get election dirt from a foreign country,” Schiff said in a tweet. “And then you tried to cover it up.”

Fox News’ Mike Emanuel contributed to this report. 

Two weeks after Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., mused about arresting administration officials to force compliance with subpoenas related to the impeachment inquiry into President Trump, House Democrats are faced with a test of their resolve on that issue as a flurry of deadlines likely to be ignored comes up this week.

At an event on Oct. 1, Tlaib said House Democrats were discussing how to hold administration officials in contempt of Congress for ignoring subpoenas in a video recorded by a member of an anti-Democrat political action committee, the Washington Free Beacon reported.

“So they’re trying to figure out, no joke, is it the D.C. police that goes and gets them?” Tlaib said. “We don’t know. Where do we hold them?”

BOLTON INSTRUCTED FORMER RUSSIA ADVISER TO ALERT NSC LAWYER OVER UKRAINE, ADVISER TESTIFIES

Several subpoenas of Trump administration officials or associates requesting documents related to Trump’s actions on Ukraine, which are the central basis for the impeachment inquiry announced by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., on Sept. 24, have deadlines this week.

Trump withheld $400 million worth of military aid to Ukraine shortly before a July 25 phone call with Ukranian President Voldomyr Zelenskyy on which he asked his counterpart to investigate 2020 rival Joe Biden’s son, Hunter, and his involvement with Burisma Holdings, a Ukrainian gas company. Burisma was under investigation while the younger Biden was on the board. The investigation was dormant in 2016 when Joe Biden, as Vice President, pressured Ukraine to fire the prosecutor who was in charge of the Burisma probe, citing alleged corruption.

The White House, however, has said that it will not comply with impeachment-related subpoenas, calling the inquiry “invalid” because the full House never voted to authorize proceedings. Though previous impeachment efforts have begun with a vote of the full house, there is no requirement in the Constitution for such a vote.

So they’re trying to figure out, no joke, is it the D.C. police that goes and gets them? We don’t know. Where do we hold them?

— Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich.

GIULIANI ‘DISSAPOINTED’ IN BOLTON AMID CLAIM HE TOLD AIDE TO ALERT LAWYER TO UKRAINE PROBE

“In the history of our Nation, the House of Representatives has never attempted to launch an impeachment inquiry against the President without a majority of the House taking political accountability for that decision by voting to authorize such a dramatic constitutional step,” the letter, written by White House Counsel Pat Cipollone, read.

The House Intelligence, Oversight and Foreign Affairs committees set a Monday deadline for Gordan Sondland, U.S. ambassador to the European Union, to turn over Ukraine-related documents. He said he would testify before the committee on Thursday — after the State Department previously blocked him from appearing for questioning — but that he would not turn over documents, according to Roll Call, because that decision was up to the State Department.

Tuesday brings four more significant deadlines for documents. House committees subpoenaed the Department of Defense, the Office of Management and Budget, Vice President Pence and Trump’s lawyer Rudy Giuliani. None of these subpoenas are expected to be complied with.

The OMB is being subpoenaed because it played a role in freezing the aid to Ukraine, as is the DOD. Lawmakers are interested in Giuliani because of his central role in Trump’s Ukraine efforts, as well as the fact he was mentioned multiple times in the transcript of Trump’s July 25 call with Zelenskyy. Pence is being subpoenaed because of reports a member of his staff listened in on the call.

GAETZ SPEAKS OUT AFTER SCHIFF THROWS HIM OUT OF IMPEACHMENT INQUIRY HEARING

Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman, two Giuliani associates who were arrested last week on charges of funneling foreign money into U.S. elections, are being asked to turn over documents related to Giuliani’s efforts to get Ukraine to investigate the Bidens by Wednesday.

Parnas and Fruman said they “agree with and adopt the position of the White House Counsel” and would not comply with the impeachment inquiry. That position is shaky, however, because the men are not government officials.

Finally, the House committees are requiring Department of Energy Secretary Rick Perry and White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney to hand over Ukraine-related papers by Friday.

Perry has not made an explicit statement on his subpoena, but as a member of the executive branch, it is possible he will also refuse to turn over documents. Lawmakers are roping Perry into the impeachment inquiry after Trump said Perry told him to make the July 25 call.

FEDERAL PROSECUTORS SCRUTINIZE GIULIANI’S BUSINESS DEALINGS

The House voted in July to ask the Justice Department to prosecute both Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross and Attorney General William Barr for criminal contempt of Congress after stonewalling investigators on the decision-making that went into the now-abandoned effort to put a citizenship question on the 2020 census.

Contempt of Congress is most commonly alleged when an individual is refusing to appear before a committee to answer questions under Congress’ “power of inquiry.” The Congressional Research Service lists three types of contempt which Congress has at its disposal: civil, criminal and inherent contempt.

More commonly used than inherent contempt, civil contempt relies on courts for enforcement while criminal contempt relies on prosecution by the executive branch.

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Inherent contempt, which Tlaib was apparently referring to, hasn’t been used by Congress since the 1930s. Under this process, either the House or the Senate can authorize an arrest warrant and order the Sergent-at-Arms to bring the individual being held in contempt before the chamber. If the person is ruled guilty of contempt after a hearing in that chamber, lawmakers can then imprison that person until he or she complies with Congress’ request.

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On the roster: Biden son: Ukraine deals ‘poor judgement’ in ‘a swamp’ – Fight night in Ohio – Bolton called foul on Trump-Giuliani Ukraine moves – Giuliani got big bucks from indicted Ukrainian – For the long run  

BIDEN SON: UKRAINE DEALS ‘POOR JUDGEMENT’ IN ‘A SWAMP’

ABC News: “As President Donald Trump continues to fill his Twitter feed and campaign speeches with attacks on Hunter Biden over his foreign business deals, the former vice president’s son defended the ethical implications of his private ventures in an interview with ABC News, but conceded taking a misstep in failing to foresee the political implications on his father’s career. ‘In retrospect, look, I think that it was poor judgment on my part. Is that I think that it was poor judgment because I don’t believe now, when I look back on it — I know that there was — did nothing wrong at all,’ said Biden. However, was it poor judgment to be in the middle of something that is…a swamp in—in—in many ways? Yeah.’”

Fight night in Ohio – Politico: “Bernie Sanders is recovering from his heart attack. Joe Biden is under siege, and laying into Donald Trump. And the entire Democratic presidential field has become consumed with the House’s impeachment inquiry into the Republican president. With so many candidates responding to circumstances beyond their control — and the threat of a destabilizing moment running high on a stage that’s expanding to 12 candidates from 10 — it’s raising the specter of a debate Tuesday that finally breaks the Democratic primary logjam. Not only is it the first debate since Sanders was hospitalized and the impeachment inquiry began, it also comes as many lower-polling candidates become increasingly desperate to make a mark on the campaign. At a fundraiser in Los Angeles last week, Biden acknowledged how much of the debate is out of any candidate’s hands. … Biden said, ‘One of the problems I’m finding, I’ve got to be more aggressive.’”

Will Buttigieg throw elbows? – Politico: “Pete Buttigieg sees a path to the top tier of the Democratic primary field, elbowing his way between Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren on one side and Joe Biden on the other. At the center of Buttigieg’s push is his health care plan, which the South Bend, Ind., mayor has dubbed ‘Medicare for all who want it.’ The plan would extend a public health insurance option to Americans without ending the private insurance market, an effect of the plan put forward by Sanders and endorsed by Warren. … Buttigieg also argued that his health care plan is tougher on insurance providers than Biden’s own public option proposal to build on Obamacare. ‘It turns out that setting up the exchanges has not been enough to empower all Americans to have good coverage,’ Buttigieg said.”

Beto says he need to ‘break through’ – Texas Tribune: “Democratic presidential candidate Beto O’Rourke raised $4.5 million in the third quarter, his campaign announced Friday as he acknowledged it was more urgent than ever to ‘break through’ in the still-crowded primary. The third-quarter total is an improvement over the $3.6 million that the former El Paso congressman took in during the previous quarter, and it came despite a halt to fundraising for roughly two weeks in August after the deadly El Paso shooting. Still, the total puts him behind a majority of primary rivals who have released their third-quarter figures so far, including two leading candidates who each raised around $25 million.”

Bloomberg back to floating trial balloons – CNBC: “Mike Bloomberg might end up running for president, after all. Bloomberg, the billionaire former mayor of New York, has indicated to associates in recent weeks that Joe Biden’s recent struggles against Sen. Elizabeth Warren are making him rethink his decision to stay out of the 2020 Democratic primary. That’s according to people familiar with the discussions who spoke on condition of anonymity because the conversations were deemed private. Bloomberg has signaled he’s ‘still looking at’ running for president, but people close him say that the only way he could even go down that path is if Biden’s fortunes suffer so much that he drops out before or during the early stages of the primary. Bloomberg could then enter the race as one of the rare moderates with enough name recognition and campaign funding to make a run.”

Dems on edge over cyberattacks – Politico: “The Democratic National Committee sent an urgent alert on Monday to every presidential campaign aimed at avoiding a repeat of the cybersecurity fiasco the party suffered at the hands of Russia and Wikileaks in 2016. The subject of the email was ‘Counter-Disinformation Update,’ and it was part of a regular series of communications by DNC Tech, the party’s in-house group responsible for internal security and monitoring the spread of fake news about Democrats. POLITICO obtained the full archive of DNC’s Tech’s missives to the presidential campaigns. They reveal a party struggling to combat the continued onslaught of the twin threats faced by the Democratic Party: cyber penetration from state actors abroad and the spread of disinformation about its top presidential candidates by Donald Trump and his allies at home. …  It was a moment, the DNC warned, to be hyper vigilant about fake news.”

Seven years later, Warren changes tune on health care – Politico: “Seven years before Elizabeth Warren said ‘I’m with Bernie on Medicare for All,’ she was campaigning for the Senate and didn’t want to talk about single-payer health care. Running a tough race against Republican incumbent Scott Brown, the first-time candidate repeatedly distanced herself from the idea. … But during her first Senate campaign in 2012, she … dodged the question again and again, according to an analysis of newspaper reports, TV, and interviews with health care reform activists at the time. … Warren’s refusal to embrace single-payer during that campaign came four years after she co-wrote an essay that called it the ‘most obvious’ solution to the nation’s health care woes — though perhaps ‘politically unacceptable.’ Warren’s remarks in 2012, as well as her more circumspect attitude toward Medicare for All at the beginning of her presidential campaign, has exposed her to criticisms from the left.”

Warren strong in Q Poll, but still lags on electability – Quinnipiac University: “One day before the next Democratic debate, Sen. Elizabeth Warren and former Vice President Joe Biden remain locked in a close race for the top spot in the Democratic primary, according to a Quinnipiac University national poll released today. Warren receives 30 percent of the vote among Democratic voters and independent voters who lean Democratic, while Biden gets 27 percent.. … However, on the question of electability – which candidate has the best chance of winning against Donald Trump – Biden retains his commanding lead with 48 percent saying he has the best chance, compared to 49 percent in August. While still trailing Biden, Warren has increased her support from 9 percent in August to 21 percent today. No other candidate gets into double digits.”

THE RULEBOOK: K, BYE


“And here let us not forget how much more easy it is to receive foreign fleets into our ports, and foreign armies into our country, than it is to persuade or compel them to depart.” – John Jay, Federalist No. 5

TIME OUT: TO THE HOLY LAND

Smithsonian: “On April 1483, a German politician named Bernhard von Breydenbach embarked on a religious pilgrimage to the Holy Land. Breydenbach and his companions—among others, Dutch artist Erhard Reuwich—traveled at a leisurely clip, touring destinations including Venice, Corfu, Modon and Rhodes while en route. Two years after his pilgrimage, Breydenbach created an illustrated guide detailing the farflung locales he had visited on his trip. The text, titled Peregrinatio in Terram Sanctam, or A Pilgrimage to the Holy Land, was an instant sensation, with eleven editions in six languages published between 1486 and 1505. Now, one of the few surviving first editions of Breydenbach’s ‘15th-century bestseller’ is set to go on view at the British Museum…  Giulia Bartrum, curator of German prints at the British Museum, [says] that prior to the text’s publication, ‘most of the depictions of places such as Jerusalem or Venice were totally made up.’”

Flag on the play? – Email us at HALFTIMEREPORT@FOXNEWS.COM with your tips, comments or questions.

SCOREBOARD


DEMOCRATIC 2020 POWER RANKING

Biden: 28.2 points (↑ 1 point from last wk.)

Warren: 26.4 points (↑ 1.8 points from last wk.)

Sanders: 13.4 points (↓ 1.2 points from last wk.)

Buttigieg: 6.2 points (no change in points from last wk.)

Harris: 4.4 points (↓ 0.2 points from last wk.)


[Averages include: Quinnipiac University, Fox News, IBD, Monmouth University and NBC News/WSJ.]

TRUMP JOB PERFORMANCE 

Average approval: 42.6 percent

Average disapproval: 53.8 percent

Net Score: -11.2 percent

Change from one week ago: ↑ 1.8 points


[Average includes: Quinnipiac University: 41% approve – 54% disapprove; Fox News: 43% approve – 55% disapprove; NPR/PBS/Marist: 45% approve – 51% disapprove; NBC/WSJ: 43% approve – 53% disapprove; IBD: 43% approve – 54% disapprove.]  

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BOLTON CALLED FOUL ON TRUMP-GIULIANI UKRAINE MOVES

Fox News: “Fiona Hill, the former senior director for Russian and Eurasian affairs, told lawmakers on Monday that a July meeting with Ukrainian and U.S. officials about unspecified investigations left her and John Bolton, the former national security adviser, so concerned that he directed her to alert a lawyer in the National Security Council, Fox News confirmed. Hill, who exited the administration days before the July 25 phone call between President Trump and Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky, testified on Monday for about nine hours in front of three House panels where she reportedly raised concerns about a July 10 meeting. The Wall Street Journal reported that those at the hearing took her comments to refer to the ‘investigation that could implicate Biden and his son.’”

Giuliani got big bucks from indicted Ukrainian – Reuters: “President Donald Trump’s personal attorney, Rudy Giuliani, was paid $500,000 for work he did for a company co-founded by the Ukrainian-American businessman arrested last week on campaign finance charges, Giuliani told Reuters on Monday. The businessman, Lev Parnas, is a close associate of Giuliani and was involved in his effort to investigate Trump’s political rival, former Vice President Joe Biden, who is a leading contender for the 2020 Democratic Party nomination. Giuliani said Parnas’ company, Boca Raton-based Fraud Guarantee, whose website says it aims to help clients ‘reduce and mitigate fraud’, engaged Giuliani Partners, a management and security consulting firm, around August 2018. Giuliani said he was hired to consult on Fraud Guarantee’s technologies and provide legal advice on regulatory issues.”

Feds dig deeper – WSJ: “Federal prosecutors in Manhattan are examining Rudy Giuliani’s business dealings in Ukraine, including his finances, meetings and work for a city mayor there, according to people familiar with the matter. Investigators also have examined Giuliani’s bank records, according to the people. Witnesses have been questioned about Giuliani since at least August by investigators, who also want to know more about Giuliani’s role in an alleged conspiracy involving two of his business associates, the people said. The investigation is being led by the U.S. attorney’s office in the Southern District of New York. Giuliani has denied wrongdoing and on Monday said he hadn’t been informed of any investigation. ‘They can look at my Ukraine business all they want,’ he said.”

Dems return from recess more united on impeachment – WaPo: “…Just days after suddenly embracing an impeachment inquiry of President Trump — a moment of seeming political crisis — House leaders sent lawmakers home for their scheduled two-week recess. But as Congress returns to work Tuesday, fears of lost momentum, internal dissension and dissipating interest in impeachment have mostly evaporated among House Democrats, who view the past two weeks as among the most damaging to Trump as they dig in for their constitutional showdown with the president. … But on the central question of whether Trump ought to be investigated for potentially committing high crimes and misdemeanors worthy of removal from office, Democrats are now largely united: Only seven of 235 House Democrats have stopped short of endorsing the impeachment inquiry, and the White House position, laid out in a letter sent to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and three committee chairmen last week, has hardened the resolve of many Democrats.”

PLAY-BY-PLAY

WSJ Editorial Board: ‘Trump’s Syria Mess’ – WSJ

Lowey retirement creates battle for top spot on House Appropriations – Roll Call

Pergram: Trump called for Romney’s impeachment in tweet, but could that actually happen? – Fox News

AUDIBLE: OOF


“It took me four months to get the five-inch heel out of my ass.” – Rep. Max Rose, D-N.Y., referring to when he didn’t back Nancy Pelosi for another term as speaker in 2018, per New York Magazine.

Share your color commentary: Email us at HALFTIMEREPORT@FOXNEWS.COM and please make sure to include your name and hometown.

FOR THE LONG RUN

WNEP: “The Steamtown Marathon [in Scranton, Pa.] brings out hundreds of spectators each year to cheer for the runners… For the last 24 years, 90-year-old Marie Rupp has been hosting a water station for the thousands of runners that make their way through the borough. … But this year is different. After a fall, Marie went to live at a rehab facility. It would be the first marathon she would not be out cheering for the runners. That’s when her neighbors stepped in. ‘We felt it very important to get her out of there for the day and bring her back to the tradition that she started,’ said Sean Osborne of Archbald. Wrapped in a blanket with a space heater for extra warmth, Marie was on Laurel Street with her neighbors as runners passed by. And while she says she is no longer in charge, her neighbors know she still calls the shots. … ‘It’s exciting! It puts life in our bones,’ Marie said.”

AND NOW, A WORD FROM CHARLES…


“Stem-cell research will one day be a boon to humanity. We owe it to posterity to pursue it. But we also owe posterity a moral universe not trampled and corrupted by arrogant, brilliant science.” – Charles Krauthammer (1950-2018) writing in Time magazine on July 15, 2001.

Chris Stirewalt is the politics editor for Fox News. Brianna McClelland contributed to this report. Want FOX News Halftime Report in your inbox every day? Sign up here.

Hours before Tuesday night’s Democratic presidential debate and just days after she swore off big fundraisers, Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., announced that she would no longer be accepting campaign donations of more than $200 from big businesses and challenged her fellow White House hopefuls to be more transparent about how they’re funding their own campaigns.

Warren blasted some of her Democratic primary rivals in a post on Medium, in which she accused them of “hobnobbing with the rich and powerful” and “handing out secret titles and honors to rich donors.”

“I’m proud to be running a grassroots-funded campaign for president, and I hope my fellow candidates for the Democratic nomination will do the same,” Warren wrote. “That’s why I’m also calling on every candidate in this race to disclose any donor or fundraiser who has a special title on their campaign…and to disclose the dates and locations of their fundraising events and the names of every person who appears on a host committee on invitations tied to those events.”

THE LATEST FOX NEWS POLL IN THE 2020 DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL NOMINATION RACE

Warren added: “If Democratic candidates for president want to spend their time hobnobbing with the rich and powerful, it is currently legal for them to do so – but they shouldn’t be handing out secret titles and honors to rich donors. Voters have a right to know who is buying access and recognition — and how much it costs.”

In her post, Warren does not specifically call out any of her fellow candidates, but her words appear to be a rebuke of Democratic presidential primary hopefuls like former Vice President Joe Bide, Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif, and South Bend, Ind. Mayor Pete Buttigieg. Each of these candidates have raised millions of dollars through fundraisers and private events with wealthy donors — a practice that is common in both major political parties in the U.S.

Warren, along with fellow candidate and Vermont lawmaker Bernie Sanders, have spurned big-dollar donors this campaign season, in favor of relying on small-dollar, online donations. The results have surprisingly seen them outraising other candidates last quarter.

Warren’s critics have slammed her for holding fundraisers in the past and using some of the money left in her war chest to launch her 2020 presidential bid. But since announcing her candidacy, Warren has not taken any PAC or big-dollar donations.

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“I’m not going to take any contributions over $200 from executives at big tech companies, big banks, private equity firms, or hedge funds,” Warren wrote. “And when I’m the Democratic nominee for president, I’m not going to change a thing in how I run my campaign: No PACs. No federal lobbyists. No special access or call time with rich donors or big dollar fundraisers to underwrite my campaign.”

Despite outraising most other candidates last quarter, Warren’s rivals still say that the small-dollar donations will hinder her chances of defeating President Trump should she win the Democratic nomination.

“We’re not going to beat him with pocket change,” Buttigieg said in a Snapchat post, adding that Democrats “need the full spectrum of support in order to compete.”

President Trump’s attorney Rudy Giuliani on Tuesday said he was “disappointed” in former National Security Adviser John Bolton, after reports emerged that he had called Giuliani a “hand grenade” over his Ukraine investigations — and told a top aide to alert a lawyer in the National Security Council.

“I am disappointed in John,” Giuliani said in a statement to Fox News. “I’m not sure he realizes I received all this evidence as part of my representation of the president. It was all part of the evidence, and suppression of evidence, involving Ukrainian collusion and the origin of some of the false information against the president.”

BOLTON INSTRUCTED FORMER RUSSIA ADVISER TO ALERT NSC LAWYER OVER UKRAINE, ADVISER TESTIFIES

Giuliani’s comments come after it emerged that Fiona Hill, a former senior director to Russian and Eurasian affairs, told lawmakers Monday that a meeting between Ukrainian and U.S. officials left her and Bolton so concerned that he told her to alert John Eisenberg, a lawyer at the NSC.

According to the New York Times, Hill said Bolton told her to notify Eisenberg about the effort by Giuliani, acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney and E.U. Ambassador Gordon Sondland to press Ukraine to investigate Democrats.

“I am not part of whatever drug deal Sondland and Mulvaney are cooking up,” Bolton allegedly told Hill, according to the Times.

Hill said Bolton had previously called Giuliani a “hand grenade who’s going to blow everyone up.”

The dramatic testimony demonstrated how Giuliani and others’ efforts to investigate activity in Ukraine, particularly that of former Vice President Joe Biden and his son Hunter, has split the White House.

House Democrats launched an impeachment inquiry last month after the emergence of a whistleblower complaint that alerted officials to a July 25 phone call between President Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. In that call, of which the transcript was later released by the White House, Trump urges Zelensky to “look into” Biden’s family’s conduct and allegations of Ukrainian interference in the 2016 election.

Democrats allege that Trump withheld U.S. military aid to the country to force the Ukrainians into investigating his political opponent — specifically Biden’s role in the firing of a top prosecutor who had been investigating a Ukrainian gas company, where Hunter Biden sat on the board.

TRUMP BACKS ‘LEGENDARY’ GIULIANI AMID REPORTS OF INVESTIGATION INTO POSSIBLY LOBBYING VIOLATIONS

Trump has denied any quid pro quo, and claimed instead that he was only looking to crack down on corruption. He has instead attempted to direct attention to Hunter Biden’s activities in both Ukraine and China.

As the impeachment inquiry has heated up, it has also brought more scrutiny to Giuliani’s role in spearheading a separate investigation into Ukraine. The New York Times reported Friday that prosecutors in Manhattan are investigating whether the former New York City mayor broke lobbying laws in his own dealings with Ukraine. On Monday, Reuters first reported that Giuliani’s firm had been paid $500,000 in 2018 by one of the two Ukrainian-American businessmen arrested last week on campaign finance charges.

”Although this has already been publicly discussed in the past, Giuliani Partners was retained by Fraud Guarantee in or about August, 2018,” he said in a statement to Fox News. “We were referred by a prominent attorney as our firm is particularly suited for this engagement because of its 17 years of experience in this area of work and our past experience with this type of business.”

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He said that most of the work was completed in 2018, and payment was received as a retainer paid in two installments, “but there is a continuing obligation to advise with regard to follow-up questions.” He also said that the source of the payments was domestic.

Trump gave his backing to Giuliani on Saturday, tweeting that he was a “great guy and wonderful lawyer.”

“So now they are after the legendary “crime buster” and greatest Mayor in the history of NYC, Rudy Giuliani. He may seem a little rough around the edges sometimes, but he is also a great guy and wonderful lawyer,” he tweeted. “Such a one sided Witch Hunt going on in USA. Deep State. Shameful!”

Fox News’ Edmund DeMarche and Chad Pergram contributed to this report. 

Hunter Biden’s past business dealings at home and abroad are increasingly coming under scrutiny, as the former vice president’s son is set to break his silence in a nationally televised interview this morning — and 12 Democratic presidential candidates are preparing to debate Tuesday evening in Ohio.

Although President Trump repeatedly has hammered Hunter Biden’s ties to China and Ukraine, the latest cloud of suspicion came as Republicans pointed to resurfaced 2008 reports in The New York Times and The American Spectator. The articles, written as Barack Obama and John McCain vied for the White House, found that Hunter Biden received consulting fees from the financial services company MBNA from 2001 to 2005 — while his father, then a senator, was pushing successfully for legislation that would make it harder for consumers to file for bankruptcy protection.

The precise amount of the payments was unclear, but a company official once said Hunter Biden was receiving at least a $100,000 per year retainer, the Times reported. Hunter Biden, now 49, previously had been an executive at MBNA beginning in 1996, but the consulting fees came years after his departure from the company as a full-time employee.

Aides to then-presidential candidate Barack Obama at the time denied that any lobbying had occurred, and insisted the payments were proper.

PROOF OF LINKS: PHOTOGRAPH SHOWS JOE, HUNTER BIDEN GOLFING WITH UKRAINE GAS EXEC

However, that explanation was treated with skepticism. On Monday, the Trump campaign posted a contemporaneous interview in which an incredulous Tom Brokaw asked Joe Biden whether it was “inappropriate” for the then-senator to have his son “collecting money from this big credit card company while you were on the [Senate] floor protecting its interests.”

Hunter Biden’s previous work as an executive at MBNA from 1996 to 1998 also has raised what critics called red flags.

Rachel Mullen, a former senior personal banking officer at MBNA from 1994-2001 who later went into Republican politics, tweeted Monday that managers referred to the younger Biden as “Senator MBNA” after he was hired into a lucrative management-prep track right after he graduated from Yale Law School.

TRUMP BELITTLES BIDENS WITH GRAPHIC LANGUAGE AT MINNEAPOLIS RALLY, AS CHAOS UNFOLDS OUTSIDE ARENA

An MBNA source who previously worked at the company told Fox News on Monday that other employees heard Biden boasting that his salary was unusually high, even for the management-prep track — which was widely seen in the company as a way to groom and pamper well-connected executive candidates with powerful family members.

The source said Biden’s “Senator MBNA” nickname was not politically motivated, but rather reflected a widely held belief among managers — who did not work directly with Biden — that he essentially was engaged in lobbying.

BIDEN CAMPAIGN SEEKS TO KICK GIULIANI OFF TV, AFTER HE IMPLICATES BIDENS IN OVERSEAS CORRUPTION

In a January 2008 article entitled “The Senator from MBNA,” columnist Byron York recounted how then-MBNA vice chairman John Cochran paid “top dollar” for Biden’s home in February 1996, just prior to his Senate re-election bid, and that “MBNA gave Cochran a lot of money—$330,000—to help with ‘expenses’ related to the move.”

The $1.2M sale was a “pretty darned good deal for Biden,” York wrote, noting that “Cochran simply paid Biden’s full asking price” even though the “house needed quite a bit of work; contractors and their trucks descended on the house for months after the purchase.”

Asked how Cochran and Biden found each other for the sale, an MBNA spokesperson told York: “That’s a very personal question.”

Federal election records also showed top MBNA executives apparently made a “concerted” effort to donate to Biden’s campaign, York reported.

It remained unclear whether, and to what extent, the resurfaced accounts of possible misconduct by the Bidens could affect the 2020 presidential race. An ABC News interview with Hunter Biden is set to air beginning Tuesday, and the issue might come up during Tuesday night’s presidential primary debate.

Under intense scrutiny from Republicans, Hunter Biden announced this past Sunday he will step down from the board of directors of a Chinese-backed private equity firm at the end of the month as part of a pledge not to work on behalf of any foreign-owned companies should his father win the presidency. At the same time, the Bidens have denied wrongdoing.

HUNTER MAY HAVE MADE ‘MILLIONS’ IN UKRAINE, NEWLY REVEALED DOCS SUGGEST

Biden revealed his plan in an Internet post written by his attorney, George Mesires, who outlined a defense of the younger Biden’s work in Ukraine and China, which has emerged as one of Trump’s chief lines of attack against Hunter’s father.

“Hunter makes the following commitment: Under a Biden Administration, Hunter will readily comply with any and all guidelines or standards a President Biden may issue to address purported conflicts of interest, or the appearance of such conflicts, including any restrictions related to overseas business interests. In any event, Hunter will agree not to serve on boards of, or work on behalf of, foreign-owned companies,” Mesires wrote.

He continued: “He will continue to keep his father personally uninvolved in his business affairs, while availing himself as necessary and appropriate to the Office of the White House Counsel to help inform his application of the Biden Administration’s guidelines or standards to his business decision-making.”

From late 2013 through this month, Hunter Biden has served on the board of BHR (Shanghai) Equity Investment Fund Management Company, which was “formed with the stated intent to invest Chinese capital outside of China.” Mesires insisted Biden’s initial role was that of an unpaid member of the board and that in October 2017, Biden “committed to invest approximately $420,000 USD to acquire a 10 percent equity position in BHR, which he still holds.”

Separately, Joe Biden has acknowledged on camera that in spring 2016, when he was vice president and spearheading the Obama administration’s Ukraine policy, he successfully pressured Ukraine to fire top prosecutor Viktor Shokin. At the time, Shokin was investigating Burisma Holdings — where Hunter had a lucrative role on the board despite limited relevant expertise. Shokin also was widely accused of corruption.

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Critics alleged Hunter Biden, in effect, might have been selling access to his father, who had pushed Ukraine to increase its natural gas production.

“Impossible to justify $50k/month for Hunter Biden serving on a Ukrainian energy board w zero expertise unless he promised to sell access,” political scientist Ian Bremmer tweeted.

Fox News’ Edmund DeMarche and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Federal prosecutors in Manhattan are examining Rudy Giuliani’s business dealings in Ukraine, including his finances, meetings and work for a city mayor there, according to people familiar with the matter.

BOLTON TOLD AIDE TO INFORM NSC LAWYER ABOUT UKRAINE MEETING: TESTIMONY

Investigators also have examined Giuliani’s bank records, according to the people.

Witnesses have been questioned about Giuliani since at least August by investigators, who also want to know more about Giuliani’s role in an alleged conspiracy involving two of his business associates, the people said. The investigation is being led by the U.S. attorney’s office in the Southern District of New York.

GAETZ KICKED OUT OF HEARING

Giuliani has denied wrongdoing and on Monday said he hadn’t been informed of any investigation. “They can look at my Ukraine business all they want,” he said.

It couldn’t be determined how far along the investigation stands. The scope of the inquiry also isn’t known. Since April 2018, Mr. Giuliani has been President Trump’s personal lawyer, work for which he isn’t paid.

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Fiona Hill, the former senior director for Russian and Eurasian affairs, told lawmakers on Monday that a July meeting with Ukrainian and U.S. officials about unspecified investigations left her and John Bolton, the former national security adviser, so concerned that he directed her to alert a lawyer in the National Security Council, Fox News confirmed.

Hill, who exited the administration days before the July 25 phone call between President Trump and Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky, testified on Monday for about nine hours in front of three House panels where she reportedly raised concerns about a July 10 meeting. The Wall Street Journal reported that those at the hearing took her comments to refer to the “investigation that could implicate Biden and his son.”

Both Bolton and Hill, who were present at the meeting, had concerns about the conversation, she testified. Bolton directed her to alert John Eisenberg, a lawyer at the NSC, she said, the Journal reported.

FEDERAL PROSECUTORS LOOK  INTO GIULIANI’S BUSINESS DEALINGS WITH UKRAINE

The New York Times reported that during the meeting, Bolton got into a heated exchange with Gordon D. Sondland, the European Union ambassador. The paper reported that Sondland worked with Rudy Giuliani, Trump’s personal lawyer, to pressure the Ukrainians to investigate the Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden. Hill reportedly said Bolton likened the former New York City mayor to a “hand grenade who’s going to blow everybody up.” She said it appeared Giuliani was not working in coordination with the normal foreign policy channels when dealing with Ukraine.

Giuliani has said in the past that he worked in conjunction with the State Department, the Journal reported.

The Times, citing two people familiar with the testimony, reported that Hill said Bolton told her to tell Eisenberg that Giuliani was working with the White House chief of staff, Mick Mulvaney, on the rogue investigation.

“I am not part of whatever drug deal Rudy and Mulvaney are cooking up,” Bolton reportedly told White House attorneys. The Washington Post reported that investigators are now considering calling Bolton to testify. Sondland is expected to testify later this week.

Fox News sent an after-hours email to spokespersons for Giuliani, Bolton, and Sondland and did not get an immediate response. Hill did not immediately respond to other media outlets including the Times and Journal.

President Trump has insisted that any request for Kiev to investigate Biden and his son, Hunter, was to make sure the country was working to weed out corruption. Trump expressed doubts about how Hunter Biden could land a $50,000-a-month job at a Ukrainian gas company with little to no experience in the sector or country.

Joe Biden said he played no role in his son’s business career. Democrats claim that Trump used the power of his office to try to damage a political opponent.

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“There was an official foreign policy, which was attempting to counter corruption in Ukraine. And then there was Rudy Giuliani, and, you know, the gang that couldn’t shoot straight who worked for him, who were…connected with corruption in Ukraine and promoting the corruption in Ukraine,” said Rep. Jamie Raskin, D., Md., told the Wall Street Journal after Hill’s testimony.

Fox News’ Chad Pergram contributed to this report

Former first lady Michelle Obama repeatedly has stated there’s “zero chance” she would run for president in 2020 — but a new poll in New Hampshire, the state holding the first primary in the race for the White House, suggested that if Obama changed her mind, she would enter the race as the front-runner.

The Boston Herald-Franklin Pierce University survey, released on Monday, indicated a three-way tie for the top spot in New Hampshire — with Sen. Elizabeth Warren at 25 percent support, former Vice President Joe Biden at 24 percent, and Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont at 22 percent.

WARREN, BIDEN TOP POLLS ON EVE OF LATEST DEMOCRATIC PRIMARY DEBATE

But, if Obama hypothetically jumped into the race, the poll suggested she would grab 26 percent support of likely Democratic primary voters in the Granite State, with Warren and Biden at 20 percent and Sanders at 15 percent.

The former first lady has resisted a flood of calls for her to declare her candidacy.

MICHELLE OBAMA SAYS RUNNING FOR PRESIDENT ‘JUST NOT FOR ME’

“There are so many ways to improve this country and build a better world, and I keep doing plenty of them, from working with young people to helping families lead healthier lives. But sitting behind the desk in the Oval Office will never be one of them. It’s just not for me,” she told Amtrak’s magazine The National this past August.

The Boston Herald-Franklin Pierce University poll was conducted Oct. 9-13, with 422 likely Democratic primary voters in New Hampshire questioned by live telephone operators. The survey’s margin of error was plus or minus 4.8 percentage points.