The White House News

He trails former President Donald Trump by at least 25 points in the latest polls in the state that leads off the Republican presidential nominating calendar, but Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis remains confident.

“We’re going to win here. We have what it takes,” DeSantis vowed in a Fox News interview in Iowa’s capital city.

The Florida governor spoke minutes before he sat down with former ambassador and former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley and multi-millionaire biotech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy – two of his 2024 GOP White House rivals – in front of a large crowd of social conservative voters in a state where evangelicals play an outsized role in Republican politics.

DeSantis is making a strong showing in Iowa central to his bid to defeat Trump, who remains the commanding Republican front-runner as he makes his third straight run for the White House.

DESANTIS, HALEY, RAMASWAMY, GET PERSONAL AS THEY SIT SIDE-BY-SIDE

But Haley, who’s enjoyed momentum in the polls in recent months thanks in part to well-received performances in the first three GOP presidential primary debates, has leapfrogged DeSantis for second place in New Hampshire – which holds the first primary and votes second in the Republican schedule – and her home state – which holds the first southern contest.

Now, she aims to make a fight of it in Iowa, where she’s pulling even with DeSantis in some of the latest polls.

“The momentum is real. The excitement is there. We’re going to keep working hard to win every Iowan’s vote. We’re not going to give up on Iowa,” Haley touted in a Fox News Digital interview Friday ahead of a town hall in Newton, Iowa.

COULD THIS IOWA EVANGELICAL LEADER’S ENDORSEMENT PUT DENT IN TRUMP’S COMMANDING LEAD?

With under two months to go until the January 15 caucuses, Haley returned to Iowa showcasing over 70 new Hawkeye State endorsements. And Haley is set to launch a $10 million ad blitz in Iowa and New Hampshire in two weeks.

Asked what kind of finish she needs in Iowa, Haley responded, “we don’t look at it as what do we have to have. The way I look at it is, we’re not going to stop until we get every single person’s vote. That’s the focus.”

But Haley, who only last month opened her headquarters in Iowa, is playing catch up with DeSantis, who been all-in on the Hawkeye State for months. Between his campaign and the DeSantis-aligned super PAC Never Back Down, the Florida governor has built up a formidable ground game. 

“We’re going to get the job done,” he pledged.

In a major boost for DeSantis, the Florida governor landed the endorsement earlier this month of Gov. Kim Reynolds, who is very popular among Hawkeye State Republicans. Reynolds’ backing helped DeSantis alter a negative narrative.

Reynolds is scheduled to spend Saturday campaigning with DeSantis at multiple stops in Iowa. 

DeSantis called the endorsement “a huge plus for us.”

He’s also aiming to land the endorsement of Bob Vander Plaats, the president and CEO of The Family Leader, the influential social conservative group that hosted Friday’s presidential forum.

Vander Plaats backed former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee in 2008, former Sen. Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania in 2012, and Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas in 2016 — all three of whom went on to win the Iowa caucuses, but failed to capture the GOP presidential nomination.

When asked about winning the support of Vander Plaats, DeSantis told Fox News “we would love that endorsement…I think after this forum, that may be a time when they want to dig in.”

WITH NINE WEEKS TO GO UNTIL THE FIRST VOTES IN THE GOP PRESIDENTIAL NOMINATION RACE, THIS CANDIDATE REMAINS IN THE DRIVER’S SEAT

DeSantis, who earlier this year signed a six-week abortion ban into law in Florida, questioned Trump’s social conservative credentials and argued that “Haley has moved left on a lot of these issues, so I’m really the conservative choice at this point. I think the governor [Reynolds] endorsing me shows that. I think you’ll see us coalesce the support of conservatives on caucus night.”

At the forum, Haley doubled down on comments on her stance on abortion that she made last week at the third Republican presidential debate, in which she urged Americans to find consensus when it comes to limiting abortions.

Haley also reiterated that she is “unapologetically pro-life” and emphasized that “our overall goal is how do we save as many babies as possible and support as many moms as we can.” 

Nicole Schlinger, a longtime Iowa-based strategist with close ties to evangelicals, told Fox News that “this was the answer that I think Iowans were waiting for from Amb. Haley on life issues… I think that was very positive.”

“Gov. DeSantis really came alive during the second half of this forum,” added Schlinger, who’s neutral in the GOP presidential nomination race. “This was a very pro-DeSantis crowd. He got the biggest applause.”

A couple of hours before the presidential forum in Des Moines, Haley landed a surprise endorsement from another social conservative leader in Iowa.

As Haley was taking questions from the audience at a town hall in Newton, Iowa, former state GOP executive director and former president of the Iowa Right to Life Marlys Popma stood to speak.

“I was an undecided voter when I walked in here today, and I am no longer an undecided voter,” Popma said, as many in the crowd applauded. “I just want to tell Nikki that I wholeheartedly support you.”

While Haley and DeSantis have repeatedly clashed in recent weeks as they battle for second place in the polls behind Trump, who remains the commanding front-runner for the GOP presidential nomination, there were no fireworks at the Family Leader forum.

Asked if it’s getting personal between her and DeSantis, Haley told Fox News “no, it’s not personal. I think Ron’s been a good governor. I think we’re both fighting to save our country. I think we have differences of opinion.”

And Haley, who advocates a muscular American foreign policy compared to DeSantis, Trump, or Ramaswamy, argued that “I have a stronger foreign policy sense than he does. I’ve focused on what I did as governor. He’s focused on what he did as governor. But I was also at the United Nations and dealt with these countries every single day.”

Given a chance to respond to her comments, DeSantis told Fox News Haley “has less than two years at the U.N., which is a corrupt organization that I would defund.”

DeSantis touted his military service in the War in Iraq and his years on the House Foreign Affairs Committee and charged “I think she really represents kind of the failed foreign policy elite that we’ve seen over the last 20-25 years.”

Fox News’ Aubrie Spady and Monico Oroz contributed to this report

Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more at our Fox News Digital election hub.

A new poll suggests that significantly more voters trust former President Donald Trump in handling the ongoing crisis at the southern border compared to President Biden — just as the U.S. remains wracked by a historic migrant crisis.

The Marquette Law School Poll asked respondents who would handle immigration and border security better. Of those polled, 50% said Trump, 27% said Biden, 7% said about the same and 16% said neither.

Respondents also believed Trump to be better on the economy by a 21-point margin. It also found him preferred on the Israel-Hamas war, foreign relations and Medicare and Social Security by just one point. Biden was preferred on abortion policy and climate change.

TRUMP SAYS HE WILL CARRY OUT THE ‘LARGEST DOMESTIC DEPORTATION OPERATION IN AMERICAN HISTORY’ IF ELECTED 

The poll comes as the U.S. continues to face a migrant crisis now deep into its third year. There were more than 249,000 migrant encounters in October, the highest October on record.

That comes after more than 2.4 million migrant encounters in FY23 — itself an annual record – and more than 600,000 gotaways.

Republicans have hammered the Biden administration for its handling of the migrant crisis, blaming it on its policies — including the rolling back of Trump-era policies like the Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP) and border wall construction, as well as decreased interior enforcement. 

In the House, Republicans have passed a sweeping bill that would strictly limit asylum and increase border security measures — including resuming wall construction. But it has not received support from Democrats, which would be needed for it to pass the Senate. Republicans have also moved to impeach DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas — although a bid to do that failed in the GOP-controlled House this week.

Trump, running for the presidency in 2024, has promised to carry out the “largest domestic deportation operation in American history” if elected.

THOUSANDS OF CHINESE NATIONALS, GOTAWAYS AT THE SOUTHER BORDER SINCE OCT 1: SOURCES 

Meanwhile, the Biden administration has said it is dealing with a hemisphere-wide crisis, and is in need of resources and immigration reform legislation to fix what it says is a “broken” immigration system. It also says it is using a strategy of implementing “consequences” for illegal entry while broadening “legal pathways” for migration.

It has called for the passage of legislation it unveiled in early 2021, which not only would have broadened immigration paths but also would have granted amnesty to millions of illegal immigrants already in the country. It has yet to pick up any Republican support. The White House recently requested an extra $14 billion in supplemental funding for “border operations.” That includes money for for migrant services and housing, anti-fentanyl technology and more border agents.

A fact sheet put out by the White House stressed that the Biden administration’s strategy is “focused on enforcement, deterrence and diplomacy” that includes a massive expansion of “lawful pathways” into the U.S.

“The request we have made of Congress today provides critically needed funding to equip the Department of Homeland Security with the people and tools it needs to prevent cartels from moving fentanyl through our ports of entry and to enforce our immigration laws in an orderly and effective way,” Mayorkas said in a statement. 

Meanwhile, the crisis has not only affected border communities but also cities and states deeper in the interior. New York City on Thursday announced deep budget cuts, including to policing and education, which it blamed on the billions it is spending on dealing with the more than 110,000 migrants that have come through the “sanctuary” city in the last year.

DES MOINES, IOWA – They’ve traded fire from behind podiums on the Republican presidential debate stage.

But White House rivals Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, former ambassador and former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, and biotech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy sat down together on Friday around the same table for a very different discussion in front of a large crowd of social conservative voters in Iowa, the state whose caucuses kick off the 2024 GOP presidential nominating calendar.

All three candidates shared personal and at times emotional stories at a presidential Thanksgiving forum hosted by The Family Leader, a politically active and influential social conservative group in a state where evangelical voters play an outsized role in Republican politics.

And each of the candidates spotlighted the difficulties they endured in having children as they showcased their opposition to legalized abortion.

COULD THIS IOWA EVANGELICAL LEADER’S ENDORSEMENT PUT DENT IN TRUMP’S COMMANDING LEAD?

“I actually haven’t shared this story before,” Ramaswamy said as he described his wife Apoorva’s first pregnancy. 

“About three and a half months in… one day she woke up, she was bleeding. She had a miscarriage. We lost our first child,” Ramaswamy shared.

Moments later, he signaled for his young son to join him on stage.

DeSantis also noted his wife Casey’s miscarriage, and shared publicly for the first time how the two of them prayed for a child during a trip to Israel soon after their marriage.

TRUMP, DESANTIS OR HALEY — WHO BENEFITS AS TIM SCOTT DROPS OUT OF THE RACE?

“We got back to the United States, and a little time later, we got pregnant,” DeSantis continued. “But unfortunately, we lost that first baby.”

Haley also discussed the difficulties she had in getting pregnant.

And Haley doubled down on comments on her stance on abortion that she made last week at the third Republican presidential debate, in which she urged Americans to find consensus when it comes to limiting abortions.

Family Leader president and CEO Bob Vander Plaats noted that Haley’s debate comments sounded “pro-choice” to some evangelicals and asked the presidential candidate to “assure them why that’s not a pro-choice answer.”

Haley reiterated that she is “unapologetically pro-life” and emphasized that “our overall goal is how do we save as many babies as possible and support as many moms as we can.” 

“I think you can look at my entire record as governor. I fought for life whether it was a pain-capable bill, whether it was making sure that women had to wait to see an ultrasound before they made a decision,” said Haley said as she pointed to her two-terms steering South Carolina.

And Haley, who served as ambassador to the United Nations during former President Donald Trump’s administration, touted that “they said that I was the most pro-life ambassador they had ever had represent the U.S. at the United Nations because we did everything we could to make sure our taxpayer dollars never went towards anything that would take that life away or abortion.”

When Vander Plaats pressed Haley on whether she would have signed a six-week abortion bill into law when she was governor,” she quickly answered “Yes. Whatever the people decide, you should do.”

“I think it’s right to be in the hands of the people. I think that the people decided this was put in the states; that’s where it should be. Everybody can give their voice to it.” 

WITH NINE WEEKS TO GO UNTIL THE FIRST VOTES IN THE GOP PRESIDENTIAL NOMINATION RACE, THIS CANDIDATE REMAINS IN THE DRIVER’S SEAT

Nicole Schlinger, a longtime Iowa-based strategist with close ties to evangelicals, told Fox News that “this was the answer that I think Iowans were waiting for from Amb. Haley on life issues… I think that was very positive.”

“Gov. DeSantis really came alive during the second half of this forum,” added Schlinger, who’s neutral in the GOP presidential nomination race. “This was a very pro-DeSantis crowd. He got the biggest applause.”

While Haley and DeSantis have repeatedly clashed in recent weeks as they battle for second place in the polls behind Trump, who remains the commanding front-runner for the GOP presidential nomination, there were no fireworks on Friday. 

And the recent acrimony between Haley and Ramaswamy was also not evident at the forum.

“I don’t want to know what is bad about the other person,” Vander Plaats, who moderated the forum, said as he explained the ground rules. “I want to have an adult conversation about the future of this country.”

Trump, who was invited to the forum, declined to attend. It was the second major presidential cattle call hosted by the Family Leader that Trump skipped this year. The former president will return to Iowa on Saturday, to headline a rally. 

The forum was briefly interrupted by a climate protester, who shouted, “Repent! Repent!” 

“How can you guys talk about being pro-life when our children’s future is on fire? ” the protester said before being escorted out of the hotel ballroom in downtown Des Moines where the event was held.

Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more at our Fox News Digital election hub.

Former President Donald Trump and his family attended the funeral of his sister, Maryanne Trump Barry, at a church in New York City on Friday, The New York Post reported.

Barry, a retired judge and assistant U.S. attorney, passed away on Nov. 13 at the age of 86.

According to The Post, “a somber-looking” Trump was joined by former First Lady Melania Trump, sons Donald Jr., and Eric, daughter Ivanka and a number of others at St. Ignatius of Loyola Church on Park Avenue on Manhattan’s Upper East Side.

TRUMP TO REMAIN ON COLORADO BALLOT AFTER JUDGE REJECTS 14TH AMENDMENT CHALLENGE TO ELIGIBILITY

Trump waited with his family on the sidewalk outside to greet the hearse carrying Barry’s coffin before entering the church.

The Post reported that New York Archbishop Cardinal Timothy Dolan performed the blessing over Barry’s body.

Barry was a former federal appellate judge who retired in April 2019, according to the New York Times. The newspaper, citing people familiar with the matter, reports that she passed away at her home in New York City’s Manhattan borough, with one person saying she was found Monday morning.

COULD EVANGELICAL LEADER’S ENDORSEMENT UPEND TRUMP’S MASSIVE LEAD BEFORE IOWA’S CAUCUS?

In 2016, Trump called his sister a “highly respected judge” while noting they disagree on public policy issues.

Four years later, Trump dismissed secret audio recordings released of Barry saying he had “no principles” and was “cruel.”

“Every day it’s something else, who cares?” Trump said in a statement at the time, according to the Washington Post.

LEFT-WING COMEDIAN MICHAEL RAPAPORT SAYS VOTING FOR TRUMP ‘ON THE TABLE’ IF ANTI SEMITISM NOT ADDRESSED IN US

The Washington Post’s story about the recordings appeared one day after the White House hosted a private memorial service for Robert Trump, the president’s younger brother, who died Aug. 15, 2020, at age 71.

During her legal career, Barry worked as a federal prosecutor before being nominated by then-President Ronald Reagan to the Federal District Court in New Jersey in 1983, the New York Times reported.

In 1999, then-President Bill Clinton appointed her to the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, the newspaper added.

Fox News’ Greg Norman and Houston Keene contributed to this report.

Arizona State University canceled an on-campus event where Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., was going to speak Friday.

The event was organized by the Arizona Palestine Network, which is not an on-campus organization at ASU. Tlaib was going to give a speech at the “Palestine is an American issue” event.

An ASU spokesperson told Fox News Digital the event didn’t follow university policies and procedures.

“Organizers of events using ASU facilities must be properly registered with ASU and must meet all university requirements for crowd management, parking, security, and insurance. In addition, the events must be produced in a way which minimizes disruption to academic and other activities on campus. The event featuring Congresswoman Tlaib was planned and produced by groups not affiliated with ASU and was organized outside of ASU policies and procedures. Accordingly, that event will not take place today on the ASU Tempe campus,” the spokesperson said.

PRO-PALESTINIAN RALLIES IN NYC AND DC INTERRUPT CROWDED HUBS DURING RUSH-HOUR COMMUTE

The Arizona Palestine Network responded to the cancelation on Facebook, calling it “completely unacceptable.”

“Rashida Tlaib must be heard on campus as the only Palestinian member of Congress who plans to speak on an American issue at this event. ASU cannot claim to hold free speech as a principle while denying Palestinians their voices on campus. Cancelling this event puts the university in direct contradiction with its charter as a university ‘measured not by whom it excludes, but by whom it includes and how they succeed,'” the group wrote.

ANTISEMITISM EXPOSED

Tlaib’s appearance in Arizona would have come just over a week after the House of Representatives voted to censure her over anti-Israel comments she made.

The text of the resolution accused her of “promoting false narratives regarding the October 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel and for calling for the destruction of the state of Israel.”

Tlaib, a Palestinian American, took criticism for sharing a video on X that included the pro-Palestinian phrase, “From the river to the sea.”

Mexico’s President Andrés Manuel López Obrador on Friday praised President Biden for being the “first president in the United States in recent times who has not built walls.”

López Obrador made the remark while meeting with Biden in San Francisco, adding that “we wish to assist the people in their countries of origin when they are forced to migrate.” 

“I would like to also take this opportunity to greet our paisanos, the Mexican migrants who are living and making a life and working in the United States,” he continued. “Around 40 million people have made the United States their second home, their second country, and I would also like to inform those who may not be aware of this that in recent years there are many American citizens who are moving to Mexico to stay there or to live in Mexico.”

“So welcome, because we are brotherly countries,” López Obrador added. 

BIDEN ADMINISTRATION APPROVES $950 MILLION IN CONTRACTS FOR BORDER WALL REPAIR, UPGRADES 

Biden said while sitting next to Mexico’s president, “We’re working side by side to combat arms trafficking, to tackle organized crime and to address the opioid epidemic, including fentanyl.” 

The meeting comes two weeks after Fox News Digital reported that the Biden administration approved $950 million in contracts to repair and upgrade part of existing border wall construction in Arizona, California and Texas, using money from Trump-era congressional appropriations. 

NEWS PHOTOGRAPHER SHOT DEAD IN CARTEL-DOMINATED MEXICAN BORDER HUB 

In court documents, first reported by the New York Post, the Department of Homeland Security said that Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has awarded contracts for repair work and “system attribute installation” in the San Diego, El Centro, El Paso and Tucson Sectors. 

Remediation work includes closing gaps, installing gates and improving roads and drainage systems. “System attribute installation” includes putting in cameras, roads and detection technology to enhance the border wall. Other contracts include installing anti-climb features on the wall in San Diego, IT support and environmental planning. None of the money was awarded for additional wall construction.

Fox News’ Adam Shaw contributed to this report. 

COLUMBIA, Mo. (AP) — A trial for a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of Missouri‘s new photo identification requirement for voters is scheduled to begin Friday. Here is a look at the function of the law and why voting rights groups are suing:

WHAT THE LAW DOES

Missouri’s GOP-led Legislature last year capped off a nearly two-decade-long push by Republicans and passed a law requiring voters to show photo identification to cast a regular ballot.

WIDESPREAD SUPPORT FOR VOTER ID AND MAKING EARLY VOTING EASIER: NATIONAL POLL

People without a government-issued photo ID can cast provisional ballots to be counted if they return later that day with a photo ID or if election officials verify their signatures. The law requires the state to provide a free photo identification card to those lacking one to vote.

LEGAL CHALLENGES

The Missouri League of Women Voters, NAACP and two voters sued to overturn the law last year, arguing the change makes casting ballots unconstitutionally difficult for some voters.

Cole County Presiding Judge Jon Beetem, who also will hear arguments in the trial beginning Friday, dismissed the case in October 2022. He found neither of the two voters “alleged a specific, concrete, non-speculative injury or legally protectable interest in challenging the photo ID requirement.”

The Missouri ACLU and Missouri Voter Protection Coalition, who sued on behalf of the plaintiffs, have since added another voter to the lawsuit and asked Beetem again to find the voter ID requirement unconstitutional.

ARGUMENTS AGAINST THE LAW

The newest plaintiff is John O’Connor, a 90-year-old Columbia, Missouri, resident with poor vision who needs help walking. When the law took effect last year, O’Connor had an expired passport and driver’s license, which are not acceptable forms of identification to vote under state law.

His lawyers argued he eventually obtained a non-driver’s license with the help of his wife, but only because officials accepted his expired driver’s license despite guidance from the state Revenue Department that long-expired licenses are not acceptable records to use when seeking new IDs.

“Even when a voter obtains the underlying documentation, voters who lack transportation, cannot get to the DMV or other government agencies during their hours of operation, or have a disability or impairment that prevents them from accessing a DMV, the voter is still unable to surmount the burdens to obtaining a photo ID,” the plaintiffs’ lawyers wrote in a pretrial brief.

ARGUMENTS FOR THE LAW

Republican Attorney General Andrew Bailey’s office is defending the law in court. The state lawyers argue that, so far, no one has been turned away at the polls because of the law.

Missouri provides free non-driver’s licenses for voting to those who do not already have a driver’s license or have a current license. The health department’s Bureau of Vital Records provides free birth certificates to those seeking their first non-driver’s license in order to vote if the applicant does not have a current driver’s license.

“There is not a severe burden on the right to vote as the State has gone to great lengths to help voters obtain IDs,” Bailey wrote in a court brief.

VOTER ID ELSEWHERE

The National Conference of State Legislatures reports 36 states request or require identification to vote, of which at least 20 ask for a photo ID.

Other Republican-led states are moving in the same direction as Missouri as they respond to conservative voters unsettled by unfounded claims of widespread fraud and persistent conspiracy theories over the accuracy of U.S. elections. Critics characterize such requirements as an overreaction that could disenfranchise eligible voters.

For the first time this year, Ohio voters were required show photo identification to cast ballots in person. The new law eliminated previously acceptable non-photo options, such as a utility bill, bank statement, government check or paycheck. State-issued photo IDs are available free of charge

Missouri Republicans are not the only ones who had to fight for years to enact ID requirements.

North Carolina’s voter photo identification law, enacted nearly five years ago by the Republican-controlled legislature but blocked by litigation, is just now being implemented. Registered voters there can get free IDs at their county election offices if they provide their name, date of birth and the last four digits of their Social Security number.

Nebraska lawmakers this summer passed a voter ID law allowing a wide array of photo identification that voters can present at the polls. IDs include passports, driver’s licenses, military and tribal IDs and Nebraska college IDs. Expired IDs are allowed if they have the voter’s name and photo. Residents of hospitals, nursing homes and assisted living centers will be able to use patient documents that include a photo.

The brother-in-law of former Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams, a Democrat, has been arrested in Florida on charges of human trafficking, battery and lewd or lascivious touching of a minor, according to the Office of the State Attorney for the 13th Judicial Circuit.

“Jimmie Gardner, a youth motivational speaker and brother-in-law of former Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams, is facing serious charges of human trafficking and is currently in jail in Hillsborough County with no bond. Gardner is scheduled to face a judge in first [court appearance] in Tampa tomorrow,” the office said in a Friday press release.

Tampa Police stated that the incident occurred early Friday morning at the Renaissance Hotel at International Plaza when 57-year-old Jimmie Gardner allegedly engaged in sexual acts with a 16-year-old girl before assaulting her during an altercation.

GEORGIA REPUBLICANS DUNK ON VOTING LAW CRITICS AFTER MLB ALL-STAR GAME RETURNS TO ATLANTA

Gardner allegedly met the minor at 1:43 a.m. and invited her into his hotel room, which she accepted, before offering to pay her for sex.

“The victim initially agreed but later told Gardner that she no longer wanted to engage and he became angry,” police said. “Gardner advised the victim that she needed to leave his hotel room. The two got involved in a verbal altercation that escalated to a physical dispute after Gardner placed his hands around the victim’s neck, impeding her breathing.” 

“After the dispute, Gardner left the hotel room, and the victim called 911.”

STACEY ABRAMS’ VOTING GROUP ACCUSED OF ‘POOR FINANCIAL RECORD-KEEPING’: REPORT

Police said they found the victim at the scene when they arrived, but that Gardner had already left the hotel. He later turned himself in to the Tampa Police District 1 Office, and was charged with “human trafficking, lewd and lascivious touching of certain minors, and battery.”

Gardner is the husband of U.S. District Court Judge Leslie Abrams Gardner, Abrams’ sister, who was appointed by former President Barack Obama in 2014 before being unanimously confirmed by the Senate.

Fox News Digital has reached out to Abrams and Judge Gardner for comment.