Vice President Kamala Harris has rejected Russian President Vladimir Putin’s alleged attempt to place blame on Ukraine for the attack at a suburban Moscow concert hall that killed more than 130 people. 

During an interview with ABC’s Rachel Scott, Harris reiterated that ISIS was responsible for the shooting attack that sparked an inferno at the Crocus City concert hall in Krasnogorsk, outside Moscow. Russia observed a day of national mourning on Sunday and the death toll is expected to climb. 

‘Vladimir Putin is already trying to link this to Ukraine and say that Ukraine is responsible. Does the U.S. have any evidence to back that up?’ Scott said during the interview that aired on ABC’s ‘This Week’ Sunday. 

‘No. And first, let me start by saying what has happened is an act of terrorism and the number of people who’ve been killed is obviously a tragedy, and we should all send our condolences to those families,’ Harris responded. ‘No, there is no whatsoever any evidence. And in fact, what we know to be the case is that ISIS is actually, by all accounts, responsible for what happened.’ 

In a nighttime address, Putin called the attack ‘a bloody, barbaric terrorist act’ and said Russian authorities captured four suspects on Saturday as they were trying to escape to Ukraine through a ‘window’ prepared for them on the Ukrainian side of the border.

Russian media broadcast videos that apparently showed the detention and interrogation of the suspects, including one who told the cameras he was approached by an unidentified assistant to an Islamic preacher via a messaging app and paid to take part in the raid.

Kyiv strongly denied any involvement, and the Islamic State group’s Afghanistan affiliate claimed responsibility.

Putin didn’t mention ISIS in his speech to the nation, and Kyiv accused him and other Russian politicians of falsely linking Ukraine to the assault to stoke fervor for Russia’s fight in Ukraine, which recently entered its third year. U.S. intelligence officials said they had confirmed the ISIS affiliate’s claim.

‘ISIS bears sole responsibility for this attack. There was no Ukrainian involvement whatsoever,’ National Security Council spokeswoman Adrienne Watson said in a statement.

Two weeks before Friday’s attack on the Russian concert hall, the U.S. embassy issued a warning to Americans to ‘avoid large gatherings,’ including concerts, because of ‘imminent plans’ for an attack by ‘extremists.’

‘The Embassy is monitoring reports that extremists have imminent plans to target large gatherings in Moscow, to include concerts, and U.S. citizens should be advised to avoid large gatherings over the next 48 hours,’ stated the March 7 alert. 

Fox News’ Brie Stimson and The Associated Press contributed to this report. 

Vice President Kamala Harris was captured on camera clapping to a Puerto Rican protest song during her visit to San Juan on Friday, stopping short once an aide translated what singers added to the lyrics. 

After making remarks in Puerto Rico’s capital, Harris visited the Goyoco community center in the Santurce neighborhood of San Juan where she took a tour and heard from center staff and community leaders. 

The motorcade was greeted by a mix of several dozen, loud demonstrators and onlookers on the sidewalk. One held a sign that said ‘Kamala Harris war criminal,’ another called the USA and Israel ‘genocidal.’

The vice president stopped in a courtyard within the community center where a six-person group of musicians played. Pool cameras captured Harris clapping her hands and nodding along as she watched and listened. A singer then performed accompanied by a piano. According to RNC Research, Harris was clapping until an aide next to her translated what the band was saying. 

The woman standing next to Harris is Mariana Reyes, executive director at La Goyco, while the man is Frankie Miranda, Hispanic Federation president, according to The Associated Press. 

‘We want to know, Kamala, what did you come here for?… Long live Free Palestine and Haiti too!’ the band said, according to the account managed by the Republican National Committee. 

Harris then stopped clapping and instead folded her hands and slightly nodded as the song continued. 

Before visiting the community center, Harris had visited a residential home outside San Juan that was damaged during Hurricane Maria but has since been outfitted with solar panels and water tanks, through a federal program. She was joined by Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm, Deputy Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Adrianne Todman, and Puerto Rico Gov. Pedro Pierluisi.  

‘What we all need to do then is just supply the community and the talent here with the capacity and the resources. And so President Joe Biden and I have been very intentional about what we are doing for the leaders and the people and the families of Puerto Rico. So far, our administration has invested over $140 billion in Puerto Rico,’ Harris said, championing new innovations in making technology hurricane resistant.

Fox News’ Sarah Tobianski contributed to this report. 

President Biden’s 2024 campaign has employed a new strategy, one taken right out of former President Donald Trump’s playbook: name-calling.

Trump, during his 2016 primary campaign, referred to top Republican primary opponents as ‘Lyin’ Ted’ Cruz and ‘Little Marco’ Rubio. He took jabs at Democrats like Sen. Elizabeth Warren as ‘Pocahontas’ and Sen. Majority Leader ‘Cryin” Chuck Schumer and Speaker of the House ‘Crazy Nancy’ Pelosi.

He called his 2016 presidential opponent ‘Crooked Hillary’ and then, in 2020, called Biden, ‘Crazy Joe.’

The Biden camp distributed an email this week calling the president’s opponent ‘Broke Don’ – a reference to Trump’s financial troubles. The 45th president recently failed to secure an appeal bond to delay payment of the $464 million he owes, due to AG Letitia James’ civil investigation of The Trump Organization.

‘Trump can’t raise money, isn’t campaigning, and is letting convicts and conspiracy theorists run his campaign,’ the email claims.

Trump has mocked Biden for years, saying the 46th president allegedly was avoiding the press and ‘hiding’ in his Wilmington, Del. basement during the 2020 race – which the email appears to reference. 

‘We have a guy that doesn’t come out of his basement,’ Trump said during a ‘FOX & Friends’ appearance in 2020. ‘Somebody like Biden, he doesn’t know what to do.’

‘He doesn’t come out because he can’t. He doesn’t take any questions from reporters… This guy doesn’t come out of his basement, and he hasn’t taken one question.’

Election filings that were publicized on Wednesday showed that Trump raised $20 million for his campaign in February, while Biden’s campaign raised $53 million. Going into March, Trump’s camp had $41.9 million in hand, while Biden’s had $155 million.

Reuters correspondent Nandita Bose tweeted a screenshot of the Biden campaign’s email titled ‘Not a Winning Campaign: Broke Don Hides in Basement’ on Thursday. 

Political strategist Ashley Hayek criticized the Biden campaign’s name-calling email while speaking with Fox News Digital on Saturday.

‘Crooked Joe’s campaign just can’t keep up,’ Hayek said. ‘Not only does he fail at mocking Teflon Don, he highlights his own department’s illegal seizure of the Trump empire, reminding Americans of the alarming overreach by his administration.’

‘Gallup polling shows that 66% of Americans view the DOJ negatively, [which is] purely a reflection of his failure of leadership,’ she added. ‘Biden would be better off running from the basement again.’

Trump campaign communications director Steven Cheung lambasted the Biden campaign email in a statement to Fox News Digital.

‘If Crooked Joe’s broken brain campaign thinks it can play this game better than we can, they are in for a rude awakening,’ Cheung wrote. ‘They have a cognitively impaired freakshow candidate who literally embarrasses himself every time he opens his mouth or shuffles his feet, only to fall on his ass for the world to see.’

Fox News Digital reached out to the Biden campaign for comment.

Fox News Digital’s Bradford Betz and Brooke Singman contributed to this report.

President Joe Biden thanked Congressional leaders Saturday after the Senate passed a controversial six-bill government funding package in the early hours of the day following a brief partial government shutdown. 

‘Thank you to Leaders Schumer and McConnell, Senators Murray and Collins, Speaker Mike Johnson, Leader Jeffries, and Representatives Granger and DeLauro, for their leadership,’ Biden said in a statement.

The President called the mammoth $1.2 trillion spending package ‘a compromise,’ which, he said, ‘means neither side got everything it wanted.’

‘But it rejects extreme cuts from House Republicans and expands access to child care, invests in cancer research, funds mental health and substance use care, advances American leadership abroad, and provides resources to secure the border that my Administration successfully fought to include,’ Biden said in a statement. 

The President proceeded to call the package ‘good news for the American people.’

‘But I want to be clear: Congress’ work isn’t finished,’ Biden continued in the statement. 

He went on to urge the House of Representatives to pass the bipartisan national security supplemental and Congress to pass the bipartisan border security agreement, calling it ‘the roughest and fairest reforms in decades’ in a means to secure the border. 

‘It’s time to get this done,’ Biden said. 

Senators voted in favor of passing the spending package by a vote of 74-24. The text for the group of bills was only unveiled in the early hours of Thursday morning.

The appropriations measures were then considered in the House Friday morning. They were ultimately passed by a vote of 286–134, with a majority of Republicans, 112, voting against them. 

Prior to the package’s approval by the upper chamber, the outlook for avoiding a partial government shutdown looked bleak, as Republican senators claimed Democrats were unwilling to take up their requested amendment votes. 

It was only in the last hour that senators appeared to have reached an agreement, returning to the chamber floor and exchanging papers prior to beginning the voting process. 

A $460 billion funding package that included six of the twelve appropriations bills passed in both chambers earlier this month, despite vocal Republican opposition to the amount being spent, what the money is being put toward, and what they described as breaches of procedure.

Fox News’ Julia Johnson contributed to this report.

During President Biden’s State of the Union speech, he used the Gaza death count produced by the Hamas-run ministry of health, quoting some 30,000 deaths. Those numbers have been scrutinized by a renowned University of Pennsylvania statistician who has cast serious doubt on the figures.

Abraham Wyner revealed in an interview with Fox News Digital that the U.S.-designated terrorist movement, Hamas, issued fake casualty numbers in its war against Israel. Wyner is a tenured professor of statistics and data science at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and faculty co-director of the Wharton Sports Analytics and Business Initiative.

His dramatic findings have ostensibly debunked many of the Hamas causality claims accepted at face value by President Biden’s administration, the U.N. and many major mainstream media organizations. 

Possibly furthering Wyner’s calculation, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu recently announced that 13,000 terrorists had been killed in Gaza since the IDF went in. Wyner disputes the Hamas-controlled Gaza Health Ministry’s number that of the more than 30,000 Palestinians who have died since October 7, the majority are children and women. 

Hamas invaded southern Israel on October 7 and slaughtered 1,200 people, including over 30 Americans.

He said he ‘was able to show that these numbers aren’t right’ and, based on the number that Israel’s government is reporting, that the casualty rate ‘instead of, being 70% women and children, it’s probably closer to 30% to 35% women and children’ in the Gaza Strip.

Wyner revealed in an interview with Fox News Digital that the U.S.-designated terrorist movement, Hamas, issued fake casualty numbers in its war against Israel. 

The core of Wyner’s analysis revolves around statistical variability and correlation. He said ‘Hamas had claimed, and is continuing to claim, that approximately 70% of the casualties have been women and children. They are not reporting, or had at the time, and by mid-November, had not reported that Israel had killed any of its own fighters.’

Wyner continued, ‘But they weren’t differentiating between fighters and civilians . . . they were reporting that there were just not very many men dying. Subsequently, by February, they reported that about 25% of the casualties were their own fighters, which left a strange situation . . . there just aren’t enough civilian men dying.’

He added, ‘They’re just they’re missing. And what we call the missing male problem, which suggests that the numbers as being represented aren’t accurate.’ 

According to Wyner, ‘And so what that means is the number of people dying every day is almost the same. It isn’t changing very much, and that just didn’t make any sense to me. In war, there should be variability. Variability coming from war plans, from lulls, from intense increases in activity. And none of that was observable in the data. There was what we call too little dispersion.’

White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, during a recent press briefing, was asked why Biden had quoted the Hamas numbers in an interview. ,

Jean-Pierre said, ‘What we — we have said — we’ve been really clear: There are publicly available data that showed, sadly, how many — how many deaths that we have seen in Gaza. And the President has been very clear.  There’s too much. It’s tragic. It’s tragic what we’re seeing. And the President’s going to keep — continue to speak to that.’

When approached by Fox News Digital about Wyner’s report, which was first published in March by the online magazine Tablet, a U.S. State Department spokesperson said ‘Far too many civilians have been killed in this conflict. Every civilian death in conflict is a tragedy. Deaths are not mere statistics; they’re lost futures, dreams and potential.’

The State Department did not refute Wyner’s findings. In late October, President Biden said he has ‘no confidence in the number that the Palestinians are using’ for the death toll in Gaza.

However, both Biden and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin have since January adopted the Hamas numbers as truth, only to have to walk back their statistics as coming from the jihadi terrorist entity Hamas.

Wyner does not dispute the State Department contention about the tragedy of civilian deaths, noting, ‘The ratio of casualties, civilian casualties to military casualties is in the realm of 1 to 1. And historically, that’s actually an excellent sign of intense care being placed to just target enemies and keep the civilian population as safe as possible, recognizing that war is horrible and war does produce collateral damage, as in every loss of life is tragic, but war is tragic, and war causes death.’

But he stresses that ‘The stakes are extremely high. Hamas’s only path to victory, whatever it may be, is through international pressure, namely through the United States. And the only way they can get there is to convince the United States that the civilian casualties are not coming with a commensurate military gain. And that would potentially cause Israel to be forced into a cease-fire, whether that’s permanent or temporary. That is, leaves Hamas in place.’

Wyner said about the lack of correlation in Hamas’ data, ‘The basic idea is that on days where there isn’t very much bombing, you should see just a few children and women dying. And there’s more. You should see more women and children dying on days where there’s lots of civilian casualties as opposed to fighters. You should see a few women and children, and on days where there’s lots of civilians dying, you should see lots of women and children. But that relationship wasn’t there. It was what we call uncorrelated.’ 

A spokeswoman from the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs(OCHA) told Fox News Digital, ‘The United Nations relies on the Health Ministry in Gaza as a source for casualties figures in that area, as it is nearly impossible at the moment to provide any UN verification on a day-to-day basis. Any of their data used in our products is clearly sourced.’

 The U.N. does not classify Hamas as a terrorist organization. 

Critics have lamented that many legacy news organizations and politicians have failed to differentiate between civilians and Hamas terrorists who were killed during the war—as well as highlight that a terrorist organization, with a reported history of fabricating death tolls, supplies the numbers.

Wyner said that the left-of-center Israeli daily Haaretz reported in 2011—two years after the 2009 Israeli operation in Gaza against Hamas terrorists—that ‘Hamas admitted that the numbers that it had been telling the public about the size of their losses, of their fighter losses, which they had reported to be 49, was actually over 700, which was exactly what Israel had said it was in the very beginning.’

He added, ‘So Israel has a good record of keeping track of the number of Hamas fighters that it kills, and Hamas doesn’t have a good record. Yet, the media was largely ignoring Israel’s claims or, when reporting them at all, noticing that they are unverifiable. Yet, the data right in front of you, coming from Hamas, showed pretty clear evidence that there is significant problems with the numbers. They don’t match reality.’ 

Former President Trump told the Supreme Court in his initial brief that he should be immune from criminal charges, arguing that a denial would ‘incapacitate every future president with de facto blackmail and extortion while in office,’ and would create ‘post-office trauma at the hands of political opponents.’ 

Trump, the presumptive GOP presidential nominee, and his legal team filed the 67-page brief to the high court on Tuesday. 

The Supreme Court will hear initial arguments on the issue of presidential immunity on April 25, after Trump argued that he should be immune from prosecution on charges stemming from Special Counsel Jack Smith’s investigation into alleged election interference in 2020 and Jan. 6. 

Smith’s trial is on hold pending the high court’s ruling, which is expected to be handed down in mid-June. 

‘A denial of criminal immunity would incapacitate every future President with de facto blackmail and extortion while in office, and condemn him to years of post-office trauma at the hands of political opponents,’ the brief states. ‘The threat of future prosecution and imprisonment would become a political cudgel to influence the most sensitive and controversial Presidential decisions, taking away the strength, authority, and decisiveness of the Presidency.’ 

The brief lays out the case brought against Trump. 

‘The indictment charges President Trump with five types of conduct, all constituting official acts of the President,’ the brief states. ‘First, it alleges that President Trump, using official channels of communication, made a series of tweets and other public statements on matters of paramount federal concern, contending that the 2020 federal election was tainted by fraud and irregularities that should be addressed by government officials.’ 

‘Second, the indictment alleges that President Trump communicated with the Acting Attorney General and officials at the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) regarding investigating suspected election crimes and irregularities, and whether to appoint a new Acting Attorney General,’ it continues. ‘Third, the indictment alleges that President Trump communicated with state officials about the administration of the federal election and urged them to exercise their official responsibilities in accordance with the conclusion that the 2020 presidential election was tainted by fraud and irregularities.’

‘Fourth, the indictment alleges that President Trump communicated with the Vice President, the Vice President’s official staff, and members of Congress to urge them to exercise their official duties in the election certification process in accordance with the position, based on voluminous information available to President Trump in his official capacity, that the election was tainted by extensive fraud and irregularities,’ it states. ‘Fifth, the indictment alleges that other individuals organized slates of alternate electors from seven States to help ensure that the Vice President would be authorized to exercise his official duties in the manner urged by President Trump.’ 

The brief states that according to the indictment, ‘these alternate slates of electors were designed to validate the Vice President’s authority to conduct his official duties as President Trump urged.’ 

‘President Trump moved to dismiss the indictment based on Presidential immunity,’ the brief states. ‘The district court wrongfully held that a former President enjoys no immunity from criminal prosecution for his official acts. The D.C. Circuit affirmed, likewise incorrectly holding that a former President has no immunity from criminal prosecution for official acts.’ 

The Supreme Court has agreed to hear the appeal. 

Trump’s attorneys argue that ‘A former President enjoys absolute immunity from criminal prosecution for his official acts.’ 

‘Criminal immunity arises directly from the Executive Vesting Clause and the separation of powers,’ the brief argues. ‘The Impeachment Judgment Clause reflects the Founders’ understanding that only a President ‘convicted’ by the Senate after impeachment could be criminally prosecuted. The Constitution authorizes the criminal prosecution of a former President, but it builds in a formidable structural check against politically motivated prosecutions by requiring a majority of the House and a supermajority of the Senate to authorize such a dramatic action.’ 

‘The Founders thus carefully balanced the public interest in ensuring accountability for Presidential wrongdoing against the mortal danger to our system of government presented by political targeting of the Chief Executive,’ the brief states. ‘The long history of not prosecuting Presidents for official acts, despite ample motive and opportunity to do so over the years, demonstrates that the newly discovered alleged power to do so does not exist.’ 

Trump and his attorney argue that the ‘lack of historical precedent’ provides ‘a telling indication of a severe constitutional problem with the asserted power.’

Trump attorneys also argued that the impeachment judgment clause of the Constitution ‘confirms the original meaning of the Executive Vesting Clause — i.e., that current and former Presidents are immune from criminal prosecution for official acts.’ 

Trump attorneys argue that ‘the Impeachment Judgment Clause provides that, after impeachment and Senate trial, ‘the Party convicted shall nevertheless be liable and subject to Indictment, Trial, Judgment and Punishment, according to Law.’’ 

‘By specifying that only the ‘Party convicted’ may be subject to criminal prosecution, the Clause dictates the President cannot be prosecuted unless he is first impeached and convicted by the Senate,’ the brief states. 

Trump lawyers argued that ‘the Clause’s plain language presupposes that an unimpeached and un-convicted President is immune from prosecution.’ 

Smith charged the former president with conspiracy to defraud the United States; conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding; obstruction of and attempt to obstruct an official proceeding; and conspiracy against rights. Those charges stemmed from Smith’s investigation into whether Trump was involved in the Jan. 6 Capitol riot and any alleged interference in the 2020 election result.

Trump pleaded not guilty to all charges. 

Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton took a swipe at presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, mocking him for his ongoing legal battles.

‘Multiple indictments and half a billion dollars in civil liability later, pretty much the only person who can say they were better off four years ago is Donald Trump,’ a message from Clinton’s official account states.

Clinton made the remark on social media platform X Tuesday after an onslaught of legal woes for the former president. Trump defeated Clinton in 2016 to become president.

The comment came after a storm of anger from Trump due to New York Judge Arthur Engoron’s ruling against him in a highly publicized civil fraud case.

In late February, Engoron denied Trump’s request to delay payment of the $464 million owed to the state after Attorney General Letitia James’ lawsuit but said he will temporarily allow the 2024 frontrunner and his sons to continue running their business during the appeals process.

Trump has not been able to secure a $464 million appeal bond he needs following a New York civil fraud judgment against him, his attorneys say.

In a court filing Monday, his lawyers said obtaining one is a ‘practical impossibility under the circumstances presented.’

The former president was less composed in his protests, writing a long complaint on his social media platform, Truth Social.

‘Judge Engoron actually wants me to put up Hundreds of Millions of Dollars for the Right to Appeal his ridiculous decision. In other words, he is trying to take my Appellate Rights away from me. Nobody has ever heard of anything like this before.

‘I would be forced to mortgage or sell Great Assets, perhaps at Fire Sale prices, and if and when I win the Appeal, they would be gone. Does that make sense? WITCH HUNT. ELECTION INTERFERENCE!’

Fox News Digital’s Greg Norman contributed to this report.