Former President Trump has recommended North Carolina GOP Chair Michael Whatley to replace RNC Chair Ronna McDaniel after the South Carolina Primary, Fox News Digital has learned.

A source familiar told Fox News Digital that there will be ‘a change’ in leadership at the Republican National Committee after the Feb. 24 South Carolina Primary.

The source told Fox News Digital that Trump is pushing for Whatley to replace McDaniel — specifically because he was ‘so powerful on election fraud’ in 2020.

Whatley has served as the North Carolina GOP chair since 2019. Whatley also serves as the general counsel for the Republican National Committee. 

Trump won North Carolina in 2020. The source said that Whatley ‘kept the fraud down’ in the state, ‘despite having a strong Democrat governor.’ 

The source stressed that Trump is focused on ensuring the votes in the 2024 general election are ‘safe.’

‘Trump goes around saying ‘we don’t need the votes, we have plenty, what we need is protected ballots during the election, period,’’ the source explained, stressing the importance of ‘protecting the ballot’ in the 2024 general election.

Prior to his work with the Republican Party, Whatley served as a federal law clerk, a senior official in the President George W. Bush administration and as the chief of staff for former Sen. Elizabeth Dole, R-N.C. Whatley also served as a senior advisor to the Bush-Cheney campaign, Florida Recount and Transition Teams, as well as the Trump-Pence campaign and transition teams. 

Earlier this week, Trump met with McDaniel at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida. After the meeting, Trump posted on his Truth Social that McDaniel was a ‘friend’ but that he would be urging changes at the RNC after the South Carolina GOP presidential primary. 

‘Ronna is now Head of the RNC, and I’ll be making a decision the day after the South Carolina Primary as to my recommendations for RNC Growth,’ the former president and 2024 GOP frontrunner posted on Truth Social.  

In an interview that aired Sunday on Fox News’ ‘Sunday Morning Futures’ with Maria Bartiromo, Trump said of McDaniel, ‘I think she did great when she ran Michigan for me.’

The former president pointed to McDaniel’s previous tenure as chair of the Michigan GOP.

‘I think she did OK, initially, in the RNC. I would say right now, there’ll probably be some changes made,’ he added.

When she won re-election last year, McDaniel said in an interview with Fox News that it would be her last two-year term steering the national party committee.

If McDaniel does resign, her replacement would need approval from the 168 RNC committee members.

‘If Trump continues to win primaries, most of the 168 will follow his lead whether he picks Whatley or someone else,’ an RNC committee member who asked to remain anonymous told Fox News Digital. ‘Maybe he’ll face heavy opposition from outside the committee, but not from within it.’

Two sources, though, told Fox News Digital that no decisions will formally be made at the RNC until after the Feb. 24 South Carolina primary. But those sources said McDaniel is also focused on ensuring the upcoming merger between the RNC and the campaign operation of the presumptive Republican presidential nominee goes smoothly.

McDaniel addressed the speculation about her potential departure in a letter to RNC members Wednesday afternoon. 

‘With a news cycle full of palace intrigue and speculation surrounding all of us, I want to take the time to reassure all of you that I am still hard at work as RNC Chairwoman and building a machine that will elect Republicans up and down the ballot in November,’ she wrote.

The letter included a list of priorities for the party, including fundraising, the New York special congressional election to replace former Rep. George Santos, and dozens of election-related lawsuits.

‘Day in and day out, we continue to hold Joe Biden and Democrats’ feet to the fire for their continued assaults on our freedoms and failures, on everything from the border crisis, Bidenomics, and skyrocketing crime. Myself and my staff are refusing to be distracted by the outside noise and we remain committed to our mission – rumors to the contrary are simply not true,’ she said. 

Trump could be named the presumptive Republican nominee by the end of the month.  

Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., blasted pro-Palestinian protesters calling for a cease-fire during a press conference with the families of Israeli hostages held by Hamas on Wednesday.

He made the comments alongside a bipartisan group of both House and Senate lawmakers, as well as the speaker of the Israeli Knesset, Amir Ohana.

‘I think I’ve met with six, six family victim groups during all of this. And, you know, that should have stopped because everyone should have been home long ago,’ Fetterman said.

‘And I don’t understand why, to anyone that is protesting or demanding for a cease-fire, let’s be honest here, why aren’t you protesting to bring them all home right now? Why aren’t you demanding that Hamas surrenders as well?’

Fetterman said he supported an end to ‘suffering and the death of innocent Palestinians and Israelis,’ but argued peace would not be possible with the continued existence of Hamas, which invaded Israel and slaughtered over 1,200 people on Oct. 7.

‘I support a two-state solution as well. But that is meaningless until Hamas is effectively eliminated,’ the Pennsylvania Democrat said.

Fetterman has emerged as one of Israel’s most vocal backers among Senate Democrats and has been known to put on public displays rebuffing pro-Palestine protesters, including ones who showed up to his house recently.

He blasted those making an ‘equivalence’ between Israel and Hamas on Wednesday.

‘Hamas now disavows and rejects a two-state solution as well, too, and now they are committed to the destruction of Israel,’ Fetterman said. ‘I would never want to negotiate with a group that [is] committed to my death as well.’

‘Bring all of these people back home now… and stop pretending this is some kind of equivalence here,’ he said.

It comes just as the Senate is expected to vote on a security aid package giving dollars to Israel, Ukraine and Taiwan. A similar measure, which took months of negotiation to include conservative border policy changes, is expected to fail in the Senate on Wednesday afternoon amid fierce GOP opposition.

President Biden and former President Donald Trump are basically all knotted up in a likely November election rematch, a new national poll suggests.

But an NPR/PBS NewsHour survey released on Wednesday indicates that the president’s advantage over Trump increases if the former president is convicted of a crime.

The poll also indicates that Biden is basically tied with former U.N. ambassador and former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley in a hypothetical general election showdown.

According to the poll, which was conducted Jan. 29-Feb. 1 among registered voters nationwide, Biden would edge Trump 48%-47% if the presidential election were held today, with 5% unsure.

An average of all the most recent national polls – compiled by Real Clear Politics – that asks a Biden-Trump horse race question indicates the former president with a slight 1.7 point edge over the incumbent in the White House.

But if Trump were convicted on criminal charges, the new Marist poll indicates Biden opening a six-point lead (51%-45%) over the former president. And Trump’s advantage with independent voters would shrink from eight points to two. Plus, nearly one in 10 Republicans say they would back Biden.

Trump made history last year as the first former or current president to be indicted for a crime. But his four indictments, including charges he tried to overturn his 2020 presidential election loss to Biden, have only fueled his support among Republican voters.

Trump is the commanding frontrunner for the GOP nomination as he makes his third straight White House bid. He won the Iowa caucuses and the New Hampshire primary, the first two contests in the Republican nominating calendar, by double digits. 

Haley is the last remaining major rival to Trump, but she faces a steep uphill climb to win the nomination.

The poll indicates Biden at 46% and Haley at 45% in a hypothetical November showdown.

The Marist poll surveyed 1,441 people, with an overall sampling error of plus or minus 3.6 percent.

A key study in the case against the FDA’s abortion pill approval at the Supreme Court has been retracted from an academic journal, and its authors say the move is an ‘unprovoked and partisan assault’ on scientific research.  

On March 26, the Supreme Court will hear arguments in a case challenging access to the abortion pill and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s regulatory approval process. The FDA made several moves, intending to make it easier to access and use the mifepristone pill in the wake of the overturning of Roe v. Wade last year. 

Legal arguments against the FDA’s push have cited a study published in 2021 which found that the rate of abortion-related emergency room visits following a chemical abortion increased over 500% from 2002 through 2015, according to an analysis of Medicaid claims data. That study was published by Sage Publishing, an academic publishing company. 

However, on Monday, Sage announced it had retracted that 2021 study and two others, citing that the authors of the study failed to list their associations with pro-life organizations as a conflict of interest. 

The author of the emergency room study, Dr. Jim Studnicki, is the vice president of data analytics for the Charlotte Lozier Institute (CLI), who was trained at Johns Hopkins University. He has a 50-year career conducting scientific research and has 70 peer-reviewed studies indexed in PubMed.

CLI is a non-profit research arm of the Susan B. Anthony Pro Life America group – one of the most successful pro-life advocacy groups in the country. CLI says they are a network of over 70 associate scholars who are ‘credentialed experts in medicine, statistical analysis, sociology, science, bioethics, public health, law, and social services for women and families.’ 

Roughly two years after the study was published, an initially anonymous reader wrote to Sage with a concern that the graphs and figures in the study misrepresented data and that Dr. Studnicki did not appropriately disclose his affiliations with a pro-life group. CLI responded to the concern, saying that ‘no errors, miscalculations or deceptive practices are identified.’ 

CLI also said that ‘the affiliations of all authors are documented in the paper. In addition, a bio sketch for each author is included with the paper. Funding support for the research from CLI is also disclosed.’

CLI notes in its response that part of the Committee on Publication Ethics’ definition of conflict of interest describes ‘those which may not be fully apparent, and which may influence the judgment of author, reviewers, and editors’ and ‘which, when revealed later, would make a reasonable reader feel misled or deceived.’

‘All relevant information was fully disclosed,’ CLI said.

CLI continued in its response to Sage that ‘This paper is the single most read in the journal Health Services Research and Managerial Epidemiology. It has been repeatedly referenced in legal cases and legislative discourse in many states. It has enriched the scientific discourse on the relative safety of chemical induced abortion.’

‘Most importantly, it is excellent science, and the methods and findings are unchallenged. We respectfully ask that you not allow ideologically motivated and unsubstantiated ‘concerns’ to damage the reputation of this work and its authors,’ they said.

Four months later, with very little communication in the meantime, Sage notified CLI they were retracting the three studies.

In response to an inquiry from Fox News Digital, Sage Publishing referred to its retraction notification which cites ‘undeclared conflicts of interest’ and ‘lack of scientific rigor.’ 

However, lawyers representing CLI told the publishing firm that ‘the allegations raised in support of retraction are not only procedurally flawed but meritless, and Sage’s actions are unlawful.’

‘Your decision also reflects a regrettable pattern of using scientific publications as a sword against unpopular findings—regardless of their objectivity. This further undermines the public’s confidence in scientific bodies and does a disservice to your mission to ‘advance knowledge,’’ CLI’s lawyer David A. Shaneyfelt wrote in a letter to Sage in November. 

‘Our clients have spent their careers building credibility and engaging in objective scientific discovery. Your decision to retract their articles, your recurring breach of confidentiality, and your blatant breach of contract have already done palpable damage to their reputation,’ Shaneyfelt wrote. 

He also alleged that the timing of the retraction was ‘concerning,’ considering the studies’ connection to the Supreme Court case Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine v. FDA.

Dr. Studnicki said in a statement to Fox News Digital, ‘I think Dobbs really accelerated this, there’s a sense of desperation among those in the abortion industry. They’ve always had the literature to themselves. All of the major health associations are pro-abortion, most of the journals are pro-abortion, all the academic departments in the universities are pro-abortion.’ 

‘It’s profoundly sad to me what is going on in science today. I’m at a point in my life, at 80 years old, where they won’t damage me,’ he said. ‘But what if I was a mid-career faculty member or someone aiming for tenure or trying to raise a family? Right now, the science industry’s message appears to be – ‘if we can do this to Dr. Studnicki, who’s had a 50-year career without blemish, imagine what we can do to you.’’ 

Tessa Longbons, a senior research associate for CLI, said, ‘this incident points to a larger, newer phenomenon, which is that many of our scientific institutions and publications no longer stand in defense of open inquiry.’

‘Rather, we’re seeing a biased elite faction across the medical community with all the power attempting to suppress any research that cuts against their approved, pro-abortion narrative,’ she said. 

‘Scientific research and publication should be grounded in science, not driven by ideology,’ she added. 

The authors of the study told Fox News Digital they will be taking appropriate legal action. 

Former U.N. Ambassador and presidential candidate Nikki Haley is poking fun at former President Donald Trump in a new effort to entice a debate between the two ahead of the South Carolina Republican primary later this month.

Her campaign announced on Wednesday the launch of a new digital ad — part of a previously announced $4 million ad buy — seeking to highlight the differences between the two candidates and their presences before audiences discussing important policy issues.

The ad, titled, ‘Exclusive Footage of the Haley-Trump Debate,’ includes clips of Haley’s debate performances in recent months, as well as scenes from some of Trump’s various campaign speeches, shining light on the fact that the former president has yet to participate in a debate this election cycle.

The ad will also direct people who want to see a debate between the two candidates to sign a petition.

‘It’s not surprising that Donald Trump refuses to debate Nikki Haley. He knows he’s not the candidate he used to be and that Nikki would mop the floor with him,’ Haley campaign spokesperson Olivia Perez-Cubas told Fox News Digital. 

‘He can’t hide behind a teleprompter and lie about her record in a debate, but that’s no excuse: the people of South Carolina deserve to hear from the candidates side-by-side,’ she added.

Trump Campaign National Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt responded to the ad by telling Fox News Digital it would ‘waste’ Trump’s time to debate ‘a candidate who was crushed by 30 points in Iowa, defeated by double digits in New Hampshire, literally lost to ‘nobody’ in Nevada, and has zero pathway to victory.’ 

‘As he has personally stated, President Trump will debate his real opponent, Joe Biden, any day of the week,’ she added.

The ad comes after Trump challenged President Biden to an ‘immediate’ debate during a Monday radio appearance.

‘I’d like to debate him now because we should debate. We should debate for the good of the country,’ Trump said.

Biden was asked about Trump’s comments later that day while campaigning in Nevada.

‘Immediately? Well, if I were him, I’d want to debate me too. He’s got nothing else to do,’ he told reporters.

Trump and Haley are set to go head-to-head in her home state of South Carolina for its primary on Feb. 24. So far, polling shows Trump with a double-digit advantage.

Fox News’ Anders Hagstrom contributed to this report.

Tony Bobulinski, a former business associate of Hunter Biden, is expected to testify behind closed doors on Capitol Hill next week as part of the House impeachment inquiry against President Biden, Fox News Digital has learned. 

A source familiar with the planning told Fox News Digital that Bobulinski will appear on Tuesday, Feb. 13 at 10 a.m. for his transcribed interview before both the House Oversight and Judiciary Committees. 

The source said his interview is expected to last eight hours. 

Bobulinski, who worked with Hunter Biden to create the joint-venture SinoHawk Holdings with Chinese energy company CEFC, said he met with Joe Biden in 2017. 

Bobulinski, in December, demanded Biden ‘stop lying’ about that meeting and called on him to ‘correct the record.’

‘Why is Joe Biden blatantly lying to the American people and the world by claiming that he did not meet with me face to face?’ Bobulinski told Fox News Digital in a statement. ‘He should call his son Hunter and brother Jim as they can remind him of the facts. The American people deserve the truth!’

He added: ‘I call on Mr. Biden to stop lying and correct the record.’

Bobulinski said he is a ‘former decorated Naval Officer who was willing to die for this great country and held the highest security clearance issued by the Department of Energy.’

Bobulinski worked with Hunter Biden to create the joint venture SinoHawk Holdings with Chinese energy company CEFC.

Despite Biden’s recent denials of involvement with his son’s business dealings, text messages dating back to May 2017 reveal that Biden met with Bobulinski months after he left the vice president’s office. Fox News Digital first reported on the text messages and that meeting in October 2020.

‘Mrng plse let me knw if we will do early dinner w your Uncle & dad and where, also for document translation do you want it simple Chinese or traditional?’ Bobulinski texted Hunter Biden on May 2, 2017.

‘Not sure on dinner yet and whatever is the most common for a Chinese legal DOC,’ Hunter Biden replied.

‘Chinese legal docs can be both, i’ll make it traditional,’ Bobulinski said.

Hunter replied: ‘Dad not in now until 11- let’s me I and Jim meet at 10 at Beverly Hilton where he’s staying.’

Later, Bobulinski sent a text to Jim Biden, Joe Biden’s brother, on the same day, May 2, 2017, saying: ‘Great to meet u and spend some time together, please thank Joe for his time, was great to talk thx Tony b.’

The following day, May 3, 2017, Bobulinski sent another text to Jim Biden, saying: ‘Morning, please let me know all set for things this mrng. I don’t have credentials to get into Milken so just want to make sure not an issue to get me in, where should we meet this mrng?’ 

‘Milken’ was in reference to the 2017 Global Conference, which, in part, was held at the Beverly Hilton Hotel, according to the program directory. 

Joe Biden, on May 3, 2017, spoke at the conference, hosting ‘A Conversation with the 47th Vice President of the United States Joe Biden.’ 

The meeting on May 2, 2017, would have taken place just 11 days before the now-infamous May 13, 2017, email, which included a discussion of ‘remuneration packages’ for six people in a business deal with a Chinese energy firm. The email appeared to identify Biden as ‘Chair / Vice Chair depending on agreement with CEFC,’ in a reference to now-bankrupt CEFC China Energy Co.

The email includes a note that ‘Hunter has some office expectations he will elaborate.’ A proposed equity split references ’20’ for ‘H’ and ’10 held by H for the big guy?’ with no further details.

Bobulinski has repeatedly said ‘the big guy’ was Joe Biden. IRS whistleblowers Gary Shapley and Joseph Ziegler, who claimed that politics had influenced the yearslong federal investigation into Hunter Biden, also said ‘the big guy’ was known to be Joe Biden.

The president, in December, was asked whether he had communicated with his son’s business partners. The question came after Fox News Digital first reported that IRS whistleblowers turned over metadata to the House Ways & Means Committee revealing that he had used an email alias to communicate hundreds of times with Hunter Biden and his business associate Eric Schwerin during his time as vice president. 

‘I did not, they’re lies. It’s a bunch of lies,’ Biden said Wednesday at the White House.

Meanwhile, Bobulinski last year suggested that he and President Biden, Hunter Biden and James Biden ‘appear together’ before Congress for a public hearing.

His suggestion came after Hunter Biden’s attorney Abbe Lowell sent a letter to U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Matthew Graves, claiming that Bobulinski lied to the FBI during an interview Oct. 23, 2020, about his business dealings with the president’s son.

James Biden is set to appear for his deposition on Capitol Hill on Feb. 21. Hunter Biden is set to appear on Feb. 28. Both Bidens were subpoenaed and will testify behind closed doors. 

New polling could potentially serve as a major warning sign for Democrats who have, according to the poll, ‘lost ground among some of their traditionally stronger support groups’ including Black and Hispanic voters where their traditional advantage with those voters is ‘at record lows.’

A Gallup poll released Wednesday shows that while Democrats still hold a significant advantage over Republicans with Black voters, their 47-point lead is the ‘smallest Gallup has recorded in its polling, dating back to 1999.’

When asked what political party they identify with, 19% of Black adults said Republican or lean Republican, compared to 66% who said Democrat or lean Democrat. 

Gallup’s Jeffrey Jones and Lydia Saad explained that most of the decline in Black voters calling themselves Democrat has been in the last few years. 

‘Most of the decline has been recent, with the net-Democratic ID for this group falling 19 points from a 66-point advantage in 2020,’ Gallup said. ‘At that time, 77% of Black adults favored the Democrats and 11% the Republicans, so the 2023 findings represent an 11-point decrease in Democratic affiliation since 2020 and an eight-point increase in Republican affiliation.’

Things aren’t much better for Democrats when it comes to Hispanic adults, where Gallup shows their current 12-point advantage over Republicans is the lowest since 2011. 

Polling also shows that young adults are supporting Democrats at their lowest level in almost two decades.

‘By 2010, young adults were the only age category giving the Democrats an edge, and their Democratic orientation remained strong until it fell to just eight points in 2023, the slimmest since 2005,’ Gallup explained.

Overall, Gallup concluded in its ‘bottom line’ that the data should be ‘especially concerning’ for Democrats.

‘The data show the Democratic Party retaining advantages among people of color and young adults, but in 2023 it was in a weaker position among these groups than at any point in the past quarter century,’ Gallup wrote. ‘Democrats’ reduced support among Black and Hispanic adults should be especially concerning for the party, given Republicans’ continued strength among White adults, who remain the majority of the electorate.’

The Gallup polling is in line with several other polls in recent months that have suggested Democrats are hemorrhaging support from minority communities they have historically depended on.  

According to a USA Today/Suffolk University poll released in January, Biden’s support among Black voters has fallen to just 63%, down from the 92% that Pew Research Center data shows he won in the 2020 presidential election. His support among Hispanic voters is down to 34% from 59%.

Fox News polling last month also showed that Biden’s support among the Black community has shrunk in recent years and showed his approval slid 25% since 2021. He once stood at 87% approval, but that number declined to 62% in 2023. 

‘Biden cannot afford to lose any piece of his base, especially Black and Hispanic voters,’ GOP strategist Alex Conant, founding partner at Firehouse Strategies, told Fox News Digital in response to the Gallup poll. ‘Strong support among Black voters is how he won the nomination in 2016 and put him over the top in several states in the general.

‘Everything swing state becomes significantly harder for Biden to win if there’s low turnout among Black or Hispanic voters. And if a lot of them vote for Trump, then it’s game over for Biden.’

Fox News Digital’s Anders Hagstrom contributed to this report.

The favorability rating for Vice President Kamala Harris continues to sink nine months ahead of the 2024 presidential election in November.

Harris, who has largely witnessed a decline in support since taking office in Jan. 2021, is now viewed negatively by a combined 53% of registered voters, according to the results of a national NBC News poll released Sunday.

Of the 1,000 registered voters who took part in the survey, which was conducted from Jan. 26 to 30, only a combined 28% said they hold a net positive view of the vice president — a four point drop since last June.

Among those whose responses were recorded, 42% said they hold a ‘very negative’ view of Harris and 11% said they hold a ‘somewhat negative’ view of her. Only 10% said they hold a ‘very positive’ view of Harris, while 18% said they hold a ‘somewhat positive’ view of Harris.

The findings from the survey are in line with other NBC News polls taken within the last three years of President Biden’s tenure in the White House, most of which show a decline in Harris’ favorability over time.

In a November survey, 29% of registered voters said they held a net negative view of Harris, compared to 52% who said they hold a net positive view of her. In the June 2023 survey, Harris was viewed net positively by 32% of registered voters and net negatively by 49%.

Last month, Harris suggested the poor approval of the Biden administration in public opinion surveys was due to not taking ‘adequate credit’ for the administration’s accomplishments.

Harris’ comments came during a sit-down interview with journalist Katie Couric, who listed off what she believed to be a string of accomplishments for the Biden administration and asked the vice president why she believes her and Biden’s ‘approval ratings are at historic lows.’

Harris said Couric was correct that she and Biden had ‘historic accomplishments,’ but again said the administration had to let the people know ‘who brung it to them.’

‘We have a lot of accomplishments,’ she said. ‘And I think what the American people want most in their leaders is that we actually get things done, and we have done it. We haven’t taken adequate credit for it, frankly, and we’ve got to do a better job of getting the word out about what we have accomplished and who did it.’

Biden’s approval rating in some recent surveys has shown him in the 30s, potentially dangerous territory for a president in a re-election year. He has also gotten low marks on the border and the economy, although the White House touted positive news about fourth-quarter growth late last month, as GDP outperformed expectations by rising 3.3%. Inflation has cooled somewhat but continues to nag American pocketbooks.

The NBC News poll released Sunday found that Biden trails former President Trump, the frontrunner for the GOP presidential nomination, by 23 points when voters were asked who would be a better candidate to handle the economy. 

Despite Biden’s recent argument that his administration’s economic policies are starting to work, 55% of registered voters said they believe Trump would be the better candidate to steer the economy, compared to 33% who chose Biden.

Last week, Biden told voters in Michigan that ‘inflation is coming down’ and that they had ‘created 800,000 manufacturing jobs.’

Fox News’ Michael Lee and David Rutz contributed to this report.

Republican South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott has responded to Donald Trump’s consideration of him as his vice presidential running mate for the general election in November, telling Fox News Digital his top priority was ensuring the former president beats Joe Biden.

Trump revealed to Fox News’ Maria Bartiromo over the weekend he is considering Scott, along with South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem, while detailing what criteria he’d like to see in a running mate.

‘The only thing I can tell you is that the one thing we need is four more years of President Donald Trump,’ Scott told Fox News Digital on Monday.

‘We were better off under Trump. In order for us to be successful, the one thing I can’t afford to do is take my eye off the ball. The eye on the ball means making sure that President Trump gets four more years,’ he added.

After revealing his criteria for a running mate, which included ensuring the individual would be able to step up and handle the presidency in the case of an emergency, Trump said he likely won’t announce a vice presidential pick ‘for a little while.’

‘What criteria are you using to identify who your running mate is?’ Bartiromo asked.

‘Always, it’s got to be who is going to be a good president. Obviously, you always have to think that because in case of emergency. Things happen, right? No matter who you are, things happen. That’s got to be No. 1,’ Trump said.

‘Who is your running mate?’ Bartiromo said.

‘Well, I have a lot of good people. I have a lot of good ideas,’ he added, saying he ‘talks to everybody.’

‘You know, I called [South Carolina Sen.] Tim Scott and people like Tim Scott, and I said you’re a much better candidate for me than you are for yourself,’ Trump said. ‘When I watched him, he was fine. He was good, but he was very low-key.’

‘I watched him in the last week, defending me and sticking up for me and fighting for me. I said, ‘Man, you’re a much better person for me than you are for yourself,” he continued.

Trump went on to praise Noem as well, noting that she said publicly that she would never run against him ‘because I could never beat him.’

Trump denied reports that his campaign reached out to independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to explore a potential ticket with him early on in the campaign season. Trump said the interaction ‘never happened.’

Fox News’ Anders Hagstrom contributed to this report.

White House press secretary Karine Jeane-Pierre on Tuesday dodged a question on President Biden’s mental and physical health after the president appeared to confuse French President Emmanuel Macron with former French President François Mitterrand, who has been dead for nearly 30 years.

The gaffe came during a campaign stop in Las Vegas on Sunday. The president was recalling a meeting he had with Macron at the G7 summit in England, shortly after he assumed the White House in 2021.

But instead of Macron, Biden dropped the name of ‘Mitterrand,’ who was the president of France between 1981 and 1995 and died in 1996.

Fox News’ Peter Doocy on Tuesday questioned how the president could convince large swathes of voters who are worried about his physical and mental health after making those comments.

Jean-Pierre, looking visibly annoyed, told Doocy, ‘I’m not even going to go down that rabbit hole with you, sir. We’re going to go ahead.’

‘What is the rabbit hole?’ Doocy asked.

‘You saw the president in Vegas, in California. You’ve seen the president in South Carolina. You saw him in Michigan. I’ll just leave it there,’ Jean-Pierre said.

Later in the press conference, a reporter asked Jean-Pierre to respond to criticisms that Biden has given far fewer interviews during his presidency than his predecessors. The reporter noted that no press conference was scheduled during Biden’s hosting of German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, nor was the president scheduled to give an interview during the Super Bowl.

‘It just seems, again, like we’re in one of these instances where the president is not communicating with the press,’ the reporter said.

‘Stay tuned. That is the answer for you,’ Jean-Pierre said, challenging the notion that the president was not engaging with the press.

The reporter pushed back, noting that Biden has given less than half the number of interviews his predecessors have given at this point in the presidency.

Jean-Pierre said the president communicates in ‘nontraditional ways.’ As to why the president is not doing a Super Bowl interview – missing out on a ‘massive audience in an election year’ – Jean-Pierre said people ‘want to see the game.’

‘The president will find many other ways to communicate with Americans, the millions of Americans out there,’ Jean-Pierre said. ‘And we will find those ways to do it, where we think the time is right.’

Presidents have given pre-taped interviews with the networks broadcasting the NFL championship game for years now. This year the game is being broadcast by CBS. The practice became consistent starting during President Obama’s first term, though former President Trump skipped an NBC interview in 2018.

2024 will be the second Super Bowl interview in a row that Biden has declined.