Former President Trump’s attorney argued before a federal appeals court Tuesday that the former commander-in-chief and 2024 frontrunner has presidential immunity from charges stemming from Special Counsel Jack Smith’s investigation, while warning that President Biden is ‘prosecuting his number one political opponent and his greatest electoral threat.’ 

Both Trump and Smith attended the hearing before the federal D.C. Appeals Court on Tuesday.

The panel of three judges, two of whom were appointed by President Biden, heard arguments from Trump attorneys and Special Counsel Jack Smith’s team.

Trump attorney D. John Sauer argued that the president has ‘absolute immunity,’ even after leaving office — an argument that the judges appeared to be skeptical of.

Judge Karen Henderson, an appointee of former President George H.W. Bush, fired back, saying: ‘I think it’s paradoxical to say that his constitutional duty to take care that the laws be faithfully executed allows him to violate criminal law.’ 

But Sauer argued that Biden, ‘the current incumbent of the presidency is prosecuting his number one political opponent and his greatest electoral threat.’

Meanwhile, Smith’s team argues that presidents are not entitled to absolute immunity and that Trump’s alleged actions fall outside a president’s official job duties.

‘The president has a unique constitutional role but he is not above the law. Separation of powers principles, constitutional text, history, precedent and immunity doctrines all point to the conclusion that a former president enjoys no immunity from prosecution,’ prosecutor James Pearce said, adding that a case in which a former president is alleged to have sought to overturn an election ‘is not the place to recognize some novel form of immunity.’

Henderson pressed Pearce on how the court could come to its decision in a way that would not open the ‘floodgates’ of investigations against ex-presidents.

Pearce said he did not feel there would be ‘a sea change of vindictive tit-for-tat prosecutions in the future,’ and said the allegations against Trump are unprecedented.

‘Never before has there been allegations that a sitting president has, with private individuals and using the levers of power, sought to fundamentally subvert the democratic republic and the electoral system,’ Pearce said. ‘And frankly, if that kind of fact pattern arises again, I think it would be awfully scary if there weren’t some sort of mechanism by which to reach that criminally.’

Pearce said the country would be in for a ‘frightening future’ if Trump is not prosecuted for alleged crimes.

But Sauer pushed back and said that the ‘floodgates will be opened.’

‘We are in a situation where we have prosecution of the chief political opponent who is winning in every poll in the national election upcoming next year and is being prosecuted by the administration he’s seeking to replace,’ Sauer said. ‘That is the frightening future that is tailor-made to launch cycles, recrimination that will shake our republic for the future.’

It is unclear when the court will make its decision.

Trump spoke outside the courtroom shortly after the hearing concluded. 

‘I think it is very unfair when a political opponent is prosecuted by Biden’s DOJ,’ Trump said. ‘They are losing in every poll, they are losing in almost every demographic.’ 

Trump added: ‘I think they feel this is the way they are going to try and win. It is a very bad precedent.’ 

Trump said his prosecution would be ‘the opening of a Pandora’s box, and it is a very sad thing that’s happening with this whole situation.’ 

‘They talk about a threat to democracy–that’s the real threat to democracy,’ Trump said. 

Trump stressed that as president, ‘you have to have immunity,’ and maintained he did ‘absolutely nothing wrong.’ 

The 2024 GOP frontrunner said he believes that ‘by normal standards, if it weren’t me, it would be the end of this case.’ 

‘But sometimes they look at me differently than they look at others. Its very bad for our country,’ he said. 

Trump added: ‘You can’t have a president without immunity… A president has to have immunity.’ 

Trump again said he did ‘nothing wrong’ and said 2020 was ‘a rigged election.’ 

‘And everybody knows it,’ Trump said. 

Smith’s case against Trump is on pause as Trump’s attorneys appeal the case and argue that presidential immunity protects him from being prosecuted. The trial had been set to begin on March 4.

In August, Trump pleaded not guilty in federal court to all four federal charges stemming from Smith’s investigation into 2020 election interference and the Capitol riot on Jan. 6, 2021.

Trump is charged 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.

Smith filed an argument to dispute Trump’s claim of presidential immunity in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia.

The U.S. Supreme Court recently rejected Smith’s appeal to expedite their assessment of the immunity claim before it went fully through a federal appeals court. Trump’s legal team asked the court to deny Smith’s request.

Fox News’ William Mears and The Associated Press contributed to this report. 

Rep. Greg Pence, R-Ind., brother of former Vice President Mike Pence, announced he is not running for re-election to the House of Representatives this year.

‘In 2017, I ran for Congress because I was Ready to Serve Again. As a former Marine Officer, I approached the job with purpose. After three terms, I’ve made the decision to not file for re-election,’ Greg Pence said on Tuesday morning.

‘For the remainder of my term this year, our team will continue to focus on delivering outstanding constituent services. To the voters in Indiana’s 6th District – it is a privilege and honor to represent you in our Nation’s capital.’

Greg Pence is the latest lawmaker to announce he is leaving Congress, joining more than a dozen House Republicans who have said they are not seeking another term at the end of 2024. 

It comes against the backdrop of a tumultuous 118th Congress, which saw several historic firsts, including the House toppling its own speaker for the first time. With just a razor-thin majority, the House GOP Conference has been fraught with division over both social and fiscal issues.

The 2024 election cycle is expected to see many of those same tensions flare up, particularly with former President Trump expected to win the GOP presidential nomination.

Greg Pence represents Indiana’s 6th Congressional District, which was held by his brother, the former vice president, for roughly a decade until 2013.

The former vice president’s relationship with Trump ruptured in the wake of the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol. Trump criticized Mike Pence for not rejecting the 2020 electoral college results, prompting the former president’s supporters to turn on him. Rioters who broke into the Capitol on Jan. 6 were heard calling for Mike Pence to be hanged. 

Mike Pence, who challenged Trump for the 2024 nomination but dropped out in late October, has maintained that he did the right thing in certifying the election results and accused the former president of endangering his family.

A senior Hezbollah commander said the terrorist organization does not want an expanded war with Israel Tuesday, the same day that it launched a drone attack against an Israeli army base.

Hezbollah, an Iran-backed group, claimed the Tuesday attack was in retribution for an Israeli strike that killed Wissam al-Tawil, who commanded Hezbollah’s Radwan forces.

Hezbollah deputy leader Naim Qassem released a televised speech stating that his group does not seek an all-out war with Israel, ‘but if Israel expands it, the response is inevitable to the maximum extent required to deter Israel.’

President Biden’s administration has sought to prevent Israel’s war against Hamas from boiling over into a regional conflict. Nevertheless, Iran’s proxy terrorist groups have carried out more than 100 attacks on U.S. and Israeli targets since October.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed on Monday that his government would do ‘anything’ to bring back security for Israel.

‘Hezbollah made a serious mistake about us in 2006, and is doing so again now. It thinks that we are weak as a spiderweb, and now sees what kind of spider we are,’ Netanyahu said while visiting soldiers at the northern border. ‘It sees here enormous power, national unity, and determination to do whatever is necessary to bring security back to the north, and I tell you that this is my policy.’

‘We naturally prefer that there be no large scale conflict, but that will not stop us,’ he added. ‘We have given Hezbollah an example of what happened to its friends in the south, and that is what will happen here in the north. We will do anything to bring back security.’

When top Hamas commander Saleh al-Arouri was killed in Beirut, Lebanon, last week, Hezbollah’s chief claimed the organization was ready for war. Netanyahu adviser Ambassador Mark Regev told MSNBC that ‘Israel has not taken responsibility for this attack,’ but noted the ‘surgical’ nature of the strike.

Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah addressed Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, saying the Jewish state ‘will not succeed in achieving the war’s goals.’

‘Whoever thinks of war with us, in one word, he will regret it,’ Nasrallah said.

FIRST ON FOX: The political arm of a veterans’ advocacy group is throwing its support behind GOP presidential primary contender Nikki Haley.

Concerned Veterans of America Action (CVA Action) endorsed Haley for the Oval Office on Tuesday, Fox News Digital has learned.

Haley, the former governor of South Carolina and United Nations ambassador under former President Trump, is the wife of a military man.

‘Nikki Haley has distinguished herself as a strong and principled leader dedicated to securing the freedom and liberty our nation’s veterans have fought and sacrificed to defend,’ CVA Action senior adviser Russ Duerstine said in a press release exclusively obtained by Fox News Digital.

‘She has proven herself a lawmaker, governor, and ambassador to do the right thing for South Carolina and the United States,’ he said.

Duerstine said that as ‘the spouse of a service member, Haley understands the struggles our nation’s heroes face when they come home after serving their country’ and that is ‘why she has always stood for military families and veterans, working to honor our nation’s promise to those who served by removing red tape and empowering veterans to choose when and where they receive their health care.’

‘A President Haley will also prioritize essential steps that improve America’s ability to sustainably fund a strong national defense, including revitalizing our economy by controlling spending, attacking our mounting debt, driving growth, and unleashing American energy abundance.’

‘Americans need a leader like Nikki Haley to be their steady voice in a turbulent Washington, someone who brings Americans together instead of pitting them against each other,’ Duerstein said. ‘CVA Action urges voters to vote Haley to represent them as the next president of the United States.’

Haley told Fox News Digital that as ‘the wife of a combat veteran, helping our service members and veterans is deeply personal’ to her.

‘It’s an honor to earn the support of Concerned Veterans for America Action,’ Haley said. ‘As president, I’ll work every day to make sure we take care of those who take care of us.’

Haley’s endorsement comes as she is set to battle Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who is a veteran himself, on Wednesday’s debate stage as the 2024 GOP race goes into full swing.

In addition to DeSantis, Haley also faces the front-runner, former President Trump, for the GOP presidential nomination.

The veteran vote may prove to be a serious factor in the GOP primary election as well as 2024 amid a change in the military’s culture as well as the botched Afghanistan withdrawal.

Trump remains the front-runner in the race, having a sizable lead over both Haley and DeSantis for the right to take on President Biden in November.

But Haley has surged in the polls as the race has narrowed and heads toward the Iowa caucus.

Haley also participated in a Fox News town hall discussion on Monday ahead of the Iowa caucus.

‘Momentum is surging, Nikki’s message is resonating, and Americans are rallying behind our movement in droves,’ the GOP White House candidate’s campaign wrote in an email to supporters on Monday ahead of the town hall.

Fox News Digital’s Paul Steinhauser contributed reporting.

DES MOINES, IA – Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis starts his Tuesday in his home state, performing his gubernatorial duties as he delivers the State of the State address in Tallahassee.

But hours later, the Republican presidential candidate will return to the campaign trail in Iowa, where he’ll take part in a Fox News town hall.

DeSantis will take questions from ‘Special Report’ chief political anchor Bret Baier and ‘The Story’ executive editor and anchor Martha MacCallum, and also field questions from members of the live audience at the town hall in Des Moines, Iowa’s capital and largest city.

DeSantis, who won an overwhelming victory 14 months ago to clinch a second four-year term steering Florida, was for months solidly in second place in the race for the 2024 GOP presidential nomination, behind former President Trump, who’s the commanding front-runner. 

But after a series of setbacks over the summer, which triggered weeks of negative stories spotlighting his campaign’s overspending, staff layoffs, change of leadership and other issues, DeSantis saw his support in the polls erode.

Rival Nikki Haley, the former South Carolina governor who served as ambassador to the United Nations in the Trump administration, in recent weeks has caught up with DeSantis for second place in the polls in Iowa — whose Jan. 15 caucuses lead off the GOP nominating calendar — and in national surveys. 

Haley also surpassed DeSantis and surged to second place and narrowed the gap with Trump in New Hampshire, which holds the first primary — just eight days after Iowa.

DeSantis has staked his shot at the nomination on a strong showing in Iowa and has, for weeks, predicted a victory in the Hawkeye State.

‘We’re going to win here in Iowa,’ he told Fox News Digital on the campaign trail in the eastern part of the state the week before Christmas.

And he predicted the caucuses ‘will be very clarifying in terms of who is a real deal and who’s not. So, we look forward to that.’

But in recent days, DeSantis appears to have tempered his expectations, telling Fox News on Sunday that ‘we’re gonna have a good showing here.’

Haley joined Fox News on Monday for a similar town hall, with Trump taking questions from Baier and MacCallum on Wednesday.

Former President Trump on Tuesday is expected to attend an appeals court hearing in Washington, D.C., that will consider the scope of his presidential immunity as the 2024 GOP front-runner seeks to have Special Counsel Jack Smith’s case against him dismissed.

‘I will be attending the the Federal Appeals Court Arguments on Presidential Immunity in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday,’ Trump posted to his Truth Social account.

‘Of course I was entitled, as President of the United States and Commander in Chief, to Immunity,’ Trump said. ‘I wasn’t campaigning, the Election was long over. I was looking for voter fraud, and finding it, which is my obligation to do, and otherwise running running our Country.’

Trump added, ‘If I don’t get Immunity, then Crooked Joe Biden doesn’t get Immunity, and with the Border Invasion and Afghanistan Surrender, alone, not to mention the Millions of dollars that went into his ‘pockets’ with money from foreign countries, Joe would be ripe for Indictment.’

Trump accused Biden of ‘weaponizing the DOJ.’ 

‘By weaponizing the DOJ against his Political Opponent, ME, Joe has opened a giant Pandora’s Box,’ Trump said.

He also noted that as president, he was ‘protecting our country, and doing a great job of doing so, just look around at the complete mess that Crooked Joe Biden has caused.’

He added, ‘The least I am entitled to is Presidential Immunity on Fake Biden Indictments!’

Smith’s case against Trump is on pause as Trump’s attorneys appeal the case and argue that presidential immunity protects him from being prosecuted. The trial had been set to begin on March 4.

In August, Trump pleaded not guilty in federal court to all four federal charges stemming from Smith’s investigation into 2020 election interference and the Capitol riot on Jan. 6, 2021.

Trump is charged 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.

Smith filed an argument to dispute Trump’s claim of presidential immunity in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia.

The U.S. Supreme Court recently rejected Smith’s appeal to expedite their assessment of the immunity claim before it went fully through a federal appeals court. Trump’s legal team asked the court to deny Smith’s request.

American forces in the Middle East were attacked eight times during the time that Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin spent in the hospital before resuming his job on Friday, Fox News has learned.

Five additional incidents took place after Austin resumed his job on Friday night, bringing the total to 128 attacks since October 17 and 13 attacks since he was hospitalized.

The Biden administration official was checked into Walter Reed National Military Medical Center on January 1 after experiencing ‘severe pain.’ He was taken to an intensive care unit (ICU) and ‘resum[ed] his duties’ on Friday, but still remains in the medical center.

Pentagon press secretary Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder said that Austin’s ailment was a result of complications from an elective medical procedure, but did not give extensive details about the stay.

‘Since resuming his duties on Friday evening, the Secretary has received operational updates and has provided necessary guidance to his team,’ Ryder said in a statement to Fox News Digital. ‘He has full access to required communications capabilities and continues to monitor DoD’s day-to-day operations worldwide.’

The Pentagon and the Biden administration have been criticized by Republican politicians for allegedly not communicating properly about the hospitalization. Sen. Roger Wicker of Mississippi told Fox News Digital that the incident ‘further erodes trust in the Biden Administration, which has repeatedly failed to inform the public in a timely fashion about critical events.’

The recent Middle East incidents were targeted at U.S. troops in Iraq and Syria and began amid the escalation of the Israel-Hamas war.

Iran-backed terrorist groups have repeatedly targeted American forces with a mix of one-way drones and rockets. On January 2, one-way attack drones targeted Mission Support Site Green Village in Syria twice and targeted Erbil Airbase in Iraq once. Several rockets were launched towards Patrol Base Shaddadi in Syria on that day as well.

On January 3, a one-way attack drone was launched at U.S. forces in Al-Tanf Garrison in Syria. 

Mission Support Site Green Village in Syria was targeted with a one-way attack drone on January 4, while two other drones targeted Al-Tanf Garrison in Syria and Patrol Base Shaddadi in Syria on January 5.

No casualties from any of the eight incidents were reported. There was also no reported damage to infrastructure.

Fox News Digital’s Greg Wehner, Emma Colton and Liz Friden contributed to this report.

DES MOINES, IA – With one week until the Iowa caucuses kick off the Republican presidential nominating calendar, Nikki Haley is a candidate on the rise.

But with her rise in the polls comes more scrutiny for Haley, and more incoming fire from her rivals for the GOP nomination and from President Biden.

On Monday, at a Fox News town hall hosted by ‘Special Report’ chief political anchor Bret Baier and ‘The Story’ executive editor and anchor Martha MacCallum, the former South Carolina governor who served as ambassador to the United Nations in former President Donald Trump’s administration fired back.

Among her targets, Biden, who hours earlier knocked her for failing to mention slavery when answering a question about the causes of the Civil War. 

‘Let me be clear for those who don’t seem to know: Slavery was the cause of the Civil War,’ the president said hours earlier, as he gave a speech in Haley’s hometown. Biden spoke at Mother Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, a historic Black church where nine parishioners were killed in a horrific 2015 shooting.

‘Mother Emanuel Church is a sacred place,’ Haley said when asked to respond. ‘For Biden to show up there and give a political speech is offensive in itself.  

And Haley stressed that ‘I don’t need someone who palled around with segregationists in the ’70s and has said racist comments all the way through his career lecturing me or anyone in South Carolina about what it means to have racism, slavery, or anything related to the Civil War.’

Biden came under criticism as he ran for the White House during the 2020 presidential cycle for speaking positively about two segregationist senators he had years earlier worked with in the Senate, as he noted that there was at least ‘some civility’ in the chamber.

Haley also argued that ‘Biden should be fired’ after the Pentagon failed to disclose that Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin had been hospitalized for elective surgery, leaving the president in the dark for a couple of days. ‘This is unbelievable that we have a situation like this.’

‘I have a problem with the fact that Biden is not talking to his secretary of Defense every single day anyway,’ Haley stressed.

Haley has soared in recent months, thanks in part to her well-regarded performances in the first three Republican presidential primary debates. Over the past month she hs caught up with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis in the latest Iowa polls and in national surveys, for a distant second place behind Trump, who remains the commanding front-runner for the nomination as he makes his third straight White House run.

And Haley has surged to second place and narrowed the gap with Trump in New Hampshire, which holds the first primary and votes second – just eight days after Iowa.

Trump and his political allies have increasingly taken aim at Haley in recent weeks. The Trump campaign and an aligned super PAC are running new ads that blast Haley over the combustible issue of border security and illegal immigration.

‘Haley even opposed Trump’s wall and Haley repeatedly pushed amnesty for illegals,’ the narrator in a new spot that started running Monday claimed. ‘Nikki Haley – too weak, too liberal, to fix the border.’

And the Trump campaign blasted out emails during the Fox News town hall targeting Haley over immigration, taxes and the support she’s received from some top dollar Wall Street donors.

Firing back, Haley argued ‘just because President Trump says something doesn’t make it true.’

‘He’s lying about it,’ she stressed. ‘And I’ll tell you the reason he’s lying about it is because he’s taking snippets of things I said. I said you shouldn’t just do the border wall. You have to do more than that. That’s what I said.’

But Haley and her campaign take the increased attacks as a sign that Trump’s increasingly concerned about her upward mobility in the polls.

‘I appreciate all the attention President Trump is giving me. It is quite sweet and thoughtful of him,’ she said.

Trump and his allies aren’t the only ones taking aim at Haley. DeSantis and two super PACs aligned with his campaign are also training their fire on Haley.

A recent ad claims that Haley was inspired by former Secretary of State and 2016 Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton, who’s a popular target for Republicans.

‘DeSantis is desperate. He’s lying because he’s losing,’ Haley charged. ‘I never said Hillary Clinton was an inspiration.’

DeSantis joins Fox News Tuesday for a similar town hall, with Trump taking questions from Baier and MacCallum on Wednesday.