A newly formed election watchdog nonprofit organization has started paying out tens of thousands of dollars in ‘bounties’ to election whistleblowers as part of its unique goal of promoting election integrity by encouraging whistleblowers to come forward. 

The Fair Election Fund, a recently formed national election integrity watchdog group, is announcing this week it is awarding an initial $50,000 in ‘bounties’ to whistleblowers who have reported first-hand knowledge of voter fraud or irregularities across four states, including North Carolina and Michigan.

The Fair Election fund was set up earlier this year pledging millions of dollars to promote election integrity by paying and protecting whistleblowers on the front lines who are able to identify issues at polling places and election offices.

The group says it has heard from numerous whistleblowers across the country reporting issues receiving multiple ballots, delayed ballots, mailing address errors, independent parties blocked from overseeing counting, receiving ballots without requesting one and other issues.

‘The Fair Election Fund is thrilled that our incentives are working and we’re learning more about systemic problems with our election system, but this is just the beginning,’ Doug Collins, former congressman from Georgia and Fair Election Fund Senior Advisor, said in the press release.

‘The Fair Election Fund today is sharing the stories of the first brave whistleblowers who stepped up and exposed the wrongdoing they saw in the election process and we are grateful for their contribution. We must shine a light on these abuses and root out election fraud before Americans head to the polls this November.’

The group says in the press release that the ‘success’ of the ‘initial bounties’ shows the need for the group to expand, which it will do into key swing states in a six-figure digital ad buy during the Olympics. 

The new ad, titled ‘We’re Watching,’ will run in the swing states of Arizona, Nevada, Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Georgia and North Carolina and tells the story of a Connecticut Democratic operative recently charged in an absentee ballot stuffing investigation.

Voting is our most sacred right as Americans, And when the stakes are this high,’ the ad states. ‘We can’t afford to let our guard down. When bad actors try to mess with our elections, they should know we’re watching, and they will be caught.’

President Biden publicly addressed the nation on Wednesday night for the first time after announcing Sunday that he had withdrawn from his pending re-election.

He cited things he has done since being inaugurated — like battling COVID-19 and trying to help the country recover from what he called the ‘worst economic crisis since the Great Depression.’

Biden also said the election is up to the ‘American people,’ just a moment after he gave a slight endorsement to Vice President Kamala Harris as his successor.

‘In just a few months, the American people will choose the course of America’s future. I made my choice. I’ve made my views known,’ Biden said from the White House. ‘I would like to thank our great vice president, Kamala Harris. She is experienced, she is tough, she is capable. She’s been an incredible partner to me and a leader for our country.

‘Now the choice is up to you, the American people. When you make that choice, remember the words of Benjamin Franklin hanging on my wall here in the Oval Office, alongside the busts of Dr. King and Rosa Parks and Cesar Chavez.’

Biden, who is 81 and has faced criticism from both Republicans and Democrats over his physical appearances and mental acuity after the first presidential debate, did not mention any personal reasons for why he is stepping away.

‘In recent weeks, it has become clear to me that I need to unite my party in this critical endeavor. I believe my record as president, my leadership in the world, my vision for America’s future, all merited a second term. But nothing, nothing can come in the way of saving our democracy. That includes personal ambition,’ the president said.

‘So I’ve decided the best way forward is to pass the torch to a new generation. It’s the best way to unite our nation. I know there was a time and a place for long years of experience in public life. There’s also a time and a place for new voices, fresh voices, yes, younger voices. And that time and place is now.

‘Over the next six months, I will be focused on doing my job as president. That means I will continue to lower costs for hard-working families, grow our economy. I will keep defending our personal freedoms and civil rights, from the right to vote to the right to choose. I will keep calling out hate and extremism, making it clear there is no place, no place in America for political violence or any violence ever, period. I’m going to keep speaking out to protect our kids from gun violence, our planet from climate crisis as an existential threat.’

Biden won the needed votes to clinch delegates for re-election. Now, it seems like Harris will be the presumed Democratic candidate to run against former President Trump in the general election this fall.

President Biden’s tenure in the White House expires in January, and political insiders from both sides of the aisle believe the remaining six months of his lame-duck presidency will consist largely of the same routine and ‘absolutely nothing.’

Biden suspended his 2024 re-election campaign on Sunday, noting in a statement that he believed it ‘is in the best interests of my party and the country for me to stand down and focus solely on fulfilling my duties as president for the remainder of my term.’

Biden’s announcement, which included his ‘full support and endorsement’ for Vice President Harris to take over as the party’s presidential nominee, led many Americans and political pundits to question what that fulfillment of duties will look like and whether the president will see through any meaningful policies or changes during his remaining months in office.

Former Democrat presidential candidate Tulsi Gabbard, who represented Hawaii’s 2nd Congressional District in the House from 2013 to 2021, said she sees little change coming Americans’ way in the next six months, insisting Biden ‘hasn’t been the one making decisions’ on key issues all along.

‘Clearly, President Biden hasn’t been the one making decisions on our country’s domestic and foreign policy for the last three and a half years,’ she said. ‘The same unelected people running the country with Biden as their figurehead will continue to do so for as long as he is in office and with Kamala Harris, if she’s elected.’

‘The people who’ve been actually running the country are the unelected power elite from the administrative state, national security state and military industrial complex working hand-in-glove with the propaganda media acting as their agents,’ she added. ‘Their goal is to remain in power at any and all costs, and [they] have already shown they are willing to do whatever it takes to defeat and destroy [former President] Donald Trump, as he is the greatest threat to their power.’

Biden’s unprecedented announcement came as an increasing number of Democrat lawmakers publicly called for him to step aside, with the party’s leadership reportedly engaged in efforts to convince the 81-year-old president he could not win the November general election against Trump, the 2024 GOP nominee who he defeated four years ago to win the White House.

Julian Epstein, an attorney and former chief counsel to Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee, told Fox News Digital he believes there is ‘almost nothing’ Biden will be able to accomplish in the months and days before the inauguration.

‘There is almost nothing that Biden can achieve in the next six months, other than treading water and maintaining the status quo,’ he said. ‘If the White House were smart, it would double down on its support for Israel and make clear that the Democrats understand moral clarity on fighting what is in effect the Ku Klux Klan on the banks of the Mediterranean.’

American Majority CEO and founder Ned Ryun echoed Epstein’s assessment, saying he believes there’s ‘absolutely nothing’ Biden will be able to accomplish in the shadows of Harris’ presidential campaign.

‘First, there’s no way anyone on either side of the aisle would want to push the envelope as they have their own re-elections to worry about,’ Ryan said. ‘[Senate Majority Leader] Chuck Schumer would never let anything overtly problematic come to the floor in the Senate because it’s a terrible map already; he doesn’t need to make it even harder for them to try and hold majority.’

‘So Biden will achieve precisely nothing, except via executive orders, as he’s beyond a lame-duck president and shouldn’t even still be in office,’ he added.

During his tenure in the White House, Biden has signed 140 executive orders, 196 presidential memoranda, 634 proclamations and 133 notices.

After his announcement, Biden’s schedule was largely cleared of campaign events and speeches.

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Wednesday that Biden intends to complete his term in office and ‘run through the finish line’ in January.

‘We don’t see ourselves as a lame-duck president at all in this period of time,’ she told reporters from the briefing room. ‘This is a president that has been incredibly successful, and he’s going to do everything that he can to continue to fight for the American people.’

Fox News Digital’s Paul Steinhauser contributed to this report.

House Republicans are questioning whether Vice President Kamala Harris was aware of any signs of cognitive decline in President Biden before his performance in last month’s presidential debate prompted similar concerns among the wider public.

‘I don’t see how anybody in the president’s inner circle could not have known about his cognitive decline,’ House Foreign Affairs Chairman Michael McCaul, R-Texas, told Fox News Digital when asked about Harris. 

McCaul, who’s met with Biden twice since he took office in January 2021, said, during the second meeting earlier this year, the president ‘didn’t seem to quite comprehend things very well.’

‘It was very noticeable to the members of the meeting. There was something — maybe he was just having a bad day,’ McCaul said.

Other GOP lawmakers were more pointed in their criticism of Harris, pointing to reports she and Biden had been together in small group settings, including one-on-one lunches.

‘If you look at video from six months ago, three months ago, when she continued to appear before large groups of people and say, ‘The president’s fine, he’s doing great,’ you know, they were all in on this,’ Rep. Scott Fitzgerald, R-Wis., said. ‘As a result of that, you know, we find ourselves in the really strange position of not knowing whether or not he can fulfill his duties.’

Harris announced Sunday she would be running for president after the 81-year-old Biden dropped out of the race. 

The administration’s GOP critics have accused Democrats of staging a ‘coup’ against Biden because all polls indicated he was positioned to lose to former President Trump, though left-wing lawmakers have rejected those claims and insisted anyone was free to challenge Harris.

The Republican attacks have included questions over whether Harris saw Biden operate privately the way he did on the debate stage against Trump in June, speaking with a hoarse, meandering tone and, at times, appearing confused.

‘It’s clear that she has watched his decline and done nothing to bring it to light or to take action,’ said Rep. Ben Cline, R-Va. ‘Instead, what we see is her involvement in one of the greatest cover-ups in our nation’s history.’

Rep. Tom Tiffany, R-Wis., told Fox News Digital, ‘I mean, she’s the vice president. She was there the whole time when most of the world knew that he was not up to doing the job.’

‘How could you spend time around him and not know he was in a state of decline?’ Rep. Barry Moore, R-Ala., wondered.

Rep. Dan Meuser, R-Pa., said, ‘She stood by him. And that’s a very loyal thing to do. But where is loyalty and lying to the American people? Where’s that line?’

Biden suspended his campaign after mounting pressure from fellow Democrats to step aside. 

Fox News Digital reached out to Harris’ campaign for comment.

After President Joe Biden’s address to the nation Wednesday night, multiple doctors shared their opinions with Fox News Digital about his perceived health status based on his live speech.

Seated in the Oval Office, the president spoke relatively briefly about his withdrawal from the 2024 race and his commitment to continuing to serve the country for the next few months. 

He did not mention his recent COVID-19 infection, ongoing concerns about his cognitive health, or the recent assassination attempt on the life of former President Donald Trump.

Dr. Marc Siegel, clinical professor of medicine at NYU Langone Medical Center and a Fox News medical contributor — who has never treated the president — noted that Biden seemed to be reading from a teleprompter on Wednesday night, as he often does, making it difficult for those watching to gauge his medical fitness.

Although Biden stumbled over his words a few times, Siegel was more concerned about the president’s apparent ‘lack of emotion.’

‘It is a very emotional time for him and he isn’t showing it,’ the doctor told Fox News Digital after the speech. ‘He seems to lack conviction.’

Siegel expressed concern that Biden ‘could be depressed and shocked by the current reality.’

‘I feel compassion for him,’ Siegel went on. ‘How can he quote from the Declaration [of Independence] without much conviction? I feel bad for him and for us.’

‘It is a very emotional time for him and he isn’t showing it.’

Dr. Robert Lufkin, a California-based physician and medical school professor at UCLA and USC, also weighed in on Biden.

Lufkin noted that he has never examined Biden, but offered his observations based on Wednesday’s speech and recent media events.

In previous appearances, Biden has shown signs of ‘cognitive deterioration,’ the doctor told Fox News Digital.

‘The findings in his previous presentations could have a variety of causes, including sleep deprivation, sedation, metabolic abnormalities or even neurodegenerative diseases.’

Tonight’s short presentation appeared to be read from a teleprompter, Lufkin agreed — ‘which is less demanding than the more spontaneous Q&A debate format of some of his previous events.’

In previous appearances, such as the June 27 debate, Biden has shown ‘confused rambling, sudden loss of train of thought in the middle of a sentence, halting speech, and the repeated use of the word ‘anyway’ when lost in a sentence,’ Lufkin noted.

‘Tonight, we did not see these in his presentation,’ he said. ‘His delivery was fairly uniform without interruptions.’

The fact that these findings were less apparent tonight could be due to the speech format of the presentation and use of a teleprompter, according to Lufkin.

‘That format is much less challenging and less likely to uncover pathology than a more rigorous Q&A exchange or debate format,’ he went on.

He said he hoped that ‘continued interactions with Mr. Biden in various presentation formats will allow us to understand his situation in more detail.’

Dr. Earnest Lee Murray, a board-certified neurologist at Jackson-Madison County General Hospital in Jackson, Tennessee, said the speech from the Oval Office was ‘clearly better’ for Biden than the debate, but also noted that the president struggled at times with reading from the teleprompter. 

Murray has not treated or examined Biden.

‘Reading simple passages do become difficult in patients with dementia,’ he told Fox News Digital, expressing a professional opinion in general about such cases. 

The president struggled at times with reading from the teleprompter. 

<!–>

‘Patients with a dementing process have significant difficulties with multitasking,’ said Murray, again speaking generally.

‘President Biden seemed more rested and relaxed tonight,’ Murray said. 

‘I suspect the stress of trying to run for office and be president was leading to even worse daily cognitive performance,’ he also said. 

For more Health articles, visit www.foxnews/health

In response to earlier outreach from Fox News Digital, the White House press office said that ‘health was not a factor’ in the president’s decision to withdraw from the 2024 race. 

‘He looks forward to finishing his term and delivering more historic results for the American people,’ the White House said in its statement. 

–>

President Biden addressed the nation for the first time on Wednesday since bowing out of the 2024 election on Sunday, saying he is passing the torch to ‘a new generation’ while again throwing his support behind Vice President Harris in her campaign to secure the Democratic Party’s nomination. 

‘I decided the best way forward is to pass the torch to a new generation. It’s the best way to unite our nation. You know, there is a time and a place for long years of experience in public life. There’s also a time and place for new voices, fresh voices, yes, younger voices. And that time and place is now,’ Biden said.

The speech lasted roughly 11 minutes, with the president sitting at the Resolute Desk in the Oval Office while touting his years in political office and decision to bow out. Members of the president’s family were in attendance for the speech, including first lady Jill Biden, daughter Ashley Biden, son Hunter Biden and others. 

The president said he looks forward to the work before him in his final six months in office, including pushing for Supreme Court reforms. 

‘I’m going to call for Supreme Court reform because this is critical to our democracy,’ he said. Media reports recently surfaced that Biden is considering supporting legislation that would attempt to impose term limits on Supreme Court justices and a new enforceable ethics code.

Biden announced his exit from the presidential race on Sunday in an X post while self-isolating in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, after a COVID-19 diagnosis last Wednesday. After suffering ‘mild symptoms’ and ‘general malaise’ after his diagnosis, he received a negative diagnosis on Tuesday this week and returned to the White House.

His trip to the nation’s capital on Tuesday marked the first time Biden was seen in public since suspending his re-election bid on Sunday and the first time since being diagnosed with COVID-19 on July 17. 

His speech Wednesday evening included citing American forefathers and political leaders while arguing that ‘democracy is at stake’ this election cycle as the Democratic Party squares up against former President Donald Trump.

‘Thomas Jefferson wrote the immortal words that guide this nation. George Washington showed us presidents are not kings. Abraham Lincoln implored us to reject malice. Franklin Roosevelt, who inspired us to reject fear. I revere this office, but I love my country more,’ he said. 

‘It’s been the honor of my life to serve as your president, but in the defense of democracy, which is at stake, I think is more important than any title. I draw strength and I find joy in working for the American people. But this sacred task of perfecting our union, it’s not about me. It’s about you.’

Members of the Biden family were seen tearing up and hugging the president after he wrapped up his speech. 

Trump responded to the speech on Truth Social, saying it was ‘was barely understandable, and sooo bad!’

The 46th president had faced mounting pressure from his Democrat allies and legacy media outlets to bow out of the race since June 27, when he delivered a botched debate performance against Trump that was riddled with garbled remarks and where the president lost his train of thought and appeared more subdued than during other recent public events. 

The debate reignited concern among conservatives and critics that Biden’s mental acuity had slipped, while it marked the beginning of a pressure campaign among Democrats to oust Biden in favor of a candidate they believed is better suited to take on Trump.

Dozens of members of Congress began publicly thanking Biden for his work in the White House and decades in public office while calling on him to pass the torch to another candidate. 

Shortly after his announcement on Sunday afternoon, Biden endorsed Harris to pick up the mantle and make a run for the party’s nomination. As of Tuesday, Harris had enough delegates to lock up the nomination, which will be certified by the DNC next month.

He added in his speech on Wednesday that Harris is ‘tough’ and ‘capable’ while touting her as the Democratic Party’s presumptive nominee. 

‘I’d like to thank our great Vice President Kamala Harris. She’s experienced. She’s tough. She’s capable. She’s been an incredible partner to me and a leader for our country. Now the choice is up to you, the American people,’ he said. 

Now that the president has dropped out of the election cycle, conservative lawmakers and others have called on Biden to resign from the White House, arguing that if he is unable to run for re-election, he’s unfit to run the nation for the roughly six months left of his tenure. 

‘If Joe Biden is not fit to run for President, he is not fit to serve as President. He must resign the office immediately. November 5 cannot arrive soon enough,’ House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., said in a statement on Sunday.

Others have called on Harris to invoke the 25th Amendment while concerns mount over Biden’s health. Tennessee Rep. Andy Ogles sent a letter to Harris on Thursday requesting that she invoke the 25th Amendment, exclusively telling Fox News Digital that Biden left the race ‘because he isn’t up for the job of president, and everyone in America knows it.’ 

‘I’ve said for over a year that Biden’s ever-declining health has rendered him incapable of leading the nation. With his recent reclusion following a supposed COVID diagnosis, it is now more apparent than ever that he must resign or be forced out. Since Biden has made it clear he will not resign, it is imperative that Vice President Harris move forward with invoking the provisions of the 25th Amendment to remove him forcibly. The safety and well-being of the American people and our nation depend upon it,’ Ogles said.

Biden’s announcement on dropping out was made just more than a week after an assassination attempt on Trump’s life during a rally in Pennsylvania and just days after the Republican National Convention wrapped up in Milwaukee, where Trump was officially declared to be the Republican Party’s nominee.

The fight to avoid a government shutdown is again bringing out the fault lines within the House GOP’s razor-thin majority.

House Republican leaders sought to avoid another messy, drawn-out battle over federal funding this year by rolling out an ambitious schedule to pass all 12 individual appropriations bills before the annual August recess.

That effort has been all but derailed. Rank-and-file Republicans are frustrated GOP rebels are pushing for politically unpopular votes on measures that would likely not be in the final bills after compromising with the Democratic-held Senate.

Some GOP lawmakers are accusing the rebels of ‘political masturbation,’ while the rebels blast the ‘terrible process’ lawmakers have followed for years.

‘Many of the appropriators are not excited about seeing some of these amendments being voted on. So, they vote against the amendments, and they get upset with those people when they don’t vote for the full appropriations bill. So, everybody’s mad,’ one House Republican granted anonymity to speak freely told Fox News Digital.

A second House Republican said, ‘Most of them I do philosophically agree with, so it’s not that it’s tough. It’s that they’re unnecessary. We know they’re not going anywhere.’

‘If you bring an amendment up that … makes me feel good … but it’s literally not going to pass a markup, or it’s not going to allow the bill to pass on the floor because the moderates are not going to like it, it’s just political masturbation at that point. So, what are we doing?’ the second GOP lawmaker said.

‘The rest of us can have that impact, too. We choose not to because we’re trying to get these bills passed. We’re actually trying to do our jobs here.’

GOP leaders had aimed to pass a bill funding the Justice and Commerce departments this week. But after it passed through committee absent an amendment defunding prosecutions against former President Trump — and was bashed by the ex-president — lawmakers have yet to see it get a House-wide vote.

On Tuesday evening, the Energy and Water appropriations bill was abruptly pulled from the House floor schedule amid worries about it passing.

‘What we’re sick of is not passing the most conservative bills that we can get to be able to even start the negotiation,’ Republican Study Committee Chair Kevin Hern, R-Okla., told Fox News Digital. ‘What a lot of people are upset about is trying to find a bill and vote on it on the House side that will pass the Senate. And … the conservative people in our party are wanting bills that represent the conservative principles of the Republican Party as a starting point.’

House Freedom Caucus member Rep. Matt Rosendale, R-Mont., said, ‘They should be bringing these things out to the floor. They should be openly debated, discussed — and amendments proposed out there on the floor in front of all 435 members and, in the end, the American people — and that’s not what’s being done, and that’s why we have this terrible process.’

It’s all but certain that Congress will have to pass a short-term extension of this year’s funding, known as a continuing resolution (CR), something that fiscal hawks who voted against last year’s funding packages will likely oppose.

Punting government funding into the new year or even into December will mean the next steps are largely dependent on who wins the presidential election.

‘I’m disappointed that we have not been able to find a consensus to pass all the appropriations bills before the August recess. I hope we can do that in September. I think members have to be realistic about what their goals and objectives are for a CR until after the election,’ said Rep. French Hill, R-Ark.

House Appropriations Chair Tom Cole, R-Okla., confirmed to reporters that a short-term bill would be necessary to avoid a partial government shutdown.

‘I’ve always said we’d have to do a CR,’ Cole said. ‘And then whoever wins the election will make the decision. Do you want a deal by the end of the year or do you want to kick them to the next Congress? I hope, my advice to whoever wins, would be do it by the end of the year.’ 

A spokesperson for Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., told Fox News Digital, ‘The House has made significant progress in advancing FY25 appropriations bills. The House Appropriations Committee has diligently moved all 12 bills out of committee, and the House has passed 75% of government funding for the upcoming fiscal year while the Senate has yet to even consider a single appropriations bill. The House will continue its successful effort to responsibly fund the government for FY25 when it returns from its district work period.’