Republican vice presidential nominee JD Vance on Thursday spoke about his personal experiences with Christianity and the importance of social conservatism.

Vance gave a speech at the Faith & Freedom Coalition’s God & Country Breakfast, where he attempted to quell concerns that the Republican Party is drifting away from religious and socially conservative voters.

‘There has been a lot of rumbling in the past few weeks that the Republican Party of now and the Republican Party of the future is not going to be a place that’s welcoming to social conservatives. And really, from the bottom of my heart, I want to say that is not true,’ Vance told the audience.

He added, ‘Social conservatives have a seat at this table, and they always will, so long as I have any influence in this party. And President Trump, I know, agrees.’

The Republican Party has softened many of the social policy pillars within its platform, including the traditionally sacrosanct issue of abortion.

The platform, drafted by the former president and his top aides, was passed on Monday by a committee dominated by Trump supporters, which met behind closed doors in Milwaukee ahead of next week’s Republican National Convention.

The platform, titled ‘America First: A Return to Common Sense,’ is the GOP’s first in eight years, as the 2016 document was duplicated in 2020. Following Trump’s lead, the document spotlights that abortion is best handled by the states. However, for the first time in 40 years, the document makes no mention of a federal abortion ban, which the presumptive GOP presidential nominee has emphasized that he opposes.

Instead, the new platform stresses, ‘We will oppose late-term abortion while supporting mothers and policies that advance prenatal care, access to birth control, and IVF (fertility treatments).’

The commitment to IVF accessibility also raised eyebrows, as the practice usually requires the destruction of fertilized human embryos.

Vance himself caused an uproar in pro-life circles last week after saying in an interview with ‘Meet the Press’ that he supports the abortion pill mifepristone ‘being accessible’ after the Supreme Court ruled against pro-life advocates who sued to end its Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval. 

Vance’s stance also shocked Catholic groups, since the potential vice-president converted to the faith only a few years ago. 

While failing to address∂ the abortion pill issue during his speech, Vance did offer personal testimony to the audience about his reconversion to Christianity after years of atheism.

‘What really brought me back to Christ was finding a wife and falling in love and thinking about what was required of me as a husband and as a father,’ Vance said. ‘And the more that I thought about those deeper questions, the more that I thought that there was wisdom in the Christian faith that I had completely discarded and completely ignored, but was most relevant to the questions that were presented in my life as a husband and father.’

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

The walls appear to be closing in on President Biden’s re-election campaign.

Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., reportedly told President Biden in a phone call that polls are showing he cannot defeat former President Trump in November and that him staying in the race could destroy Democrats’ chances of taking the House in November.

The phone call marked the second time Pelosi and Biden spoke since the president’s disastrous debate performance against Trump on June 27, according to a CNN report Thursday citing four sources briefed on the call. The sources also told CNN that the former speaker did not tell Biden to drop out of the race. 

The report came just hours before the Washington Post reported that former President Barack Obama told his allies in recent days that he believes Biden needs to reconsider his candidacy. 

In terms of the Pelosi call, Biden responded by pushing back, telling her he has seen polls that indicate he can win, one source told the outlet. 

Another one of the sources described Biden as getting defensive about the polls and that at one point, Pelosi asked Mike Donilon, Biden’s longtime adviser, to get on the line to talk over the data.

It is unclear when exactly the call took place, but one CNN source says it was held within the last week. Pelosi and Biden also spoke in early July.

A spokesperson for Pelosi tells Fox News Digital that the congresswoman would not comment on private conversations with the president. 

‘Speaker Pelosi respects the confidentiality of her meetings and conversations with the President of the United States. Sadly, the feeding frenzy from the press based on anonymous sources misrepresents any conversations the Speaker may have had with the President,’ the spokesperson said in a statement. 

Fox News Digital reached out to the White House for comment but did not immediately receive a response.

Pelosi is a longtime Biden ally. She led House Democrats for the entirety of Biden’s two terms as vice president and served as House speaker for the first two years of his presidency, ushering major pieces of Biden’s agenda through Congress, including the American Rescue Plan and the bipartisan infrastructure law.

In the wake of the debate, Pelosi said she would support whatever the president decided to do, although several reports indicate that she was encouraging lawmakers to continue to put pressure on Biden to reconsider his decision to run for re-election.

Biden has faced mounting calls to step aside since his disastrous debate performance and his campaign has been in disarray ever since. The campaign had believed that the attempted assassination of Trump, in which he sustained a wound to the right ear, had tamped down calls for Biden to step aside.

But on Wednesday, influential Democratic California Rep. Adam Schiff called on Biden to drop out, telling Fox News Digital in a statement that he has ‘serious concerns about whether the President can defeat Donald Trump in November.’

Reuters, citing a top White House source with direct knowledge of the matter, reported earlier Thursday that Pelosi backed Schiff’s call for Biden to drop out of the race, although her office did not address the report when asked by Fox News Digital. Schiff and Pelosi both represent California districts in the House.

‘Nancy is all over this. She doesn’t miss. Schiff wouldn’t move without her approval,’ the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told Reuters.

Last week, a number of House Democrats told The Hill that Pelosi was advising members in their conference against rallying to Biden before there is a broader discussion over whether he is the best candidate to defeat Trump. 

‘I did have a conversation with her, she is very concerned,’ one House Democratic lawmaker told The Hill. ‘It’s not like she’s like, ‘We’re sticking with this guy.”

Fox News’ Brian Flood and Chris Pandolfo, as well as Reuters contributed to this report. 

Alina Habba, an attorney and legal spokesperson for former President Donald Trump, is taking on a major new role that she hopes will help accomplish the ‘critical’ task of sending him back to the White House this November.

Habba is now serving as a senior adviser to Trump’s re-election campaign, a promotion that comes after she gained national recognition in her legal role, which saw her win in court for the former president more than any of his other attorneys despite having only been on his team since 2021.

Fox News Digital sat down with Habba ahead of Trump’s highly anticipated speech at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, where she discussed her new role and gave a preview of what the former president will say to the audience of delegates and supporters who, earlier this week, cheered his triumphant return following a failed assassination attempt.

‘Moved, I think, is the best word for it. I was moved,’ Habba said when asked how she felt seeing Trump, sporting a bandage on his wounded ear, enter the convention hall on Monday night to massive cheers and applause. ‘I think America could see it’s a different President Trump today.’ 

‘I never in my life thought I would live through that, let alone live through it and say, ‘That’s also my friend.’ And that’s been very difficult for me,’ she said. ‘It’s traumatic, but I’m proud of him.’

Habba described her promotion as a ‘great honor’ and said it would provide her, as a mom, with the opportunity to discuss issues important to women across the country.

She still plans to fulfill her duties as an attorney for Trump, citing ongoing cases in which she’s involved, but also plans to now be a ‘voice for President Trump’ in order to speak on a wider range of issues.

Trump’s campaign said earlier this week that the former president — following his brush with death — will use his speech to call for unity in the face of tragedy instead of criticizing his political adversaries.

Habba expanded on that, telling Fox that Trump’s speech changed ‘dramatically’ following Saturday’s events.

‘Without getting into details, I will say that I think it’s authentic. Everything he does is authentic, and I think that his perspective on life … has changed,’ she said. ‘Not that he wasn’t already a great fighter, but I think that the country needs to hear from him in a different light.’ 

‘I just don’t see how he couldn’t, because of what he actually went through. So it’s going to be authentic. It’s going to be genuine. And I think it’s going to be what the American people need to hear.’

Habba will give her own speech to the RNC ahead of Trump on Thursday, something she says is emotional for her.

‘It takes a lot to rattle me these days. I’ve been through a tremendous amount with him. But this one means a lot to me. So I will not be speaking about legal issues. I will be speaking about him, and I’m excited to do so, and let the American people know the President Trump that I know,’ she said.

Habba’s promotion has been received well and, according to multiple people who are familiar, has already led to a boost in fundraising for the Trump campaign.

‘The greatest part about what she does is she doesn’t speak from opinion. It’s based on legal facts and procedures, and she does it in a way that’s articulate, powerful and gorgeous to boot,’ Rep. Cory Mills, R-Fla., said of Habba as he stopped by to talk amid the interview with Fox.

‘Brains and beauty is a dangerous combination in this game,’ he said.

Fox News’ Paul Steinhauser and Brooke Singman contributed to this report.

MILWAUKEE – Former President Trump’s campaign is contrasting what they call a ‘unified’ GOP at the Republican National Convention with the latest turmoil surrounding President Biden’s re-election bid.

On Thursday, a Trump campaign official told Fox News ‘when you look at what we’ve done with this convention, we’ve demonstrated to the American people that not only is the Republican Party unified, but we have a unifying vision for the entire country with President Trump’s agenda and plan for America well established.’

‘At the same time, the Democrats can’t even figure out who their nominee should be,’ the official argued.

The comments come as President Biden’s re-election campaign is pushing back against a slew of reports in the past 24 hours that the president has become more receptive in the last couple of days to hearing arguments about why he should drop his 2024 re-election run.

‘Our campaign is not working through any scenarios where President Biden is not at the top of the ticket. He is and will be the Democratic nominee,’ Biden principal deputy campaign manager Quentin Fulks told reporters at a news conference Thursday morning near the site of the Republican National Convention.

Fulks emphasized that ‘the president has said it several times. He’s staying in this race’ and ‘we look forward to him accepting the [nomination of the] delegates in Chicago and continuing with this race to talk about what’s at stake.’

Following his disastrous debate performance last month in his face-to-face showdown with former President Trump, the 2024 GOP presidential nominee, the 81-year-old Biden has been facing questions about whether he has the physical and mental capabilities to serve another four years in the most demanding job in the world.

And politically, Biden’s been pushing back against a rising chorus of calls to end his campaign from elected Democrats, who are deeply concerned about the possibility of the party not only losing the White House but both houses of Congress in the fall election.

Reports over the past 24 hours indicated that top Democrats – including Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi – have had frank conversations with Biden about the president ending his campaign.

And a Washington Post report on Thursday suggested that Former President Obama has told allies in recent days that Biden’s path to victory has been vastly reduced, and he thinks the president needs to seriously reconsider his decision to keep running.

A source familiar with former President Obama’s thinking, asked about the new Washington Post report, told Fox News that the former president ‘continues to see his primary role as a sounding board and counselor for President Biden, as they have long done for each other for many years now. He believes Joe Biden has been an outstanding President and is protective of him both personally and of the Biden administration’s strong and historic accomplishments.’

Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., is questioning Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle’s decision to appear at the Republican National Convention (RNC) on Wednesday night, as House GOP leaders push for accountability for the security failures that led to the attempted assassination of former President Trump.

‘I’m not sure what she was doing here. Why would she walk around when she’s under so much scrutiny?’ Johnson told Fox News Digital in an interview at the RNC in Milwaukee. 

‘I don’t understand her decision-making process, and I don’t think she’s fit to lead at this critical time.’

The embattled Secret Service director was seen in the RNC venue on Wednesday, where she was confronted by several Republican senators who have been dissatisfied with her answers thus far on what happened last weekend.

Johnson, for his part, is the highest-ranking official so far to call for Cheatle’s resignation in the wake of the deadly rally shooting in Butler, Pennsylvania, last weekend. 

He’s now commissioning a bipartisan task force, armed with subpoena power, to investigate the security failings that led to a 20-year-old gunman being able to fire shots off a roof just outside of the rally perimeter despite being seen beforehand by local law enforcement and civilians.

‘Her excuses for this just make no sense,’ Johnson said. ‘I think accountability begins at the top. And I think everybody in this business understands that it’s very important, and it’s critically important for us to get the answers and accountability quickly so that people don’t make up their minds about some conspiracy theory or some sinister plot.’

He warned that ‘some of those rumors have begun already, and we have to address that immediately.’

House lawmakers held a call with Cheatle and FBI Director Christopher Wray on Wednesday to address their concerns about the incident. A source familiar with the call told Fox News Digital at the time that it lasted roughly 45 minutes and offered limited insight.

Johnson similarly said on Thursday that he learned ‘very little’ on the call.

‘That’s the problem,’ Johnson said. ‘They’re not providing answers quickly enough and the answers they do provide are not satisfactory.’

The speaker questioned President Biden’s decision to appoint Cheatle in the first place, arguing her focus on diversity efforts within the Secret Service took away from more critical efforts.

‘She doesn’t seem to be the most qualified person, and she doesn’t seem to have a great grasp of what her primary responsibility is,’ he said. ‘We’ve all seen and heard the accounts of her suggesting that, you know, that the number one priority was having more diversity in the Secret Service and more female officers, etc. That is not the number one priority. The number one priority is the safety of the persons that they are supposed to be protecting.’

The speaker’s office told Fox News Digital that he is aiming to schedule a classified briefing on the shooting next week.

Fox News Digital reached out to the Secret Service for comment.

Republican vice presidential nominee JD Vance’s ‘America First’ foreign policy positions are taking the spotlight as he prepares to deliver his first major prime time speech at the Republican National Convention on Wednesday night.

Vance was announced as former President Trump’s running mate on Monday, and since, numerous politicians and media outlets, especially foreign ones, have begun sounding the alarm over what they describe as his ‘isolationist’ policies, warning a Trump-Vance presidency might go so far as to abandon Ukraine amid its war with Russia.

‘Trump’s choice of running mate raises fears in Ukraine and EU,’ one BBC headline read, with the piece going on to cite a German politician saying Vance is ‘more isolationist’ and ‘unpredictable’ than Trump.

The Washington Post wrote that Trump picked ‘a like-minded isolationist on foreign policy,’ and Politico wrote that Vance ‘spells ‘disaster’ for Europe and Ukraine.’

CNN’s Van Jones described Vance as ‘a horror on the world stage,’ warning ‘Ukrainians are now in deep trouble.’

When Vance talks about his ‘America First’ foreign policy beliefs, the focus often involves Ukraine as well as Israel and China.

He has been a vocal critic of the various foreign aid packages, which included assistance for Ukraine: ‘The problem in Ukraine … is that there’s no clear end point,’ he remarked on one occasion.

‘The United States has sent tens of billions worth of military aid to Ukraine with shockingly little accountability for where those resources have gone,’ he said in another instance.

Vance has largely made support for Israel amid its war with Hamas an exception to his opposition to foreign aid, and he has argued against ‘micromanaging’ their military operations. He’s also called for rooting out Hamas as a military organization and that the world should ’empower’ Israel to do it.

Vance’s opposition to foreign aid is driven largely by his view that it’s a distraction from China, which he describes as the ‘biggest threat’ currently facing the U.S.

The first-term Ohio senator’s speech is expected to fall fully in line with the night’s ‘Make America Strong Once Again’ theme, and it will, according to one source in his political orbit, be focused ‘heavily on his bio and incredible life story and how that ties into the America First agenda.’

His speech will also ‘connect his life experiences to the Trump policies, folding in his firsthand experience of a tough upbringing that shaped his views on a lot of the biggest issues he is passionate about,’ which include ‘trade, immigration, ending endless wars, fentanyl and drugs, and how inflation hurts the poor the most,’ another source told Fox.

Fox News’ Julia Johnson contributed to this report.

Kai Trump, the eldest grandchild of former President Trump, spoke on day three of the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where she shared the side of her grandpa that ‘people don’t often see.’

‘To me, he’s just a normal grandpa. He gives us candy and soda when our parents aren’t looking, he always wants to know how we’re doing in school,’ she said.

‘When I made the high honor roll, he printed it out to show his friends how proud he was of me,’ she added. ‘He calls me during the middle of the school day to ask how my golf game is going, and tells me all about his. But then I have to remind him that I’m in school and I’ll have to call him back later.’

Kai, 17, also reflected on the attempted assassination of her grandfather last Saturday at a rally in Pennsylvania, saying she was ‘shocked’ and found it to be ‘heartbreaking.’

‘On Saturday, I was shocked when I heard that he had been shot, and I just wanted to know if he was OK. It was heartbreaking that someone would do that to another person,’ she said.

Kai – who was welcomed to the stage by her father, Donald Trump Jr. – noted that ‘a lot of people have put my grandfather through hell,’ but that ‘he’s still standing.’

‘Grandpa, you are such an inspiration and I love you,’ she said. ‘The media makes my grandpa seem like a different person, but I know him for who he is. He’s very caring and loving. He truly wants the best for this country, and he will fight every single day to make America great again.’

‘Even when he’s going through all these court cases, he always asks me how I’m doing. He always encourages me to push myself to be the most successful person I can be. Obviously, he sets the bar pretty high, but who knows, maybe one day I’ll catch him,’ she added.

Kai, the daughter of Don Jr. and Vanessa Trump, now divorced, was recently a regaled guest of Dana White’s at the UFC 303 fight, which she attended opposite her dad. The Florida teen posed for photographs with White, the president of the UFC, former NFL superstar Aaron Rodgers and country music star Jelly Roll, among other A-listers.

Kai, born May 12, 2007, is an enthusiastic golfer. She is active on social media and regularly posts about her golf skills.

Kai also reflected during her speech on instances when she played golf with her grandfather, times when she had to remind him that she’s a ‘Trump, too.’

‘When we play golf together, if I’m not his team, he’ll try to get inside of my head. And he’s always surprised that I don’t let him get to me. But I have to remind him I’m a Trump, too,’ she said.

Last year, the Florida native started a YouTube channel. She kickstarted the outreach social media page with a video titled, ‘Get to know Kai Trump!’

‘It should overall be a fun channel,’ Kai said in the clip.

As Kai scampers around a golf course, her friend asks questions, and she gives viewers insight into some of her favorite things, which includes pumpkin spice lattes from Starbucks, proscuitto meat and ricotta cheese, and playing pickleball and tennis.

In March, Kai won the ladies’ club championship at the private Trump Golf Club in West Palm Beach. She has posted photographs and clips in the past playing with golf professional and PGA player Bryson DeChambeau.

Mixed into her fitness reels, Kai reminds social media users that she is an undoubted supporter of her grandpa.

Fox News’ Gabriele Regalbuto contributed to this report.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., had just completed a quasi-clandestine meeting with President Biden at Rehoboth Beach, Del., late Saturday afternoon.

An alarming number of House and Senate Democrats were growing increasingly uneasy with Mr. Biden as the prospective Democratic standard-bearer this fall. No one knew that Schumer made the pilgrimage to Rehoboth to huddle with the president – and have a frank conversation about what Democratic senators felt about him staying in the race. The number of Democrats who wanted him out likely increased after Biden lieutenants met with Democratic senators on Capitol Hill Thursday afternoon.

Schumer’s meeting with President Biden wasn’t entirely a surprise. After all, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., met with the president on Thursday night. Both men served as emissaries from their respective caucuses, carrying messages of concern from rank-and-file members about Mr. Biden forging ahead with his campaign.

The announcement that Schumer huddled with the president hit reporter in-boxes at 6:05 pm ET Saturday.

The message offered no details or specifics. But it didn’t need to. Just the fact that Schumer made a sojourn to communicate those messages from fellow Democrats to the President of the United States spoke volumes.

‘I sat with President Biden this afternoon in Delaware; we had a good meeting,’ read a statement from Schumer.

Such news would have rattled the political landscape.

But not on this Saturday night.

A gunman nearly assassinated former President Trump at 6:11 pm et, just five minutes after the Schumer statement.

Any conversation about President Biden and schisms inside the Democratic Party would wait.

The shooting bought Mr. Biden more time. Keep in mind that the debate where the president’s performance so rattled Democrats came on June 27. The shooting allowed President Biden to continue to hold the ball and drain the clock.

The political world was agog Saturday, watching to see if more Democrats would demand President Biden step aside. Mr. Biden conducted two conference calls Saturday afternoon. One with the House Progressive Caucus. The other with the House ‘New Dems’ Coalition. At that point, 19 Democrats had called on the president to stand down in his re-election bid. 13 were members of the New Dems. Fox is told that the call did little to buoy the confidence of skittish members. One source forecast that the number of Democrats calling for the president to bow out of the race may have spiked to 50 later that night or Sunday morning.

As we have written in this space before, late British Prime Minister Harold MacMillan opined that ‘events’ were the most important factors in politics.

Well, there was a seismic political event over the weekend. And that immediately arrested any effort by Democrats to potentially bounce the president from the race.

The inertia to sideline Mr. Biden which built for weeks suddenly froze.

And it helped President Biden stay put.

‘He’s dug in,’ said one senior House Democrat to Fox of the president. ‘We can’t have this circular firing squad.’

In fact, the ‘event’ of the Trump shooting highlighted the recent fractures in the party over Mr. Biden – while it actually brought Republicans closer together.

One senior House Democratic source told Fox that in recent years, ‘unity’ was the Democrats’ calling card. But the president’s poor debate in late June challenged that alliance.

‘That armor has been exposed,’ said one senior House Democratic aide. ‘And now Republicans are using their unity against us.’

That’s why Democrats are freaking out. Again.

Fox is told that Democrats know that the former President Trump’s survival and iconic photo after the shooting bolstered his standing with voters. Democrats were already down on their chances after the debate. Now they are even more worried. Especially as it pertains to House and Senate contests in battleground districts and states.

So conversations are again intensifying about President Biden’s political viability. It started with a letter from some Congressional Democrats asking the DNC to delay the virtual roll call on August 7. Schumer and Jeffries also spoke. They requested the DNC move back the nomination.

For Democrats, it’s probably a good thing that a week of the Republican convention in Milwaukee is shrouding the Democratic disarray. Most of the news cycle is dominated by the investigation into the shooting, the introduction of Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, as former President Trump’s running mate. Even discussion about Project 2025 is probably good cover for the Democrats right now. That’s because the internal schisms are real. And the party isn’t much further along from extracting President Biden from the ticket than it was a few weeks ago.

As Harold MacMillan would say this ‘event’ temporarily muted public calls to dump the president. But that’s all it did. It suppressed those conversations. However, the Democrats’ worry never really dissipated.

Some of that shroud may even continue when Democrats return to Capitol Hill next week. That’s because everyone will train so much focus on a scheduled hearing with Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle on Monday before the House Oversight Committee. That’s to say nothing of a hearing planned by the House Homeland Security Committee on Tuesday. Even a pre-scheduled hearing with FBI Director Christopher Wray on Wednesday.

House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., will likely roll out his bipartisan task force to investigate the assassination attempt. And there will be all sorts of reactions from lawmakers as other details dribble out. Keep in mind this is the first time Congress has been back in Washington since the shooting.

Don’t forget that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addresses a Joint Meeting of Congress on Wednesday. Surely the controversy over that won’t garner any attention.

Perhaps all the other ‘events’ help Democrats who want to remove President Biden from the ticket. Any such operation is messy at best. All the other things might shroud such extraordinary political gymnastics.

But that doesn’t mean those efforts aren’t going on behind the scenes. And because it involves the sitting President of the United States, all of this will eventually gurgle back to the top of the news cycle.

And that will be an event unto itself.