A dozen Republican White House lawyers who served in the administrations of then-Presidents Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush are endorsing Vice President Kamala Harris in her race against GOP nominee former President Donald Trump.

‘We endorse Kamala Harris and support her election as President because we believe that returning former President Trump to office would threaten American democracy and undermine the rule of law in our country,’ the lawyers wrote in a letter that the signatories shared first with Fox News Digital.

The letter was released on Friday, the day after Harris delivered her nomination acceptance speech in the culminating moment of the Democratic National Convention, which was held in Chicago.

The signatories added that ‘we urge all patriotic Republicans, former Republicans, conservative and center-right citizens, and independent voters to place love of country above party and ideology and join us in supporting Kamala Harris.’

The list includes Michael Luttig, the prominent right-of-center legal scholar and retired federal appeals court judge who previously served as assistant counsel to the president in the Reagan White House. Luttig made headlines at the start of the week by endorsing Harris as the Democrats’ convention kicked off.

The letter notes, ‘Donald Trump’s own Vice President and multiple members of his Administration and White House Staff at the most senior levels – as well as former Republican nominees for President and Vice President – have already declined to endorse his reelection.’

Those signing the letter pointed to what they called ‘the profound risks presented by his [Trump’s] potential return to public office. Indeed, Trump’s own Attorney General and National Security Adviser have said unequivocally that Donald Trump is unfit for office, dangerous, and detached from reality.’

And pointing to the then-president’s attempts to reverse the results of his 2020 election loss to President Biden, the Republican lawyers argued that ‘Trump’s attempt to prevent the peaceful transfer of power after losing the election proved beyond any reasonable doubt his willingness to place his personal interests above the law and values of our constitutional democracy.’

‘We cannot go along with other former Republican officials who have condemned Trump with these devastating judgments but are still not willing to vote for Harris,’ they added. ‘We believe this election presents a binary choice, and Trump is utterly disqualified.’

And they charged that Trump ‘was guilty of grave wrongdoing to our Constitution, democracy, and rule of law, and who remains unfit, dangerous, and detached from reality.’

Trump’s numerous indictments in four different legal cases dating back to the spring fueled support for him among Republicans as he fended off over a dozen challengers for the 2024 GOP presidential nomination.

His fundraising skyrocketed this spring after he was found guilty of all 34 felony counts in the first criminal trial of a former or current president in the nation’s history.

While Trump easily captured the Republican nomination as he cruised through the GOP’s primaries and caucuses, his final rival – former ambassador and former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley – continued to win up to 20% of the vote in Republican contests long after she dropped out of the race.

President Biden’s campaign – which transformed into the Harris campaign after the president’s blockbuster announcement last month that he was ending his re-election bid – has made efforts for months to court Republican voters disaffected with Trump.

The Harris campaign during the four-day convention in Chicago this week showcased Republicans who are supporting the vice president.

Among them were former Georgia Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan and former Rep. Adam Kinzinger of Illinois.

Trump has dramatically transformed the Republican Party since he first won the GOP nomination and the White House in 2016, turning it from a conservative-dominated party to one where the populist wing of MAGA (Make America Great Again) supporters and followers dominate. 

The list of signatories to the letter, besides Luttig, includes (in alphabetical order) John B. Bellinger III, Senior Associate Counsel to the President and Legal Adviser to the NSC under George W. Bush, Phillip D. Brady, Deputy Counsel to the President under Reagan, Benedict S. Cohen, Associate Counsel to the President under Reagan, Peter D. Keisler, Associate Counsel to the President under Reagan, and Robert M. Kruger, Associate Counsel to the President under Reagan.

Also included are John M. Mitnick, Associate Counsel to the President and Deputy Counsel, White House Homeland Security Council under George W. Bush, Alan Charles Raul, Associate Counsel to the President under Reagan and General Counsel, OMB under Reagan and George H.W. Bush, Nicholas Rostow, Special Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs and Legal Adviser to the NSC under Reagan and George H.W. Bush, Peter J. Rusthoven, Associate Counsel to the President under Reagan, David B. Waller, Senior Associate Counsel to the President under Reagan, and Wendell L. Willkie II, Associate Counsel to the President under Reagan.

: Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign manager dodged questions about whether the Democratic presidential nominee would hold a press conference as her presidential bid recently passed one month since being launched. 

Campaign manager Julie Chávez Rodríguez ducked questions from Fox News Digital on Thursday at the Democratic National Convention (DNC) in Chicago, keeping her head down and speeding away when pressed about Harris speaking to the press, which she has been avoiding. 

‘Will Kamala talk to the press? Will she do a press conference?’ Fox News Digital asked Chávez Rodríguez, who is also the granddaughter of labor activist Cesar Chavez. 

‘Will Kamala do a press conference? Will she do a press conference?’ she was asked a total of four times. 

Chavez Rodriguez looked away and rushed to an open door without responding to the queries. 

Harris officially announced her campaign on July 21, following President Biden’s decision to drop out and endorse her as his successor. Since then, 33 days have passed without Harris holding a press conference or sitting down for a news interview. 

Her campaign has remained silent on whether she will hold a press conference prior to the presidential election in 74 days. Early voting begins even sooner, kicking off in just 14 days, meaning there are just two weeks before some voters can cast their ballots without hearing Harris answer difficult questions about her record and policy positions. 

Harris’ campaign website is also devoid of any policy positions. She recently released an economic agenda, which featured a proposal for price controls in the food industry, which was heavily scrutinized. However, no new policy prescriptions were introduced during the DNC this week. 

After being continuously pressed on when she would sit down for an interview, Harris told reporters earlier this month that she wants to get an interview on the schedule by the end of August. A campaign spokesperson repeated this on CNN, claiming last week that they would be doing a sit-down interview by the end of the month. 

However, no such interviews have been announced.

The lack of access to Harris on her presidential campaign could foreshadow what can be expected in terms of transparency out of a Harris and Gov. Tim Walz, D-Minn., administration. 

Former President Donald Trump’s campaign has used Harris’ avoidance of the press as an opportunity to show contrast, holding frequent press conferences and taking questions from reporters. He has further challenged Harris to speak to the press herself. 

In an unsurprising ruling, the regime-dominated Venezuelan Supreme Court has sided with President Nicolás Maduro’s claims he won last month’s election and said voting tallies published online showing he lost by a landslide were fake.

In a courtroom packed with Maduro supporters, the decision was read Thursday in response to a request made by Maduro to review vote totals showing he had won by more than 1 million votes.

The court’s ruling certifying the results contradicts the findings of experts from the United Nations and the Carter Center who were invited to observe the election and who both determined the results announced by authorities lacked credibility.

The main opposition coalition has accused Maduro of trying to steal the vote.

Venezuela’s government officials have claimed a foreign cyberattack staged by hackers from North Macedonia delayed the vote counting on election night and publication of the results, but they have not provided any evidence. 

Gabriel Boric, the leftist president of Chile and one of the main critics of Maduro’s election scam, blasted the high court’s certification.

‘Today, Venezuela’s TSJ has finally consolidated the fraud,’ he said on his account, referring to the initials of the high court. ‘The Maduro regime obviously welcomes with enthusiasm its ruling… there is no doubt that we are facing a dictatorship that falsifies elections.’

The ruling is the latest attempt by Maduro to blunt protests and international criticism that erupted after the contested July 28 vote in which the self-proclaimed socialist leader was seeking a third, six-year term, The Associated Press reported. 

Maduro is widely believed to have fraudulently won his country’s election last month. Numerous regional governments cast doubt on the official vote tally, which showed Maduro with 51.2% of the vote with 80% of polling stations reporting.

The opposition contends the results are not accurate and claims that it won the election with 70% of the vote. 

‘In Venezuela, an occupied territory of the Axis of Evil, the judicial system is essentially non-existent due to the complete absence of the rule of law,’ Isaias Medina III, a former U.N. Security Council diplomat and Harvard Mason fellow, told Fox News Digital. 

‘The separation of powers was effectively dismantled when Chavismo took control, resulting in ‘courts’ with unqualified personnel that are merely extensions of Maduro’s regime, parroting his dictates without independent judgment or integrity. The courts are a third-rate play, directed by Maduro, who pays their bills.’

Polls taken over the course of the summer consistently showed opposition candidate Edmundo González winning by double-digit margins.

González was the only one of ten candidates who did not participate in the Supreme Court’s audit, a fact noted by the justices, who in their ruling accused him of trying to spread panic, the AP reported. 

When the National Electoral Council announced around midnight that Maduro had received 51% of the vote compared to main opposition candidate González’s 44% support, National Electoral Council President Elvis Amoroso said the results were based on 80% of voting stations and represented an irreversible trend.

‘For the past two decades, the socialists completely destroyed the division of powers in Venezuela. Just like the former Soviet Union, Maduro controls and leads not only the executive branch but also the parliament, electoral commission and Supreme Court,’ Jorge Jraissati, a Venezuelan and president of the Economic Inclusion Group, told Fox News Digital.

‘This process began in the 2000s, when former President Hugo Chavez (who died in 2013) packed the Supreme Court with loyalists. In fact, there are shocking videos of Supreme Court judges chanting songs that belong to the Venezuelan Socialist Party. Ultimately, it shows that the Venezuelan crisis cannot be resolved using the institutions of the country, as these are completely loyal to Maduro and are responsible for the political crisis we live in today.’ 

Despite Maduro being declared the winner for a third term, the opposition claimed victory, setting up a showdown with the government over the results.

Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., condemned the result and criticized the policies of the Biden administration.

‘Another foreign policy fiasco from the Biden-Harris team,’ he wrote on X. ‘They gave Maduro relief from Trump oil sanctions and released his top money launderer & his two convicted drug dealer nephews in exchange for a ‘promise’ to hold fair elections monitored by neutral international observers.’

Officials and lawmakers in the U.S. and elsewhere expressed concern about the legitimacy of Venezuela’s presidential election results after Maduro was declared the winner. 

A bipartisan group of congressional leaders also alleged that Maduro’s victory was fraudulent. 

‘To no one’s surprise, dictator Nicolás Maduro has once again stolen a presidential election. However, what the narco-regime will never steal is the Venezuelan people’s desire to return to democracy and live in freedom after decades of tyranny.

‘We must prioritize uniting the free world in rejecting these sham election results and securing the release of the more than 300 Venezuelans that remain arbitrarily detained in torture centers as political prisoners.’

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken previously said the Biden administration has ‘serious concerns’ about the results and insisted they do not ‘reflect the will or the votes of the Venezuelan people.’ 

Protests broke out across the country on both sides after the announcement last month. 

Venezuelans took to the streets to protest what is widely believed to be a rigged election. The protests started peacefully, but riot gear-equipped police escalated the matter, leading to violence both from the protesters and the police. 

Protesters threw objects, including stones, at the police, while police used tear gas on the crowds in an effort to make them disperse. 

Maduro dismissed the pushback against his victory as an ‘attempt … to impose a coup d’etat in Venezuela,’ adding that ‘we already know this movie, and this time, there will be no kind of weakness.’ Maduro added that Venezuela’s ‘law will be respected.’

Fox News Digital’s Landon Mion, Peter Aitken, and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

RFK Jr’s running mate, Nicole Shanahan, shared a post to X claiming that Democrats are ‘terrified’ their campaign may endorse Donald Trump.

In a post on X on Thursday, the independent VP pick said ‘My old Dem buddies have been flooding me with frantic calls, texts, and emails. Unlike Ro, I wouldn’t dream of airing those private conversations publicly, but the message is clear: they’re terrified of the idea of our movement joining forces with Donald Trump.’

‘When I point out what the Democratic Party and their super PACs have done to sabotage our campaign, their response is always, ‘but Trump is worse.’ Here’s an idea: stop suing us. Let us debate. Quit rigging the media and the polls. It’s a simple formula, people—get with it,’ the post concluded.

A source close to the campaign told the NY Post on Thursday that RFK Jr’s campaign suspension will be announced Friday in Phoenix, Arizona.

Shanahan joined Fox News @ Night on Tuesday, saying ‘You know, it’s Bobby’s decision. I came into this supporting him wholeheartedly to win this election. And I have to say, there’s only one party that has obstructed fair, a fair election for us. And unfortunately, it was the Democratic Party. They’ve done everything they can, including creating PACs to prevent us from being able to have ballot access.’

The Kennedy/Shanahan ballot has faced uphill climbs in order to get on the ballot state-by-state nationwide. Most recently, it faced a roadblock in New York State due to a residency dispute.