– President Biden delivered his highly anticipated address to the Democratic National Convention late Monday night and touched on a variety of subjects including strong criticisms of former President Trump and the conflict between Israel and the Hamas terrorist organization in control of Gaza.

‘Those, those protesters out in the street, they have a point,’ Biden told the crowd in the United Center after anti-Israel protesters marched on the convention calling for an end to the U.S. support of Israel. ‘A lot of innocent people are being killed on both sides.’

‘We’re working around the clock,’ Biden said. ‘To end the civilian suffering of the Palestinian people and finally, finally, finally deliver a ceasefire and end this war.’

‘We’re working around the clock. My Secretary of State, to prevent a wider war and reunite hostage to their families and surge humanitarian, health and food assistance into Gaza. Now. To end the civilian suffering of the Palestinian people and finally, finally, finally deliver a cease-fire and end this war.’

In the same speech, Biden repeated the claim that Trump said there were ‘fine people’ on ‘both sides’ of the 2017 Charlottesville protest which has been debunked by several fact checkers.

Criticizing Trump was a major theme in Biden’s speech, which did not conclude until after midnight on the East Coast.

‘I never thought I’d stand before a crowd of Democrats and refer to a president who’s a liar so many times,’ Biden said. ‘Now, I’m not trying to be funny. It’s sad.’

Biden also hit Trump on abortion and the overturning of Roe v. Wade, warning that Trump ‘is going to find out the power of women in 2024.’

‘Now, where Trump is MAGA Republican, right-wingers seek to erase history,’ Biden said. ‘We Democrats continue to write history and make more history. I’m proud. I’m proud to have kept my commitment to appoint the first black woman in the United States Supreme Court. Ketanji Brown Jackson. A symbol for every young woman in America that you can do anything.’

Biden also renewed the allegation that Trump called military members who had died in battle ‘suckers’ and ‘losers’, which Trump and sources present at the time have said did not occur. 

‘Who in the hell does he think he is?’ Biden said. 

‘Who does he think he is? There’s no words for a person. There are not the words for a person not worthy of being commander in chief. Period. Period. Not then, not now, and not ever. I mean that I mean that from the bottom of my heart. Just as no commander chief should ever bow down to a dictator, the way Trump bowed down to Putin, I never have. And I promise you, Kamala Harris will never do it, will never bow down.’

Praising Harris was another theme in the speech which Biden did several times.

‘Selecting Kamala was the very first decision I made before I became when I became our nominee, and it was the best decision I made my whole career,’ Biden said. 

‘We’ve not only gotten to know each other, we’ve become close friends. She’s tough, she’s experienced, and she has enormous integrity, enormous integrity. Her story represents the best American story.’

Biden, who appeared to shed a tear after walking out on stage following an introduction from his daughter Ashley, said Harris will be ‘a president we can all be proud of’ before mentioning the Capitol Hill riots on January 6th.

‘This will be the first presidential election since January 6th,’ Biden said. ‘On that day, we almost lost everything about who we are as a country and that threat. This is not hyperbole. That threat is still very much alive.’

‘Donald Trump says he will refuse to accept the election result if he loses again. Think about that. He means it. Think about that. He’s probably seeing a bloodbath if he loses. In his words, and that he’ll be a dictator on day one. In his own words, by the way, this sucker means it. No, I’m not joking. Think about it.’

Biden told his supporters that the ‘power’ is ‘literally’ in your hands.

‘History is in your hands, not hyperbole,’ Biden said. ‘It’s in your hands. America’s future is in your hands. And because of this, nowhere else in the world could a kid with a stutter and modest beginnings in Scranton, Pennsylvania and Claymont, Delaware grow up to sit behind the Resolute Desk in the Oval Office.’

– In what may be one of the last major speeches of his decades-long political career, President Biden on Monday night handed the reins of the party to Vice President Kamala Harris as he spotlighted their administration’s accomplishments over the past three and a half years.

Speaking in front of a jam-packed United Arena, site of the Democratic National Convention, the president declared ‘America, I gave my best to you,’ as the crowd of party officials and delegates, activists, and supporters repeatedly gave Biden sustained ovations and chants of ‘thank you, Joe.’

Praising his vice president, Biden said that ‘selecting Kamala was the very first decision I made before I became when I became our nominee, and it was the best decision I made my whole career.’

‘She’s tough, she’s experienced, and she has enormous integrity, enormous integrity. Her story represents the best American story,’ the president highlighted.

And he asked the crowd are ‘you are ready to vote for freedom. Are you ready to vote for democracy and for America? Let me ask you, are you ready to elect Kamala Harris and Tim Walz, President and Vice President of the United States.’

Biden repeatedly took aim at former President Trump and the threats he said the Republican presidential nominee posed to America’s democracy and international alliances. And looking to his vice president and her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, he pledged to be ‘the best volunteer Harris and Walz have ever seen.’

Harris and Walz and their spouses, Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff and Minnesota First Lady Gwen Walz, joined the president, First Lady Jill Biden and their family, at the podium following Biden’s address, in a clear sign of party unity.

The president’s speech came four weeks and one day after his blockbuster announcement that he was ending his own White House bid and endorsing his vice president to replace him on the party’s 2024 ticket in the election showdown against former President Trump.

Biden’s disastrous performance against Trump in their late June debate fueled questions over whether the 81-year-old president had the physical and mental abilities to handle another four years in the White House and sparked a chorus of calls from within his own party to end his 2024 campaign.

Biden eventually caved to the pressure, announcing the suspension of his re-election campaign three days after the Republican National Convention ended with a solidified GOP ticket of Trump and running mate, Sen. JD Vance of Ohio. 

Biden spoke in front of a crowd that included plenty of politicians who publicly urged or maneuvered behind the scenes for the president to drop out of the race, as his support in public opinion polls began to fade following his debate showdown with Trump.

Since Harris succeeded Biden, the vice president has been riding a wave of energy, with a jump in polling and fundraising as the battle with Trump is once again a margin-of-error race.

As Harris has surged, Trump has increasingly attacked the Democrats for what he charged was ‘a vicious COUP’ against Biden.

‘Crooked Joe Biden was told, ‘Sorry Joe, you’re losing to Trump, BIG, and you can’t beat him – You’re Fired,’ the former president claimed Monday in a social media post.

But Biden in his speech aimed to dispel any notion that he was angry about changing course and giving up his bid for a second term in the White House.

‘You see, it’s been the honor of my lifetime to serve as your president. I love the job, but I love my country more,’ Biden said. ‘And all this talk about how I’m angry [at] all those people who said I should step down — that’s not true.’

With five months left in his presidency, the speech was not billed as a farewell address, but it did in some ways have the feeling of a swan song, as he touted his administration’s accomplishments.

But Biden also pointed to the work he has left – including supporting Ukraine in its war against Russia and securing a cease-fire and hostage release deal between Israel and Hamas to end the deadly war in Gaza.

Outside the security zone surrounding the arena, anti-Israeli protesters marched throughout the day. And inside the United Center, a small group of delegates protesting Biden’s handling of the war briefly held up a banner that read ‘stop arming Israel.’ But delegates quickly blocked them with ‘We Love Joe’ signs and drowned them out. 

At one point, pointing to the rising death toll, Biden said the ‘protesters have a point.’ 

Speaking minutes before Biden at the convention podium was former Secretary of State, former senator, and former first lady Hillary Clinton, the Democrats’ 2016 presidential nominee. 

Clinton, in her speech, blasted Trump, praised Biden, and said that Harris has the ‘character, experience and vision to lead us forward.’

The speeches by Clinton and Biden – the party’s two previous standard-bearers – symbolized how the Democrats old guard was passing the torch to a younger generation.

Harris, in a brief surprise appearance from the podium earlier in the evening, praised her boss.

‘I want to kick us off by celebrating our incredible president,’ she emphasized. ‘Joe, thank you for your historic leadership, for your lifetime of service to our nation, and for all you will continue to do. We are forever grateful to you.’ 

New York Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez slammed former President Donald Trump in her DNC speech as a man who would ‘sell’ the U.S. ‘for a dollar’ if he’s re-elected come Election Day. 

‘We have to help [Vice President Kamala Harris] win because we know that Donald Trump would sell this country for a dollar if it meant lining his own pockets and greasing the palms of his Wall Street friends,’ Ocasio-Cortez said Monday evening from the convention’s stage at the United Center. 

‘And I, for one, am tired … of hearing about how a two-bit union buster thinks of himself as more of a patriot than the woman who fights every single day to let working people out from under the boots of greed trampling on our way of life. The truth is done. You cannot love this country if you only fight for the wealthy and big business. To love this country is to fight for its people. All people. Working people. Everyday Americans like bartenders and factory workers and fast food cashiers who punch a clock and are on their feet all day in some of the toughest jobs out there,’ Ocasio-Cortez continued. 

The DNC kicked off on Monday in Chicago, with a handful of high-profile Democrats addressing the convention, including former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Ocasio-Cortez and brief remarks from Harris before her full address on Thursday evening. 

‘I want to kick us off by celebrating our incredible President Joe Biden who will be speaking later tonight,’ Harris said of President Biden, adding ‘we are forever grateful to you.’

‘This November, we will come together and declare with one voice as one people, ‘we are moving forward with optimism, hope and faith,” she said.

‘When we fight, we win.’ 

Ocasio-Cortez made similar remarks amid her speech, arguing the country has been presented with a ‘rare and precious opportunity’ with Harris’ run, and that Democrats must ‘pour every ounce’ into ‘making history’ by electing Harris. 

‘Over the next 78 days, we will have to pour every ounce, every minute, every moment into making history on November 5th. But we cannot send Kamala and Tim to the White House alone. Together, we must also elect strong Democratic majorities in the House and in the Senate so that we can deliver on an ambitious agenda for the people,’ she said. 

The DNC has included massive protests from anti-Israel activists who held a march just blocks away from the convention center earlier Monday, demanding Democrats cease funding Israel as the country continues battling Hamas. 

‘We expect just empty phrases, lip service, lies and deception,’ a communist protester told Fox Digital Monday of what he anticpates from President Biden’s anticipated speech Monday evening. 

‘We don’t, you know, necessarily believe the Democrats are capable of doing anything for the Palestinian people,’ the group’s co-founder added.

The protests escalated Monday evening as the convention center began to fill with high-profile elected officials, delegates and supporters of the Harris-Walz ticket. Protesters managed to dismantle at least three panels of fencing surrounding the convention early Monday evening before police detained a handful of protesters.

– Former Secretary of State and Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton spoke at the Democratic National Convention on Monday night where she praised the accomplishments of VP Kamala Harris and highlighted the legal issues of former President Donald Trump.

‘She will fight to lower costs for hard-working families, open the doors wide for good-paying jobs and yes, she will restore abortion rights nationwide,’ Clinton told the crowd at the United Center. ‘As a prosecutor, Kamala locked up murderers and drug traffickers. She will never rest in defense of our freedom and safety. Donald Trump fell asleep at his own trial. And when he woke up, he made his own kind of history. The first person to run for president with 34 felony convictions.’

The crowd began chanting ‘lock him up’ in reference to the chants of ‘lock her up’ that often erupted at Trump rallies when he was running against Clinton in 2016 and criticizing her over allegations of corruption and improper handling of classified documents.

Clinton could seen smiling and nodding as the chants continued.

‘Just look at the candidates,’ Clinton said. ‘Kamala cares. Cares about kids and families. Cares about America. Donald only cares about himself.’

Earlier in the evening New York Gov. Kathy Hochul provoked a few cheers from the crowd by quipping that ‘Trump hasn’t spent much time in New York lately, except that is to get convicted of 34 felonies. And that’s just fine with us.’

For her part, Clinton touted Harris’ political resume as a prosecutor in California.

‘On her first day in court, Kamala said five words that still guide her,’ Clinton told the crowd. ‘Kamala Harris for the people. That is something that Donald Trump will never understand. So it is no surprise, is it, that he is lying about Kamala’s record? He’s mocking her name and her laugh. Sounds familiar. But we have him on the run now.’

‘So no matter what the polls say, we can’t let up. We can’t get driven down crazy conspiracy rabbit holes. We have to fight for the truth. We have to fight for Kamala as she will fight for us. Because you know what? It still takes a village to raise a family, heal a country and win a campaign.’

Clinton continued, ‘On the other side of that glass ceiling is Kamala Harris raising her hand and taking the oath of office as our 47th President of the United States.’

Clinton told the crowd that ‘we need to beat back the dangers that Trump and his allies pose to the rule of law and our way of life.’

‘Don’t get distracted or complacent. Talk to your friends and neighbors. Volunteer. Be proud champions for the truth and for the country that we all love.’

In closing, Clinton said that she wants her grandchildren and their grandchildren to ‘know I was here at this moment’ and that ‘we were here’ and ‘with Kamala Harris every step of the way.’

This is our time, America,’ Clinton said. ‘This is when we stand up. This is when we break through. The future is here. It’s in our grasp. Let’s go win it.’

CHICAGO — A counterprotester outside the anti-Israel march on the Democratic National Convention told Fox News Digital the event represented ‘Jew hatred’ and that the message will push Jewish voters to support former President Trump in November.

‘It is putrid Jew hatred under the guise of a political movement,’ Anna Steinberg, director of Israel365, told Fox News Digital on the perimeter of the city’s Union Park as anti-Israel protesters were gathering before their march on the DNC on Monday.

Steinberg, a Ukrainian Jewish refugee, told Fox News Digital that she believes the Democratic Party’s position on the war in Gaza will lead to a massive shift in Jewish voters backing Trump.

‘I think the Democratic Party has lost the Jews,’ Steinberg said. ‘I think we’re gone. I think we’re gone. Eighty percent of Jews stayed in Egypt. 80% of Jews supported Obama. We are not voting for the Democrats anymore. We are not. We are done. We are not that stupid. We have broken that trauma cycle. We are done.’

Recent polling in deep-blue New York state suggests that Trump has taken the lead against Democrat presidential candidate Vice President Harris when it comes to Jewish voters, which Steinberg told Fox News Digital is a sentiment she has seen firsthand.

‘More people than I ever thought in my life, Jews have historically voted Democrat … all voted Democrat, they were part of the Democratic Party, they are now voting for Trump, vocally voting for Trump.’ Steinberg said. ‘Thank God, we’ve woken them up.’

Steinberg continued,’ It only took Oct. 7, 12,000 innocent babies, men and women for us to realize the predicament we are in, and we are finally voting for the party that has our back: the Republican Party and President Donald J. Trump.’

Jewish voters have traditionally supported Democrat candidates for decades. According to an analysis by the American Enterprise Institute, Jewish voters have on average supported Democrats over Republicans by a margin of 71% to 26% since 1968.

Jewish voters supported Biden over Trump 68% to 30% in 2020, while in 2016 the same group chose Clinton over Trump by a margin of 71% to 26%.

Fox News Digital’s Michael Lee contributed to this report.

The intelligence community said it has observed ‘increasingly aggressive Iranian activity’ during the 2024 election cycle, involving influence operations targeting the American public and presidential campaigns.

The Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI), the FBI, and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) said Monday that Iran ‘seeks to stoke discord and undermine confidence in our democratic institutions.’ 

‘Iran has furthermore demonstrated a longstanding interest in exploiting societal tensions through various means, including through the use of cyber operations to attempt to gain access to sensitive information related to U.S. elections,’ the agencies said in a joint-statement. ‘In addition to these sustained efforts to complicate the ability of any U.S. administration to pursue a foreign policy at odds with Iran’s interests, the IC has previously reported thatIran perceives this year’s elections to be particularly consequential in terms of the impact they could have on its national security interests, increasing Tehran’s inclination to try to shape the outcome.’ 

The intelligence community said it has observed ‘increasingly aggressive Iranian activity’ during the 2024 election cycle, specifically involving ‘influence operations targeting the American public and cyber operations targeting presidential campaigns.’ 

‘This includes the recently reported activities to compromise former President Trump’s campaign, which the IC attributes to Iran,’ they said. 

The FBI has been investigating Iranian cyber hacking attempts against Trump’s presidential campaign, after Politico began receiving internal Trump campaign documents. 

The Trump campaign said the documents were obtained ‘illegally from sources hostile to the United States,’ who ‘intended to interfere in the 2024 election and sow chaos throughout our Democratic process.’ 

Iranian hackers broke into the account of a ‘high ranking official’ on Trump’s campaign in June 2024. 

The hack by Iran came ‘after recent reports of an Iranian plot to assassinate President Trump around the same time as the Butler, PA tragedy.’ 

‘The Iranians know that President Trump will stop their reign of terror just like he did in his first four years in the White House,’ Trump campaign spokesperson Steven Cheung told Fox News Digital. ‘Any media or news outlet reprinting documents or internal communications are doing the bidding of America’s enemies and doing exactly what they want.’

But the intelligence community said it is ‘confident that the Iranians have through social engineering and other efforts sought access to individuals with direct access to the presidential campaigns of both political parties.’ 

‘Such activity, including thefts and disclosures, are intended to influence the U.S. election process. It is important to note that this approach is not new,’ they said. ‘Iran and Russia have employed these tactics not only in the United States during this and prior federal election cycles but also in other countries around the world.’ 

The agencies stressed that ‘protecting the integrity of our elections from foreign influence or interference is our priority.’ 

‘As the lead for threat response, the FBI has been tracking this activity, has been in contact with the victims, and will continue to investigate and gather information in order to pursue and disrupt the threat actors responsible,’ they said. ‘We will not tolerate foreign efforts to influence or interfere with our elections, including the targeting of American political campaigns.’ 

The intelligence community said it is working closely with its public and private sector partners to ‘share information, bolster security, and identify and disrupt any threats.’ 

‘Just as this activity demonstrates the Iranians’ increased intent to exploit our online platforms in support of their objectives, it also demonstrates the need to increase the resilience of those platforms,’ they said, urging Americans to use strong passwords, official email accounts for official business, updating software, avoiding clicking links or opening attachments from ‘suspicious emails,’ and turning on multi-factor authentication.

The 2024 presidential campaign for Vice President Kamala Harris told Fox News it ‘vigilantly monitors and protects against cyber threats, and we are not aware of any security breaches of our systems.’ 

Iran has long been suspected of running hacking campaigns targeting its enemies in the Middle East and beyond. Tehran also has long threatened to retaliate against Trump over the 2020 drone strike he ordered that killed prominent Revolutionary Guard Gen. Qassem Soleimani.

In its report, Microsoft stated that ‘foreign malign influence concerning the 2024 US election started off slowly but has steadily picked up pace over the last six months due initially to Russian operations, but more recently from Iranian activity.’

The analysis continued: ‘Iranian cyber-enabled influence operations have been a consistent feature of at least the last three U.S. election cycles. Iran’s operations have been notable and distinguishable from Russian campaigns for appearing later in the election season and employing cyberattacks more geared toward election conduct than swaying voters.’

‘Recent activity suggests the Iranian regime — along with the Kremlin — may be equally engaged in election 2024,’ Microsoft concluded.

Delegates at the Democratic National Convention are set to vote Monday on the Democratic Party’s 2024 policy platform, which includes ‘explicit’ Title IX protections for LGBT students that were just blocked by the Supreme Court. 

The Democratic National Convention released the final 2024 Democratic Party platform Sunday night, after the one created during President Joe Biden’s reelection campaign was eventually scrapped. Vice President Kamala Harris announced her own presidential bid shortly after, generating a need for revisions that would better align with her own policy positions and a new vision for the party. The latest party platform mimics the Biden administration’s attempted rule making on Title IX to widen the definition of sex discrimination to include gender identity. 

‘After Friday’s SCOTUS order, the Biden-Harris Title IX rules are in effect in less than 50% of the country — underscoring the flagrant lawlessness of this policy, as well as the deep unpopularity of this issue,’ Nicole Neily, the president and founder of parental rights group Parents Defending Education, told Fox News Digital. ‘Americans agree on relatively little these days, but opposition to progressive gender policies is one of the few issues that transcends racial, political, and socioeconomic lines — so doubling down on this issue is a risky move.’

Matt Sharp, senior counsel at Alliance Defending Freedom, a Christian nonprofit that also focuses on parental rights issues, said the decision to include transgender protections in the Democratic Party’s platform ‘flies in the face of growing opinion’ about expanding the definition of sex discrimination to include gender identity.

‘I think it’s really concerning to see the DNC platform sort of keep going down this same path that courts time and time again have pushed back on, have not allowed to move forward, and that ultimately the American public is not in favor of,’ Sharp said.

Sharp pointed out how efforts to redefine sex and sexual discrimination go all the way back to President Barack Obama’s administration. Once Trump took office, he rolled back the rule, but then it was put back in place by Biden. 

‘This has been a continuing pattern for several administrations to push this, but not only are the courts rebuffing it, but that the American public themselves are too, and we’re seeing it through more and more courageous female voices standing up against this,’ Sharp said.

Reed D. Rubinstein, senior vice president at America First Legal, the right-wing legal organization founded by former Trump adviser Stephen Miller, called the move to add protections for transgender students under Title IX ‘old news.’

‘The left has fought this reality for well over a decade — it has repeatedly attempted and repeatedly failed to amend Title IX in Congress. Twice, it has attempted to change the law by administrative fiat. To protect girls’ sports, bathrooms, and locker rooms, the Trump administration reversed the Obama administration’s ‘Dear Colleague’ letter that asserted ‘sex’ and ‘[gender identity’ are coextensive],’ Rubinstein told Fox News Digital in a statement.

‘The Trump administration issued a Title IX rule that survived every single left-wing court challenge. Now, the courts have stopped the Biden-Harris administration’s attempt to rewrite the statute by regulation. But the Supreme Court, unanimously, has made it clear the word ‘sex’ in Title IX does not mean ‘gender identity,’ but rather, biological sex, male or female.

Fox News Digital reached out to the Harris campaign for comment but did not receive a response.

In addition to Title IX protections for transgender students, the DNC party platform also contains language that states Democrats will continue ‘to relieve the crippling burden of student debt’ in 2024 — another policy effort under Biden that was rolled back by the Supreme Court. The platform blames Republicans for ‘block[ing] our student debt relief.’

The Supreme Court ruled against the Biden administration’s plans for student debt cancelation last year, arguing the president stepped outside the bounds of his authority when he announced a plan to cancel up to $400 billion in student loans through executive action.

Sen. JD Vance of Ohio called out Vice President Kamala Harris for her campaign promise to lower prices ‘on day one,’ despite her current influential role in the White House.

‘We have a country that is being failed by its present leadership,’ Vance said. ‘And don’t let anybody gaslight you here, because Kamala Harris is running around the country and saying that on Day One, she wants to bring the cost of goods and the cost of housing under control.’

Vance held a campaign event in Philadelphia on Monday, where he focused on contrasting the Trump-Vance campaign agenda with that of Harris.

‘She says that on Day One, she wants to make groceries and homes more affordable for American citizens. Well, Kamala Harris, where have you been? Because you’ve been vice president for about 1,300 days.’

‘Day One was three and a half years ago. You should have been doing your job then and not promising to do it now,’ Vance added.

While recently on the campaign trail, Harris said that if elected she would bring down food prices, end price gouging and lower housing costs.

But Vance highlighted the current high prices on electricity, food and gas, saying, ‘This is all because of the policies of Kamala Harris.’

‘This is the person who’s promising that she’s going to fix the very problems that she has been creating for 1,300 days, and now she wants the American people to give her a promotion,’ he told attendees. 

Vance focused on oil and energy as he made a pitch to voters in Pennsylvania, a state that will play a crucial role in determining the 2024 election.

‘We are, first of all, going to unleash Pennsylvania energy workers. We are going to drill, baby, drill. Let’s. We’re going to stop buying energy from tinpot dictators all over the world who hate this country,’ Vance said. ‘We’re going to start buying it from our own land, from our own people, from our own workers. And that’s going to start on Day One of the Trump presidency.’

Vance also said that Harris ‘has got quite the running mate,’ referencing Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz.

‘The closest Tim Walz has ever come to combat is when he let rioters burn Minneapolis to the ground a few years ago,’ Vance said. Walz has faced backlash recently regarding the validity of his status and service in the military.

Vance answered questions from local reporters during the campaign event, after saying, ‘It is disgraceful that Kamala Harris pretends to run for the presidency of the United States, but she refuses to stand before the American people without a teleprompter standing between them. Kamala, what are you so afraid of?’

Vance’s event came on the first day of the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, Illinois.