President Donald Trump called off his meeting in Budapest, Hungary, with Russian President Vladimir Putin because he didn’t see enough progress toward peace — although a future summit hasn’t been ruled out, according to the White House. 

While Trump and Putin spoke over the phone Oct. 16, plans for the meeting were scrapped after Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s call with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov Tuesday.

Trump ‘feels as though, unfortunately, from the Russian side as of late, he has not seen enough interest in enough action in terms of moving the ball forward toward peace,’ White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters Thursday. ‘And so a meeting between these two leaders is not completely off the table. I think the president and the entire administration hopes that one day that can happen again, but we want to make sure that there’s a tangible positive outcome out of that meeting, and that it’s a good use of the president’s time.’ 

Trump also has signaled in recent days that his patience has worn thin with Russia, and his administration slapped stringent sanctions on Russia’s two largest oil companies Wednesday. 

Specifically, the sanctions freeze all U.S.-linked assets from the two companies and bar U.S. citizens from engaging in any business with them. 

In response, Putin called the sanctions an ‘unfriendly act,’ and warned that global oil prices could increase as a result. However, he also said that the sanctions would not majorly impact Moscow’s economy. 

While Trump routinely has said in recent months that he has pleasant conversations with Putin, he’s also voiced frustration at the lack of progress made as he’s sought to mediate an end to the conflict. Trump also said Tuesday that he didn’t want to have a ‘wasted meeting’ with Putin in Hungary. 

‘The president wants to see action, not just talk,’ Leavitt said. ‘And I think the president is extremely motivated by the success of his peace deal in the Middle East to get things done, and he wants this war to come to an end. He’s been saying it now for nine months, being in office, and he’s grown increasingly frustrated with the lack of progress from both sides of this war.’ 

Trump met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy Friday, and NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte Wednesday to address ongoing negotiations to end the conflict. 

On Wednesday, Trump told reporters the meeting with Putin ‘didn’t feel right,’ and explained why he wasn’t interested in arming Ukraine with Tomahawk missiles like he’d previously suggested he might. 

‘There is a tremendous learning curve with the Tomahawk. It’s a very powerful weapon, very accurate weapon,’ Trump said Wednesday. ‘And maybe that’s what makes it so complex. But it will take a year. It takes a year of intense training to learn how to use it, and we know how to use it. And we’re not going to be teaching other people. It will be just too far out into the future.’

Meanwhile, Trump has voiced skepticism recently about whether Ukraine can win against Russia.

‘They could still win it. I don’t think they will, but they could still win it,’ Trump told reporters Monday.

The Associated Press contributed to this report. 

Former Special Counsel Jack Smith is requesting to testify in open, public hearings before the House and Senate Judiciary Committees, Fox News Digital has learned.

Fox News Digital exclusively obtained a letter Smith’s attorneys sent to House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan and Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley Thursday afternoon, after both panels signaled interest in testimony from the former special counsel.

‘Given the many mischaracterizations of Mr. Smith’s investigation into President Trump’s alleged mishandling of classified documents and role in attempting to overturn the results of the 2020 election, Mr. Smith respectfully requests the opportunity to testify in open hearings before the House and Senate Judiciary Committees,’ Smith attorneys Lanny Breuer and Peter Koski wrote.

‘During the investigation of President Trump, Mr. Smith steadfastly adhered to established legal standards and Department of Justice guidelines, consistent with his approach throughout his career as a dedicated public servant,’ they wrote.

‘He is prepared to answer questions about the Special Counsel’s investigation and prosecution, but requires assurance from the Department of Justice that he will not be punished for doing so,’ they continued. ‘To that end, Mr. Smith needs guidance from the Department of Justice regarding federal grand jury secrecy requirements and authorization on the matters he may speak to regarding, among other things, Volume II of the Final Report of the Special Counsel, which is not publicly available.’

Smith’s attorneys also noted that in order to provide ‘full and accurate answers to your questions, Mr. Smith requires access to the Special Counsel files, which he no longer has the ability to access.’

‘With the guidance and access described above, Mr. Smith is available to testify in an open hearing at your earliest convenience,’ they wrote.

A source familiar told Fox News Digital that Smith’s attorneys are planning to officially seek guidance from the Department of Justice on the matter.

The letter from Smith’s attorneys comes after Jordan, R-Ohio, requested Smith appear for a closed-door transcribed interview and provide all records from his work related to President Donald Trump.

The letter also comes after Grassley, R-Iowa, and nearly two dozen Senate Republicans demanded that the Department of Justice and FBI release documents on Smith’s decision to subpoena telecommunications companies for phone records of a number of Senate Republicans during his probe into Jan. 6, 2021.

Fox News Digital exclusively reported earlier in October that Smith tracked the private communications and phone calls of GOP Sens. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee, Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, Josh Hawley of Missouri, Cynthia Lummis of Wyoming, Bill Hagerty of Tennessee, Dan Sullivan of Alaska, Tommy Tuberville of Alabama and GOP Rep. Mike Kelly of Pennsylvania as part of his ‘Arctic Frost’ investigation.

An official said the records were collected in 2023 by Smith and his team after subpoenaing major telephone providers. 

An FBI official told Fox News Digital that Smith and his team tracking the senators were able to see which phone numbers they called, the location the phone call originated and the location where it was received.

A source said the calls were likely in reference to the vote to certify the 2020 election. 

Smith, though, called his decision to subpoena several Republican lawmakers’ phone records ‘entirely proper’ and consistent with Justice Department policy.

‘As described by various Senators, the toll data collection was narrowly tailored and limited to the four days from January 4, 2021 to January 7, 2021, with a focus on telephonic activity during the period immediately surrounding the January 6 riots at the U.S. Capitol,’ Smith’s lawyers wrote Tuesday to Grassley. 

Smith was appointed special counsel by Attorney General Merrick Garland in November 2022.

Smith, after months of investigating, charged Trump in the U.S. District Court for Washington, D.C., in his 2020 election case, but after Trump was elected president, Smith sought to dismiss the case. Judge Tanya Chutkan granted that request. 

Smith’s case cost taxpayers more than $50 million. 

‘Jack Smith certainly has a lot of answering to do, but first, Congress needs to have all the facts at its disposal,’ Grassley told Fox News Digital Thursday. ‘Hearings should follow once the investigative foundation has been firmly set, which is why I’m actively working with the DOJ and FBI to collect all relevant records that Mr. Smith has had years to become familiar with.’

Fox News Digital reached out to Jordan for comment and has yet to receive a reply. 

Fox News’ Ashley Oliver contributed to this report. 

Millions of Americans who rely on federal food benefits could be among the next casualties of the ongoing government shutdown. 

Approximately 42 million people in the U.S. who use the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) are in danger of not receiving aid come Nov. 1, when the program’s funds are expected to run dry, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) warned state agencies in a memo obtained by Fox News Digital on Thursday.

More than two dozen states have alerted residents to possible lapses in funding. Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin declared a state of emergency over SNAP benefits on Thursday.

‘It requires about $8 billion each month to fund SNAP benefits nationwide. When there’s no funding it impacts not just pockets of people, but it’s going to impact people all around the country,’ said Rev. Eugene Cho, president and CEO of Bread for the World, a nonprofit hunger advocacy group that works with local partners to educate recipients about access to food.

Cho explained to Fox News Digital that some states will feel the drying up government funding more than others.

‘Yes, funding comes from the federal government, but the administration of it happens through local states,’ he said. ‘And so, when it comes to SNAP, states are on a little bit of a different rhythm in terms of how they’re conveying the reduction or the elimination of SNAP benefits. It is playing out a little bit differently from state to state.’ 

The longer the shutdown goes on, the less funding also becomes available for the Women, Infants and Children (WIC) nutrition program, which helps nearly 7 million vulnerable pregnant women and children under age 5.

It could pose a political headache for Democrats who have resisted agreeing to Republicans’ federal funding plan for over a month, demanding significant concessions on healthcare in exchange for their support.

‘We are approaching an inflection point for Senate Democrats. Continue to hold out for healthcare for illegals or reopen the government so mothers, babies, and the most vulnerable among us can receive timely WIC and SNAP allotments,’ a USDA spokesperson told Fox News Digital.

The House passed a seven-week extension of FY2025 funding largely along partisan lines on Sept. 19. The measure, a continuing resolution (CR), is aimed at giving lawmakers more time to strike a longer-term deal for FY2026.

But in the Senate, where several more Democrats are needed to break a filibuster than have been voting for it, progress has stalled, with the legislation having failed 12 times already.

Democrats are demanding that any spending plan be paired with an extension of enhanced Obamacare subsidies that are set to expire at the end of 2025.

They have also called for Republicans to repeal the Medicaid cuts made in their One Big, Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) earlier this year.

‘Millions of American families are about to lose access to food assistance because Democrats are openly admitting to being afraid of their far-left base and refuse to reopen the government,’ House Agriculture Committee Chair Glenn Thompson, R-Pa., told Fox News Digital.

Thompson’s panel has jurisdiction over SNAP in the House.

‘We need to reopen the government, so we can put Americans first by making sure families can put food on the table and our farmers are supported,’ he said.

Democrats could also be faced with the political quagmire of having previously railed against Republicans moving to expand SNAP work requirements in the OBBBA, to now be blamed by the right for federal food benefits drying up.

The Trump administration does have some power to move existing funding around to help cover shortages during the shutdown. The White House moved research and development funding at the Pentagon to cover active duty military paychecks on Oct. 15 and reallocated some $300 million from tariff revenues for WIC earlier this month.

But any such fix would be temporary, as the two aforementioned adjustments have been.

When reached for comment about the administration’s SNAP warning, the top Democrat on the House Agriculture Committee told Fox News Digital that USDA needed to tap into the government’s emergency SNAP reserves.

‘It’s time the administration do right by seniors, children and veterans and utilize the SNAP contingency fund to ensure benefits can be provided for November,’ ranking member Rep. Angie Craig, D-Minn., said.

The SNAP contingency fund currently has some $5 billion — not enough for an entire month’s worth of service.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., told reporters Thursday that he believed the White House would tap into that funding, however.

‘As has been the case in prior government shutdowns, the money can be found by the administration if they chose to do so. In fact, there’s about $5 billion available in a contingency fund for emergency circumstances just like this,’ Jeffries said. ‘But the administration refuses to agree to use it. Why? Because they want to starve the American people as part of their continuing effort to visit cruelty on everyday Americans.’

Democrats blocked a Republican-led attempt to provide essential government workers with paychecks amid an ongoing, 23-day shutdown, calling the bill overly selective and incomplete.

That bill, proposed by Sens. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., and Todd Young, R-Ind., failed in a 54-45 vote, where 60 votes were needed to advance the bill over the threat of a filibuster.

Only three Democrats, John Fetterman of Pennsylvania, and Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff of Georgia, voted with Republicans. 

In addition to compensating federal employees and military personnel during the current shutdown, the bill would also extend relief to future instances where funding bills aren’t in effect. 

‘For fiscal year 2026, and any fiscal year thereafter, there are appropriated such sums as are necessary to provide standard rates of pay, allowances, pay differentials, benefits, and other payments on a regular basis to excepted employees,’ the bill reads.

Johnson had pitched his bill as a long-term solution.

‘I just hope, on a nonpartisan basis, we do something that makes sense around here for once,’ Johnson said ahead of the bill’s consideration. 

‘With Democrats continuing the Schumer Shutdown, they should at least agree to pay all the federal employees that are forced to continue working. The 2025 Shutdown Fairness Act is a permanent fix that will ensure excepted workers and our troops are paid during a shutdown,’ Johnson said.

Other Republicans blasted Democrats for voting against the bill.

‘It means Democrats don’t care,’ Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, said. ‘We know this is going to end sometime. The question is when. I guess it will depend on how much carnage the Democrats want to create. To me, they are in a box canyon, and they can’t figure out how to get out.’ 

Essential federal employees have been asked to continue working since the government entered a shutdown on Oct. 1 after lawmakers failed to pass spending legislation to begin the 2026 fiscal year. Republicans have advanced a short-term spending extension that would open the government through Nov. 21. Democrats have repeatedly rejected that proposal though, demanding that Congress first consider an extension to expiring COVID-19-era supplemental funding for Obamacare health insurance subsidies. 

Republicans, who maintain that the health insurance subsidies are unrelated to the government’s short-term funding needs, have rejected those demands out of hand.

Democrats in the Senate have voted 12 times to defeat the stopgap bill. 

The shutdown looks poised to continue with no resolution in sight, prompting lawmakers to worry about key areas that are feeling the shutdown’s effects more acutely. The Johnson-Young supplemental package was the most recent attempt to provide a limited basis for relieving some of that pain.

Ahead of Thursday’s vote, Republicans in the House of Representatives appeared open to considering the Johnson-Young bill.

House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., told House Republicans during a lawmaker-only call on Tuesday that his chamber would be ‘prepared to act’ if the bill passed the Senate, Fox News Digital was told. Johnson has repeatedly said he would give lawmakers 48 hours’ notice to return to Washington before any votes but has largely signaled he will keep the House out of session until Senate Democrats pass the GOP’s funding bill.

Johnson also said on the call that he was skeptical the bill would get enough Senate Democratic support to pass.

‘If they oppose the Ron Johnson bill in the Senate, it will be absolutely clear that they are simply using the military and air traffic control and law enforcement and all these other personnel as pawns for their political efforts,’ Johnson said, Fox News Digital was told.

But other lawmakers had hesitations about partially reopening the government, offering relief to some workers and not others. That was the concern of Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., ahead of Thursday’s vote.

‘I have a concern about picking and choosing among all the federal workers,’ Blumenthal said.

‘I’m fine to support it. I think we need to pay our military, but I want to define and limit it in a way that provides pay to essential workers who serve our public safety and our national defense,’ Blumenthal said.

Blumenthal voted against the measure.

Democrats in the House of Representatives signaled similar lines of opposition to the idea behind the Johnson-Young bill. 

‘It’s not legislation that I support, because it appears to be more like a political ploy to pick and choose, giving Donald Trump discretion [over] which employees should be compensated, and which employees should not be compensated. All employees should be compensated and that will happen when we reopen the government,’ House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., told reporters on Monday.

Senate Democrats also defeated other pieces of legislation that would open portions of the government. Last week, Democrats in the Senate voted against a 2026 defense spending bill ­— one of the 12 year-long bills normally used to fund the government.

Aside from the Johnson-Young bill, the Senate will not consider other pieces of spending legislation on Thursday. Senators are scheduled to leave Washington, D.C., on Thursday and will return at the beginning of next week.

While New York City Democratic mayoral nominee Zohran Mamdani admitted he would rank his Republican opponent Curtis Sliwa second if the general election used ranked-choice voting, Sliwa said Mamdani is going to ‘regret ever knowing the name Curtis Sliwa’ if the socialist candidate is elected. 

After Mamdani admitted he would rank Sliwa second in the spin room following Wednesday’s debate, Fox News Digital asked Sliwa if he would be willing to collaborate with Mamdani and help his administration if the 34-year-old assemblyman is elected mayor in less than two weeks. 

‘The only thing I would do if, God forbid, Zohran Mandami was the choice of the people, and we will leave it up to them, is I will organize resistance because I will improve. I will not move. Zohran Mamdani could bet that I will be his worst nightmare,’ Sliwa said. 

Sliwa said that unlike former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who is running as an independent candidate after losing the Democratic primary to Mamdani in June, the founder and CEO of the Guardian Angels, isn’t going anywhere. 

‘Because, unlike Andrew Cuomo with his billionaire friends in the Hamptons, who said, ‘Oh, if Zohran’s elected, I’m fleeing to Florida,’ I’m not going anywhere. I was born in New York. They tried to kill me in New York. I’ll die in New York. I’ll be buried in New York,’ Sliwa confirmed.

‘If somehow Zohran Mandami is elected by the people, boy, he is gonna regret ever knowing the name of Curtis Sliwa because I’m gonna be on his case 24 hours a day,’ Sliwa said.

Sliwa also compared Mamdani to Pinocchio, but instead of his nose growing, ‘his smile just gets bigger and bigger and bigger.’

‘That’s how you know that Zohran Mamdani is telling another lie, another whopper, fantasy, rather than reality,’ Sliwa said, referencing Mamdani’s near-constant smile. 

When asked if Mamdani regretted his answer about ranking Sliwa second if the general election had ranked-choice voting, the Democratic socialist doubled down on his response. 

‘I believe it’s important to rank those who actually love New York City, and there was only one other candidate on that stage who seems to love this city,’ Mamdani said, in an apparent jab at Cuomo. 

With less than two weeks until Election Day, Mamdani and Sliwa have landed on unlikely common ground by rejecting billionaire influence in the New York City mayoral election.

Two billionaires, Red Apple Media CEO John Catsimatidis and hedge fund CEO Bill Ackman, have called on Sliwa to drop out of the mayoral race in order to clear a pathway to victory for Cuomo. 

‘The billionaires can conspire to pick their candidate,’ Sliwa said during a press conference in Manhattan on Monday. ‘I trust the people. They will make the decision. I will not drop out.’

Several blocks downtown at his own press conference Monday morning, Mamdani admitted his surprise at agreeing with Sliwa. 

‘I never thought I would say this, but here we are, where the only candidates who agree that billionaires shouldn’t control the future of this city are the Republican nominee and the Democratic nominee,’ Mamdani said. 

A recent Fox News survey of the mayoral race, conducted Oct. 10–14, asked voters about their second-choice candidate. If both Adams and Sliwa are out, the results show Mamdani keeping a significant lead, even as support for Cuomo increases. 

With Sliwa out, the poll found Mamdani would pick up 50% compared to 37% for Cuomo. But Sliwa has maintained for weeks that he has no intention of ending his mayoral campaign.

New York City mayoral contenders relentlessly criticized their opponents as they made their final pitch to voters Wednesday night in the last debate at LaGuardia Community College in Long Island City before early voting starts Saturday. 

Election Day is coming up on Nov. 4, and with Mayor Eric Adams suspending his re-election campaign last month, New Yorkers are set to elect a new mayor to lead the city. 

Vice President JD Vance said it was an ‘amazing blessing’ Thursday to visit the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem, where Christians believe Jesus Christ was crucified, buried and resurrected.

The visit came as Vance was visiting Israel to build upon the Trump administration’s ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

‘I am immensely grateful to the Greek, Armenian, and Catholic priests who care for this most sacred of places,’ Vance wrote on X on Thursday, sharing photos of his visit to the church. ‘May the Prince of Peace have mercy on us, and bless our efforts for peace.’

‘I am also grateful to the Franciscan monks who celebrated a private mass for my family and many of the Americans working for peace. They are a great credit to the Christian faith, and they were kind enough to take the time to minister to us at a very special moment,’ Vance added.

Vance previewed his church visit in remarks to reporters on Wednesday. 

‘I hope to go to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, which Christians believe is the site that Jesus Christ was crucified in,’ Vance said. ‘And I know that Christians have many titles for Jesus Christ, and one of them is the Prince of Peace. And I’d ask all people of faith, in particular my fellow Christians, to pray that the Prince of Peace can continue to work a miracle in this region of the world.’

‘I think that we have made incredible strides over the past week,’ he added. ‘We’re going to have to make a lot more. But I think with your prayers, with God’s providence, and with a very good team behind me, I think we’re going to get it done.’

The church was founded in 326 A.D., though the original fourth-century structure was destroyed by Islamic ruler al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah in 1009 A.D.

The site was taken over by Christian crusaders nearly a century later, and Francesca Stasolla, an archaeology professor at the Sapienza University of Rome, told Fox News Digital earlier this year that the still-standing church is largely the work of the crusaders.

‘The site of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem is identified as the place of both the crucifixion and the tomb of Jesus of Nazareth,’ the church’s website says. ‘The church has long been a major pilgrimage center for Christians worldwide.’ 

Before departing the country on Thursday, Vance categorized his trip to Israel as ‘productive,’ adding that so far, the ceasefire has seemed to hold for the most part.

‘The whole purpose of this trip was really to try to understand how to make the peace stick, how to move on to phase two successfully, and a big part of that is just understanding what would be necessary to police and secure Gaza so that on the one hand,’ Vance said. ‘We can provide stability and hopefully some humanitarian assistance to the Gazans, but on the other hand, ensure that Hamas is unable to threaten Israel. So it was a productive trip.’

Speaking alongside Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday, Vance said that the ‘very, very tough task’ ahead is to ‘disarm Hamas but rebuild Gaza to make life better for the people in Gaza, but also to ensure that Hamas is no longer a threat to our friends in Israel.’ 

Fox News Digital’s Andrea Margolis contributed to this report.

U.S. travelers could soon start to feel the pain of the ongoing government shutdown, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy warned on Thursday.

Duffy joined House GOP leaders at their daily press conference on Day 23 of the shutdown to talk about the difficulties Congress’ fiscal standoff is putting on the nation’s air traffic controllers.

The Trump Cabinet official said air traffic controllers he’s spoken with were ‘angry’ and ‘frustrated’ about being forced to work without pay — noting that Tuesday, Oct. 28, will mark their first full missed paycheck if a sudden breakthrough does not happen on Capitol Hill by then.

‘Safety is paramount for us. And so, if we don’t have the staffing levels in a tower TRACON or center, you will see us delay traffic. You will see us cancel flights,’ Duffy said. ‘It’s not moving as many flights as possible. It’s moving as many flights as possible safely. That is our mission.’

Duffy said that many air traffic controllers are already working under difficult conditions, noting they would get even worse if the shutdown persists.

‘If you have a controller that’s working six days a week but has to think about, ‘How am I going to pay the mortgage, how am I to make the car payment, how am I going to put food on my kid’s table?’ They have to make choices, and the choice they’re making is to take a second job,’ he said.

House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., noted that roughly 13,000 air traffic controllers and 50,000 Transportation Security Administration (TSA) officers will work without pay the longer the shutdown goes on.

‘There were 19,000 delayed flights from Saturday to Monday and an additional 1,600 canceled flights during that same period. That number is only going to increase as the Democrat shutdown continues,’ Johnson said.

‘We are rounding into a holiday season, as we all know, and we’re in the middle of the height of the football season. This is peak travel time for the U.S. Hundreds of thousands of Americans are going to travel to football games this weekend, for example.’

The U.S. air traffic control system has already been dealing with years-long staffing issues, forcing existing workers to take on grueling shifts with little time off. But the shutdown’s compound effect on the current workforce could exacerbate longstanding issues.

It comes just over a month before millions of Americans are expected to travel for the Thanksgiving holiday and the end-of-year holidays a month after that.

‘I want to reiterate, we are all about safety. And we will make sure we work every day on that part of our job,’ Duffy said. ‘But again, I can’t guarantee you that your flight is going to be on time. I can’t guarantee you that you’re not gonna be canceled. It’s going to depend on our air traffic controllers coming in to work every single day.’

At another point, he blamed Democrats for resisting the GOP’s government funding plan for over a month and prolonging the shutdown.

‘I do think, in the Democrat senators’ hearts, they want to vote to open the government up. They don’t want to hurt the American people. But we’ve seen they have a radical base,’ Duffy said. ‘This is because Democrats are concerned about their own hide, and they’ve sold the country to the most radical element of their country. And I think that’s really shameful. It’s too bad.’

The government shutdown shows no signs of ending for now as Democrats and Republicans remain in disagreement over federal funding.

Senate Democrats, who are demanding any funding bill be paired with healthcare concessions from the GOP, have rejected Republicans’ plan — an extension of current federal funding levels through Nov. 21 — 12 times.

With just a dozen days to go until Election Day, a new poll in one of the only two states in the nation holding showdowns for governor this year indicates Democrats with a single-digit lead at the top of the ticket, but tight margins in the races for lieutenant governor and attorney general.

Democratic gubernatorial nominee and former Rep. Abigail Spanberger leads Republican rival Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears 52%-43% among likely voters in Virginia, according to a Suffolk University poll released Thursday in the race to succeed term-limited GOP Gov. Glenn Youngkin.

But the survey indicates Republican Lt. Gov. nominee John Reid and Democratic rival Ghazala Hasmi deadlocked at 45%, and GOP Attorney General Jason Miyares topping Democratic challenger Jay Jones 46%-42%.

Virginia and New Jersey are the only states that hold gubernatorial contests in the year after a presidential election. And the elections, which traditionally grab outsized national attention, are viewed this year as early verdicts on President Donald Trump’s unprecedented and relentless second-term agenda, as well as key barometers ahead of next year’s midterm showdowns for the U.S. House and Senate.

While Spanberger has held the lead over Earle-Sears in a slew of surveys since the start of the year, polls tightened recently after explosive revelations in Virginia’s attorney general race rocked the campaign trail.

Jones has been in crisis mode since controversial three-year-old texts — where he compared then-Virginia House Speaker Todd Gilbert to mass murderers Adolf Hitler and Pol Pot. He said that if he was given two bullets, he would use both against the GOP lawmaker to shoot him in the head. The news was first reported a couple of weeks ago by the National Review.

Jones acknowledged and apologized for the texts, but has been facing calls from Republicans to drop out of the race. And the GOP is aiming to leverage the controversy up and down the ballot, forcing Spanberger on defense.

While the poll indicated that more respondents see the nation on the wrong track, more also view Virginia on the right track under Youngkin, which would typically buoy the party in power in Richmond.

However, President Donald Trump’s approval has fallen below 40%, suggesting a tug-of-war that could break for Democrats in the end. However, Trump also received the most credit from Virginians asked about the Israel-Hamas peace process – with former President Joe Biden only receiving credit from 4% of respondents.

More respondents also blamed Democrats than Republicans for the ongoing government shutdown – by 38-28%, while Trump, by name, was blamed by 21% of additional respondents.

‘Spanberger is trying to carry the whole Democratic ticket over the finish line,’ said David Paleologos, Director of the Suffolk University Political Research Center. ‘However, the Democratic nominees for lieutenant governor and attorney general are struggling in their respective contests, and they can’t seem to replicate Spanberger’s popularity, early voting ground game, or dominance over their opponents.’

According to the new poll, which was conducted Oct. 19–21, Spanberger led Earle-Sears among women 57%-38%, while only trailing among men by a single point, 49%-48%. Among Black voters, Spanberger led Earle-Sears 87%-9%, while trailing among white voters 52%-46%.

And the survey indicated Spanberger topping Earle-Sears by 15 points among those voters who identify as independents, and by 19 points among those who have already cast a ballot.

Early voting in Virginia kicked off on September 19 and the poll suggests that nearly a quarter of all votes for governor in the November election have already been cast.

Five-hundred likely voters in Virginia were questioned in the poll. The survey’s margin of error is plus or minus 4.4 percentage points.

President Donald Trump maintains he’s steering clear of Virginia politics, but his in-flight remarks about Winsome Earle-Sears are prompting questions about whether he’s backing her after all.

The president has issued a full-throated endorsement for Attorney General Jason Miyares’ re-election bid but has stopped short of doing so for Earle-Sears or lieutenant governor nominee John Reid.

He has notably endorsed New Jersey Republican gubernatorial nominee Jack Ciattarelli as a ‘winner’ with a ‘complete and total endorsement’ – and that ‘after getting to know and understand MAGA, [Ciattarelli] has gone all-in.’

At a White House event in which he hosted outgoing Gov. Glenn Youngkin, Trump wished him ‘good luck with the upcoming election’ and said the fellow former business executive has been ‘working very hard’ for the candidates.

‘He wants to see that young woman win,’ Trump said of Youngkin, appearing to refer to Earle-Sears.

‘And the attorney general who I endorsed.’

After the Jay Jones murder-texts scandal broke, Trump called on the Norfolk Democrat to drop out ‘immediately’ and said Virginia must ‘continue to have a GREAT (sic) attorney general in Jason Miyares who by the way has my complete and total endorsement.’

‘Jason will never let you down,’ Trump said.

When asked in June about appealing to moderate voters while running in Trump’s party, Reid told the Hampton Roads’ ABC affiliate that he is running his own race.

‘Donald Trump’s in D.C. John Reid’s in Richmond, and I’m looking to help Virginia, and so, if you love Donald Trump, awesome. If you hate Donald Trump, I really don’t intend to argue with you. I want to save Virginia and that’s why I’m running,’ Reid said.

This week, Trump again obliquely complimented Earle-Sears while speaking to reporters on Air Force One – but declined again to issue a Miyares-type ‘total endorsement.’

‘I haven’t been too much involved in Virginia — I love the state; I did very well in the state … I think the Republican candidate is very good, and she should win because the Democrat candidate is a disaster,’ he said.

He warned that both Virginia gubernatorial candidate Abigail Spanberger and Rep. Mikie Sherrill, D-N.J. – the Democratic nominee in the Garden State – will preeminently be bad for the current U.S. energy dominance agenda.

‘Both the Democrats are going to drive the energy prices through the roof,’ he said.

Trump also faulted Spanberger for refusing to directly call for Jones’ ouster.

Fox News Digital reached out to the White House for clarity on whether Trump’s comments thus far have equated to an endorsement or whether he plans to offer one in the closing days, but did not receive a response.

When reached as well, the Republican National Committee indicated they were not at liberty to discuss the presidential prerogative in endorsements.

Earle-Sears, however, said she looks forward to working with Trump as governor to continue Republican policies focused on public safety, energy costs to Virginians and conservative values – and that Trump has indeed been supportive of her bid.

‘I am deeply grateful for President Trump’s support and his direct encouragement to voters in Virginia to vote Republican,’ she said.

‘We must ensure Virginia is the best place to live, work and raise a family and, with President Trump, I’ll fight to keep energy costs low, keep our families safe and defend our commonsense values.’

Sources have pointed to Youngkin’s own success brought on by keeping Trump at arm’s length during his own hard-fought campaign against Terry McAuliffe in a closely-divided state.

Youngkin’s messaging in predominantly Democratic northern Virginia and the I-95 corridor focused on issues like biological males in girls sports and parents’ rights that could and did draw crossover votes from Virginia voters not inclined to support someone associated with Trump.

Meanwhile, on the other end of the state, Youngkin campaigned on broader conservative or Trumpian tenets and successfully ran up the score in friendlier southside and southwest Virginia, where turnout in those less-populated counties was elevated.

President Donald Trump issued Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu a stern warning Oct. 4, according to a new report. 

At that point, representatives from the Trump administration had hashed out an agreement with other mediators from countries including Qatar, Egypt and Turkey — just days before the two-year anniversary of the start of the war between Israel and Hamas.

Trump didn’t mince his words during a call with Netanyahu: the deal would be announced and Netanyahu had no other choice but to get on board, Time magazine reported Thursday. 

‘Bibi, you can’t fight the world,’ Trump said he told Netanyahu, as he detailed their conversation in an interview with Time. ‘You can fight individual battles, but the world’s against you.’

Although Netanyahu resisted, Trump’s patience had expired. Trump ‘launched into a profanity-laced monologue cataloging all he’d done for Israel as President: moving the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem, recognizing its sovereignty over the Golan Heights, brokering the Abraham Accords that normalized relations between Israel and several Arab states, even joining Israel’s strikes on Iran in June,’ according to Time. 

As a result, Trump indicated that he would no longer back Netanyahu if the prime minister didn’t agree to the peace deal, Time reported. 

‘It was a very blunt and straightforward statement to Bibi…that he has no tolerance for anything other than this,’ Trump’s special envoy to the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, told the outlet. 

Netanyahu ultimately agreed to the deal, which includes a provision requiring Israeli forces to pull its troops, and a complete disarmament of Hamas. 

The deal also required Hamas to return the hostages that were still in captivity within 72 hours of signing the agreement. Hamas has yet to turn over some of the remains of deceased Israeli hostages.

Netanyahu’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital. 

Israel began to face increased pressure and frustration from the Trump administration after it conducted strikes against Hamas leaders in Doha, Qatar, in September. Qatar is a U.S. ally, and the attack violated the country’s sovereignty — prompting Trump to say at the time that he was ‘very unhappy about every aspect’ of the situation. 

But Trump used the attack as leverage to convince regional leaders to band together and negotiate an end to the conflict. 

‘This was one of the things that brought us all together,’ Trump told Time. ‘It was so out of joint that it sort of got everybody to do what they have to do. If you took that away, we might not be talking about this subject right now.’

Trump has hailed the peace agreement as a victory, and visited with Israeli lawmakers in the Knesset and other officials in Egypt to recognize the finalization of the first phase of the deal. 

‘At long last, we have peace in the Middle East, and it’s a very simple expression, peace in the Middle East,’ Trump told reporters in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt. 

‘We’ve heard it for many years, but nobody thought it could ever get there,’ Trump said. ‘And now we’re there.’

Now, Trump has indicated that he is setting his sights on ending the war between Russia and Ukraine, and signaled his administration will build off the momentum from the Middle East peace agreement to end the conflict in Europe. 

Trump met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy Friday, and NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte Wednesday, to discuss the conflict.