Trump receives standing ovation to conclude Hannity hosted town hall in Iowa

Fox News' Sean Hannity hosted GOP frontrunner Donald Trump at a town hall Tuesday night in Davenport, Iowa. The hour-long show featured audience members who chanted "USA" as Trump walked on stage, boo's at mention of Hillary Clinton and laughter at the former president's repeated jabs at Biden.

The 2024 presidential candidate and talk show host covered topics and issues important to the American people including EVs, the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine, oil and gas production and prices, nuclear war and more.

"The only global warming we should be thinking about and worrying about, cause it could happen tomorrow, is nuclear global warming, not global warming," he said.

Trump also addressed Hannity's questions on "dictatorship" to which he responded he'd only act as a "dictator" on his first day back in office to "drill, drill, drill" and close the borders.

Moreover, Trump predicted Biden won't be the Democratic nominee for the 2024 presidential election and touched on his cognitive decline.

"I personally don't think he makes it, okay?"

AP Photo, J. Scott Applewhite

Former President Trump is “seriously looking at alternatives" to the Affordable Care Act for if elected in 2024.

Trump continuously has efforts to “replace” Obamacare and says that if he is re-elected he will do so.

“I don’t want to terminate Obamacare, I want to REPLACE IT with MUCH BETTER HEALTHCARE. Obamacare Sucks!!!” Trump wrote last week on his social media site, TruthSocial. 

Trump made an attempt to repeal the healthcare law while president, but it was blocked.

Trump's comments were slammed by potential 2024 challenger President Biden's campaign, which labeled it an "extremist" proposal.

"The cost of Obamacare is out of control, plus, it’s not good Healthcare. I’m seriously looking at alternatives," Trump wrote in another TruthSocial post. "We had a couple of Republican Senators who campaigned for 6 years against it, and then raised their hands not to terminate it. It was a low point for the Republican Party, but we should never give up!"

The former president was likely referring to 2017, when the late Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., blocked Trump’s long effort to repeal the healthcare law.

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Former President Donald Trump is proposing “a resolution in American education” amid his 2024 campaign.

The GOP frontrunner in the upcoming presidential race has said he wants to reform the education system in America if elected in 2024. 

While on the campaign trail, the former president announced, “The American Academy,” a free online schooling alternative that, according to Trump, will allow American students to receive the equivalent to a bachelor’s degree through its provided courses.

“In recent weeks, Americans have been horrified to see students and faculty at Harvard and other once-respected universities expressing support for the savages and jihadists who attacked Israel. We spend more money on higher education than any other country – and yet, they’re turning our students into Communists and terrorist sympathizers. It’s time to offer something dramatically different,” Trump wrote in a TruthSocial post alongside a video announcing “The American Academy.”

“Its mission will be to make a truly world class education available to every American, free of charge, and do it without adding a single dime to the federal debt,” the former president said.

Trump has criticized the current state of the education system and curricula that he refers to as “woke.”

“We’re going to end education coming out of Washington, DC. We’re going to close it up – all those buildings all over the place and people that in many cases hate our children. We’re going to send it all back to the states,” Trump said in a recent campaign video.

Donald Trump mocked President Biden for his claim that he wouldn't be running for re-election if Trump wasn't in the race.

"Well, I think somebody gave him a talking point. They thought that would sound good," Trump said as the crowd laughed.

"You know, I just found out that Democrats are funding Nikki Haley's campaign. I hear that Democrats are contributing to Ron DeSanctus', or Ron DeSanctimonious, to Ron DeSanctus' campaign. And then you hear the talking points. That's the only thing they're good at, cheating on elections and great talking points," Trump added.

Biden made the statement earlier in the day to a group of supporters at a Boston fundraiser, saying, "If Trump wasn't running, I'm not sure I'd be running. But we cannot let him win for the sake of the country."

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With regard to oil and gas, Trump told Hannity "we have money laying in the ground" and "we have so much wealth and power under out feet."

He described himself as an environmentalist and added, "our country can be rich again."

"What we’re going to do for our country is drill baby drill,” Trump said at a recent campaign event in Houston. "Drill baby drill. The day I take office I will cancel ‘Crooked Joe’s’ electric vehicle mandate."

Trump has railed against the Biden administration’s handling of energy as gas prices in the United States have doubled since President Biden’s election. President Biden has struck back at the criticism declaring we are not in “normal times” and calling on oil companies to “bring down the price you are charging at the pump to reflect the cost you are paying for the product.  Do it now. Do it today. Your customers,the American people, they need relief now.”

“Energy security is national security, and we don’t have national security now,” Trump continued. “Like a bunch of very dumb people that have a rudderless ship. If you don’t have energy and you don’t have borders and you don’t have fair elections, then you don’t have a country.”

Fox News' Gabriele Regalbuto contributed to this report.

Former President Trump  declared that he would "win Iowa" during his town hall with Fox News' "Hannity."

Trump touted the "hundreds of billions of dollars in taxes and tariffs" from China and "gave the farmers $28 billion."

"That's why I say I'm going to win Iowa," Trump said, eliciting cheers from the Hawkeye State crowd.

"My people say, 'Please sir, don't keep saying you're going to win Iowa, you sound so, really, horrible, crass' --- someone said 'crass,'" Trump continued.

"I said, 'But it's true. We're going to win Iowa,'" the former president continued.

Trump noted again that he "gave the farmers $28 billion" and that he "got it from China."

"Who else could do that? Who else would be able to do it, number one, who else would think about it?" Trump asked, adding that he told farmers to "buy more land" and "bigger tractors."

Donald Trump predicted President Biden ultimately wouldn't be the Democrats' nominee for president in 2024.

The topic arose when Sean Hannity asked Trump about the criticism facing Biden from his fellow Democrats, as well as noted that he seemed to be "struggling cognitively."

"I personally don't think he makes it, okay? I haven't said that. I'm saving it for this big town hall. I've never really said that. I personally don't think he makes it," Trump answered, to cheers from the audience.

"I think he's in bad shape physically," he added before joking about a previous instance in which Biden said he'd like to take Trump to the "back of the barn."

Trump joked that Biden would "fall over" if he simply blew on him.

"I personally don't think he makes it physically. I watched him at the beach. He wasn't able to lift a beach chair, which is meant for children to lift. And mentally I would say he is possibly equally as bad, and maybe even worse," Trump added.

Former President Trump touted his polling numbers with Black voters and suggested that will put him over the top in November 2024.

"We just had a poll where I'm at 22 and 25% with the black vote," Trump told Fox News host Sean Hannity in a town hall event on Tuesday night. "If we have that, we can call the election over."

A New York Times/Siena College poll last month raised alarm bells for Democrats after it found Trump had reached an unprecedented level of support from Black voters in battleground states that President Biden won in 2020. Black voters in Nevada, Georgia, Arizona, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin are now registering 22 percent support for Trump, up from eight percent in 2020.

Fox News Digital's Kristine Parks contributed to this report

Former President Donald Trump told Fox News host Sean Hannity during a town hall event that President Biden is "not good" when it comes to his cognitive function.

"From your standpoint cognitively, you like to use that word cognitively, he's not good," Trump said on Tuesday night.

"But it's not for me to say," Trump continued.

A few moments later, Trump said that Biden is a "man that can't put two sentences together."

"We have a man that doesn't know he's alive and he's backed up by the media," Trump said. "The biggest problem we have, the media. The media is fake."

A Monmouth University poll released earlier this month showed that 76% of voters agreed Biden, 80, was "too old" to serve another term, compared to just 48% who said the same about Trump, 77. 

Former President Trump warned that the country should be more focused on preventing a nuclear war than climate change.

During the “Hannity” town hall with Trump on Tuesday night, the former president noted that China is building “one coal plant a week” while swiping at Biden administration special climate envoy John Kerry’s call to end the production of coal-fired power plants.

“We have a country. We have to fire up our factories… and we can’t allow China to build a factory a week and we do nothing,” Trump said.

“They build a coal plant, and they’re obvious about it, and then [President] Biden goes to see them about global warming,”

“The only global warming we should be thinking about and worrying about, cause it could happen tomorrow, is nuclear global warming, not global warming,” Trump said.

Donald Trump opened tonight's town hall by hitting back at President Biden and his criticism of of the former president's "MAGA" movement.

"You know, I see Biden talking about, 'Oh, MAGA! MAGA!' MAGA means Make America Great Again. That's what it means. And that's what people want," Trump said to cheers from the crowd.

"They want to see our country be great again. Right now we're not a great country. We're a country in decline. We are a declining country," he added.

The Biden campaign has ramped up its criticism of Trump as polls consistently show him trailing the former president.

He has frequently blasted the the MAGA movement as "extremist," and attempted to tie other conservative Republicans into that criticism.

Mikhail Klimentyev, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP

Regarding Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Trump told Hannity during the pre-recorded town hall event "that would have never happened" if he had remained in office. Trump added that Ukraine was "the apple of" Putin's eye.

During an appearance on “Hannity” in March, Trump said that Putin “knew not to mess around with me.”

“I used to talk to him about it – I said ‘better not do it’. And he wouldn't have – we had a very friendly conversation about it: I said, 'Hey, Vladimir, you can't go into Ukraine’,” Trump told host Sean Hannity.

Trump later told Fox News Chief political anchor Bret Baier he would “have a deal done in 24 hours” if he secures a second term.  

Trump did not specify what he would give to either side, merely that “I would tell Zelenskyy something and I would tell Putin something, and I’d get him into a room … the death would stop, the destruction would stop.”

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy invited Trump to visit Ukraine after hearing the claim, saying that he would only need “24 minutes to explain to President Trump that he can’t manage this war … he can’t bring peace because of Putin.” 

Fox News Digital’s Gabriele Regalbuto, Danielle Wallace and Anders Hagstrom contributed to this report.

Speaking to Sean Hannity at a Fox News Town Hall on Tuesday, former President Donald Trump called President Biden's chaotic Afghanistan withdrawal the most "embarrassing" moment in the history of the country.

"They left 85 billion, not million, billion dollars worth of military equipment behind in the most embarrassing moment in the history of our country," Trump said. "And the people of this country just don't want to take this anymore."

"It was like a surrender," Trump continued. "And after that, Russia said, well, you know, these people are incompetent, they're overrated. And they went in, they attacked Ukraine. That would have never happened a million years."

Former President Trump called the state of the economy under President Joe Biden "a disgrace.”

Trump told Fox Business' Kudlow in August that "beyond taxes, I'm talking about [how] we have a man that's grossly incompetent."

"What is happening to prices is many times more than any possible tax increase that anybody could get. On top of that, in this new [Build Back Better] bill, they want big tax increases: People will pay massive tax increases. I am not talking about the wealthy, I am talking about everybody," Trump said.

Trump frequently references the economy under his own administration on the campaign trail, warning of a state worse than “recession” if the course doesn’t reverse.

Recent polls show that the majority of voters trust Trump and Republican leadership on the economy over Democrats. A recent Marquette University poll found that the majority of voters believe Trump to be better on the economy than Biden by a 21-point margin.

New York Times and Siena College polling in November found 62% of Democratic voters across the country rate the economy as only "fair" or "poor." 

Photo by CHANDAN KHANNA_AFP via Getty Images

In 2017 then President Donald Trump signed a landmark $1.5 trillion tax overhaul called the ‘Tax Cuts and Jobs Act’. The legislation, the largest tax reform in 30 years, primarily focused on simplifying the tax code for Americans, changed the business tax code to make U.S. industry more competitive with foreign businesses, and lowered the tax rates for Americans and corporations.

“Our massive tax cuts provide tremendous relief for the middle class and small businesses,” Trump said in his State of the Union Address shortly after the bill was signed. “To lower tax rates for hardworking Americans, we nearly doubled the standard deduction for everyone.  Now, the first $24,000 earned by a married couple is completely tax-free.  We also doubled the child tax credit.”

The bill has remained controversial, with some right wing organizations claiming that it has not delivered on it’s promise to cut taxes for the middle class as of 2020. “This is our new American moment,” Trump said of the bill. “There has never been a better time to start living the American Dream.”

AP Photo, Ross D. Franklin

Former President Donald Trump has advocated for the pro-life community throughout his time in office and on the campaign trail but has not said whether he will sign a national ban on abortion.

“What's going to happen is: you're going to come up with a number of weeks or months, you're going to come up with a number that's going to make people happy,” Trump said during an interview on MSNBC's "Meet the Press” in September. “Because 92 percent of the Democrats don't want to see abortion after a certain period of time.”

Trump has repeatedly said that he would try to reach middle ground on the issue of abortion if elected in 2024.

When asked whether he would sign a 15-week ban on abortion, one of the top issues going into 2024, he would not say.

"I would sit down with both sides and I'd negotiate something, and we'll end up with peace on that issue for the first time in 52 years," the former president said. "I'm not going to say I would or I wouldn't."

Trump also called Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ 6-week ban on abortion in Florida a “terrible thing” – a comment that sparked immediate backlash against the former president from the pro-life community.

"I mean, ‘DeSanctus’ [DeSantis] is willing to sign a five-week and six-week ban," Trump said in response to whether he would support that level of a ban. "I think what he did is a terrible thing and a terrible mistake.”

Photographer-Michael Nagle:Bloomberg via Getty Images

Former President Trump and California Governor Gavin Newsom are politically at odds, but the two have personally got along in the past.

During the 2020 California wildfires, Trump met with Newsom and told reporters that he and the Democrat Golden State governor had a solid working relationship.

Newsom, who was elected governor in 2018, ran on a platform of opposing Trump and making California a “resistance state,” but praised his relationship with the former president as “very effective.”

“We’ve been working very well with Gavin,” Trump said in September 2020. “We’re obviously from different sides of the spectrum, but we have a very good relationship.”

Fast forward to last week when Newsom appeared against Trump’s political protégé and GOP presidential primary opponent, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, in Fox News’ "The Great Red State vs. Blue State Debate.”

Trump, the master of zingers and political potshots, kept his powder dry against both DeSantis and Newsom, saying he thought the debate was “very even” between the two governors.

“They both worked hard and they both did well,” Trump said.

AP Photo, Evan Vucci

Former President Trump is set for his town hall with Fox News’ Sean Hannity on Tuesday when the former commander-in-chief will likely touch on the issues facing Americans as he seeks a second term in the West Wing.

True to his New York persona, Trump has been unafraid to give his feelings on anything and anyone — especially those running against him for the Oval Office.

A growing name in that arena, independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., has been making a splash. Polls indicate he could pull in some of both Trump’s and President Biden’s supporters who are looking for a third way into the presidency.

Kennedy was slammed by Donald Trump, Jr., as “a Democrat plant to hurt the Trump thing” while an adviser to his father’s campaign said the independent candidate is a “liberal parading in conservative’s clothing.”

“Voters should not be deceived by anyone who pretends to have conservative values. The fact is that RFK has a disturbing background steeped in radical, liberal positions,” Trump campaign spokesperson Steven Cheung told the press after Kennedy announced his independent candidacy.

Cheung took aim at Kennedy’s social issue stances, saying the presidential family scion’s “candidacy is nothing more than a vanity project for a liberal Kennedy looking to cash in on his family’s name.”

Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images

Despite polls showing a slight lead for Donald Trump in a hypothetical 2024 rematch against President Biden, the former president's favorability rating has remained largely in the negative.

According to a recent Fox News poll, Trump’s personal favorability rating is under water by 12 points (44% favorable vs. 56% unfavorable), his most positive in over a year.

Biden is in negative territory by an even larger 18 points, 41%-59%.

The same poll, however, showed Trump leading Biden by four points, 50%-46%. That lead goes to 41%-35% with the addition of independent presidential candidates Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. (15%) and Cornel West (3%), as well as Green Party candidate Jill Stein (3%).

Fox News' Dana Blanton contributed to this report.

AP Photo, Alberto Pezzali

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has perhaps emerged as former President Donald Trump’s chief rival in the 2024 presidential election cycle, and the two have butted heads frequently for months on the campaign trail.

Trump has accused DeSantis of keeping schools and beaches closed during the COVID-19 pandemic and denounced the abortion ban he signed in the Sunshine State.

Among his favorite nicknames for the Republican governor is “Ron DeSanctimonious,” though Trump made waves earlier this year when it was reported he called him “Meatball Ron,” a report the ex-president has denied.

DeSantis has even challenged Trump to a one-on-one debate, telling Fox News host Laura Ingraham of DeSantis, “Stop being a keyboard warrior and let's step up and debate one-on-one. He's had a lot to say about me over the last year. Say it to my face. I'm game.”

DeSantis has until recently been second to Trump in most early GOP primary voter polls.

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Former President Donald Trump made combatting crime a cornerstone of his presidency. During the George Floyd riots of 2020, Trump called rioters in Minneapolis “thugs” and declared that “when the looting starts the shooting starts.”

In recent years Trump has made comments on rising claim in major American cities, taking particular aim at New York. “Alvin Bragg has watched Violent Crime in Manhattan soar to Record Highs,” Trump claimed. “Killings are taking place at a number like nobody’s ever seen, right in Manhattan.”

At CPAC 2023, Trump repeated claims to utilize the military for domestic law enforcement. “I will send in the National Guard until law and order is restored. You know we’re not supposed to do that.” In a response to Biden’s State of the Union, Trump said “under Biden, the murder rate has reached the highest in the history of our country.”

Photo by Steve Parsons-WPA Pool, Getty Images

Donald Trump during his administration threatened to cut ties with NATO over disputes regarding membership funding. He has seemingly renewed those threats as he looks to secure a second term in the Oval Office.

Many critics worry that Trump is just looking for excuses to drop out of NATO: Rolling Stone spoke with two sources close to the former president who said Trump wants to avoid staffing “NATO lovers” in any potential second administration. 

Trump also reportedly did not support the unilateral use of the collective defense clause, telling the Heritage Foundation in 2022 that he had informed fellow member states he did not support NATO Article 5 unless countries increased their defense spending.

NATO members must spend 2% of their country’s GDP on defense measures, but as of 2014 all but three members – Greece, the U.S. and the U.K. – did not meet that requirement. Virtually all members took Trump’s threat to heart and increased spending by 2022, with many Balkan states meeting or exceeding the requirement while key allies like France, Germany and Italy still fall short. 

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President Biden on Tuesday told supporters he's not sure if he would be seeking a second term in the White House in 2024 if former President Donald Trump wasn't trying to win back his old job.

"If Trump wasn't running, I'm not sure I'd be running. But we cannot let him win," the president said at a fundraiser at a private home near Boston, Massachusetts, according to a pool report.

Biden's candid comments about his reasons for running for re-election came as he reiterated what he and Democrats have emphasized is the threat Trump poses to American democracy if he wins back the White House. 

"Trump’s not even hiding the ball anymore. He’s telling us what he’s going to do. He’s making no bones about it," Biden warned.

The president also once again spotlighted Trump's recent renewed calls to scrap the Affordable Care Act, the sweeping health care law passed during Biden's tenure as vice president during then-President Obama's administration.

Bryan Snyder/Reuters/Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images

PROGRAMMING ALERT: Watch the "Hannity" Town Hall with former President Trump on Fox News Channel at 9 pm ET.

Former President Donald Trump has called out President Biden over the years since the 2020 election, blasting the Democrat for policies like his administration’s handling of illegal immigration and the economy.

Recent polls have shown Trump taking the lead against Biden in a potential 2024 election, and some polls indicate Americans view Trump as better able to handle key issues that Americans are most concerned about. 

Earlier this year, after Biden announced he was running again for president in 2024, Trump did not hesitate to call out his leadership. “With such a calamitous and failed presidency, it is almost inconceivable that Biden would even think of running for reelection,” Trump said.

He also labeled Biden as “the worst, most corrupt president in the history of the United States of America” in an Iowa rally, on Dec. 2, where he spoke on key issues affecting the nation.

Trump made an appearance on Fox Business’ Kudlow,” blasting Biden’s handling of the economy and his critiques of Trump’s economy as a “disgrace.”

In 2020, then President Trump argued that a Biden-Harris administration “would destroy this country and the economy.”  In 2021, Trump said that the United States was being “destroyed” due to Biden’s handling of the border crisis.

Trump has also given Biden nicknames over the years that have stuck among Republican voters: “Sleepy Joe,” “Creepy Uncle Joe,” and “Crooked Joe Biden.”

PROGRAMMING ALERT: Watch the "Hannity" Town Hall with former President Trump on Fox News Channel at 9 pm ET.

Kelsey Grammer, star of "Frasier," said during a recent interview with BBC interviewer, Justin Webb, that he is a Trump supporter and the declaration apparently caused the interview to end abruptly.

Webb said to Grammer, "You mentioned Roseanne early on, who had a great comeback, but also was a Trump supporter, you were, at least you were a Trump supporter, I’m fascinated to know if you still are?"

"I am, and that’s about all, let that be the end of it," replied the 68-year-old American actor.

Though Webb told listeners that Grammer was happy to elaborate on his support for the GOP presidential candidate, he said that the "Paramount+ PR people" were "less happy that he talked about it."

The segment aired on Monday.

Grammer is once again starring as Dr. Frasier Crane in the Paramount+ show "Frasier," which debuted in October. The show, reprised from its original sitcoms, "Cheers" and "Frasier," surfaced almost 20 years after the finale of "Frasier" in 2004.

Fox News' Alexander Hall contributed to this report.

Photo By Tom Williams, CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images

Former President Donald Trump has chiefly mocked former Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson for running for president despite Hutchinson having a relatively lower profile than other candidates in the 2024 presidential race.

“I call him Ada Hutchinson. I don't call him Asa. I call him Ada Hutchinson. Gave him a little name for some reason, for certain reasons. But this guy, nobody knows who the hell he is,” Trump said during an interview with Sean Hannity in June.

He’s called him “Ada” on multiple public occasions, as well as calling the former governor “weak” and “nasty.”

Trump said at a recent rally in New Hampshire, “How about this guy Asa Hutchinson, right? He’s been at zero the last three months. Do you think he’s going to surge to 90?”

“I call him Ada. Ada Hutchinson…He didn't make the last debate because he had zero. How about that? You have a large population voting, he gets absolutely no votes.”

Hutchinson, one of Trump’s loudest critics in the 2024 Republican presidential primary, has been booed at multiple public events for attacking the former president.

AP Photo, Julio Cortez

Former President Trump has not shied away from criticizing the Biden family, including the president’s adult son, Hunter Biden.

Hunter Biden has been in the spotlight for years and has been involved in an ongoing investigation led by U.S. Attorney for the District of Delaware David C. Weiss, since 2018.

The controversial Hunter Biden laptop story broke during the 2020 presidential election season, which many legacy media outlets ignored or discredited. In 2022, Trump blasted the media as “corrupt” and said disregarding the story amounted to an “attack on democracy.”

Earlier this year, Hunter Biden was indicted on two misdemeanor counts of federal tax charges as well as three federal gun charges. A plea deal that critics said was a sweetheart agreement later crumbled under scrutiny from a federal judge.

Trump blasted the Department of Justice as “corrupt,” claiming that the plea deal was a way of letting Hunter Biden off with a “traffic ticket,” and if this were one of his family members under investigation they would face “hundreds of years.”

Trump posted on Truth Social stating that the firearm charge was “the only crime that Hunter Biden committed that does not implicate Crooked Joe Biden.”

Liz Cheney on Monday, December 4, 2023 (Nathan Congleton/NBC via Getty Images)

Donald Trump's continued status as the front-runner for the Republican presidential nomination has drawn the ire of former GOP Congresswoman Liz Cheney.

A frequent Trump critic, Cheney has ratcheted up her attacks on the former president as the first primary contests draw near, including claiming the country is "sleepwalking into a dictatorship."

"There's no question," Cheney said, when NBCs "Today" host Savannah Guthrie on Monday asked if Trump would try to stay in power beyond four years if he was re-elected.

She then told Guthrie that the vote next year will be about whether the country still is a democracy, and that Trump "absolutely" would stay in office forever if he could.

Justin Sullivan, Getty Images

Former President Trump is set to take the airwaves with Fox News’ Sean Hannity tonight where he will likely touch on the issues and news facing Americans — including the GOP presidential primary where he enjoys a commanding lead.

Though Trump is far ahead of rival in early primary polls, he will have to contend with both his former political protégé, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, as well as his own United Nations (U.N.) Ambassador Nikki Haley.

Trump and Haley’s relationship began in 2017 when she was tapped by the then-president to be his ambassador to the U.N.

Haley told Trump that she would be his pick if she were included in his Cabinet and on the National Security Council, as her predecessors had been in the Obama administration. She also said she did not “want to be a wallflower or a talking head” and that she wanted to “speak her mind.”

The then-president agreed. Fast-forward to this year amid the presidential primary and Trump’s attitude towards his hire has shifted, dubbing Haley “birdbrain” after the second GOP presidential debate in September.

The former president has since turned up the heat on Haley and her supporters as the former U.N. ambassador rises in the polls, even calling JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon an “overrated Globalist” after he praised Haley.

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The most recent polls indicate that former President Donald Trump remains the commanding front-runner for the Republican presidential nomination as he makes his third straight White House run.

Trump enjoys a very large double-digit lead in the public opinion surveys in the Iowa GOP caucuses over Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and former ambassador to the United Nations and former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, who are fighting for second place in the Republican race in the Hawkeye State.

Trump narrowly lost the 2016 Iowa GOP presidential caucuses by just over three points to Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas. Trump narrowly edged Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida for second place.

But eight days later, Trump resoundingly won New Hampshire's Republican presidential primary, launching him towards the GOP nomination and eventually the White House.

In the general election, Trump carried Iowa – which was once a top battleground state – by a comfortable nine points in his 2016 White House victory and eight points in his 2020 re-election defeat.

AP Photo/Evan Vucci

Iowa's presidential caucuses have kicked off the race for the White House for half a century.

And that tradition continues for the Republicans in the 2024 election cycle, as the caucuses will once again serve as the lead off contest in the GOP presidential nominating calendar.

The caucuses will be held on Jan. 15, 2024, which happens to be Martin Luther King Jr. Day, a federal holiday.

The caucuses will take place at precincts across the state – which will be held in school gymnasiums, church basements, union halls, community centers, libraries or any other place where people can gather.

Caucuses are not primaries, which are elections conducted at polling places by secret ballot and are held throughout the day, usually with options for absentee and early voting. 

Caucuses are, in essence, meetings run by the two major political parties, which will kick off at 7pm CT across Iowa.

In the Republican caucuses, surrogates for the candidates give final pitches after the meetings get underway. Paper ballots are then handed out to caucus-goers. The results are then counted at each caucus site, with the results shared with the state party.

Democrats will also hold caucuses on Jan. 15. But they will cast their presidential preference ballot by mail.

The Democratic Party caucus results won't be announced until March 5, 2024 – which is Super Tuesday – in order to comply with the Democratic National Committee's revised nominating calendar for the 2024 election cycle.

John Moore, Getty Images

PROGRAMMING ALERT: Watch the "Hannity" Town Hall with former President Trump on Fox News Channel at 9 pm ET.

Former President Donald Trump has firmly opposed the Biden administration’s handling of the southern border, vowing to “carry out the largest domestic deportation operation in American history.”

Trump has blamed President Joe Biden for the "nation-wrecking catastrophe on our southern border," after several million illegal migrants were reported at the southern border since 2021.

"Under my leadership, we had the most secure border in U.S. history. Now, we have the worst border in the history of the world," Trump said while delivering a speech in Dubuque, Iowa.

The GOP frontrunner said that if elected, his second term would begin by "immediately" terminating "every open borders policy of the Biden administration."

"Following the Eisenhower Model, we will carry out the largest domestic deportation operation in American history," Trump added.

"I will immediately restore and expand the Trump travel ban on entry from terror-plagued countries and I will implement strong ideological screening on all immigrants, as we have no choice," he said at a November rally in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. "If you hate America, if you want to abolish Israel, if you sympathize with jihad[ists], then we don't want you in our country, and you're not going to come into our country."

PROGRAMMING ALERT: Watch the "Hannity" Town Hall with former President Trump on Fox News Channel at 9 pm ET.

Fox News' Sean Hannity will sit down with Former President Donald Trump tonight at 9 p.m. ET for a one-hour interview. The exclusive town hall event will appear on "Hannity" and was pre-taped in Davenport, Iowa.

Viewers can expect the former president to touch on issues that are important to the American people and could vary from immigration and border security to abortion, Obamacare and healthcare. Additionally, the former president's looming indictments are a concern to many Americans and others believe they have been politically motivated.

In August, Hannity questioned the timing of Trump's indictments, saying, "They want you to focus only on Trump indictments, court proceedings, January 6, documents, anything other than Joe Biden. And we went through the timeline last night. If Joe Biden gets bad news, the next day there's another Trump indictment. Shocking."

Viewers can anticipate mention of some or all of his 2024 GOP presidential rivals and opponents, including Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson and the campaign trail leading up to November.

Francine Orr, Los Angeles Times via Getty Images

Tuesday night will see former President Trump join Fox News’ Sean Hannity for a town hall likely covering the key issues facing Americans as well as the GOP presidential primary race.

One of the major contenders in the primary is Ohio entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, who is running on a populist platform in a field dominated by Trump — a noted populist.

Trump has praised Ramaswamy amid the contentious primary featuring the former president’s political protégé Governor Ron DeSantis of Florida, calling the tech entrepreneur “smart,” “young,” and “full of talent.”

"He's a very, very, very intelligent person. He's got good energy, and he could be some form of something," Trump said in August. "I tell you, I think he'd be very good."

However, as much praise as Ramaswamy has received from Trump, his presidential prospects are slim as he trails behind Trump, DeSantis, and former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley in the primary.

Additionally, Ramaswamy saw his national policy director move over to Trump’s campaign just last week.

Ramaswamy, though, still might have a path to the West Wing: Trump said in August that he would be open to tapping the GOP businessman as his vice presidential pick or some cabinet position.

Robyn Beck

North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum has suspended his 2024 GOP presidential campaign, but not before he attracted praise from the frontrunner, former President Trump.

Following the first GOP primary debate in August, Trump said he was impressed by the longshot candidate.

“I actually like the Governor. I respect him a lot. He was great,” Trump told Newsmax. “He endorsed me twice, the Governor of North Dakota. I think he’s got something very good about him. He’s a high quality person.”

Trump's praise sparked rumors that he would consider tapping Burgum as vice president should Trump win the GOP nomination.

Burgum, however, denied that he would seek a spot on the ticket, or accept a cabinet appointment in a potential Trump administration.

“Happy to do lots of other things. I [had a] fabulous 30 years in the private sector, a lot of opportunities there,” the North Dakota governor told CNN.

“I’m not running for a Cabinet position. I mean, I’m not selling a book, I’m not running [for] Cabinet. All I’ve ever done: CEO, entrepreneur, build businesses, attract talent, be successful, understand how the globe works, and lead stuff, like the miracle story, the success story of North Dakota,” he added. 

Robyn Beck

Former President Donald Trump has saved some of his most personal criticisms on the 2024 campaign trail so far for ex-New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, a former ally in 2016 who became one of Trump’s most persistent critics toward the end of Trump’s term.

“Don’t call him a fat pig,” Trump smugly told an audience member at a recent rally in New Hampshire. “You can’t do that.”

At the rally the former president had said of Christie, “Christie, he’s eating right now.”

When an audience member made noise, Trump responded, “Sir, please do not call him a fat pig. I’m trying to be nice.”

Most of the former president’s criticism of Christie, across multiple rallies across the country, has centered around his weight.

He once posted a photo of Christie sleeping on a plane to his social media platform TruthSocial, writing alongside it, “Resting after a good 25 minutes of work.”

Photo by Brandon Bell, Getty Images

Trump has made the court proceedings against him a key part of his presidential campaign. At rallies and in interviews, Trump frequently calls the prosecution a political persecution aimed at keeping him from being president.

But the indictments appear to have helped Trump politically, at least in pushing him to the top of the 2024 Republican presidential field.

Trump has been indicted on 91 criminal counts in four separate jurisdictions over the past year, some related to alleged election interference, some related to retaining classified documents after leaving the White House, and another set related to hush-money payments allegedly made to cover up a sex scandal.

Trump has pleaded not guilty on all counts, and claims that each of the indictments (including those from non-federal jurisdictions) are driven by the Biden administration.

"Every time I'm indicted, I consider it a great badge of honor because I'm being indicted for you," Trump told supporters at a November rally.

The former president has also talked about retaliating against Biden for the prosecutions against him should he win the presidency in 2024.

"We will start by exposing every last crime committed by Crooked Joe Biden, because now that he indicted me, we're allowed to look at him," Trump said in November.

Brandon Bell, Getty Images

Former President Donald Trump has been indicted four times this year, pleading not guilty to all of the charges across all of the jurisdictions. 

Trump was first charged in March out of Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s years-long investigation related to hush-money payments made during the 2016 presidential campaign.

Trump pleaded not guilty to all 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in the first degree in New York.

Those charges from Bragg came amid Special Counsel Jack Smith’s investigation into Trump’s alleged improper retention of classified records from his presidency at his Mar-a-Lago home in Palm Beach, Fla.

Trump pleaded not guilty to all 37 felony charges out of that probe. The charges include willful retention of national defense information, conspiracy to obstruct justice and false statements.

In July, Trump was charged with an additional three counts as part of a superseding indictment out of Smith’s investigation – an additional count of willful retention of national defense information and two additional obstruction counts.

Smith was also investigating whether Trump was involved in the Capitol riot on Jan. 6, 2021, and any alleged interference in the 2020 election result.

On Aug. 1, Trump was indicted on four federal charges out of Smith's Jan. 6 probe.

Trump pleaded not guilty to all charges, which included conspiracy to defraud the United States; conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding; obstruction of and attempt to obstruct an official proceeding; and conspiracy against rights.

Over in Fulton County, Ga., District Attorney Fani Willis was investigating Trump's alleged efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election in the state.

He was charged with one count of violation of the Georgia RICO Act, three counts of criminal solicitation, six counts of criminal conspiracy, one count of filing false documents and two counts of making false statements.

Meanwhile, New York Judge Arthur Engoron ruled that Trump and the Trump Organization committed fraud while building his real estate empire by deceiving banks, insurers and others by overvaluing his assets and exaggerating his net worth on paperwork used in making deals and securing financing. That ruling came after a civil lawsuit filed by New York Attorney General Letitia James.

Trump, his family, and his business have been in Manhattan court since October as part of a non-jury trial in order to protect his business empire. Trump and his family have denied any wrongdoing. 

Photo by MANDEL NGAN, AFP via Getty Images

Former President Donald Trump has made it clear what he thinks about Vice President Kamala Harris.

In 2020, during the presidential election season, Trump slammed Harris as the “nastiest” and “the worst in the Senate.” He said that Harris was “more liberal” than Independent Sen. Bernie Sanders. Trump also admitted that he was “a little surprised” when Joe Biden picked Harris to be his running mate as vice president.

During a White House press briefing back in 2020, the former president responded to a reporter who mentioned claims that Harris would not be able to serve as vice president because her parents were not born in the United States. He said he heard Harris didn’t “meet the requirements” to be vice president, but then added that he was not sure if it was correct.  

In an exclusive interview on Hannity, Trump stated that “a lot of people think it’s a dangerous choice” if Harris became vice president. He then claimed that she wants to raise taxes and get rid of the Second Amendment. Trump stated that Harris “wants to cut spending for the military and the vets.” He also went after Biden and Harris for their views on energy regarding petroleum and fracking.

Photo by Mario Tama, Getty Images

PROGRAMMING ALERT: Watch the "Hannity" Town Hall with former President Trump on Fox News Channel at 9 pm ET.

Former President Trump has made no announcement about who he might pick to be his running mate if he wins the GOP nomination in 2024, but there has been plenty of speculation.

After falling out with former Vice President Mike Pence – who sought the GOP nomination for 2024 until he suspended his campaign in October – Trump will be in need of a new running mate should he win the nomination next year.

Several names have been floated as potential VP picks for Trump. Many people who put their hat in the ring for the GOP nomination have been floated as potential picks – like Sen. Tim Scott, who suspended his campaign, and Nikki Haley, who is battling for second place in the polls against Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, and Vivek Ramaswamy.

But Trump indicated in September that he wasn't interested in asking any of his rivals for the presidential nomination to join his ticket. After a campaign forum in California that brought together most of the candidates who were then running for president, Trump told supporters at a rally that the presidential contenders would do anything for the VP slot.

"Does anybody see the VP in the group? I don’t think so," Trump said.

On the other hand, Trump indicated in August he would be open to picking Ramaswamy for some position, after the entrepreneur praised Trump’s presidency. 

A few high-profile GOP figures are frequently mentioned in lists of potential VP picks for Trump. South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem sparked VP speculation when she endorsed Trump this summer.

Former Arizona gubernatorial nominee Kari Lake has been a fierce Trump supporter, though she currently is in the running for a Senate seat.

Trump's former press secretary and now Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders has grown in popularity, and could be a veep pick. Rep. Elise Stefanik, the House GOP caucus chair, similarly is seen as a rising star in the party.

But it's still early in the 2024 race to name a vice presidential candidate. In 2016, Trump did not announce Pence as his VP running mate until mid-July, less than four months before the November election.

Abir Sultan, Pool Photo via AP

PROGRAMMING ALERT: Watch the "Hannity" Town Hall with former President Trump on Fox News Channel at 9 pm ET.

Former President Donald Trump has repeatedly affirmed his support for Israel amid its ongoing war with Hamas , which has plagued the world ever since Iranian-backed militants invaded the southern portion of the country and murdered at least 1,400 people.

Two days after the Oct. 7 attack, which kickstarted the war, Trump insisted during a speech in New Hampshire that "the atrocities we are witnessing in Israel would never have happened if I was president."

Last month, during remarks offered at the Florida Freedom Summit, Trump insisted that people who want to abolish Israel shouldn't be allowed to enter America.

"If you hate America, if you want to abolish Israel, if you sympathize with jihadists, and then you don't want your country to do well, you don't want your country to be successful, you're just not going to get in, you're not getting in, you're not coming into our country," Trump said at the time.

Trump's comments came after he promised to deport immigrants who are publicly supporting Hamas during an Iowa campaign speech Oct. 16.

But Trump hasn’t held back when it comes to his thoughts on Israel’s prevention of the Oct. 7 tragedy. Just days after the incident, Trump criticized Israeli intelligence for not detecting Gaza-based Hamas' brutal, large-scale terror operation in advance.

Seemingly referring to Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, Trump said, "They have a national defense minister or somebody saying, ‘I hope Hezbollah doesn’t attack us from the north.’ So the following morning, they attacked … If you listen to this jerk, you would attack from the north because he said, ‘That’s our weak spot.’"

Trump also remarked that Hezbollah was "very smart" for following every word put out by American and Israeli officials.

Trump’s remarks about the situation drew the ire of Shlomo Karhi, a member of the Knesset in the Likud party who serves as Israel's minister of communications. Karhi reportedly told Israel’s Channel 13 that it is "shameful that a man like that, a former U.S. president, abets propaganda and disseminates things that wound the spirit of Israel’s fighters and its citizens."

"We don’t have to bother with him and the nonsense he spouts," Karhi added.

Despite the former president’s current support for Israel amid its war with Hamas, Trump’s fondness for the country was evident during his tenure in the White House when he introduced the Abraham Accords – a peace agreement between Israel and the United Arab Emirates.

AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite

PROGRAMMING ALERT: Watch the "Hannity" Town Hall with former President Trump on Fox News Channel at 9 pm ET.

Former President Donald Trump has seen endorsements from dozens of high-profile Republicans for his 2024 re-election bid. 

House Speaker Mike Johnson, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, Homeland Security Chairman Mark Green, House GOP Conference Chair Elise Stefanik, Armed Services Chairman Mike Rogers, along with Reps. Matt Gaetz, Anna Paulina Luna, Byron Donalds, Cory Mills, Greg Steube, Jim Banks, Andy Biggs, Lauren Boebert, Buddy Carter, Russell Fry, Carlos Gimenez, Lance Gooden, Marjorie Taylor Green, Harriet Hagement, Clay Higgins, Ronny Jackson, Brian Mast, Mary Miller, Max Miller, Alex Mooney, Burgess Owens, Scott Perry, Guy Reschenthaler, Mike Waltz, and more have endorsed the former president. 

In the Senate, Trump has won endorsements from Sens. Marsha Blackburn, Mike Braun, Ted Budd, Kevin Cramer, Steve Daines, Lindsey Graham, Bill Hagerty, Cindy Hyde-Smith, Roger Marshall, Markwayne Mullin, Eric Schmitt, Rick Scott, Tommy Tuberville, and J.D. Vance. 

As for governors, Trump has earned the endorsement of South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem; Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy; Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders; West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice; Texas Gov. Greg Abbott; South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster; and Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves.

Trump has also seen endorsements from his former secretary of Housing and Urban Development, Ben Carson; former acting Director of National Intelligence Ric Grenell; and more. 

Photo by Celal Gunes, Anadolu Agency via Getty Images

"I was proud to be the most pro-gun, pro-Second Amendment president you've ever had in the White House," Former President Trump said at the National Rifle Association’s annual meeting in April.

"It is a scandal and a tragedy that year after year, Democrats in Washington continue to hold commonsense school safety measures hostage to their radical gun control agenda, which, in virtually all cases, would do nothing to prevent attacks by demented and disturbed individuals.”

Speaking in the aftermath of a string of mass shootings, Trump declared that this “is not a gun problem. This is a mental health problem, this is a social problem, this is a cultural problem, this is a spiritual problem."

In the same speech he called for tax credits to reimburse teachers purchasing firearms and said he will “ask Congress to repeal totally ineffective legislation that makes it harder to protect our schools and easier for criminals to face absolutely no opposition for when they go in.”

REUTERS/Emily Elconin

PROGRAMMING ALERT: Watch the "Hannity" Town Hall with former President Trump on Fox News Channel at 9 pm ET.

For half a century, Iowa's presidential caucuses have kicked off the race for the White House.

And that tradition continues for the Republicans in the 2024 election cycle, as the caucuses will once again serve as the lead off contest in the GOP presidential nominating calendar.

The caucuses will be held on Jan. 15, 2024, which happens to be Martin Luther King Jr. Day, a federal holiday.

Iowa and New Hampshire, which for decades have held the first primary and second overall contest in the presidential nominating calendar due to their lead-off positions, have enjoyed outsized influence in the race for the White House.

Both contests have long played a crucial role in winnowing the field of contenders vying to win the White House.

Because of its influence, presidential contenders have long spent plenty of time in Iowa in the year leading up to the caucuses, and their campaigns put together teams on ground in the Hawkeye State, for grassroots outreach and get-out-the-vote efforts.

Fox News

Donald Trump heads back to Iowa on Tuesday with just under six weeks to go until the state's caucuses kick off the Republican presidential nominating calendar.

The former president – the commanding front-runner in the GOP nomination race as he makes his third straight White House run – returns to sit down Fox News' Sean Hannity for a town hall in Davenport, Iowa.  

The town hall, which will be pre-taped in front of a live audience, will air in primetime at 9pm ET on Fox News' "Hannity."

Trump enjoys a very large double-digit lead in the most recent public opinion surveys in Iowa's GOP caucuses over Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and former ambassador to the United Nations and former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, who are fighting for second place in the Republican race in the Hawkeye State.

“President Trump is taking his message directly to the people, like he's always done,” Trump campaign senior adviser Chris LaCivita told Fox News.