Walker joining White House race Monday, amid high expectation in already crowded field

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker on Monday will announce his entry into the Republican presidential primary race -- a move that will finally answer the question whether he can turn high expectations into top-tier status in the crowded field.

Walker’s expected entrance would make him the 15th GOP candidate, with Ohio Gov. John Kasich and former Virginia Gov. Jim Gilmore to follow in coming weeks, bringing the total by summer's end to at least 17.

The two-term Wisconsin governor waited until after concluding state budget negotiations to enter the race, but he has been near the top of polls since the start of the election cycle.

Walker has nearly 11 percent of the vote, trailing front-running Jeb Bush, the former Florida governor, who has roughly 16 percent, in the most recent averaging of polls by the nonpartisan website RealClearPolitics.com. 

His position would likely put him among the top-10 candidates, allowing him to participate in the first Republican debate, on Aug. 6 and hosted by the Fox News Channel.

“What Scott Walker needs to do is to try to reclaim some of the mojo he had in the beginning of the year, when he kind of exceeded expectations,” Washington Examiner political editor Jim Antle told FoxNews.com on Friday.

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• Power Play: Walker wades in

“He’s the kind of conservative that a lot of Republicans have been waiting for, somebody who can compete with an establishment candidate like Jeb Bush.”

Walker, who touts widespread Republican appeal, will make his announcement in Waukesha, Wis. He will then travel to Nevada and Georgia and early primary states South Carolina, New Hampshire and Iowa.

He begins the first leg of his official campaign on Tuesday in Nevada with a stop at a Harley-Davidson shop in Las Vegas.

On Wednesday, Walker makes three stops in South Carolina and one in Georgia. On Thursday, he visits New Hampshire, then goes to Iowa for the weekend.

On immigration, Walker is open to granting legal status short of citizenship to many people in the country illegally. He once supported creating a pathway to citizenship for those living in the United States illegally but changed his views after talking with border-state governors and voters nationwide.

As with most governors running for president, foreign policy will likely be a weak link in his presidential bid.

To address that, Walker has traveled overseas four times this year. His visit to Israel in May was tightly controlled, with no public appearances. He stumbled rhetorically at times during a more public London tour earlier. He faced sharp criticism for a speech in February in which he said his experience taking on thousands of protesters in his state during his battle with unions has prepared him to confront terrorists abroad.

On social issues, Walker, the son of a Baptist minister, opposes abortion rights, including in cases of rape and incest.

He supports Wisconsin's first-in-the-nation school voucher program. Walker extended the program statewide after its start in Milwaukee and Racine and this year proposed eliminating enrollment caps.

Walker's position has varied on Common Core academic standards.

He never explicitly advocated for them, but in his first state budget in 2011 he called for statewide tests that were tied to the standards. His budget this year prohibits the state superintendent from forcing local school districts to adopt the standards and calls for new standardized tests.

Democrats have for months been sharpening their political attack on Walker and his announcement.

On Saturday, the Democratic National Committee released an email titled “Six facts you need to know about Scott Walker” that included criticism about his record of job-growth in Wisconsin and his comments about how his union-related battles have made him ready to confront international terrorists.

If elected, Walker would be the first president since Harry Truman, elected nearly 70 years ago, without a college degree.

Walker was first elected governor in 2010 and swiftly rose to national prominence by effectively ending collective bargaining for most public workers in Wisconsin.

He was forced into a 2012 recall election because of the fight with unions the following year but won, making him the first governor in U.S. history to survive such an effort.

His 2014 re-election as governor continued a 24-year run of holding public office. 

Walker has been dogged by an investigation launched in 2010 that resulted in misconduct and theft convictions of six associates. But he's not been charged with wrongdoing.

He served in the state Assembly for nine years before being elected Milwaukee County executive, the top elected position in Wisconsin's largest county.

The 47-year-old Walker attended Marquette University in Milwaukee but dropped out 34 credits short of graduation to take a Red Cross job.

He and wife Tonette Walker have two college-age sons.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Capitol Hill leaders, presidential candidates raise bipartisan concerns about pending Iran nuclear deal

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell on Sunday led a chorus of bipartisan concern from congressional leaders and 2016 presidential candidates about an Iran nuclear deal, amid reports that negotiators are expected to reach a provisional agreement.

"This is going to be a very hard sell for the administration," the Kentucky Republican said on "Fox News Sunday," when asked about the likelihood of Congress signing off on a deal.

He spoke minutes after diplomats said that negotiators could possbily announce a deal as early as Monday to curb Iran’s atomic program in return for tens of billions of dollars in sanctions relief.

McConnell suggested that President Obama will ultimately win final approval for the deal, considering he would need only 34 Senate votes to veto the likely passage of “resolution of disapproval” by the GOP-led chamber.

However, New Jersey Democratic Sen. Bob Menendez, a Senate Foreign Relations Committee member, also continued to raise skepticism about any deal, which suggests that getting 34 Democratic Senate votes might be a challenge.

"We have gone from preventing Iran having a nuclear ability to managing it," he told ABC’s “This Week.” "And what we are doing is basically rolling back sanctions ... not rolling back Iran's elicit nuclear infrastructure."

Menendez, long outspoken about a deal that would ease too many sanctions on the rogue nation, also said news of a provisional agreement made him “anxious” but that he will wait to see the details before making a final judgment.

“What type of sanctions relief are we giving?” he asked, "because in 12 to 13 years we will be exactly back to where we are today except that Iran will have $100 [billion] to $150 billion more in its pocket and promoting terrorism throughout the Middle East."

Obama has come under criticism from members of Congress and some U.S. allies in the Middle East who say the administration has conceded too much in the Iran talks. Iran has denied any nuclear weapon ambitions and said its program is meant to supply domestic energy and other peaceful purposes.

Secretary of State John Kerry has been leading the U.S. delegation in the talks in Vienna, which aim to impose long-term, verifiable limits on Tehran's nuclear programs. The other countries involved in the negotiations and that must also agree to a deal are Britain, China, France, Germany and Russia.

Among the final sticking points in the roughly 2-year-long negotiations is whether U.N. inspectors will have full access to Iran’s nuclear-related facilities and the extent to which sanctions, including an arms embargo, will be lifted.

The current negotiations have run more than two weeks and blown through three deadlines. Because the talks are in overtime, Congress gets 60 days to assess the deal and take the votes, requiring Obama to await that process before trying to ease the sanctions agreed to in the deal.

Sen. Bob Corker, the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, on Sunday also raised concerns but said lawmakers would review any agreement carefully to ensure the Iranians are held accountable and that any violations can be enforced

"I think we’ve been in a downward trend for some time,” the Tennessee Republican told NBC's "Meet the Press" about the state of negotiations.

However, he suggested members of Congress are willing to approve a deal that makes the United States and its allies “better off.”

He said inspectors would need “anytime, anywhere” access and pushed for access to military/scientific sites.

“We knew they were making a bomb,” Corker said. “We just want to know how far they got.”

Obama downplayed chances for a deal during a closed-door meeting with Senate Democrats last week, telling participants that an agreement was at best a 50-50 proposition.

Democratic presidential candidate Jim Webb told “Fox News Sunday” that he would be “very hesitant” about approving an Iran nuclear deal based upon what he knows so far about the details and argued the United States has other ways to improve relations with the rogue nation.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Webb joins debate over candidates’ rhetoric, tells Trump to ‘stop throwing bombs’

Democratic presidential hopeful Jim Webb offered his opinion Sunday about GOP candidate Donald Trump’s comments on illegal Mexican immigrants, telling him to “stop throwing bombs.”

“This kind of rhetoric from people who want to be commander in chief is not helpful,” Webb told “Fox News Sunday.” “You need to be inclusive, recognize people. Don't be throwing bombs to these cultural groups.”

The former Virginia senator and Bush administration Navy secretary joins essentially every Democratic and Republican presidential candidate in commenting on Trump saying last month that Mexico is sending a lot of problematic people to the United States, including drug dealers and rapists.

Trump and his remarks have essentially dominated the 2016 White House news coverage and come amid the cultural debate about removing the Confederate battle flag from the South Carolina capitol grounds and other government buildings and sites across the country.

Webb suggested Democrats and Republicans alike are culpable in perpetuating the new culture wars and that the national debate needs to return to discussions about education and job creation.

“Unfortunately I think you’re seeing it from both sides, which is why I mentioned the situation with Donald Trump with respect to Mexican Americans,” Webb said. “Flying the Confederate battle flag in public places morph(ed) into something much different. …When are we going to talk about jobs? When are we going to talk about education?”

Webb has 2.3 percent of the primary vote and trails front-runner Hillary Clinton (62 percent), then Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders (14 percent) and Vice President Biden (13 percent), according to an averaging of polls by the nonpartisan website RealClearPoltics.com

Webb argued that the Democratic Party has moved “too far to the left,” a growing argument since Sanders, a self-described socialist, entered the race.  

Webb also said he hopes his candidacy brings “a different tone” to his party.

“It’s not my party,” he told Fox News. “We need to bring different people back in.”

He also said that he would be “very hesitant” about approving an Iran nuclear deal based upon what he knows so far about the details and argued the United States has other ways to improve relations with the rogue nation.

Iran nuclear deal expected Sunday, diplomats say

Negotiators at Iran’s nuclear talks are expected to reach a provisional agreement Sunday that would curb the country’s atomic program in return for sanctions relief, diplomats told The Associated Press, a day after Iran slammed the U.S.

The two diplomats – who are at the talks and demanded anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the negotiations publicly -- cautioned that final details of the pact were still being worked out Sunday afternoon and a formal agreement still awaits a review from the capitals of the seven nations at the talks. They said a possible announcement could come as early as Monday.

The agreement would cap nearly a decade of diplomacy, including the current round in Vienna that has run more than two weeks and blown through three deadlines.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry dropped warnings Sunday that the talks could go either way.

En route to Mass at Vienna's gothic St. Stephens Cathedral, Kerry said twice he was "hopeful" after a "very good meeting" Saturday with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, who had Muslim services Friday.

Kerry noted that "a few tough things" remain in the way of agreement but added: "We're getting to some real decisions."

A senior State Department official also said Sunday that the department will not speculate about the timing of anything during the talks and that key issues remain unresolved.

Iran and the U.S. have both threatened to walk away from the table unless the other side made concessions.

Iran’s state-run Press TV cited Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Saturday as calling the U.S. an “excellent example of arrogance.” It reported that Khamenei told university students in Tehran to be “prepared to continue the struggle against arrogant powers.”

His comments suggest Tehran’s distrust of Washington will persist whether a deal gets done or not, and are likely to add skepticism over the outcome of the long negotiations.

Khamenei’s comments also have appeared to be a blow to U.S. hopes than agreement will lead to improved relations with the country and possible cooperation against Islamic rebels.

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, like Kerry, indicated talks could go either way.

"We behaved so skillfully that if talks won't succeed, the world would accept that Iran is for logic and dialogue and never left the negotiating table ... and if we succeed by the grace of God, the world will know that the Iranian nation can resolve its problems through logic," his website quoted him as saying.

The supreme leader’s comments also come after it was learned Saturday that the Islamic Republic’s spies have been seeking atomic and missile technology in neighboring Germany as recently as last month.

Iran’s illegal activities have continued since talks between Iran and the P5+1 - the five permanent members of the UN Security Council as well as rotating member Germany - began with a Joint Plan of Action in 2013, according to German intelligence sources. The JPOA was intended to stop Iran’s work on a nuclear weapon until a comprehensive agreement is reached.

"You would think that with the negotiations, [Iranian] activities would drop," a German intelligence source said. "Despite the talks to end Iran’s program, Iran did not make an about-turn."

With a final agreement to restrict Iran’s nuclear program set for Monday, the intelligence data from Germany raises disturbing questions about the success of the deal.

Tehran has sought industry computers, high-speed cameras, cable fiber, and pumps for its nuclear and missile program over the last two years, according to German intelligence sources. Germany is required to report Iran’s illegal procurement activities to the UN.

The negotiations entered their 16th day Sunday. In a sign that a deal could soon be sealed, Russian news agencies reported that Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov planned to arrive in Vienna on Sunday evening. Most other foreign ministers of the six nations negotiating with Iran already are in the Austrian capital and in position to join Kerry and Zarif for any announcement of an agreement.

Diplomats familiar with the talks say most of the nuts and bolts of implementing the deal have been agreed upon. But over the past week issues that were previously on the back burner have led to new disputes. Among them is Iran's demand for a lifting of a U.N. arms embargo as part of sanctions relief -- a stance supported by Russia and China but opposed by the U.S. and some Europeans -- and its insistence that any U.N. Security Council resolution approving the deal be written in a way that effectively frames previous resolutions criticizing its nuclear activities as illegal.

On Saturday, Zarif and Kerry met again this time with European Union foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini present. Of the chief diplomats of the six countries negotiating with Iran, British Foreign Secretary Phillip Hammond and Foreign Ministers Frank-Walter Steinmeier of Germany and Laurent Fabius of France also are already in Vienna. Kerry spoke by telephone to Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.

The scope of access to U.N. inspectors monitoring Iran's nuclear program remains a sticking point. The Americans want no restrictions. Iranian officials say unrestricted monitoring could be a cover for Western spying. Diplomats say Iran's negotiators have signaled a willingness to compromise, but hardliners in Iran remain opposed to broad U.N. inspections.

The current round was supposed to conclude on June 30, but was extended until July 7, then July 10 and now July 13. The sides had hoped to seal a deal before the end of Thursday in Washington to avoid delays in implementing their promises.

By missing that target, the U.S. and Iran now have to wait for a 60-day congressional review period during which President Barack Obama can't waive sanctions on Iran. Had they reached a deal by Thursday, the review would have been only 30 days.

Iran is unlikely to begin a substantial rollback of its nuclear program until it gets sanctions relief in return.

Fox News’ Benjamin Weinthal and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Clinton to deliver economic speech Monday, with tax policy at issue

Democratic presidential frontrunner Hillary Clinton is set to give a major economic speech Monday, after weeks of deferring about her plans to improve the U.S economy including whether she’ll raise taxes.

The focus of her economic agenda will be to increase middle class income and wages. And she will argue that stagnant paychecks is the biggest challenge facing the U.S. economy.

Clinton's campaign on Saturday provided a preview of her speech, which will also include the argument that the real income of everyday Americans must rise steadily alongside corporate profits and executive compensation.

Clinton declined in a CNN interview earlier this week to say whether she would raise taxes on big corporations or the country’s highest wage-earners, as primary challenger Sen. Bernie Sanders has proposed.

“I think we have to grow the economy faster and fairer,” she said. “So we have to do what will actually work in the short term, the medium term and the long term. … then, I’ll look forward to the debate.”

While top-tier Republican candidate and former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush has called for an annual growth rate of 4 percent, Clinton will assert that the nation's economy should not be judged by a specific growth figure but rather by how much income increases for middle-class households.

"For a typical working American, their income has not been rising anywhere near as fast as it should be rising, and that is the challenge we face," said David Kamin, a New York University law professor who has advised Clinton's campaign. "It's not a new problem, and it's going to take a holistic vision."

The Clinton campaign said the former first lady and New York senator in her speech at The New School, a university in New York City, will point to economic progress during her husband's two terms in the 1990s and more recently under President Obama.

But she will aim to identify ways of improving upon the uneven nature of the nation's recovery since the Great Recession, bolstering wages even as the unemployment rate has fallen to a seven-year low of 5.3 percent.

Clinton is also expected to begin outlining a series of specific economic proposals this summer on issues like wage growth, college affordability, corporate accountability and paid leave.

In Clinton's approach to the economy, more Americans would share in the prosperity and avoid the boom-and-bust cycles of Wall Street that have led to economic turbulence of the past decade.

Clinton, who is seeking to become the nation's first female president, is also expected to address ways of making it easier for women to join the workforce.

Clinton will attempt to meet the demands of liberals within her own party who are wary of her willingness to regulate Wall Street while inspiring confidence among a larger electorate who will judge her policies if she wins the Democratic nomination.

Progressives encouraged Elizabeth Warren to seek the presidency, but the Massachusetts senator, who has railed against Wall Street and corporate excesses, declined to run. Many of those same liberals are now packing large gatherings held by Sanders, who has made economic inequality the chief plank of his campaign.

Alan Blinder, a Princeton University economist and former economic adviser to Clinton’s husband, President Bill Clinton, said she has expressed interest in policies to curb excessive risk on Wall Street, such as a financial transactions tax on high-frequency trading, taxes on large Wall Street banks based on their risk profile and eliminating the so-called carried interest loophole that allows managers of hedge funds and private equity firms to pay a lower tax rate than most individuals.

Clinton has said she will take nothing for granted in the primary contest, but the economic message will allow her to begin contrasting herself with Republicans.

In recent speeches, she has portrayed the Republican presidential field, including Bush as supportive of "top-down" economic policies and large tax breaks for the wealthy.

"They're back to the trickle down, cut taxes on the wealthy and everything will be fine," Clinton said last week in Iowa. "This will be the biggest economic debate, because they know the only way they can win the White House back is to somehow convince voters that what we have done didn't work."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.