Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas speaks about security during a news conference ahead of Super Bowl LVIII at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, Nevada on Feb. 7, 2024. (Patrick T. Fallon/AFP via Getty Images)
(WASHINGTON) — House Majority Leader Steve Scalise plans to return to Capitol Hill this week in time to help his fellow Republicans try again on Tuesday to impeach Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas — after an embarrassing failed vote last week to impeach him over what they say is his failure to enforce the law on the southern border.
Scalise, who was undergoing treatment for blood cancer, was absent from last week’s vote to impeach Mayorkas — one of the reasons the GOP-led effort failed.
Scalise’s office said in a statement Thursday that he “successfully completed his autologous stem cell treatment and has been medically cleared to resume travel.” The Louisiana Republican is in “complete remission,” the statement said — clearing the way for Scalise to vote with the fellow Republicans to impeach Mayorkas, a historic move.
With Scalise, Republicans could finally have the votes they need to impeach Mayorkas, whom they accuse of “willful and systemic refusal to comply with the law” and “breach of public trust” amid a surge in unauthorized migrant crossings, according to the articles of impeachment. The vote failed last week with a final tally of 214-216 — a crushing defeat for House Republicans.
The impeachment vote is scheduled for Tuesday night, but could change if member attendance is poor.
If the vote is put off, another potential curveball could come with Tuesday’s special election to fill the vacancy left by former Rep. George Santos, R-N.Y., in New York’s 3rd Congressional District.
If former Rep. Tom. Suozzi, D-N.Y., prevails over Republican Mazi Pilip for the seat and is sworn in before a second impeachment vote, the impeachment effort is likely to fail again, provided all lawmakers are present and vote the same as last week.
Last week, Republican Rep. Ken Buck of Colorado voted against Mayorkas’ impeachment, telling ABC News’ Jay O’Brien that the secretary had “not committed a high crime or misdemeanor.”
“There is a policy difference,” he said.
Buck was joined by fellow GOP defectors Reps Tom McClintock and Mike Gallagher, who announced over the weekend he won’t run for re-election. They are still expected to vote against impeaching Mayorkas.
If the vote succeeds, it would mark just the second time in U.S. history a Cabinet official has been impeached. The issue would then have to go to trial in the Democrat-controlled Senate, where a two-thirds majority vote would be needed to convict.
On NBC’s Meet the Press on Sunday, Mayorkas repeated that the Republicans’ allegations to impeach him are “baseless.” He said the flood of migrants has been a problem for years and that legislative action is needed to fix the system.
“The system has not been fixed for 30 years. A bipartisan group of senators have now presented us with the tools and resources we need — bipartisan group — and yet, Congress killed it before even reading it,” Mayorkas said.
This past December, there were 302,000 encounters along the southwest border — the highest monthly total ever recorded.
Moderator Kristen Welker pressed Mayorkas on whether he bears the responsibility for the flood of migrants crossing the border — something President Joe Biden called a “crisis.”
“It certainly is a crisis, and, well, we don’t bear responsibility for a broken system, and we’re doing a tremendous amount within that broken system. But, fundamentally, fundamentally, Congress is the only one who can fix that,” Mayorkas said.
Last week, the Senate’s vote to advance a bipartisan foreign aid bill with major border provisions failed — a blow to the Senate negotiators who worked for months with Mayorkas to develop the border deal.
(WASHINGTON) — New York’s 3rd Congressional District is hosting the first closely watched contest of 2024, with political experts saying that the results of Tuesday’s special election could offer some early signs of how swing-seat suburban voters are feeling as the presidential race begins to ramp up.
Former Rep. Tom Suozzi, a well-known Democrat in the area who used to represent the district before leaving for a failed gubernatorial bid in 2022, is facing Republican Mazi Pilip, a Nassau County legislator with a smaller profile.
The race, which has attracted millions of dollars and major New York politicians, is playing out on Long Island, a key battleground for House control later this year and a barometer, experts said, for messaging on crime, immigration and more.
Who’s running — and how are they doing it?
Tuesday’s special election was triggered by disgraced Republican Rep. George Santos’ expulsion in December.
There wasn’t a primary, and Suozzi and Pilip were both essentially handpicked by their respective parties to run for the seat.
Suozzi, a former three-term representative, mayor and county executive, boasts broad name recognition in the district — an asset for him as he seeks to run on his own brand rather than that of a national party led by an unpopular president.
Pilip, meanwhile, is an Ethiopian-born Jew who served in Israel’s military, a high-profile resume given the current war against Hamas in Gaza. While a current officeholder herself, she cuts a lower profile than Suozzi and has made less campaign stops than him.
Suozzi has sought to distance himself from President Joe Biden, who has long been grappling with poor approval ratings nationwide. He’s especially cast himself as tough on illegal immigration, fighting back against attacks from Pilip that he supports more lax border controls. The issue has become a local flashpoint as New York City sees an influx of immigrants and asylum-seekers.
Suozzi has particularly hit Pilip for opposing a recent bipartisan immigration bill in the Senate that would tie foreign aid to heightened border security, noting he would have supported the legislation, which also won the endorsement of the union that represents front-line Border Patrol agents. (That same union is supporting Pilip over Suozzi.)
Suozzi has also gone after Pilip for, he said, dodging on abortion access in order to appeal to voters. The issue took on heightened importance in races across the country after the Supreme Court revoked constitutional protections for the procedure in 2022.
At their only debate, last week, Pilip described herself as “pro-life” but also said she opposes a national ban and maintained that “I’m not going to force my own belief on any woman.”
Suozzi is backed by abortion rights supporters.
Pilip has sought to center the race on local issues of public safety and immigration, arguing that she would be a vote for tougher restrictions on the southern border and address concerns over violent crime, which remain high despite dropping levels in New York.
She’s also worked to tie Suozzi to Biden, underlining Suozzi’s past voting record.
Why is this race happening?
The unusually timed race is taking place because former Rep. Santos was expelled from the House in a historic vote in the wake of various scandals over lies or fabrications about his background and after he was indicted on a slew of charges, including wire fraud and campaign finance violations. He has pleaded not guilty.
Santos hasn’t been brought up extensively in the race, but outside allies of Suozzi, including the House Majority PAC — House Democrats’ main political group — have highlighted past supportive comments of the disgraced former lawmaker by Pilip, whom Suozzi has labeled as a “Santos 2.0” because, he claims, she is “utterly unvetted” and “lying about her record.”
The current special election is being held to see who will serve out the few months remaining in Santos’ term — it will not decide who will serve a full two-year term starting in January.
What are the stakes?
While Tuesday will see results from just one local congressional race, it has attracted outsized attention from both parties and has real political consequences for Washington.
In the short term, the election will impact House Republicans’ wafer-thin majority, either adding a seat to their current three-vote cushion or helping Democrats cut into it further.
The narrow hold that the GOP has on the House has already been an obstacle to attempts at passing legislation.
Beyond that, operatives of both parties are looking to the race to discern what strategies work and don’t work to inform their playbooks for later this year, including gauging Biden and former President Donald Trump’s unpopularity, the issues of crime and immigration and where the winds are blowing in New York City’s suburbs — a region that alone could determine next year’s House majority.
Still, Democrats are hoping to implement an entirely new congressional map across the whole state — and given this race is just to finish Santos’ term, the seat could ultimately look very different when the next term starts in 2025.
(NEW YORK) — The past of Genesse Ivonne Moreno, the suspected Lakewood Church shooter, includes a turbulent marriage, a contentious divorce, allegations of child and spousal abuse, a checkered criminal record and a well-documented history of mental health issues, according to an ABC News review of documents and records.
Moreno is accused of entering the Houston megachurch with her 7-year-old son before opening fire as hundreds of people were taking their pews before a Sunday afternoon service, according to police.
Moreno, 36, has used “multiple aliases,” including “Jeffrey Escalante,” Christopher Hassig, heading the investigation for the Houston Police Department, told reporters Monday. Although it appears she has gone by “both male and female names” in the past, investigators’ interviews and documents connected to her life so far show Moreno “has been identified this entire time as female,” Hassig said.
A turbulent marriage flecked by abuse, mental health issues
Moreno was previously married to a man named Enrique Carranza III. It ended in a contentious divorce and bitter custody battle; their divorce was finalized in 2022.
Carranza, in court papers, described a turbulent relationship and separation from a severely “abusive” relationship on Moreno’s part. In an affidavit he filed in 2020 related to divorce and custody proceedings, he described Moreno’s mental health issues and violence towards him and their son (in a later filing, Moreno herself pushed back, saying it was her husband who had “physically assaulted” her.)
They first met in 2015 while working at the Spaghetti Warehouse in downtown Houston, according to Carranza’s affidavit — a “family-friendly American-Italian restaurant,” according to the restaurant’s website.
“As soon as we married, my wife became abusive,” Carranza said in his affidavit, adding she was “a diagnosed schizophrenic, so daily it was a new battle or fight in her realm” and that he let her put him “through hell to appease her delusional thought pattern.”
Carranza described being physically battered by his wife, whom he referred to as “Jeffrey.” He said she would “hit me with keys” and “cans of beans.” He said she “ripped a layer of my eye out once” because of impatience with the “interview process” for his job prospect and that she “also stalked me, getting me fired from jobs.”
During a three-week Christmastime visit in 2019 with his estranged wife and their son, Carranza said Moreno “called the cops on me twice and both times she had a gun and my son in her hand,” according to his affidavit.
“She is a diagnosed schizophrenic and [Child Protective Services] has told her that she cannot have a gun,” he said. “I am afraid of her having my address. She has guns and she brags about it while having my son in the car.”
“I strongly believe because of my wife’s schizophrenia, she does not have the capacity to discern reality from fiction,” Carranza’s affidavit said, adding “she is irrational and unstable” and “grabs the baby by his arm to pull him where she is to where his shoulder is out of socket.”
He described Moreno as willfully negligent towards their son: refusing to take him to the doctor and confining him to “one area.” He also said she “abuses her meds” and lets their son “stay up all times of the night.”
An affidavit from their child’s paternal grandmother, Walli Carranza, submitted during the couple’s separation fight echoes concerns over “complaints of child abuse and neglect, as well as reckless endangerment.”
In January 2020, Moreno “pulled an unlocked and loaded gun from underneath a seat in the car and pointed it at the head” of Carranza, “only hours after a first unlocked and loaded handgun was found” by their then-3-year-old son “in his own diaper bag,” according to the ex-mother-in-law’s affidavit.
When Carranza attempted to unlock his son from the car seat and remove him from the situation “as planned” with local authorities, Moreno “drove off” with the back door still “open” and their son not in his car seat, the affidavit said. Moreno “was stopped by Texas State Patrol after eluding them on back roads and then refusing to heed lights and sirens. Thus she had placed Samuel in imminent danger.”
The mother-in-law’s affidavit also suggests that Moreno should not have been able to own a gun, claiming that under an alias, Moreno had been under involuntary psychiatric commitment at least four times. She also claimed Moreno “filed a fraudulent birth certificate” for the child and “refused” to correct it and told hospital staff that the father [Carranza] was “dead” and, alternatively, that he was “homeless” and unknown.
Her son “has been reticent to file the criminal charges against his wife; now his former wife because, as she is not a US citizen,” the mother-in-law’s affidavit said, and “as she already has had criminal convictions, she would likely be deported if convicted of the 3rd degree felony that stems from filing a fraudulent birth certificate. He told [Houston Police] detectives this is not what he wants for the woman he loved and married and the mother of his child. He wants her to live, he told police, where she can get quality mental healthcare. He doesn’t hate her; he hates her mental illness and her refusal to treat it.”
The mother-in-law’s affidavit elaborates on the abuse allegedly inflicted by Moreno on her infant son.
The child “was drug exposed by his mother’s intentional use of illegal substances and legal” and “illegal substances were found in [the son’s] blood and urine at birth. His mother refused to allow a toxicology screen on her own blood and urine before birth; further jeopardizing her son.” The affidavit goes on to say Moreno kept her son “in diapers,” even at four years old, saying “‘its too messy to have to toilet train him. This is easier,'” dresses him only “in baby clothes” and “she dresses him in [girls’] clothes.” The affidavit also alleges that in December 2019, on a Christmas visit, Carranza caught Moreno putting “what appeared to be adult cold medicine” into their son’s feeding tube, saying, “‘this is the only way I can get him to sleep.'”
A day after Sunday’s shooting at Lakewood Church in Houston, Moreno’s former mother-in-law posted a lengthy statement on Facebook asking “that this be a wake-up call.”
“[M]y daughter-in-law when she was taking medication for schizophrenia was a very sweet and loving woman,” Walli Carranza wrote in the Facebook post on Monday. “But mental illness is real illness and when family members seek emergency protections they’re not doing so for their own sake but for the sake of the person who is ill….. And to protect her child and society.”
In a Dec. 2021 affidavit filed by Moreno under the name “Jeffrey Moreno-Carranza,” she told a different story, alleging that she has “personal knowledge” that her estranged husband was “a convicted sex offender” and had “multiple” DWI charges. She also alleged that during the marriage “he physically assaulted me on numerous occasions that made me fear for my safety and the safety of my son.” Carranza was found guilty by a Florida jury of Failure to Comply with Sex Offender Requirements in March 2023, after having been previously convicted of Attempted Sexual Assault on a Child in Colorado, according to the State Attorney for Florida’s Fourth Judicial Circuit and Texas DPS records.
“I have always been the primary caregiver for my son,” Moreno said in her 2021 affidavit, and that her husband “has never cared” for him “by himself and furthermore, he is not capable of caring for a child with special needs.”
Suspected shooter’s criminal history
Moreno was put under an emergency detention order in 2016 by Houston police officers and is believed to have a “mental health history that is documented, through us and through interviews with family members,” Hassig said at Monday’s briefing.
Moreno had a string of arrests in Texas over the last two decades.
According to ABC affiliate KTRK-TV, Moreno’s criminal history dates back to 2005, with the latest case coming during the summer of 2022.
Among her charges are an August 2009 assault, for which she was sentenced to 180 days in Harris County Jail for kicking a detention officer; a May 2010 charge for forgery, for which she was sentenced to two days in Harris County Jail for trying to use a counterfeit $100 bill; a November 2010 charge for theft, for which she was sentenced to 30 days in Harris County Jail for stealing hats and makeup; a December 2010 charge for evading arrest, for which she was sentenced to 75 days in Harris County Jail; and a June 2022 charge for unlawful carrying of a weapon, which is still an active case.
The hunt for a motive
Authorities are now poring over all possible evidence to understand Moreno’s motive and intent — from raiding a Montgomery County home under her name and a “dark in color sedan” that is registered to her and parked at the home to forensic analyses of her digital devices, and data and images stored on them, according to a police search warrant affidavit.
The warrant includes approval for police to search for any “ammunition, firearms, explosives, materials used to make explosives, cell phones, computers, and any evidence tending to connect Moreno with the commission of the offense of aggravated assault, possession of prohibited weapons, and/or hoax bomb” that might be found.
Authorities are also investigating a YouTube page called “Genesse Moreno Investor,” according to a source briefed on the probe. That page portrays Moreno as involved in real estate investments, posting one video with the description, “We Buy Commercial Residential Multifamily Properties.”
Police said Monday the investigation is still “very new” and ongoing, and they’re urgently pushing to understand why this person chose to open fire at the megachurch Sunday. That process will “take time,” officials said.
“We’re in the infancy stages of this. I completely understand. We want to know the motive. How she got the weapon. Why she did this. We’re not there yet,” Doug Williams, Special Agent in Charge for the FBI’s Houston field office, said.
But even in these first 24 hours, authorities have already recovered some “anti-Semitic writings” which they believe might have contributed to Moreno’s actions, noting the contentious relationship with her ex-husband and his family.
“We do believe that there was a familial dispute that has taken place between her ex-husband and her ex-husband’s family,” HPD’s Hassig said. “And some of those individuals are of, are Jewish. So we believe that that … might possibly be where all of this stems from.”
“There was a sticker on the buttstock of the rifle” that Moreno used at Lakewood, Hassig said. That sticker “simply stated ‘Palestine.'”
Moreno’s ex-mother-in-law, Walli Carranza, who identifies herself as a rabbi, wrote in a Facebook post on Monday that despite Morreno’s apparent antisemitic utterances, “this has nothing to do with Judaism or Islam.” Carranza pointed, instead, to Moreno’s untreated mental illness and a lack of “strong red flag laws that would have prevented her from having a gun.”
Republican presidential candidate and former U.S. President Donald Trump delivers remarks alongside Eric and Lara Trump during his primary night rally at the Sheraton on Jan. 23, 2024 in Nashua, N.H. (Alex Wong/Getty Images)
(WASHINGTON) — Former President Donald Trump has endorsed Michael Whatley for Republican National Committee chair and his daughter-in-law, Lara Trump, for co-chair.
Trump announced his endorsement in a statement Monday night, citing Whatley’s commitment to “election integrity.” Whatley was an ardent supporter of Trump’s baseless claims of voter fraud in the 2020 presidential election.
Trump also endorsed one of his senior advisers, Chris LaCivita, for chief operating officer.
“This group of three is highly talented, battle-tested, and smart. They have my complete and total endorsement to lead the Republican National Committee,” Trump said in a statement to ABC News.
The news of Trump’s endorsements comes as Ronna McDaniel, the current chair of the Republican National Committee, and Trump have discussed the possibility of her resigning, according to multiple people familiar with their conversation.
However, the RNC issued its own statement following Trump’s endorsement of new party leadership, stating that Chairwoman McDaniel would not step down from her post or announce future plans until after the South Carolina GOP primary on Feb. 24.
“Chairwoman McDaniel has been on the road helping elect Republicans up and down the ballot and she will continue working hard to beat Biden this fall. Nothing has changed, and there will be no decision or announcement about future plans until after South Carolina,” the RNC spokesperson said.
Trump’s endorsements come amid the RNC’s slow fundraising ahead of the 2024 election cycle, entering January 2024 with just $8 million in the bank, while its Democratic counterparts had $21 million on hand.
This is partly because the Democratic National Committee has a fundraising advantage over the RNC due to its joint fundraising capability with the reelection campaign of the sitting president, Joe Biden.
During the 2020 election cycle, the RNC and the Trump campaign boasted a massive joint fundraising operation — raising more than $1.6 billion throughout the two years. Currently, the RNC and Trump raise funds separately.
Trump’s endorsement of his close allies to the national party leadership suggests that efforts to integrate the campaign and the RNC are imminent, which would allow them to raise money together.
Joint fundraising also means the RNC could potentially begin footing Trump’s legal bills, which it did for many years when he was president and after he left office until he declared his candidacy for the 2024 race.
Trump seemingly alluded to a potential joint fundraising operation in announcing his endorsements, stating, “Every penny will be used properly. New Day.”
President Joe Biden shakes hands with King of Jordan Abdullah II ibn Al Hussein after giving remarks White House, Feb. 12, 2024. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
(WASHINGTON) — As the U.S. attempts to push Israel and Hamas closer to an agreement that would see all remaining hostages in Gaza freed in exchange for an extended truce, U.S. officials say CIA Director William Burns will travel to Egypt for negotiations — but that his Israeli counterparts had not yet committed to participating in the talks.
The trip will be Burns’ fourth known trip abroad for face-to-face negotiations on the matter, but it would be his first where neither of the main players is directly represented.
A U.S. official familiar with the matter said Burns would press on with the agenda regardless of Israel’s participation in the talks and meet with intelligence officials from Qatar and Egypt, two countries that have served as effective intermediaries with Hamas through the conflict.
At a White House press availability with the King of Jordan on Monday, President Joe Biden said he was continuing to push for an agreement.
“There are gaps that remain, but I’ve encouraged Israeli leaders to keep working to achieve the deal. The United States will do everything possible to make it happen,” he said.
Even if Israel ultimately participates in this latest round of negotiations, its apparent reluctance to participate in the discussions could be a bad omen overall for the prospects of reaching an agreement.
Roughly 100 hostages may still be alive inside Gaza, according to Israeli authorities. U.S. officials say that figure may include as many as six Americans.
Israeli forces conducted a successful rescue operation in Rafah early Monday, recovering two Israeli men, Fernando Simon Marman, 60, and Luis Har, 70, who were abducted by Hamas during its Oct. 7 attack on Israel.
But while Israel might conduct similar missions in the coming days aimed at freeing some of the detainees, a U.S. official says the vast majority can be recovered only through a diplomatic agreement.
The official also said that although high-level American and Israeli officials are regularly engaged in discussions about a host of topics, the Biden administration did not have a clear idea of Israel’s red lines for a potential deal — highlighting another disconnect between the U.S. and its closest ally in the Middle East.
After Israel signed off on a framework for a hostage exchange in January, officials from Qatar and the U.S. expressed optimism that a deal was within reach.
But last week, Hamas replied with a counterproposal laden with conditions untenable for Israel, including demanding the release of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners convicted of serious offenses and a full withdrawal of Israel troops from Gaza.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu quickly rejected Hamas’ offer, slamming it as “delusional.” Secretary of State Antony Blinken acknowledged there were “clear nonstarters” in the group’s proposal, but instated there was still “space for agreement to be reached.”
The evident schism between the U.S. and Israel on hostage negotiations is far from the only area of tension weighing on the relationship.
After the State Department said the U.S. had not seen “any evidence of serious planning” for an Israeli incursion in Rafah, a city in Gaza where more than a million Palestinians are sheltering after Israel directed them there, Netanyahu ordered his military to prepare for a potential a mass evacuation of civilians while simultaneously intensifying strikes on the area.
On Monday, the department’s spokesperson, Matthew Miller, downplayed the latest round of military action in Rafah.
“It is not our assessment that this airstrike is the launch of a full-scale offensive happening,” he said.
But when it comes to military strategy, Israel has maintained a wall of separation with the U.S., and Miller acknowledged that the administration currently had little insight into Israel’s plans for avoiding a new humanitarian catastrophe while conducting a possible incursion into Rafah.
“We look forward to being briefed on it,” he said.
At the White House, Jordan’s king, standing next to Biden, was blunt.
“We cannot afford an Israeli attack on Rafah. It is certain to produce another humanitarian catastrophe,” he said. “The situation is already unbearable for over a million people, who have been pushed into Rafah since the war started. We cannot stand by and let this continue. We need a lasting cease-fire now. This war must end.”
(WASHINGTON0 — House Republicans will seek testimony from special counsel Robert Hur in addition to requests made Monday for documents, including transcripts and audio recordings, stemming from Hur’s report released last week on the investigation into President Joe Biden’s handling of classified documents, multiple sources told ABC News.
On Monday afternoon, after ABC News reported the developments, the GOP-led House Judiciary, House Oversight and House Ways and Means committees released a letter sent to Attorney General Merrick Garland asking for the transcripts and audio recordings, saying they were needed for their impeachment inquiry into Biden, claiming that he, among other things, “may have retained sensitive documents related to specific countries involving his family’s foreign business dealings.”
Although Hur decided that no charges against President Biden were warranted, the White House has forcefully pushed back on assertions made in the report related to Biden’s mental acuity.
White House counsel’s office spokesman Ian Sams did not give a definitive answer when asked last week about releasing the full transcripts of Biden’s interview with Hur, saying “its a reasonable question” while noting “there were classified stuff and we have to work through all that.”
When asked if Biden would support the release, Sams said, “We’ll take a look at that and make a determination.”
According to his report, Hur considered charging Biden’s ghostwriter who deleted audio files of interviews with Biden after the special counsel was appointed but ultimately decided against it. The FBI was able to recover the deleted files from the ghostwriter’s computer, according to the report.
However, some legal experts say it could be more difficult to obtain these records from the Justice Department, given there are no charges. The DOJ could also potentially claim it is investigative material as a reason not to disclose any audio recordings or transcripts.
Prior to the report’s release last week, Republican House Oversight Chairman James Comer sent Hur a letter last October seeking documents and information related to the investigation.
President Biden on Monday declined to answer reporter questions about he wanted the transcripts made public.
(WASHINGTON) — Some of former President Donald Trump’s closest Senate allies were out in force on Monday defending his comments over the weekend that even further call into question Trump’s commitments to the United States’ NATO allies.
Multiple Republican senators backed Trump’s remarks on Saturday that he’d “encourage” Russia to “do whatever the hell they want” to NATO-aligned countries that don’t meet their financial obligations to the alliance.
Trump’s remarks echo his long-standing criticism of the role the U.S. plays in providing security for other countries — including major allies. The former president’s comments also come as he attempts to squash a foreign aid bill in the Senate that would provide billions of dollars more in support to Israel, Ukraine and Taiwan.
Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., a close Trump ally, said he’s “100% behind him” in his push to get NATO countries to pay more money toward their self-defense.
Asked how allied countries should feel about a potential invasion from Russia after Trump’s remarks, Tuberville doubled down.
“I would be worried. I would be very worried. Especially if they don’t have 2% of their GDP in defense. I mean you’ve got to be able to protect yourself — we can’t protect everybody,” Tuberville said to ABC News. “It’s their country, they’ve got to defend it. We would love to help, but if you’re not going to defend your own country, why should our taxpayers defend it for them?”
Sen. Roger Marshall, R-Kan., said allied nations that are concerned about Trump’s comments need to “get over it.”
“They need to stand up and be tough. We need to secure our own border first. We need to take care of things here at home first. When we secure our own border and we take care of home, then great, let’s help other people as well,” Marshall said.
Marshall said it was important not to “overreact” to Trump’s comments.
Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, joined Marshall in saying Trump’s remarks ought to be taken “seriously, but not literally.”
But Cornyn did add that he believes the United States should remain committed to the alliance.
“The message should be that the United States will live up to its treaty obligations no matter who is president,” Cornyn said.
Some Senate Republicans had more aggressive rebukes for Trump.
Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., called it a “mistake” for Trump to so pointedly encourage Russia to have its way with other countries, even as he backed calls for NATO nations to meet their financial obligations.
“So I think it was very important what Trump was saying that they need to pay their fair share and they need to pay their way,” Paul said. “I think it was a mistake to say he would encourage Russia to attack them. I think that was a careless remark and shouldn’t have been said.”
Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, said on Sunday that Trump’s comments were “uncalled for.”
While NATO allies need to uphold their end of the bargain, Murkowski said, there’s no need to be suggesting that the United States might throw its NATO allies “to the Russian wolves.”
Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, said on Sunday that he believes Trump often makes comments to “elicit media and applause and outrage” with “no intent” of action. But whatever his motives, casting doubt on the United States’ obligation to its commitments could have a cost, said Romney — an outspoken critic of Trump.
“Even if he did it just to get a rise from the audience and the media and the world at large, it has dangerous implications because people in other nations read it with concern and make their calculations accordingly — and that has an impact in our standing in the world,” Romney said on Sunday. “We’re going to lose friends if we go around saying that we’re not going to protect them under the obligations we have under NATO.”
(WASHINGTON) — Former President Donald Trump has filed an emergency application with the U.S. Supreme Court asking the justices to stay last week’s appeals court decision that rejected his claim to absolute immunity from prosecution in special counsel Jack Smith’s election interference case.
Trump, who in August pleaded not guilty to charges of undertaking a “criminal scheme” to overturn the results of the 2020 election, is seeking the dismissal of the case on the grounds that he has “absolute immunity” from prosecution for actions taken while serving in the nation’s highest office.
Last week a three-judge panel in the U.S. Court of Appeals rejected his claim of presidential immunity, clearing the way for Trump to seek to appeal the issue to the Supreme Court.
Trump’s attorneys argued in their application to the Supreme Court, filed Monday, that the high court should allow the appellate process to play out — and effectively delay any possible trial indefinitely — given the magnitude of the issues and the stakes for the upcoming presidential election.
The justices will likely ask for a response from Smith, the federal prosecutor overseeing the investigations of Trump, before acting on Trump’s application for a stay in the coming days.
Trump’s lawyers suggested that the former president intends to seek en banc review — done by the entire bench rather than a select panel — of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit and, ultimately, Supreme Court review some time down the road.
“Allowing President Trump to pursue en banc review in the D.C. Circuit will provide an opportunity for similar thoughtful consideration in the lower court before this Court addresses the novel, complex, and momentous issues at stake in this appeal,” his attorneys wrote in the new filing.
His lawyers pushed back on the argument that a quick resolution was needed, with Smith having previously cited an “imperative public importance of a prompt resolution of this case.”
“The prospect that an … appeal of an immunity question might affect a pending trial date is commonplace and routine,” Trump’s attorneys wrote.
At the same time, they argued, Trump going on trial in the months before the 2024 election risks “irreparable injury” to him because it would affect his ability to campaign before the public.
In last week’s ruling, the appellate panel flatly dismissed Trump’s claims to legal immunity and said that affording him such protection “would collapse our system of separated powers by placing the President beyond the reach of all three Branches.”
Trump’s trial had been scheduled to start on March 4 before U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan postponed that start date while waiting for his immunity appeal to play out.
(NEW YORK) — An Alaska resident has died from complications of a relatively new and rare virus known as Alaskapox, according to a bulletin posted by Alaska state public health officials.
The Alaskapox virus was first identified in Fairbanks, Alaska, in 2015, according to the Alaska Department of Health. Since then, there have been only seven cases reported in the state, according to the state health department.
This is the first case of an Alaskapox infection resulting in hospitalization and death ever reported. State public health officials noted the patient was an elderly man who was immunocompromised, putting him at higher risk for severe illness.
“Alaskapox remains rare,” Dr. Joe McLaughlin, state epidemiologist and chief of the Alaska Division of Public Health Section of Epidemiology, told ABC News. “For the vast majority of people who may come in contact with this virus, the clinical course will likely be mild.”
The virus typically occurs in small animals, commonly identified in voles and shrews, according to the Alaska State Department of Health. There have been no reports of human-to-human spread, according to the state health agency.
“There’s no evidence so far [of] person-to-person transmission for the cases that have been identified,” Julia Rogers, Ph.D., epidemic intelligence service officer at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention embedded with the Alaska Department of Health, told ABC News.
“Given the rarity of Alaskapox and its generally mild course in healthy individuals, the risk to the general public remains low,” said John Brownstein, Ph.D., chief innovation officer at Boston Children’s Hospital and an ABC News medical contributor.
It remains unclear how the deceased resident was infected with the virus. They lived alone in a forested area and reported caring for a stray cat, which later tested negative for the virus, according to the state’s bulletin, issued Friday.
“It could be that the cat was catching voles or shrews and eating them and then have viable virus in its claws, and that was the route of [infection], through a scratch,” McLaughlin said.
Over a span of six weeks, the patient had visited his doctor and local emergency room for a lesion and was prescribed antibiotic drugs, according to the bulletin. Eventually, as his situation deteriorated, he was hospitalized, where doctors sent in tests to the CDC, according to state health officials, which eventually identified the viral infection as Alaskapox. He succumbed to the virus a few weeks later, state health officials said.
“The most recent [fatal] case was in an elderly man that was immunocompromised, so his immune system was already not going to be able to handle infection,” Rogers said.
Public health officials in Alaska are recommending doctors become familiar with the signs and symptoms of the virus and consider testing for patients they may suspect contracted the illness.
What to look for
If patients develop lesions, they should avoid touching them and keep them dry and covered, while practicing good hand hygiene and avoid sharing cloth and linen with others, according to the state health department.
Those in regular contact with wildlife may need to take extra precautions, officials said.
“There’s lots of things that you can pick up from wildlife animals, and just try to take the best precautions you can and be safe and hygienic with contact with them,” Rogers said.
Alaska public health officials hope awareness of the relatively new virus will allow for potential future cases to be identified easier.
“What we’re expecting is that over time, as more clinicians become not only aware that Alaskapox virus is out there, but also aware of what to look for and how to actually test for it, that we are going to see more Alaskapox diagnoses in the months and years ahead,” McLaughlin said.
“The recent unfortunate death of an immunocompromised individual underscores the potential severity of Alaskapox in vulnerable populations, highlighting the critical need for heightened awareness and diagnostic readiness among health care providers,” Brownstein said.
“This case emphasizes the importance of monitoring wildlife diseases and their potential to impact human health, especially as human activities increasingly encroach on natural habitats,” Brownstein added.
President Joe Biden checks a cell phone while walking to Marine One from the Oval Office at the White House, in Washington, D.C., Feb. 8, 2024. (Tom Brenner for The Washington Post via Getty Images)
(WASHINGTON) — President Joe Biden’s reelection campaign released it first-ever TikTok on Sunday, during the Super Bowl, announcing it had joined the enormously popular app with a video featuring Biden — despite widespread data-security concerns in Washington over TikTok’s Beijing-based parent company.
In a 30-second video captioned “lol hey guys,” Biden was given a series of “this-or-that” prompts related to the Super Bowl, including “Chiefs or 49ers” and “Jason or Travis Kelce” (“Mama Kelce,” he said) before the final prompt: “Trump or Biden?”
“Are you kidding? Biden,” the president replied with a smile.
The video had garnered nearly five million views by Monday at noon, which the campaign touted in explaining the decision to launch an account.
“The President’s Tik Tok debut … is proof positive of both our commitment and success in finding new, innovative ways to reach voters in an evolving, fragmented and increasingly personalized media environment,” Biden’s deputy campaign manager, Rob Flaherty, said in a statement to ABC News.
“I suppose you could say our ‘Roman Empire’ is meeting voters wherever they are,” Flaherty added, referencing a popular meme on TikTok referring to something someone thinks about very often.
However, Biden himself has previously expressed security concerns regarding whether ByteDance, TikTok’s parent company, could share user data with China’s authoritarian government.
Chinese officials have said they would never do that and TikTok has defended itself by citing Project Texas, an initiative that the company said keeps all U.S. user data on servers within the country — “outside the reach or influence of any foreign government.”
Nonetheless, the president signed a law in 2022 banning TikTok from federal government devices — with officials later citing “ongoing commitment to securing our digital infrastructure and protecting the American people’s security and privacy” — and his administration last year called for TikTok to sever ties with its Chinese parent company or risk getting banned in the U.S.
A TikTok spokesperson said at the time, in part, “The best way to address concerns about national security is with the transparent, U.S.-based protection of U.S. user data and systems, with robust third-party monitoring, vetting and verification, which we are already implementing.”
The White House has also announced support for bipartisan legislation that could be used to ban the app and Biden said in February 2023, “I know I don’t have it on my phone.”
But nine months out from a presidential election, which the campaign is contending will be the most consequential in American history, Biden can now be found on TikTok: @bidenhq.
White House spokesman John Kirby faced questions on Monday about where the administration stands on TikTok, in light of the campaign’s move, but said “I can only tell you that it’s not allowed on government devices. That policy remains the case, and I just can’t speak for the campaign or their decisions.”
He referred questions to Biden’s campaign team.
The campaign is taking advanced security precautions around devices using the app and incorporating a “sophisticated” security protocol, advisers said, though they declined to specify the precautions.
The new account will be managed by campaign staff, and there’s no decision at this time on whether Biden or Vice President Kamala Harris may also create personal pages in the future.
Until now, Biden had been tapping influencers and leaning on the Democratic National Committee’s TikTok page to spread his message on the app, as well as accounts like GenZ for Biden.
The choice to release the campaign’s first video during Sunday’s game came after Biden received some scrutiny for not participating in a pre-Super Bowl interview with CBS, but the campaign said it is intentionally working to target voters who don’t tune in to traditional media outlets.
Four months ago, Biden also joined Truth Social, the platform launched by former President Donald Trump.
The campaign’s profile pictures on both TikTok and Truth Social show Biden’s “Dark Brandon” meme, featuring the president in black and white, smiling, with red lasers shooting out of his eyes.
