(WASHINGTON) — In a lengthy interview this week, Donald Trump was asked to address his past support for criminal justice reform and COVID-19 vaccine development and restrictions, two major areas where he has been criticized by other conservatives in the 2024 presidential race.
While defending his record to Fox News’ Bret Baier, Trump also said he’s considering skipping the first Republican primary debates because he’s the early front-runner with voters, polls show.
Elsewhere in the interview, Baier pressed Trump about the events of Jan. 6 and whether Trump would pardon all of the rioters.
And when asked about his proposal to implement the death penalty for drug dealers, Trump wavered on how it would apply in specific cases, including for a woman whom he freed from prison while in the White House.
Trump’s Fox News sit-down made headlines for his comments about his handling of classified documents while out of office. Below are highlights from what he said about his political platform and the 2024 race.
Trump: ‘Not sure the country is ready’ for death penalty proposal
A viral moment during Trump’s Tuesday interview came after Baier asked why he supports the death penalty for drug dealers, a hard-line position among politicians.
“That’s the only way you’re going to stop it,” he said, though he later expressed some hesitation about whether that view would be embraced.
“If you want to get rid of it — now, I don’t know that this country is ready for it. I just don’t know,” he said. “You know, every time I say it, I sort of like — it’s — it’s not easy to say the death penalty.”
Baier then cited Trump’s support for the First Step Act, which was passed by lawmakers from both parties and which Trump signed into law in December 2018.
The act reduced mandatory sentencings in a variety of cases and increased job trainings for prisoners to curb recidivism, among other changes.
The law has been criticized by some other Republicans and Trump’s focus on criminal justice reform while in the White House is in contrast to GOP arguments now that the country should adopt tougher-on-crime policies.
Trump said, though, that he is “focused on nonviolent crime” and he pointed to the case of Alice Johnson, whom he granted clemency and helped release early from a nonviolent drug sentence.
“But she’d be killed under your plan,” Baier said. Trump appeared briefly caught off guard by that idea, saying “huh?” — but then said, “It would depend on the severity. It would depend on the severity. … It would start as of now. So you wouldn’t go to the past.”
He then argued that the death penalty for drug dealing, if enacted, would be a deterrent for people like Johnson: “She wouldn’t have done it.”
Trump defends his handling of COVID-19
Trump was asked if he had “regrets” over how he handled COVID-19, with Baier pointing to the economic cost associated as well as criticism from some other Republicans because Trump initially supported sweeping, if temporary, lockdown measures to curb infections and death in the early months of the pandemic.
Baier said “some of your opponents are now running these loops” of clips of then-President Trump defending the restrictions as “the right thing.”
In response, Trump said he also gave power to states’ governors to make their own decisions and he singled out Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, his chief 2024 primary rival, whom he argued had “better PR” than other governors but did not handle the pandemic any better.
DeSantis has vocally campaigned against many COVID-19 restrictions, saying they’re excessive.
“I told all governors, ‘You do what you want,'” Trump said.
COVID-19 vaccines are another area where Trump has been at odds with Republicans, with some candidates previously saying they hadn’t received shots and past polling — including a 2020 survey — showing a notable amount of vaccine hesitancy among Republican voters.
“In your mind, did the COVID vaccine work?” Baier asked Trump in the interview.
“It’s such an interesting question,” he said, before going on to tout his support for the development of treatments for COVID-19 beyond vaccines. He also said his approach to the virus saved numerous lives.
But he said he never talks about his leadership in making COVID-19 vaccinations widely available because “as a Republican, it’s not a great thing to talk about.”
“I really don’t want to talk about it,” he said, later adding, “People love the vaccines, and people hate the vaccines … I understand both sides of it, by the way. I understand both sides very well.”
Trump then went on to criticize retired Dr. Anthony Fauci, who served as one of his top COVID-19 advisers (and later served under President Joe Biden). Trump also said he didn’t support broad vaccine mandates, though he has encouraged people to get immunized.
Trump may not do primary debates, would get on stage with Biden
Trump reiterated that he was erring against participating in the initial Republican primary debates, which begin in August on Fox News.
He indicated it was because he remains so far ahead of the rest of the field.
“I like to debate. I probably am here because of debates. I don’t mind it at all,” he said. “But when you’re 40 points up …. Why would I let these people take shots at me?”
However, he said he’d definitely face off with Biden.
“He and I have to definitely debate. That’s what I love,” Trump said.
Jan. 6 pardons if reelected?
On the topic of Jan. 6, which is being investigated by the Department of Justice, Trump was pressed on whether he’s worried about what he did and didn’t do that day and whether he’d pardon the rioters — including those charged with assaulting officers.
“We’d look at individual cases, but many of those people are very innocent people. They did nothing wrong,” he said.
More than 1,000 people have been arrested in connection with Jan. 6, according to the federal government.
(WASHINGTON) — GOP presidential candidate Ron DeSantis is set to start rolling out policy proposals, pivoting from touting his record as Florida’s governor to a more forward-looking vision taking aim at President Joe Biden.
DeSantis’ campaign told ABC News that it will introduce its new policies during targeted events, interviews and more throughout the summer and that the campaign will begin in full force next week. The effort, which has not been previously reported, will include plans that will be centered around improving the economy, boosting border security, tackling crime and eliminating the so-called deep state.
“Ron DeSantis is the fighter Americans are looking for with the solutions needed to tackle the most pressing issues, like fixing the economy, securing the border, and making our communities safer. The governor is looking forward to spending the summer relentlessly prosecuting the case against Joe Biden — the worst president in American history — and offering specifics on how he will right the ship to usher in our Great American Comeback,” DeSantis campaign spokesman Andrew Romeo said in an emailed statement.
The policies are intended to pose a contrast to Biden, who Republicans have framed as responsible for a sluggish economy and rising crime at the border and elsewhere. The GOP has also accused the White House of weaponizing the federal government to target political opponents and protect friends, mainly after the federal indictment of former President Donald Trump, while the Biden administration maintains all federal probes are independently conducted.
Attorney General Merrick Garland has refuted allegations of politicization at the Justice Department, insisting that the indictment against Trump was solely the result of an investigation by special counsel Jack Smith. And after Hunter Biden, the president’s son, pleaded guilty to misdemeanor charges over failure to pay some of his taxes, Garland insisted the Trump-appointed U.S. attorney who reached the plea deal with him had “full authority to decide the matter as he decided was appropriate” — in contrast to Republicans who dubbed the agreement a “sweetheart deal.”
David Weiss, the U.S. prosecutor in the Hunter Biden case, also said in a June 7 letter to House Judiciary Chair Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, that “I have been granted ultimate authority over this matter, including responsibility for deciding where, when, and whether to file charges and for making decisions necessary to preserve the integrity of the prosecution.”
Biden has leaned into his record in his reelection bid, and he has made providing economic relief to Americans a focus of early campaign ads, citing labor union endorsements as evidence of his commitment to championing working people. The White House also celebrated a Department of Homeland Security finding earlier this month that unlawful entries along the southern border have decreased 70% from their record highs in May.
DeSantis already ventured on a book tour before his presidential campaign launch and has been knocking Biden on many of the topics he’s set to release policies on, though the new effort appears set to add more specificity to what he’d do from the White House beyond the “Florida blueprint” he’s touted on the campaign trail.
DeSantis has so far leaned heavily on his handling of the coronavirus pandemic, touting his minimal shutdowns, as well as his efforts to wade into what he has termed the “war on woke,” including his push to curtail lessons on sexual orientation and gender identity in public schools that has put him at odds with Disney, ABC News’ parent company.
The Democratic National Committee shot back at DeSantis, noting that the policies he’s teasing don’t hit on third-rail culture war issues where he took hardline positions as governor.
“We can’t help but notice that Ron DeSantis seemed to have left out his support for banning abortion, cutting Social Security and Medicare, or keeping health care expensive in his home state. Good luck hiding from that,” said DNC spokesperson Ammar Moussa.
DeSantis’ campaign has also been been waging a bitter back-and-forth with Trump, the current GOP primary frontrunner. The two men and their campaigns have torn into each other over their pasts, taking shots at each other over everything from COVID-19 policies to abortion to criminal justice reform.
Trump has accused DeSantis of showing insufficient loyalty after his endorsement helped him win his 2018 governor’s race and exaggerating the success of his tenure, while DeSantis has accused the former president of not being conservative enough during his time in the Oval Office and not being a serious executive.
“I don’t think that’s what voters want and honestly, I think his conduct, which has been doing for years now, I think that’s one of the reasons he’s not in the White House now,” DeSantis said in an interview with a New Hampshire radio station earlier this month.
National and statewide polling shows Trump with a healthy lead over DeSantis, though a recent CNN poll showed Trump’s primary support dropping six percentage points from May while DeSantis’ support held steady — though it’s unclear how sustained the trend will be in upcoming surveys.
File image of the Titan submersible prior to commence diving. (Ocean Gate)
(NEW YORK) — The search is intensifying for a submersible carrying five people that vanished while on a tour of the Titanic wreckage off the coast of Newfoundland, Canada.
The 21-foot deep-sea vessel, operated by OceanGate Expeditions, lost contact about an hour and 45 minutes after submerging on Sunday morning with a 96-hour oxygen supply. That amount of breathable air is forecast to run out on Thursday morning, according to the United States Coast Guard, which is coordinating the search and rescue efforts.
Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern:
Jun 22, 3:11 PM EDT
Debris consistent with ‘catastrophic loss of the pressure chamber’
Coast Guard officials said a remote-operated vehicle found the tail cone of the Titan submersible about 1,600 feet from the bow of the Titanic Thursday morning.
Additional debris found was “consistent with the catastrophic loss of the pressure chamber,” Rear Adm. John Mauger, the First Coast Guard District commander, said during a press briefing.
The passengers’ families were immediately notified.
Five major pieces of debris were found, including the nose cone, officials said.
The debris indicates there was a “catastrophic implosion” of the vessel, Mauger said.
It’s too early to tell when the implosion occurred, officials said.
“This is an incredibly unforgiving environment down there on the seafloor,” Mauger said.
Jun 22, 2:52 PM EDT
All lives believed to be lost: OceanGate
All five aboard the missing submersible are believed to be lost amid a search for the vessel, OceanGate said.
“We now believe that our CEO Stockton Rush, Shahzada Dawood and his son Suleman Dawood, Hamish Harding, and Paul-Henri Nargeolet, have sadly been lost,” OceanGate said in a statement.
“These men were true explorers who shared a distinct spirit of adventure, and a deep passion for exploring and protecting the world’s oceans,” the statement continued. “Our hearts are with these five souls and every member of their families during this tragic time. We grieve the loss of life and joy they brought to everyone they knew.”
Jun 22, 1:39 PM EDT
Canadian assets on scene for assistance
A Royal Canadian Navy ship HMCS Glace Bay has been on scene since about 8 a.m. ET Thursday morning. The ship provides a medical team specializing in dive medicine and a six-person mobile hyperbaric recompression chamber, according to officials.
Canadian Coast Guard ships John Cabot, Ann Harvey and Terry Fox are on scene and ready to provide rescue equipment and personnel should assistance be required. A Royal Canadian Air Force CP-140 Aurora aircraft is also maintaining continuous on-scene support with additional aircrews and assets, according to officials.
-ABC News’ Luke Barr
Jun 22, 12:10 PM EDT
‘Debris field’ discovered within search area, US Coast Guard says
The U.S. Coast Guard announced via Twitter late Thursday morning that “a debris field was discovered within the search area by” a remotely operated vehicle (ROV) “near the Titanic” wreckage.
“Experts within the unified command are evaluating the information,” the U.S. Coast Guard tweeted.
The Coast Guard is set to hold a briefing on the findings from the Horizon Arctic’s ROV at 3 p.m. ET.
Jun 22, 10:58 AM EDT
Crew members could survive for ‘hours’ after airtank depleted, doctor says
Despite their onboard oxygen tank expected to be depleted sometime Thursday morning, one doctor says they may have more time if the passengers are still alive. He estimates the five people aboard the lost Titanic tourist sub could survive for 10 to 20 hours with air still circulating through the experimental capsule.
Dr. Richard Moon, a professor of anesthesiology at Duke University, said that despite conditions being dire, those aboard the OceanGate Expedition’s submersible could extend the oxygen available after its tank is depleted by staying calm and moving as little as possible.
“The actual amount of time that they have is unpredictable, but it’s probably less than 24 hours after the final oxygen in the tank is depleted,” Moon, director of the Duke Center for Hyperbaric Medicine and Environmental Physiology, told ABC News.
Jun 22, 10:50 AM EDT
French ROV enters water in search area
The U.S. Coast Guard announced via Twitter on Thursday morning that a remotely operated vehicle (ROV) deployed by the French vessel L’Atalante has entered the water in the search area.
The U.S. Coast Guard also gave an update on the conditions at sea, saying winds were at 14 mph with gusts up to 19 mph, swells were 4 to 5 feet and the air temperature was 50 degrees Fahrenheit.
Jun 22, 7:19 AM EDT
Canadian ROV begins search on sea floor
The U.S. Coast Guard announced via Twitter early Thursday that a remotely operated vehicle (ROV) deployed by the Canadian vessel Horizon Arctic has reached the sea floor, beginning its search for the missing submersible.
Meanwhile, the French vessel L’Atalante is preparing its ROV to enter the water in the search area, the U.S. Coast Guard said.
Jun 22, 6:29 AM EDT
Search becomes dire as time runs out
Time is running out as rescuers race to locate and save five people trapped in a submersible that vanished during a tour of the Titanic wreckage on Sunday morning.
The deep-sea vessel submerged at 8 a.m. ET on Sunday with a 96-hour oxygen supply, according to the U.S. Coast Guard. That amount of breathable air is forecast to run out on Thursday morning.
The search and rescue mission remains ongoing.
Jun 22, 12:21 AM EDT
Wife of missing OceanGate CEO is great-great-granddaughter of couple who died on Titanic: NYT
The New York Times traced the lineage of Wendy Rush, wife of missing OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush, and found that she’s the great-great-granddaughter of a couple who died on the Titanic, Isidor and Ida Straus.
The executive director of the Straus Historical Society told ABC News that The Times article, which cites archival records, is largely correct with regard to Wendy Weil Rush’s heritage.
Jun 21, 5:44 PM EDT
US Navy crane in Newfoundland but awaiting ship
A U.S. Navy portable crane system capable of bringing up items from as deep as 20,000 feet has arrived in St. John’s, Newfoundland, but is waiting to be welded onto a chartered ship to take it to the search area for the missing submersible, according to a U.S. Navy official.
The Navy has not yet contracted a ship for the salvage system, known as Fly Away Deep Ocean Salvage System or FADOSS, the official told reporters Wednesday. Once the ship is contracted, Navy teams will spend approximately 24 hours working around the clock to weld the system aboard the ship before it can leave port, the official said.
FADOSS is the salvage system the U.S. Navy uses for all of its deep-water recoveries. Last year, it was able to bring up an F/A-18 aircraft that had fallen into the waters of the Mediterranean Sea.
-ABC News’ Luis Martinez
Jun 21, 2:56 PM EDT
Head of Horizon Maritime, which owns the Polar Prince boat, holding out hope
The co-founder and Board chair of Horizon Maritime, the company that owns the Polar Prince boat that took the Titan submersible out to sea, is speaking out.
“We have been supporting the Titanic expeditions for several years,” Sean Leet said, calling the Polar Prince “an iconic former Canadian Coast Guard icebreaker that has been upgraded with advanced technology.”
“All protocols were followed” for the submersible’s mission, he said at a news conference Wednesday, calling the missing sub an “unprecedented” situation.
Equipment heading to search site can reach the depths of the submersible and potentially take it to the surface, he said.
“We wish to thank everyone involved in this rescue mission, especially the U.S. and Canadian Coast Guards, the organizations that have made their marina assets available including the French government … [and] the many private companies that have dropped everything at a moment’s notice,” Leet said.
“Our thoughts and focus remain with the crew of the Titan and their families,” he said.
Leet said he is holding out hope that the five-person crew will be brought home safely.
“We’ll continue to hold out hope until the very end,” he said.
Jun 21, 1:34 PM EDT
Coast Guard searching in area where noise was detected
As crews scour the Atlantic for the missing submersible, the Coast Guard said it’s searching in the area where a noise was detected.
The unidentified noise was detected Tuesday night and Wednesday morning.
The data on the noise was sent to the U.S. Navy to be examined, he said.
“We have to remain optimistic and hopeful when we’re in a search and rescue mission,” Capt. Jamie Frederick, the First Coast Guard District response coordinator, said at a news conference Wednesday.
The five crew members submerged underwater Sunday morning with about 96 hours of oxygen available to them. That oxygen is forecast to run out Thursday morning.
When asked about the search becoming a recovery mission, Frederick said Wednesday, “We’re not there yet.”
Jun 21, 1:21 PM EDT
Coast Guard searching in area where noise was detected
As crews scour the Atlantic for the missing submersible, the Coast Guard said it’s searching in the area where a noise was detected.
The unidentified noise was detected Tuesday night and Wednesday morning.
“We have to remain optimistic and hopeful when we’re in a search and rescue mission,” Capt. Jamie Frederick, the First Coast Guard District response coordinator, said at a news conference Wednesday.
The five crew members submerged underwater Sunday morning with about 96 hours of oxygen available to them. That oxygen is forecast to run out Thursday morning.
When asked about the search becoming a recovery mission, Frederick said Wednesday, “We’re not there yet.”
Jun 21, 12:56 PM EDT
Canada sends ship with advanced, deep sonar
One of the ships the Canadian Coast Guard sent to the rescue effort, the John Cabot, is equipped with advanced, deep sonar, said Joyce Murray, minister of Fisheries, Oceans and the Canadian Coast Guard.
“We’ve sent so many assets to the search team to help,” Murray said. “Authorities still have hope in the mission.”
-ABC News’ Will Gretsky
Jun 21, 12:47 PM EDT
Former passenger says his sub lost contact with host ship on all 4 trips
Mike Reiss, who has done four, 10-hour dives with OceanGate, including one to the Titanic, told ABC News his sub lost contact with the host ship on every dive.
“Every time they lost communication — that seems to be just something baked into the system,” he said.
With no GPS, Reiss said it took his crew three hours to find the Titanic despite landing just 500 yards from the ship.
Reiss said he signed “a waiver that mentions death three times on the first page.”
“It is always in the back of your head that this is dangerous, and any small problem will turn into a major catastrophe,” he said.
He said the submersible is built simply and is “just propelled by two fans on the outside.”
“Even I was able to steer and navigate the sub for a while,” he noted.
Reiss said his greatest fear was that the sub wouldn’t be able to release the weights that force it to submerge once it was time to rise to the surface.
-ABC News’ Gio Benitez and Sam Sweeney
Jun 21, 9:00 AM EDT
Would-be crew member of missing sub speaks out
Digital marketing tycoon Chris Brown originally planned to go on Sunday’s submersible tour of the Titanic wreckage but withdrew due to safety concerns. His friend, Hamish Harding, is among those aboard the missing vessel.
Brown, who described himself as a “modern day adventurer,” admitted that he knew “very little” about the tour operator, OceanGate Expeditions, prior to signing up. But he said the deep-sea trip initially sounded “like a great idea.”
“The Titanic’s obviously an iconic wreck,” Brown told ABC News’ Michael Strahan during an interview Wednesday on Good Morning America.
“OceanGate had put forward this program to go down and do a 3D scan of the wreck,” he added. “So it’s a chance for an expedition, exploration and adding a bit of science into the situation.”
Brown said safety concerns ultimately led him to pull out of the trip, but he declined to go into detail.
“I’m not really sure that this is the time to be going into that sort of thing,” he added. “I think that the focus right now has to be on trying to rescue these people. It’s not fair on the families and friends to be making speculation about what might’ve happened or how it happened at this point.”
Brown said he feels “no” apprehension about joining similar projects in the future but noted that it’s important to “think about all the risks.”
“If you don’t have an appetite for those risks, then you might not go ahead,” he said. “You may try and mitigate those by bringing in some expertise from outside. You might have other risks or dangers that could be mitigated by changing the time of when you go out there.”
Jun 21, 7:33 AM EDT
New details emerge about how the missing sub navigated the ocean
The submersible that was reported missing while on a tour of the underwater wreckage of the Titanic is an unorthodox vessel with a relatively unproven history, according to company press materials and experts familiar with underwater vehicles.
News of the vessel’s disappearance prompted a flurry of interest in the company OceanGate Expeditions and its deep-sea submersible called the Titan.
The company’s founder and CEO, Stockton Rush, who is one of the five people aboard the missing vessel, manned the Titan’s first “validation dive” to 4,000 meters in 2018, according to the company. The company then began offering tourists the opportunity to dive to the depths of the Titanic in the following years, selling tickets for the 2023 journey for $250,000.
Jun 21, 6:57 AM EDT
‘Banging’ picked up by sonar in search area, source says
A source familiar confirmed to ABC News that there were reports of “banging” that were picked up by sonar in the search area on Tuesday morning, but nothing has yet been found.
The U.S. Coast Guard had said early Wednesday that an aircraft with sonar capability “detected underwater noises in the search area,” but remotely operated vehicles were unable to find the origin of the sound.
Jun 21, 6:34 AM EDT
Titanic mapping company ‘fully mobilized’ to help
Magellan, an international exploration company that digitally mapped the Titanic wreckage last year, said Wednesday that it is “ready to support” the search for the missing submersible and is “fully mobilized to help.”
The U.K.-based company told ABC News that it was contacted by the submersible’s operator, OceanGate Expeditions, early Monday and “immediately offered our knowledge of the specific site and also our expertise operating at depth considerably in advance of what is required for this incident.”
“We have been working full-time with U.K. and U.S. agencies to secure the necessary air support to move our specialist equipment and support crew,” Magellan said in a statement.
When asked for comment about media reports that U.S. authorities have failed to give Magellan the necessary permits to participate in the search, the company told ABC News it “does not not wish to comment on any specific media report.”
Jun 21, 12:34 AM EDT
USCG: Canadian aircraft detected ‘underwater noises’ but search ‘yielded negative results’
“Canadian P-3 aircraft detected underwater noises in the search area,” the U.S. Coast Guard tweeted early Wednesday morning. “As a result, ROV operations were relocated in an attempt to explore the origin of the noises. Those ROV searches have yielded negative results but continue.”
The data from the P-3 has been shared with U.S. Navy experts for further analysis, the Coast Guard added.
Jun 21, 12:34 AM EDT
Lawsuit alleged flaws with Titanic sub now missing
A former employee of OceanGate alleged in a 2018 counterclaim lawsuit that he was fired for raising concerns about quality control and testing of potential flaws in the same experimental submersible that went missing this week.
David Lochridge, an engineer and submarine pilot, claimed in his counterclaim against OceanGate that he was hired in 2015 by the Everett, Washington, company to ensure the safety of all crew and clients during the submersible and surface operations of the vessel called Titan. But when he expressed concerns about the design and testing of the minisub’s hull, he said he was terminated by the company.
OceanGate had initially sued Lochridge alleging, among other things, breach of contract, fraud and misappropriation of trade secrets — all claims he denied.
In its lawsuit, OceanGate accused Lochridge of breaching his contract by discussing the company’s confidential information with the Occupational Health and Safety Administration “when he filed a false report claiming that he was discharged in retaliation for being a whistleblower.”
Jun 20, 10:15 PM EDT
Latest Coast Guard bulletin spells out timeline for missing sub search
The U.S. Coast Guard sent out its latest release Tuesday night on the search for the missing submersible at the Titanic crash site.
According to the latest release:
Sunday, June 18, 8 a.m. ET: Submersible launches, supposed to resurface at 3 p.m., but an hour and 45 minutes into the dive, it loses contact.
Sunday, June 18, 5:40 p.m. ET: Coast Guard receives report of overdue submersible.
Monday, June 19: Coast Guard Air Station Elizabeth City, North Carolina, and C-130 Hercules aircraft, as well as a Canadian P8 aircraft equipped with underwater sonar capability, search for the missing submersible, according to a previous release.
Tuesday, June 20, 7 a.m. ET: Bahamian research vessel Deep Energy arrives.
Tuesday, June 20, 4 p.m. ET: C-130 crew from Air National Guard 106th arrives.
Jun 20, 8:33 PM EDT
Experts expressed Titan safety concerns in 2018 letter
Members of a committee specializing in submersibles expressed “unanimous concern regarding the development” of Titan in a 2018 letter addressed to OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush, who is one of the passengers aboard the missing vessel.
The letter was obtained by The New York Times and was later authenticated by ABC News.
The letter warned of possible “catastrophic” problems with Titan’s development that could have “serious consequences for everyone in the industry.” The letter goes on to say that OceanGate’s safety claims were “misleading to the public” and insisted Titan be reviewed by a third-party organization.
The letter, which was addressed from the Marine Technology Society, was never approved to be sent to OceanGate though was quickly leaked to its CEO, according to committee chair William Kohnen.
“The letter did represent in 2018 the consensus by many people in the industry that they were not considering following the standard safety protocols and designs that the industry uses,” Kohnen told ABC News.
Though he wishes it was not leaked at the time, nor now to The New York Times, Kohnen said he stands by the letter and its warnings.
“The company had indicated that their state of innovation was beyond, beyond what was allowable within the regulatory standards we have today and that they would proceed without certification,” Kohnen said. “That worried a number of people in the industry.”
Kohnen acknowledged that OceanGate did “heed” some of the comments made in the 2018 letter.
-ABC News’ Amanda Maile and Victor Ordoñez
Jun 20, 6:02 PM EDT
NASA weighs in on missing submersible
NASA released a statement Tuesday on the Titan, saying it remains “hopeful the crew will be found unharmed.”
“NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center had a Space Act Agreement with OceanGate, and consulted on materials and manufacturing processes for the submersible. NASA did not conduct testing and manufacturing via its workforce or facilities,” the agency said.
-ABC News’ Gina Sunseri
Jun 20, 6:17 PM EDT
Search teams have covered 7,600 square miles
Search and rescue teams have now covered 7,600 square miles — an area bigger than the state of Connecticut — as they scour the ocean for the missing submersible, Coast Guard officials said.
A grid depicting the expanding search area is expected Tuesday night, according to a public information affairs lieutenant for the First District of the U.S. Coast Guard.
-ABC News’ Miles Cohen
Jun 20, 3:09 PM EDT
US Navy sending salvage experts, equipment to help with submersible
The U.S. Navy said it’s sending to the search site experts and equipment “designed to provide reliable deep ocean lifting capacity for the recovery of large, bulky, and heavy undersea objects.”
The equipment, which can lift up to 60,000 pounds, and the experts will arrive in Canada Tuesday night, the Navy said.
National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby said earlier Tuesday that the Navy was”on standby” to help with the search for the missing submersible, because the Navy has “some deep-water capabilities that the Coast Guard wouldn’t necessarily have.”
President Joe Biden is “watching events closely,” Kirby said, adding that Biden and the White House offer their thoughts “to the crew onboard, as well as to the — what is no doubt — worried family members back on shore.”
Jun 20, 1:24 PM EDT
3 Air Force C-17’s transporting equipment to Newfoundland
Three U.S. Air Force C-17 cargo aircraft will be transporting commercial equipment from Buffalo, New York, to Newfoundland, Canada, to help with the search efforts, according to a U.S. official.
-ABC News’ Luis Martinez
Jun 20, 1:16 PM EDT
Search area larger than Connecticut, about 41 hours of oxygen left
Efforts to locate the missing submersible are ongoing, and the “complex” search covers an area larger than the state of Connecticut, Coast Guard Capt. Jamie Frederick said at a news conference Tuesday.
Crews are scouring the ocean 900 miles east of Cape Cod and 400 miles south of St. John’s, Canada, he said.
The missing five-person crew on the submersible has about 41 hours of oxygen left, Frederick noted.
“We will do everything in our power to effect a rescue,” Frederick said.
“We have a group of our nation’s best experts,” he said, and once the sub is located, “those experts will be looking at what the next course of action is” to rescue the crew members.
“Our thoughts and prayers are with the crew and their families and their loved ones,” Frederick added.
Jun 20, 12:58 PM EDT
Former ABC News correspondent recounts moment his sub was trapped in Titanic’s propeller
In 2000, Dr. Michael Guillen, then an ABC News correspondent, was filming from the wreck of the Titanic when his vessel became trapped in the propeller.
“When we collided with the propeller, and I started seeing those big chunks of metal raining down on us … the first reaction I had was, ‘This can’t be happening,'” he recalled to ABC News on Tuesday.
“We got caught by this underwater turn and just drove us right into the blades,” Guillen said.
“This voice came into my head and said, you know, ‘This is how it’s going to end for you,'” he recalled. “I’ll never forget those words.”
“I’m very aware of what these poor souls on board the ship the Titan are experiencing,” he said. “I am just heartbroken about it.”
Jun 20, 11:35 AM EDT
French sending assistance
At the request of French President Emmanuel Macron, a French ship named Atalante is diverting to the area of the missing submissive and should reach the area Wednesday night.
The ship has an exploration robot that can dive up to 4,000 meters, according to a spokesman for France’s Ifremer Institute.
Jun 20, 9:04 AM EDT
‘It’s a race against time’
Per Wimmer, an explorer and global financier, told ABC News he was “shocked” and “horrified” to hear of the missing submersible.
“It felt very personal. … I’ve been wanting to go down to the Titanic for more than a decade,” Wimmer said.
He estimated that there’s been between 150 and 200 missions to the Titanic.
There “are very, very few submersibles in the whole world that can go down to the depth of Titanic, which sits at 3,800 meters, or about 12,000 feet,” Wimmer said. “It’s very deep — most submersibles can go down to about 1,000 meters.”
“It’s a race against time, because there’s only 96 hours of oxygen on board. And after that, if you haven’t reached the surface, you starve of oxygen,” he said.
“Our best hope at the moment is that the safety mechanism will be activated,” he said. “It is supposed to be able to float to the surface, little by little, and then they can open the hatch and hopefully get out again. That is the only hope we have, because you do not have enough time to get another submersible that can go that deep.”
Jun 20, 8:19 AM EDT
What to know about the 5 people aboard the missing sub
Renowned explorers and a father-son duo were among the five people aboard a submersible that disappeared in the Atlantic Ocean on Sunday while touring the Titanic wreckage, ABC News has learned.
ABC News has confirmed and identified four of those on aboard as Hamish Harding, a British businessman, pilot and space tourist; Paul-Henri Nargeolet, a French diver and Titanic expert; Shahzada Dawood, a Pakistani businessman, and his son Suleman Dawood.
Jun 20, 7:48 AM EDT
US Coast Guard commander talks search for missing sub
The United States Coast Guard commander leading the search for a missing submersible off the coast of Newfoundland, Canada, said Tuesday morning that crews in multiple aircraft have flown over an area of the Atlantic Ocean “roughly about the size of Connecticut” while “looking for any signs of surfacing.”
“As we continue on with the search, we’re expanding our capabilities to be able to search under the water as well,” Rear Adm. John Mauger, commander of the First Coast Guard District, told ABC News’ Robin Roberts during an interview on Good Morning America.
A commercial vessel with remotely operated vehicles is now on scene that will allow rescuers to search underwater, according to Mauger.
“This is a complex case,” he added. “The Coast Guard doesn’t have all the resources to be able to affect this kind of rescue, although this is an area that’s within our search zone.”
In many cases, Mauger said, the Coast Guard’s role is to coordinate all of the assets and technical expertise that can be used in a search, in addition to operating aircraft or ships when necessary.
“In this particular case, we’ve established a unified command with the United States Navy, with the Canadian Armed Forces, with the Canadian Coast Guard and with the private operator OceanGate Expeditions to make sure that we understand what’s needed and deploy all available equipment to the scene that could be used to locate this submersible, whether it’s on the surface or down beneath the surface,” he said.
Crews have been working “around the clock” to locate the deep-sea vessel since it lost contact with its operator on Sunday morning, according to Mauger.
In the last 24 hours, a Canadian aircraft has been dropping sonar buoys into the water that can pick up sound the submersible may be emitting. Vessels that have the capability to listen with their own sonar equipment are also on scene, according to Mauger.
“If they are making sound, that’s certainly one of the ways that we’re going to use to locate them,” he said.
Jun 20, 6:18 AM EDT
Missing sub is believed to be deeper than NATO rescue capability
A tourist submersible that disappeared in the Atlantic Ocean on Sunday is believed to be at depths that greatly exceed the capabilities of the NATO Submarine Rescue System (NSRS), according to a spokesperson for the United Kingdom’s Ministry of Defense.
“As the host nation for NATO’s multinational submarine rescue capability, we continue to monitor the incident in the North Atlantic and will guide and assist in any response activity as appropriate,” the spokesperson told ABC News in a statement on Tuesday.
The U.K. has not been approached to offer assistance in the ongoing search for the deep-sea vessel off the coast of Newfoundland, Canada, according to the spokesperson.
Initial reports indicate that the depths of water involved greatly exceed that which the NSRS team can safely operate — 610 meters for the NSRS submersible and 1,000 meters for the NSRS remotely operated vehicle, according to the spokesperson.
The NSRS is based at the home of the U.K. Royal Navy Submarine Service in HM Naval Base Clyde, the U.K. Royal Navy’s headquarters in Scotland. Introduced in 2006, the tri-national capability team can respond to a stricken submarine in rescuable water which is capable of mating with the NSRS submarine rescue vehicle, according to the spokesperson.
Jun 20, 5:03 AM EDT
Former Navy sub captain on rescue options
Rescuers racing against the clock to save the five people trapped in a tourist submersible nearly two miles deep in the Atlantic Ocean are facing major obstacles that could make saving the people onboard extremely difficult, according to a former U.S. Navy submarine commander.
Retired Capt. David Marquet told ABC News on Monday that this type of rescue operation is complicated because there aren’t nearby U.S. or Canadian underwater vessels that can go as deep as the Titanic wreckage, which sits 13,400 feet below the ocean’s surface. Also, the ocean is pitch black at that depth.
“The odds are against them,” Marquet said. “There’s a ship in Boston that has this ability to either lower cable and connect to it or have a claw. It’s still a thousand miles away.”
Even if a vessel was able to locate the submersible and lower a cable, it’s extremely difficult to safely navigate the waters and attach it, according to Marquet.
“You’ve got to get it exactly right,” he told ABC News. “It’s sort of like … getting one of those toys out of those arcade machines. In general, you miss.”
Rescuers do have one advantage, Marquet said, as weather conditions off the coast of Newfoundland are not rough and will not disturb any boat or vessel there.
Marquet added that if the five people aboard are still alive, they would be asked to sleep to conserve their oxygen.
“We would put the vast majority of the crew to sleep because that’s when you’re using the least amount of oxygen and you’re expelling the least amount of carbon dioxide,” he said.
Jun 20, 4:27 AM EDT
What to know about the missing sub
A submersible on a tour of the Titanic wreckage was reported overdue by its operator OceanGate Expeditions on Sunday, prompting the United States Coast Guard to launch a search and rescue effort for the 22-foot, 23,000-pound vessel.
Designed with life support to sustain five crew members for 96 hours, the submersible would need to be rescued in three days to save its five passengers, according to the Coast Guard.
Stockton Rush founded Washington-based OceanGate in 2009 to make deep-sea exploration more accessible to scientists and tourists. Fourteen years, more than 200 dives and three submersible designs later, the company now finds itself in a desperate search to recover the submersible carrying five people aboard that’s gone missing off the coast of Newfoundland, Canada.
OceanGate confirmed Monday it had lost contact with a submersible, saying in a statement: “We are exploring and mobilizing all options to bring the crew back safely. Our entire focus is on the crewmembers in the submersible and their families. We are working toward the safe return of the crewmembers.”
(ATLANTA) — Infants eligible for a measles vaccine should receive one prior to international travel, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said amid rising cases of the highly contagious disease during the summer travel season.
The guidance came as part of a Health Alert issued by the CDC this week, warning Americans about rising measles cases linked to international travel. The agency says more than twice as many Americans are expected to travel abroad this summer compared to last.
The agency reinforced recommendations that all eligible Americans should be vaccinated against measles prior to international travel. This includes a recommendation that infants in the U.S. going abroad who are 6-11 months old should receive an extra measles, mumps and rubella vaccine (MMR), regardless of the international destination.
The CDC says there has been an increase in measles cases in the U.S. As of June 8, 16 cases have been identified across 11 jurisdictions, compared to just 3 over the same time in 2022. Nearly 90% of cases this year have been linked to international travel, according to the CDC.
The MMR vaccine is routinely given to children starting at 12-15 months and again at 4-6 years old, but can safely be given as early as 6 months in the right circumstances. The CDC is reinforcing that all infants traveling abroad this summer who are 6-11 months old should receive their first dose before travelling.
A 2019 study published in JAMA Pediatrics found that less than half of all MMR-eligible infants received the recommended dose before international travel.
This recommendation is not new, but many people may not have been aware of it unless traveling to certain high-risk locations or locations with active outbreaks. Experts say this health alert speaks to the emergence of vaccine-preventable diseases and declining vaccine rates post-pandemic
“It’s absolutely highlighting the global concern that we have for the re-emergence of vaccine preventable diseases,” Dr. John Brownstein, Ph.D, the chief innovation officer at Boston Children’s Hospital and an epidemiologist told ABC News.
Brownstein also says that measles isn’t just a growing problem when traveling abroad but here in the U.S. too.
“So what’s happened is it’s become all too common to see cases, he said. “You know, these are not like highly clustered in a couple of locations. We’re seeing the rise in localized case cases, diffuse across the country and that’s directly related to the fact that we’re seeing under vaccination across the country.”
The CDC says people can come in contact with measles anywhere in the U.S.
What to know about this extra dose
According to the CDC, if any child receives the MMR vaccine before their first birthday, they will need two more vaccines to complete the series. The second dose is given between 12 and 15 months of age, and the third dose is given at least 28 days following the second dose.
Children traveling who have already turned a year old should receive two doses prior to international travel if able. Because the MMR vaccine is a live virus vaccine, it cannot be given to children who are immunocompromised.
What should parents know about measles?
Measles is a highly contagious virus — one person infected can spread it to 9 out of 10 unvaccinated close contacts, according to the CDC. Children are one of the most at-risk groups for severe illness, especially those under the age of 5 and who are unvaccinated.
Symptoms of measles include high fever, runny nose, diffuse rash, and red, watery eyes. Severe cases can lead to inflammation around the brain that may cause confusion, seizures or death. The CDC estimates that 1-3 out of every 1,000 people who get measles will die from the disease, even with adequate care.
Dr. Dean A Blumberg, M.D., a professor and division chief of Pediatric Infectious Diseases at UC Davis Children’s Hospital, tells ABC News that measles shouldn’t be minimized.
“Although most patients recover, it’s important to remember that prior to widespread use of measles vaccine in the US, measles resulted in 3-4 million cases, 400-500 deaths, 48,000 hospitalizations, and 4,000 cases of encephalitis or inflammation of the brain every year,” he said.
Experts recommend talking to your child’s pediatrician about upcoming travel to make sure they get all recommended vaccines.
Dr. Jade A Cobern, M.D., M.P.H., board-eligible pediatrician and general preventive medicine resident at Johns Hopkins, is a member of the ABC News Medical Unit.
(ATLANTA) — Monthly e-cigarette sales skyrocketed during the first two years of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a new study published Thursday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Between January 2020 and December 2022, monthly unit sales increased by 46.6%, from 15.5 million units to 22.7 million units, the study found.
Researchers found the surge was mostly driven by disposable e-cigarettes in flavors, including fruit and candy, which are popular among youth and young adult users.
Over the period, the share of total sales made up by tobacco-flavored products fell from 28.4% to 20.1%, and the share of mint-flavored products saw a similar decline from making up 10.1% of all sales to 5.9%. Meanwhile, other flavors went from 29.2% of all sales to 41.3%.
Additionally, while the share of pre-filled e-cigarette cartridges decreased from 75.2% to 48% of total sales, the share of disposable e-cigarette units increased from 24.7% to 51.8% of total sales.
The study found this may be due to an announcement the U.S. Food and Drug Administration made in January 2020 that prioritized enforcement against prefilled cartridges in flavors other than tobacco and menthol.
While total sales increased during this period, there was a 12.3% decrease between May 2022 and December 2022, which the CDC said may have been driven by multiple factors, including FDA regulatory actions, local and state e-cigarette restrictions and supply chain disruptions linked to COVID-19.
The study also looked at the top-selling brands. At the start of the study period in January 2020, JUUL was the top monthly seller, followed by Vuse, NJOY, My Blu and Puff, respectively.
By the end of the study period in December 2022, Vuse was the top-selling brand, followed by JUUL, Elf Bar, NJOY and Breeze Smoke, respectively.
“The dramatic spikes in youth e-cigarette use back in 2017 and 2018, primarily driven by JUUL, showed us how quickly e-cigarette sales and use patterns can change,” Dr. Deirdre Lawrence Kittner, director of the CDC’s Office on Smoking and Health, said in a press release. “Retail sales data are key to providing real-time information on the rapidly changing e-cigarette landscape, which is essential to reducing youth tobacco use.”
The CDC noted in its report that e-cigarette use is more common among young people than adults overall.
In 2021, 4.5% of all adults aged 18 and older used e-cigarettes at least once in the last 30 days compared to 11% of adults between ages 18 and 24 and 14.1% of high school students.
Nicotine exposure from e-cigarettes can hinder brain development in adolescents and young adults, which can continue into the mid-20s, the CDC says, and can also increase risk of addiction to other drugs.
The CDC also says aerosol from e-cigarettes can contain heavy metal, potentially cancer-causing chemicals and other substances that can damage the lungs.
The CDC states “use of e-cigarettes is unsafe for kids, teens, and young adults.”
(NEW YORK) — Despite their onboard oxygen tank expected to be depleted sometime Thursday morning, one doctor says they may have more time if the passengers are still alive. He estimates the five people aboard the lost Titanic tourist sub could survive for 10 to 20 hours with air still circulating through the experimental capsule.
Dr. Richard Moon, a professor of anesthesiology at Duke University, said that despite conditions being dire, those aboard the OceanGate Expedition’s submersible could extend the oxygen available after its tank is depleted by staying calm and moving as little as possible.
“The actual amount of time that they have is unpredictable, but it’s probably less than 24 hours after the final oxygen in the tank is depleted,” Moon, director of the Duke Center for Hyperbaric Medicine and Environmental Physiology, told ABC News.
The Titan submersible had 96 hours of oxygen when it set off on its journey to the Titanic wreckage around 8 a.m. on Sunday, according to the U.S. Coast Guard. The sub pilot, OceanGate founder and CEO Stockton Rush, lost contact with its companion surface ship an hour and 45 minutes into the trip and hasn’t been heard from since, setting off a desperate search off the coast of Newfoundland.
Coast Guard officials said the minivan-sized vessel’s air tank is expected to be depleted sometime Thursday morning.
“When you have an enclosed vessel, such as the Titan, everybody is using oxygen, everybody is producing carbon dioxide, which is scrubbed from the environment by carbon dioxide absorbent materials,” Moon said. “So, there would be an electric fan that would be blowing the air through a carbon dioxide absorber and I don’t know what the lifespan of that would be. It would be at least as long as the oxygen will last, but it may be longer” assuming there were no mechanical failures compromising the fan.
He said that under normal circumstances, the average male uses about a third of a liter of oxygen per minute and the average female uses about a fifth to a quarter of a liter of oxygen per minute.
“Once the oxygen tank … is depleted, then they will be left with whatever oxygen is in the environment at the time. As I understand the dimensions of the submarine craft, the internal volume is around 37,000 or 40,000 liters, of which a fifth would be oxygen,” said Moon.
“So, multiply the daily minute-by-minute requirement of oxygen by five and you can calculate how long it would take until the oxygen level is depleted down to a level where they might lose consciousness or actually die,” he said.
He said things would become “very uncomfortable” for the people aboard the vessel once the available oxygen level falls to between 6% and 10%.
“You can maintain life at 10%,” said Moon, adding that survivability would also depend on whether the sub’s occupants are all physically fit and have no underlying health issues. “But things are becoming very uncomfortable, people get short of breath, and down around 6%, I think would probably be the lowest level that might be tolerated. And if you do that calculation, you come to a number somewhere between 10 and 20 hours once the oxygen (tank) is depleted.”
Moon, who is also a former director of the Divers Alert Network, a nonprofit dedicated to improving SCUBA diving safety, said there are steps that could be taken to extend the amount of oxygen.
“Staying calm and not moving would be about the only thing that can be done,” Moon said. “It’s possible to reduce the oxygen level further if there are any sedative drugs. So, taking Valium, for example, will reduce oxygen requirement a little bit. But in reality, I doubt there’s any medication like that on board. They would just have to sit and not move to the extent that they can. Anything to avoid muscular activity would be helpful.”
But he said once the oxygen level falls below 10%, those aboard the sub will feel the “alarming” effects of oxygen deprivation.
“But assuming the [carbon dioxide] scrubbers are still working, the amount of oxygen at 10% would cause shortness of breath. Everybody would be panting. They’d feel undoubtedly a headache. They may be vomiting,” Moon said. “It’s like being at altitude and they would feel very uncomfortable. And then at some point, they would lose consciousness and where exactly that would be would vary by individual somewhere between 6% and 10% I would estimate. And then if the oxygen goes much lower than that it may be incompatible with life.”
A report from the U.S. Department of Labor says that breathing 6-10% oxygen can result in becoming ill or unconscious, less than that level causes breathing to cease.
During a 2020 virtual field trip via Zoom with EarthEcho International, an environmental nonprofit organization, Stockton Rush said sub-pilots for his company are trained to stay calm in all situations.
“We try to think about anything that can go wrong. And we have procedures in place to properly handle those emergency situations, whether it’s a fire or there’s an air leak,” OceanGate sub-copilot and project manager Mikayla Monroe said during the virtual field trip. “We have ways to stop these problems or get back to the surface as soon as we can.”
Monroe added, “One of the very important things that we go through in sub-pilot training is how to handle emergency procedures. One of the main things that is consistent across emergencies regardless … is to remain calm, especially as a pilot because everyone is looking at you for what’s going on.”
During the virtual field trip, Rush added, “There hasn’t been a serious injury in a commercial sub, not a military one, in over 35 years and there have been millions of people who go in subs.”
(NEW YORK) — Rep. George Santos’ father and aunt guaranteed his $500,000 bond, according to a court document unsealed Thursday over the congressman’s objection.
Santos, a first-term Republican congressman who represents parts of Queens and Nassau County in New York, posted the bond after pleading not guilty last month to a 13-count indictment accusing him of fraud, money laundering and theft of public funds.
His bond was guaranteed by Gercino Santos and Elma Santos Preven, who Santos told ABC News’ Rachel Scott are his father and his aunt. ABC News has reached out to both for comment.
In May, the House Ethics Committee sent a letter to Santos requesting the names of his suretors so it could determine “whether you may have solicited or received an improper gift in connection with the bond sureties.”
However his attorney previously expressed a preference for Santos to go to jail rather than release the names of the bail backers to the public, and argued harm could befall the suretors if their identities were revealed.
“Here in the instant case, the suretors are likely to suffer great distress, may lose their jobs, and god forbid suffer physical injury,” defense Joseph Murray said in a court filing.
“I’m also concerned for the safety of the people whose names will be revealed who are family members, and I worry about their safety,” Santos told ABC News a day before the names were released.
But federal Judge Joanna Seybert sided with a coalition of news organizations, including ABC News, who argued that the names should be made public.
This week, two House Democrats — Dan Goldman of Brooklyn and Greg Landsman of Cincinnati — asked the House Ethics Committee to disclose whether Santos had complied with the committee’s request to reveal the suretors’ names.
The Ethics Committee has been investigating Santos since March.
The embattled congressman faces five counts of wire fraud in what prosecutors allege was a fraudulent political contribution solicitation scheme, as well as two counts of unlawful monetary transactions for allegedly transferring donations he received for his political campaign to accounts he controlled before spending them on personal purchases; one count of theft of public money; two more counts of wire fraud for allegedly fraudulently applying for and receiving unemployment benefits during the COVID-19 pandemic; and two counts of making false statements to the U.S. House of Representatives in financial disclosure reports.
Santos, who has been accused of misrepresenting elements of his employment record, his education, and his family history, has admitted that he lied about portions of his background while running for Congress.
File image of the Titan submersible prior to commence diving. (Ocean Gate)
(NEW YORK) — The search is intensifying for a submersible carrying five people that vanished while on a tour of the Titanic wreckage off the coast of Newfoundland, Canada.
The 21-foot deep-sea vessel, operated by OceanGate Expeditions, lost contact about an hour and 45 minutes after submerging on Sunday morning with a 96-hour oxygen supply. That amount of breathable air is forecast to run out on Thursday morning, according to the United States Coast Guard, which is coordinating the search and rescue efforts.
Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern:
Jun 22, 12:10 PM EDT
‘Debris field’ discovered within search area, US Coast Guard says
The U.S. Coast Guard announced via Twitter late Thursday morning that “a debris field was discovered within the search area by” a remotely operated vehicle (ROV) “near the Titanic” wreckage.
“Experts within the unified command are evaluating the information,” the U.S. Coast Guard tweeted.
The Coast Guard is set to hold a briefing on the findings from the Horizon Arctic’s ROV at 3 p.m. ET.
Jun 22, 10:58 AM EDT
Crew members could survive for ‘hours’ after airtank depleted, doctor says
Despite their onboard oxygen tank expected to be depleted sometime Thursday morning, one doctor says they may have more time if the passengers are still alive. He estimates the five people aboard the lost Titanic tourist sub could survive for 10 to 20 hours with air still circulating through the experimental capsule.
Dr. Richard Moon, a professor of anesthesiology at Duke University, said that despite conditions being dire, those aboard the OceanGate Expedition’s submersible could extend the oxygen available after its tank is depleted by staying calm and moving as little as possible.
“The actual amount of time that they have is unpredictable, but it’s probably less than 24 hours after the final oxygen in the tank is depleted,” Moon, director of the Duke Center for Hyperbaric Medicine and Environmental Physiology, told ABC News.
Jun 22, 10:50 AM EDT
French ROV enters water in search area
The U.S. Coast Guard announced via Twitter on Thursday morning that a remotely operated vehicle (ROV) deployed by the French vessel L’Atalante has entered the water in the search area.
The U.S. Coast Guard also gave an update on the conditions at sea, saying winds were at 14 mph with gusts up to 19 mph, swells were 4 to 5 feet and the air temperature was 50 degrees Fahrenheit.
Jun 22, 7:19 AM EDT
Canadian ROV begins search on sea floor
The U.S. Coast Guard announced via Twitter early Thursday that a remotely operated vehicle (ROV) deployed by the Canadian vessel Horizon Arctic has reached the sea floor, beginning its search for the missing submersible.
Meanwhile, the French vessel L’Atalante is preparing its ROV to enter the water in the search area, the U.S. Coast Guard said.
Jun 22, 6:29 AM EDT
Search becomes dire as time runs out
Time is running out as rescuers race to locate and save five people trapped in a submersible that vanished during a tour of the Titanic wreckage on Sunday morning.
The deep-sea vessel submerged at 8 a.m. ET on Sunday with a 96-hour oxygen supply, according to the U.S. Coast Guard. That amount of breathable air is forecast to run out on Thursday morning.
The search and rescue mission remains ongoing.
Jun 22, 12:21 AM EDT
Wife of missing OceanGate CEO is great-great-granddaughter of couple who died on Titanic: NYT
The New York Times traced the lineage of Wendy Rush, wife of missing OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush, and found that she’s the great-great-granddaughter of a couple who died on the Titanic, Isidor and Ida Straus.
The executive director of the Straus Historical Society told ABC News that The Times article, which cites archival records, is largely correct with regard to Wendy Weil Rush’s heritage.
Jun 21, 5:44 PM EDT
US Navy crane in Newfoundland but awaiting ship
A U.S. Navy portable crane system capable of bringing up items from as deep as 20,000 feet has arrived in St. John’s, Newfoundland, but is waiting to be welded onto a chartered ship to take it to the search area for the missing submersible, according to a U.S. Navy official.
The Navy has not yet contracted a ship for the salvage system, known as Fly Away Deep Ocean Salvage System or FADOSS, the official told reporters Wednesday. Once the ship is contracted, Navy teams will spend approximately 24 hours working around the clock to weld the system aboard the ship before it can leave port, the official said.
FADOSS is the salvage system the U.S. Navy uses for all of its deep-water recoveries. Last year, it was able to bring up an F/A-18 aircraft that had fallen into the waters of the Mediterranean Sea.
-ABC News’ Luis Martinez
Jun 21, 2:56 PM EDT
Head of Horizon Maritime, which owns the Polar Prince boat, holding out hope
The co-founder and Board chair of Horizon Maritime, the company that owns the Polar Prince boat that took the Titan submersible out to sea, is speaking out.
“We have been supporting the Titanic expeditions for several years,” Sean Leet said, calling the Polar Prince “an iconic former Canadian Coast Guard icebreaker that has been upgraded with advanced technology.”
“All protocols were followed” for the submersible’s mission, he said at a news conference Wednesday, calling the missing sub an “unprecedented” situation.
Equipment heading to search site can reach the depths of the submersible and potentially take it to the surface, he said.
“We wish to thank everyone involved in this rescue mission, especially the U.S. and Canadian Coast Guards, the organizations that have made their marina assets available including the French government … [and] the many private companies that have dropped everything at a moment’s notice,” Leet said.
“Our thoughts and focus remain with the crew of the Titan and their families,” he said.
Leet said he is holding out hope that the five-person crew will be brought home safely.
“We’ll continue to hold out hope until the very end,” he said.
Jun 21, 1:34 PM EDT
Coast Guard searching in area where noise was detected
As crews scour the Atlantic for the missing submersible, the Coast Guard said it’s searching in the area where a noise was detected.
The unidentified noise was detected Tuesday night and Wednesday morning.
The data on the noise was sent to the U.S. Navy to be examined, he said.
“We have to remain optimistic and hopeful when we’re in a search and rescue mission,” Capt. Jamie Frederick, the First Coast Guard District response coordinator, said at a news conference Wednesday.
The five crew members submerged underwater Sunday morning with about 96 hours of oxygen available to them. That oxygen is forecast to run out Thursday morning.
When asked about the search becoming a recovery mission, Frederick said Wednesday, “We’re not there yet.”
Jun 21, 1:21 PM EDT
Coast Guard searching in area where noise was detected
As crews scour the Atlantic for the missing submersible, the Coast Guard said it’s searching in the area where a noise was detected.
The unidentified noise was detected Tuesday night and Wednesday morning.
“We have to remain optimistic and hopeful when we’re in a search and rescue mission,” Capt. Jamie Frederick, the First Coast Guard District response coordinator, said at a news conference Wednesday.
The five crew members submerged underwater Sunday morning with about 96 hours of oxygen available to them. That oxygen is forecast to run out Thursday morning.
When asked about the search becoming a recovery mission, Frederick said Wednesday, “We’re not there yet.”
Jun 21, 12:56 PM EDT
Canada sends ship with advanced, deep sonar
One of the ships the Canadian Coast Guard sent to the rescue effort, the John Cabot, is equipped with advanced, deep sonar, said Joyce Murray, minister of Fisheries, Oceans and the Canadian Coast Guard.
“We’ve sent so many assets to the search team to help,” Murray said. “Authorities still have hope in the mission.”
-ABC News’ Will Gretsky
Jun 21, 12:47 PM EDT
Former passenger says his sub lost contact with host ship on all 4 trips
Mike Reiss, who has done four, 10-hour dives with OceanGate, including one to the Titanic, told ABC News his sub lost contact with the host ship on every dive.
“Every time they lost communication — that seems to be just something baked into the system,” he said.
With no GPS, Reiss said it took his crew three hours to find the Titanic despite landing just 500 yards from the ship.
Reiss said he signed “a waiver that mentions death three times on the first page.”
“It is always in the back of your head that this is dangerous, and any small problem will turn into a major catastrophe,” he said.
He said the submersible is built simply and is “just propelled by two fans on the outside.”
“Even I was able to steer and navigate the sub for a while,” he noted.
Reiss said his greatest fear was that the sub wouldn’t be able to release the weights that force it to submerge once it was time to rise to the surface.
-ABC News’ Gio Benitez and Sam Sweeney
Jun 21, 9:00 AM EDT
Would-be crew member of missing sub speaks out
Digital marketing tycoon Chris Brown originally planned to go on Sunday’s submersible tour of the Titanic wreckage but withdrew due to safety concerns. His friend, Hamish Harding, is among those aboard the missing vessel.
Brown, who described himself as a “modern day adventurer,” admitted that he knew “very little” about the tour operator, OceanGate Expeditions, prior to signing up. But he said the deep-sea trip initially sounded “like a great idea.”
“The Titanic’s obviously an iconic wreck,” Brown told ABC News’ Michael Strahan during an interview Wednesday on Good Morning America.
“OceanGate had put forward this program to go down and do a 3D scan of the wreck,” he added. “So it’s a chance for an expedition, exploration and adding a bit of science into the situation.”
Brown said safety concerns ultimately led him to pull out of the trip, but he declined to go into detail.
“I’m not really sure that this is the time to be going into that sort of thing,” he added. “I think that the focus right now has to be on trying to rescue these people. It’s not fair on the families and friends to be making speculation about what might’ve happened or how it happened at this point.”
Brown said he feels “no” apprehension about joining similar projects in the future but noted that it’s important to “think about all the risks.”
“If you don’t have an appetite for those risks, then you might not go ahead,” he said. “You may try and mitigate those by bringing in some expertise from outside. You might have other risks or dangers that could be mitigated by changing the time of when you go out there.”
Jun 21, 7:33 AM EDT
New details emerge about how the missing sub navigated the ocean
The submersible that was reported missing while on a tour of the underwater wreckage of the Titanic is an unorthodox vessel with a relatively unproven history, according to company press materials and experts familiar with underwater vehicles.
News of the vessel’s disappearance prompted a flurry of interest in the company OceanGate Expeditions and its deep-sea submersible called the Titan.
The company’s founder and CEO, Stockton Rush, who is one of the five people aboard the missing vessel, manned the Titan’s first “validation dive” to 4,000 meters in 2018, according to the company. The company then began offering tourists the opportunity to dive to the depths of the Titanic in the following years, selling tickets for the 2023 journey for $250,000.
Jun 21, 6:57 AM EDT
‘Banging’ picked up by sonar in search area, source says
A source familiar confirmed to ABC News that there were reports of “banging” that were picked up by sonar in the search area on Tuesday morning, but nothing has yet been found.
The U.S. Coast Guard had said early Wednesday that an aircraft with sonar capability “detected underwater noises in the search area,” but remotely operated vehicles were unable to find the origin of the sound.
Jun 21, 6:34 AM EDT
Titanic mapping company ‘fully mobilized’ to help
Magellan, an international exploration company that digitally mapped the Titanic wreckage last year, said Wednesday that it is “ready to support” the search for the missing submersible and is “fully mobilized to help.”
The U.K.-based company told ABC News that it was contacted by the submersible’s operator, OceanGate Expeditions, early Monday and “immediately offered our knowledge of the specific site and also our expertise operating at depth considerably in advance of what is required for this incident.”
“We have been working full-time with U.K. and U.S. agencies to secure the necessary air support to move our specialist equipment and support crew,” Magellan said in a statement.
When asked for comment about media reports that U.S. authorities have failed to give Magellan the necessary permits to participate in the search, the company told ABC News it “does not not wish to comment on any specific media report.”
Jun 21, 12:34 AM EDT
USCG: Canadian aircraft detected ‘underwater noises’ but search ‘yielded negative results’
“Canadian P-3 aircraft detected underwater noises in the search area,” the U.S. Coast Guard tweeted early Wednesday morning. “As a result, ROV operations were relocated in an attempt to explore the origin of the noises. Those ROV searches have yielded negative results but continue.”
The data from the P-3 has been shared with U.S. Navy experts for further analysis, the Coast Guard added.
Jun 21, 12:34 AM EDT
Lawsuit alleged flaws with Titanic sub now missing
A former employee of OceanGate alleged in a 2018 counterclaim lawsuit that he was fired for raising concerns about quality control and testing of potential flaws in the same experimental submersible that went missing this week.
David Lochridge, an engineer and submarine pilot, claimed in his counterclaim against OceanGate that he was hired in 2015 by the Everett, Washington, company to ensure the safety of all crew and clients during the submersible and surface operations of the vessel called Titan. But when he expressed concerns about the design and testing of the minisub’s hull, he said he was terminated by the company.
OceanGate had initially sued Lochridge alleging, among other things, breach of contract, fraud and misappropriation of trade secrets — all claims he denied.
In its lawsuit, OceanGate accused Lochridge of breaching his contract by discussing the company’s confidential information with the Occupational Health and Safety Administration “when he filed a false report claiming that he was discharged in retaliation for being a whistleblower.”
Jun 20, 10:15 PM EDT
Latest Coast Guard bulletin spells out timeline for missing sub search
The U.S. Coast Guard sent out its latest release Tuesday night on the search for the missing submersible at the Titanic crash site.
According to the latest release:
Sunday, June 18, 8 a.m. ET: Submersible launches, supposed to resurface at 3 p.m., but an hour and 45 minutes into the dive, it loses contact.
Sunday, June 18, 5:40 p.m. ET: Coast Guard receives report of overdue submersible.
Monday, June 19: Coast Guard Air Station Elizabeth City, North Carolina, and C-130 Hercules aircraft, as well as a Canadian P8 aircraft equipped with underwater sonar capability, search for the missing submersible, according to a previous release.
Tuesday, June 20, 7 a.m. ET: Bahamian research vessel Deep Energy arrives.
Tuesday, June 20, 4 p.m. ET: C-130 crew from Air National Guard 106th arrives.
Jun 20, 8:33 PM EDT
Experts expressed Titan safety concerns in 2018 letter
Members of a committee specializing in submersibles expressed “unanimous concern regarding the development” of Titan in a 2018 letter addressed to OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush, who is one of the passengers aboard the missing vessel.
The letter was obtained by The New York Times and was later authenticated by ABC News.
The letter warned of possible “catastrophic” problems with Titan’s development that could have “serious consequences for everyone in the industry.” The letter goes on to say that OceanGate’s safety claims were “misleading to the public” and insisted Titan be reviewed by a third-party organization.
The letter, which was addressed from the Marine Technology Society, was never approved to be sent to OceanGate though was quickly leaked to its CEO, according to committee chair William Kohnen.
“The letter did represent in 2018 the consensus by many people in the industry that they were not considering following the standard safety protocols and designs that the industry uses,” Kohnen told ABC News.
Though he wishes it was not leaked at the time, nor now to The New York Times, Kohnen said he stands by the letter and its warnings.
“The company had indicated that their state of innovation was beyond, beyond what was allowable within the regulatory standards we have today and that they would proceed without certification,” Kohnen said. “That worried a number of people in the industry.”
Kohnen acknowledged that OceanGate did “heed” some of the comments made in the 2018 letter.
-ABC News’ Amanda Maile and Victor Ordoñez
Jun 20, 6:02 PM EDT
NASA weighs in on missing submersible
NASA released a statement Tuesday on the Titan, saying it remains “hopeful the crew will be found unharmed.”
“NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center had a Space Act Agreement with OceanGate, and consulted on materials and manufacturing processes for the submersible. NASA did not conduct testing and manufacturing via its workforce or facilities,” the agency said.
-ABC News’ Gina Sunseri
Jun 20, 6:17 PM EDT
Search teams have covered 7,600 square miles
Search and rescue teams have now covered 7,600 square miles — an area bigger than the state of Connecticut — as they scour the ocean for the missing submersible, Coast Guard officials said.
A grid depicting the expanding search area is expected Tuesday night, according to a public information affairs lieutenant for the First District of the U.S. Coast Guard.
-ABC News’ Miles Cohen
Jun 20, 3:09 PM EDT
US Navy sending salvage experts, equipment to help with submersible
The U.S. Navy said it’s sending to the search site experts and equipment “designed to provide reliable deep ocean lifting capacity for the recovery of large, bulky, and heavy undersea objects.”
The equipment, which can lift up to 60,000 pounds, and the experts will arrive in Canada Tuesday night, the Navy said.
National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby said earlier Tuesday that the Navy was”on standby” to help with the search for the missing submersible, because the Navy has “some deep-water capabilities that the Coast Guard wouldn’t necessarily have.”
President Joe Biden is “watching events closely,” Kirby said, adding that Biden and the White House offer their thoughts “to the crew onboard, as well as to the — what is no doubt — worried family members back on shore.”
Jun 20, 1:24 PM EDT
3 Air Force C-17’s transporting equipment to Newfoundland
Three U.S. Air Force C-17 cargo aircraft will be transporting commercial equipment from Buffalo, New York, to Newfoundland, Canada, to help with the search efforts, according to a U.S. official.
-ABC News’ Luis Martinez
Jun 20, 1:16 PM EDT
Search area larger than Connecticut, about 41 hours of oxygen left
Efforts to locate the missing submersible are ongoing, and the “complex” search covers an area larger than the state of Connecticut, Coast Guard Capt. Jamie Frederick said at a news conference Tuesday.
Crews are scouring the ocean 900 miles east of Cape Cod and 400 miles south of St. John’s, Canada, he said.
The missing five-person crew on the submersible has about 41 hours of oxygen left, Frederick noted.
“We will do everything in our power to effect a rescue,” Frederick said.
“We have a group of our nation’s best experts,” he said, and once the sub is located, “those experts will be looking at what the next course of action is” to rescue the crew members.
“Our thoughts and prayers are with the crew and their families and their loved ones,” Frederick added.
Jun 20, 12:58 PM EDT
Former ABC News correspondent recounts moment his sub was trapped in Titanic’s propeller
In 2000, Dr. Michael Guillen, then an ABC News correspondent, was filming from the wreck of the Titanic when his vessel became trapped in the propeller.
“When we collided with the propeller, and I started seeing those big chunks of metal raining down on us … the first reaction I had was, ‘This can’t be happening,'” he recalled to ABC News on Tuesday.
“We got caught by this underwater turn and just drove us right into the blades,” Guillen said.
“This voice came into my head and said, you know, ‘This is how it’s going to end for you,'” he recalled. “I’ll never forget those words.”
“I’m very aware of what these poor souls on board the ship the Titan are experiencing,” he said. “I am just heartbroken about it.”
Jun 20, 11:35 AM EDT
French sending assistance
At the request of French President Emmanuel Macron, a French ship named Atalante is diverting to the area of the missing submissive and should reach the area Wednesday night.
The ship has an exploration robot that can dive up to 4,000 meters, according to a spokesman for France’s Ifremer Institute.
Jun 20, 9:04 AM EDT
‘It’s a race against time’
Per Wimmer, an explorer and global financier, told ABC News he was “shocked” and “horrified” to hear of the missing submersible.
“It felt very personal. … I’ve been wanting to go down to the Titanic for more than a decade,” Wimmer said.
He estimated that there’s been between 150 and 200 missions to the Titanic.
There “are very, very few submersibles in the whole world that can go down to the depth of Titanic, which sits at 3,800 meters, or about 12,000 feet,” Wimmer said. “It’s very deep — most submersibles can go down to about 1,000 meters.”
“It’s a race against time, because there’s only 96 hours of oxygen on board. And after that, if you haven’t reached the surface, you starve of oxygen,” he said.
“Our best hope at the moment is that the safety mechanism will be activated,” he said. “It is supposed to be able to float to the surface, little by little, and then they can open the hatch and hopefully get out again. That is the only hope we have, because you do not have enough time to get another submersible that can go that deep.”
Jun 20, 8:19 AM EDT
What to know about the 5 people aboard the missing sub
Renowned explorers and a father-son duo were among the five people aboard a submersible that disappeared in the Atlantic Ocean on Sunday while touring the Titanic wreckage, ABC News has learned.
ABC News has confirmed and identified four of those on aboard as Hamish Harding, a British businessman, pilot and space tourist; Paul-Henri Nargeolet, a French diver and Titanic expert; Shahzada Dawood, a Pakistani businessman, and his son Suleman Dawood.
Jun 20, 7:48 AM EDT
US Coast Guard commander talks search for missing sub
The United States Coast Guard commander leading the search for a missing submersible off the coast of Newfoundland, Canada, said Tuesday morning that crews in multiple aircraft have flown over an area of the Atlantic Ocean “roughly about the size of Connecticut” while “looking for any signs of surfacing.”
“As we continue on with the search, we’re expanding our capabilities to be able to search under the water as well,” Rear Adm. John Mauger, commander of the First Coast Guard District, told ABC News’ Robin Roberts during an interview on Good Morning America.
A commercial vessel with remotely operated vehicles is now on scene that will allow rescuers to search underwater, according to Mauger.
“This is a complex case,” he added. “The Coast Guard doesn’t have all the resources to be able to affect this kind of rescue, although this is an area that’s within our search zone.”
In many cases, Mauger said, the Coast Guard’s role is to coordinate all of the assets and technical expertise that can be used in a search, in addition to operating aircraft or ships when necessary.
“In this particular case, we’ve established a unified command with the United States Navy, with the Canadian Armed Forces, with the Canadian Coast Guard and with the private operator OceanGate Expeditions to make sure that we understand what’s needed and deploy all available equipment to the scene that could be used to locate this submersible, whether it’s on the surface or down beneath the surface,” he said.
Crews have been working “around the clock” to locate the deep-sea vessel since it lost contact with its operator on Sunday morning, according to Mauger.
In the last 24 hours, a Canadian aircraft has been dropping sonar buoys into the water that can pick up sound the submersible may be emitting. Vessels that have the capability to listen with their own sonar equipment are also on scene, according to Mauger.
“If they are making sound, that’s certainly one of the ways that we’re going to use to locate them,” he said.
Jun 20, 6:18 AM EDT
Missing sub is believed to be deeper than NATO rescue capability
A tourist submersible that disappeared in the Atlantic Ocean on Sunday is believed to be at depths that greatly exceed the capabilities of the NATO Submarine Rescue System (NSRS), according to a spokesperson for the United Kingdom’s Ministry of Defense.
“As the host nation for NATO’s multinational submarine rescue capability, we continue to monitor the incident in the North Atlantic and will guide and assist in any response activity as appropriate,” the spokesperson told ABC News in a statement on Tuesday.
The U.K. has not been approached to offer assistance in the ongoing search for the deep-sea vessel off the coast of Newfoundland, Canada, according to the spokesperson.
Initial reports indicate that the depths of water involved greatly exceed that which the NSRS team can safely operate — 610 meters for the NSRS submersible and 1,000 meters for the NSRS remotely operated vehicle, according to the spokesperson.
The NSRS is based at the home of the U.K. Royal Navy Submarine Service in HM Naval Base Clyde, the U.K. Royal Navy’s headquarters in Scotland. Introduced in 2006, the tri-national capability team can respond to a stricken submarine in rescuable water which is capable of mating with the NSRS submarine rescue vehicle, according to the spokesperson.
Jun 20, 5:03 AM EDT
Former Navy sub captain on rescue options
Rescuers racing against the clock to save the five people trapped in a tourist submersible nearly two miles deep in the Atlantic Ocean are facing major obstacles that could make saving the people onboard extremely difficult, according to a former U.S. Navy submarine commander.
Retired Capt. David Marquet told ABC News on Monday that this type of rescue operation is complicated because there aren’t nearby U.S. or Canadian underwater vessels that can go as deep as the Titanic wreckage, which sits 13,400 feet below the ocean’s surface. Also, the ocean is pitch black at that depth.
“The odds are against them,” Marquet said. “There’s a ship in Boston that has this ability to either lower cable and connect to it or have a claw. It’s still a thousand miles away.”
Even if a vessel was able to locate the submersible and lower a cable, it’s extremely difficult to safely navigate the waters and attach it, according to Marquet.
“You’ve got to get it exactly right,” he told ABC News. “It’s sort of like … getting one of those toys out of those arcade machines. In general, you miss.”
Rescuers do have one advantage, Marquet said, as weather conditions off the coast of Newfoundland are not rough and will not disturb any boat or vessel there.
Marquet added that if the five people aboard are still alive, they would be asked to sleep to conserve their oxygen.
“We would put the vast majority of the crew to sleep because that’s when you’re using the least amount of oxygen and you’re expelling the least amount of carbon dioxide,” he said.
Jun 20, 4:27 AM EDT
What to know about the missing sub
A submersible on a tour of the Titanic wreckage was reported overdue by its operator OceanGate Expeditions on Sunday, prompting the United States Coast Guard to launch a search and rescue effort for the 22-foot, 23,000-pound vessel.
Designed with life support to sustain five crew members for 96 hours, the submersible would need to be rescued in three days to save its five passengers, according to the Coast Guard.
Stockton Rush founded Washington-based OceanGate in 2009 to make deep-sea exploration more accessible to scientists and tourists. Fourteen years, more than 200 dives and three submersible designs later, the company now finds itself in a desperate search to recover the submersible carrying five people aboard that’s gone missing off the coast of Newfoundland, Canada.
OceanGate confirmed Monday it had lost contact with a submersible, saying in a statement: “We are exploring and mobilizing all options to bring the crew back safely. Our entire focus is on the crewmembers in the submersible and their families. We are working toward the safe return of the crewmembers.”
(WASHINGTON) — President Joe Biden rolled out the red carpet Thursday for Prime Minister Narendra Modi of India for the third state visit of his presidency.
The visit will put on full display the “deep and close partnership” between the U.S. and India, the White House said, despite concerns India’s democratic principles have eroded under Modi’s leadership.
The relationship has been described by Biden as “one of the most important” of this century as the U.S. rebalances its foreign policy focus to the Indo-Pacific in the face of an increasingly aggressive China. Just ahead of Modi’s visit, President Biden suggested Chinese President Xi Jinping was a “dictator.”
“There’s a strategic imperative in the region,” Tanvi Madan, the director of The India Project at the Brookings Institution, told ABC News. “Multiple administrations have seen India as a geopolitical counterbalance, an economic alternative and a democratic contrast to China.”
President Biden and the first lady welcomed Modi to the White House Wednesday evening and hosted him for a private dinner.
On Thursday, the two leaders greeted each other warmly on the South Lawn in a welcome featuring marching bands and honor guards, despite rainy weather. Vice President Kamala Harris, the first person of Indian descent in her role, and second gentleman Doug Emhoff were also there to greet the prime minister.
“The challenges and opportunities facing the world in this century require that India and the United States work and lead together, and we are,” Biden said.
Modi said the partnership between the U.S. and India “will be instrumental in enhancing the strength of the whole world.”
Biden and Modi met in the Oval Office and will hold a brief news conference.
Modi will later appear on Capitol Hill to address a joint meeting of Congress before a state dinner at the White House Thursday night.
About 400 guests are expected to attend the dinner, the White House said, which will include a plant-based menu and a mixture of American and Indian decor. There will be performances from American violinist Joshua Bell and from Penn Masala, a South Asian a cappella group from the University of Pennsylvania.
The last time Modi visited the U.S. was in 2019, when he appeared alongside former President Donald Trump at a “Howdy Modi” rally in Texas attended by tens of thousands of people.
Kenneth Juster, who served as the U.S. ambassador to India during the Trump administration, said he expects a set of “substantive discussions that will take the strategic partnership to the next level, especially in the areas of defense and technology.”
Modi’s trip to Washington, though, isn’t without controversy as the prime minister’s been criticized for a rise in violence against religious minorities as well as a crackdown on the press and dissenters.
Some democracy watchdogs have downgraded India’s rating in recent years. The U.S.-based Freedom House rated India as “partly free” in its 2023 report, and the Sweden-based Varieties of Democracy called India an “electoral autocracy.”
“He’s got a mixed record,” Richard Rossow, chair U.S.-India Policy Studies at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said of Modi. “We do see at times he feels politically weak domestically, he’s initiated steps that directly or indirectly seem to stoke the fears of religious intolerance by him and his party. And we’ve also seen crackdown on civil society to some extent.”
Human rights advocates and at least 70 lawmakers have called on Biden to directly address human rights violations during Modi’s visit. Experts told ABC News any human rights or democratic issues will likely be taken up in private between the two leaders.
Biden, as he welcomed Modi, took a moment to tout what he said were “core principles” shared between the two countries — specifically highlighting freedom of speech and religion.
“As democracies, we can better tap into the full talent of all of our people and attract investments as true and trusted partners as leading nations with our greatest export being the power of our example,” the president said. “Equity under the law, freedom of expression, religious pluralism, diversity of our people — these core principles have endured and evolved even as they face challenges throughout each of our nation’s histories and will fuel our strength, depth and future.”
There’s also the issue of Russia. India, which has long relied on Russian oil and weapons, has avoided outrightly condemning the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
But experts noted Modi’s slight change in tone when it comes to Russia’s invasion, such as his recent statements on the importance of territorial integrity and sovereignty.
“Both Washington and New Delhi understand that they will not necessarily see eye to eye on Russia,” Juster said. “But they can discuss that issue candidly with each other, and it is not going to have a negative impact on their broader strategic partnership.”
A senior Biden official said the White House would “engage actively” with India on issues related to Russia and Ukraine, specifically India’s efforts to diversify away from Russian military equipment.
Talks between Biden and Modi are also expected to include trade, climate and space.
The two leaders are expected to announce a joint space mission, investments in semiconducter tech in India, a commitment from India to purhase drones from the U.S. and more.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken, speaking to the U.S.-India Business Council last week, touted trade between the two nations reached a record $191 billion. Blinken noted the U.S. is India’s largest trading partner, and Indian companies invested more than $40 billion in the U.S. in IT, pharmaceuticals and more.
Though Juster said be believed there is still more work to do to advance on the trade front.
“For the world’s largest economy, the United States, and its fifth largest economy, India, I believe that their bilateral trade relationship does not fulfill all of its potential. I am hoping that the two countries can continue to advance their trade and investment relationship both bilaterally and regionally, because economic issues are so important in the Indo-Pacific and China has a robust economic strategy for the region,” he said.
Prior to landing in Washington, Modi met with Tesla CEO Elon Musk as well as other business leaders and health care experts.
He also marked International Day of Yoga by participating in a group session on the lawn of the United Nations headquarters.
“Almost every nationality is represented here today,” he said. “And what an amazing cause to bring us all together: yoga. Yoga means to unite.”
ABC News’ Ben Gittleson contributed to this report.
Pavlo Gonchar/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images
(EMERYVILLE, Calif.) — After years of research and rigorous testing, cell-cultivated meat will officially become part of the U.S. food system.
Emeryville, California-based manufacturer UPSIDE Foods, which gave ABC News a look inside its facilities earlier this year, and Good Meat a cultivated meat division of the plant-based egg substitute food technology company Eat Just, are the first U.S. Department of Agriculture-approved cell-cultivated chicken meat producer and has been fully approved by the U.S. government for commercial sales nationwide.
The food and agriculture manufacturing industry has hailed this as a “historic” moment — after years of investment in UPSIDE Foods from Bill Gates, Richard Branson and Whole Foods founder John Mackey — as scientists tout the lab-cultivated meat as a possible solution for global warming, inhumane treatment of animals and growing global hunger.
Good Meat, which previously won multiple regulatory approvals to sell its chicken in Singapore, will begin production for the American market and launch with restaurateur and chef partner José Andrés.
The Alameda, California-based company called the latest USDA and FDA approvals a “watershed moment for the burgeoning cultivated meat, poultry and seafood sector, and for the global food industry.”
“We have been the only company selling cultivated meat anywhere in the world since we launched in Singapore in 2020, and now it’s approved to sell to consumers in the world’s largest economy,” Josh Tetrick, co-founder and CEO of GOOD Meat and Eat Just said in a statement.
UPSIDE Foods says it will begin cultivation and sales of real chicken meat grown from animal cells in bioreactors.
It will first reach consumers on the menu of a San Francisco restaurant, Bar Crenn, helmed by James Beard Award-winning chef, restaurateur and activist Dominique Crenn, who is hoping to help mainstream the innovative protein.
Crenn is also the first and only female chef in the U.S. ever to be awarded three Michelin Stars, and only one of five total to achieve the distinction in the world.
In a blog post Wednesday, UPSIDE Foods called the historic milestone “the culmination of years of dedication, ingenuity, and resilience from our team and supporters and marks the beginning of a whole new era in meat production.”
Neither UPSIDE Foods nor Good Meat have a released date of first availability, but are working with their respective restaurant partners to bring it to market.
“Soon, Americans will be able to enjoy delicious meat that doesn’t involve the slaughter of billions of animals every year,” UPSIDE Foods wrote in the post.
The UPSIDE Foods team and Good Meat have now achieved all three key regulatory milestones: A “No Questions” Letter from the FDA, a USDA Label Approval, and the USDA Grant of Inspection.
Dan Glickman, Good Meat Advisory Board member and former U.S. Secretary of Agriculture and member of the U.S. House of Representatives, said in a statement Wednesday that his previous experiences gave him “the opportunity to work with countless individuals at the USDA who were committed to accelerating agricultural innovation and economic opportunity as well as promoting initiatives to better nourish Americans and feed people around the globe.”
“I commend the agency’s current leadership for working collaboratively with their FDA colleagues and the GOOD Meat team to reach this significant regulatory milestone,” Glickman continued. “Today’s approval demonstrates that the United States is a global leader in the promising alternative protein space while also continuing to support family farmers’ efforts to feed the world through conventional food and agriculture techniques.”
