(WASHINGTON) — Top Democrats in Congress investigating the events of Jan. 6 continued to allege that the government’s federal watchdog for Homeland Security abandoned efforts to collect texts and phone records from that day.
Rep. Carolyn Maloney and Rep. Bennie Thompson, who chair the House Oversight and Homeland Security committees, on Monday renewed calls for Department of Homeland Security Inspector General Joseph Cuffari to step away from the watchdog’s investigation.
“We recently called for you to step aside from this matter and for a new IG to be appointed in light of revelations that you had failed to keep Congress informed of your inability to obtain key information from the Secret Service,” the chairs said in a letter to Cuffari. “Removing yourself from this investigation is even more urgent today.”
“These documents also indicate that your office may have taken steps to cover up the extent of missing records,” the chairs added.
Last month, Cuffari told Congress that the U.S. Secret Service had deleted text messages from Jan. 5 and 6 and that record reviews by DHS attorneys were causing months-long delays.
But House Democrats on Monday said the inspector general may have abandoned plans to collect the texts from the Secret Service more than a year ago and did not report the issues until recently. They requested interviews with Cuffari’s staff as well as internal documents from the office.
Responding to questions on Homeland Security’s data retention policy and the missing records, DHS Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs Marsha Espinosa said the department is working with the Jan. 6 committee and is cooperating with the ongoing investigations.
“DHS is fully cooperating with the ongoing investigations and, as appropriate, looking into every avenue to recover text messages and other materials for the Jan. 6 investigations,” Espinosa said in a statement. “The Department is in continued close communication with, and deeply committed to supporting the Jan. 6 Committee and those investigating the events that occurred that day.”
A spokesperson for the Secret Service acknowledged in a recent statement that some phone data from January 2021 was lost as the result of a pre-planned data transfer, noting that the transfer was underway when the IG office made the request in February 2021.
The committees also said that former DHS Acting Deputy Secretary Ken Cuccinelli was using his personal phone, potentially for official government businesses, and Congress was not notified by the inspector general. A report from the government accountability group Project on Government Oversight found that messages from Cuccinelli and then-DHS Secretary Chad Wolf have also gone missing.
“I complied with all data retention laws and returned all my equipment fully loaded to the Department,” Wolf said in a tweet last week. “DHS has all my texts, emails, phone logs, schedules, etc. Any issues with missing data needs to be addressed to DHS.”
A senior DHS official told ABC News that text messages are not always assumed to be records as defined by federal data retention law and individual employees are required to ensure the proper storage of records while working in an official capacity.
ABC News’ Katherine Faulders contributed to this report.
(WASHINGTON) — After a series of delays and emotional protests, the Senate is expected to vote Tuesday night on a bill that would help veterans exposed to toxic burn pits.
Schumer announced that the Senate will begin voting on the PACT Act at 5 p.m., with votes on three Republican amendments before a vote on final passage of the bill. Republicans agreed to the deal.
“I believe it will pass and pass this evening,” Schumer said during his weekly press conference.
The PACT Act passed the Senate earlier this year, but after a quick fix in the House required the bill to be voted on again, 26 Republican senators changed their votes and blocked swift passage of the act last week, sparking outrage among Democrats and veterans groups.
Comedian and activist Jon Stewart has become the face of this legislation, joining veterans in protest outside the Capitol for the last several days. He’s harshly criticized Republicans and demanded action from lawmakers.
“America’s heroes who fought in our wars outside sweating their asses off with oxygen, battling all kinds of ailments” while Republican senators were sitting “in the air conditioning walled off from any of it,” Stewart said during a press conference in front of the Capitol Building on Thursday. “They don’t have to hear it, they don’t have to see it. They don’t have to understand that these are human beings.”
Republicans said they did not object to the new funding for veterans in the bill, but wanted the opportunity to modify a “budget gimmick” they say could be exploited by Democrats. Sen. Pat Toomey, R-Pa., has led Republicans in their opposition, insisting on an amendment to change language in the bill he says could free up $400 billion in existing funds already being used for veterans by shuffling the money inside the budget to use for unrelated purposes.
“What matters to a veteran whose ill because of a toxic exposure is that the money is there to cover what he needs, that’s what he should be concerned about and that will be there,” Toomey said Tuesday. “What I am trying to limit is the extent that they could use a budget gimmick to reclassify a reclassify spending and go on an unrelated spending binge.”
Republicans will finally get their shot at closing this perceived budget loophole during a Tuesday night vote, when they consider Toomey’s amendment to modify accounting provisions in the bill. It will almost certainly fail.
“We have an exceptionally sympathetic overwhelmingly popular group of Americans, and rightfully so, they are veterans,” Toomey said. “There is overwhelming consensus to provide the resources to at least cover their healthcare cost and provide them with disability benefits because of their service to our country. In fact the cause is so popular that the 280 billion of new spending.
Schumer on the floor called today’s development “good news.”
“Our veterans across America can breathe a sigh of relief,” Schumer said on the floor. “The treatment that they deserve and have been denied by the VA because of all kinds of legal barriers and presumptions will now be gone.”
Australian Government Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry
(LONDON) — A passenger flying from Bali, Indonesia, to Darwin, Australia, was fined 2,664 Australian dollars (about $1,846 U.S.) last week after they were caught with two egg and beef sausage McMuffins and a ham croissant upon arrival in Australia.
The meat products were sniffed out by a newly trained biosecurity detector dog named Zinta.
“This will be the most expensive [McDonald’s] meal this passenger ever has, this fine is twice the cost of an airfare to Bali, but I have no sympathy for people who choose to disobey Australia’s strict biosecurity measures, and recent detections show you will be caught,” Murray Watt, the Australian minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, said in a press release.
Australia has strict policies on the importation of food products in its effort to keep foot and mouth disease out of the country. The passenger received the hefty fine after failing to disclose that they had the meat products.
The meal also included some travel-safe hot cakes, according to a picture of the confiscated breakfast.
“Biosecurity is no joke—it helps protect jobs, our farms, food and supports the economy,” Watt said in the press release. “Passengers who choose to travel need to make sure they are fulfilling the conditions to enter Australia, by following all biosecurity measures.”
The seized meat will be tested for foot and mouth disease before it is destroyed.
Zinta is funded by an AU$14 million biosecurity package from the Australian government. The funding went to more biosecurity monitoring at mail centers and airports, including dogs at certain airports.
(WASHINGTON) — The White House on Tuesday continued to highlight what it said was President Joe Biden’s “success” in killing Ayman al-Zawahiri, the al-Qaeda leader involved in the planning the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, saying it “has undoubtedly made the United States safer.”
National security adviser Jake Sullivan also said on ABC’s “Good Morning America” that the strike vindicated Biden’s controversial and chaotic withdrawal of all U.S. forces from Afghanistan last August.
“It has proven the president right when he said one year ago that we did not need to keep thousands of American troops in Afghanistan fighting and dying in a 20-year war to be able to hold terrorists at risk and to defeat threats to the United States,” Sullivan said.
The White House also released a new photograph it said showed Biden in the Situation Room on July 1 getting briefed briefed on the proposed operation by CIA director William Burns and being shown a model of the safe house where al-Zawahiri was hiding.
A White House official later confirmed to ABC News that the closed wooden box on the table in the photograph contained the scale model of the house.
When Biden announced al-Zawahiri’s death on Monday in an address from the White House, he stated “justice has been delivered” and he made a point of saying he had been careful before approving the strike that no civilians would be killed.
A U.S. official confirmed to ABC News that the CIA carried out the operation.
A separate senior administration official said Monday there was no indication of anyone else harmed by the two Hellfire missiles fired from a drone, missiles with rotating blades that use kinetic energy to kill, different from large explosions, to limit collateral damage.
But with no U.S. forces on the ground, it was unclear how the administration could be certain of that.
Al-Zawahiri was killed at approximately 9:48 p.m. on July 30 on the balcony of his safe house in downtown Kabul after months of planning among various parts of the counterterrorism community, a senior administration official told reporters Monday.
Biden was first briefed on al-Zawahiri’s whereabouts back in April, the official told reporters, and received updates on the development of the target throughout May and June.
Biden convened several other meetings with his key advisers and Cabinet members in the weeks that followed to carefully scrutinize the intelligence and evaluate the best course of action, the official said.
A final meeting was held on July 25, during which Biden authorized the strike.
The White House photo of Biden was reminiscent of a similar photo of President Barack Obama and then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in the Situation Room watching the 2011 U.S. raid that killed Osama bin Laden.
While this most recent strike was largely applauded by members of Congress, Republicans focused on what they called Biden’s “disastrous withdrawal” from Afghanistan that they say reopened the door for al-Qaeda in the country.
“It is noteworthy where [al-Zawahiri] was in Kabul,” Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said in a floor speech on Tuesday. “So, al-Qaeda is back as a result of the Taliban being back in power and describing the current situation in Afghanistan as a success is utterly absurd.”
McConnell said the “precipitous decision” to remove U.S. troops from Afghanistan has “produced the return of the conditions that were there before 9/11.”
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., is demanding an immediate intelligence briefing for Congress on the “possible reemergence” of the terrorist organization. Rep. Mike McCaul, who sits on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, went so far as to say Biden lied to the American people when he said last year al-Qaeda was “gone” from Afghanistan.
Sullivan pushed back on the criticism on “Good Morning America,” stating the drone strike is proof the U.S. can continue to go after its enemies “over the horizon” without endangering American service members.
“There is not a single American in harm’s way in that country in uniform and there was nobody on the ground in uniform when this strike occurred and yet we were able to take Ayman al-Zawahiri off the battlefield,” Sullivan told GMA co-anchor George Stephanopoulos. “I would call that a successful, effective policy that protects our troops, protects our people and ensures that Afghanistan will not be a safe haven for terrorists.”
But questions remain about how the U.S. will respond to the Taliban’s actions in sheltering al-Zawahiri. Senior members of the Taliban were aware of his presence in Kabul this year, the senior administration official told reporters Monday.
The official also said Haqqani Taliban members took actions after the airstrike to conceal al-Zawahiri’s presence at the location and acted quickly to remove al-Zawahiri’s wife, his daughter and her children to another location consistent with a broader effort to cover up that they had been living in the safe house.
Sullivan said the U.S. is in direct communication with the Taliban but did not reveal any specifics on how exactly the Taliban will be held accountable.
White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby also declined to provide additional details on what specific steps the U.S. will take to hold the Taliban accountable during Tuesday’s press briefing, but said the “strike itself shows how serious we are about accountability.”
“It shows how serious we are about defending our interests,” Kirby added.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Monday the Taliban “grossly” violated the Doha Agreement by sheltering al-Zawahiri. In the 2020 agreement, the Taliban said they wouldn’t harbor al-Qaeda members.
“They also betrayed the Afghan people and their own stated desire for recognition from and normalization with the international community,” Blinken said. “In the face of the Taliban’s unwillingness or inability to abide by their commitments, we will continue to support the Afghan people with robust humanitarian assistance and to advocate for the protection of their human rights, especially of women and girls.”
Despite the Taliban’s sheltering of al-Zawahiri, Kirby told ABC News Chief White House Correspondent Cecilia Vega that Afghanistan will “never” become a safe haven for terrorists.
“If you were to ask the members of al-Qaeda, ask them how safe they feel in Afghanistan right now,” Kirby said. “I think we proved … this weekend that it isn’t a safe haven and it isn’t going to be going forward.”
ABC News’ Ben Gittleson, Trish Turner, Allison Pecorin and Sarah Kolinovsky contributed to this report.
(WASHINGTON) — Lt. Gen. Michael E. Langley was confirmed by the Senate on Monday as a four-star general, making history as the first Black Marine to attain that rank.
The Senate’s confirmation came after President Joe Biden nominated Langley in June to lead the U.S. Africa Command, responsible for military operations in Africa.
Born in Shreveport, Louisiana, Langley said at his July 21 confirmation hearing that his father, retired U.S. Air Force Master Sgt. Willie C. Langley, served in the military for 25 years, while his stepmother, Ola Langley, served the U.S. Post Office.
Langley has served for 37 years, including as the deputy commanding general of the II Marine Expeditionary Force, deputy commanding general of the Fleet Marine Force, and as the commanding general of the Marine Forces Europe and Africa. In November 2021, he assumed the duties of commanding general, Fleet Marine Force, Atlantic, and commander, Marine Forces Command and Marine Forces Northern Command.
“It is a great honor to be the president’s nominee to lead USAFRICOM. I am grateful to the trust and confidence extended by him, the secretary of defense, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and the commandant of the Marine Corps,” Langley said in the July Senate Armed Services Committee hearing.
Following its founding on Nov. 10, 1775, the U.S. Marine Corps barred Black Americans from enlisting until President Franklin D. Roosevelt issued Executive Order 8802 on June 25, 1941. While the order prohibited discriminatory recruitment practices in national defense departments, agencies and industries, civil rights concerns remained, according to the National Archives.
In 1948, President Harry S. Truman issued another executive order that banned segregation in the armed forces. Executive Order 9981 was initially met with resistance from military personnel, according to the National Archives, but all units were eventually desegregated by the end of the Korean War.
Despite significant progress since the Marine Corps’ establishment, Black men and women are still underrepresentedin the Marines Corps senior leadership, according to a 2020 Council on Foreign Relations report. In 2016, the Department of Defense reported there were six Black general-ranking officers serving in the Marine Corps out of a total 87 across all racial demographics.
“Now, the global security environment we are witnessing today is the most challenging I have seen throughout my 37 years,” Langley said during the July hearing, referencing “global tensions” and other threats.
Nevertheless, he said, he is “enthusiastic to engage across the whole government to faithfully execute the policies and orders of the president and the secretary of defense.”
ABC News’ Luis Martinez contributed to this report.
(WASHINGTON) — Attorney General Merrick Garland on Tuesday announced the Justice Department has filed a lawsuit against the state of Idaho challenging its law that will take effect next month that would make it a felony to perform an abortion in all but extremely narrow circumstances.
Garland said the law violates the federal Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act (EMTALA) that states hospitals that receive Medicare funds are required to provide necessary treatment to patients who arrive at their emergency departments while experiencing a medical emergency.
That medical care, according to Garland and the DOJ lawsuit, could include providing an abortion.
“The suit seeks to hold invalid the state’s criminal prohibition on providing abortions, as applied to women who are suffering medical emergencies,” Garland said in a press conference at the Justice Department. “As detailed in our complaint, Idaho’s law would make it a criminal offense for doctors to provide emergency medical treatment that federal law requires.”
Garland said that while the law, which will take effect next month, provides an exception in order to prevent the death of a pregnant woman, “it includes no exception for cases in which the abortion is necessary to prevent serious jeopardy to the woman’s health.”
“Moreover, it would subject doctors to arrest and criminal prosecution even if they perform an abortion to save a woman’s life,” Garland said. “And that would then place the burden on the doctors that they are not criminally liable.”
Garland used his press conference to put on notice other states who he says have passed restrictions on reproductive health care that similarly run afoul of federal law in the wake of the Supreme Court’s decision overturning Roe v. Wade.
“We will use every tool at our disposal to ensure that pregnant women get the emergency medical treatment to which they are entitled under federal law,” Garland said. “And we will closely scrutinize state abortion laws to ensure that they comply with federal law.”
The lawsuit asks a judge to declare the Idaho law invalid under the Constitution’s Supremacy Clause and is preempted by federal law to the extent that it conflicts with EMTALA.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
(KALAMAZOO, Mich.) — A Michigan Planned Parenthood was intentionally set on fire, local authorities said.
The Kalamazoo, Michigan, clinic was shut down on Sunday after a fire broke out around 4:10 p.m, according to officials.
The Kalamazoo Department of Public Safety released a surveillance photo that captured the alleged suspect wearing a black baseball cap, camouflage jacket, dark pants, blue medical mask and dark backpack.
First responders extinguished the fire in less than 10 minutes. The damage was minor and there were no injuries, according to police.
The clinic was closed following the incident and reopened at 1 p.m. on Monday, according to the clinic’s website.
Planned Parenthood of Michigan said its alarm systems appeared to have worked properly and it thanked firefighters for their quick response.
“As always, our top priority is the health and safety of our patients and staff, and we are grateful that no one was hurt,” Paula Thornton Greear, President and CEO of Planned Parenthood of Michigan, said in a statement to ABC News. “We remain committed to serving our patients — no matter what.”
Kalamazoo police are working with federal and local authorities to investigate the incident, officials said.
“I am appalled, shaken and disgusted. The responsible parties must be brought to justice. I will never stop fighting to keep abortion legal,” State Sen. Sean McCann, D-Kalamazoo, tweeted after the news broke on Sunday.
The fire came just one day before a Michigan judge ruled to temporarily block the state’s 1931 abortion ban. The block came just hours after a different judge ruled to allow the state to prosecute based on the law.
“This lack of legal clarity — that took place within the span of a workday — is yet another textbook example of why the Michigan Supreme Court must take up my lawsuit against the 1931 extreme abortion ban as soon as possible,” Gov. Gretchen Whitmer said in a statement on Monday.
Officials ask that anyone with information about the fire or suspect to contact KDPS at 269-337-8120 or Silent Observer at 269-343-2100.
(ST. LOUIS) — Nearly 2,500 Boeing workers at three St. Louis-area facilities will vote Wednesday on a contract offer from the plane manufacturer after calling off a strike planned for earlier this week.
The International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, or IAMAW, is recommending that workers approve the new offer and expects the contract to be ratified, Jody Bennett, chief of staff of the IAMAW Aerospace Department, told ABC News
“We didn’t get everything we wanted where we wanted it but I believe we got everything out of Boeing that we could,” Bennett said. “It’s time to live to fight another day.”
Workers last Sunday rejected an offer that insufficiently compensated them through its retirement plan, Bennett said.
Upon ratification, the new contract provides workers with a $8,000 cash bonus, which would be subject to tax withholdings. Alternatively, under the terms of the proposed contract, workers can opt to place the total amount in a 401(k) account, Boeing said.
Under the proposal, the company will automatically put an amount equivalent to 4% of a worker’s pay into the 401(k) each year, the company and Bennett said.
But the new proposal removes the company’s 401(k) match, which featured a dollar-for-dollar company match on 10% of a worker’s pay, the union said. Instead, the company will match 75% on the first 8% of employee contributions.
“This new offer builds on our previous strong, highly competitive one and directly addresses the issues raised by our employees,” Boeing said in a statement. “We are hopeful they will vote yes on Wednesday.”
The contract includes a $2 per hour increase in the base wage for all employees, which equates to an average 7.2% wage hike, Boeing said. Workers at the three St. Louis-area locations make an average of $29.42 per hour, the union said.
In 2014, Boeing stopped offering a traditional pension plan for new hires, replacing it with a 401(k) that fails to adequately compensate workers, Bennett said.
The Arlington, Virginia-based company reported $160 million in profit in the second quarter of this year, which marked a 72% decline from the same quarter a year prior.
The company brought in $62.2 billion in revenue in 2021 after a resurgence in sales of its 737 Max, which was grounded in 2019 after two crashes left 346 people dead. The Federal Aviation Agency lifted the grounding order in November 2020.
(WASHINGTON) — President Joe Biden continued to test positive for COVID-19 Tuesday but is feeling “well,” according to a memo from Dr. Kevin O’Connor, Biden’s physician.
“The President continues to feel well, though he is experiencing a bit of a return of a loose cough. He remains fever-free and in good spirits. His temperature, pulse, blood pressure, respiratory rate and oxygen saturation remain entirely normal. His lungs are clear,” O’Connor wrote.
O’Connor added that Biden “will continue his strict isolation measures” and “will continue to conduct the business of the American people from the Executive Residence.”
Biden initially tested positive for COVID-19 on July 21. His symptoms at the time were said to have included a runny nose, cough, sore throat, a slight fever and body aches.
He was treated with Paxlovid and tested negative last Wednesday before emerging from isolation.
However, he tested positive again Saturday in a so-called rebound infection, which can occur when patients take Paxlovid.
High-risk patients still face drastically diminished risks of hospitalization after taking Paxlovid.
O’Connor’s memo Tuesday marked the first time he noted a reemergence of symptoms from the rebound case.
Biden had six close contacts before testing positive for COVID for a second time, though White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Monday none has tested positive.
It remains unclear for how long Biden will be able to leave the White House for a number of planned trips.
Jean-Pierre noted Monday that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has not yet released any guidance regarding travel after a rebound infection.
(FRANKFORT, Ky.) — Abortions have once again stopped in Kentucky after an appeals court reinstated two bans.
One ban, a so-called trigger law — designed to go into effect after the Supreme Court overruled Roe v. Wade in June — bans all abortions from the moment of conception.
It also makes performing abortions a felony punishable by up to five years in prison.
The other ban prohibits abortions after fetal cardiac activity is detected, which generally occurs around six weeks’ gestation, before most women even know they’re pregnant.
Neither ban allows exceptions in cases of rape or incest. The only exception is if the mother’s life is in danger.
An injunction preventing enforcement of the bans was issued June 30 and then extended on July 22 by a judge while a lawsuit filed by Planned Parenthood and EMW Women’s Surgical Center — abortion providers in Louisville — plays out.
But on Monday evening, Judge Larry Thompson granted an emergency request filed by State Attorney General Daniel Cameron’s office to reinstate the two laws.
In his ruling, Thompson said that although the constitutionality of the statutes has not yet been determined, “a statute carries with it the presumption of constitutionality” in Kentucky.
“I appreciate the court’s decision to allow Kentucky’s pro-life laws to take effect while we continue to vigorously defend the constitutionality of these important protections for women and unborn children across the Commonwealth,” Cameron tweeted.
Cameron’s office did not immediately return ABC News’ request for comment.
Abortion rights supporters have decried the ruling. In a statement, Rebecca Gibson, CEO of Planned Parenthood Great Northwest, Hawaii, Alaska, Indiana, Kentucky, called the decision a “devastating day for all Kentuckians.”
“Abortion is essential health care, and it is irresponsible and dangerous to prevent people from accessing the care they need,” she said. “Make no mistake — this ban goes beyond abortion. It is about who has power over you, who has the authority to make decisions for you, and who can control how your future is going to be.”
Gibson continued, “But it is my promise to the people of Kentucky that Planned Parenthood will never back down. We will always be here for you.”
The ACLU of Kentucky, which is representing EMW Women’s Surgical Center in the lawsuit, said the clinic will stop providing abortion care while the case in ongoing.
The organization also said in a tweet it will be appealing the decision to the state’s Supreme Court on Tuesday, writing, “We won’t stop fighting for your right to make the best decisions for yourself because no person should ever be forced to remain pregnant against their will.
