(NEW YORK) — Early in the pandemic, scientists and public health experts leaned on their experience with other viruses to make predictions about COVID-19, hopeful that when enough people developed immunity, the virus would be stopped in its tracks.
But in the years that followed, and even after the introduction of highly effective vaccines, vaccine scientists and public health experts interviewed by ABC News realized COVID-19 is unlikely to completely disappear.
Although herd immunity through widespread vaccination can be a successful strategy for certain viruses, such as those that cause smallpox and polio, scientists no longer consider it an appropriate management strategy for the virus that causes COVID-19, these experts said.
Herd immunity refers to a situation where a virus can’t spread because it keeps encountering people who are resistant to it. As a result, a small number of people who lack resistance can still be protected by the “herd” of resistant people around them, because the virus is less likely to spread to them.
But herd immunity depends on some hidden assumptions. First, that resistant people stay resistant. Second, that resistant (or vaccinated) people cannot transmit the virus. Scientists learned over the past two years that these assumptions do not hold for COVID-19.
Vaccine scientists and public health experts said herd immunity isn’t realistic for COVID-19 because of what we’ve learned about the virus itself.
Chiefly, immunity wanes relatively quickly, and vaccinated people can still transmit the virus, especially when confronted with rapidly evolving new variants. Meanwhile, human behavior has been hard to predict, with a slower-than-hoped vaccine rollout, and constant changes in social distancing hampering scientists’ ability to anticipate and prepare for the future.
Lessons learned about the virus itself
Rarely does a vaccine offer total and complete protection against infection. On the one hand, tetanus shots can stay durable for over 30 years. But for COVID-19, both infection- and vaccine-induced immunity wanes over time.
“When you get a vaccine, it induces two types of immune response,” Dr. Paul Offit, Director of the Vaccine Education Center at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, told ABC News. “One response is to make antibodies, which last three to six months. Antibodies can protect against even mild disease.”
Antibodies are proteins that bind to virus particles to inactivate them. They also help prevent people from transmitting the active virus to others since they can bind the virus before it gets to someone new.
Antibody-based immunity against mild disease wanes after three to six months. However, immunity against severe disease remains because of the second immune response.
“The second response is to make memory B and T cells, which are longer-lived,” Offit said.
Memory cells tend to lay dormant and need a trigger before they start generating antibodies.
The virus that causes COVID-19 has a short incubation period. Most infected people become contagious within the first few days, long before memory cells activate to make antibodies.
Since memory cells eventually act about two weeks in, infections typically won’t progress beyond mild illness. But by then, many folks will have transmitted the virus to others.
“All the vaccines still provide robust protection against severe disease,” Dr. Dan Barouch, virologist and immunologist at Harvard Medical school, told ABC News. “None of the vaccines do a very good job at preventing infection.”
Lessons learned about human behavior
Fewer than 70% of Americans are fully vaccinated two years after vaccines became available. Worldwide, many countries have even worse vaccine coverage.
Leaving reservoirs of unvaccinated people is like leaving flammable material around a forest fire. With plenty of fuel to feed it, the fire keeps burning. Every new infection is a chance for the virus to grow and mutate. Some mutations could confer vaccine resistance.
“Currently, the vaccine and boosters are free […] and accessible through mass public vaccination sites,” Azra Behlim, PharmD, MBA, Associate Vice President of Pharmacy Sourcing & Program Services at Vizient, a health care services company, told ABC News.
Going forward, things may shift toward charging a fee, like for other vaccines.
“[Federal] decisions […] on whether or not to extend provisions on the COVID Relief bill will impact whether this shift will take place now or at a later date,” Behlim said.
Experts speculate that real herd immunity could happen if everyone received vaccines every three to six months, so antibodies never waned. But the logistics of vaccine rollouts and booster fatigue concerns make that impossible.
“The only reasonable goal of this vaccine is to prevent serious illness,” Offit said, noting the vastly lower death and hospitalization rates now that more Americans are vaccinated.
As experts shift away from herd immunity to the prevention of severe illness, they say social distancing policies will need to be determined at the local level.
But social distancing policies use assumptions about human behavior, not just virus behavior, experts said.
“We have a snapshot of what happened in time, but as people’s behaviors change, those assumptions become less valid and the models tend to erode,” Dr. John Brownstein, ABC News contributor and chief innovation officer at Boston Children’s Hospital, said.
If more virulent and contagious variants appear, epidemiology models will have to change fast.
Genevieve Yang, M.D., Ph.D., is a psychiatry resident in New York City and a contributor to the ABC News Medical Unit.
(SAN DIEGO) — Lt. Richard Bullock, a U.S. Navy pilot, was killed in a plane crash in California on Friday, the Navy said on Monday.
“The Navy mourns this tragic loss alongside the family, friends and shipmates of Lt. Bullock,” Navy officials said in a statement.
Bullock was killed when his F/A-18E Super Hornet fighter jet crashed near Trona, California, at about 2:30 p.m. local time on Friday, the Navy said.
He had been flying a routine training mission when his plane went down in a “remote, unpopulated area,” the Navy said. No civilians were injured in the crash, officials said.
Recovery efforts are ongoing, with Navy officials and local authorities at the scene of the crash.
ABC News’ Marilyn Heck, Matt Seyler and Brian Reiferson contributed to this report.
Illustration by Rafael Henrique/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images
(WASHINGTON) — D.C. Health has reported the first positive orthopox case in a resident who recently traveled to Europe, and it sent samples to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to test for monkeypox, the agency said Sunday.
The patient is isolating and doesn’t pose a risk to the public, and the agency is monitoring close contacts, it said in a release.
The orthopox family of viruses includes monkeypox, D.C. Health said.
There are currently 25 total confirmed monkeypox/orthopoxvirus cases in the U.S. as of Friday, according to the latest CDC data.
The first case of monkeypox in the U.S. this year was reported in Massachusetts.
The incubation period from the time a person is exposed to when symptoms first appear can be anywhere from five to 21 days, according to the World Health Organization.
Typically, the disease begins with a fever, headache, fatigue, chills and muscle aches. Unlike smallpox, however, monkeypox also causes swollen lymph nodes.
(NEW YORK) — Russian President Vladimir Putin’s “special military operation” into neighboring Ukraine began on Feb. 24, with Russian forces invading from Belarus, to the north, and Russia, to the east. Ukrainian troops have offered “stiff resistance,” according to U.S. officials.
The Russian military has since launched a full-scale ground offensive in eastern Ukraine’s disputed Donbas region, capturing the strategic port city of Mariupol and securing a coastal corridor to the Moscow-annexed Crimean Peninsula.
Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern:
Jun 05, 3:39 pm
Russian missiles target Kyiv
After five weeks of relative calm in Kyiv, Russian rockets hit Ukraine’s capital city on Sunday as Russian President Vladimir Putin warned of strikes on “new targets” if the United States goes through with plans to supply Ukraine with longer-range missiles.
Ukrainian Deputy Minister of Defense Hanna Maliar said the war is still in its “hot phase” and “capturing Kyiv is still Russia’s main goal.”
An ABC News crew visited Kyiv’s Darnytskyy district, where several Russian cruise missiles slammed into a railway repair plant. One building was still on fire when the ABC News crew arrived. Nearby, another missile strike left a creater on a cement path.
It took hours before Ukrainian authorities permitted media access to the site, saying the area needed to be cleared for safety first.
The Russians claimed the attack in Darnystskyy destroyed military vehicles and armaments. Ukrainian officials said the missiles hit a railway repair plant where no tanks were stored.
Speaking on Russian TV on Sunday, Putin issued a warning to the West on supplying the Ukrainians with high-powered rocket systems. He said if the West carried through with it, Russia would hit “new targets they had not attacked before.”
Jun 05, 7:05 am
Putin warns of strikes if West supplies longer-range missiles
President Vladimir Putin warned that Russian forces would strike new targets if the West began supplying Ukraine with longer-range missiles.
“But if they [missiles] are actually delivered, we will draw appropriate conclusions and apply our own weapons, which we have in sufficient quantities to carry out strikes on targets we aren’t striking yet,” Putin told Rossyia 1 TV Channel in an interview on Sunday.
-ABC News’ Tanya Stukalova and Tomek Rolski
Jun 03, 6:17 pm
Driver killed, 2 journalists injured in eastern Ukraine
Two Reuters journalists were injured and their driver killed in an attack in eastern Ukraine Friday, Reuters said.
Photographer Alexander Ermochenko and cameraman Pavel Klimov were traveling into Sievierodonetsk when they came under fire on a Russian-held part of the road, according to Reuters. Klimov was treated for an arm fracture and Ermochenko for a small shrapnel wound at a nearby hospital.
Their driver, who has not been identified, had been assigned to Reuters by Russia-backed forces.
“Reuters extends its deepest sympathies to the family of the driver for their loss,” a Reuters spokesperson said in a statement.
Jun 03, 12:39 pm
EU issues latest package of sanctions
The European Union announced a new package of sanctions targeting Russia on Friday. The EU is banning all sea transfers of crude oil from Russia after a six-month transitory period, to allow for the market to adjust.
The EU will also ban imports (sea transfers) of refined petroleum products from Russia, after an eight-month transitory period.
The EU also added 65 new individuals to its sanctions list, including retired Olympic gymnast Alina Kabaeva. She became chair of the board of the National Media Group and previously sat as a deputy in Russia’s State Duma.
Kabaeva was sanctioned by the U.K. on May 13, which said she is alleged to have a close personal relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin, but has not been sanctioned by the U.S.
Jun 03, 12:17 pm
Marriott suspends all operations in Russia
Marriott International announced Friday that it will suspend all its operations in Russia, after operating there for 25 years, due to the conflict in Ukraine.
It said the suspension comes as newly announced U.S., U.K. and EU restrictions will make it impossible for it to operate or franchise hotels in Russia.
Marriott closed its corporate office in Moscow and all upcoming hotels and future developments and investments were paused on March 10.
The company also announced it has given $1 million in disaster relief funds for associates and their families who have been directly affected by the war. Lodging is being offered to refugees from Ukraine at 85 hotels in neighboring countries.
Jun 03, 7:50 am
Russia now controls over 90% of Luhansk region
Russia now controls over 90% of eastern Ukraine’s Luhansk Oblast and “is likely to complete control in the next two weeks,” the U.K. Ministry of Defense said Friday in an intelligence update.
“Russia is now achieving tactical success in the Donbas. Russian forces have generated and maintained momentum and currently appear to hold the initiative over Ukrainian opposition,” the ministry said. “Russia has achieved these recent tactical successes at significant resource cost, and by concentrating force and fires on a single part of the overall campaign.”
Russia has been unable to advance its other fronts or axes, “all of which have transitioned to the defensive,” according to the ministry. In fact, the ministry noted, none of the strategic objectives of Moscow’s original plan have been achieved.
Russian forces failed to achieve their initial objectives to seize Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, and other major cities.
“Staunch Ukrainian resistance and the failure to secure Hostomel airfield in the first 24 hours led to Russian offensive operations being repulsed,” the ministry said. “Following the failure of the initial plan, through false planning assumptions and poor tactical execution, Russia adapted its operational design to focus on the Donbas.”
Russian forces are now battling Ukrainian troops for control of the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine, which comprises Luhansk and Donetsk oblasts.
“In order for Russia to achieve any form of success will require continued huge investment of manpower and equipment, and is likely to take considerable further time,” the ministry added.
Jun 03, 5:49 am
100 days of war
Friday marked the 100th day since Russian forces invaded neighboring Ukraine.
In a statement, the Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs described the “full-scale invasion” as a “continuation of Russia’s aggressive actions it unleashed 8 years ago by occupying Crimea and parts of territories of Donetsk and Luhansk regions.”
“Today, our people defend not only their right to exist and live in an independent state, but the security of Europe and the whole democratic world,” the ministry said. “Every day our defenders, at the cost of their own lives, bravely repel Russia’s war machine and fight for freedom and peaceful future of the continent.”
“For 100 days of war, the Kremlin has failed to reach its main goal — conquest of Ukraine,” the ministry added. “Instead, Russia has become the most sanctioned state in the world, and its activities within international organizations and participation in international events have been significantly limited or stopped. The Ukrainian army is bravely holding the line and has liberated territories in a number of regions. Ukraine is determined to have a complete victory over the Russian invader.”
The ministry thanked the “dozens of countries around the world who provide significant support” to Ukraine. It also called on the international community to support the establishment of a special tribunal to investigate alleged war crimes committed by Russian forces in Ukraine.
“In order to stop Russia’s crimes against the Ukrainian people, destruction of our economy and blackmail of the whole world by famine, consistent support for Ukraine should continue. Assistance to our state today is the best investment in peace and sustainable development of all mankind,” the ministry said. “The main pillars for our victory remain unchanged: maximum sanction pressure on Russia, deliveries of necessary weapons and granting Ukraine the status of candidate on the way to full-fledged EU membership.”
Meanwhile, Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Maria Zakharova applauded progress that’s been made in the so-called special military operation in Ukraine.
“The special military operation will be continued until all of its objectives declared by the Russian administration, including denazification and demilitarization of Ukraine, are achieved,” Zakharova said at a press briefing Friday. “A lot has been done in this area: militants of the Azov nationalistic formation have surrendered in Mariupol and the liberation of Donbas has been consistently carried out.”
Jun 02, 1:34 pm
Russia controls about 20% of Ukraine’s territory, Zelenskyy says
Russia now controls over 46,300 square miles of Ukraine, which accounts for about 20% of Ukraine’s territory, according to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
Since Russia’s invasion began, Russian forces have gained control of over 16,602 square miles, or roughly 7% of Ukraine’s territory — an area that’s comparable to the size of the Netherlands, Zelenskyy said Thursday in a speech to the Chamber of Deputies of Luxembourg. Combined with the territory from Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014 and the war in the Donbas region, Russia’s control of Ukraine now accounts for 20% of its territory, he said.
-ABC News’ Christine Theodorou
Jun 02, 6:35 am
Ukrainian first lady sits down for exclusive interview with ABC News: ‘Don’t get used to our pain’
Since the start of Russia’s invasion, the Ukrainian first lady has been in hiding with her two children. A difficult question her 9-year-old son keeps asking is when the war will end, Olena Zelenska said in an exclusive interview with ABC News.
“Unfortunately, I don’t think any Ukrainian would be able to answer that question,” Zelenska told Good Morning America co-anchor Robin Roberts in her first televised solo interview since the invasion began.
In discussing the state of the conflict nearly 100 days after Russian President Vladimir Putin launched a “special military operation” in Ukraine, Zelenska said that conceding territory to Russia won’t stop the war.
“You just can’t concede … parts of your territory. It’s like conceding a freedom,” Zelenska, 44, said in the interview, airing on Good Morning America Thursday. “Even if we would consider territories, the aggressor would not stop at that. He would continue pressing, he would continue launching more and more steps forward, more and more attacks against our territory.”
Jun 02, 4:34 am
Russia takes most of key city in Donbas
Russian forces have taken control of most of Sieverodonetsk in eastern Ukraine, the U.K. Ministry of Defense said Thursday in an intelligence update.
“The main road into the Sieverodonetsk pocket likely remains under Ukrainian control but Russia continues to make steady local gains, enabled by a heavy concentration of artillery,” the ministry said. “This has not been without cost, and Russian forces have sustained losses in the process.”
Sieverodonetsk, an industrial hub, is the largest city still held by Ukrainian troops in the contested Donbas region of Ukraine’s east, which comprises the self-proclaimed republics in Luhansk and Donetsk oblasts.
“Crossing the Siverskyy Donets River — which is a natural barrier to its axes of advance –- is vital for Russian forces as they secure Luhansk Oblast and prepare to switch focus to Donetsk Oblast,” the ministry added. “Potential crossing sites include between Sieverodonetsk and the neighbouring town of Lysychansk; and near recently-captured Lyman. In both locations, the river line likely still remains controlled by Ukrainian forces, who have destroyed existing bridges.”
Sievierodonetsk and Lysychansk are the last major cities in the Luhansk area still controlled by Ukraine.
“It is likely Russia will need at least a short tactical pause to re-set for opposed river crossings and subsequent attacks further into Donetsk Oblast, where Ukrainian armed forces have prepared defensive positions,” the ministry added. “To do so risks losing some of the momentum they have built over the last week.”
Jun 01, 9:27 pm
Ukraine’s first lady tells ABC News that giving up land is ‘like conceding a freedom’
In an exclusive interview with ABC News, Ukrainian first lady Olena Zelenska spoke about the state of the ongoing conflict with Russia and where the Ukrainian people currently stand as a country.
In her first televised solo interview since the invasion began, Zelenska, 44, told Good Morning America co-anchor Robin Roberts that conceding territory to Russia won’t stop the war.
“You just can’t concede…parts of your territory. It’s like conceding a freedom,” Zelenska said. “Even if we would consider territories, the aggressor would not stop at that. He would continue pressing, he would continue launching more and more steps forward, more and more attacks against our territory.”
The interview with Zelenska will air Thursday, June 2, on Good Morning America and across ABC News. GMA airs at 7 a.m. ET on ABC.
(OWO, Nigeria) — Dozens of people are feared to have died after gunmen attacked a church in Nigeria, a U.S. official briefed on the massacre told ABC News.
An explosion and attackers armed with guns killed dozens of people and injured many more at the St. Francis Catholic Church in Nigeria’s Ondo State on Sunday, government officials reported.
At least 50 people, including several children, were killed in the attack, The Associated Press reported, citing local officials.
The explosion occurred outside the church during Mass celebrating Pentecost Sunday, followed by gunmen storming the church and shooting sporadically, officials said. The assailants also killed passersby who were hit by stray bullets.
Nigerian authorities vowed to “hunt” the gunmen down and “make them pay,” Governor of Nigeria’s Ondo State Arakunrin Oluwarotimi Akeredolu said in a statement.
Akeredolu is “shocked” and “deeply saddened by the unprovoked attack and killing of innocent people,” according to the statement.
“The vile and satanic attack is a calculated assault on the peace-loving people of Owo Kingdom who have enjoyed relative peace over the years,” he said. “It is a black Sunday in Owo. Our hearts are heavy. Our peace and tranquility have been attacked by the enemies of the people. This is a personal loss, an attack on our dear state.”
State security agencies have been deployed to the community, according to a statement by the Catholic Diocese of Ondo, Nigeria. Priests and bishops in the parish have are safe, the diocese said.
Akeredolu will travel to Ondo State in the coming days, he said, urging the community to remain “calm and vigilant.”
“We shall never bow to the machinations of heartless elements in our resolves to rid our state of criminals,” he said.
(LONDON) — After four days of celebrations, Queen Elizabeth II’s Platinum Jubilee ended with a surprise appearance by the queen on the balcony of Buckingham Palace.
The 96-year-old queen, dressed in a green coat and hat, white gloves and her signature pearls, stood on the balcony alongside her oldest son and heir to the throne, Prince Charles, and his wife Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall.
Directly to their left were the future heirs, Prince William and his son, Prince George, 8, and the rest of the Cambridge family, including Kate, Duchess of Cambridge, and Princess Charlotte, 7, and Prince Louis, 4.
The queen was absent from many of her Platinum Jubilee celebrations but traveled from Windsor Castle to Buckingham Palace Sunday to be there for the finale.
As members of her family and the thousands of people gathered outside of the palace sang “God Save the Queen,” Elizabeth stood and watched, appearing to take it all in.
Before she and her family left the balcony, the queen gave her famous royal wave.
It was the same wave she gave 70 years ago at her coronation on June 2, 1953.
On that day, the newly-crowned Queen Elizabeth II stood on the palace balcony alongside her husband, Prince Philip, who died last year at age 99, and their two children at the time, Prince Charles and Princess Anne.
The queen was 27-years-old when she became queen following the death of her father, King George VI, on Feb. 6, 1952.
Elizabeth — who now has four children, eight grandchildren and 12 great-grandchildren — is the first British monarch in history to reach a Platinum Jubilee.
On Sunday, the queen shared a written thank you message to mark the end of her jubilee celebrations.
“When it comes to how to mark seventy years as your Queen, there is no guidebook to follow. It really is a first. But I have been humbled and deeply touched that so many people have taken to the streets to celebrate my Platinum Jubilee,” she wrote. “While I may not have attended every event in person, my heart has been with you all; and I remain committed to serving you to the best of my ability, supported by my family.”
“I have been inspired by the kindness, joy and kinship that has been so evident in recent days, and I hope this renewed sense of togetherness will be felt for many years to come,” the queen continued. “I thank you most sincerely for your good wishes and for the part you have all played in these happy celebrations.”
The queen signed her message with her first name, Elizabeth, followed by the letter R, which stands for Regina, the Latin word for queen.
(WASHINGTON) — President Joe Biden’s administration is working to fortify the economy amid steep inflation with efforts to shore up the supply chain and “invest in the capacity, both physical and human, of our economy to keep up with demand,” Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said Sunday.
“The president has made clear inflation is his top economic priority, and he’s laid out a very clear strategy for doing that,” Buttigieg told “This Week” anchor George Stephanopoulos.
Buttigieg said the administration will “continue to take the steps that are both on the price side and on the growth side to keep our economy strong.”
A new ABC News/Ipsos poll shows the economy and inflation are top of mind for voters ahead of the 2022 midterms. Only 37% of Americans approve of Biden’s handling of the economic recovery, according to the poll.
The current inflation rate is at 8.3%, according to the most recent data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. An updated number will be released on Friday.
Buttigieg said on “This Week” that the president has proposed “a number of things” to help improve the economy that could be passed by Congress, including lowering the costs of insulin, child care and housing.
These measures “would make a difference no matter what’s happening macroeconomically,” Buttigieg argued. “We would make life easier for Americans who are facing these economic question marks.”
Gas prices — at a record-high after increasing for months — are also a concern. Heading into the summer travel season, the current nationwide average is about $4.84 per gallon.
About two months ago, Biden announced plans to release 1 million barrels of oil per day from the strategic petroleum reserve, saying at the time that he expected this to bring down gas prices.
But Stephanopoulos on Sunday pressed Buttigieg, saying the move “hasn’t made any difference at all.” He asked: “Was that a failure?”
“I don’t think it’s correct to say it hasn’t made any difference at all,” Buttigieg responded. “This is an action that helped to stabilize global oil prices.”
“The action the president took around ethanol, introducing additional flexibility there, that’s having an effect on prices in the Midwest,” he continued. “But we also know that the price of gasoline is not set by a dial in the Oval Office. And when an oil company is deciding, hour by hour, how much to charge you for a gallon of gas, they’re not calling the administration to ask what they should do. They’re doing it based on their goal of maximizing their profits.”
In early April, oil executives testified before Congress, disputing the argument that they are price gouging consumers. They claimed the situation is complex and that in the near term, increasing the supply of oil and natural gas could help.
Amid an increase in gun violence and several recent mass shootings, the president has also renewed his call for new gun control legislation, which has long been resisted by congressional Republicans who say it would violate gun rights. In remarks delivered Thursday night, Biden urged raising the age to buy assault weapons to 21, strengthening background checks, banning high-capacity magazines and other measures.
Stephanopoulos asked Buttigieg, former mayor of South Bend, Indiana, “If you were still mayor of South Bend right now, what would you be doing?”
“We have a horrific scourge of gun violence in this country,” Buttigieg said.
As mayor, he explained, he would do what he could on the local level. “But you’re also looking at Washington to say, ‘Will anything be different this time?'”
“Will we actually acknowledge the reasons why we are the only country, the only developed country where this happens on a routine basis?” Buttigieg said. “And the idea that us being the only developed country where this happens routinely — especially in terms of the mass shootings — is somehow a result of the design of the doorways on our school buildings is the definition of insanity, if not the definition of denial.”
(COLUMBIA, S.C.) — South Carolina’s Tom Rice was one of 10 House Republicans who voted to impeach former President Donald Trump for inciting the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.
Now, as Rice fights an uphill battle for his political life in the heart of Trump country, he is standing by that choice — calling it “the conservative vote” in an interview with ABC News Chief Washington Correspondent Jonathan Karl that aired Sunday on “This Week.”
“I did it then. And I would do it again tomorrow,” Rice said.
Rice said Trump deserved to be impeached for potentially endangering former Vice President Mike Pence and his family at the Capitol and not acting more quickly to stop the deadly riot as it unfolded last year.
“When he watched the Capitol, the ‘People’s House,’ being sacked, when he watched the Capitol Police officers being beaten for three or four hours and lifted not one thing or to stop it — I was livid then and I’m livid today about it,” Rice recalled. “And it was very clear to me I took an oath to protect the Constitution.”
Rice said Trump deserved to be impeached for potentially endangering former Vice President Mike Pence and his family at the Capitol and not acting more quickly to stop the deadly riot as it unfolded last year.
“When he watched the Capitol, the ‘People’s House,’ being sacked, when he watched the Capitol Police officers being beaten for three or four hours and lifted not one thing or to stop it — I was livid then and I’m livid today about it,” Rice recalled. “And it was very clear to me I took an oath to protect the Constitution.”
He also warned his party against rallying around the former president if Trump seeks the Oval Office again, as Trump has often hinted.
“I think it will hurt us,” Rice said. “We’ll get painted more in the corner of extremism, they’ll try to label us as extremist. And he’ll feed that.”
Rice criticized Republicans, including GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy, of California, for quickly embracing Trump in the weeks after the Capitol attack.
He declined to say whether McCarthy should be speaker if Republicans win back the House in November.
“I’m not gonna answer that one right now,” he told ABC’s Karl. “We’ll see what happens.”
Rice praised Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., who also voted to impeach Trump and now serves as the vice chair of the Jan. 6 committee, calling her a “real Republican.” Like Rice, Cheney drew Trump’s wrath for criticizing him and is contending with her own primary challenge.
“She’d be a great speaker,” Rice said. “She is very conservative and I think she’s a fearless leader.”
But before November, Rice needs to defend his seat in Congress on June 14, when he’ll face off against six other candidates — including Trump-endorsed state Rep. Russell Fry — for the Republican nomination.
The crowded field makes it unlikely that any of the candidates will win more than 50% of the vote and avoid a runoff later this month between the top two finishers, Jerry Rovner, the Republican party chairman in Rice’s district, told ABC News.
Rovner, who is officially neutral in the primary but critical of Rice’s position on impeachment, said Rice’s vote could be a “major problem with a lot of constituents” given Trump’s popularity in the area.
“He could vote 800 times the way they [want him to] vote, but the one thing he voted on that got the press, they were very upset about,” Rovner said of Rice. “And that’s really what it comes down to.”
Rice’s balancing act was on full display at a recent forum in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, where some voters who had previously supported him walked out when he defended his impeachment vote.
“He’s a traitor, and I just don’t trust him,” Lyne Vail told ABC News. “If you can’t back your party, he’s not going to back you or me.”
Billy Zevgolis, a Myrtle Beach businessman and undecided voter, said he also disagreed with Rice’s impeachment vote.
“Right now, Trump is our guy,” he told ABC News. “I don’t like his personality, but his politics are right on the money. His values are aligned with mine.”
Rice hopes he can convince enough voters to overlook his stance on Trump’s impeachment even if they don’t agree with it. He could also benefit from the state’s open primaries, which allow Democrats and independents to vote in the GOP race.
Even if he loses, Rice has “absolutely” no regrets, he said.
“You know that, like your obituary, the first sentence is going to be ‘Tom Rice, who was a Republican member of Congress, voted to impeach Donald Trump,’” Karl told him.
“So be it,” he said. “I’ll wear it like a badge. So be it.”
(PHILADELPHIA) — Three people were killed and 12 others were injured when “several active shooters” opened fire at a crowded intersection in Philadelphia’s South Street entertainment district late Saturday night — one of a string of mass shootings that erupted across the country over the weekend, officials said.
The Philadelphia shooting was one of at least five across the nation involving four or more victims in a violent 27-hour span, including one that left three people dead and 11 injured in Chattanooga, Tennessee, another in which three people were killed at a graduation party in Socorro, Texas, and yet another that left a 14-year-old girl dead and eight people injured at a strip mall in Phoenix, Arizona, according to the Gun Violence Archive, a website that tracks shootings across the nation.
In total, nine people were killed and 38 injured in the five shootings.
The Philadelphia shooting erupted just before midnight at the busy intersection of Third and South streets.
Inspector D.F. Pace of the Philadelphia Police Department said hundreds of people were milling about the area when the shooting caused a panic and sent people running in all directions, some diving behind cars for cover.
“There were hundreds of individuals just enjoying South Street, as they do every single weekend, when the shooting broke out,” Pace told reporters.
Philadelphia Police Commissioner Danielle Outlaw said at a press conference Sunday afternoon that a police officer responding to gunshots in the area witnessed a man firing a gun into a crowd and attempted to detain him. Outlaw said the officer fired at the armed man three times before losing the assailant in the crowd.
Outlaw said investigators believe the officer shot the gunman, who is still being sought.
No arrests have been announced. Investigators are combing through security video in hopes of identifying the suspects and determining a motive for the shooting.
Outlaw the shooting apparently started during a physical confrontation between two people, including one of the people killed in the incident.
“These individuals eventually began firing at one another with both being struck, one fatally,” Outlaw said.
The names of the three people killed in the episode — a 34-year-old man, a 27-year-old woman and a 22-year-old man — were not immediately released. Outlaw said two of the slain victims were innocent bystanders as well as many of those who were wounded.
Police recovered two guns from the scene, including one with an extended magazine, Pace said.
Seven of the 12 wounded victims were taken to Thomas Jefferson University Hospital, overwhelming the emergency room staff and prompting 911 dispatchers to direct first responders to take additional victims to two other area hospitals.
Outlaw said the injured victims are 17 to 69 years old and their conditions ranged from stable to critical.
“This is beyond unacceptable,” said Outlaw, who asked any witnesses of the shooting to contact police.
The mass shooting came on the heels of a deadly Memorial Day weekend in Philadelphia, in which more than 40 people were shot in separate incidents across the city, including a 9-year-old boy and his father returning to their home from a holiday cookout, police said.
As of midnight Saturday, Philadelphia had recorded 211 homicides this year, 14 fewer than this time in 2021, a year that saw a record 562 homicides, according to Philadelphia Police Department crime statistics.
2nd mass shooting in Chattanooga in the last week
Chattanooga, Tennessee, police are investigating the city’s second mass shooting for the second weekend in a row after a barrage of shots from multiple gunmen early Sunday left three people dead and 11 injured, officials said.
The shooting occurred around 3 a.m. outside a bar downtown Chattanooga.
Chattanooga police Chief Celeste Murphy said multiple gunmen are suspected in the shooting. She said of the three people killed, two were shot to death and one was struck by a car fleeing the scene.
No arrests have been announced.
The incident follows a mass shooting that occurred in downtown Chattanooga on May 28 in which six teenagers were shot, including two who were critically injured.
14-year-old shot dead in Phoenix
The Phoenix shooting broke out around 1 a.m. local time Saturday at a strip mall in the northern part of the city where more than 100 people were attending a party, according to the Phoenix Police Department. A 14-year-old girl was fatally shot in the incident, two women suffered life-threatening injuries and another six victims, including a teenager, sustained non-life-threatening injuries, police said.
“I heard over a hundred gunshots going off,” a woman who witnessed the shooting told ABC affiliate station KNXV-TV in Phoenix.
She said that prior to the shooting, she heard cars doing burnouts and donuts in the street. Once the gunfire erupted, the witness said she saw people screaming and running in all directions.
“I, myself, was like hiding behind cars as the shots kept getting closer and closer,” the witness said.
Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego took to Twitter to voice her frustration over the surge in gun violence in her city and across the country, writing, “Seems we can’t go a day without another mass shooting.”
“Time has run out,” Gallego tweeted. “Change must happen now.”
4 shot, 2 fatally, in Mesa, Arizona
Two men were killed and two people were wounded in a shooting that occurred early Sunday outside a bar in Mesa, Arizona.
Sgt. Chuck Trapani of the Mesa Police Department said the shooting occurred around 2:30 a.m. outside The Lounge Soho. He said police went to the scene to investigate a report of gunshots and found two men shot in the parking lot. The victims were pronounced dead at the scene.
Trapani said officers searched the area and found two more wounded people, who were taken to area hospitals.
Trapani told KNXV that officers arriving on the scene saw a silver car speeding away and chased it. Police stopped the car and detained three occupants.
He said that while no guns were found in the car, a weapon was found along the path the vehicle fled.
No arrests have been announced.
5 teens shot at graduation party
Five teenagers were shot and wounded Saturday night at a graduation party in Socorro, Texas, a suburb of El Paso, according to police.
Socorro Police Chief David Burton said at a news conference that two teenagers were in critical condition.
Burton said that about 100 teenagers and young adults were attending a graduation party at a home when an individual began firing into the crowd.
He said the wounded victims ranged in age from 16 to 18.
Burton said different caliber shell casings were found at the scene, but police have not confirmed whether more than one shooter was involved.
“The initial investigation indicates this was a targeted attack,” Burton said. “There is no immediate threat to the public.”
No arrests have been announced.
The mass shootings followed President Joe Biden’s prime-time speech Thursday addressing the surge in gun violence across the nation, including the rampage at a Uvalde, Texas, elementary school on May 24 that left 19 students and two teachers dead, a racially-motivated massacre at a Buffalo, New York, supermarket that left 10 dead and three wounded, and a shooting Wednesday at a medical office in Tulsa, Oklahoma that in which a doctor and three other people were fatally shot.
Biden called for a federal ban on assault weapons and implored Congress act, saying, “We can’t fail the American people again.”
(HARRISBURG, Pa.) — Hedge fund manager David McCormick conceded the Republican Senate primary in Pennsylvania to celebrity TV Dr. Mehmet Oz.
McCormick announced the decision on Friday, cutting short a recount process of the May 17 contest.
“I am so proud of what we’ve accomplished this campaign,” McCormick said. “We saw a historic turnout in the Republican primary and I’m proud to say 419,000 or so Republican voters who put their faith in my campaign.”
The Pennsylvania primary was one of the most competitive races to watch so far this midterm election cycle. McCormick and Oz were separated by less than 1,000 votes on Election Day, triggering Pennsylvania law that a recount be conducted if a candidate’s margin of victory is 0.5% or less.
The recount began last week and needed to be completed by June 7. The final results were expected to be announced on June 8.
“We spent the last 17 days making sure that every Republican vote was counted in a way that would result in the will of Pennsylvania voters being fulfilled,” McCormick said as he conceded. “That’s what it’s all about, that is what this process is all about.”
“But it’s not clear to me, with the recount largely complete, that we have a nominee,” McCormick continued, “and today I called Mehmet Oz to congratulate him on his victory.”
McCormick said he’ll work to unite Republicans and Pennsylvania behind Oz ahead of the general election.
Oz said he is “tremendously grateful” for McCormick’s promise to help his campaign.
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Oz shook up the race in late 2021 with the announcement that he was joining the primary field. He then garnered the coveted endorsement of former President Donald Trump in April. Trump had urged Oz to declare victory over McCormick just the day after the May 17 primary, when it was too close to call.
Oz will face off against Pennsylvania Lt. Gov. John Fetterman, who easily won the Democratic nomination last month after suffering a stroke just days before the election.
The Pennsylvania seat, held by retiring Republican Sen. Pat Toomey, is viewed as one of the Democratic Party’s best chances to flip a seat in the 50-50 divided Senate.
Fetterman revealed Friday that he nearly died from the health episode, stating he ignored warning signs for years and “should have taken my health more seriously.” Fetterman underwent surgery on the same day as the Senate primary.
“It’s not something I’m proud of, but it is something I hope that others can learn from,” Fetterman said. “So please: listen to your body, and be aware of the signs. Because ignoring them — and avoiding the doctor because you might not like what they have to tell you — could cost you your life.”
Fetterman said it may take him some time before he’s back on the campaign trail, but that he’ll be “ready” for the November general election.
Oz said Friday, “Now that our primary is over, we will make sure that this U.S. Senate seat does not fall into the hands of the radical left, led by John Fetterman.”
