(WASHINGTON) — As the climate crisis has worsened, experts have put forth numerous solutions to curb greenhouse gas emissions and stop rising temperatures. Could shaming be one of them?
Recently, celebrities like Kylie Jenner, Taylor Swift and Drake have been getting flack on social media for how often they fly their private jets.
But criticism of these individuals for their jet use is not enough, some say. When global transportation came to a halt in 2020, total emissions of carbon dioxide dropped 7%, the reduction needed per year to achieve the Paris Agreement’s climate goals by 2030 — keeping global warming below 2 degrees Celsius from preindustrial levels and ideally limited to 1.5 degrees Celsius from preindustrial levels.
Climate scientists have long contended that highlighting individual actions, rather than those of wider industries that contribute to the vast majority of greenhouse gas emissions, is not the way to effectively mitigate climate change.
However, collective action across large scales can make a difference, experts say.
“You start influencing family members, coworkers and neighbors, and collectively that drives markets — that sets the social norms that tell us what society approves of,” Lise Van Susteren, a general and forensic psychiatrist who researched how climate change has affected the psychological health of young people, told ABC News.
The Inflation Reduction Act, which President Joe Biden signed this month, is one example of a collective action geared towards climate change. The bill includes billions of dollars in consumer incentives to buy energy efficient vehicles and appliances, as well as tax credits and other incentives for cleaner energy production.
How can people be influenced to address the climate crisis? Here is what other experts had to say:
People default to focusing on individual action
With the uptick in extreme weather events, such as devastating wildfires, deadly flooding and more intense hurricanes, people are beginning to feel more anxious, Elisa Aaltola, a senior researcher in philosophy at the University of Turku in Finland, who authored a study last year on whether climate shame could be used as a method of moral cultivation, told ABC News.
Naturally, that anxiety will force people to seek responsibility and locate the people who should change their actions, she said.
Because the issues surrounding climate change are so complex, especially the doom and gloom that accompanies an uncertain future, people tend to gravitate toward individual actions rather than the necessary systemic change, Renee Lertzman, the founder of climate activism platform Project InsideOut, told ABC News.
People concerned about the climate crisis should remember that these systems already in place were set up for them and they are not to blame, Astrid Caldas, a senior climate scientist at nonprofit Union of Concerned Scientists, told ABC News.
Empathy can be a constructive solution
For some people, depending on their temperament, current behaviors and general attitude toward the world, shaming might work effectively, Van Susteran said.
“When you are publicly shamed, what you are doing is you are confronting the fear that you will be ostracized,” she said.
But Lertzman believes that while shame can be productive in the short-term, it is difficult to base any kind of meaningful change and transformation on shame because it’ll eventually cause burnout.
“It takes us into an incredibly unproductive spiral,” which will then cause people on the receiving end to shut down and tune out, Lertzman said.
Beyond the shaming is the necessity for a space for people to be attuned and have empathy for other people’s lived experiences and identities.
“We need to openly and explicitly acknowledge the experience that people may be having — of vulnerability, of feeling destabilized, of feeling fear of feeling left out of the conversation, of feeling aggrieved, of feeling disenfranchised,” Lertzman said.
Who the shaming is directed at matters
In parts of Europe, the term “flight shame” was coined several years ago to shame ordinary people who are perceived to fly too much — or even just fly at all, Aaltola said.
The public discord has focused more and more on personal embarrassment regarding practices that could be contributing to the climate crisis, she said.
The criticism hurled at the A-listers is a result of the connection made linking the 1% and the climate crisis, Jennifer Jacquet, an associate professor of environmental studies at New York University, told ABC News. Flying on a private jet used to be a private, and now images of the conspicuous consumption of private jets are being plastered across social platforms, she said.
Focusing on those who have wealth and political power, as well as the corporations causing the vast majority of greenhouse gas emissions, can be effective, some experts say.
Celebrities, with their millions of followers, are in a unique position to serve as a catalyst for the climate movement, Christy Denckla, an assistant professor of social and behavioral sciences at Harvard University, told ABC News.
Recent targets of criticism have offered various defenses for their use of private jets.
Drake defended a series of short flights on his jet, writing on Instagram that the plane was just being moved for storage during those flights. “This is just them moving planes to whatever airport they are being stored at for anyone who was interested in the logistics … nobody takes that flight,” he wrote.
A spokesperson for Taylor Swift recently told Rolling Stone in response to the criticism, “Taylor’s jet is loaned out regularly to other individuals. To attribute most or all of these trips to her is blatantly incorrect.”
Kylie Jenner did not offer a public response after being criticized for posing in front of two jets with boyfriend Travis Scott.
ABC News could not immediately reach a representative for Jenner for comment.
But shaming works best when we don’t go and shame every person who does something that we deemed to be morally inadvisable,” Aaltola said.
Shame without solutions is fruitless
Discussions on celebrity extravagance should be leveraged as a conversation starter, experts say. The conversation should be on the impact of air travel, how to shift lifestyle changes to support a healthier environment and the complex dilemmas that would cause a wealthier individual to need to fly private.
The focus shouldn’t be on making the target feel terrible as a person but rather emphasizing what can be learned from the emotion — the “moral constructiveness” of shame, Aaltola said.
There’s a difference between shaming, leading by example and advocacy, Van Susteran said. Nuanced and sophisticated approaches that encourage unity, rather than shame, which provokes a primitive sense of survival, may be a better approach, she added.
Awareness of climate action psychology is needed
The cycle of transforming shame and guilt around the climate crisis to positivity can feel like “a bit of a swirl,” Lertzman said.
Massive change is often disruptive and unsettling, and people will need to learn how to navigate through the eventual lifestyle alterations needed to curb emissions, experts say.
One vital aspect of shame is the role it plays in defining humanity and how society wants to advance into the future, Aaltola said, adding that Western and industrialized nations tend to avoid the feeling of shame rather than viewing it as an educational tool.
“Shame comes with this benefit,” she said. “It can make us rethink who we are in relation to the rest of nature.”
(WASHINGTON) — First lady Jill Biden will end her COVID-19 isolation on Sunday after receiving two consecutive negative tests and quarantining for five days, the White House announced.
Her spokeswoman Elizabeth Alexander said in a statement that she will leave South Carolina and join President Joe Biden in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, where he is vacationing.
Jill Biden had previously tested positive for the coronavirus last week while vacationing in South Carolina with her husband. After becoming infected, she remained at a private residence after the president left the Palmetto State.
It does not appear that the first lady’s case was serious. She experienced cold-like symptoms Monday and was prescribed the antiviral treatment Paxlovid, her spokeswoman said. She was also able to join meetings via Zoom Thursday.
“She’s feeling well,” the president told ABC News last week.
He was considered a close contact of the first lady and, as such, started masking while indoors around others for 10 days starting from Jill Biden’s positive test. President Biden has since tested negative for COVID-19.
He recently recovered from COVID himself: He first tested positive on July 21 and experienced mild symptoms like a sore throat and cough. He too received Paxlovid and ultimately tested negative before experiencing a mild rebound infection and testing positive for a second time, sending him back into quarantine.
The president’s physician announced on Aug. 6 that he had again tested negative.
ABC News’ Justin Gomez and Molly Nagle contributed to this report.
(WASHINGTON) — GOP Rep. Liz Cheney, once a rising star in the Republican Party and considered a potential speaker of the House, told ABC News Chief Washington Correspondent Jonathan Karl she has no regrets about her political career, including her landslide primary election loss in Wyoming on Tuesday, saying she is now laser-focused on keeping Donald Trump out of the White House.
In an exclusive wide-ranging interview for ABC’s “This Week,” Cheney also discussed the FBI search at the former president’s Mar-a-Lago estate – calling the investigation a very serious development and saying she is “ashamed” at some of her Republican colleagues who have attacked the Justice Department and the FBI.
Cheney, who serves as vice chair of the Jan. 6 Select Committee investigating the Capitol attack — and speaking with Karl in the committee hearing room — also said she still hopes former Vice President Mike Pence testifies before the panel in the near future, adding that conversations with his legal team are ongoing.
Cheney ‘ashamed’ at Republican colleagues’ reaction to Mar-a-Lago search
During her sit-down interview with ABC’s Karl, Cheney weighed in on the FBI’s search executed at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence earlier this month and said she was ashamed that congressional Republicans had leapt to Trump’s defense and had accused the Justice Department of political malice.
“That’s a very serious thing. I think that when you think about the fact that we were in a position where the FBI, the Department of Justice, felt the need to execute a search warrant at the home of a former president — that’s a really serious thing for the nation,” she said.
The redacted copy of the search warrant released sent shockwaves through Washington, as it revealed the Justice Department was investigating the potential violation of at least three separate criminal statutes in its search of Mar a Lago, including obstruction of justice and one crime under the Espionage Act.
A property receipt accompanying the warrant shows agents seized multiple boxes of documents of various classifications, including one set referring to “classified/TS/SCI documents” (the acronym stands for top secret/sensitive compartmentalized information that not everyone with even top-secret clearance can view) and four other sets of top-secret documents.
Trump’s team has yet to take court action despite publicly trying to pressure the Justice Department to release the full affidavit underlying the warrant.
Trump in recent days has called for the “immediate release” of the affidavit while leveling various attacks at the FBI and Justice Department, while also demanding over his social media website that the documents be returned to him.
Following the raid, a growing list of Republicans tweeted, with some attacking the Justice Department and the FBI, including House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy.
He tweeted a statement that read, in part, “The Department of Justice has reached an intolerable state of weaponized politicization.”
“I was ashamed to hear Republicans immediately and reflexively attack the FBI agents who executed the search warrant,” Cheney said.
Cheney also accused Trump of releasing the unredacted search warrant to media organizations who then posted its contents without removing the names of the agents involved. Law enforcement agencies around the country are actively monitoring growing strains of angry online rhetoric and threats that have emerged in the wake of the raid.
“I was disgusted when I learned that President Trump had released the names of those agents, when he released the unredacted search warrant, and that has now caused violence,” Cheney said.
ABC News has not confirmed Cheney’s claim.
“We’ve seen threats of violence, the judge himself, his synagogue had to cancel services because of threats of violence. This is a really dangerous moment and to see the former president of the United States, my colleagues stoking the flames of that instead of saying, ‘We need to learn the facts. We need to learn the evidence we need to learn the information about what happened … I think that the American people see what hypocrisy that is and it’s dangerous hypocrisy,” Cheney said.
“I’ve seen no evidence that there was any political motivation,” Cheney added, in response to some of her Republican colleagues who have accused the DOJ of that.
A magistrate judge in Florida on Thursday said, despite Justice Department objections, he may seek to unseal portions of the affidavit.
After hearing in-person arguments on a request from a coalition of media outlets to make the affidavit public, the judge said he might decide that at least a portion of the affidavit could be unsealed with government redactions.
The Justice Department had urged the judge, Bruce Reinhart, to keep the affidavit fully under seal, arguing that if it were to be made public it could “cause significant and irreparable damage” to an ongoing criminal investigation involving highly classified materials related to national security.
“I think that will provide us additional information,” Cheney said. “It sounds to me from watching. The news reports that they’re acting responsibly in terms of determining what has to be redacted and, and what can be released. But it also seems to be the case that there were clearly ongoing efforts to get back wherever this information was, and that it was not presented, you know, that the former president was unwilling to give back these materials. Now, we will see, we’ll learn more,” Cheney said.
“It’s a really serious thing and I just think that for us as a party to be in a position where we’re reflexively attacking career law enforcement professionals in order to defend a former president who conducted himself the way this one did, is it’s really sad day for the party,” Cheney said.
“Could it be that his handling of government records, classified information — that that could be what brings Donald Trump down after all of this?” Karl asked.
“I mean, look, well, we’ll see. Everyone has an obligation and a responsibility. And, you know, clearly, the handling of classified information is something that’s really serious, so, I don’t know all of the aspects of why the search warrant was executed, certainly. But, you know, we’ll see as additional information comes out.”
Cheney hopes Pence will testify to Jan. 6 committee, possible Trump could be asked
Cheney told Karl that she hopes that former Vice President Mike Pence will testify before the Jan. 6 Select Committee in the near future.
Pence had indicated this week that he would consider testifying before the committee if he were invited to do so.
“We’ve been in discussions with his counsel,” Cheney said.
“Look, he played a critical role on January 6, if he had succumbed to the pressure that Donald Trump was putting on him, we would have had a much worse constitutional crisis. And I think that he has clearly, as he’s expressed, concerns about executive privilege, which, you know, I have tremendous respect. I think it’s, it’s, you know, hugely important constitutional issue in terms of separation of powers,” she said.
“I believe in executive privilege. I think it matters. But I also think that when the country has been through something, as grave as this was, everyone who has information has an obligation to step forward. So, I would hope that that he will do that,” Cheney said.
“So, you think we’ll see him here in September in this room before the committee?” Karl asked.
“I would hope that he will understand how important it is for the American people to know every aspect of the truth about what happened that day,” Cheney said.
Cheney was asked if Trump would be asked to testify and she indicated that it remains a possibility.
“I don’t want to make any announcements about that this morning. So, let me just leave it there,” she said.
“But it’s possible you would ask him, before wrapping up, to testify?” Karl pressed.
“Yes. I mean, I don’t — again, I don’t want to get in front of committee deliberations about that. I do think it’s very important, as I said in the first hearing or the second hearing, you know, his interactions with our committee will be under oath,” Cheney replied.
Cheney not concerned with Republican retribution
Cheney told Karl that she expects transcripts, records and other materials gathered by the committee over the course of its investigation will be made public.
“Yeah, it’s all public record. It will be it will be available publicly as our investigation wraps up and concludes,” Cheney said.
She said she will willingly appear if she is ever subpoenaed in the future should a Republican-led House choose to investigate members of the Jan. 6 Select Committee, which some Republicans have called for.
“If Kevin McCarthy or Jim Jordan, or any of the other individuals who are trying to investigate the committee, carry through on that threat, and issue a subpoena for me to appear, I will abide by that subpoena and I will welcome the opportunity to come and explain to them exactly what we found and the threat that Donald Trump poses to the country,” Cheney said.
“And I would say, you know, they ought to do the same. They are all completely shirking their obligations and their responsibilities to come and testify about what they know. And I think, again, that’s an abdication of their responsibility under the Constitution,” Cheney said.
Cheney: ‘No regrets’ about political career, primary loss
“I think that it was clear, really, from the beginning — the moment that I voted to impeach — that there were going to be potential political consequences,” Cheney told Karl of her vote to impeach Trump.
Cheney admitted that had she wanted to save her political career and her seat in the House — a seat she has held for nearly six years — it would have required something of her that she was unwilling to do: “[It] would have required embracing the lie about the election, would have required enabling that and I just simply wasn’t willing to do that. So, you know, at each moment, I knew that I had to do what was right,” Cheney said.
“And this wasn’t just losing a House seat. I mean, you were considered, you were in leadership, you were considered a future Speaker of the House, maybe even the next Speaker of the House. It’s a lot to give up. Any regrets?” Karl asked Cheney.
“No regrets,” Cheney replied.
“I feel I feel sad about where my party is. I feel sad about the way that too many of my colleagues have responded to what I think is a great moral test and challenge of our time — a great moment to determine whether or not people are going to stand up on behalf of the democracy, on behalf of our republic,” Cheney said.
“And so, it does make me sad that so many people have failed the test, but certainly no regrets. I mean, to me, there’s just never been any question about what was the right way to operate here and the right thing to do,” she added.
Following her election loss Tuesday, Cheney said she received a phone call from none other than the current president: Joe Biden.
“I did hear from President Biden. We had a very, very good talk — a talk about the importance of putting the country ahead of partisanship,” she said, adding that she had also heard from some of her Republican colleagues in Congress but she did not name them.
“I think that there are a number of my colleagues who have done the right thing. I would you know, put certainly those of us who voted to impeach in that category, a number of others who expressed the view that, you know, they’re supportive, they wish they would have done the right thing. And many others who, you know, have simply chosen another path,” Cheney said.
Of the nine other House Republicans who voted to impeach former President Trump in 2021 for his role in inciting an insurrection, Cheney said they will forever be bonded by that vote.
“I think that it is a bond. It’s a bond and we’ve talked about it, you know, we have a difference of opinion, differences of opinion among the 10 of us about a whole range of issues of other issues, but, the fact that we all made the decision we did and have faced consequences for that decision, will be a bond I would imagine forever,” she said.
Calls large portions of Republican Party who still support Trump ‘very sick’
“I think that clearly his hold is very strong among some portions of the Republican Party,” Cheney said, reflecting on her primary election loss.
“I think, one, it says that people continue to believe the lie, they continue to believe what he’s saying, which is very dangerous. I think it also tells you that large portions of our party, including the leadership of our party, both at the state level in Wyoming, as well as on a national level with the RNC, is very sick,” Cheney said.
“We really have got to decide whether or not we’re going to be a party based on substance and policy or whether we’re going to remain as so many of our party are today, in the grips of a dangerous former president,” she said.
Cheney doubled down on what she believes her principles are in the face of a Republican Party still in the grips of the former president and what she will continue to fight for as she considers her political future.
“What I’m fighting for is the Constitution. What I’m fighting for is the perpetuation of the Republic. What I’m fighting for is the rule of law — the fact that everybody’s got to abide by the rule of law. What I’m fighting for is the fact that elections have to matter and that when the election is over, and the courts have ruled and the electoral college is met, that the president of the United States has to respect the results of the election. What I’m fighting for is the principle that we have a peaceful transition of power, and that we don’t determine who rules based upon violence,” she said.
Highlights new effort to take down Trump
Cheney is hoping to turn her landslide loss in the primary into a nationwide crusade to keep Donald Trump out of the White House. She plans to launch a political organization in the coming weeks to educate the American people about ongoing threats to the country, and to mobilize a unified effort to oppose any Donald Trump campaign for president.
“First of all, obviously, we have tremendous work left to do on the select committee, tremendous work left to do as Wyoming’s representative in Congress. Also, I’m going to be very focused on working to ensure that we do everything we can not to elect election deniers,” Cheney said.
“I think that we’ve got election deniers that have been nominated for really important positions all across the country. And I’m going to work against those people. I’m going to work to support their opponents. I think it matters that much,” she said.
“And I’m also going to spend a lot of time doing everything I can to help educate the American people about what happened. And I think our hearings have been a tremendous contribution to that. And I think it’s really important for people you know, really across the political spectrum of all ages to understand and recognize why what happened after the last election can never happen again,” Cheney said.
Cheney still considering a 2024 presidential run and will likely decide after her tenure in the House is over
Cheney refused to provide further clarity on her own possible presidential run, simply saying that she is still weighing her options.
“I’m focused on this from the perspective of substance, and I really think the country faces grave threats and as I sort of go through finishing my work here in Congress over the next several months, and making a decision about how I can best help to ensure that we right our political ship, you know, I’ll make decisions about what comes next,” Cheney told Karl.
“You run for president because you believe you would be the best, the best candidate because you believe you’d be the best president United States. And so, any decision that I make about doing something that significant and that serious would be with the intention of winning and because I think I would be the best candidate,” she said.
Asked by Karl if she would run as an independent candidate,”I’m not going to go down that path anymore in terms of speculating – today,” she said with a laugh.
“I mean, look, I’m really very focused. We have a huge amount of work to do. You and I are sitting here in the Cannon Caucus room. We have a huge amount of work left to do with respect to the Select Committee, and I have really important work left to do representing Wyoming for the next several months and that that is really my focus. And I will make decisions about what comes next after that,” she said.
Cheney won’t support Trump in 2024, or fellow ‘election deniers’
“You told me a little over a year ago, that you didn’t think Donald Trump could win the Republican nomination again. You said there are millions and millions of Republicans that wouldn’t let that happen. Do you still believe that? I mean, right now he looks like the overwhelming front runner,” Karl asked Cheney.
“I think we have to make sure that he is not our nominee,” Cheney said.
“I believe in Republican policies, I believe if you think about where the country needs to go, what’s best for our nation, I believe in a strong national defense, certainly today more than ever. We need that to confront the threats we face. I believe in low taxes. I believe in limited government. I believe the family should be the center of our lives and our communities – those are traditional Republican values. And I believe that’s what we need going into the future,” Cheney said.
“I think that we have no chance at winning elections if we are in a position where our party has abandoned principle and abandoned value and abandoned fundamental fidelity of the Constitution in order to embrace a cult of personality. And I think that’s really dangerous for a whole bunch of reasons,” she said.
Cheney said Trump has created a movement that Americans must look beyond if the Republican Party is to survive.
“Donald Trump is certainly the center of the threat. And I think that you know, what he’s done and what he’s created is a movement on some level that is post truth. And I think that you know, certainly social media has added to that. But election denial, denying the fundamental function and principle – what is at the center of our constitutional republic is dangerous, broadly speaking, and he is certainly leading that effort, leading that movement,” Cheney said.
“Because we know precisely what he will do, because he has done it, you know, sending an armed mob here to the Capitol to try to overturn the results of an election. There’s just simply no way that the nation can, in my view, sustain itself if we excuse that and put him in a position of power again,” Cheney said.
“I think that as a nation, whether we’re Republicans or Democrats or independents, we all have to reject that,” Cheney said. “And I believe that there is a coalition of people across the party spectrum, who understand we’ve certainly seen it on our committee. We’ve seen it around the country, people who understand we can agree that there are certain issues we’re never going to agree on politically, but we have to come together, you know, cross those party lines, in order to protect ourselves against that kind of threat,” she said.
Cheney said she would find it difficult to support a future Republican presidential candidate who has aligned his or herself with Trump, pointing to Republicans Sens. Ted Cruz and Josh Hawley, and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, as examples.
“It would be very difficult,” Cheney said. “I think that a fundamental question for me in terms of whether or not someone is fit to be president, is whether they’ve abided by their constitutional obligations in the past.”
“I think certainly when you look at somebody like Josh Hawley, or somebody like Ted Cruz, both of whom know better, both of whom know exactly what the role of Congress is, in terms of our constitutional obligations with respect to presidential elections, and yet both of whom took steps that fundamentally threatened the constitutional order and structure in the aftermath of the last election. So, you know, in my view, they both have made themselves unfit for future office,” she said.
“DeSantis is somebody who is right now campaigning for election deniers. And I think that, you know, that is something that we’ve got to have real pause about. Either you fundamentally believe in and will support our constitutional structure, or you don’t,” she said.
Cheney slams McCarthy: ‘He’s been completely unfaithful to the Constitution’
Cheney said she will campaign against any Republican candidates who deny election results, including her colleagues in Congress like McCarthy.
Cheney and McCarthy have had a notably strained relationship since she was booted from House leadership in 2021 over her repeated criticisms of Trump. GOP Rep. Elise Stefanik of New York was her eventual replacement in leadership.
Karl asked Cheney, “Is the country better or worse off if Kevin McCarthy is the next speaker of the House?”
“Well, my views about Kevin McCarthy are very clear,” Cheney said. “The speaker of the House is the second in line for the presidency. It requires somebody who understands and recognizes their duty, their oath, their obligation and he’s been completely unfaithful to the Constitution and demonstrated a total lack of understanding of the significance and importance of the role of speaker, so I don’t believe he should be speaker of the House and I think that’s been very clear.”
“So, it sounds like that’s a yes, the country would be worse off if he were speaker?” Karl asked.
“I don’t believe he should be speaker of the House,” Cheney said.
(WAVERLY, Iowa) — Former Vice President Mike Pence continued to make his way through Iowa on Saturday, further fueling speculation he could be considering a 2024 presidential run.
Pence spoke at the Bremer County GOP Annual Summer Chill and Grill to advocate for Republican candidates on the ballot in November.
“In these 80 days, we need to remind the American people that we can have a strong nation, we can have secure borders, we can have a prosperous economy, we can defend all the God given liberties enshrined in our Constitution, but it will take Republican leadership at every level to do it,” Pence said in his speech.
His stop in Waverly, Iowa, comes after he spent the day at the Iowa State Fair on Friday, where he downplayed that his visit, known for bringing out presidential hopefuls, had anything to do with his 2024 ambitions.
“I’m in Iowa for one reason and one reason only, and that is that Iowa and America needs six more years of Senator Chuck Grassley,” he said.
Pence joined Grassley and other GOP leaders at the fair, running through thunderstorms and making stops at booths for the Iowa GOP and Iowa Pork Producers.
“I’ve been traveling all across the country and 100% of our focus has been on doing our part to win back the House, win back the Senate, elect and reelect Republican governors all across the country,” Pence said.
Pence didn’t completely shut the door on a presidential run, saying he would consider throwing his hat in the ring in the new year.
“After the first of the year, my family and I’ll do as we’ve always done, and that is reflect and pray on where we might next serve, where we might next contribute,” he said.
Pence’s role on Jan. 6 once again took the spotlight after he indicated this week he would consider testifying if the committee were to present a formal invitation.
“If they present a formal invitation for the committee, I’ve said we’ll give it due consideration, but we’ll do so reflecting on the unique responsibilities that I have to defend the prerogatives of my office as Vice President,” he said.
Pence also called out the committee for being “partisan” and said testifying in front of the committee would be unprecedented.
“While I’m disappointed with the partisan nature of the committee, if a formal invitation were presented to us, our attorneys have been clear that we will first review my unique role as Vice President of the United States. Under the Constitution, we have a separation of powers,” he said. “No vice president in American history has ever been summoned to Capitol Hill to testify before the Congress.”
Pence also showed some support towards former President Donald Trump, condemning the raid at Mar-A-Lago.
“I’m deeply troubled that the FBI conducted a search warrant in the home of a former president of the United States of America,” Pence said.
But Pence also criticized people within his party for attacking law enforcement officials.
“The Republican Party is the party of law and order. Republicans stand with the men and women who serve in law enforcement at every level: local, state, and federal level. And as I said this week, I think the calls to defund the FBI are just as wrong as calls to defund the Police,” Pence said.
Since the search, the FBI has issued numerous warnings about increased threats against law enforcement.
“We can hold the Attorney General and the Justice Department accountable, we can demand that they reveal why the search warrant was executed against the residence of a former president of the United States without demeaning the rank and file men and women of the FBI,” Pence cautioned.
Earlier Friday, Pence attended the Grassley Committee Fundraiser and after the fair he served as the special guest at the Iowa Faith & Freedom Coalition.
(CHERRY HILL, N.J.) — Actor Gary Busey faces several sex offense charges in connection with incidents during a horror fan convention in New Jersey this month, according to police and media reports.
Police responded to a Doubletree Hotel near Philadelphia that was hosting the Monster Mania Convention “for the report of a sex offense,” the Cherry Hill Police Department said in a statement Saturday.
Busey, 78, known for his roles in the films “The Buddy Holly Story” and “Point Break,” was a featured celebrity at the convention, held from Aug. 12 to 14.
On Friday, Cherry Hill detectives charged Busey, of Malibu, California, with two counts of criminal sexual contact in the fourth degree, one count of criminal attempt/criminal sexual contact in the fourth degree, and one count of harassment, police said.
Court records indicate the alleged offenses occurred on the afternoon of Aug. 13.
No further information was provided by police.
ABC News has left messages with the Cherry Hill Police Department seeking further details.
The investigation is ongoing. Police urged anyone with additional information to contact the department.
Representatives of Busey’s did not immediately return a message seeking comment.
ABC News has reached out to the organizers of Monster Mania for comment as well.
(MIAMI) — U.S. authorities in South Florida are stepping up efforts to crackdown on a recent surge in weapons smuggling to Haiti and the Caribbean, according to Homeland Security officials.
An unusual uptick in the number of high-caliber weapons coming out of the U.S. is believed to be connected with spikes in violence driven by transnational criminal organizations.
“It’s been alarming and disturbing to see the spike of violence coincide with a spike in weapons trafficking out of Miami towards Haiti,” Anthony Salisbury, Special Agent in Charge of Homeland Security Investigations Miami, told ABC News.
HSI is actively pursuing dozens of open investigations in the region related to smuggling. Officials are hesitant to release exact numbers and specifics to avoid compromising prosecutions.
“We will push these investigations as far as we can,” Salisbury said. “It’s not just the people buying guns, it’s not just the people shipping guns — we will go after and, if we can, prosecute the individuals who are receiving the guns out of these countries. That does include both trying to extradite them back to the United States in some cases and working our foreign offices and our foreign counterparts to help prosecute them down in these countries.”
The enforcement crackdown has been coordinated through multiple federal agencies that are part of specialized teams including Customs and Border Protection, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, and the Department of Commerce.
One area of particular focus is the Miami river, home to one of the most unique ports of entry in the United States due to the distance it spans into the interior of the United States.
The Haitian freighters that dock along the 3-4 mile stretch of river are different than the hyper-organized container ships typically seen at large ports. These smaller vessels that dock along the Miami river are more like giant tugboats. Individual packages are often loaded by hand, making it a prime situation for smuggling.
“We’re not going to tolerate this activity,” Salisbury said. “We’re not going to let South Florida willingly be a launching pad for weapons heading down to these countries.”
Last month marked one year since the assassination of Haitian President Jovenel Moïse which led to a scourge of gang violence that persists today.
Hurricane season, which runs from June to November in the Caribbean, also threatens to further destabilized the island nation. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has forecasted an increased likelihood of tropical storms turning into major hurricanes.
ABC News’ Ahmad Hemingway contributed to this report.
(NEW YORK) — Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate was searched in August by FBI agents as part of what the Justice Department said is a criminal investigation into alleged classified documents taken with him when he left the White House.
The unprecedented operation represented a significant step in the investigation, according to outside law enforcement experts.
Court papers in the case show the search was related to possible violations of criminal statutes, including one under the Espionage Act. Trump has said he did nothing wrong.
It isn’t the only legal issue in which he is involved. He or his businesses are at the center of various lawsuits, civil and criminal cases across the country. They deny wrongdoing and argue in response that are victims of overzealous prosecutors or political persecution.
Trump, who is openly teasing another bid for the presidency, has contended Democrats want to keep him from regaining the White House.
The allegations are serious: In New York, for example, the state attorney general is probing suspected financial fraud by the Trump Organization while a district attorney in Georgia investigates the former president’s attempts to overturn his 2020 election loss.
Meanwhile, a House select committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol has focused on what it says was Trump’s sophisticated, multi-step plan to illegally remain in power, including inciting his followers to riot that day as Congress gathered.
Here is a recap of the major ongoing investigations involving Trump.
Probe of Trump’s handling of White House records
As ABC News reported in May, the Justice Department opened a grand jury investigation related to Trump’s alleged mishandling of classified documents following the revelation that he had brought boxes of documents with him to his Mar-a-Lago estate when he left the White House in January 2021.
On Aug. 8, FBI agents searched Mar-a-Lago and appeared to seize 27 boxes — including sets of documents of various classifications ranging from confidential to top secret and more — according to unsealed court documents.
A redacted copy of the search warrant and related papers indicates that among the potential crimes the DOJ is investigating one could be a violation of part of the Espionage Act involving the gathering, transmitting or loss of defense information.
The other two areas of DOJ concern are 18 USC 2071, which involves any federal government employee who willfully and unlawfully conceals, removes, mutilates, obliterates, falsifies or destroys public records; and 18 USC 1519, obstruction of justice.
Trump has been calling for the affidavit supporting the search warrant to be released unredacted but his attorneys have not taken any action asking the judge to release the affidavit. A group of media companies, including ABC News, have gone to court asking for the release of the affidavit, or a redacted version of the affidavit. They cite the high public interest in the search. The DOJ opposes making the document public, stating it would compromise the integrity of the ongoing investigation. A judge has signaled he may order portions unsealed with DOJ redactions.
In a statement, Trump spokesman Taylor Budowich contended that the documents seized by FBI agents were declassified and played down the items that were taken as “the President’s picture books” and “a ‘hand written note.”
“This raid of President Trump’s home was not just unprecedented, but unnecessary … This is outrageous,” Budowich said.
Jan. 6 congressional investigation
The 11-member House panel, formed last year, held eight public hearings this summer on the findings of their year-long, continuing investigation into what led to the Capitol insurrection and what Trump knew about it and did and did not do before and during the rioting.
The special committee’s hearings placed Trump at the center of what they described as an “attempted coup.” Witness testimony ranged from former Trump White House staffers — including Trump’s daughter Ivanka Trump and her husband, Jared Kushner — to election administrators who testified about Trump’s actions and state of mind.
Trump, the committee argued, was well aware of the fact that he lost the 2020 election to Joe Biden but still heavily pressured the DOJ, local officials and Vice President Mike Pence to overturn the results — and he understood the threat of violence on Jan. 6 when he encouraged his supporters to march to the Capitol.
The committee, seven Democrats as well as two Republicans who will leave Congress in 2023, will reconvene in September as evidence collection continues after, they have said, a deluge of information was sent to them in the wake of their hearings in June and July.
Trump has continually worked to discredit their investigation as the “Unselect Committee” made up of “highly partisan” lawmakers
Manhattan district attorney investigation
The Manhattan district attorney has been investigating whether Trump or his family business, the Trump Organization, misrepresented the value of his assets to obtain loans or tax advantages.
District Attorney Alvin Bragg took over the long-running probe from former Manhattan DA Cy Vance in January. But since then, two high-profile prosecutors on the case resigned and a grand jury expired without issuing any indictments. Bragg said in April the investigation was continuing and that his office was “exploring evidence not previously explored.”
The investigation has led to charges of tax fraud against Allen Weisselberg, the longtime CFO of the Trump Organization. He initially pleaded not guilty, but subsequently pleaded guilty to 15 counts in total — including grand larceny and tax fraud — and agreed to testify against the Trump Organization when the company goes on trial in connection with an alleged compensation scheme beginning in October.
Weisselberg will serve five months in prison, be under supervision for five years and pay a $1.94 million penalty. His plea agreement does not require him to testify against Donald Trump or other members of the Trump family.
New York state attorney general investigation
New York State Attorney General Letitia James is investigating whether to bring a civil lawsuit against Trump and his business for potential financial fraud. James launched her probe after Michael Cohen, Trump’s longtime former personal attorney (whom Trump has since dismissed as a “fraudster”), testified before Congress that Trump inflated and deflated his assets when it was financially beneficial for him.
Trump filed a lawsuit against James, a Democrat, claiming she was targeting him out of political animus. But a judge struck down his argument in May, allowing James’ investigation to continue.
Trump, his daughter Ivanka and his son Donald Jr. have all been deposed in the probe. During Trump’s questioning under oath earlier this month, he cited his Fifth Amendment protection against being made to testify against himself.
Trump has called James “racist” and said her work was part of a “Banana Republic.”
Georgia criminal investigation
Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis launched a criminal investigation in 2021 after a phone call was released showing Trump tried to pressure Georgia election officials to find enough votes to overturn his 2020 election loss to Biden.
Willis has convened a special grand jury to investigate Trump’s actions. The grand jury will meet for up to a year and has already issued subpoenas to Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham and Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani, though it does not have the ability to return an indictment and can only make recommendations.
Another grand jury would need to be convened in order to bring forward any charges.
Trump responded to the formation of the grand jury by criticizing Willis as a “radical left Democrat” and doubling down that his call to Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to find the votes was “perfect.”
Giuliani is one target of the probe. He appeared before the grand jury in August.
Westchester district attorney investigation
News broke in the fall of last year that the Westchester County District Attorney Mimi Rocah opened a criminal investigation into the Trump Organization’s golf course in Briarcliff Manor, New York.
A spokesperson for the Trump Organization said at the time the probe was a continuation of a “witch hunt” against Trump.
E. Jean Carroll defamation lawsuit
E. Jean Carroll, a former Elle columnist, sued Trump in 2019 for defamation after he denied her rape allegation. The former president asserts he has never met her and claimed Carroll made up her account to sell a book.
The trial is set to begin in February, Judge Lewis Kaplan recently wrote in a scheduling order. Carroll’s attorney Roberta Kaplan has told ABC News the parties are “actively engaged in document discovery, with depositions to follow, and Judge Kaplan has ordered that discovery must be completed by the middle of November 2022.”
Trump attempted to countersue Carroll on the grounds that her defamation suit was baseless, but his effort was rejected by Kaplan in March.
Michael Cohen damages lawsuit
Cohen, Trump’s former attorney, is claiming Trump retaliated against him for writing a tell-all memoir. In his lawsuit, Cohen alleged he was sent back to federal prison and put in solitary confinement for 16 days as punishment.
His lawsuit, filed in Manhattan federal court in December, seeks damages for “extreme physical and emotional harm” and violations of his First Amendment rights. Trump filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuit in April, arguing he’s shielded by presidential immunity.
A judge in Manhattan heard arguments in the case earlier this month, Cohen’s attorney Jeffrey Levine wrote on Twitter.
(NEW YORK) — Back to school means back-to-school lunches, but this year they’re costing more with food prices increasing nationwide.
Pandemic relief funds that ensured free meals for all kids ran out in June and school nutritionists are blaming higher costs on inflation, supply chain problems and the lasting effects of the pandemic.
The national school lunch program serves 29.7 million children daily and, of those lunches, 20.2 million are free as of 2021, according to the Education Data Initiative”
“We know that families are struggling right now,” said Willow Kriegel, director of nutrition services for the West Des Moines Community Schools in Iowa. “Gas prices are high and food costs. We know that things are more expensive.”
Kriegel said that her school district had to raise prices by 25 cents per meal. While raising the costs helps somewhat, Kriegel said it’s still not enough to break even.
In Kriegel’s district alone, she said cafeterias are $109,000 in school meal debt.
To help counteract the growing debt, Kriegel said she applied for nine out of her 13 schools to get free and reduced lunches. Those requests were granted, but Kriegel said she knows many other schools aren’t as lucky.
Overall, the national public school lunch debt sits at $262 million a year. Still, a million-and-half students pay full price for lunches they can’t afford, according to the Education Data Initiative.
“I was really waiting for, you know, our legislators to come through and extend the free meals for all students, at least for one more year, while we’re all struggling.” said Kriegel who was president of the Iowa School Nutrition Association last year.
Congress increased federal reimbursements for lunches this school year with the Keep Kids Fed Act, which passed in June and provided 40 cents per lunch and 15 cents per breakfast.
But that extra funding is not enough to bring schools back to the Summer Food Service Program reimbursement rates as during the pandemic, said Diane Pratt-Heavner with the School Nutrition Association.
Alternative lunches, shaming over meal debt can have negative impacts on students’ psyches, experts say
“Even even with additional assistance from Congress, which we’re grateful for, schools will still see a slight drop in federal reimbursements,” said Pratt-Heavner.
Kriegel, in Iowa, said her school is facing staffing shortages and she and other managers are having to cook food themselves. Kriegel said her biggest concern is that she won’t be able to offer students the options and nutritious food that goes beyond state and national requirements.
“I treat them all like they’re my own little 5-year-old,” said Kriegel.
Kriegel’s daughter is starting school this fall and Kriegel says her daughter Olivia knows she’s not going to be a lunch-box kid.
But feeding kids can be a challenge when shipments are delayed.
“You know, when we make a menu change, it’s not as easy as just going to the store and buying a different chicken product,” said Kriegel.
“We spend hours a day extra hunting for products and getting outages and shortages and trying to adjust our menus and then that changes. It’s like a ripple effect.”
“School meal program budgets have very limited amount of funds to use for preparing and serving school meals,” said Pratt-Heavner.
She said taking on school lunch debt can limit nutritionists’ options and keep them from offering more choices to picky kids.
“We’re really trying to get out the word to families. Even if you don’t think you are eligible, go ahead and apply for free or reduced price meals,” said Pratt-Heavner.
Delaware has the highest average school lunch debt per student at $188.49. It also has one of the highest number of schools who belong to Community Lunch Programs, which makes meals free for entire schools.
Aimee Beam with the state’s School Nutrition Programs said Delaware is looking at various ways to reduce that debt. She said that school districts are using money from their school nutrition account to waive the cost of their reduced price breakfast and breakfast.
“The students that would normally have to pay up to 30 cents for breakfast won’t have to pay anything, so that can eliminate the potential for the debt in that area,” said Beam.
“Our biggest concern is the supply chain issues; to get the product that we need to serve the compliant meals,” said Beam.
Beam said the most important thing is to remind parents to fill out their meal eligibility form so that students won’t have to go into debt, and schools can afford to feed the children.
“No child should have to worry about whether mom and dad completed an application or put money on their lunch account,” said Pratt-Heavner.
(NEW YORK) — Officials at Yellowstone National Park discovered what appeared to be part of a human foot in a shoe in one of the deepest hot springs in the park.
The incident occurred on Tuesday when a park employee discovered part of a foot in a shoe floating in the Abyss Pool which is located in the West Thumb Geyser Basin in the southern part of Yellowstone National Park.
“Evidence from the investigation thus far suggests that an incident involving one individual likely occurred on the morning of July 31, 2022, at Abyss Pool,” Yellowstone National Park said in a statement. “Currently, the park believes there was no foul play.”
It is not clear who the foot belonged to but the park suggested that there may have been a death linked to the spare body part that was found though this has not been confirmed by Yellowstone or any authorities.
The Abyss Pool has a depth of more than 50 feet and, according to Yellowstone National Park, is one of the deepest hot springs in the park with an average approximate temperature of 140 degrees.
“Visitors are reminded to stay on boardwalks and trails in thermal areas and exercise extreme caution around thermal features,” the park said in a statement. “The ground in hydrothermal areas is fragile and thin, and there is scalding water just below the surface.”
After the discovery of the appendage, the West Thumb Geyser Basin and parking lot were closed to park visitors but has since been reopened.
An investigation by Yellowstone National Park law enforcement officers is currently ongoing.
(NEW YORK) — As it gets harder to access abortion care because of state laws and restrictions, self-managed abortions may become more common, abortion providers told ABC News.
Self-managed abortions are done by a pregnant person without the formal supervision of a healthcare professional, according to Guttmacher.
In a pre-Roe era, self-managed abortions were often risky — but today, managing an abortion at home can be much safer thanks of the advent of medication abortion pills.
Unwanted pregnancies can be exceedingly distressing. Health providers are raising concerns that some people in situations without access to safe, legal abortion could try any means possible to end a pregnancy, that may or may not be safe or effective, Dr. Deborah Bartz, a gynecologist at Brigham and Women’s in Boston, told ABC News in an interview.
“Now, because of the post-Dobbs situation, we are recognizing that there’s going to be much greater desire for patients to undertake self-managed abortion because they can’t legally access the services that they desperately want and need through the standard health care system,” Bartz said.
Medication abortion isn’t a new practice, first approved by the FDA in 2000, and now allows abortions to be done outside of a medical facility that is safe and effective, according to the Guttmacher Institute. Even prior to the overturn of Roe, the Guttmacher Institute estimated that roughly half of abortions in the U.S. were medication abortions.
While patients in the U.S. need a prescription to obtain misoprostol, one of the drugs used in the FDA-approved medication abortion regimen, the drug can be purchased without a prescription in other countries, including Mexico, according to the Guttmacher Institute.
While there is limited data on how common self-managed abortions are that do not involve a medical provider at all in the U.S., there are reports that it does happen and may be on the rise as states impose barriers to abortion access, according to Shah.
According to a 2014 national survey by the Guttmacher Institute, 1.3% of people obtaining clinical abortions reported having used misoprostol on their own to “bring back” their period or end a pregnancy.
In a 2017 survey of 7,022 women in U.S., 1.4% reported ever attempting to end a pregnancy on their own. The majority of these individuals reported using drugs or substances other than misoprostol, and only 28% successfully ended the pregnancy.
The spectrum of how people self-manage their abortions on their own ranges from effective to ineffective treatments, including herbal treatments, unsafe chemicals, incorrect medication or dangerous physical harm, according to Shah.
Research shows that medication abortions using the abortion pills, that are FDA-approved, mifepristone and misoprostol, are safe and effective. But there is little known about the safety or efficacy of these same medications when obtained and used by going around the regulatory steps in the United States.
