(ARLINGTON, Va.) — President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris observed Veterans Day at Arlington National Cemetery on Monday in what was their first appearance together since last week’s election.
The two participated in a full honor wreath-laying ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier before Biden made remarks at the Memorial Amphitheater.
“This is the last time I will stand here at Arlington as commander in chief,” Biden said. “It’s been the greatest honor of my life to lead you, to serve you, to care for you, to defend you, just as you defended us.”
Biden, who began by quoting President Abraham Lincoln, said this is the moment to “come together as a nation.”
“The world is dependent on each of you and all of us, all of you, to keep honoring the women and the men and the families of borne, the battle,” he said. “To keep protecting everything they fought for. To keep striving to heal our nation’s wounds. To keep perfecting our union.”
Earlier Monday, Biden and first lady Jill Biden hosted veterans, members of the military and caregivers at the White House.
Biden touted his record on veterans affairs, including bringing down veteran homelessness and passing the PACT Act.
The White House on Monday announced new efforts to address toxic exposures for veterans, including an expansion of the cancers considered presumptive for VA disability benefits. The topic is a personal one for Biden, whose son Beau died from cancer in 2015. Biden said he believes exposure to burn pits overseas during Beau’s deployment to Iraq contributed to his death.
“For all the military families, all those with a loved one still missing or unaccounted for, all Americans grieving the loss of a loved one who wore the uniform, Jill and I want you to know we see you. We thank you. And we will never stop working to meet our sacred obligation to you and your families,” Biden said.
First lady Jill Biden and second gentleman Doug Emhoff were also at Arlington to commemorate the holiday. They sat alongside Harris and Secretary of State Antony Blinken as Biden made his remarks.
Biden also raised the military withdrawal from Afghanistan during his address. The handling of removing troops from the conflict became a lightning rod for Republican criticism.
“Four presidents faced the decision after we got [Osama] bin Laden whether to end our longest war in history in Afghanistan,” he said. “I was determined not to leave it to a fifth.”
Former President Donald Trump visited the cemetery in August to mark the third anniversary of the Afghanistan airport attack that killed 13 U.S. service members. An incident described as a confrontation between his campaign and a cemetery worker prompted an investigation that appeared ongoing as of late October.
Trump defeated Harris last week in the presidential race. The former president swept the seven swing states and he is projected to win 312 electoral votes to Harris’ 226, and he is on track to win the popular vote.
Harris conceded on Nov. 6, saying she would help with a peaceful transition of power and vowed to continue the “fight that fueled this campaign.”
Biden, in his own remarks after Harris’ loss, praised her for running an “inspiring” campaign and implored Americans to “bring down the temperature.”
Biden and Trump are set to meet at the White House on Wednesday, restoring a tradition that Trump did not participate in after he lost the 2020 election.
ABC News’ Michelle Stoddart and Molly Nagle contributed to this report.
(WASHINGTON) — In the days since Election Day, billionaire Elon Musk has emerged as an influential figure in President-elect Donald Trump’s orbit, offering input on staffing decisions and playing a significant role in shaping the future Trump administration, multiple sources tell ABC News.
Since Election Day, the world’s richest man has spent nearly every day at Mar-a-Lago with Trump, multiple sources tell ABC News.
But his presence stretches far beyond that, with sources telling ABC News that Musk is now weighing in on Trump’s staffing choices.
Musk was present for at least two phone calls the president-elect had with foreign leaders, sources told ABC News. During a call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy last week, Trump even handed the phone to Musk so he could speak to Zelenskyy as well, sources told ABC News. Musk was also present a call with Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, sources said.
(EL SEGUNDO, Calif.) — Mattel has apologized after boxes for some of its new dolls from the movie “Wicked” included a link to a pornographic website.
The packages for the dolls were printed with a web address to an adult film site with the same name as the upcoming movie musical starring Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo.
Customers who noticed the mistake shared images of the toy boxes on social media.
Mattel has apologized for the boxes, describing the link as a “misprint.”
“Mattel was made aware of a misprint on the packaging of the Mattel Wicked collection dolls, primarily sold in the U.S., which intended to direct consumers to the official WickedMovie.com landing page. We deeply regret this unfortunate error and are taking immediate action to remedy this,” the toy company said in a statement.
“Parents are advised that the misprinted, incorrect website is not appropriate for children. Consumers who already have the product are advised to discard the product packaging or obscure the link and may contact Mattel Customer Service for further information,” the company added.
Sen. John Thune; Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images
(WASHINGTON) — Senate Republicans are poised to make a historic decision on Wednesday when they’ll gather behind closed doors to select their new party leader — and President-elect Donald Trump’s influence in undeniable as he insists that whoever be selected support his ability to install recess appointments to his Cabinet.
With Trump’s victory and Senate Republican’s majority secured, the lead up to the race has intensified the jockeying between the three major contenders for the position: Sen. John Thune, Sen. John Cornyn and Sen. Rick Scott.
The leadership election, slated to occur just one day after the Senate returns from its monthlong election recess, will see Senate Republicans selecting their first new leader since 2007, when current Republican Leader Mitch McConnell first won the job. McConnell is the longest-serving party leader in United States history, but announced earlier this year he’d be stepping aside after the election.
Thune, a South Dakota Republican who currently serves as the No. 2 Republican, is somewhat of a front-runner in the race. He has served as the party whip for the last six years and in that time has notched a number of policy wins for the party, and has been working behind closed doors to whip support for the role for months. Thune said he keeps in regular contact with Trump and his team, but the two have at times had an icy relationship.
Running against Thune is Cornyn, a Texas Republican and another established GOP leader who served as the party’s whip for the six years prior to Thune before being term-limited out of the role. Though Cornyn has a slightly more conservative track record than Thune, he also faced ire from Trump for his support of the bipartisan gun safety bill that passed in the wake of the shooting in Uvalde, Texas.
Also vying for the role is Sen. Rick Scott, a Florida Republican who just won reelection. Scott has attempted to brand himself as the most Trump-aligned of the contenders, but is less popular among some of his Senate colleagues after a stint atop the Senate GOP’s campaign arm in 2022 led to a less-than-successful night for Senate Republicans.
Trump won’t get a vote in this secret-ballot race, but his influence over it is palpable.
Many Republicans see Trump’s comfortable victory in Tuesday’s elections coupled with Senate Republicans’ new majority as a sweeping mandate to implement Trump’s policies, and as such, potential party leaders seem to be cozying up to Trump ahead of the vote.
Trump has not yet endorsed a specific candidate for the race, and it’s unclear whether he ultimately will. Instead, Trump has attempted to exert influence over the race by arguing that whoever is slated to fill the role supports a modification to what has become the Senate’s normal operating procedure to allow him to temporarily install appointments to federal vacancies without Senate approval during the Senate recesses.
“Any Republican Senator seeking the coveted LEADERSHIP position in the United States Senate must agree to Recess Appointments (in the Senate!), without which we will not be able to get people confirmed in a timely manner. Sometimes the votes can take two years, or more. This is what they did four years ago, and we cannot let it happen again. We need positions filled IMMEDIATELY!” Trump wrote on his social media platform on Sunday.
Recess appointments are permitted by the constitution, and allow presidents to fill federal vacancies during Senate recesses. Though once a regular occurrence, the Senate has operated in such a way as to block all recess appointments since former President Barack Obama’s first term. Allowing recess appointments for Trump’s second term could allow controversial nominees who may otherwise fail to get the support they need from the GOP-controlled Senate to serve for nearly two years without Senate approval.
None of the top contenders have ruled out supporting the use of these recess appointments, and their responses to Trump’s post show how far each is willing to go to show that they’re on Trump’s side.
Though Thune said in an interview on Thursday that his “preference” would be for Trump to stay out of the Senate leadership race, he issued a statement Sunday night following Trump’s post affirming his commitment to installing Trump’s Cabinet, and not ruling out the appointments Trump is seeking.
“One thing is clear: We must act quickly and decisively to get the president’s cabinet and other nominees in place as soon as possible to start delivering on the mandate we’ve been sent to execute, and all options are on the table to make that happen, including recess appointments,” Thune said in a statement. “We cannot let Chuck Schumer and Senate Democrats block the will of the American people.”
Cornyn meanwhile discussed the use of recess appointments with Trump prior to his post, per a source familiar. In a post on X Sunday afternoon, Cornyn affirmed his support, noting that if he is elected leader, he will keep the Senate in session continuously until nominees are confirmed.
“It is unacceptable for Senate Ds to blockade President @realDonaldTrump’s cabinet appointments. If they do, we will stay in session, including weekends, until they relent. Additionally, the Constitution expressly confers the power on the President to make recess appointments,” Cornyn wrote.
Almost immediately after Trump posted on Sunday, Scott posted on X that he was in lockstep with Trump on this policy.
“100% agree. I will do whatever it takes to get your nominations through as quickly as possible,” Scott wrote, reposting Trump’s post.
A small handful of senators have come out publicly to endorse their chosen candidate.
Scott, for his part, has picked up endorsements from some of Trump’s most out-and-proud supporters in the Senate as well as a number of Trump-aligned outside voices, including Robert F. Kennedy and Elon Musk.
But this critical race has a very small constituency: only Republican senators serving in the incoming Senate get a vote. ABC News has not yet reported a projection in the Pennsylvania Senate race, but that means only about 52 people will get to cast ballots.
Senators are also shielded behind closed doors and by secret ballot in this race. In order to win the election, a candidate must amass a simple majority of the vote. If all candidates fail to get a simple majority, the lowest vote earner is eliminated from the process, and senators vote again.
Because of the secret nature of the vote, it’s unclear how much of an influence any outside factor, including Trump, will ultimately wield.
Newly elected incoming senators including Bernie Moreno of Ohio, West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice, Reps. Jim Banks of Indiana and John Curtis of Utah and Tim Sheehy of Montana will all be in attendance to cast votes.
Sen. JD Vance, who is now the vice president-elect, is also eligible to cast a vote in the election if he so chooses, but his team has not yet said whether he ultimately will attend Wednesday’s vote.
In addition to the closely-watched race for party leader, a number of other positions will also be selected during Wednesday’s vote. Sen. John Barrasso, a Wyoming Republican, is running unopposed to becoming the No. 2 Senate Republican. Sen. Joni Ernst, an Iowa Republican, and Sen. Tom Cotton, the Republican from Arkansas, are in a race to become the conference chair. Additional down-ballot races will also be voted on Wednesday.
(WASHINGTON) — President-elect Donald Trump selected Rep. Elise Stefanik to be his U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, multiple Trump officials told ABC News.
“I am honored to nominate Chairwoman Elise Stefanik to serve in my Cabinet as U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations. Elise is an incredibly strong, tough, and smart America First fighter,” Trump said in a statement to ABC News.
Stefanik, a Republican congresswoman from New York’s 21st District, was elected last week to her sixth term in the House. Born in 1984, she was at time of her 2014 election the youngest woman to ever win a seat in Congress.
She joined House leadership in May 2021, when she was elected as chair of the House Republican Conference. She replaced former Rep. Liz Cheney in the role after Cheney was denounced by her party for her criticism of Trump in the wake of Jan. 6.
Stefanik came to Congress as a relatively moderate Republican and skipped the 2016 Republican National Convention when Trump first became the party’s presidential nominee.
But she became one of Trump’s most vocal allies, denouncing his first impeachment in 2019 and later challenging the 2020 election results.
In the past year, she played a leading role in House Republicans’ response to antisemitism on college campuses. She grilled university presidents on their handling of campus protests over the Israel-Hamas war, several of whom later stepped down from their roles.
Stefanik, a staunch supporter of Israel, has also repeatedly accused the United Nations of antisemitism. She has called for defunding the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees, the chief distributer of aid in Gaza, amid Israel’s allegations that Hamas infiltrated the group.
Stefanik told the New York Post, which first reported developments of Trump’s decision, that she was “truly honored to earn President Trump’s nomination to serve in his Cabinet as U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations.”
Stefanik said that when speaking with Trump, she “shared how deeply humbled I am to accept his nomination and that I look forward to earning the support of my colleagues in the United States Senate.”
Control of the House remains in the balance as several key races have yet to be called, though Republicans are closing in on the number of seats they need to secure the majority.
Stefanik will have to vacate her seat to become ambassador, though she would not be confirmed for her new role until after the presidential inauguration at the earliest.
New York law mandates that Gov. Kathy Hochul set a special election date via proclamation for within 10 days of the seat’s vacancy — and the election date itself must occur no sooner than 70 but no more than 80 days from the date of proclamation.
Stefanik handedly won reelection last week, beating her Democratic challenger by 24 points. While the New York State Republican Party told ABC News they have “no comment on candidates at this stage,” chairman Ed Cox said he was sure the seat would remain Republican.
“On behalf of the New York Republican Party, I congratulate Elise Stefanik and her team on this well-deserved honor and commend President Trump for making such a wise and thoughtful selection,” Cox said, in part, in a statement.
ABC News’ Alexandra Hutzler, Brittany Shepherd, Lauren Peller and Oren Oppenheim contributed to this report.
(LONDON) — The Israel Defense Forces continued its intense airstrike and ground campaigns in Gaza — particularly in the north of the strip — and in Lebanon, with Israeli attacks on targets nationwide including in the capital Beirut.
Tensions remain high between Israel and Iran after the former launched what it called “precise strikes on military targets” in several locations in Iran following Tehran’s Oct. 1 missile barrage.
Hezbollah fires 75 projectiles into Israel, IDF says
The Israel Defense Forces said Hezbollah fired at least 75 projectiles into Israel on Monday.
Israel’s Magen David Adom emergency service said it treated three people with shrapnel injuries in the area of Karmiel in northern Israel. Two other people were treated for shrapnel injuries in the Krayot area, the MDA said.
Hezbollah claimed several rocket and drone attacks on Monday.
Among the strikes was a “large rocket salvo” targeting a paratrooper training base in Karmiel settlement, Hezbollah said in a statement.
-ABC News’ Dana Savir and Ghazi Balkiz
IDF orders residents of 21 south Lebanon villages to evacuate
Israel Defense Forces spokesperson Avichay Adraee issued a warning to residents of 21 south Lebanon villages to evacuate their homes until further notice, warning of imminent Israeli strikes there.
Adraee said in a post on X that the villages were the site of Hezbollah military activity and warned that the IDF would “act forcefully” against targets there.
“For your safety, you must evacuate your homes immediately and move to the north of the Awali River,” Adraee wrote. “For your safety, you must evacuate without delay.”
“You are prohibited from heading south,” he added. “Any movement south could be dangerous to your life.”
Around a quarter of Lebanese territory and a quarter of all residents — some 1.2 million people — are under IDF evacuation orders, per United Nations analysis.
Israel has killed more than 3,000 people in southern Lebanon since Oct. 8, 2023, Lebanese authorities have said.
IDF says deadly north Lebanon strike targeted Hezbollah weapons
The Israel Defense Forces said the strike in northern Lebanon that killed dozens of people on Sunday targeted “a Hezbollah terrorist site” which was storing weapons.
Lebanese health officials said the airstrike on the village of Aalmat — in a mainly Christian area in the north of the country — killed 23 and injured at least six others. Seven children were among the dead, officials said. Search and rescue work was ongoing as of Sunday.
The IDF said that Hezbollah fighters “responsible for firing rockets and missiles toward Israeli territory” were “operating from the site,” adding that the details of the incident “are under review.”
Lebanese authorities say that Israeli strikes have killed more than 3,000 people since Oct. 8, 2023. Some 1.2 million people — around a quarter of Lebanon’s population — have also been displaced by Israel’s military campaign.
-ABC News’ Dana Savir
IDF intercepts launch from Yemen
The Israel Defense Forces said Monday it intercepted one projectile “that approached Israel from the direction of Yemen.”
“The projectile did not cross into Israeli territory,” the IDF said in a statement posted to X, noting that the projectile caused sirens to sound in several areas of central Israel.
Overnight, the IDF also said it intercepted four uncrewed aerial vehicles that approached Israel from the east.
-ABC News’ Bruno Nota
New Defense Minister says Israel has defeated Hezbollah
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz declared on Sunday that his country has defeated Hezbollah after killing the group’s leader, Hassan Nasrallah.
“We defeated Hezbollah, and the elimination of Nasrallah was the crowning achievement,” Katz said during a handover ceremony at Israel’s foreign ministry on Sunday.
The ceremony comes after Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu fired the previous defense minister, Yoav Gallant.
There is no word on how this will affect Israel’s operations in Lebanon, which shows no sign of slowing.
“Now it is our job to continue the pressure,” Katz said. “We will work together to materialize the fruits of this victory by ensuring that the security situation in Lebanon has changed.”
Israeli president to meet Biden
Israeli President Isaac Herzog will meet President Joe Biden on Tuesday during his visit to the U.S., according to Herzog’s office.
-ABC News’ Bruno Nota
Netanyahu says he’s spoken to Trump 3 times, ‘we see eye to eye’ on Iran
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu released a statement Sunday to mark the anniversary of Kristallnacht, highlighting the violence Thursday on the streets of Amsterdam that authorities said targeted Israeli soccer fans there, saying in a statement translated from Hebrew: “We will do what is necessary to defend ourselves and our citizens. We will never allow the atrocities of history to recur.”
Netanyahu also said he has spoken to President-elect Donald Trump three times since the election.
“These were very good and important talks designed to further enhance the steadfast bond between Israel and the U.S.,” Netanyahu said. “We see eye to eye on the Iranian threat in all its aspects, and on the dangers they reflect. We also see the great opportunities facing Israel, in the area of peace and its expansion, and in other areas.”
(BRANDYWINE, Md.) — On 7 acres in Brandywine, Maryland, Peter Scott, a former United States Army counterintelligence agent assigned to Special Forces, is farming to help food-insecure veterans in the D.C. metropolitan region.
“I was at a place in life where I needed to do something and I needed to feel like it was something good after my time in service,” said Scott.
He returned stateside after serving in Afghanistan and Iraq.
“I separated after about 12 years of service. I thought I was fine, but a few years went by and I was not fine,” Scott said. “I reached a moment with my family where it was ‘go get help or get out.’ I decided to go get help.”
After entering an inpatient program for combat PTSD, Scott met other service members who were food insecure. This discovery, along with a newfound passion for gardening, led him to launch Fields4Valor.
Since its inception, Fields4Valor has helped feed more than 500 veterans and their families. According to the Military Family Advisory Network, 1-in-5 active-duty military and veteran families experience food insecurity. And that number is on the rise.
While picking up her weekly bag of groceries from the farm, Shara Simms, a disabled Air Force veteran, expressed her admiration for the honey that is harvested from the honeycombs Scott maintains, calling it “liquid gold.”
Simms said the weekly bags afford her the opportunity to share “fresh fruit and honey that we don’t necessarily get in the stores because it’s extra expensive.”
“We live and die on everybody’s good will,“ said Scott. This year, he estimates approximately 300 volunteers helped on the farm – sometimes sourced from area military installations.
From the garden where rhubarb, kale, peppers, cucumbers and lettuce are grown, to the beehives where honey is extracted to fill jars and made into soaps, to the chicken coop where 120 chickens produce fresh farm eggs – everything is given to veterans.
(LONDON) — President Joe Biden will see out his term knowing that President-elect Donald Trump — a man he fought desperately hard to unseat in 2020 and called a “genuine danger to American security” — will succeed him.
Foreign policy has been central in Biden’s long political career. It will likewise form a major chunk of his legacy, as will the two wars — Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the Middle East conflagration sparked by Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack — that erupted during his term.
Now less encumbered by political calculations — for himself or for Vice President Kamala Harris — and with only two months until Trump’s second inauguration, the outgoing president may have one last window to wield the power of the Oval Office in both theaters.
But with Trump looming above the outgoing Biden-Harris administration, American allies and enemies may be hesitant to engage with the outgoing administration.
European nations, for example, are already shifting focus to how best to court Trump, Leslie Vinjamuri of the British Chatham House think tank told ABC News.
“All these European leaders are very quickly reaching out,” she added. “They’re congratulating him. They want to talk with him. They want to work with him, because they understand that the stakes are extremely high and they clearly feel that by talking with him, they have an ability to influence policy and the outcome.”
“What they don’t want to do is to be seen to be making a deal with Joe Biden that undercuts whatever it is that Trump is going to do,” Vinjamuri added.
“It’s a very tricky position to be in, because if anything’s visible that cuts across what he wants to do, you as a leader risk being punished.”
Those at the top of American politics know that foreign policy success can accelerate careers and define legacies. Former President Richard Nixon infamously undermined President Lyndon B. Johnson’s efforts to negotiate an end to the Vietnam War during the 1968 election campaign for fear it would reduce his chances of victory.
Though he has already secured his second term, Trump appears unlikely to help the Biden administration with any foreign policy “wins” in its closing days.
“There’s a lot of uncertainty and room for maneuver — it’s highly unpredictable,” Vinjamuri said.
Russia and Ukraine
Russia’s war on Ukraine has dominated much of Biden’s presidency. He will leave office with Moscow’s forces holding large parts of Ukraine and still advancing, even if slowly and at huge cost.
“I think that now Biden can be much more decisive in support of Ukraine, especially when he sees that Trump will be the next president,” Oleksandr Merezhko — a member of Ukraine’s parliament and the chair of the body’s foreign affairs committee — told ABC News.
“Biden has his hands completely untied,” Merezhko added. “Now Biden is thinking about his legacy.”
“He might even try to take some decisions which will make irreversible changes in support of Ukraine — for example, he might lift all the restrictions on the use of the Western weapons on the territory of Russia,” Merezhko said. “And he might start the process of inviting Ukraine to join NATO.”
Merezkho acknowledged that progress on the NATO front might be ambitious. “Yes, he doesn’t have much time,” he said. “But he — with [National Security Adviser] Jake Sullivan and [Secretary of State] Antony Blinken — might do something creative to help Ukraine.”
It appears unlikely that Biden’s final months will bring Kyiv any closer to NATO membership. Ukrainian leaders are still pushing for an invitation to join the alliance despite fierce opposition from Russia — and hesitance among key alliance members. Allies have repeatedly said that “Ukraine’s future is in NATO,” but even top officials in Kyiv acknowledge this cannot happen amid war with Moscow.
The outgoing president may at least be able to ring fence much-needed funding for Kyiv.
Matthew Savill of the Royal United Services Institute think tank in the U.K., said Biden “might choose in his last months in office to use the remainder of the funding available for support to Ukraine under Presidential Drawdown Authority, amounting to over $5 billion.”
The Pentagon has already committed to rolling out new funding packages between now and January totaling some $9 billion. “That is consistent with how we’ve been doing this in the past,” Pentagon spokesperson Sabrina Singh told journalists last week. “It’s something that we’ve done on a pretty regular, almost weekly, basis.”
Biden has also reportedly already decided to allow non-combat American defense contractors to work in Ukraine to maintain and repair U.S.-provided weaponry.
Yehor Cherniev — a member of the Ukrainian parliament and the chairman of his country’s delegation to the NATO Parliamentary Assembly — told ABC News that deeper sanctions on “Putin’s inner circle” are on Kyiv’s wish list, along with the delivery of all previously allocated aid, commitments for more, plus the end to restrictions on Western weapon use inside Russia.
Trump has suggested he would quickly end Russia’s invasion by threatening to cut off military aid to Kyiv unless it agrees to hand Moscow direct or indirect control of swaths of occupied territory in the south and east of the country.
As such, his election has raised concerns in Ukraine of an imminent sellout.
Merezhko, though, stressed the unpredictability of the president-elect. “Trump might become even more critical of Russia to show that all suspicions about him are groundless,” he said.
“We know that Trump loves his country and seeks to protect its interests in accordance with his vision,” Cherniev said. “Therefore, we are confident that the U.S. will not leave us alone with Russia, since this is not in the interests of the U.S. and the free world.”
“However, much will depend on Putin’s willingness to make concessions and compromises,” he added. “If the Russian dictator does not show due flexibility, I think Trump will increase his support for Ukraine.”
As to potential tensions between Trump and Biden in the coming months, Merezhko said, “Competition between them will continue.”
“For us, it would be better if they compete amongst themselves on who will do more for Ukraine.”
European nations, meanwhile, will be bracing for Trump while hoping to influence the president-elect’s take on the war.
Vinjamuri, of the Chatham House think tank, said Europeans will also be working closely with the Biden administration “to put in place everything that they can to keep Europe and Ukraine in as good a place as possible before Jan. 20, when Trump comes in and tries to negotiate a peace deal.”
“That means that getting Ukraine in the best position on the ground, because when you start negotiating a peace, a lot of what gets locked in is based on what land people hold,” she said.
The Middle East
The Biden administration’s pre-election Middle East diplomatic push does not appear to have made significant breakthroughs in either Gaza or Lebanon. Fierce ground fighting and devastating Israeli airstrikes continue on both fronts, with the toll of civilian dead and displaced growing ever larger.
The regional war began with Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack, which killed around 1,200 people in southern Israel and saw around 250 taken back to Gaza as hostages. Israel’s military response in the strip has killed some 43,600 people and injured more than 102,000, according to the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry. Israel’s airstrike and ground campaign in Lebanon has killed more than 3,000 since Oct. 8, 2023, Lebanese health officials say.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu replaced Defense Minister Yoav Gallant — one of his prime political rivals and an advocate for a cease-fire deal — on the eve of the U.S. election, reinforcing his position and entrenching his government’s commitment to what he has called “total victory.”
Hafed Al-Ghwell, senior fellow and executive director of the North Africa Initiative at the SAIS Foreign Policy Institute, Johns Hopkins University, told ABC News he has little expectation of peace during Biden’s final months. “I don’t think he has any incentive to do anything,” Hafed said.
“In the case of Israel and Palestine, Biden has taken not just a political stand but an ideological one, and there is no sign that he is going to change that,” Hafed added. “He has called himself a Zionist, and he had ample opportunity to stop this war. Even when the United Nations proposed a resolution to end the occupation, he didn’t support it.”
“It would be really controversial for an outgoing president to make any major decisions,” he continued.
Meanwhile, Netanyahu will be confident in the new White House’s backing in his suppression of Palestinian and Lebanese groups, as well as in his wider showdown with Iran.
Netanyahu “probably feels like he has a free run,” Vinjamuri said. “Even if Biden tried to push him, I’m not so sure he would be responsive, because he knows that Trump is now coming into office.”
Hafed suggested Netanyahu’s domestic concerns, too, will be driving his policy in the coming months. “He knows that the minute this war stops, the Israeli public won’t want him around,” he said. “So, he will continue the war in Lebanon and probably threaten Iran, knowing he will have the full support of Trump.”
Burcu Ozcelik at RUSI said the extent of Trump’s influence over Netanyahu tops “a complex list of unknowns.”
“Trump in recent weeks indicated that he was prepared to give Israel freer rein, provided that the war ended by the time he entered office,” he added.
Those living in the region will be left grappling with the fallout, Hafed continued. “For the people of the Middle East, Biden’s legacy is one of a bloodbath,” he said. “The region is bitter and battered.”
ABC News’ Luis Martinez contributed to this article.
In the aftermath of Kamala Harris’ failed bid for president, Charlamagne Tha God called for unity and pointed to voters’ economic frustrations and concerns over safety as decisive in Donald Trump’s victory.
“I know it feels like the divided states of America over the last several years, but it is still the United States of America,” said the influential radio host who supported Harris. “We’ve got to unify in some way, shape or form.”
Charlamagne (né Lenard McKelvey) co-hosts the popular iHeart Radio program “The Breakfast Club,” which is heard by millions of monthly listeners, and is the author of the new book “Be Honest or Die Lying.”
Harris joined Charlamagne for an audio town hall in October, where she discussed how her economic plan would boost Black communities and cast a Donald Trump presidency in dark terms.
In an interview with ABC News’ Jonathan Karl on “This Week,” Charlamagne said he’s “optimistic” about America regardless of Harris’ loss.
“I do believe in the future of this country because I have no choice but to,” he said.
Following President Joe Biden’s decision to drop out of the race and endorse Harris in August, Charlamagne applauded the vice president’s candidacy for energizing the Democratic Party.
Charlamagne said there was “no life whatsoever” with the Biden campaign and had previously called for him to not run for reelection.
“The vice president made a lot of people sit up on the couch and pay attention and at least be curious,” he said. “She has nothing to be ashamed of, she ran a great campaign”
In a stark demographic shift from 2020, Trump won one in three voters of color, notably gaining among Black and Latino voters. Charlamagne attributed part of this shift as “a backlash to race and gender and identity politics.”
Trump improved his 2016 and 2020 numbers in traditional Democratic strongholds, like New Jersey and New Mexico. Charlamagne said that “dinner table issues” were top of mind for voters.
“Every day people wake up and all they want to do is have more money in their pocket and they want to feel safe,” he said. “I don’t care if you’re black, white, gay, straight, whatever religion you are, those are the two things that you’re thinking about every day.”
He also said that Democrats “didn’t know how to message” their stance on immigration, including the bipartisan border bill that Trump and his allies effectively killed.
“It’s not like the Democrats didn’t want border security. They just didn’t know how to message it right,” Charlamagne said. “‘Build the wall’ may sound elementary, but you know what that signals to people? Border security.”
When asked if Harris should have done more to separate herself from Biden, Charlamagne said, “I think that if she wanted to go in a different direction, she should have expressed that.”
He also pointed to Harris’ appearances on “The View” and her interview with Fox’s Brett Baier, where she gave mixed answers on how she would be a different leader than the current president.
Even as an outspoken critic of Trump, Charlamagne said he’s choosing to have a positive outlook on the next four years.
“We just got to hope for the best,” said Charlamagne. “Like, I’m not wishing for America to fail. Why would I want that?”
Vivek Ramaswamy, a former presidential candidate and ally of Donald Trump, said the president-elect would bring the country together while also defending Trump’s immigration plan for mass deportations.
Speaking to “This Week” co-anchor Jonathan Karl, Ramaswamy urged Democrats to give Trump a chance in office and called on them to resist efforts to cast him as a threat to democracy.
“What you’re hearing from Donald Trump is he is going to be a president for all Americans. He is a guy who, in that first term, he had crowds chanting ‘lock her up’ for Hillary Clinton. He didn’t prosecute her. I think Donald Trump is focused on what makes people’s lives better. And actually, my message to Democrats out there, even those who didn’t vote for Donald Trump, is to give him a chance to actually make your life better,” Ramaswamy said.
“I think it’s time to turn the page on a lot of these histrionics, or Hitler comparisons,” he added, before later saying that “success is unifying. Nothing’s going to unite this country more than economic growth.”
Ramaswamy ran against the former and now president-elect in the 2024 GOP primary as a culture warrior in Trump’s image, though he ended his campaign the night of the Iowa caucuses and endorsed the former president.
On Sunday, he also defended Trump’s vow for a mass deportation force, predicting that the tougher enforcement measures will also lead to undocumented immigrants leaving the country on their own.
“Donald Trump’s campaign promise was the largest mass deportation in American history, and he’s going to keep that promise,” Ramaswamy said. “Not an iota, not a cent of government spending should go to subsidize this, not to sanctuary cities, not to federal aid to people who are in this country illegally, and we’re going to see a large number, by the millions, of self-deportations as well.”
Pressed by Karl on the fate of the so-called “Dreamers” — people who were brought to the United States as children without valid documentation — Ramaswamy declined to explicitly say how the incoming administration would approach this group of undocumented immigrants, which includes many adults who have spent most of their life in the U.S. During his first term, the Trump administration attempted to rescind the Obama-era program that allowed such migrants to stay and work in the country.
“I say this as the kid of legal immigrants to this country, as the proud child of legal immigrants to the United States of America. If your first act of entering this country broke the law, that doesn’t allow you to remain in this country,” Ramaswamy said. “One is, no migration without consent. Think about your nation like a body. Number two is that consent should only be granted, and should be granted to migrants who benefit the United States of America. But those who enter without consent must be removed.”
As a vocal Trump ally, Ramaswamy is thought of as a potential future member of the Trump administration, though he did not specify what role would interest him.
“There’s a couple great options on the table. I want to have the biggest possible impact on this country. We’re not going to sort that out in the press… we’re having some high-impact discussions.”
