News

(WASHINGTON) — Assuming his role as consoler-in-chief, President Joe Biden will travel to Buffalo, New York, on Tuesday, to visit a community in mourning following Saturday’s racially-motivated mass shooting at a supermarket that left 10 Black people dead, three wounded and countless others fearing for their lives.

Biden is expected to meet with victims of the shooting and their relatives to “try to bring some comfort to the community, particularly to those who lost loved ones” and “grieve with them,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Monday.

“The president wants to go to a community he wants to grieve with them and he wants to send a message to the entire country, that we stand behind them and with them, and that is so important,” she said.

Biden and first lady Jill Biden will visit the Tops supermarket memorial to pay their respects on Tuesday morning, and then meet the families of victims and first responders at a community center, according to a White House official. During a speech there, the president will call on Congress to take action to “keep weapons of war off our streets” and ask Americans to “reject racial animus that radicalize” and lead to violence.

Biden has said in the past that he was compelled to run for office, in part, because of how former President Donald Trump responded to white nationalists marching in Charlottesville, Virginia. He was the first president to directly address white supremacy in his inaugural speech, calling it “domestic terrorism that we must confront” and released the first-ever national strategy to counter domestic terrorism — but advocates say it’s not enough.

Civil rights attorney Ben Crump, representing Ruth Whitfield, an 86-year-old who was among those killed Saturday, called on the Biden administration to label the shooting an act of domestic terrorism.

“We can’t sugarcoat it, we can’t try to explain it away talking about mental illness,” Crump said in a press conference with the victims’ families on Monday. “This was an act of domestic terrorism perpetrated by a young white supremacist.”

Biden’s first in-person comments on the shooting came while speaking at an event on Sunday to honor law enforcement officers killed on duty, where he described the accused gunman as “armed with weapons of war and a hate-filled soul.” He also said that he has been receiving updates from his team at the White House, which remains in close contact with the Department of Justice, while it investigates the shooting as both a hate crime and an act of racially-motivated violent extremism.

“As they do, we must all work together to address the hate that remains a stain on the soul of America,” Biden said. “Our hearts are heavy once again, but the resolve must never, ever waver.”

During a previously scheduled Medal of Valor ceremony at the White House on Monday, Biden also paid tribute to retired Buffalo Police Department officer Aaron Salter, the security guard at the Tops Friendly Market who was killed after engaging the shooter and “gave his life trying to save others,” Biden said.

“He actually was able to shoot the assailant twice, but he [the assailant] had a bulletproof vest, and he [Slater] lost his life in the process,” Biden added.

On a somber Monday afternoon, Jean-Pierre — taking over for former White House press secretary Jen Psaki — began her first briefing by reading out the names of each victim of the shooting and giving a little description of who they were.

Asked who or what may have influenced the shooter, Jean-Pierre opted, at first, to speak about the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville in 2017, which saw one counterprotester dead, saying Biden “is determined as he was back then, and he is determined today, to make sure that we fight back against those forces of hate and evil and violence.”

When pressed again by ABC News Chief White House Correspondent Cecilia Vega about elected officials who have expressed views echoing those espoused by the alleged gunman, such as Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., Jean-Pierre said the administration would call out those who “spew this type of hate” — but refused to name anyone — and gave few details about what the White House can do to prevent these kinds of views from becoming more widespread.

“What we’re going to continue to do anyone, any one person, right, doesn’t matter who they are, who spews this type of hate, hatred, we’re going to, we’re going to call out we’re going to condemn that,” she said. “I’m not going to speak or call out any individual names. I’m saying that this is something that we need to call out. And so this is what the president has been doing and will continue to do that.”

“I’m not going to get into a back and forth on names and who said what,” Jean-Pierre added. “We’re just saying, if someone does that, if there’s an individual that is espousing hate, xenophobia, you know, has, you know, has just white supremacy type of extremism, we need to call that out. And this president has done that.”

With renewed calls for gun control from the public, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi told ABC’s This Week Sunday that Democrats in Congress are “of course trying to do something about gun violence” but noted that efforts to address mass shootings on Capitol Hill have fallen short not in the House but in the Senate, where Republicans have opposed gun control measures, making it impossible for Democrats to advance legislation over the 60-vote threshold in the chamber.

A document obtained by ABC News Monday appears to show how the alleged shooter, Payton Gendron, 18, carefully planned out his attack at least two months before he was arrested at the supermarket on Saturday and charged with first-degree murder. He has pleaded not guilty.

Copyright © 2022, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(WASHINGTON) — Primary elections on Tuesday night in five states will showcase some of the many factors that have been swirling around the 2022 midterm elections, including the power of endorsements, shakeups from redistricting, and the uncertain futures of the Democratic and Republican parties.

The Pennsylvania Republican Senate primary race is among the most competitive to watch. The seat, held by retiring Republican Sen. Pat Toomey, could be critical for Democrats to maintain their slim control in the Senate.

The Senate race was shaken up in late 2020 when celebrity Dr. Mehmet Oz threw his hat in the ring for the open seat. Former President Donald Trump endorsed Oz in April, saying that he would be most likely able to win the general election.

But during a rally held by Trump in Pennsylvania, some voters on the ground were skeptical of Oz, telling ABC News they did not like his changing stances on COVID vaccines, abortion and the Second Amendment.

Oz faces challengers including businessman Dave McCormick and conservative commentator Kathy Barnette, who has gained a recent surge of support.

In the days leading up to the primary, Trump came after Barnette, saying she could not win the general election. He also went after her past.

Barnette’s newfound prominence also brought to light a series of Islamophobic and inflammatory comments posted to social media. ABC News has also verified images first shared by an independent researcher of Barnette marching toward the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. One of the videos shows Barnette walking behind a man indicted in connection with the day’s events and who prosecutors described as “a self-identified member of the Proud Boys.”

ABC News reached out to Barnette’s campaign for comment but has not received a response. The campaign told NBC, “Kathy was in DC to support President Trump and demand election accountability. Any assertion that she participated in or supported the destruction of property is intentionally false. She has no connection whatsoever to the Proud Boys.”

In the Democratic Senate primary in Pennsylvania, the three leading candidates are Lt. Gov John Fetterman, Rep. Conor Lamb and State Rep. Malcolm Kenyatta.

Fetterman served as the mayor of the small borough of Braddock, just outside Pittsburgh, for 16 years before being elected as lieutenant governor alongside Gov. Tom Wolf four years ago. He ran for Senate in 2016 but lost in the primary.

Fetterman, a progressive and the frontrunner in the race, suffered a stroke just days before Tuesday’s primary — taking him off the trail in the final stretch — but said in a statement he expects to make a full recovery.

Kenyatta made his mark on the national stage in the summer of 2020 as a Democratic National Convention keynote speaker whom the party identified as part of a group of “diverse voices from the next generation of party leaders.” He was a strong ally of President Joe Biden’s throughout the 2020 general election.

Lamb, who has staked out a centrist position in the primary, currently represents Pennsylvania’s 17th Congressional District in the House of Representatives. He has picked up key endorsements, including from many labor unions, in the eastern part of the state.

Then there’s Pennsylvania’s fierce GOP gubernatorial primary. Whoever wins the governor’s race in November will also appoint a secretary of state — the chief election officer in the state where the “big lie” and Trump’s false claims that he is the legitimate winner of the 2020 election run deep.

Several candidates are vying for the GOP nomination, while Attorney General Josh Shapiro runs unopposed in the Democratic primary for governor. The races shifted dramatically in recent days when Trump endorsed state Sen. Doug Mastriano, who’s attracted conservative grassroots support for his efforts to try to overturn the state’s 2020 presidential result.

Mastriano attended the Jan. 6 insurrection, organizing buses to the “Stop the Steal” rally and was caught on camera walking past barricades at the Capitol ahead of the deadly protests though he has denied participating in any violence. The House Jan. 6 committee has subpoenaed him, given that he was in communication with Trump on that infamous day, but neither he nor the committee has confirmed whether he complied with the order.

In North Carolina, GOP Sen. Richard Burr announced last year he would not seek reelection. There are over 10 candidates in the race to replace him — including the three leading candidates, Rep. Ted Budd, former North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory and former Rep. Mark Walker.

Budd, who was endorsed by Trump, struggled earlier in the year in the polls and fundraising but now is doing better and leading in the polls.

In the Democratic Senate primary in North Carolina, former state Supreme Court Chief Justice Cheri Beasley is a front runner. If Beasley wins the general election, she could become the only Black woman to serve as a senator in the 118th Congress.

Rep. David Price of North Carolina’s 4th Congressional District is retiring and a crowded Democratic field is fighting for his spot. Eight Democrats filed their candidacy paperwork, including musician and American Idol runner-up Clay Aiken. If Aiken wins the primary and the general, he would become the first openly gay member of Congress from the South.

Elsewhere in North Carolina, the Republican primary for the 11th Congressional District is another hotly contested race. Rep. Madison Cawthorn, considered a right-wing firebrand in the party, has dealt with many controversies during his freshman year in Congress. On Tuesday, voters will decide if they want to keep him around. Many top GOP members have indicated that they want him gone — including both Republican senators from North Carolina.

But on Monday, Trump — who has endorsed Cawthorn — took to his own social media platform Truth Social to defend Cawthorn, saying he believes that while Cawthorn made some “foolish mistakes” he deserves a second chance.

In Kentucky, leading the pack in the Democratic primary race is Charles Booker, who made a run for Senate in 2020 — losing in the primary to Amy McGrath, who went on to compete in the general against Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell.

Over in Idaho, sparks have flown in the Republican primary in the race for Idaho’s governor, with incumbent Republican Gov. Brad Little attempting to hold onto his position against the best efforts of his own lieutenant governor, Republican Janice McGeachin. This is the first time a sitting governor has been challenged by their own lieutenant governor of the same party since 1938.

The pair have been playing something of political cat and mouse for a few months: When Little was out of state, McGeachin has, more than once, issued anti-mask mandate-related executive orders in her role as acting governor, which Little would then rescind upon his return.

In Oregon, widely considered a blue state, there is a chance for the Republican party to make a play for the open governor’s seat since term-limited Democratic Gov. Kate Brown is unpopular in the state.

In the Democratic primary for Oregon’s newly redistricted 5th Congressional district, incumbent Democratic Rep. Kurt Schrader is facing intraparty controversy for keeping a key drug provision in Biden’s signature Build Back Better plan from advancing.

Despite that, Schrader was the first candidate in 2022 to get Biden’s endorsement, a potential indicator of how much the president wants Democrats to hold onto their seats in the House.

Copyright © 2022, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(WASHINGTON) — Almost a year after a long-awaited U.S. intelligence report on UFOs provided few answers to what military pilots had encountered in more than 140 incidents, top Pentagon officials will face Congress on Tuesday in the first hearing in more than 50 years focused on UFOs.

The intelligence report could only explain one of the military’s 144 encounters with Unexplained Aerial Phenomena, the military’s new term used to describe UFOs, reported since 2004. That report did not contain the words “alien” or “extraterrestrial” and said that the unexplained UAP incidents would require further study. Still, it did say that most of the phenomena were likely physical objects.

Appearing before a House Intelligence subcommittee on Tuesday will be Ronald Moultrie, the Pentagon’s top intelligence official and Scott Bray, the deputy director of Naval Intelligence, who will be asked by members of Congress if there are any updates.

Committee chairman Rep. Andre Carson, D-N.Y., tweeted last week that “Americans need to know more about these unexplained occurrences.”

At the hearing, the defense officials are expected to play videos of some of the encounters that military personnel have had with UAPs to demonstrate how investigators try to determine what is going on in the incidents, according to a U.S. official.

The public’s renewed interest in UFOs has been sparked in recent years by the leaks of once classified videos and the Navy’s declassification of videos that recorded its pilots’ encounters.

Jeremy Corbell, a documentary filmmaker and UFO enthusiast, who has released some of those videos, said the hearing reflects the public’s interest in UFOs.

“What is so great is that this is a direct response to public will,” Corbell told ABC News. “It is direct response to public pressure. It is representative government representing the citizens and their interest.”

“And I am encouraged by the public desire to know and find out the truth of what UFOs represent to humankind,” Corbell added. “It’s the biggest story of our time. And finally, we’re beginning to have the conversation without ridicule and stigma that has so injured the search for scientific truth on this topic.”

At a Pentagon briefing on Monday, the Pentagon’s top spokesman, John Kirby, said its officials were looking forward to talking “about the work that we’re doing to get a better handle on the process itself” of investigating UAP incidents.

“It’s about organizing around the efforts so that there’s a common collection process for how these reports get brought into the system, how they get analyzed, how they get investigated, and then how they get adjudicated,” Kirby told reporters at the briefing. “That’s what we’ve really got to get our arms around.”

Copyright © 2022, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(WASHINGTON) — The White House announced a historic shift in its policy toward Cuba Monday night, saying that for the first time in six decades it will sign off on an American company investing in a private Cuba-based and Cuban-owned business.

The deal is pending approval by the Cuban government but could open the door for additional American dollars flowing to entrepreneurs in the island nation.

Additionally, the Biden administration said it would authorize flights to Cuba beyond Havana, reinstate the Cuban Family Reunification Parole Program, which allows Cubans to join family members in the U.S. on a temporary basis with the potential for obtaining permanent status, and lift the $1,000 per quarter limit on remittances per sender-receiver pair and allow for donative (non-family) remittances.

The administration characterizes these moves as “measures to further support the Cuban people, providing them additional tools to pursue a life free from Cuban government oppression and to seek greater economic opportunities.”

Copyright © 2022, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(WASHINGTON) — In her first sit-down interview since leaving Washington, Melania Trump appeared on Fox News on Sunday where she addressed some of her ongoing work as a former first lady and looked back at her time in the White House — and what came after.

It was a rare public appearance for Donald Trump’s wife, who has eschewed the spotlight since leaving the East Wing, compared to the former president.

“Life is great and [I’m] keeping it busy. And, you know, time flies fast and we are just — everybody is doing very well,” Melania told Pete Hegseth on “Fox & Friends Weekend.”

She and her husband relocated to their Mar-a-Lago Club in Palm Beach, Florida, when his term ended in January 2021 and Melania has kept an even lower profile out of office than while she was first lady, traveling between Trump properties in New Jersey, New York and Florida and spending much of her time with her family and her teenage son, Barron.

Speaking with Hegseth on Sunday, Melania Trump said that she had “enjoyed living in the White House. To be first lady of the United States was my greatest honor.” But she said she still bristled at the scrutiny of her time in the White House, including when she stirred controversy with some of her fashion choices such as wearing an “I Really Don’t Care Do U?” jacket while visiting migrant children in 2018, which she insisted was a message for the media.

In her Fox News interview, Melania dismissed criticism of her as unfair — responding to a question from Hegseth about why, as a major public figure and former model, she was not on the cover of Vogue while in the White House.

“They’re biased and they have likes and dislikes. And it’s so obvious,” she said. “And I think American people and everyone see it. It was their decision. And I have much more important things to do and I did in the White House than being on the cover of Vogue.”

“People I see always criticize me, whatever I do, and I’m used to that,” Trump added. “I move forward and I’m here to helping people. And that is the mission.”

Representatives with Vogue did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Monday. The magazine’s editor in chief, Anna Wintour, said in 2019 about covering Melania as first lady that “I think it’s important for Vogue to support women who are leading change in this country.”

Elsewhere in her “Fox & Friends” interview, Melania talked about her work with children in foster care with a project called Fostering the Future as part of the “BeBest” initiative she started in the White House and has continued.

“Those people who criticize me, I would encourage them to help in their own community or maybe join my Foster the Future initiative,” she told Hegseth.

So far, that work has included appearances to foster care organizations in Florida; she said on Fox News that a portion of the money from sales of her burgeoning NFT collection would also “will go towards education, providing education, opportunities for foster care children who are aging out of foster system,” though it’s unclear how much money will be donated in this way.

Those funds will be supporting scholarships as well, Melania said. One recipient, Michael Weitzman, spoke by phone during Melania’s “Fox & Friends” interview and said the support was “literally a dream come true.”

Melania also addressed various political issues, echoing her husband in criticizing President Joe Biden’s administration on issues including border and immigration policy and the shortage of baby formula, which she called “heartbreaking.”

Like former President Trump, Melania spoke obliquely — teasingly — about a 2024 bid for office. “Never say never,” she said.

She was not asked and did not address the Trump family’s ongoing legal issues and investigations, including the congressional probe of the pro-Trump Jan. 6 Capitol riot and a related effort to overturn the 2020 election results.

The former president denied any wrongdoing; he has cast the investigations as politically motivated witch hunts.

Copyright © 2022, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.