(NEW YORK) — Prominent civil rights attorney Ben Crump has filed a lawsuit against Johnson & Johnson, alleging the pharmaceutical giant marketed talcum-based baby powder specifically to Black women despite links to ovarian cancers.
Johnson & Johnson has denied the allegations, saying its marketing campaigns are “multicultural and inclusive.” The company also denies that its products cause cancer, despite a Missouri appellate court last year ruling in favor of ovarian cancer victims suing the company as part of a separate lawsuit, claiming their condition was caused by asbestos in its baby powder and other talc products.
Crump, perhaps best known for representing the family of George Floyd after his murder by Derek Chauvin, filed the suit Tuesday in New Jersey with his legal partner Paul Napoli on behalf of members of the National Council of Negro Women (NCNW). The council, founded in 1935, is a nonprofit that advocates for and empowers women of African descent and their families.
“I would be remiss if I did not say exactly what this lawsuit is about. It is about the lives of our grandmothers, our mothers, our sisters, our daughters, our nieces, and our wives, and how they were sinisterly targeted by Johnson and Johnson,” Crump said at a news conference Tuesday announcing the suit. “This multi-billion-dollar corporation, their corporate executives know about the link between talcum powder and ovarian cancer.”
“Black women have always been the backbone of this country, standing up for everyone, but receiving the least amount of respect,” he added. “Well, it is time that we stand up for Black women.”
At the news conference, victims who lost family members to ovarian cancer tearfully spoke out about the impact these deaths have had on their lives.
Lydia Huston said her mother died of ovarian cancer in 2014. She remembers the mother of two and grandmother of eight as a “phenomenal cook” who “loved to take care of the people that she loved.”
“We had a routine and it involves hygiene, a very clean home and a very clean body,” she said. “And just like deodorant, soap, lotion, and toothpaste, talcum powder was a part of the daily routine that she had for over 35 years.”
“I miss her dearly, and I want justice for her,” Huston said.
Janice Mathis, the executive director of the NCNW, added in a separate statement that “generations of Black women” used Johnson & Johnson products as part of their daily routines.
“This company, through its words and images, told Black women that we were offensive in our natural state and needed to use their products to stay fresh,” she said. “Generations of Black women believed them and made it our daily practice to use their products in ways that put us at risk of cancer — and we taught our daughters to do the same.”
Johnson & Johnson has denied that its baby powder products cause cancer, but has previously said that it is facing more than 20,000 lawsuits over its talcum products. Despite assurances it is safe, the company stopped selling talc-based baby powder in 2020 in the U.S., citing reduced demand due to misinformation and litigation advertising.
In June 2020, an appellate court in Missouri upheld more than $2 billion in damages against Johnson & Johnson, saying the company knew there was asbestos in its baby powder. In June of this year, the Supreme Court declined to hear the company’s appeal of the Missouri verdict.
The company told ABC News in a statement that independent scientific testing has proved its products do not cause cancer. A Journal of the American Medical Association report released last year found “no statistically significant link” between use of powder in the genital area and risk of ovarian cancer.
“We empathize with anyone suffering from cancer and understand that people are looking for answers. We believe those answers can be better understood through science — and decades of independent scientific testing by medical experts around the world has confirmed that our products are safe, do not contain asbestos, and do not cause cancer,” Johnson & Johnson told ABC News in a statement Tuesday.
“The accusations being made against our company are false, and the idea that our Company would purposefully and systematically target a community with bad intentions is unreasonable and absurd,” the statement added. “Johnson’s Baby Powder is safe, and our campaigns are multicultural and inclusive.”
“We firmly stand behind the safety of our product and the ways in which we communicate with our customers,” the company said, noting that more information can be found at www.FactsAboutTalc.com.
(POWESHIEK COUNTY, Iowa) — The lead agent who investigated the disappearance and murder of University of Iowa student Mollie Tibbetts testified Tuesday that there was no doubt in his mind who killed her.
“Cristhian Rivera murdered Mollie Tibbetts,” special agent Trent Vileta said in court.
Vileta rejected a theory by Cristhian Bahena Rivera’s attorneys that he was framed for Tibbetts’ kidnapping and murder as part of a sex trafficking ring. The attorneys claim the alleged sex trafficking ring was investigated and that resulting evidence was withheld from them by law enforcement authorities.
“I don’t remember any tips that she (Tibbetts) was the victim of sex trafficking, but I didn’t see all of them either,” Vileta said.
A jury convicted 27-year-old Bahena Rivera in May of first-degree murder, but his sentencing was postponed after his attorneys requested a new trial in order to be allowed to review evidence in any ongoing investigations into sex trafficking in and around Poweshiek County, Iowa, where Tibbetts went missing in July 2018. Her body was discovered in an Iowa cornfield about a month after she vanished.
During Tuesday’s hearing, which lasted more than four hours, Bahena Rivera’s attorneys called Arne Maki to testify about a conversation he said he had in July 2020 with a 21-year-old inmate while they were both being held at the jail in Keokuk County, Iowa.
Maki, 46, who is now serving a prison sentence for domestic violence, claimed the inmate who he befriended told him that he and another man killed Tibbetts on the orders of a sex trafficker after she was kidnapped and brought to a sex trafficking “trap house.”
“He’s like, ‘yeah, I killed her,'” Maki testified about the inmate who defense attorneys named in court documents and during the hearing. “I’m like, ‘I don’t believe you.'”
Maki claimed the man then mentioned Bahena Rivera, a Mexican national who was in the country illegally and working at a dairy in Poweshiek County when he was arrested and charged with Tibbetts’ killing.
“He’s like, ‘We set him up.’ He’s like, ‘It’s a sex trafficking case gone wrong, and I stabbed her to death and put her in a tarp, me and my Black friend that don’t speak English good.'”
Maki testified that he doubted the inmate’s story until he saw TV news reports on Bahena Rivera’s testimony during his trial.
Bahena Rivera claimed he was kidnapped at his home near Brooklyn, Iowa, by two armed masked men, who ordered him to drive to where Tibbetts was expected to be jogging. He claimed that when they found Tibbetts, one of the men stabbed her to death, put her body in the trunk of Bahena Rivera’s car and made him drive to a cornfield, where the young woman’s badly decomposed remains were discovered a month after she went missing.
Bahena Rivera said that while he placed Tibbetts’ body in the cornfield, he did not kill her.
“Right there my conscience told me that I should say something, even if it’s not true,” Maki said, explaining why he told authorities about the inmate’s purported confession.
But under cross-examination from prosecutor Bart Klaver, Maki said he did not know that the inmate who confessed to him was in a rehab facility under court supervision at the time Tibbetts disappeared.
Judge Joel Yates, who presided over Bahena Rivera’s trial, told the attorneys he will make a written decision as soon possible on the defense motion for a new trial.
Earlier this month, Yates rejected the motion to allow Bahena Rivera’s attorneys an opportunity to review evidence in ongoing sex trafficking investigations in Poweshiek County and in the case of a missing 11-year-old boy, Xavior Harrelson, who vanished in May from his home in Poweshiek County. The defense attorneys suggested that the man who they allege operated the sex trafficking “trap house” once had been the boyfriend of Harrelson’s mother.
(WASHINGTON) — The House select committee tasked with investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol held its first hearing Tuesday in which lawmakers heard dramatic, emotional accounts from law enforcement officers who defended the building against a pro-Trump mob.
“We’re going to revisit some of those moments today, and it won’t be easy,” Chairman Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., said to open the hearing, while praising the officers for holding the line. “But history will remember your names and your actions.”
Here are key takeaways from the first hearing:
All witnesses feared for their lives during attack
The four officers testifying — Capitol Police officers Aquilino Gonell and Harry Dunn and Metropolitan Police Department officers Michael Fanone and Daniel Hodges — flatly rejected any attempts to rewrite history on Jan. 6 and downplay the attack as one that shouldn’t be investigated further, telling lawmakers they all feared for their lives on Jan. 6.
When Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., asked Gonell to respond to former President Donald Trump’s calling the crowd “loving.” Gonell placed responsibility on him for sending his supporters to the Capitol.
“It’s a pathetic excuse for his behavior for something that he himself helped to create — this monstrosity,” Gonell said. “I’m still recovering from those ‘hugs and kisses’ that day.”
Hodges, who referred to the rioters as “terrorists,” detailed the weapons used against officers that day including police shields, batons, hammers, a sledgehammer, flag poles, tasers, pepper spray, bear and wasp spray, copper pipes, rocks, table legs broken down, guardrails, cones and “any items they can get their hands on.”
“There were over 9,000 of the terrorists out there with an unknown number of firearms and a couple hundred of us, maybe. So we could not — if that turned into a firefight, we would have lost,” he said. “And this was a fight we couldn’t afford to lose.”
Hodges, who was crushed in a doorway that day, recalled how he had to wrestle with one rioter who tried to take his baton and how another shouted at him, “‘You will die on your knees.'”
Gonell also described the day as a scene “from a medieval battlefield.”
“I could feel myself losing oxygen and recall thinking to myself, ‘this is how I’m going to die, trampled defending this entrance,'” he said.
But the officers said they didn’t think twice about defending the Capitol and democracy, as traumatic as the experience was for them, their colleagues and families.
“Us four officers, we would do Jan. 6 all over again,” Dunn said. “We wouldn’t stay home because we knew what was going to happen. We would show up. That’s courageous. That’s heroic. So what I ask from you all, is to get to the bottom of what happened.”
“The rioters called me traitor, a disgrace, and shouted that I—an army veteran and a police officer—should be executed,” Capitol Police Sgt. Aquilino Gonell says during Jan. 6 select committee hearing. https://t.co/KuT3vxIg91pic.twitter.com/knJ8oRxRqg
The lawmakers choked up at times during the officers’ testimony including Rep. Adam Kinzinger, R-Ill., who told them, “You guys may like individually feel a little broken … but you guys won.”
“Democracies are not defined by our bad days. We’re defined by how we come back from bad days,” he said.
Racial slurs heard at riot haunt hearing room: ‘I guess it is America’
Racial slurs haunted the hearing room as officers recounted chants made by the mob, moving some officers to tears and prompting some lawmakers to hang their heads.
Dunn recounted the racist verbal abuse he endured from rioters in emotional testimony and said it was the first time he had been called the n-word in uniform.
“I’m a law enforcement officer and I do my best to keep politics out of my job, but in this circumstance I responded, ‘Well, I voted for Joe Biden, does my vote not count? Am I nobody?'” he said he told rioters who falsely shouted at him the election was stolen.
Capitol Police officer Harry Dunn on racial abuse from rioters: “It’s so disheartening and disappointing that we live in a country with people like that, that attack you because of the color of your skin just to hurt you.” https://t.co/pZb3doEsvxpic.twitter.com/rVGupmH6hP
“That prompted a torrent of racial epithets,” Dunn said. “One woman in a pink MAGA shirt yelled “You hear that guys, this n***** voted for Joe Biden.”
Dunn, who also witnessed a Confederate flag carried through the Capitol, said that other Black officers shared similar stories of racial abuse from the day.
“I sat down on the bench in the Rotunda with a friend of mine, who is also a Black Capitol Police officer and told him about the racial slurs I endured. I became very emotional and began yelling, ‘How the blank could something like this happen? Is this America?'” he said. “I began sobbing.”
When Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., posed the same question to Dunn later, the officer said, “I guess it is America. It shouldn’t be.”
Committee looking to subpoena Trump, lawmakers
Cheney, in her opening statement, made clear the committee is open to subpoenaing the former president, White House aides and members of Congress as they create a timeline of the day.
“We must also know what happened every minute of that day in the White House. Every phone call, every conversation, every meeting, leading up to, during, and after the attack. Honorable men and women have an obligation to step forward,” she said.
Adding to that pressure, all four witnesses told lawmakers they wanted an investigation into those in power who may have aided and abetted rioters.
Dunn used an analogy with a hitman to describe his expectations, in an apparent nod to the former president, after the witnesses spent three and a half hours recounting chants of “Trump sent us,” among others.
“If a hitman is hired and he kills somebody, the hitman goes to jail, but not only does the hitman go to jail but the person who hired them does. There was an attack carried out on Jan. 6 and a hitman sent them,” he said. “I want you to get to the bottom of that.”
Thompson said at a press conference after the hearing that the committee could be brought back for another hearing during the House’s August recess, which starts Friday. The panel said its work is just beginning.
The Department of Justice said in letters to former Trump officials, and provided to congressional committees, that they can participate in the investigations into the Jan. 6 attack, according to sources and letters reviewed by ABC News earlier Tuesday.
Cheney and Kinzinger poke holes in GOP arguments against committee
The two Republicans on the panel spent their questioning time pushing back on some of the most prominent Republican talking points after Jan. 6 — including that the rioters were not violent and that whatever took place at the Capitol paled in comparison to violence perpetrated by antifa during racial justice protests.
“I condemn those riots and the destruction of property that resulted — but not once did I ever feel that the future of self-governance was threatened like I did on Jan. 6,” Kinzinger said. “There was a difference between breaking the law and rejecting the rule of law, between a crime, even grave crimes and a coup.”
Kinzinger also defended his choice to serve on the committee, saying it’s “not in spite of my membership in the Republican Party, but because of it, not to win a political fight, but to learn the facts and defend our democracy.”
Cheney reminded in her opening statement that she and other lawmakers preferred to establish an independent commission to investigate the attack, but that effort was “defeated by Republicans in the Senate.”
“That leaves us where we are today. We cannot leave the violence of Jan. 6 and its causes uninvestigated,” she said. “If those responsible are not held accountable, and if Congress does not act responsibly, this will remain a cancer on our constitutional republic.”
Rep. Liz Cheney: “We must overcome the many efforts we are already seeing to cover up and obscure the facts…No member of Congress should now attempt to defend the indefensible.”
The former No. 3 House Republican also reminded that her GOP colleagues had “recognized the events that day for what they actually were” in the days after the attack, even if members downplay it now.
Ahead of Tuesday’s hearing, Republicans who boycotted the select panel said the hearing should focus on the fact that Capitol Police were unprepared for Jan. 6. But because they gave up their ability to participate in the hearing, they couldn’t lead the discussion in their preferred direction — or challenge Democrats’ lines of inquiry the way Cheney and Kinzinger picked apart some of their claims.
Officers, while praised for heroism, blast lawmakers for partisan politics
While the officers were praised throughout the hearing for holding the line on Jan. 6, with lawmakers on the panel thanking them for their protection, the officers didn’t hold back when describing their disapproval in how partisan politics has muddied the search for the truth.
Fanone, the Metropolitan Police Department officer who was dragged down the Capitol steps, beaten with a flagpole, tased repeatedly and taunted with chants of “kill him with his own gun,” called out lawmakers on Tuesday who have blocked efforts for an investigation.
Officer Michael Fanone slams the table during Capitol riot hearing: “The indifference shown to my colleagues is disgraceful!”
“What makes the struggle harder and more painful is to know so many of my fellow citizens…are downplaying or outright denying what happened.” pic.twitter.com/1mGO4hHTFG
“The indifference shown to my colleagues is disgraceful,” he said, slamming his fist on the witness table. “I feel like I went to hell and back to protect them and the people in this room, but too many are now telling me that hell doesn’t exist or that hell actually wasn’t that bad.”
“Nothing — truly nothing — has prepared me to address those elected members of our government who continue to deny the events of that day, and in doing so betray their oath of office,” he added.
Gonell said of the former president downplaying the day, “It’s insulting, it’s demoralizing because everything that we did was to prevent everyone in the Capitol from getting hurt.”
Dunn said that the investigation is innately political because of the landscape surrounding the attack, but that it shouldn’t stop lawmakers from seeking the truth.
“It’s not a secret that it was political. They literally were there to stop the steal. So when people say it shouldn’t be political, it is. It was and it is. There’s no getting around that,” he said.
“Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger are being lauded as courageous heroes and while I agree with that notion, why? Because they told the truth? Why is telling the truth hard?” he asked. “I guess in this America, it is.”
(WASHINGTON) — President Joe Biden said Tuesday afternoon that a mandate to require all federal employees to be vaccinated is now “under consideration.”
He said this one day after the Department of Veterans Affairs moved to require all health workers get a COVID-19 vaccine and shortly after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention cited new science on the transmissibility of the delta variant and reversed its mask guidance.
“It’s under consideration right now,” Biden said when asked by ABC News if the federal government would expand the vaccine mandate. “But if you’re not vaccinated, you’re not nearly as smart as I thought you were.”
BREAKING: Pres. Biden tells ABC’s @sarahkolinovsky that he is considering a mandate for all federal employees to get COVID-19 vaccines.
As he wrapped a visit to the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, ABC News also asked the president about Tuesday’s new guidance from the CDC, recommending masks for vaccinated Americans in public, and whether it would cause confusion, but Biden continued to focus on those who remain unvaccinated.
“We have a pandemic because the unvaccinated — and they’re sowing enormous confusion,” he said. “The more we learned — the more we learn about this virus and the delta variation, the more we have to be worried, concerned.”
“And the only one thing we know for sure, if those other 100 million people got vaccinated we’d be in a very different world. So get vaccinated. If you aren’t, you’re not nearly as smart as I thought you were,” Biden continued.
Following his remarks, Biden released a statement saying the CDC decision is “another step on our journey to defeating the virus” and that he’d have more to say on Thursday when he will “lay out the next steps” to get more Americans vaccinated.
Regarding the CDC recommendation for students, Biden said it’s “inconvenient,” but gives them a chance to learn “with their classmates with the best available protection.”
He also acknowledged concerns that as cases rise and mask guidance is reversed that the U.S. could be heading back to restrictions and closures but said in the statement, “We are not going back to that.”
“In the meantime, more vaccinations and mask wearing in the areas most impacted by the delta variant will enable us to avoid the kind of lockdowns, shutdowns, school closures and disruptions we faced in 2020. Unlike 2020, we have both the scientific knowledge and the tools to prevent the spread of this disease,” he said.
Earlier Tuesday, the CDC cited new science on the transmissibility of the delta variant and reversed its mask guidance to recommend that everyone in areas with high levels of COVID, vaccinated or not, wear a mask, as the virus continues to spread rapidly across the U.S.
“This new science is worrisome and unfortunately warrants an update to our recommendation,” CDC Director Rochelle Walensky told reporters during a briefing on Tuesday afternoon.
Throughout Washington there was a quick return to mask wearing for many who had grown accustomed to being without.
Vice President Kamala Harris, meeting with Interior Secretary Deb Haaland and Native American voting rights advocates Tuesday afternoon, wore a mask indoors for the first time since May 13.
Asked about the development, Harris gave a little shrug.
“None of us like wearing masks,” she said bluntly.
She noted that most people dying at this point are not vaccinated.
“People need to get vaccinated. That’s the only way we’re going to cut this thing off. No one likes wearing a mask. Get vaccinated. That’s it,” she said, then hitting her hand on the table for emphasis.
ABC News’ Cheyenne Haslett and Anne Flaherty contributed to this report.
(NEW YORK) — The sole copy of Wu-Tang Clan’s “Once Upon a Time in Shaolin,” owned by one-time hedge fund manager Martin Shkreli until he forfeited it following his securities fraud conviction, has been sold, federal prosecutors in Brooklyn, New York, said Tuesday.
The terms of the sale were confidential, as was the identity of the buyer, but the proceeds will be applied to the balance of the nearly $7.4 million Shkreli owes in forfeiture.
“Through the diligent and persistent efforts of this office and its law enforcement partners, Shkreli has been held accountable and paid the price for lying and stealing from investors to enrich himself. With today’s sale of this one-of-a-kind album, his payment of the forfeiture is now complete,” said Jacquelyn Kasulis, acting U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York.
Shkreli, best known for hiking the price of a life-saving drug when he was a pharmaceutical executive and for trolling critics on social media, was convicted of securities fraud in 2017 for orchestrating a series of schemes to cheat investors in two hedge funds he controlled as well as a biopharmaceutical company then known as Retrophin. He was sentenced to seven years in prison.
The millions the government is seeking in forfeiture “represents a conservative computation of the proceeds Shkreli personally obtained as a result of his three different securities fraud crimes of conviction,” prosecutors wrote at the time.
Shkreli was ordered to forfeit the one-of-a-kind Wu-Tang Clan album, which he purchased for $2 million at an auction in 2015. According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, it includes a hand-carved nickel-silver box as well as a leather-bound manuscript containing lyrics and a certificate of authenticity.
In September 2017, after he had been convicted but before the district court ordered the forfeiture of his assets, Shkreli attempted to sell the album through an online auction, prosecutors said.
The album, which has been considered one of the most valuable musical albums in the world, is subject to various restrictions, including those related to the duplication of its sound recordings.
ABC News’ Celia Darrough contributed to this report.
(RICHMOND, Va.) — Virginia gubernatorial nominee Terry McAuliffe called on his GOP opponent Glenn Youngkin to cancel his appearance at and denounce what the 5th Congressional District Republican Party is calling an “election integrity regional rally,” which coincides with the anniversary of the 1965 Voting Rights Act first being signed into law.
Susan Swecker, chairwoman of the Democratic Party of Virginia, called on the 5th District Republicans to cancel the event altogether.
“We all know what Glenn Youngkin and Republicans mean when they talk about election integrity. They’re following Donald Trump’s lie that the 2020 election was stolen and pushing restricting measures that make it harder for folks to exercise their fundamental right to vote,” Swecker said in a virtual press conference Tuesday. “Here in Virginia, we fought hard to protect and expand the sacred right to vote, and we’re not about to let Glenn Youngkin drag us backwards.”
The two-day, paid event is scheduled for Aug. 6 and 7 at Liberty University, a private evangelical Christian institution in Lynchburg. Attendees can purchase “early bird tickets” through Friday, which cost $60 per individual and $110 per couple; after Friday, ticket price increases by $20 and $40, respectively, according to the flyer for the event.
Youngkin, along with the other statewide GOP nominees for lieutenant governor, Winsome Sears, and attorney general, Jason Miyares, are the headliners for the Saturday night banquet.
The itinerary for the 5th District Republicans’ rally, which was not organized or being run by the Youngkin campaign, does not indicate it will be an event highlighting conspiracies about the 2020 election. It appears to be more of a grassroots event for the party’s faithful, with breakout sessions focused on voter registration, outreach like phone banking and door-knocking, organizing and election monitoring, for which there is a legal process to do.
In response to a request for comment, Melvin Adams, the chairman of the 5th District Republicans, told ABC News the party is “not surprised by these tactics.”
“They know this is a close race and that our event to thank, inspire, equip, and empower our ‘grassroots’ volunteers, while also helping them know how they can help to secure the integrity of our local elections, will cause an unprecedented Republican turnout in this very RED region of Virginia,” Adams said. “That is why they are attempting to cause distraction.”
Election integrity has become the rallying cry of the Republican Party following the 2020 presidential election, which former President Donald Trump continues to falsely claim was “rigged,” despite no real evidence to support the baseless accusation of widespread fraud in battleground states Trump legitimately lost. Republican-led state legislatures, including Georgia, Florida and Arizona, have passed new “election integrity” laws, some of which amount to sweeping rewrites of election code.
The lawmakers justify these changes by asserting voters have lost faith in the system and are demanding changes — though few in the party openly acknowledge the source of that diminished confidence among voters, Republican voters specifically.
Youngkin, who earned Trump’s endorsement after securing the nomination, has not personally repeated the same lies about the election being “stolen,” but the issue of election integrity has been central to his campaign.
Before the party convention in May, the only major plan Youngkin released was one in February about this, also creating an “election integrity task force.” The five-prong plan calls for creating a “politically independent and transparent” Department of Elections, monthly updates to voter rolls, stricter voter identification requirements, verification of mail ballot applications and returns to ensure they are “legitimate and timely,” and requiring ballot counting observers and an audit of voting machines.
McAuliffe, Democratic Gov. Ralph Northam’s predecessor who’s vying for his old job, blasted the rally as being “inspired by Donald Trump’s conspiracy theory that led to a deadly insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.”
“Glenn – enough is enough. I call on you to immediately withdraw from this ‘election integrity’ rally and disavow this dangerous, deadly conspiracy theory once and for all. Virginians deserve a leader who will tell the truth, act with integrity, and respect the office they seek to hold,” McAuliffe said in a statement Tuesday. “Glenn has shown, yet again, that he is no such leader. … If Glenn has any respect for the truth or Virginians, he will drop out of this event immediately.”
In response, Youngkin spokesperson Matt Wolking said in a statement, “Terry McAuliffe opposes requiring a photo ID to vote, which undermines the integrity of our elections and makes it easier to cheat. Glenn Youngkin will restore Virginia’s photo ID law and make sure it is easy for every eligible person to vote and harder to cheat.”
In Virginia, current law requires voters present a form of identification, but photo ID specifically is not required. There is broad support among the public for requiring voters to present a photo ID to cast ballots. In late June, a Monmouth University poll found that 80% of Americans support this, including about 60% of Democrats.
McAuliffe also accused Youngkin of spending “months denying that Joe Biden was duly elected president.” Since winning the nomination, Youngkin has repeatedly said Biden was legitimately elected, according to a fact check done by the Poynter Institute’s PolitiFact. However, the fact check also found that pre-nomination, multiple media outlets reported that Youngkin or his campaign either did not respond to questions about whether Biden was “legitimately elected” or declined to answer.
(WASHINGTON) — The Department of Justice has sent letters to six former Trump DOJ officials telling them that they can participate in Congress’ investigation into the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, according to sources and communications reviewed by ABC News.
The move is likely to remove a significant barrier that Democrats faced during Trump’s presidency, when the Justice Department backed the White House’s efforts to prevent any DOJ officials from testifying before their Democratic congressional committees.
At this time, no Trump-era DOJ official has indicated that they have agreed to testify in the congressional probe.
The first hearing of the House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the U.S. Capitol, featuring law enforcement officers who defended the Capitol on Jan. 6, got underway Tuesday.
Earlier, those attorneys who had been asked to testify had said they would need authorization from the Justice Department, sources told ABC News.
“Department attorneys, including those who have left the Department, are obligated to protect non-public information they learned in the course of their work,” reads the DOJ’s letter, which was sent Monday and reviewed by ABC News. “For decades and across administrations, however, the Department has sought to balance the Executive Branch’s confidentiality interests with Congress’s legitimate need to gather information. The extraordinary events in this matter constitute exceptional circumstances warranting an accommodation to Congress in this case.”
The letter was sent to former Acting Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen, former Principal Associate Deputy Attorney General Richard Donoghue, former Assistant Attorney General Jeffrey Clark, former U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Georgia B.J. Pak, former U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Georgia Bobby Christine and former Associate Deputy Attorney General Patrick Hovakimian, all of whom were requested as witnesses by House Oversight Committee.
“The extraordinary events in this matter constitute exceptional circumstances warranting an accommodation to Congress in this case,” the letter said. “Congress has articulated compelling legislative interests in the matters being investigated, and the information the Committees have requested from you bears directly on Congress’s interest in understanding these extraordinary events: namely, the question whether former President Trump sought to cause the Department to use its law enforcement and litigation authorities to advance his personal political interests with respect to the results of the 2020 presidential election.”
(NEW YORK) — The United States is facing a COVID-19 summer surge as the delta variant spreads.
More than 611,000 Americans have died from COVID-19, according to real-time data compiled by the Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins University.
Just 57% of Americans ages 12 and up are fully vaccinated, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
COVID-19 has infected more than 194 million people worldwide and killed over 4.1 million.
Latest headlines:
-US moved into ‘high’ community transmission category per CDC
-Dept. of Veterans Affairs mandates vaccine
-Savannah reinstates mask mandate indoors
-Orlando area in ‘crisis mode’ as cases skyrocket
Here’s how the news is developing today. All times Eastern.
Jul 27, 4:10 pm
CDC reverses guidance on masks for vaccinated people
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Tuesday reversed its mask guidance for vaccinated people due to the delta variant surge.
Vaccinated Americans should now wear masks inside if they’re in places with substantial or high transmission, the CDC said.
CDC Director Rochelle Walensky said data show that on “rare occasions, some vaccinated people with the delta variant … may be contagious and spread the virus to others. This new science is worrisome and unfortunately warrants an update to our recommendations.”
Walensky added, “This moment — and most importantly — the associated illness, suffering and death, could have been avoided with higher vaccination coverage in this country.”
In May, the CDC said vaccinated Americans could stop wearing masks indoors.
The CDC also said Tuesday that masks should be worn in schools by all students, teachers, staff and visitors, even for those who are vaccinated. The CDC said students should return to full-time in-person learning this year with prevention strategies in place.
President Joe Biden in a statement called the CDC’s new rules “another step on our journey to defeating this virus.”
“While we have seen an increase in vaccinations in recent days, we still need to do better,” he added.
Jul 27, 3:42 pm
NYC hospital mandating vaccines for staff
New York City’s Hospital for Special Surgery is requiring its staff be vaccinated as of Sept. 15.
Only staff with a medical or religious reason will be exempt, the hospital said Tuesday.
Jul 27, 3:00 pm
CDC reverses guidance on masks for vaccinated people
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Tuesday reversed its mask guidance for vaccinated people due to the delta variant surge.
Vaccinated Americans should now wear masks inside if they’re in places with substantial or high transmission, the CDC said.
“In rare occasions, some vaccinated people can get delta in a breakthrough infection and may be contagious,” the CDC said.
CDC Director Rochelle Walensky said data shows that on “rare occasions, some vaccinated people with the delta variant … may be contagious and spread the virus to others. This new science is worrisome and unfortunately warrants an update to our recommendations.”
In May, the CDC said vaccinated Americans could stop wearing masks indoors.
The CDC also said Tuesday that masks should be worn in schools by all students, teachers, staff and visitors, even for those who are vaccinated. The CDC said students should return to full-time in-person learning this year with prevention strategies in place.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki, calling this an “evolving pandemic,” said Tuesday, “Our responsibility here is to always lead with the science and always lead with the advice of health and medical experts.”
“We’re not saying that wearing a mask is convenient, or people feel like it, but we are telling you that that is the way to protect yourself, protect your loved ones and that’s why the CDC is issuing this guidance,” Psaki said.
-ABC News’ Anne Flaherty and Eric Strauss
Jul 27, 2:03 pm
Cal State requiring vaccinations
California State University, the nation’s largest university system that’s home to nearly 500,000 students, will require vaccinations for in-person students, staff and faculty.
“The current surge in COVID cases due to the spread of the highly infectious delta variant is an alarming new factor that we must consider as we look to maintain the health and well-being of students, employees and visitors to our campuses this fall,” CSU Chancellor Joseph Castro said in a statement Tuesday.
Jul 27, 1:10 pm
Louisiana reports 2nd highest daily case count since January
Louisiana is in a “continued surge,” logging 6,797 new daily cases on Tuesday, the second highest single-day case count since Jan. 6, the state’s Department of Health said.
The department said 99.56% of the cases are linked to community spread, not congregate settings like nursing homes.
New Orleans city officials said Monday that hospital capacity in the region and the state are being stretched to the limits due to a large uptick in hospitalized COVID-19 patients. New Orleans officials said 97% of the hospitalized COVID-19 patients in the state are unvaccinated.
Jul 26, 7:46 pm
Delta variant is ‘a whole new virus,’ St. Louis health official
St. Louis’ top health official talked with ABC News Monday about Missouri’s rising coronavirus cases and gave a stark warning to the rest of the country.
“The delta variant is a whole new virus,” Dr. Sam Page, the county executive for St. Louis County, Missouri, told ABC News.
Since June, Missouri’s daily case average has surged by 500%, with the state now reporting its highest number of new infections since mid-January. Hospital admissions have more than doubled in recent weeks. They are up by 125% in the last month, according to Page.
At the same time, vaccinations have seen a slight increase the county, Page said. However, he reiterated that it will be at least another month before the county sees full effect of the vaccines in those patients.
“We just wish that we could get people vaccinated sooner because the illness has an unfortunate loss of life associated with it. And that’s just a terrible thing to watch,” Page said.
Page said there was no “silver bullet” that will help increase vaccination rates across the state, or drive down cases immediately, but said that officials must work together fast.
“It’s going to be multifactorial, a lot of education, a lot of time, a lot of comforting,” he said.
ABC News’ Cheyenne Haslett and Arielle Mitropoulos
Jul 26, 3:45 pm
US moved into ‘high’ community transmission category per CDC
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is now categorizing the U.S. as having “high” community transmission, with nearly 62% of counties in the nation reporting high (43.79%) or substantial (18.17%) transmission.
New York County, which includes Manhattan, is among those now reporting substantial community transmission.
One month ago, only 8% of counties were reporting high transmission.
Louisiana, Florida, and Arkansas have the country’s highest case rate with over 300 new cases per 100,000 residents.
Missouri follows closely behind with 200 new cases per 100,000 residents.
Hospitalization numbers are also rising. More than 27,300 COVID-10 patients are in hospitals across the country — a 36.8% jump in the last week.
ABC News’ Arielle Mitropoulos
Jul 26, 2:44 pm
Dept. of Veterans Affairs mandates vaccine
Department of Veterans Affairs Secretary Denis McDonough announced Monday that COVID-19 vaccines will be mandatory for the department’s health care personnel.
Four VA employees, all of whom were unvaccinated, died in recent weeks, the department said. At least three of those cases were linked to the delta variant.
VA employees will have eight weeks to be fully vaccinated.
McDonough said this mandate is “the best way to keep Veterans safe, especially as the Delta variant spreads across the country.”
ABC News’ Cindy Smith
Jul 26, 2:06 pm
Unvaccinated NYC municipal workers will have to get weekly testing
All unvaccinated New York City municipal workers will have to get weekly testing by the start of school in September, according to Mayor Bill de Blasio’s office.
The new requirement will apply to all city workers, including police officers, firefighters and teachers. The new rule will go into effect on Sept. 13, when students are expected to return to public schools.
The New York Police Department has a 43% vaccination rate while about 55% of New York City Fire Department employees are vaccinated.
Workers in publicly run residential or congregate care facilities, like nursing homes, must present proof of vaccination even earlier, on Aug. 16.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom announced a similar mandate on Monday. Beginning on Aug. 9, state employees and health care workers must show proof of vaccination or get tested regularly.
In California, 75% of those eligible have received at least one dose.
“Everyone that can get vaccinated—should,” Newsom tweeted.
(NEW YORK) — Two key senators announced a bipartisan deal on a $2.1 billion emergency security supplemental bill to send much-needed funding to Capitol Police and the National Guard, as law enforcement officers were recounting to members of the House their gripping, harrowing tales of confrontations with former President Donald Trump’s supporters rioting at the Capitol on Jan. 6.
The deal includes $70.7 million for Capitol Police training, equipment, overtime, more officers, hazard pay and retention bonuses; more than $521 million to the National Guard to reimburse the department for the long hours guardsmen put in guarding the Capitol in the wake of the attack; and additional funding will be allotted for making repairs to the building after rioters damaged the centuries-old historic building. There’s also $35.4 million for the Capitol Police mutual aid agreements with local, state and federal law enforcement for securing the Capitol and funds to secure the Capitol complex and respond to COVID on the complex.
Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., told reporters that “We’re going to take care of the Capitol Police, fix all the problems that need to be done here (in the building), certainly take care of the National Guard, which is critical, because they have real problems.”
The Guard has been desperate for the reimbursement, threatening to cancel training events, drills in August and September and potentially furloughing civilians.
The embattled Capitol Police, still clawing back from the Jan. 6 attacks — enacting changes in leadership, grappling with retirements and officers walking away from the job after that harrowing day — have said they would be out of funding by mid-August if Congress did not act.
The emergency supplemental also has $1.125 billion to cover the Afghanistan Special Immigrant Visa program — a little less than what the White House requested — to provide asylum to allies there who aided the U.S. mission and now face retribution from a resurgent Taliban.
Leahy has said before that the money is also designed to address the backlog of applications for the program and shortening the work requirement to one year from two, but it unclear what will be in the final deal.
The chairman said the bill could be on the floor as early as Tuesday night, but lawmakers could have a Sen. Rand Paul problem. The Kentucky Republican is opposed to awarding funds to provide asylum to Afghan interpreters and others who helped the United States in that long-fought war.
The State Department announced last week the “first tranche” of Afghans being evacuated from Afghanistan consists of 700 who worked for the U.S. military and diplomatic missions in Afghanistan and an estimated number of their family members — bringing the total to a “ballpark” of 2,500 Afghans set to be sent to Fort Lee base in Virginia, according to State Department spokesperson Ned Price.
Thousands more are being moved to other cooperating countries, as well as overseas U.S. bases.
ABC News’ Conor Finnegan contributed to this report.
This is a developing news story. Please check back for updates.
(WASHINGTON) — The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Tuesday reversed its mask guidance to specifically target areas of the country with the highest levels of the coronavirus and recommended that everyone in those areas, vaccinated or not, wear a mask as the delta variant continues to spread rapidly across the U.S.
The public health agency also recommended schools embrace universal masks, departing from guidance released earlier this month that suggested vaccinated students and staff were safe to go without.
“CDC recommends localities encourage universal indoor masking for all teachers, staff, students, and visitors to schools, regardless of vaccination status,” the CDC wrote in a summary of the new guidance. “Children should return to full-time in-person learning in the fall with proper prevention strategies are in place.”
CDC Director Rochelle Walensky cited new scientific data from a recent outbreak investigation, as well as data from other countries, to defend the agency’s decision to urge vaccinated people to return to wearing a mask in some parts of the country.
She said the data show the delta variant “behaves uniquely” from past strains of the virus.
The data indicate that on “rare occasions, some vaccinated people with the delta variant … may be contagious and spread the virus to others. This new science is worrisome and unfortunately warrants an update to our recommendations,” she said.
Last May, the CDC took the country by surprise when it announced guidance that all vaccinated Americans were safe to go without a mask indoors or in a crowd. Its guidance for schools followed that principle.
The CDC recommendations noted that individuals and schools could still opt to wear a mask even if fully vaccinated, but said the risk of illness and transmission was low.
On Tuesday, two months after the initial guidance was released, the agency told reporters that the risk of severe illness from COVID still remains low for Americans who are fully vaccinated and the vast majority of people hospitalized with COVID-19 are still unvaccinated.
But the delta variant, which has taken root in the U.S. over the last month and now represents 83% of all infections, is different than past mutations of the virus, the CDC said.
“In rare occasions, some vaccinated people can get delta in a breakthrough infection and may be contagious,” the CDC said.
Ahead of the CDC’s announcement, ABC News White House correspondent Karen Travers asked press secretary Jen Psaki what the White House’s message is to Americans who may now rethink even getting a vaccine with these conflicting recommendations.
“We continue to be at war with a virus, an evolving pandemic,” Psaki said in response. “Our responsibility here is to always lead with the science, and always lead with the advice of health and medical experts and we’re going to continue to provide information to all of you about how to protect yourself and save your lives. We’re not saying that wearing a mask is convenient, or people feel like it, but we are telling you that that is the way to protect yourself protect your loved ones and that’s why the CDC is issuing this guidance.”
ABC News’ Justin Gomez contributed to this report.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
