(HANOVER, N.H.) — The death of a Dartmouth College student and fraternity member has prompted a hazing investigation, police said.
Won Jang, 20, was reported missing Sunday afternoon, having been last seen the prior night by the docks of the Connecticut River on the school’s New Hampshire campus.
Search and rescue teams found his body offshore Sunday evening.
His cause of death has not yet been determined, but police said they do not suspect foul play.
Hanover Police Chief Charles Dennis said in an interview with New Hampshire ABC affiliate WMUR they are investigating whether hazing played a role in the student’s death.
“There is some evidence of alcohol involved, certainly from witnesses and talking with things like that. Again, that’s all part of our investigation,” Dennis said. “We did receive an anonymous email this morning through the college that there may be some hazing involved, so we certainly will look into that aspect, too.”
Friends of Jang said he had attended a social gathering by the river that night thrown by his fraternity and a sorority, and that alcohol had been present, according to student newspaper The Dartmouth.
Jang, a biomedical engineering major from Middletown, Delaware, was a member of Beta Alpha Omega, according to the fraternity’s website.
In January, Beta Alpha Omega was subject to disciplinary action for an undisclosed incident, The Dartmouth reported.
Spokespeople for the college and the fraternity did not immediately respond to a request for comment from ABC News.
One of Jang’s friends, Kledian Marinaj, told WMUR he was an “amazing guy” who always had “a smile on his face.”
“I had just been talking to him to make plans to grab a meal sometime,” Marinaj said. “Of course, I was very upset when I first got the news, so I met up with friends around here, and we went on a walk, talking about all the great things about Won, about how he makes jokes and makes people laugh.”
(WASHINGTON) — After Joe Biden’s disastrous debate, Democrats worried about the president’s chances in November are mired in a debate of their own: shut up or shout louder.
Biden, whose decades-long career in Democratic politics has let him rack up chits across the party, has his fair share of defenders, both those who are personally allied with him and others who are worried about his chances but believe criticism of him is damaging to the party’s inevitable nominee.
But other Democrats argue his performance against former President Donald Trump was catastrophic enough that a messy conversation over his staying in the race is worth it if it means forcing him out and putting up a supposedly more electable candidate in November.
The infighting takes the “Democrats in disarray” cliché to a stratospheric level and lays bare a bitter and fundamental disagreement over what counts as messaging discipline, particularly as Republicans fall in line behind a 34-times convicted felon, twice-impeached former president in Donald Trump.
“I do not think that words can adequately describe the fury and frustration that literally every Democrat, whether a professional one or a rank-and-file voter, feels right now that Donald Trump and the Republicans, despite the lawlessness, the criminality and the radicalism, are pretty much escaping scot-free right now, while our dysfunction plays out in the limelight,” Democratic strategist Jon Reinish told ABC News
Congress’ return from recess on Monday amplified Democrats’ intraparty feud, setting off a flood of statements from lawmakers who could no longer avoid the question on the lips of virtually every reporter in Washington. Underscoring the tension surrounding the infighting, House Democrats huddled behind closed doors Tuesday, with cellphones left at the door — ostensibly to prevent real-time leaking to the salivating press corps.
Biden’s backers were vociferous in their defense of the president, pointing to his 2020 victory and subsequent accomplishments to hammer his critics.
“Joe Biden and [Vice President] Kamala Harris defeated Donald Trump in 2020 and they are the Democratic ticket that will do so again this year. Any ‘leader’ calling for President Biden to drop out needs to get their priorities straight and stop undermining this incredible actual leader who has delivered real results for our country,” said Florida Rep. Frederica Wilson.
Other Democrats were less dismissive of Biden’s halting debate performance but said that the criticism could be damaging to the president in the scenario he ends up as the party nominee — effectively helping Trump in the process.
“The drip, drip, drip of public statements of no confidence only serve to weaken a President who has been weakened not only by the debate but also by the debate about the debate,” Rep. Ritchie Torres, N.Y., wrote in X. “Weakening a weakened nominee seems like a losing strategy for a presidential election. The piling-on is not so much solving a problem as much as it is creating and compounding one.”
Biden has forecasted a strategy to reingratiate himself with voters worried about his age (81 years old). An unpromoted appearance on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” Monday, after a Friday interview with ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos, indicated a more muscular media strategy is underway, while the president plans to ramp up his travel to swing states.
He is also taking a more aggressive stance toward even hypothetical critics, swatting away speculation that congressional leadership will join the growing chorus of voices calling for him to drop out of the presidential race.
“He basically called them punks on national TV,” said one informal adviser to Biden’s campaign.
The plan so far has done little to blunt the Democratic furor, with some party members viewing the interview with Stephanopoulos as further evidence that Biden should suspend his campaign. But some strategists said he at least bought himself time to get off the mat.
“They are executing on a plan, and I think the president deserves that folks take a beat, and let’s see. They’re trying to restore confidence. Let’s take a beat and let this plan play out,” Democratic strategist Karen Finney told ABC News last week.
Others are less forgiving.
“Biden set up a debate on his terms, on his home field, and he utterly and totally failed in the most spectacular failure in presidential debate history. He failed. Now, there’s no way he can win. So yeah, we’ve got to do this,” the informal adviser said of the push to get Biden to remove himself from the 2024 ticket.
Virtually every Democrat who said they wanted Biden off the ticket described the current situation as painful, pointing to Biden’s legislative achievements and a general admiration of his character.
But the prospect of a Trump victory looms large in the heads of some party members, overriding any goodwill there is for Biden in favor of supplanting him on November ballots.
“I feel like there’s an opportunity,” one source familiar with the Biden campaign’s strategy said of the talk of Biden’s replacement. “What is painful for some could be exciting for others. And I would just say, like I tell my kids, things have to get messy before they get clean.”
One Democratic pollster sneered at Biden’s defenders, saying talks about the president’s status as the party’s likely nominee were inevitable after the debate, especially with Democrats boasting a deep bench of rising stars.
“They didn’t watch the debate, or they’re in or they’re now in the cult,” the person said. “You can’t have watched that debate and seen a man in his early 80s who already is the oldest president to ever serve, and would be by far the oldest president ever reelected, and say that there aren’t serious concerns when there are alternatives. And that’s the other thing that makes it really, really obnoxious.”
The disagreement is particularly pronounced as Republicans walk in lockstep behind Trump, who is set to be coronated as his party’s nominee at the GOP convention next week.
Republican concerns over Trump’s leadership of the party have persisted since he launched his first campaign in 2015. Incidents like the infamous Access Hollywood tape, the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection and a disappointing 2022 midterm cycle fueled speculation over if the party would move on, all to no avail. And now, dissent is scarce.
“I don’t know that it’s Teflon, per se, everybody sees the flaws and the warts. It’s the fact that there’s a large part of the party that is captivated by his message and his presumed ability to beat Joe Biden,” said GOP strategist Bob Heckman.
The dynamic marks a distillation of the two modern parties — one riven with disagreements over ideology and what counts as “electable,” and another remade in the image of its de facto leader, with policy debates largely papered over by Trump’s outsized sway and critics’ denouncements largely diminished to a grumble.
After the debate, that leaves Democrats as the party beset by endless infighting, leaving some lamenting the parties’ clashing strategies.
“Democrats want to be right, Republicans only care about winning, and that’s the difference between these two nominations right now,” one battleground Democratic strategist said. “Donald Trump’s convicted on 34 counts, not a single Republican has said, ‘he should not be our nominee.’ And because our guy’s too old, we have a complete freak out in the party that’s now going on its eighth or ninth day.”
(NEW YORK) — Harvey Weinstein appeared in Manhattan criminal court on Tuesday, where prosecutors accused him of raping more women than those included in the previous prosecution of the disgraced movie producer.
Prosecutors told Judge Curtis Farber they have not yet decided whether to file additional charges against him, saying they are still evaluating allegations by women who came forward after Weinstein’s conviction was overturned on appeal in April.
“We believe the defendant forcibly raped and sexually abused women in Manhattan that fall within the statute of limitations,” Assistant District Attorney Nicole Blumberg said. “There were women in 2020 who were not ready to proceed with the legal process. They are now ready.”
Blumberg declined to give Farber a timeline for a decision on new charges, but said she would be ready for a new trial this fall.
Weinstein has denied all allegations of sexual misconduct, and his attorneys have expressed skepticism about any new accusers.
Defense attorney Arthur Aidala accused prosecutors of using delay tactics.
“They have a defendant, and now they’re out there looking for a crime,” Aidala said. “They’re out there with a hotline: 1-800-Get-Harvey.”
Prosecutors disputed this characterization by the defense.
“There’s certainly no delay tactic in the people’s case,” Blumberg said. “There were a number of women who came forward to indicate they were raped by the defendant.”
Weinstein, who wore a suit and tie with his head closely shaved, entered court in a wheelchair pushed by court officers.
Aidala said Weinstein has fluid in his lungs and heart, as well as issues with his spine and vision. His diabetes is “going through the roof” while he remains incarcerated, he added.
“He’s a sick man,” Aidala said. “He’s got little kids and he wants to get out.”
Farber admonished the defense during the hearing for making statements outside of court that prosecutors said were meant to intimidate Miriam Haley, a former production assistant who Weinstein was found guilty of sexually assaulting. Her attorney, Gloria Allred, has said Haley has not decided whether to participate in a re-trial of Weinstein. Without her, and absent any new charges, Weinstein would likely face no more than time served if a jury finds him guilty again.
Looking on during Tuesday’s hearing was Jessica Mann, who during Weinstein’s trial gave detailed testimony saying he repeatedly sexually assaulted her over the course of five years.
“Harvey at the time had every advantage over me. Given the immense physical stature of Harvey’s weight, height and ox-like strength — he used that physicality to trap me and prevent me from leaving,” Mann said at his sentencing in March 2020. “Harvey didn’t need to use a physical weapon to make me live in fear of the invisible gun to my head ready to be pulled if he felt in the mood.”
Weinstein’s conviction was thrown out in April after the New York Court of Appeals found the trial judge “erroneously admitted testimony of uncharged, alleged prior sexual acts against persons other than the complainants of the underlying crimes.” The court said that testimony “served no material non-propensity purpose” and “portrayed defendant in a highly prejudicial light.”
The Manhattan district attorney’s office said at the time it would retry Weinstein if the alleged victims were willing to come forward again.
“We will do everything in our power to retry this case, and remain steadfast in our commitment to survivors of sexual assault,” a spokeswoman for Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg said in a statement.
Weinstein is expected back in court on July 19.
He is separately fighting a rape conviction in Los Angeles, where his defense attorneys argued he lacked a fair trial. He was sentenced to 16 years in prison in that case.
(WASHINGTON) — Congressional Democrats on Tuesday are gathering for a consequential day of closed-door meetings where the focus is expected to be largely on President Joe Biden’s viability as a candidate and the path for the party going forward.
House Democrats huddled Tuesday morning at the Democratic National Committee headquarters just steps from the U.S. Capitol.
In a sign of how sensitive the conversation was expected to be, lawmakers’ cellphones were collected at the door, presumably to prevent real-time leaks about the private discussion.
Members were asked by reporters if they still support Biden’s reelection bid as they entered the building. Many signaled they did, including former House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, Rep. Maxine Waters, Rep. Bennie Thompson and others.
Several Democrats denounced Project 2025, a sweeping plan to overhaul the federal government proposed by a conservative group closely aligned with former President Donald Trump, as they made their way inside.
Senate Democrats are set to hold their own conference meeting on Tuesday, which would mark the first time the senators have met since Biden’s poor debate performance against Donald Trump in late June that triggered panic among some in the party about his fitness to carry out the 2024 campaign and serve another four years.
The meetings come at a pivotal moment for Biden, as calls for him to step aside from the race mounted this past week even after he and the White House ramped up outreach to anxious Democrats as it went into damage control mode.
Biden defiantly pushed back on critics on Monday, first in a blunt letter to Democrats saying it’s time for such hand-wringing to end and then in a call to MSNBC’s Morning Joe in which he railed against “elites” challenging his capabilities.
“The bottom line is, we’re not going anywhere. I am not going anywhere!” Biden told MSNBC anchors Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski.
The question now is whether Democrats fall in line behind Biden or whether questions about his candidacy continue to grow with the Democratic National Convention just weeks away.
So far, six Democrats have publicly said they do not support Biden as the nominee: Reps. Adam Smith, Angie Craig, Seth Moulton, Lloyd Doggett, Mike Quigley and Raul Grijalva.
“Any candidate for the highest office in our nation has a strong burden to bear,” Smith said in a statement on Tuesday. “That candidate must be able to clearly, articulately, and strongly make his or her case to the American people. It is clear that President Biden is no longer able to meet this burden.”
Several other senior House Democrats, besides Smith, privately told House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries on Sunday that they’re calling on Biden to exit the race, according to several sources with knowledge of the discussion. Jeffries did not express a position and said he would engage with the caucus throughout the week, according to one person on the call.
Biden on Monday met with Congressional Black Caucus virtually, two sources told ABC News. Black voters helped propel Biden to the White House in 2020 and are a critical voting bloc again in 2024. So far, no member of the Congressional Black Caucus has called on the president to step aside.
No Democratic senator has publicly called on Biden to withdraw from the race, but concerns have been raised by Sen. Mark Warner. Warner, who chairs the influential Senate Intelligence Committee, tried to assemble a group of Senate Democrats to discuss Biden’s path forward as early as Monday but the meeting didn’t take place.
Warner, in a statement on Tuesday, said “now is the time for conversations about the strongest path forward” given what is at stake in the November election.
“As these conversations continue, I believe it is incumbent upon the President to more aggressively make his case to the American people, and to hear directly from a broader group of voices about how to best prevent Trump’s lawlessness from returning to the White House,” Warner said.
Montana Sen. Jon Tester, one of the most vulnerable Senate Democrats up this cycle, similarly said that Biden needs to “prove” to him and voters that he’s up to the job.
Meanwhile, Sen. Joe Manchin, who became an independent earlier this year but still caucuses with Democrats, urged his colleagues to see how the coming days unfold before determining Biden’s future.
“The president has set a course of where he wants to go,” Manchin told ABC News Senior Congressional Correspondent Rachel Scott. “I think he has earned that right and he has a heck of a legacy right now with all the service he has. And just give it time.”
Manchin told reporters he believes the race is “winnable” for Biden.
“I have always said Trump is a threat to democracy,” he said. “You can’t call the race now. I mean, this is ridiculous. It’s early for people to get so excited. The bottom line is just wait until this week.”
This week, Biden will also be tested on the world stage as he hosts dozens of leaders in Washington for the 2024 NATO summit amid reports claiming U.S. allies have privately questioned his ability to lead.
In this photo illustration, boxes of the diabetes drug Ozempic rest on a pharmacy counter on April 17, 2023 in Los Angeles. (Mario Tama/Getty Images, FILE)
(NEW YORK) — GLP-1 medications such as Ozempic and Wegovy have exploded in popularity for their weight loss benefits and now new research is showing the medications may help with another condition, cancer.
People with Type 2 diabetes who were treated with GLP-1 medications were found to be less likely to be diagnosed with obesity-associated cancers than people treated with insulin or metformin, according to a new study published July 5 in the medical journal JAMA Network Open.
Here are four questions answered about what the study’s findings mean for the future of obesity, cancer and GLP-1 medications:
1. What types of cancer did the GLP-1 medications affect in the study?
The study, which analyzed over one decade of data from more than 1.5 million patients with Type 2 diabetes, looked at 13 types of cancer associated with obesity, including esophageal, breast, colorectal, endometrial, gallbladder, stomach, kidney, ovarian, pancreatic, and thyroid cancer as well as hepatocellular carcinoma, meningioma, and multiple myeloma.
The study found that for patients treated with GLP-1 drugs, the risk of gallbladder cancer, meningioma, pancreatic cancer, and hepatocellular carcinoma, a type of liver cancer, was cut approximately in half.
The risk for ovarian, colorectal cancer, multiple myeloma, esophageal, endometrial and kidney cancers was also significantly reduced for patients taking GLP-1s.
In addition, the study found that people taking GLP-1 drugs did not have a higher risk for being diagnosed with cancer.
2. What are GLP-1 medications and how do they work?
GLP-1 drugs help people produce insulin to lower the amount of sugar in their blood.
The class of drugs, which include Ozempic and Wegovy, work by mimicking the effects of GLP-1, a type of hormone in the body that impacts everything from the brain to muscle to the pancreas, stomach and liver.
The drugs, made from a compound called semaglutide, work by slowing down movement of food through the stomach and curbing appetite, thereby causing weight loss. They are typically taken via a once-weekly injection.
Ozempic is approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to treat Type 2 diabetes, but some doctors prescribe the medication “off-label” for weight loss, as is permissible by the FDA.
Wegovy, a medication that contains the same main ingredient, semaglutide, as Ozempic, is FDA-approved for weight loss.
Clinical studies show users of the medications can lose between 5% and 20% of their body weight over time.
3. Why are the drugs being found to help reduce the risk of cancer?
The study authors wrote that more research is needed to determine exactly how and why GLP-1 drugs may contribute to a lower risk of obesity-associated cancers.
ABC News’ medical correspondent Dr. Darien Sutton, a board-certified emergency medicine physician, noted the study does not show precisely whether the GLP-1 drugs reduce the risk of cancer, or whether the weight loss they cause may lead to the lower risk.
“We’re looking at a study that shows an association, not necessarily a cause and effect, and you have to take a step back and understand what is that connection,” Sutton said. “The main theories include things like hormone disruption and obesity, [and] factors like growth factor and insulin increase the risk of cancer, also, immune system dysregulation.”
He continued, “The question is, how did these medications fit into that puzzle and reduce these risks?”
4. For what other conditions have GLP-1 drugs been studied?
Experts have theorized that the way in which semaglutide interacts with the brain to stop overeating also helps with other addictive behaviors, including alcohol use.
One small case study published last year found that six people who screened positive for alcohol use disorder saw a clinically significant decrease in symptoms while using semaglutide, the active ingredient in Ozempic and another medication, Wegovy, for weight loss.
While this small case study doesn’t provide strong scientific evidence that these drugs can also be used to treat alcohol use disorder, experts say it does reinforce the need for larger, randomized clinical trials that are in early stages.
Other research has shown that GLP-1 drugs can help reduce the risk of kidney disease and can help reduce the risk of anxiety, according to Sutton.
Sutton said that along with the benefits of GLP-1 drugs, people have to consider the risks as well.
Among all medications used for weight loss, the most commonly reported side effects are nausea and constipation, but gallbladder and pancreatic disease are also reported. Makers of these drugs recommend having a conversation about the side effect profile and personalized risks with a healthcare professional before starting.
“It just reminds us that when we’re trying to make a decision whether or not to use these, you have to have a formal understanding of what these risks are,” Sutton said. “Because just like weight loss, it can be different from person to person.”
(NEW YORK) — A California company has recalled its mushroom-infused chocolates and sweets containing a chemical not approved for food by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
Consumption of the recalled Prophet Premium Blends Diamond Shruumz products has been associated with “a series of illnesses” across more than 20 states and one possible related death, according to the FDA.
The agency announced last week that as of July 1, a total of 48 illnesses had been reported from 24 states.
“At Prophet Premium Blends, we prioritize the health and safety of our consumers above all else,” the Santa Ana-based company wrote in a statement on its website. “Recently, we have been made aware of reported incidents involving our product, Diamond Shruumz. Due to consumers becoming ill after consuming the entire chocolate bar and some products containing higher levels of Muscimol than normal, it is crucial that all of our consumers refrain from ingesting this product while we, alongside the FDA, continue our investigation as to what is the cause of the serious adverse effects.”
As of time of publication, the company had ceased production and distribution of all Diamond Shruumz products.
What is muscimol?
According to the National Library of Medicine, muscimol is “a member of the class of isoxazoles that … has been isolated from mushrooms of the genus Amanita.”
Details of mushroom chocolate, gummies recall
Prophet Premium Blends first announced a recall on June 27 for all flavors of its Diamond Shruumz products, including its Infused Cones, Microdosing Chocolate Bars, and both Micro- and Mega-Dose/Extreme Gummies, because they contain muscimol, which the company and government agency said could be the potential cause of related illnesses reported by consumers.
“Muscimol could be a potential cause of symptoms consistent with those observed in persons who became ill after eating Diamond Shruumz products,” the recall announcement, which was posted on the FDA’s website, stated. “Reported symptoms have included those linked to seizures, agitation, involuntary muscle contractions, loss of consciousness, confusion, sleepiness, nausea and vomiting, abnormal heart rates, and hyper/hypotension.”
ABC News medical correspondent Dr. Darien Sutton explained that the chemical, derived from some mushrooms, “can be incredibly toxic” at certain doses.
“The problem is that the dosage is not exact and so many people are exposed to these toxic levels and just don’t know,” Sutton said. “These supplements have little to no FDA regulation.”
Where recalled mushroom chocolates, gummies were sold
According to the FDA investigation into the foodborne illness, which began earlier in June, the products were previously available online and in person at a variety of retail locations nationwide including at smoke and vape shops, as well as retailers that sell hemp-derived products such as cannabidiol or delta-8 THC.
“Consumers should not eat, sell, or serve any flavor of Diamond Shruumz-brand Chocolate Bars, Cones, or Gummies. Consumers should check their homes and discard these products or return them to the company for a refund,” the FDA stated last week.
Prophet Premium Blends added on its website that “retailers and wholesalers should discontinue use, stop distribution, quarantine the product immediately and contact their sales representative to initiate the return and refund.”
“Consumers who have purchased Diamond Shruumz products are urged to stop using the product and return it to 1019 Arlington St., Orlando, FL 32805, for a full refund,” the company stated.
Customers with additional questions can call the company directly at (209) 314-0881 between 8:30 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. PDT.
Illnesses tied to mushroom chocolate, gummies recall in 24 states
As of July 1, illnesses associated with consumption of the recalled products were reported in two dozen states, according to the FDA.
Alabama, California, Colorado, Florida, Maryland, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, North Dakota, Oklahoma and South Dakota all reported one illness each. Tennessee, Pennsylvania and Ohio each reported two illnesses apiece.
Georgia, Iowa, Kentucky and North Carolina reported three illnesses each, while South Carolina reported four illnesses, Indiana reported five, and Arizona reported six.
Forty-six of the 48 people reported seeking medical care, and 27 have been hospitalized, according to the FDA. The FDA said there is one potentially associated death under investigation, but the agency has yet to share any additional information on the individual.
What to know about muscimol present in some mushroom chocolates
According to research published in the American Journal of Preventative Medicine last month, psilocybin-containing mushrooms like the type used in the Diamond Shruumz products “have potent pharmacological properties including Amanita muscaria mushrooms, which contain the compound muscimol. Muscimol is psychotropic — i.e., can produce acute changes in perception, mood, cognition, and behavior. [It is] highly toxic and can be fatal at high enough doses.”
According to those researchers, there has been significant growing interest in psilocybin-containing mushrooms among U.S. adults since 2021.
“12.3% of U.S. adults report[ed using] psilocybin-containing mushrooms in 2022, up significantly from 11.4% in 2021,” they wrote. “This makes psilocybin-containing mushrooms the most commonly used hallucinogenic substance.”
President Joe Biden speaks during a barbeque for active-duty military families in honor of the Fourth of July on the South Lawn of the White House, July 4, 2024. (Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images)
(WASHINGTON) — It was supposed to be a show of strength — the leaders of NATO’s member countries gathering in Washington, D.C., to display their remarkable unity in the face of some of the most serious threats to the alliance in its 75-year history.
Instead, the spotlight will fall on the summit’s host, President Joe Biden, and growing doubts about his capability to serve as president and represent the United States on the world stage for another four years.
But as former President Donald Trump edges ahead in some polls, the looming U.S. election in November has also infused new urgency into some of NATO’s key priorities.
Among the anticipated events of the three-day summit are a commemoration event Tuesday at the Mellon Auditorium, the site where the NATO treaty was formally signed in 1949; a bilateral meeting with newly elected U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer; a meeting with the EU and NATO’s Indo-Pacific partners; and an event with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and nearly two dozen allies and partners who have signed bilateral security agreements with Ukraine.
On Thursday evening, Biden will hold a rare solo press conference, which he hasn’t done since November.
Here are the top storylines to watch:
Biden’s next big test
After Biden’s debate performance last month ignited panic among Democrats, his campaign has been urgently searching for opportunities to undo damage and prove the president can be an effective leader for the future.
The president himself has set the stakes for the summit remarkably high. He mentioned the alliance six times during his 21-minute interview with ABC News anchor George Stephanopoulos on Friday, saying the event would be “a good way to judge me.”
But the optics for Biden’s campaign may not be ideal. The summit will mark the 75th anniversary of the alliance, and among its 32 members, Biden is the only head of government who was alive during its founding. The president, 81, will share stages with leaders like France’s Emmanuel Macron, Denmark’s Mette Frederiksen and plenty of other officials who are about half his age.
In preparation for the summit, officials say Biden has spent hours huddling with Secretary of State Antony Blinken at the White House — including on the eve of the summit and over the Fourth of July holiday.
Blinken is also expected to be by Biden’s side through much of the programming in Washington, according to the officials.
Despite reports claiming U.S. allies have privately questioned Biden’s ability to lead, the White House rejected the notion they needed reassurance from the president.
“We’re not picking up any signs of that from our allies at all. Quite the contrary. The conversations that we’re having with them in advance is they’re excited about this summit,” White House national security communications adviser John Kirby said on Monday.
Ukraine’s road to membership
Hours before the start of the summit on Tuesday, a barrage of Russian missiles rained down on Ukraine, hitting multiple civilian targets — including a children’s hospital.
The attack — which left at least 37 people dead, according to Ukrainian officials — underscored the gravity of the conflict that has indirectly pitted NATO powers against Moscow’s aggression.
Before Monday’s strike on Ukraine, a senior Biden administration official said that the U.S. would announce new air defenses and military capabilities for the country, adding that the summit would send “a strong signal” to Russian President Vladimir Putin “that if he thinks he can outlast the coalition of countries supporting Ukraine, he’s dead wrong.”
While Zelenskyy has been pushing for additional air defense systems, he has been critical of NATO’s decision to avoid setting a timeline for Ukraine to join its ranks.
A major focus of the Washington summit is expected to be what members of the alliance have branded as Ukraine’s “bridge to membership” — a longer-term effort aimed at steadily moving the country on a path toward becoming a NATO member.
In line with this aim, the alliance is expected to announce additional steps to boost tactical cooperation and force development in the coming days and financial pledges, as well as a host of security agreements between Ukraine and individual NATO members, according to Biden administration officials.
A “Trump-proof” NATO?
Long before the presidential debate in June, NATO observers have been buzzing about efforts to ensure the alliance can stay the course through political headwinds churned up by changes in leadership.
While the alliance’s secretary-general, Jens Stoltenberg, is scheduled to step down this fall, much of the attention has been fixed on the U.S. election and what pundits describe as a race to “Trump-proof” the alliance, which the former president has repeatedly threatened to leave. (Trump also said in February he wouldn’t protect a NATO nation that didn’t contribute enough defense funds and, instead, he’d “encourage” Russia “to do whatever the hell they want.”)
“Arguably, despite Russia’s continued revanchism, the greatest challenge to NATO today comes from within the alliance — particularly rising populism and publics that continue to question the value of the alliances — rather than from adversaries abroad,” said Raphael S. Cohen, a senior political scientist at the RAND Corporation.
He argues that addressing that challenge relies on individual members meeting NATO’s guidelines calling for each country to commit at least 2% of its GDP to defense spending — a target 23 of its 32 members are currently meeting.
“It could change not only many American perceptions of the value of NATO but also change European security — if not global security — for the better,” Cohen said.
But members of the administration who believe a second Trump term in office would do irrevocable harm to the alliance say there’s only so much that NATO can do to minimize the impact.
Multiple U.S. officials aligned with Biden told ABC News that although the summit isn’t shaping up to be the celebration of the president’s foreign policy accomplishments that they anticipated, they hope the summit will draw attention to how a Trump victory in November could damage America’s standing internationally.
(WASHINGTON) — House Democrats on Tuesday will gather for a consequential day of closed-door meetings where the focus is expected to be largely on President Joe Biden’s viability as a candidate and the path for the party going forward.
House Democrats will huddle at the Democratic National Committee headquarters just steps from the U.S. Capitol at 9 a.m., according to notices obtained by ABC News.
In a sign of how sensitive the conversation is expected to be, lawmakers’ cellphones will be collected at the door, presumably to prevent real-time leaks about the private discussion.
Senate Democrats are set to hold their own conference meeting on Tuesday, which would mark the first time the senators have met since Biden’s poor debate performance against Donald Trump in late June that triggered panic among some in the party about his fitness to carry out the 2024 campaign and serve another four years.
The meetings come at a pivotal moment for Biden, as calls for him to step aside from the race mounted this past week even after he and the White House ramped up outreach to anxious Democrats as it went into damage control mode.
Biden defiantly pushed back on critics on Monday, first in a blunt letter to Democrats saying it’s time for such hand-wringing to end and then in a call to MSNBC’s Morning Joe in which he railed against “elites” challenging his capabilities.
“The bottom line is, we’re not going anywhere. I am not going anywhere!” Biden told MSNBC anchors Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski.
The question now is whether Democrats fall in line behind Biden or whether questions about his candidacy continue to grow with the Democratic National Convention just weeks away.
So far, six Democrats have publicly said they do not support Biden as the nominee: Reps. Adam Smith, Angie Craig, Seth Moulton, Lloyd Doggett, Mike Quigley and Raul Grijalva.
“Any candidate for the highest office in our nation has a strong burden to bear,” Smith said in a statement on Tuesday. “That candidate must be able to clearly, articulately, and strongly make his or her case to the American people. It is clear that President Biden is no longer able to meet this burden.”
Several other senior House Democrats, besides Smith, privately told House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries on Sunday that they’re calling on Biden to exit the race, according to several sources with knowledge of the discussion. Jeffries did not express a position and said he would engage with the caucus throughout the week, according to one person on the call.
Biden on Monday met with Congressional Black Caucus virtually, two sources told ABC News. Black voters helped propel Biden to the White House in 2020 and are a critical voting bloc again in 2024. So far, no member of the Congressional Black Caucus has called on the president to step aside.
No Democratic senator has publicly called on Biden to withdraw from the race, but concerns have been raised by Sen. Mark Warner. Warner, who chairs the influential Senate Intelligence Committee, tried to assemble a group of Senate Democrats to discuss Biden’s path forward as early as Monday but the meeting didn’t take place.
Warner, in a statement on Tuesday, said “now is the time for conversations about the strongest path forward” given what is at stake in the November election.
“As these conversations continue, I believe it is incumbent upon the President to more aggressively make his case to the American people, and to hear directly from a broader group of voices about how to best prevent Trump’s lawlessness from returning to the White House,” Warner said.
Montana Sen. Jon Tester, one of the most vulnerable Senate Democrats up this cycle, similarly said that Biden needs to “prove” to him and voters that he’s up to the job.
Meanwhile, Sen. Joe Manchin, who became an independent earlier this year but still caucuses with Democrats, urged his colleagues to see how the coming days unfold before determining Biden’s future.
“The president has set a course of where he wants to go,” Manchin told ABC News Senior Congressional Correspondent Rachel Scott. “I think he has earned that right and he has a heck of a legacy right now with all the service he has. And just give it time.”
Manchin told reporters he believes the race is “winnable” for Biden.
“I have always said Trump is a threat to democracy,” he said. “You can’t call the race now. I mean, this is ridiculous. It’s early for people to get so excited. The bottom line is just wait until this week.”
This week, Biden will also be tested on the world stage as he hosts dozens of leaders in Washington for the 2024 NATO summit amid reports claiming U.S. allies have privately questioned his ability to lead.
Signage promoting Milwaukee as the 2024 host of the Republican National Convention inside the Fiserv Forum during the Republican National Convention (RNC) fall media walkthrough in Milwaukee, Wis., on Nov. 30, 2023. — Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images, FILE
(WASHINGTON) — The Republican National Committee’s platform committee adopted a new GOP platform on Monday — and it softens language on the issue of abortion, marking a shift in the party’s stance to more closely align with the views of former President Donald Trump.
The platform says that Republicans “will oppose Late Term Abortion while supporting mothers and policies that advance Prenatal Care, access to Birth Control, and IVF (fertility treatments),” according to the document obtained by ABC News.
The 2024’s brief section on abortion also states that the GOP “believes” that the 14th Amendment to the Constitution “guarantees that no person can be denied Life or Liberty without Due Process and that the States are, therefore, free to pass Laws protecting those Rights” — bolstering Trump’s view that the issue should be determined at the state level. That’s a change from the GOP’s 2016 and 2020 platforms that supported legislation that would have imposed a 20-week federal abortion ban — language that Trump ran on both cycles.
Full RNC membership will vote to officially confirm the platform from the convention floor, according to an RNC spokesperson. The party’s convention takes place next week in Milwaukee. Trump dialed into the meeting Monday morning and “described why some parts are in” the platform, according to the committee member. During the meeting, Trump also expressed his approval of a draft of the new Republican Party platform, according to a source familiar with the meeting.
Trump took a victory lap after the platform committee voted to approve a new overhauled party platform plan to better align with his political posture.
“Ours is a forward-looking Agenda with strong promises that we will accomplish very quickly when we win the White House and Republican Majorities in the House and Senate. We are, quite simply, the Party of Common Sense! America needs determined Republican Leadership at every level of Government to address the core threats to our very survival,” Trump wrote on his social media platform.
The platform’s mention of abortion, however, came near the end of the full document. It is not included as part of the platform’s 20 principles that are prioritized first in the language. The first two of those principals call to “seal the border” and “carry out the largest deportation operation in American history.” Those are followed by “end inflation” and “make America the dominant energy producer in the world.” Notably, the U.S. is already the top global oil producer.
Other points include “large tax cuts for workers and no tax on tips,” “defend our constitution,” “prevent World War III” by restoring peace in Europe and the Middle East and putting an end to “weaponization” of the government.
A political party’s platform distinctly outlines its positions on foreign and domestic policies, but it is not binding and doesn’t directly impact the work of elected officials or candidates.
Monday’s move by the committee comes as abortion remains a key issue for voters in an election year in what is expected to be a close race between Trump and President Joe Biden.
In 2016, the Republican Party — on their way to nominating Trump for the first time — adopted a strict, conservative platform around issues of gender and sexual orientation against the efforts by some of the party’s more moderate faction to soften that language. An identical platform was approved in 2020 when the COVID-19 pandemic made it difficult for party committees to convene and adjust language. During that convention in Charlotte, North Carolina, Trump was chosen as the party’s nominee for a second time.
The Republican platform since the 1980s has articulated support for a constitutional amendment that would assert the sanctity and protection of human life, extending to unborn children. This is the first time in 40 years that the RNC has not explicitly endorsed a national ban on abortion in the platform.
Now, in 2024, the GOP will work to finalize a platform for the first time since the Dobbs decision overturned the constitutional right to an abortion more than two years ago. The plan could play an outsized role in establishing the ideals of a party reinvented by the former president, who has been clear about his opposition to a federal ban and his preference for this issue to be left up to the states.
Trump’s position on reproductive rights has worried some anti-abortion activists and RNC members who have expressed concern that the call for a “right to life” amendment would be stripped from the platform this year.
A platform committee member who spoke with ABC News following the vote, which passed 84-14, said there was a lot of “unanimity” around the language, even from some of the more socially conservative members who have been vocally opposing a platform reflective of Trump’s abortion stances.
“We had a whole bunch of people stand up and go the microphone [during a comment section]. And for the most part, things were really quite upbeat. People were happy to see this document,” the member said.
Following the vote, SBA Pro-Life America President Marjorie Dannenfelser — a major anti-abortion leader and one of the individuals lobbying the Trump team about the platform this year — released a statement supporting the document.
“It is important that the GOP reaffirmed its commitment to protect unborn life today through the 14th Amendment. Under this amendment, Congress enacts and enforces its provisions. The Republican Party remains strongly pro-life at the national level. The mission of the pro-life movement, for the next six months, must be to defeat the Biden-Harris extreme abortion agenda,” Dannenfelser wrote.
“The platform allows us to provide the winning message to 10 million voters, with four million visits at the door in key battleground states,” Dannenfelser added.
But others, including Gayle Ruzicka, a Republican National Committee platform member from Utah, told ABC affiliate WISN-TV that she was disappointed with how the platform vote was “forced” on committee members and with how it handled abortion.
“I’m extremely disappointed that we do not have any pro-life language. There are good things in this platform. … This is the first time we don’t have a pro-life platform. The platform simply says that we oppose late-term abortion. Well, what about before that?” Ruzicka said.
At a political event in Waukesha, Wisconsin, following the vote on Monday afternoon, RNC Chairman Michael Whatley dispelled notions that the platform was weak on the issue of abortion.
“We have a very solid pro-life platform. We feel very, very solid about it. I think you can just look at the number of pro-life groups from across the country that have come in and said that they strongly support this platform. Look, the Republican Party stands for life. And we are always going to stand for life. I think when you look at this platform, you’re going to see that it is very pro-America. It is very pro-family. It is very pro-life. And we feel very strong about the language that we have,” Whatley said.
The Biden campaign responded to the GOP platform’s softened language on abortion by reinforcing their stance that Trump, should he regain the presidency, would not be moderate on the issue.
“Despite Trump and his team’s best efforts, the American people are clear on just how far he would go to rip away their freedoms – and they’ll vote accordingly this November,” Biden-Harris 2024 Spokesperson Sarafina Chitika said in a statement.
“Donald Trump has made it clear with his own words and actions what he will do if he regains power – rip away women’s freedoms, punish women, and ban abortion nationwide. You don’t have to take it from us, take it from Trump himself: He’s ‘proud’ to have ‘killed’ Roe v. Wade and unleashed extreme bans with no exceptions for rape or incest, which he calls ‘a beautiful thing to watch.’ He promised to be ‘leading the charge’ to ban abortion nationwide, and said he’d fight ‘side by side’ with extremists who want to ban abortion entirely. Trump himself said that women should be punished for having an abortion, that doctors should be criminalized for doing their jobs, and that he’s ‘looking at’ restrictions on birth control,” she added.
A Ukrainian firefighter works to extinguish a fire in a residential building following a missile attack in Kyiv on July 8, 2024. — Anatolii Stepanov/AFP via Getty Images
(LONDON) — At least 37 people were killed — including three children — and 170 people were injured across Ukraine on Monday, as Russia launched a barrage of more than 40 missiles, according to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
At least five cities fell under attack, including the capital of Kyiv, where 21 people were killed. Okhmatdyt Children’s Hospital in Kyiv — one of the most well-respected children’s hospitals in the country — was damaged along with nearly 100 other facilities including residential homes, kindergartens, a maternity hospital, a college and a business center, according to Zelenskyy.
At least two people were killed in the attack on the hospital, including one female physician. At least seven children were injured, according to officials. Zelenskyy said Monday that doctors, hospital staff and first responders were digging through the debris.
“The entire world must use all its determination to finally put an end to the Russian strikes. Killing is what Putin brings,” Zelenskyy said. “Only together can we bring real peace and security.”
Ukrainian Minister of Defense Rustem Umerov wrote in a post on Facebook that the Russian attack was “massive” and was carried out “at the peak hour when Ukrainians went to work.”
Kyiv city authorities declared July 9 a day of mourning in the capital after the attack, according to a post on Telegram. Meanwhile, Ohmatdyt Children’s Hospital asked for donations to help rebuild the hospital after the attack, and raised more than $2 million in just three hours on Monday, according to UNITED24, a fundraising initiative of the president of Ukraine.
The attack, which is among the largest Russian strikes in months, comes a day before U.S. President Joe Biden begins a three-day NATO summit in Washington, where the group is expected to discuss support for Ukraine.
The alliance is expected to make “significant” announcements about increased military and financial support for Ukraine, a senior White House official said last week.
Photos and videos shared by Zelenskyy and those at the hospital appeared to show bloodied doctors carrying out children, a building in the hospital grounds reduced to rubble and the exterior of the main building blown out. One image appears to show young patients sitting on the street with their IVs after the explosion.
A doctor at the hospital told local media the missile destroyed a building where two operations were happening at the time.
The Security Service of Ukraine said in a statement that it had opened a criminal investigation into the strike on the hospital, which it called a “war crime.” The service said a Russian Kh-101 missile struck the building, according to its preliminary findings.
At the top of a meeting with U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin Monday morning at the Pentagon, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg condemned the recent Russian strikes on Ukraine.
“In Ukraine, Russia continues its brutal war,” Stoltenberg said. “Only today we have seen horrendous missile attacks against Ukrainian cities, killing innocent civilians, including children. I condemn these hideous attacks.”
The missiles targeted cities including Kyiv, Dnipro, Kryvyi Rih, Slovyansk and Kramatorsk, Zelesnkyy said. At least eight of the dead were in Kyiv, officials said.
At least 10 people were killed and several others injured Monday morning in Russian airstrikes on Kryvyi Rih, a city in central Ukraine and Zelenskyy’s hometown, officials said. Another three people were killed in Russian airstrikes on the eastern Ukrainian city of Pokrovsk, officials said.
