(WASHINGTON) — Republican Sen. Mike Rounds emphasized his support for current FBI Director Christopher Wray, whom President-elect Donald Trump intends to fire and replace with the loyalist Kash Patel.
“I think the president picked a very good man to be the director of the FBI when he did that in his first term,” Rounds told ABC “This Week” co-anchor Jonathan Karl about Wray. “When we meet with him behind closed doors, I’ve had no objections to the way that he’s handled himself, and so I don’t have any complaints about the way that he’s done his job right now.”
However, Rounds reiterated the president-elect’s right to select his Cabinet and Trump’s selection of Patel is not surprising.
“It doesn’t surprise me that he will pick people that he believes are very loyal to himself, and that’s been a part of the process,” Rounds said. “Every president wants people that are loyal to themselves.”
A staunch supporter of Ukraine, Rounds called Russian President Vladimir Putin a “tyrant” and suggested that negotiating with him might be futile.
“I think Mr. Putin is a tyrant. I think dealing with him is going to be extremely difficult,” Rounds said, expressing hope for Trump to succeed but recognizing that this will be a challenge for “any president.”
He added that you can’t trust “a guy that doesn’t honor their word,” which he says Putin had done.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
(NEW YORK) — President-elect Donald Trump announced he will nominate Hillsborough County Sheriff Chad Chronister to lead the Drug Enforcement Administration.
In a post on Truth Social on Saturday, Trump said that Chronister — who has served the Tampa, Florida, area for over 32 years — will work with his attorney general selection, Pam Bondi, to help secure the U.S.-Mexico Border.
The DEA administrator is a Senate-confirmed position.
“As DEA Administrator, Chad will work with our great Attorney General, Pam Bondi, to secure the Border, stop the flow of Fentanyl, and other Illegal Drugs, across the Southern Border, and SAVE LIVES,” Trump wrote.
Chronister was appointed to lead the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office by then-Florida Gov. Rick Scott in 2017 and has been twice reelected by voters.
He holds a bachelor’s and master’s degree in science in criminal justice from St. Leo University and is a graduate of the FBI National Academy’s 260th session.
Chronister is married to Nikki DeBartolo and has two sons.
Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody took to X on Saturday to congratulate Chronister on the nomination and praise his experience in fighting on the “frontlines” of the opioid crisis.
“Chad has fought on the frontlines of the opioid crisis, and I know his leadership and decades of experience will be invaluable as we work to combat the flow of Mexican fentanyl into our county,” Moody wrote.
(NEW YORK) — President-elect Donald Trump announced Saturday that he plans on firing FBI director Christopher Wray and replacing him with longtime ally Kash Patel.
The appointment must be approved by the Senate.
Patel has been a staunch supporter of Trump for years and served in his first administration under a number of roles. He has vocally defended Jan. 6 rioters.
Patel has said he would target journalists, former senior FBI and Department of Justice officials and turn the FBI into a museum for the “deep state” on Day 1.
“This FBI will end the growing crime epidemic in America, dismantle the migrant criminal gangs, and stop the evil scourge of human and drug trafficking across the Border,” Trump said in a Truth Social post.
The FBI and Patel did not immediately comment about Trump’s announcement. Trump can not make personnel changes to the FBI until he is sworn in.
Wray was appointed in 2017 after he fired Director James Comey, less than four years into his 10 year term. Trump claimed Comey “wasn’t doing a good job.”
Patel, 44, grew up in Long Island and earned a law degree from Pace University Law School. He first served as a public defender in Miami for nine years before moving to Washington D.C. in 2013 to work at Justice Department’s National Security Division.
Patel left the Justice Department in 2017 claiming frustration with the agency, especially with the handling of the Benghazi case.
He went on to lead the “Russia Gate” investigation for House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes, with a promise from Nunes that after the investigation he would help Patel get a job at the National Security Council in the White House.
As the self-described “lead investigator of the Russia Gate hoax,” Patel authored the so-called “Nunes memo” alleging that the FBI improperly eavesdropped on former Trump adviser Carter Page.
A major report by the Justice Department’s inspector general released in late 2019 found that the FBI was not impacted by political bias when it opened the investigation — though it outlined what it called “serious performance failures” on the part of agents as they vetted information from sources and sought surveillance warrants against Page.
In February 2019, Patel became Deputy Assistant to the President and “senior director for counterterrorism” on the White House’s National Security Council.
In February 2020, Patel took on a “temporary duty assignment” as deputy to the newly installed acting Director of National Intelligence. That November, after Trump lost the election, Patel was named chief of staff for the Defense Department, despite large critics pointing out that he was unqualifed for the role.
After Trump left the White House, Patel held a number of jobs including hosting shows on far right media outlets.
On a podcast two months ago, Patel said anyone involved in “Russiagate” should be stripped of their security clearances.
According to Patel, there is a “massive” list of such government officials, from the FBI and Justice Department to the CIA and U.S. military.
“They all still have clearances,” including those who left government for private sector jobs, so “everybody” should lose their clearances, Patel said.
Patel said he has personally “recommended” to Trump that the new administration also strip any security clearances still held by the 51 then-former intelligence officials, including former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper and former CIA director John Brennan, who in October 2020, just weeks before the 2020 presidential election, signed onto a letter dismissing the public release of emails from Hunter Biden’s laptop as part of a “Russian information operation.”
Patel has also come to the defense of January 6th rioters.
He’s raised money for Jan. 6 defendants and their families, including by promoting the “J6 Prison Choir,” featuring Jan. 6 defendants still in jail, and co-producing their fundraising song “Justice for All,” which Trump played at some of his campaign rallies. And Patel once suggested Jan. 6 was “a free speech movement.”
Patel became a part of the investigation into Trump’s handling of classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate.
After news surfaced that the National Archives found some classified documents in boxes previously stored at Mar-a-Lago, Patel called the news “disinformation” and insisted he was there when Trump “declassified whole sets of materials in anticipation of leaving government that he thought the American public should have the right to read themselves.”
Four weeks later, Trump named Patel as one of his official representatives to the National Archives, and Patel promised to “march down there,” “identify every single document that they blocked being declassified at the National Archives, and we are going to start putting that information out.”
Two months later, Patel’s claimed Trump declassifying documents were included in the FBI’s affidavit laying out why the FBI believed a broad search of Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate was warranted. And Patel was subpoenaed to testify to the grand jury investigating the matter, but at first he refused to answer key questions.
He later returned to the grand jury and answered those questions only after being granted limited-use immunity. He has blasted the entire probe as unlawful overreach by a politically corrupted Justice Department.
(NEW YORK) — New York state Sen. James Skoufis announced his long-shot bid for chairman of the Democratic National Committee on X on Saturday.
Skoufis, who paints himself as an outsider, underdog and part of a new generation, said he intends to point to his successful record in his district that favors President-elect Donald Trump.
Arguing for a new script, Skoufis said, “Voters have spoken, and we need to listen, not lecture. We need to be strong fighters again.”
“I may be an outsider, but I know how to win,” he continued. “I will throw out the DNC’s stale, Beltway-centered playbook so that we rebuild, stop ceding ground to Republicans and start winning again — everywhere. Not just the party, but the country depends on it. We can win this fight together.”
Skoufis, who has served in the New York legislature since 2013, joins the field with Martin O’Malley, the former Maryland governor who has served as commissioner of the Social Security Administration since December 2023, and Ken Martin, a vice chairman of the DNC who also leads the Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party. Jaime Harrison, the current chairman, is not seeking a second term.
The election of a new DNC chair will take place at the party’s winter meeting in National Harbor, Maryland, on Feb. 1, 2025. Harrison announced earlier this week that there will be four forums for candidates to make their cases to DNC members, who will also select a vice chair, treasurer, secretary and national finance chair, after the party lost the presidency and couldn’t obtain a majority in either the Senate or the House in the 2024 elections.
“As my time as Chair comes to a close and we prepare to undertake the critical work of holding the Trump Administration and Republican Party accountable for their extremism and false promises, we are beginning to lay out the process for upcoming DNC officer elections in the New Year,” Harrison said in a statement. “The DNC is committed to running a transparent, equitable, and impartial election for the next generation of leadership to guide the party forward.”
The DNC’s Rules and Bylaws Committee will meet on Dec. 12 to determine the Rules of Procedure for the contest, including what will be necessary to gain access to the ballot. In 2021, candidates needed the signatures of 40 DNC members, which is expected to hold for the 2025 race.
The 448 DNC members voting at the winter meeting includes 200 state-elected members from 57 states, territories and Democrats Abroad; members representing 16 affiliate groups; and 73 at-large members elected by the DNC, ABC News previously reported.
(PALM BEACH, Fla.) — Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is in Florida at Mar-a-Lago and is expected to meet with President-elect Donald Trump tonight, according to multiple sources.
The expected meeting comes after Trump threatened sweeping 25% tariffs on goods from Mexico and Canada until both countries stop what he claims is a flow of drugs and illegal immigrants into the United States.
Trudeau told reporters earlier this week after he and Trump spoke on the phone following the tariff threat that they had a “good call.” He added that he looks forward to “lots of great conversations” with Trump.
The prime minister has cited the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement, or UMSCA, negotiations as a sign he believes he can work with Trump on trade and avoid a trade war.
USMCA went into effect in 2020 after it was signed by Trump and was designed to provide mostly duty-free trade among the U.S., Canada and Mexico. Trump’s tariff threats could put that deal in jeopardy.
The terms of USMCA allowed it to be renegotiated after six years, in 2026, but experts have told ABC News that the tariff threat may be an effort to move up that negotiation window.
However, some experts told ABC News’ Selina Wang and Karen Travers that the threat is not likely to work in a second Trump term because it is “the same playbook done the second time around. If you’re on the football field and you call the same play twice, it’s not going to be as effective the second time.”
The tariffs also could significantly raise prices for goods after Trump ran his campaign on lowering too-high inflation.
Trudeau spoke with Trump on Monday, Nov. 25, after Trump had announced the day-one tariffs on Canada and Mexico, as well as on China, the U.S.’s top three trading partners.
“We talked about some of the challenges that we can work on together,” he told reporters of the call. “This is a relationship that we know takes a certain amount of working on, and that’s what we’ll do.”
Trudeau’s plane landed at Palm Beach International Airport on Friday ahead of an expected dinner at Mar-a-Lago with the president-elect, according to reports.
(WASHINGTON) — Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy will head to Capitol Hill next week to meet with House Republicans on their plan to slash regulations and other parts of the federal government.
Speaker Mike Johnson announced he will host them on Thursday, Dec. 5 to discuss “major reform ideas” to “revive the principle of limited government.”
Musk and Ramaswamy have been tapped by President-elect Donald Trump to lead the so-called “Department of Government Efficiency.” Their roles have been described as “outside of government” advisers on how to make drastic cuts to various federal agencies and their workforces.
Musk, in particular, has become a member of Trump’s inner circle as the president-elect prepares for a second term. The Tesla billionaire spent Thanksgiving with Trump at Mar-a-Lago in Florida.
Earlier this week, Musk proposed abolishing the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
“Delete CFPB. There are too many duplicative regulatory agencies,” he wrote on his social media platform, X.
Trump on the campaign trail vowed to dismantle federal bureaucracy but did not specifically call for the CFPB to be eliminated. To gut an entire agency would be a difficult task, and would require legislation from Congress.
CFPB, which was formed in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis to protect consumers and review practices of the nation’s banks, lenders and other institutions, has long been a target of conservative attacks over its cost and its regulations.
Earlier this year, the CFPB survived a legal challenge led by former Trump administration Solicitor General Noel Francisco on behalf of a group of payday lenders alleging the agency’s structure was illegal. The U.S. Supreme Court, in a 7-2 decision, upheld the agency’s funding mechanism as constitutional.
Musk also recently reposted on social media the names of specific people and jobs that he suggested be cut. They include employees at the Department of Energy and the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation. “So many fake jobs,” Musk wrote in one post.
Musk and Ramaswamy outlined more of their plans for DOGE in a Wall Street Journal op-ed published last week.
They said they were helping Trump’s transition team bring on board a “lean team of small-government crusaders” that would be aimed at three core actions: repealing regulations, reducing the administrative workforce and saving costs.
“We are prepared for the onslaught from entrenched interests in Washington. We expect to prevail,” they wrote. “Now is the moment for decisive action. Our top goal for DOGE is to eliminate the need for its existence by July 4, 2026 — the expiration date we have set for our project.”
Legal and logistical hurdles remain for Musk and Ramaswamy’s goal to slash the government. But they will get some help on Capitol Hill by a new congressional subcommittee aimed at eliminating government waste in conjunction with DOGE. Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, a conservative firebrand and staunch supporter of Trump, has been chosen to chair the panel.
Ramaswamy, in response to Johnson’s announcement of next week’s meeting, said he’s had “great discussions so far” with House and Senate GOP leaders about DOGE.
“Congress appears serious about delivering structural reform. We look forward to productive meetings in D.C. next week,” Ramaswamy wrote on X.
(WASHINGTON) — President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden will mark World AIDS Day on Sunday by debuting the AIDS Memorial Quilt at the White House.
It will be displayed on the South Lawn as the Bidens commemorate the day with survivors, their families and advocates.
A red ribbon will also be displayed on the South Portico of the White House to recognize those who have died due to AIDS-related illnesses, as well as the more than 40 million individuals living with HIV around the world.
The red ribbon — now an annual tradition — made its first appearance in 2007, under the Bush administration.
President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden will mark World AIDS Day on Sunday by debuting the AIDS Memorial Quilt at the White House.
It will be displayed on the South Lawn as the Bidens commemorate the day with survivors, their families and advocates.
A red ribbon will also be displayed on the South Portico of the White House to recognize those who have died due to AIDS-related illnesses, as well as the more than 40 million individuals living with HIV around the world.
The red ribbon — now an annual tradition — made its first appearance in 2007, under the Bush administration.
The White House said in statement that the Biden administration has made ending the HIV epidemic a key priority.
The statement touted the administration’s National HIV/AIDS Strategy, which is focused on reducing new HIV infections, improving outcomes for people with HIV and breaking down societal barriers. It was established in 2021.
The White House Office of National AIDS Policy is set to release a progress report on the Biden administration’s strategy next week.
The AIDS Memorial Quilt, a powerful symbol of the human toll of the virus, was originally displayed on the National Mall during the October 1987 National March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights, at a time when many felt the federal government had been too slow to respond to the crisis.
The quilt, which is regularly displayed across the U.S. as an education tool, now contains nearly 50,000 panels, honoring more than 105,000 lives lost.
HIV infection in the U.S. declined by about 12% overall between 2018 and 2022, but remains a persistent problem, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
In 2019, the Department of Health and Human Services announced an effort to end the HIV epidemic in the U.S. It aimed to reduce new infections to 9,300 by 2025 and 3,000 by 2030. However, in 2022, there were more 31,800 estimated new HIV infections, according to the CDC.
US President Joe Biden speaks to reporters as he visits the Nantucket Fire Department in Nantucket, Massachusetts on November 28, 2024. Biden and family are in Nantucket, Massachusetts for the Thanksgiving holiday. (Photo by Mandel NGAN / AFP)
(WASHINGTON) — President Joe Biden spent Thanksgiving morning giving back to first responders on Nantucket, while also taking time to give his thoughts on his successor’s threats to issue tariffs on Mexico, Canada and China.
Biden told reporters he hopes President-elect Donald Trump “rethinks” his Day 1 proposal, calling it a “counterproductive thing to do.”
“We have an unusual situation in America. We’re surrounded by the Pacific Ocean, the Atlantic Ocean, and the two allies: Mexico and Canada. And the last thing we need to do is screw up those relationships. I think we’ve got them in a good place,” Biden said Thursday.
Trump said this week that he plans to sign an executive order when he takes office on Jan. 20, 2025, that would charge Mexico and Canada with a 25% tariff on all products those nations send to the United States, in an effort to stop the flow of drugs entering the country and illegal border crossings.
He also vowed to charge China with an additional 10% tariff on top of any additional tariffs on products coming into the U.S., arguing the country wasn’t doing enough to stop the flow of illicit drugs.
Economists widely forecast that tariffs of this magnitude would increase prices paid by American shoppers, since importers typically pass along a share of the cost of those higher taxes to consumers.
Trump’s tariffs would cost the average U.S. household about $2,600 per year, according to an estimate from the Peterson Institute for International Economics.
With migrants being the central issue for Trump in threatening tariffs, Biden noted that illegal crossings are down considerably from what they were back when Trump was in office.
“There’s a lot more to do, but, I hope they reconsider,” he said on Thursday.
The president noted that with a thin GOP majority in Congress, there may have to be some “real compromise” in Trump’s agenda.
“I want to make sure this transition goes smoothly and all the talk of what he’s going to do and not do, I think there may be a little bit of internal reckoning on his part,” Biden said.
Despite the disagreements with Trump, Biden said he was thankful for his family and “for a peaceful transition,” adding that he’s “really thankful” to have secured a ceasefire deal between Israel and Hezbollah.
The president also said he spoke to all three Americans who were released from Chinese custody Wednesday.
“I’m happy they’re home,” he said.
Biden, who was joined by the first lady and his grandson Beau at a Nantucket firehouse, was asked what his message is to Americans worried about the future of the U.S. He told them to “remember who we are.”
The White House said the Bidens also called units from each branch of the military “to thank them and their families for their service to the country.”
Meanwhile, Vice President Kamala Harris spent Thanksgiving morning with her family at DC Central Kitchen as part of a community service project.
Harris said she will be making a turkey, her “famous corn meal stuffing,” sweet potatoes, cranberry sauce, scalloped potatoes, string beans, Brussels sprouts, salad and rolls for dinner.
“Lots of carbs,” she said.
When asked by a reporter, “What’s next for you?” Harris joked, “Thanksgiving dinner,” and continued preparing collard greens.
Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo, President of Mexico, speaks during the National Agreement for the Human Right to Water and Sustainability, held at the Ecological Park of Xochimilco. on November 25, 2024 in Mexico City, Mexico. (Photo credit should read Carlos Santiago/ Pixelnews/Future Publishing via Getty Images)
(WASHINGTON) — President-elect Donald Trump spoke with Mexico’s President Claudia Sheinbaum on Wednesday. The call took place two days after he announced that he planned to impose a 25% tariff on all imports from Mexico on his first day in the White House.
Trump called the conversation “wonderful” and “very productive” in a post on Truth Social, saying the two leaders talked about the border control and how to combat the flow of illegal drugs — but these topical conversation points may be the only things on which the two could entirely agree.
Earlier in the day, Sheinbaum confirmed that she had spoken with Trump, and that they did discuss the shared border, writing on X: “I had an excellent conversation with President Donald Trump. We discussed Mexico’s strategy on the migration phenomenon and I shared that caravans are not arriving at the northern border because they are being taken care of in Mexico.”
But Trump went further, proclaiming that the Mexican president “agreed to stop Migration through Mexico, and into the United States, effectively closing our Southern Border.”
In a follow-up post, he added, “Mexico will stop people from going to our Southern Border, effective immediately. THIS WILL GO A LONG WAY TOWARD STOPPING THE ILLEGAL INVASION OF THE USA.”
Sheinbaum then appeared to directly contradict the president-elect’s account of the conversation, posting on X: “In our conversation with President Trump, I explained to him the comprehensive strategy that Mexico has followed to address the migration phenomenon, respecting human rights. Thanks to this, migrants and caravans are assisted before they reach the border. We reiterate that Mexico’s position is not to close borders but to build bridges between governments and between peoples.”
Trump and Sheinbaum both also concur that they spoke about stemming the flow of illegal drugs, including fentanyl, into the U.S.
Sheinbaum wrote on X that they “discussed strengthening collaboration on security issues within the framework of our sovereignty and the campaign we are carrying out in the country to prevent the consumption of fentanyl.”
And following their call, Trump announced on Truth Social that part of his plan to address the fentanyl epidemic in the U.S. will be a large advertising campaign.
“I will be working on a large scale United States Advertising Campaign, explaining how bad Fentanyl is for people to use – Millions of lives being so needlessly destroyed,” Trump wrote. “By the time the Campaign is over, everyone will know how really bad the horror of this Drug is.”
The call was arranged after Trump this week announced plans to slap tariffs on Mexico, as well as Canada and China, in an effort to stem illegal border crossings and stop the flow of drugs entering the U.S.
On Tuesday, Sheinbaum fired back, warning him not to start a trade war that she said would hurt the U.S.
“President Trump, it is not with threats nor with tariffs that migration and drug consumption in the U.S. will be dealt with,” Sheinbaum said at a press conference, reading from a letter she’d written to Trump. “These great challenges require cooperation and mutual understanding.”
She also disputed Trump’s claims about migration and drugs, and she blamed the U.S. for Mexico’s drug war — pointing to U.S. consumption and American guns.
“We don’t make guns, we don’t consume synthetic drugs. Those killed by crime to meet the demand for drugs in your country are unfortunately our responsibility,” she said.
The swift rebuke was a departure from Sheinbaum’s mentor, former President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, who had a chummy relationship with Trump during his first term.
When Trump similarly threatened tariffs on Mexico and to shut the border in 2018, the two men negotiated a deal to beef up Mexican immigration enforcement with U.S. support, reducing the numbers at the border — and Trump dropped his threats.
(WASHINGTON) — As the bipartisan group No Labels attempted to field a third-party independent bid in the 2024 presidential race, several of its opponents aggressively attempted to sabotage its operations in hopes of preventing the group from moving forward, according to a lawsuit the group has filed.
A lawsuit filed initially against NoLabels.com Inc. in the U.S. District Court of Delaware in December of 2023 alleges that some in the Democratic Party undertook deliberate efforts to undermine the group, ultimately forcing it to halt operations. No Labels is now seeking to recover monetary damages as a result.
NoLabels.com Inc., which was created to mimic the real No Labels website – NoLabels.org, is believed to be incorporated in Delaware, according to the suit.
Documents unsealed in the case allegedly show how a handful of Democratic strategists operating under the fake NoLabels.com banner attempted to use fear tactics to raise uncertainty among No Labels supporters and donors, drive skepticism in the media, and question the authenticity and scope of the centrist group. At one point, operatives even viciously targeted No Labels founder Nancy Jacobson, as well as candidates interested in serving on its “Unity Ticket.”
One document included a business deck orchestrated by a group of political operatives called the American Patriots Project (APP) to imitate No Labels’ website with the purchase of the NoLabels.com domain as well as Google search ads. According to the deck, the operatives attempted to mislead voters and paint the centrist group as Christo-nationalists and featured images of Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaking on behalf of the group. The saboteurs’ goal was to imply that No Labels was a right-wing shadow effort. Furthermore, the proposal attempted to falsely fixate on “red meat issues” such as immigration and anti-abortion messaging.
U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware Judge Gregory B. Williams issued a court order for the operatives to take down the NoLabels.com website; however, No Labels believes that there were more attempts to disavow their operations.
No Labels subpoenaed APP on Nov. 5 seeking to uncover more information.
Democratic strategists with ties to American Bridge — which calls itself the largest research, video tracking, and rapid response organization affiliated with the Democratic Party — also attempted to single out donors, according to a three-step proposal in one email listed in court documents. As donors engaged in conversation, strategists would suggest that their money was being mismanaged with inefficient or wasteful spending. These strategists also attempted to misinform the media about No Labels’ goals.
ABC News has reached out for comment to American Bridge but has not gotten a reply.
Earlier this week, No Labels leaders updated supporters on a Zoom call.
“We believe in democracy in this organization, and obviously some people didn’t want us to live democracy out the way we were living it,” Mike Rawlings, the group’s national convention chairman, told the call before tossing to Dan Webb, a No Labels board member, who updated supporters on the legal findings.
Webb notified supporters that they called on the Department of Justice to look into any potential illegal conduct.
“I think one of the defining stories will be that it’s just wrong for a group of elite donors, party operatives, media mouthpieces to actually decide that the way, the way we should protect democracy is to make sure we have less of it,” Webb said.
Most of the No Labels “family members” on the call were infuriated with the allegations and pleaded for national exposure, suggesting outlets like “60 Minutes” or Joe Rogan’s podcast to spread awareness. Overall, the call was an opportunity for supporters to air their grievances.
“I agree wholeheartedly with publicizing this as much as possible, and not making it seem like it’s just normal politics,” one supporter said.
“This is not acceptable; they’ve interfered with the democratic process here,” another supporter added.
Asked if the efforts were “just politics” or “dirty politics,” No Labels leaders suggested it went beyond that.
“I’m a strong believer in the First Amendment, and political speech is absolutely protected by the First Amendment, but the law is also clear that you cannot violate the law and claim that even though you violated the law, you were just engaging in politics,” Webb said.
He continued, “I believe we did the right thing by reporting the information to the Department of Justice, and whatever the Department of Justice decides to do, they decide to do.”
One supporter suggested that the scandal sounded like Watergate and questioned whether it was worth pursuing lawsuits. Another supporter told No Labels leaders to focus on the Problem Solvers Caucus in Congress and dismiss the past.
“We should focus on the fact that no candidate received a majority in this election,” one supporter suggested. “Our need is to focus on fixing Congress. So I think we need to balance this very carefully and not focus on a way that distracts from one main issue, and casts us as being associated with the Trump administration.”
Back in April, the group halted its efforts when it was unable to find a candidate that had a credible path to winning with its bipartisan platform.
No Labels intended to offer a different choice than the presumptive presidential nominees at that time — incumbent President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump — to citizens who yearned for something new instead of a repeat of the 2020 election. As they entered the race in March, they suggested their internal polling showed more than 70% of Americans said they’d be open to another option.
The group intends to meet with supporters in Washington, D.C., in December to create a plan to deal with the new Congress and work with congressional leaders.
-ABC News’ Nicholas Kerr contributed to this report.
