Politics

(NEW YORK) — President Joe Biden launched his reelection campaign Tuesday, capping off months of speculation over his electoral future and laying the groundwork for a potential rematch with former President Donald Trump.

Biden comes into the race with the benefits of incumbency, a string of accomplishments while Democrats controlled Congress and the virtual guarantee of clinching his party’s nomination over two long shot challengers. But he also faces tepid approval ratings, widespread apathy among Democratic voters and a campaign that will be very different from 2020, which was largely virtual amid the spread of COVID-19.

Democrats are bullish on Biden’s chances, touting him as a powerful voice against a GOP that is anticipated to either nominate Trump or another politician aligned with his brand of politics, which Biden has sought to label “MAGA” extremism as he highlights his support for abortion access, domestic manufacturing and other issues.

At the same time, Republicans are buoyed by polling showing the president facing headwinds, including from his own party — even though Trump’s approval ratings are also underwater — as well as what they call a long list of looming problems like inflation, immigration, crime and economic uncertainty.

Here are five takeaways as Biden’s reelection bid gets underway.

Biden has primary challengers, but don’t expect 2020-style race
As of now, Biden technically has two primary challengers — author Marianne Williamson, who also ran for the Democratic nomination in 2020, and lawyer and activist Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a member of the famed political family who is notorious for his anti-vaccine stances.

But both Williamson and Kennedy’s paths are expected to be choked off due to low interest from Democratic voters and a Democratic National Committee (DNC) that is in lockstep behind the president.

The DNC intends to empty its war chest to keep Biden in the White House and passed a resolution during its February winter meeting expressing its “full and complete support” for Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris. That means the party won’t be hosting primary debates for Williamson and Kennedy to take shots at Biden and, overall, the two candidates will lack institutional support.

While some have chafed at this — and Williamson called it out on social media — it is in keeping with how past incumbent presidents have campaigned, including Trump in 2020, despite others technically seeking the GOP nomination against him then.

“Biden beat Trump because of what he was going to do ,and will now beat him again by talking about what he has done and how he will finish the job. So, while Republicans continue to tear each other apart in a blood sacrifice to MAGA extremists, he can just keep doing his job and doesn’t really need to hit the campaign trail hard until the general,” said Democratic strategist Eddie Vale.

“While the announcement means that fundraising and building the campaign infrastructure begins, the President and Vice President can continue to focus on their day jobs at least until the end of the year,” Karen Finney, a former DNC official with ties to the White House, added in a text message to ABC News.

Still, Republicans are eager for Biden to eventually hit the campaign trail, even if he isn’t likely to quickly set up events. They argue that he largely got a pass during 2020 because of the pandemic, something Trump often highlights.

“He can’t hide in the basement,” said GOP pollster Robert Blizzard.

Biden’s rollout is normal
Biden’s announcement, made in a video released on social media on Tuesday morning, comes more than a year and a half before the 2024 general election, but it echoes past announcements by incumbent presidents other than Trump.

Barack Obama announced his 2012 reelection on April 4, 2011, and George W. Bush announced his 2004 reelection campaign on May 16, 2003.

Trump marked an aberration from that pattern, launching his 2020 reelection campaign on his first day in office in 2017.

“This is how presidents usually run for reelection, especially when they have a really good record of accomplishments to run on,” Vale said.

Dem enthusiasm could be a problem: Will they rally?
Polling has repeatedly suggested Biden faces a challenge in winning majority approval overall and even from Democrats.

Biden’s approval rating sat at just 34% in an ABC News/Ipsos poll released earlier this month, and multiple surveys have suggested that a majority of Democratic voters would rather see someone else be the party’s presidential nominee next year.

Voters have also repeatedly expressed concerns over Biden’s age — at 80, he is already the oldest president in U.S. history, and he would be 86 at the end of a second term.

“Yes, they’d rather he be younger. But they’re all for him,” former Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said Thursday of Democratic voters. “There’s a little, shall we say, sidebar stuff. But by and large, people understand there’s so much at stake in this election that it’s really important for us to go full strength, full strength Joe Biden.”

Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., echoed that later Tuesday, saying he had “no doubts” about the president’s competence. “Next November … it’s going to be a pretty clear choice,” he said.

Other lawmakers also emphasized Biden’s legislative work with the two-year Democratic majority in Congress during his first term.

Democrats have sought to tamp down on concerns over Biden’s poll numbers, noting that when asked who they’d vote for in matchups with people like Trump and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, Democratic voters largely come home.

“The data point we should be focused on is not hypotheticals about who they want to run but who they say they are voting for, and Democrats have had unwavering support for President Biden in every head-to-head,” said Democratic pollster Molly Murphy.

High-profile Democrats have already started falling in line behind Biden, with Obama, his old boss, tweeting that Biden has “delivered for the American people — and he’ll continue to do so once he’s re-elected.” Likewise, Vermont independent Sen. Bernie Sanders, who ran against Biden for the Democratic nomination in 2020, this time quickly endorsed him for 2024.

Not every Democratic figure approves of the early unity behind Biden, however. Progressive DNC member Nina Turner tweeted that the committee “refusing to hold a single primary debate is undemocratic and robs the voters of choice.”

Biden to continue focus on “MAGA extremists”
In the lead up to his campaign launch, Biden railed against “MAGA extremists” — a reference to Trump’s Make America Great Again slogan — and his Tuesday video suggests that he’ll keep up that strategy.

“Around the country, MAGA extremists are lining up to take on those bedrock freedoms, cutting Social Security that you paid for your entire life while cutting taxes for the very wealthy, dictating what healthcare decisions women can make, banning books and telling people who they can love, all while making it more for you to be able to vote,” Biden said in his announcement.

The video did not mention Trump by name, though the line coincided with images of Trump, DeSantis and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., seemingly allowing Biden to tie whomever the 2024 GOP nominee is to Trump even if the former president doesn’t win the primary.

“As we’ve seen in polling, they are speaking to and taking action to address the very real concerns Americans continue to have about threats to our democracy and basic freedoms in this moment of generational change,” Finney argued.

Republicans rejoice
Republicans, meanwhile, heralded Biden’s official entry into the 2024 race, boasting that his low approval ratings will clear a path to retake the White House next year.

Trump released an over four-minute video lambasting Biden’s record on the economy, foreign policy, immigration and more, saying it would be Democrats’ “worst nightmare” should the two debate and that “there has never been a greater contrast between two successive administrations in all of American history.”

When asked about Biden’s announcement, GOP pollster John McLaughlin, who does work for Trump’s campaign, said, “Wish the election were tomorrow.”

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(NEW YORK) — Donald Trump “banged the door closed and lunged at her,” an attorney for writer E. Jean Carroll told jury members as she recounted what Carroll said happened in 1996 at the Bergdorf Goodman department store, during the opening statements of Carroll’s defamation and battery case against the former president, Tuesday in Manhattan federal court.

But Trump attorney Joe Tacopina told the jury in his opening statement that Carroll’s defamation and battery claims are an “affront to justice,” accusing the writer of taking Trump to court “for money, for political reasons and for status.”

Carroll, who brought the lawsuit in November, alleges that Trump defamed her in a 2022 Truth Social post by calling her allegations “a Hoax and a lie” and saying “This woman is not my type!” when he denied her claim that Trump raped her in a Bergdorf Goodman department store dressing room in the 1990s.

She added a charge of battery under a recently adopted New York law that allows adult survivors of sexual abuse to sue their alleged attacker regardless of the statute of limitations.

Carroll’s attorney, Shawn Crowley, said she was taking jurors “back to an evening in 1996” when Carroll said she bumped into Trump in the department store.

“Trump was famous in New York City. His name was on a bunch of buildings and his face was in the tabloids,” Crowley said. “Carroll was a well-known writer,” she said, and when Trump asked for her help selecting a gift Carroll agreed, thinking it would make for a good story.

“She thought it would be something to laugh about with her friends later,” Crowley said.

The pair moved through the store, joking and laughing, and eventually made their way to the lingerie department on the sixth floor where Trump tossed a lace body suit at her and asked her to try it on, Crowley said, before leading her by the arm to the dressing room, where he lunged at her.

“Ms. Carroll will tell you she was shocked,” Crowley said

In 2019, when Carroll decided to write about the alleged encounter, Crowley said that “Donald Trump’s response was explosive.”

“Suddenly Ms. Carroll was all over the headlines. The most powerful person in the world … had branded her a liar.”

Tacopina, in his opening statement, told jurors that “you can hate Donald Trump” — but that the appropriate place to express those feelings is at the ballot box and not in a court of law.

“She’s abusing the system,” Tacopina said of Carroll. “You cannot let her profit from this process.”

Tacopina insisted that Carroll’s “story isn’t true” and she lacks the facts to convince the jury otherwise.

“E. Jean Carroll cannot produce objective evidence to back up her claim, because it didn’t occur,” Tacopina said. “She can’t tell you the date that she claims to have been raped. She can’t tell you the month that she claims to have been raped. She can’t tell you the season. She can’t even tell you the year she claims to have been raped by Donald Trump.”

Tacopina said Carroll “falsely alleged that he raped her,” and that’s why Trump publicly attacked her.

“E Jean Carroll fabricated a story about Donald Trump while he was president and then made that story the center of her life and her lifestyle,” Tacopina said.

The nine-member jury of six men and three women is weighing Carroll’s defamation and battery claims and deciding potential monetary damages.

“Battery refers to the unjustified touching of another person without the consent of the person touched, with the intent to cause bodily contact that a reasonable person would find offensive,” Judge Lewis Kaplan instructed the jurors.

Trump has repeatedly denied Carroll’s allegations. The trial is expected to last around five days.

Two women are expected to testify during the trial that Carroll told them about the alleged attack shortly after it occurred. Two other women are expected to testify that Trump sexually assaulted them, claims that he denies, as Carroll’s attorneys try to show a pattern of conduct.

The judge has also agreed to allow excerpts of the so-called Access Hollywood tape on which Trump is overheard in 2005 bragging to then-host Billy Bush about groping women.

During the selection of the jury Tuesday morning, the judge told prospective jurors that he was looking to select jurors who are “willing and able to decide this case in a manner that is fair and impartial,” no matter what they may know about those involved.

“The name of the game here is utter fairness and impartiality,” Kaplan said. “The job of the jury will be to decide what did or didn’t happen at the department store, whether Ms. Carroll was or wasn’t raped” — and whether she should be compensated and whether defamation occurred, the judge said.

The judge began questioning prospective jurors with this question: “Is there anything about the nature of this case or the parties that would make it difficult for you to be entirely fair to both parties and to come to a just or impartial verdict?”

He asked prospective jurors about everything from their vaccine status to whether they watched The Apprentice, the reality game show that Trump hosted from 2004-2015.

The judge also asked whether they would find Carroll’s battery claim “less reliable” because she brought it 30 years after it allegedly happened.

Prospective jurors were asked whether they maintain a Twitter account, whether they’ve ever been wrongfully accused of misconduct, and whether they feel Trump has been unfairly treated by the press.

The former president was not present in court Tuesday.

Tacopina told the judge Thursday that Trump will decide whether or not to attend as the trial proceeds.

The civil trial is being heard a block from the criminal courthouse where Trump pleaded not guilty earlier this month to 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in connection with an alleged hush money payment to an adult film actress.

Kaplan last week denied Trump’s attempt to delay the start of this week’s trial for a month after Trump’s attorneys sought a four-week delay on the grounds that a “cooling off” period was necessary following intense media coverage of Trump’s criminal indictment.

“There is no justification for an adjournment,” Kaplan ruled. “This case is entirely unrelated to the state prosecution.”

This week’s trial is taking place as Trump seeks the White House for a third time, while facing numerous legal challenges related to the Jan. 6 Capitol attack, his handling of classified material after leaving the White House, and possible attempts to interfere in the Georgia’s 2020 vote. Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis said Monday she would decide whether to file criminal charges against Trump or his allies this summer.

Carroll’s lawsuit is her second against Trump related to her rape allegation.

Carroll previously sued Trump in 2019 after the then-president denied her rape claim by telling The Hill that Carroll was “totally lying,” saying, “I’ll say it with great respect: No. 1, she’s not my type. No. 2, it never happened. It never happened, OK?” That defamation suit has been caught in a procedural back-and-forth over the question of whether Trump, as president, was acting in his official capacity as an employee of the federal government when he made those remarks.

If Trump is determined to have been acting as a government employee, the U.S. government would substitute as the defendant in that suit — which means that case would go away, since the government cannot be sued for defamation.

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(WASHINGTON) — Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley on Tuesday made a her case for a “consensus” on abortion, an issue that continues to divide conservatives. But she stopped short of adopting strict stances — such as embracing or rejecting a national ban at a certain week in pregnancy — beyond saying the government needed to have some role and stressed that she wanted fewer abortions in the country.

“My record on abortion is long and clear. … I want to save as many lives and help as many moms as possible. That is my goal. To do that at the federal level, the next president must find national consensus,” Haley said in remarks at the anti-abortion group Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America’s office in Virginia on Tuesday morning.

Haley, the first woman to serve as governor of South Carolina, reaffirmed her anti-abortion position, saying her priority as a candidate is to “save as many babies as we can while supporting women in difficult situations.”

But as leading Republicans like former Vice President Mike Pence have heartedly endorsed some sort of federal ban on abortion — and only days after prospective 2024 candidate Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis quietly signed a six-week abortion ban into law — Haley took another stance.

“I do believe there is a federal role on abortion. Whether we can save more lives nationally depends entirely on doing what no one has done to date: finding consensus,” she said. “That’s what I will strive to do.”

“Abortion is a deeply personal topic for both women and men,” she said. “I understand why. Someone’s body and someone else’s life are not things to be taken lightly, and they should not be politicized. The issue should be addressed with sensitivity and respect, not judgment and hate.”

In the wake of Roe v. Wade being reversed by the Supreme Court last summer, a series of state-level laws on abortion access have since rippled across the country, leading to numerous legal and legislative battles.

Voters have also repeatedly backed abortion access when it is on the ballot, in Kentucky, Michigan, Vermont and elsewhere.

“The pro-life laws that have passed in strongly Republican states will not be approved at the federal level,” Haley said in her speech, a seeming nod to the belief that a national abortion ban is not politically feasible, even if she were president.

Haley did offer some broad ideas regarding abortion and reproductive rights, including supporting adoptive families, advocating for “pro-life doctors and nurses,” limiting elective late-term abortions, increasing access to contraception and, in a subtle rebuke of a minority of her Republican colleagues, opposing efforts to criminalize women who get abortions.

“Surely, we can all agree that abortion up until the time of birth is a bridge too far,” she said. “Only seven countries on earth allow elective late-term abortions. We’re talking brutal regimes like communist China and North Korea. We should be able to agree that contraception should be more available, not less. And we can all agree that women who get abortions should not be jailed. A few have even called for the death penalty. That’s the least pro-life position I can possibly imagine.”

In response to her speech, a Democratic National Committee spokesperson sought to paint Haley as an extremist “MAGA Republican” and pointed to her time as governor, when she signed a 20-week abortion ban in South Carolina in 2016.

“She’s already signed an abortion ban with no exceptions for rape or incest that threatened to throw doctors and nurses in jail,” DNC spokesperson Rhyan Lake said, in part. “2024 Republicans are clamoring to prove they’d be the most extreme, anti-choice nominee in history in a desperate chase to out-MAGA each other, and they’ll stop at nothing to completely ban abortion nationwide.”

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(MIAMI) — As the Republican field for president takes shape around former President Donald Trump, with Gov. Ron DeSantis expected to launch his own campaign by the summer, a third Floridian is angling to possibly join the 2024 race.

Miami Mayor Francis Suarez is weighing a bid for the White House, recently telling ABC affiliate WMUR that he would be making a decision “shortly” on whether to run. Suarez has visited multiple early nominating states, including a visit last week to New Hampshire where he spoke at the Institute of Politics at Saint Anselm College, a staple venue for many mulling a presidential campaign.

There, Suarez highlighted his profile and backstory as the Hispanic son of a former Miami mayor and the Republican executive of a major American city, who was easily reelected in 2021. He touted his policy credentials on the economy and anti-crime measures and criticized the Biden administration for its Middle East and China policies.

As he takes some of the typical early steps before running for president, Suarez is previewing his case to occupy a potential third lane in a Republican primary that has so far largely featured Trump and DeSantis’ conservative styles. Amid a surge in Hispanic support for the GOP in some parts of the country, including Florida, Suarez offers a more centrist tone on migration and climate issues than his state’s governor and Trump, the party standard-bearer.

On climate change, he told CBS in July that “the problem for us is not theoretical … it’s real.”

He’s also made national headlines by inviting corporate heavyweights and startups alike, from asset managers to cryptocurrency traders, to make Miami their place of business.

In New Hampshire on April 18, Suarez said a relationship with the Hispanic community would be critical for the Republican nominee in 2024. More than 70% of the city of Miami is Hispanic, according to the latest census data.

Suarez suggested the GOP nominate “someone that can communicate and connect with Hispanics … [someone who can] help Republicans win elections for a generation, not just for one presidency.”

The nominee should have another quality, he said. “I’d want that person to have a positive — I’m going to stress that word — positive vision for the future. I think we’re getting a lot of negativity, a lot of divisiveness.”

Suarez won his second term as mayor with some 79% of the vote in Miami. A year later, DeSantis carried the Democratic stronghold of broader Miami-Dade County, becoming the first Republican gubernatorial candidate to win there in two decades. DeSantis had lost the county by about 20 points in 2018.

In New Hampshire, Suarez echoed other Republican criticism that DeSantis’ outreach in the party and initial public appearances across the country have been lackluster: “He seems to struggle with relationships, generally. I look people in the eye when I shake their hands.”

The mayor’s remarks came as a growing number of Florida congressional delegation members endorsed Trump for president, even before DeSantis has announced his own bid.

“[R]etail politics matters. The ability to go in particular places like Iowa, New Hampshire … is at times [about] meeting with just a handful of voters at once,” Matt Terrill, the managing partner at Firehouse Strategies, told ABC News.

Terrill said Trump was skilled in that art. “Trump, when he was the president at the time, would be inviting congressional members on Air Force One — many of those members from Florida — he’d be calling up members constantly playing golf with them.”

Appearing on Fox News on Thursday, Suarez declined any invitations to criticize Trump.

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(ATLANTA) — On Jan. 2, 2021, former President Donald Trump asked Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to “find” the votes needed to win the state in the 2020 election.

The now-infamous phone call helped spark a criminal investigation launched the following month by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis looking into the efforts by Trump and his allies to overturn the results of the 2020 election.

Here’s a look at how the probe — one of several investigations involving the former president — has unfolded so far:

Nov. 3, 2020

Voters head to the polls in the 2020 general election.

Nov. 7, 2020

Multiple media organizations, including ABC News, call the election for Joe Biden based on the projected electoral vote count, as several states, including Georgia, have yet to be projected.

Nov. 10, 2020

The Trump campaign requests a hand recount in Georgia, where Biden leads by about 14,000 votes out of nearly 5 million cast in the presidential race.

Nov. 11, 2020

Raffensperger, a Republican, announces that due to how slim the vote margin is between Biden and Trump, the state’s planned audit will trigger a “full by-hand recount in each county” of the presidential race.

Nov. 19, 2020

The results of Georgia’s statewide audit, which entailed that counties recount by hand every vote cast in the presidential race, reaffirm Biden as the winner — by a margin of 12,284 votes. It’s the first time since 1992 that a Democrat will win the state.

Nov. 20, 2020

Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp and Raffensperger certify the results of the general election, making it official that Biden won the state’s 16 electoral votes.

Nov. 24, 2020

Georgia’s 159 counties start counting the votes cast in the presidential race for a third time, after the Trump campaign requests a machine recount.

Dec. 6, 2020

Raffensperger defends the integrity of the general election, telling ABC News Chief Anchor George Stephanopoulos during an interview on “This Week” that his office has yet to find evidence supporting “systemic fraud” that would change the outcome.

Dec. 7, 2020

Raffensperger and Kemp recertify the state’s election results after a recount requested by Trump confirms once again that Biden won the state. The audit found that Biden won by a margin of 11,779 votes.

Dec. 22, 2020

Mark Meadows, the White House chief of staff at the time, visits Georgia’s Cobb County to observe a signature match audit.

Dec. 23, 2020

Amid the signature match audit in Cobb County, Trump phones a chief investigator in Raffensperger’s office to discuss the audit, telling the investigator they would be praised for finding errors in the vote count, according to an individual familiar with the call.

Jan. 2, 2021

In an hourlong phone call obtained by ABC News, Trump calls Raffensperger and falsely claims that it was “not possible” for him to have lost and asks the secretary to “find 11,780 votes” — the exact number Trump needed to win Georgia.

“The people of Georgia are angry. The people of the country are angry, and there’s nothing wrong with saying that, you know, that you’ve recalculated,” Trump says on the call. “All I want to do is this: I just want to find 11,780 votes, which is one more than we have. … Fellas, I need 11,000 votes, give me a break.”

Meadows was also heard speaking on the call.

Raffensperger challenged the president’s allegations, saying the data Trump is citing about tens of thousands of illegal votes “is wrong.”

Feb. 10, 2021

Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis notifies Kemp that her office has launched an investigation into efforts by Trump and his allies to overturn the results of the 2020 election, according to a letter obtained by ABC News.

The letter asked state officials to preserve any documents potentially related to the 2020 general election, “with particular care given to set aside and preserve those that may be evidence of attempts to influence the actions of persons who were administering” it, which would include Trump’s phone call with Raffensperger.

Jan. 20, 2022

Willis requests to seat a special grand jury in her probe, according to a letter obtained by ABC News. In the letter to Fulton County Chief Judge Christopher Brasher, Willis wrote that the move is needed because “a significant number of witnesses and prospective witnesses have refused to cooperate with the investigation absent a subpoena requiring their testimony.”

May 2, 2022

Twenty-six jurors are selected for a special grand jury in Willis’ investigation.

The special grand jury does not have the ability to return an indictment and can only make recommendations concerning criminal prosecution. Should charges be recommended, it would then be up to Willis to determine whether or not to pursue them.

July 19, 2022

New court documents reveal that 16 people identified as “fake electors” have been notified that they are targets of the Fulton County district attorney’s criminal investigation, new court documents reveal.

Aug. 15, 2022

Trump’s personal attorney, Rudy Giuliani, is informed he is considered a “target” of the Fulton County district attorney’s probe, according to sources familiar with the matter.

Nov. 1, 2022

The U.S. Supreme Court rejects Sen. Lindsey Graham bid to block a subpoena for testimony before the special grand jury. Graham, in the aftermath of the 2020 election, called Georgia election officials to discuss the election.

Nov. 8, 2022

Voters head to the polls in Georgia for a primary election where Raffensperger is up for reelection for his secretary of state seat. Trump supports Rep. Jody Hice in the primary.

Nov. 18, 2022

A hand count of random batches of votes confirms Raffensperger has won reelection, state election officials announce.

Jan. 9, 2023

A new filing indicates that the special grand jury has finished its work and submitted its final report following months of closed-door testimony.

The jurors heard testimony from some of Trump’s closest allies and supporters, including lawyers Rudy Giuliani and John Eastman, and Sen. Graham.

Jan. 24, 2023

Willis says during a hearing that charging decisions in the case are “imminent.”

Feb. 13, 2023

Fulton County Judge Robert McBurney rules that portions of the special grand jury’s report can be released in the coming days, though the majority of the report will remain sealed. Willis had argued for the report to remain sealed, saying that it was important to “be mindful of protecting future defendants’ rights.”

Feb. 16, 2023

Excerpts from the special grand jury’s report are released, revealing that the jury has recommended to prosecutors that they seek indictments against witnesses who they believe may have lied during their testimony.

“A majority of the grand jury believes that perjury may have been committed by one or more witnesses testifying before it,” the grand jury wrote in the report. “The Grand Jury recommends that the District Attorney seek appropriate indictments for such crimes where the evidence is compelling.”

The excerpts from the report do not list any names of those who grand jury members believe may have committed perjury nor offer any rationale for its allegations of perjury.

There are also no details revealed regarding whether or not the grand jury recommended changes for anyone related to efforts to overturn the election. The excerpts do not identify any of the 75 witnesses interviewed and do not mention Trump by name.

Following their release, a spokesperson for Trump said the excerpts “have nothing to do with the President because President Trump did absolutely nothing wrong.”

“The President participated in two perfect phone calls regarding election integrity in Georgia, which he is entitled to do — in fact, as President, it was President Trump’s Constitutional duty to ensure election safety, security, and integrity,” the spokesperson said.

Feb. 21, 2023

In a series of print and television interviews, Emily Kohrs, the foreperson of the special grand jury, reveals that jurors recommended charges for several individuals, without naming any of them — and intimated that the former president is among them.

“You’re not going to be shocked,” Kohrs told The New York Times about whether her panel recommended charges against Trump. “It’s not rocket science.”

March 20, 2023

Trump’s attorneys file a motion seeking to throw out the special grand jury report and remove the district attorney’s office leading the investigation.

March 27, 2023

McBurney gives Willis’ office until May 1 to respond to Trump’s motion to quash the special grand jury report.

April 24, 2023

Willis indicates her office will announce any charging decisions sometime between July 11 and Sept. 1, 2023, in a letter to law enforcement.

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(WASHINGTON) — President Joe Biden said Tuesday he will seek a second term in office, confirming a reelection bid he has long previewed — as he faces a possible rematch with Donald Trump next November.

Biden announced his 2024 campaign in a pre-recorded video.

“The question we are facing is whether in the years ahead we have more freedom or less freedom. More rights or fewer,” he says in the video, entitled “Freedom” which was posted to his social media account early Tuesday morning.

“This is not a time to be complacent. That’s why I’m running for re-election,” he says.

The video announcement focuses on Biden’s closing argument to the country, making his case for four more years in office to “finish this job,” — a line he previewed during his State of the Union address this year.

“Every generation of Americans has faced a moment when they’ve had to defend democracy. Stand up for our personal freedoms. Stand up for the right to vote and our civil rights. And this is our moment,” Biden says in the video.

“Let’s finish this job, I know we can,” he adds.

As part of that closing argument, the president also calls out “MAGA extremists” for attacking “bedrock freedoms” in the video.

While Biden does not directly name any of his GOP rivals, images from the Jan. 6 attack on the capitol, and members of the Republican party including Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, Former President Donald Trump and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis flash on the screen.

Vice President Harris, again joining Biden on the ticket, is also featured prominently throughout the video.

Biden’s 2024 campaign will be managed by Julie Chávez Rodríguez, a senior advisor to the president at the White House, and the granddaughter of labor leader Cesar Chávez.

Quentin Fulks, who previously served as the campaign manager of Sen. Rev. Raphael Warnock’s 2022 reelection campaign, will serve as Principal Deputy Campaign Manager.

The campaign is also announcing a slate of national co-chairs, including Rep. Lisa Blunt-Rochester, Rep. Jim Clyburn, Sen. Chris Coons, Sen. Tammy Duckworth, Rep. Veronica Escobar, Jeffrey Katzenberg, and Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer.

Tuesday also marks four years to the day since Biden announced his 2020 presidential campaign.

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(WASHINGTON) — A super PAC supporting former President Donald Trump has already spent more than $6 million on television ads attacking Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, even before DeSantis has declared his presidential candidacy.

Since April, the super PAC — Make America Great Again, Inc. — has been launching a $1.5 million ad campaign every week.

The expenditures are described in the PAC’s disclosure filings to the Federal Election Commission as media placements opposing “presidential candidate” DeSantis.

The latest ad from last week zeroed in on the Florida governor’s past record of supporting cuts to Social Security and Medicare during his time in Congress. Other ads have focused on DeSantis’ alleged eating habits and have claimed that DeSantis is “just not ready to be president.”

Trump leads DeSantis in recent presidential polls and has continued to collect endorsements.

The Florida governor has himself has been fundraising across the country and traveling overseas to meet with foreign dignitaries, even while he has yet to declare his candidacy.

Asked Monday during his visit to Japan about trailing Trump in the polls, DeSantis said, “I’m not a candidate, so we’ll see if and when that changes.”

Dan Eberhart, a GOP donor and fundraiser who has previously supported and donated to Trump, told ABC News that the pro-Trump super PAC’s anti-DeSantis ads are a “backhanded compliment that shows who he’s afraid of” — and that DeSantis needs to “punch back.”

“I’m not so much anxious for him to declare — I’m anxious for him to fight back,” Eberhart, who is supporting DeSantis, said of the Florida governor.

“I think he runs the risk of how Obama defined Romney in the summer of 2012 because Romney didn’t answer,” Eberhard said, referencing the 2012 presidential race between Barack Obama and Mitt Romney. “I think DeSantis is being defined by Trump and he has not answered, and you’re seeing that hurting his poll numbers.”

Over the past year, a number of major Republican donors have distanced themselves from Trump, saying they want a different face to lead the party. A number of them have thrown their support behind DeSantis, while others are waiting to see how the primary pool shapes up.

Despite that, the Make America Great Again super PAC boasts a massive war chest, having received more than $60 million through Trump’s Save America PAC — plus millions more from top Trump donors — since the 2020 election.

DeSantis’ top super PAC, Never Back Down, has raised $30 million — but it’s only spent a modest $36,000 on ad expenditures so far, according to its FEC disclosures.

As independent expenditure groups, Make America Great Again Inc. and Never Back Down are not allowed to make coordinated expenditures with the campaigns they support.

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(WASHINGTON) — Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who is expected to launch a 2024 presidential campaign in the coming months, will travel overseas this week on an international trade mission.

DeSantis will lead a Florida delegation to Israel, Japan, South Korea and the U.K. to meet with government and business leaders.

The trip is seen by some allies as an effort to expand his foreign policy chops ahead of a likely presidential campaign launch by this summer.

The governor’s office said in a news release on Thursday that the trip would focus on building upon Florida’s current economic relationships with each country.

In Japan, DeSantis will meet with Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi. In South Korea, the governor will meet with the Gyeonggi Province governor, Kim Dong-yeon, and Prime Minister Han Duck-soo.

While in Israel, DeSantis will deliver the keynote address at an event to mark the 75th anniversary of the country’s founding, on Thursday. He’ll also meet with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday, Netanyahu said on CBS’ Face the Nation.

And in the U.K., DeSantis will meet with Foreign Minister James Cleverly.

He will be joined on the trip by his wife, Casey, Florida Secretary of State Cord Byrd and Florida Secretary of Commerce Laura DiBella.

John Thomas, a GOP political strategist and the founder of the pro-DeSantis super PAC Ron to the Rescue, told ABC News that he believes the travel will burnish DeSantis’ foreign policy bona fides.

“[DeSantis] does have a biographical background in foreign policy as a naval officer, but there is no replacement for shaking hands, having the photo-op, being on the ground and being able to name drop that you have relationships with certain world leaders,” Thomas said.

“Any major candidate for the Oval Office needs to check that [foreign policy] box and improve their credentials so that they have credibility when they’re delivering their eventual foreign policy message on the campaign trail and on the debate stage, and this is the first step for Gov. DeSantis to do just that,” Thomas said.

DeSantis, a popular if controversial leader in the GOP, has drawn scrutiny for some of his recent remarks about international issues.

His travel abroad will come just over a month after he initially called Russia’s invasion of Ukraine a “territorial dispute” and said the war was not of national interest for the United States.

Those comments received backlash from other leading members of the GOP.

South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham tweeted a veiled rebuke: “To those who believe that Russia’s unprovoked and barbaric invasion of Ukraine is not a priority for the United States – you are missing a lot.”

And Florida Sen. Marco Rubio also criticized the governor of his state, saying in a radio interview, “Obviously, he doesn’t deal with foreign policy every day as governor.”

DeSantis later said that his words were “mischaracterized” and that Russian President Vladimir Putin is a “war criminal.”

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(WASHINGTON) — The “Tennessee three” are going to the White House on Monday to meet with President Joe Biden weeks after facing historic expulsion efforts that sparked national outrage.

Biden personally extended the invitation to Democratic state Reps. Justin Jones, Justin Pearson and Gloria Johnson, thanking them for their leadership in leading a gun reform protest that resulted in the expulsion of Jones and Pearson and near-ouster of Johnson, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said.

“What you’ll see is the president sitting down with these three legislators, having a conversation on how to move forward with commonsense gun reform; how to move forward on protecting our communities, our kids, our churches,” she told reporters on Friday.

Other administration officials have previously demonstrated support for the trio. Vice President Kamala Harris traveled to Nashville to meet the three lawmakers earlier this month, echoing their calls for reform.

“They understood the importance, these three, of standing to say that people will not be silenced; to say that a democracy hears the cries, hears the pleas, who hears the demands of its people who say that children should be able to live and be safe and go to school and not be in fear,” Harris said.

Thousands of people demonstrated at the Tennessee Capitol in the wake of a school shooting in Nashville on March 27 that left three children and three staff members dead. Jones, Pearson and Johnson faced expulsion votes after they led a gun reform protest in the state Capitol that most lawmakers found breached the chamber’s rules of decorum.

Johnson, who is white, was the only one to survive her expulsion vote. Jones and Pearson, both Black, were ousted and later reinstated by local councils. All were accused of “bringing disorder and dishonor” to the state legislature for their protest.

Jones, Justin and Johnson told GMA 3 similarly said they were simply listening to the people when they joined calls to address gun violence.

“This was a tragedy that happened at the Covenant School in Nashville, but instead of addressing the tragedy the Republican supermajority in Tennessee decided that our using our First Amendment right to listen to the thousands of protesters deserved expulsion,” Pearson said.

Tennessee’s state legislature adjourned Friday without any action on gun reform, but Republican Gov. Bill Lee announced he will call a special session so lawmakers can return to the capitol and discuss the issue. Lee has proposed an “order of protection” law aimed at taking firearms away from those deemed a risk to those around them.

“There is broad agreement that dangerous, unstable individuals who intend to harm themselves or others should not have access to weapons,” Lee said in a statement. “We also share a strong commitment to preserving Second Amendment rights, ensuring due process and addressing the heart of the problem with strengthened mental health resources.”

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(WASHINGTON) — An eager bench of Democrats will spend heavily to stake out positions as early supporters of President Joe Biden’s reelection campaign ahead of his expected announcement, which could come as soon as this week.

On Monday, a national Democratic committee tasked with electing lieutenant governors nationwide announced plans to spend nearly $1 million to mobilize the country’s 25 Democratic occupants of that office, shoring up votes in key states for the Biden-Harris ticket.

The Democratic Lieutenant Governors Association’s “2024 Mobilization Project” — shared exclusively with ABC News — will deploy these lieutenant governors across the country and specifically maximize voter turnout for the incumbent administration, something the DGLA says it’s uniquely positioned to do as an organization cultivating some of the party’s up-and-coming talent.

“The Democratic Lieutenant Governors Association is ready to mobilize across the country ahead of a monumental presidential election — As Democratic LGs, we stand strong in our commitment to partnering with the Biden administration to deliver on our shared agenda for the American people,” said Michigan Lt. Gov. Garlin Gilchrist, chair of the DLGA.

The DLGA’s efforts are one of the first early organizational moves in support of Biden’s bid.

“The DLGA is committed to serving as the liaison and facilitator for Democratic Lieutenant Governors to aid the DNC and the Biden-Harris campaign in 2024, ensuring Democratic victory up and down the ballot,” a statement from the organization said.

The organization touted its experience energizing the base in blue states and in key getting voters to turn out in battleground ones — steps it said are “crucial” to getting Biden reelected in 2024.

“As the Lieutenant Governor of one of the most critical swing states in the country, I am proud to stand with President Biden and am eager to share all that he has accomplished — and all that we will continue to accomplish together — throughout Wisconsin and beyond,” said Wisconsin Lt. Gov. Sara Rodriguez, adding that Biden is “the leader our country needs.”

Pennsylvania Lt. Gov. Austin Davis said that he has “no doubt” that a Biden victory might come down to the Commonwealth again in 2024 after the Keystone State’s critical role in securing the presidency for Biden in 2020.

“Pennsylvanians also know that the choice between President Biden and an extreme Republican could not be clearer, and Democratic Lieutenant Governors are eager to deliver that message,” said Davis.

The DLGA has been pushing for more visibility in the election process. In March, the organization announced plans to raise $15 million by 2026 and commit $2 million to every high-stakes lieutenant governor race in 2024 and 2025 — a notable use of its substantial war chest.

Democratic lieutenant governors have been stressing to donors the importance of their roles as the future of the party, highlighting the selection of high-profile lieutenant governors such as Mandela Barnes and now-Sen. John Fetterman to run in competitive races throughout the country.

Tuesday is seen as a likely target for Biden to announce his 2024 reelection campaign. The president, who has faced little pressure to announce his bid and faces only unlikely primary challenges from Marianne Williamson and Robert F. Kennedy Jr., has long said he was planning to run, telling ABC News’ David Muir in February it’s his “intention” to run for a second term.

Biden has already seen support from all flanks of the party, from Sen. Bernie Sanders, the Vermont independent who caucuses with Democrats and who challenged him for the party’s 2020 nomination, to establishment figures like former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer.

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