(WASHINGTON) — FBI Director Christopher Wray told employees at an internal town hall on Wednesday that he is resigning, according to sources familiar with the meeting.
He said he is stepping down at the end of the current Biden administration.
“After weeks of careful thought, I’ve decided the right thing for the Bureau is for me to serve until the end of the current Administration in January and then step down. My goal is to keep the focus on our mission — the indispensable work you’re doing on behalf of the American people every day. In my view, this is the best way to avoid dragging the Bureau deeper into the fray, while reinforcing the values and principles that are so important to how we do our work,” he said in his remarks.
“It should go without saying, but I’ll say it anyway — this is not easy for me. I love this place, I love our mission, and I love our people — but my focus is, and always has been, on us and doing what’s right for the FBI,” he said.
“When you look at where the threats are headed, it’s clear that the importance of our work – keeping Americans safe and upholding the Constitution — will not change. And what absolutely cannot, must not change is our commitment to doing the right thing, the right way, every time. Our adherence to our core values, our dedication to independence and objectivity, and our defense of the rule of law — those fundamental aspects of who we are must never change,” he said. “That’s the real strength of the FBI — the importance of our mission, the quality of our people, and their dedication to service over self. It’s an unshakeable foundation that’s stood the test of time, and cannot be easily moved. And it — you, the men and women of the FBI — are why the Bureau will endure and remain successful long into the future.”
Wray, who was appointed by President-elect Donald Trump and confirmed in August 2017, oversaw the agency in a “heightened threat environment” and number of high-profile cases, including the investigation of the man who appointed him.
As FBI director, Wray oversaw the investigation into the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol by a pro-Trump mob, hundreds of Chinese espionage cases, the probes into Trump’s and President Joe Biden’s handling of classified documents as well as thousands more criminal investigations.
Wray was nominated by Trump after he fired his predecessor, James Comey.
Republican critics have accused Wray’s FBI of political interference, a lack of transparency and a lack of responsiveness to Congress.
Iowa GOP Sen. Chuck Grassley, the incoming chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, sent a letter to Wray on Dec. 9, expressing a “vote of no confidence” in Wray and his deputy director.
“For the good of the country, it’s time for you and your deputy to move on to the next chapter of your life,” Grassley writes.
Trump has picked Kash Patel to replace Wray at the FBI.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
(NEW YORK) — Former President Bill Clinton, during an appearance on ABC’s The View on Wednesday, indicated he hopes President Joe Biden will not preemptively pardon people who could be targeted by the incoming administration of President-elect Donald Trump, including Clinton’s wife, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
“If President Biden wanted to talk to me about that, I would talk to him about it. But I don’t think I should be giving public advice on the pardon power. I think it’s too — it’s a very personal thing, but it is — I hope he won’t do that,” Clinton said.
“Most of us get out of this world ahead of where we’d get if all we got was simple justice. And so it’s normally a fool’s errand. You spend a lot of time trying to get even,” he added.
President Biden and his senior aides have been discussing possible preemptive pardons for people who might be targeted by the new Trump administration, according to a source close to the president. Experts have told ABC News he has the power to do so under the Constitution.
Clinton emphasized that he does not believe any potential charges from the incoming Trump administration brought against Hillary Clinton would be valid, arguing that she did not do anything wrong with her handling of emails during her time at the State Department — a controversy which became a flashpoint late in the 2016 election cycle.
Asked separately about his recent comments that a Republican could be more likely to be the first female president, Clinton said, “The impulse to say a woman probably shouldn’t be president comes more from the right than from the left — in the brain — and it’s an impulsive thing.”
He also surmised that voters are not always looking toward how much experience a politician had, because of how they’re focused on day-to-day issues.
“If you’re an alienated voter and you’re genuinely worried about your family’s financial security or your personal security, then the last thing you want is somebody who’s well qualified … if you think the total sum of impact of government action is negative, then you may not want somebody who’s well qualified,” Clinton said.
“And that’s the danger we’re at now, because it actually does matter if you know things.”
Asked about what may happen after Trump’s victory, Clinton emphasized that Trump won fairly.
“So, I think what we have to do is to observe a peaceful transfer of power, stand up for what we believe, and work together when we can,” Clinton said.
“I do not think we should just be jamming them, even though they do that to us a lot. I think it’s a mistake,” he added.
During the 2024 campaign cycle, Bill Clinton campaigned for Vice President Kamala Harris, serving as a key surrogate sent to rural areas and to speak with working-class voters.
Asked how Democrats can win back working-class voters who have been shifting to support Republicans, Clinton said that he feels part of the challenge is “cultural,” as rural voters skewer more conservative and are dealing with things they are not used to.
“The world moves on, and things that once made sense to people don’t anymore,” he said. “The world moves on, and things that once made sense to people don’t anymore. Things that should make sense don’t anymore.”
“We need to quit screaming at each other and listen to each other. We need to have a serious conversation about these things. And I think one of the things that Democrats sometimes do is give up on too many people, because the demographics say they’re not going to be for it,” Clinton said.
“Well, that may be, but you know, if you don’t deal with something that’s controversial, just because you don’t want to hear it, that’s like an insult to voters.”
Clinton has devoted time to charitable and health causes since his presidency, and his memoir “Citizen: My Life After the White House” released in November.
“First, it was fun, and secondly, it was important,” Clinton said of his charitable work. “And thirdly, I could do it. And it didn’t matter if the president was Barack Obama or George Bush, we just did things that human beings needed.”
(WASHINGTON) — President-elect Donald Trump’s pick for defense secretary Pete Hegseth met on Wednesday with another moderate Republican whose vote will be closely watched in his confirmation battle.
Hegseth sat down with Maine Sen. Susan Collins as he continues to make the rounds to shore up support amid allegations of sexual impropriety and other misconduct, which he denies.
Afterward, he described it as a “great meeting.”
“Office after office, having the opportunity to spend time with these senators who have invested their careers in ensuring that our warfighters get what they need, has been amazing educational process,” Hegseth said. “And Senator Collins, like her colleagues before her reiterated that.
“It was a wonderful conversation focused on what needs to be done to make sure this Pentagon is focused on warfighting and lethality, and we look forward to stay in touch with her,” he added.
Hegseth added he was “certainly not going to assume anything about where the senator stands” as he was peppered with questions by reporters.
Collins called it a “good, substantive discussion” for more than an hour on everything from women’s role in the military and sexual assault in the military to Ukraine and NATO.
“I asked virtually every question under the sun,” Collins said. “I pressed him on both his position on military issues as well as the allegations against him.”
Collins did not voice support for Hegseth, instead saying she’d wait until further vetting of Hegseth before deciding how to vote.
“I, obviously, always wait until we have an FBI background check, and one is underway in the case of Mr. Hegseth, and I wait to see the committee hearing before reaching a final decision,” she said.
Their meeting came on the heels of his meeting on Tuesday with Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski, who is viewed as another possible GOP swing vote. Murkowski said they had a “good exchange” but did not indicate whether she’d been swayed to support him.
Hegseth is one of many Trump administration picks who’ve been on Capitol Hill this week.
South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem, tapped to lead the Department of Homeland Security, met with various Republican senators on Tuesday.
When departing a meeting with Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul, Noem was asked if she’d support Trump’s plan for mass deportations of migrants living in the U.S. without legal permission. Deportations were a central promise of Trump’s 2024 campaign.
“I am going to enforce the president’s agenda,” Noem responded.
Noem also left the door open for a deal with Democrats to protect “Dreamers,” or migrants brought illegally to the U.S. as young children. Trump floated the idea during an interview on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” despite his attempts to undermine the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program during his first administration.
“You know, I appreciate the president’s word on this issue, and I know he wants our laws to be followed, so I’ll work with him to get his vision accomplished,” Noem said.
Noem was back for meetings on Wednesday, including one with Democratic Sen. Gary Peters. Noem said she hoped for bipartisan support in her confirmation bid.
Kash Patel, Trump’s pick for FBI director, and Tulsi Gabbard, his choice for director of national intelligence, have also been spotted walking the halls of the Hart Senate Office Building.
For Patel to fill the role, current FBI Director Christopher Wray would need to resign or be fired.
Several Republican senators expressed this week they’d be fine with Wray being forced out or stepping aside.
“I like Director Wray but I think it’s time for a fresh start at the FBI,” said Sen. Lindsey Graham.
“Obviously, Director Wray would be fired. That is obvious,” said Sen. Markwayne Mullin.
(WASHINGTON) — President-elect Donald Trump posted a flurry of announcements to his Truth Social account on Tuesday night, including the appointment of Kimberly Guilfoyle as the ambassador to Greece and Tom Barrack as the ambassador to Turkey.
Guilfoyle, a former fundraiser for Trump and a former host on Fox News, is currently in an established relationship with Donald Trump Jr.
In announcing her position, Trump wrote, “For many years, Kimberly has been a close friend and ally. Her extensive experience and leadership in law, media, and politics along with her sharp intellect make her supremely qualified to represent the United States, and safeguard its interests abroad.”
The post also stated, “Kimberly is perfectly suited to foster strong bilateral relations with Greece, advancing our interests on issues ranging from defense cooperation to trade and economic innovation.”
Tom Barrack is Trump’s longtime friend who chaired his first inaugural committee — and he was notably acquitted of federal charges accusing him of illegal foreign lobbying on behalf of the United Arab Emirates.
Barrack was charged during the first Trump administration and campaign, in 2021. During his trial, he was accused by federal prosecutors of acting as a foreign agent but failing to register between 2016 and 2018 while allegedly trying to “leverage his access” to Trump with his contacts in the UAE.
A jury found him not guilty on all charges — which also included conspiracy, obstruction and lying to the FBI — in November 2022.
Trump praised Barrack’s acquittal at the time, saying in a statement: “Great news for our Country, Freedom, and Democracy in that businessman Tom Barrack, who should have never been charged or tried, was just acquitted of all charges.”
Barrack’s testimony during the trial was at times critical of Trump. He said on the witness stand that his support for Trump politically was “disastrous” for him professionally, at one point mocking Trump’s understanding of the Middle East.
“This amazingly good businessman became the president of the United States who could not spell the Middle East,” Barrack said.
Asked about his criticism of Trump at the time of the acquittal, Barrack told ABC News: “I’m just done with politics.”
In announcing his ambassadorship to Turkey on Tuesday, Trump said that Barrack is “a well respected and experienced voice of reason.”
The president-elect also announced roles at the Federal Trade Commission. He named Andrew Ferguson as chairman and Mark Meador as commissioner.
“Andrew has a proven record of standing up to Big Tech censorship, and protecting Freedom of Speech in our Great Country. Sworn in as a Commissioner on April 2, 2024, he will be able to fight on behalf of the American People on Day One of my Administration,” Trump wrote in his announcement.
The post continued, “Andrew will be the most America First, and pro-innovation FTC Chair in our Country’s History.”
For Meador, Trump listed a series of degrees and accomplishments in the announcement post.
At the Office of Management and Budget, Trump announced Congressman Dan Bishop as deputy director and Ed Martin as the chief of staff.
For Bishop, he posted, “Dan has been a tireless fighter for our MAGA Movement in the House of Representatives on the Judiciary and Homeland Security Committees. Dan will implement my cost-cutting and deregulatory agenda across all Agencies, and root out the Weaponized Deep State.”
“Ed is a winner who will help Make America Great Again!” he wrote for Martin.
Lastly, Trump announced that Jacob Helberg will serve as undersecretary of state for economic growth, energy and the environment at the State Department.
In his post on Truth Social, Trump said, “In this role Jacob will be a champion of our America First Foreign Policy. He will guide State Department policy on Economic statecraft, promoting America’s Economic security and growth, and American technological dominance abroad. Jacob is a successful technology executive, has the knowledge, expertise, and pragmatism to defend America’s Economic interests abroad, and always puts AMERICA FIRST!”
Helberg is a former Democrat who went from being a little-known tech adviser to a rising star in Trump’s circles, known largely as a China hawk and as a major proponent of the bill that may lead to banning TikTok in the U.S.
He’s a commissioner for the U.S.-China Economic Security Review Commission, and he helped shore support on Capitol Hill for the bill that would ban TikTok if it’s not sold from its Chinese parent company by Jan. 19, 2025.
After Biden signed the TikTok bill into law earlier this year, Helberg posted photos of himself with several powerful members of Congress, including Speaker Mike Johnson and House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, thanking them for being “truly outstanding people who can come together when our security is at stake.”
Helberg called TikTok a “Chinese weapon of war” in August, and he previously published a book titled, “The Wires of War.” The 2021 book is about tech-fueled wars shaping the world’s balance of power in the coming century, arguing that “without a firm partnership with the government, Silicon Valley is unable to protect democracy from the autocrats looking to sabotage it from Beijing to Moscow and Tehran.”
Helberg’s harsh criticism of TikTok could clash with Trump’s vow to “save” TikTok, even though Trump tried to ban the app during his first administration.
Trump and Vice President-elect JD Vance “have laid out an aggressive agenda to face the twin convulsions of technological and geopolitical change, and ensure America wins the economic contests that define this century,” Helberg wrote on X after Trump announced his appointment on Tuesday.
“The State Department will play a critical role in acting on this vision,” his post continued. “I look forward to earning the support of the U.S. Senate and working with @MarcoRubio to implement President Trump’s agenda.”
In previous years, Helberg and his husband were “significant supporters” of Ron DeSantis and then reportedly shifted fundraising support to Nikki Haley in 2023.
By midway through the following year, however, Helberg had personally contributed $844,600 to the Trump 47 Committee, Inc. and another $1 million to the Make America Great Again, Inc. super PACs, according to filing data made available by the FEC.
(WASHINGTON) — As Democratic governors prepare to navigate and resist parts of President-elect Donald Trump’s next administration, one told ABC News she is most alarmed by Trump’s tariff plan.
“Tariffs would be devastating to our economy, especially with the amount of trade we do with Canada,” Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey told ABC News.
Trump has threatened to impose a 25% across the board tariff on Mexico and Canada, in addition to a 10% tariff on goods imported from China. These are the U.S.’s top three trading partners. Economists warn this would raise prices on everyday goods and wreak havoc on the economy.
“I’m a governor who’s come in, cut taxes, worked to lower housing costs, grow the economy. If he were to impose tariffs — it would first of all — I think it’s not smart to do — and it would be devastating to consumers,” Healey said, “Think about all the housing we’re trying to build here right now — what will that do to housing costs?”
In an interview with NBC News that aired on Sunday, Trump said he couldn’t guarantee that his tariff plan would not raise prices for American consumers.
Other Democratic governors, who gathered last weekend for the first time since the election for a winter meeting in Beverly Hills, California, said Trump’s tariff proposals were a chief concern among a number of others: threats to entitlements, his immigration proposals, and repeals of climate and reproductive protections. Several high-profile governors told ABC News they’re deep into preparations to use legislative, executive or legal actions to combat Trump’s moves.
At the Beverly Hilton over the weekend, the tight-knit group of Democratic talent — many of whom will be some of the strongest detractors of Trump’s policies and also some of the best-positioned to be at the top of the party’s presidential ticket in 2028 — gathered for private, closed-door meetings with one another, donors and other stakeholders. The group of about 18 governors and governors-elect, hosted by California Gov. Gavin Newsom, focused on how to navigate through Trump’s leadership, according to several who spoke with ABC News, rather than any significant post-election analysis following the Democrats’ losses last month.
The group of governors in Beverly Hills included many of the likely 2028 contenders, including blue state leaders like Newsom and Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, who have been actively on offense against Republican leadership since Nov. 6, and red state ones like Democratic Governors Association Vice Chair and Chair-elect Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear.
Healey, Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz were also on the guest list — many of whom have questions looming about their own political futures.
“I would expect that we’ll put up quite a fight to take the House back. And I think that we’ll have an incredible bench in the primary ’28,” New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham told ABC News about the plans of many of the governors.
Different tones in taking on Trump
The governors are striking different tones as they prepare for Trump’s presidency.
The strongest, most combative voices of course have been from leaders like Newsom, who initiated a recently convened a special legislative session in California to increase funding for its Department of Justice and other agencies so they’ll be able to quickly file litigation to challenge actions taken by a second Trump administration. Pritzker, too, has made not-so-veiled threats about how he’d approach the administration should it “come for” his people, and recently announced his position as co-chair, along with Jared Polis of Colorado, of a new nonpartisan coalition of governors committed to protecting the “state-level institutions of democracy” ahead of Trump’s presidency.
Other governors encouraged their peers to meet this moment offensively through their agendas.
“Democratic governors should approach this with strength and resolution and an activist agenda. Because this is the place where we can make progress too,” Washington Gov. Jay Inslee told ABC News.
“You can’t stop some 85% of the things I would like to do in that state, so I think the order of the day is defend where we can in fighting with an advance every day with our own ambitions and unaffected by him, so that shadow doesn’t fall in our state,” said Inslee, who is leaving his seat this winter to make way for incoming Gov. Bob Ferguson.
But a different group of governors are acting much more lukewarm in their approaches, emphasizing their desire to “work” with the Trump administration and some citing past collaborations with the president-elect’s team, like during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Beshear said last weekend that Democrats needed to lean into “reason” while Trump is in office and that he’s willing to work with the incoming administration.
“The middle ground, middle of the road, common ground, common sense, is open. It’s open,” Beshear told a group of reporters on Saturday.
Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly, the DGA’s chair, said this weekend that she wasn’t yet anticipating Trump or his agencies’ actions, but “We will always look for ways to work together” with the caveat that she’ll “draw the line” on things “that they push us to do that we think are wrong, illegal, anything like that.”
The varying approaches from governors to Trump’s agenda could be a coordinated strategy as the group wrestles with how best to support each other within a party attempting to rebuild — a complicated task as they also eye each other as potential presidential primary competition.
“We know how to create space to protect people and protect the priorities,” Lujan Grisham told ABC, noting that she and many other governors aren’t officially part of Pritzker and Polis’ new coalition, for example. “We did it on climate. We still do it on climate. We did it on reproductive premiums, we’re gonna have to still do it on reproductive premiums, and we’ll do some test cases in states that allow us to frame and direct these coalitions.”
“We want to be strategic about what it is that we are announcing. And here’s why: We’ve got a president-elect and a team that, before this and every day, said ‘We’re going to punish anyone in our way, and we’re going to particularly punish states,'” she went on. “And the difference in California versus New Mexico — California is definitely on the radar. I don’t minimize what the Trump administration can negatively do to my state, but we’re also very effective at watching and understanding what’s occurring, and then we can deploy our joint efforts pretty damn fast.”
Plans to fight Trump’s tariff, immigration proposals
While governors can mount legal fights against parts of Trump’s plan, the president can use executive power to impose sweeping tariffs.
But for immigration, on the other hand, governors can resist Trump’s proposals in clearer ways.
Border state Gov. Lujan Grisham told ABC News she’d block Trump’s ability to use detention centers, deploy the National Guard or even request data in her state if he attempted mass deportations.
“I take him at his word. He says he’s going to do, try to do mass deportations,” she said, adding that she wouldn’t be a partner in those moves: “There’s a lot that he can’t do by himself.” .”I mean, I’ve made it very clear over a number of years on this issue is that I will not use our National Guard to perform that kind of service,” Kelly told reporters.
“I will not send them to the border. We have had Guard members go to the border, but they have been federalized when they’ve been down there. I don’t see that as the role of the National Guard — they are there to serve Kansas, Kansas issues, so I don’t see that changing… The State Police are mine, and it’s not their job, either. So we will take the same approach as we have with the Guard,” Kelly added.
On immigration, most Democratic governors agree that violent criminals need to be deported, noting that it’s always been the case that local and state law enforcement work with federal authorities on investigating crimes. But where many governors draw the line is on deporting undocumented immigrants who have been living and working in America for a long time, arguing it’s inhumane and damages the economy.
“We don’t know what President Trump’s immigration plan is going to look like at the end of the day. He is a master of saying something, creating a great deal of noise, and then the reality may be different. So I’m going to wait to see exactly what it is he ultimately proposes,” incoming North Carolina Gov. Josh Stein told reporters about his plans to respond to Trump’s immigration moves.
“The people of North Carolina have every right to be safe in their communities, and anybody who commits a violent crime must be held accountable, fully, and that’s whether they’re in this country as American citizens or they’re here as undocumented people, and if they’re here undocumented, they should be deported,” Stein said.
They also question how Trump will execute his plan. Trump could direct the National Guard to help with transport and logistics, but one Democratic governor told ABC News these are precious resources, and they need their National Guard for emergencies like storms, fires and severe flooding.
Trump’s team has discussed in the past how to strip federal resources from Democratic-run cities if they refuse to work with the administration on deporting undocumented immigrants, according to sources familiar with the matter.
Blue state governors say they’re concerned about the Trump administration weaponizing federal funding and “picking winners and losers.” One governor told ABC News their state is focused on locking down every federal dollar the state is entitled to, and securing all of the funding made available through the Biden administration’s infrastructure law and CHIPS and Science Act.
In California, Newsom has also started to “Trump-proof” his budget, which is one of the aims of his move to convene the legislature last week.
(WASHINGTON) — Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell fell during the Senate Republican lunch on Tuesday.
It was initially unclear if McConnell, 82, was injured or what the severity of the fall was. Two medical responders were seen briefly entering his office and then departed.
Shortly afterward, McConnell’s office put out a statement that he had sustained a “minor cut” to the face and a “sprained wrist” from the incident.
“Leader McConnell tripped following lunch. He sustained a minor cut to the face and sprained his wrist. He has been cleared to resume his schedule,” his spokesperson said.
Newly-elected Senate Republican Leader John Thune, who will take the mantle from McConnell in January, was asked about McConnell’s fall during the Republican press conference after the lunch.
“He’s fine, he’s in his office,” Thune said, deferring further questions to McConnell’s staff.
McConnell, who has walked with a limp after overcoming polio at a young age, has taken previous falls.
One fall in March 2023 at a hotel in Washington resulted in a prolonged absence from the Senate. McConnell suffered a concussion and fractured rib from the incident, requiring hospitalization and outpatient rehabilitation that forced him to miss six weeks on Capitol Hill.
McConnell also sparked concern after two episodes last year during which he appeared to freeze in front of television cameras, though he was later cleared to work by the Capitol physician.
The longtime Kentucky senator announced in February he was stepping down from the leadership role he’s held for two decades.
McConnell later Tuesday afternoon exited his office to cast a vote on the Senate floor.
McConnell wore a brace on his left hand and had a visible bandage under his left eye.
He said “good” when asked by ABC News how he was feeling.
(WASHINGTON) — A top government watchdog raised concerns Tuesday over the handling of leak investigations during the first Trump administration that targeted members of Congress and the media despite finding no evidence that the inquiries were politically motivated, according to a newly released report.
Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz initiated the investigation after public reports that prosecutors, during President-elect Donald Trump’s first term, had obtained warrants to access communications records for members of Congress, congressional staffers and reporters at CNN, the New York Times and the Washington Post to identify sources of apparent leaks of classified information.
The investigations were not publicly disclosed until after Trump left office, in part because prosecutors had secured court orders that prevented lawmakers, their staff and media members from learning about the searches.
While Rep. Eric Swalwell and now-Sen. Adam Schiff, both California Democrats, previously revealed their records had been seized as part of the investigation, Horowitz’s report revealed prosecutors also searched the records of 43 others who were congressional staffers at the time the leaked information was published.
But Horowitz’s report noted that the partisan affiliation of the staffers was not imbalanced — 21 staffers whose records were searched were Democrats, 20 were Republicans, and two worked in nonpartisan positions. The inspector general investigation determined the basis for the staffers’ records being searched was entirely due to their known ability to access the materials that were found to be leaked to the press, while the investigations into Schiff, then a congressman, and Swalwell were initially bolstered by information given to the department by an unidentified committee staffer who suspected them of leaking — but provided no evidence to support the claims.
While his name is not mentioned directly in the report, Kash Patel, Trump’s pick for FBI director, was among the 43 people who were congressional staffers at the time of the Trump-era leak probe whose records were searched, a source familiar with the investigation confirmed.
Patel has also said publicly on multiple occasions that he was subject to investigation by Trump’s DOJ and was also informed by Google that the DOJ had sought information on his personal accounts.
Horowitz’s report expressed concerns regarding the congressional leak investigations largely related to a lack of existing policies at the DOJ to provide senior-level oversight over such investigations that implicate the separation of powers. Records reviewed by Horowitz said the inquiries into members of Congress were conducted by career prosecutors almost entirely without senior-level supervision or notification and that there was no evidence they were pressured to carry out the inquiries despite Trump and other Republicans repeatedly singling out Schiff and Swalwell as possible leakers.
According to Horowitz, that the department was able to carry out its sweeping investigation of the members of Congress and their staff solely on the basis of them having had access to the leaked information “risks chilling Congress’s ability to conduct oversight of the executive branch because it exposes congressional officials to having their records reviewed by the Department solely for conducting Congress’s constitutionally authorized oversight duties.”
As for the Trump-era leak investigations of reporters from CNN, the New York Times and the Washington Post, Horowitz found that officials in the department violated several policies that existed at the time then-Attorney General William Barr authorized the investigations. Prosecutors failed to convene a News Media Review Committee that would normally be consulted in the process of investigations of leaks to members of the media and, in one of the investigations, failed to obtain approval from the director of national intelligence, according to the report.
Upon disclosure of the news media leak investigations in 2021, Attorney General Merrick Garland convened several meetings with newsroom leaders across Washington, D.C., and ultimately implemented new DOJ policy that bars prosecutors from securing search warrants for reporters’ records to obtain information about their sources.
The future of that policy, however, remains very much in question — given public comments by Trump and his top allies suggesting they fully intend to use the powers of the DOJ and the FBI to target political enemies and even possibly members of the media during his second term. While Horowitz’s report offered up several recommendations for internal policy fixes to the issued identified in the report, all of which were accepted by the Biden DOJ, it will be up to leadership in the incoming Trump DOJ to determine whether those recommendations will be implemented.
(WASHINGTON) — Although she was just in her mid-20s, Tulsi Gabbard’s hair had already started turning white shortly before she first set foot in the U.S. Senate as a legislative aide in 2006.
Coming from her native Hawaii, she had landed a job with longtime Hawaii Democratic Sen. Daniel Akaka, chair of the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee and a senior member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, who would become her mentor.
Now, almost 20 years later, the former Democratic congresswoman returns to the Senate to meet with lawmakers, including members of the Senate Intelligence Committee, as President-elect Donald Trump’s pick to be director of national intelligence after appearing with him a number of times on the campaign trail and serving as an honorary co-chair of his transition team.
Gabbard spent the past week in Oklahoma on Army National Guard duty. She currently holds the rank of lieutenant colonel, something supporters argue qualifies her for the job as critics cite her lack of experience.
She’s also facing renewed scrutiny over her past comments on Syria and her meeting with now-overthrown dictator Bashar Assad.
From Hawaii to Kuwait to Congress
By the time she came to the Senate, Gabbard had already made history in Hawaii as one of the youngest lawmakers elected to a state legislature at age 21. Serving alongside her father, Hawaii state Sen. Mike Gabbard, she became part of the first father-daughter combination in a legislature in the country.
As a Senate staffer, Gabbard remained in Hawaii’s National Guard, drilling on the weekends.
During her first yearlong deployment at Joint Base Balad in Iraq, nicknamed “Mortaritaville” for being hit with daily attacks, she’s said fumes from a nearby burn pit would regularly sicken her fellow service members, causing flu-like symptoms they called the “crud.”
In 2007, she attended the Accelerated Officer Candidate School at the Alabama Military Academy, graduating at the top of her class as its first distinguished woman honor graduate. After two years working in the Senate, Gabbard volunteered for a deployment to Kuwait.
As a military police platoon leader and trainer for the Kuwait National Guard’s counterterrorism unit, Gabbard achieved another milestone in 2009, becoming one of the first women to set foot in a Kuwaiti military facility and the first woman to be honored by the Kuwait National Guard.
In her limited free time, Gabbard continued working on her bachelor’s degree from Hawaii Pacific University, taking online classes in an education tent.
Although her hair returned to its natural color, she told ABC News in 2019 she eventually kept a distinctive streak of white.
“It’s a reminder, every single day of the cost of war of those we lost and my mission in life to to seek peace and to fight for peace,” Gabbard said.
Gabbard later returned to Hawaii and ran for Honolulu City Council, serving from 2010 until 2012, before being elected to Congress as the then-youngest female member.
Bipartisan outreach
As a new member of Congress, Gabbard worked to forge relationships with members on both sides of the aisle.
She arrived armed with 434 boxes of macadamia nut toffee, homemade by her mother, for every member of Congress and an additional 435 boxes for staffers. Each box came with a handwritten letter, a form of diplomacy as a Democrat facing a Republican-controlled House.
During her freshman year in Congress in 2013, Gabbard was appointed vice chair of the Democratic National Committee, but stepped down from that position to endorse Sen. Bernie Sanders’ 2016 presidential bid.
She co-chaired the Future Caucus, a bipartisan effort to engage members of Congress under 40 years old. Gabbard also bonded with lawmakers over sports, playing on the Congressional Softball Team with New York Democratic Sen. Kyrsten Sinema and joining early morning workouts with colleagues such as Oklahoma GOP Sen. Markwayne Mullin. She and Kentucky Republican Sen. Rand Paul co-sponsored legislation, including the Stop Arming Terrorists Act.
After an unsuccessful bid for the party’s 2020 presidential nomination, she left the Democratic Party and became an independent and campaigned for Republicans, including Sens. Mike Lee and Chuck Grassley. She told Trump on a rally stage in October that she was registering as a Republican.
Controversial views on Russia, Syria
Gabbard was one of the first to enter the crowded Democratic 2020 primary and was one of the last three remaining candidates. One of her rivals in that race, Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren, announced she would oppose Trump’s choice of Gabbard, alleging she had suggested NATO had provoked Russian President Vladimir Putin to invade Ukraine.
“Do you really want her to have all the secrets of the United States and our defense intelligence agencies when she has so clearly has been in Putin’s pocket? That just has to be a hard no,” Warren said on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” in November.
However, Republican Sen. Eric Schmitt of Missouri defended Gabbard in November on NBC’s “Meet The Press,” taking aim at accusations that Gabbard was a “Russian asset.”
“It’s a slur, quite frankly. You know, there’s no evidence that she is an asset of another country. She served this country honorably,” Schmitt said.
Democratic Sen. Tammy Duckworth of Illinois, who entered the Senate as the first female combat veteran while Gabbard was doing the same in the House, has opposed her pick for DNI, alleging she’s been compromised.
“The U.S. intelligence community has identified her as having troubling relationships with America’s foes. And so my worry is that she couldn’t pass a background check,” Duckworth said on CNN’s “State of the Union” in November.
Mullin struck back at Duckworth’s comments, saying “That’s the most dangerous thing she could say — is that a United States lieutenant colonel in the United States Army is compromised and is an asset of Russia.”
“If she was compromised, if she wasn’t able to pass a background check, if she wasn’t able to do her job, she still wouldn’t be in the Army,” he said.
Now, with the rebel takeover of Syria and the fall of Assad, Gabbard is drawing renewed attention to her controversial visit to Syria in 2017 — what she called a fact-finding mission — and sympathy she expressed after meeting with the Syrian dictator, saying the U.S. should stop aiding the “terrorists” trying to overthrow him.
Gabbard noted in 2019 that a CIA program “was directly and indirectly helping to equip and train and provide support to different armed groups, including those who are allied with and affiliated with al-Qaeda, to overthrow the Syrian government.”
The “Stop Arming Terrorist Act” she worked on with Paul in the Senate said the U.S. should stop aiding the “terrorists” trying to overthrow Assad.
Assad has been accused of war crimes against his own people during the Syrian civil war, in which hundreds of thousands have been killed. A few months after meeting with Assad, Gabbard said she was skeptical he had used chemical weapons against his own people, despite evidence from the U.S. government that he had, to argue against military intervention during Trump’s first administration.
Gabbard warned in June of 2019 that she was concerned that the toppling of Assad’s regime could lead to terrorist groups like ISIS and al-Qaeda to step in to fill the void and “completely massacre all religious minorities there in Syria.”
In a 2019 interview on ABC’s “The View” while running for president, she called Assad a “brutal dictator,” but said the U.S. regime-change strategy had not improved the lives of the Syrian people.
-ABC News’ Selina Wang contributed to this report.
(WASHINGTON) — President-elect Donald Trump’s picks for top jobs in his administration were making the rounds on Capitol Hill on Monday ahead of potential confirmation hearings next month.
Some of the choices come with controversy — and face pointed questions from Republican senators.
Pentagon pick Pete Hegseth has had to deal with multiple allegations of misconduct and sexual impropriety, which he’s denied. Tulsi Gabbard, tapped to be the director of national intelligence, has been scrutinized over her views on Russia and a 2017 meeting with Syria’s Bashar Assad. Kash Patel, a longtime Trump ally chosen for FBI director, has vowed to take on the alleged “deep state” and Trump’s enemies.
Trump defended his selections during an interview with NBC’s “Meet the Press” that aired in full on Sunday.
Patel was meeting with Sens. John Cornyn, Joni Ernst, Mike Lee, Shelley Capito Moore and Chuck Grassley.
Cornyn, a key Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee, said after their meeting that he is inclined to support Patel and believes some of his more extreme views — such as firing agents or closing the FBI headquarters in Washington — are “hyperbolic.”
“My position, as I told Mr. Patel, is that no one should have to go through what President Trump went through by … a partisan Department of Justice and FBI — and my goal would be to restore the non-partisan functioning of the chief law enforcement agency in the country — the FBI and the Department of Justice. To me, that is the goal,” Cornyn said.
Hegseth was back for more one-on-one meetings with GOP lawmakers after four straight days last week trying to assuage concerns about reports of financial mismanagement, sexual misconduct and public drunkenness.
Trump’s defense secretary pick will meet again with Ernst, a top Republican member of the Senate Armed Services Committee and herself a combat veteran and survivor of sexual assault.
Ernst notably was not ready to voice support for Hegseth after their meeting last Wednesday. Over the weekend, Ernst said she believed Hegseth should be thoroughly vetted and that she wanted to hear him address how he’d approach sexual assault in the military.
“I have met once with Mr. Hegseth, and we will meet again this next week,” Ernst said at a security forum in California.
Arriving Monday for her first slate of meetings was Gabbard, a former Democratic congresswoman and military veteran with no intelligence experience. Gabbard’s been accused of voicing support for U.S. adversaries like Russia.
She was set to meet with Sens. Mike Rounds, James Lankford and Lindsey Graham.
Linda McMahon, Trump’s pick for education secretary, also was on Capitol Hill to meet with GOP Sen. Roger Marshall and other lawmakers.
McMahon told ABC News as she will “fall in” with Trump’s education policies if confirmed to the position. However, she distanced herself from Trump’s comments about shuttering the Department of Education.
“President Trump and I have had lots of conversations, and I think his views he’s making clear on his own,” McMahon said, adding “I’m not going to get ahead of his policy.”
ABC News’ Oren Oppenheim contributed to this report.
(WASHINGTON) — President-elect Donald Trump, in his first broadcast news interview since the election, said members of the House committee that investigated the attack on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, should be jailed.
“For what they did, honestly, they should go to jail,” Trump told NBC’s Kristen Welker on “Meet the Press.”
Trump specifically singled out Rep. Bennie Thompson, the Democrat who chaired the committee, as well as former Rep. Liz Cheney, the Republican vice chair who was ostracized from her party over breaking with Trump and ousted by a Trump-backed GOP challenger. Among other things, he’s accused them of deleting evidence, which the committee has vigorously denied.
Cheney hit back in a statement on Sunday: “Here is the truth: Donald Trump attempted to overturn the 2020 presidential election and seize power.”
“This was the worst breach of our Constitution by any president in our nation’s history,” Cheney said. “Donald Trump’s suggestion that members of Congress who later investigated his illegal and unconstitutional actions should be jailed is a continuation of his assault on the rule of law and the foundations of our republic.”
The Jan. 6 committee, after an 18-month investigation including more than 1,000 witnesses and several public hearings, identified Trump as the “central cause” of the Capitol attack by the pro-Trump mob. The panel, made up of seven Democrats and two Republicans, voted unanimously to recommend charges to the Justice Department.
Trump has long denied any wrongdoing in connection with Jan. 6 and tried to recast the violent events as a “day of love” during his campaign. In his interview with NBC, Trump again promised, in the first day of his new administration, to look at pardons for those who’ve been prosecuted for their role on Jan. 6.
While Trump said he believed the Jan. 6 committee members should go to jail, he said he would not direct his top officials to prosecute them. He’s tapped Kash Patel to be his FBI director and Pam Bondi to be attorney general, pending Senate approval, two allies who’ve made comments about going after Trump’s political opponents.
“I think that they’ll have to look at that. But I’m not going to. I’m going to focus on ‘Drill, baby, drill,'” Trump said.
The president-elect also claimed in the interview that the House Jan.6 committee “deleted and destroyed all the evidence” related to its probe.
Cheney, in her statement, said Trump “knows his claims about the select committee are ridiculous and false, as has been detailed extensively, including by Chairman Thompson in this July 2023 letter.”
Thompson defended the archival process in the letter, noting the records such as interview transcripts and video exhibits have been preserved online and can be easily accessed by the public. Thompson also noted that they were consulting with the White House and Department of Homeland Security on some information that could be sensitive to national security or to witness safety.
“There is no conceivably appropriate factual or constitutional basis for what Donald Trump is suggesting — a Justice Department investigation of the work of a congressional committee — and any lawyer who attempts to pursue that course would quickly find themselves engaged in sanctionable conduct,” Cheney added.
Democrat Adam Schiff, who on Monday will be sworn in as a senator, responded to Trump’s comments on social media.
“When Trump violated his oath, I stood up to him,” Schiff wrote on X. “When he tried to overturn the 2020 election, the January 6th Committee stood in defense of our democracy. Threats to jail us will not deter us. Nothing will stop me from doing my duty to the American people.”
Former Rep. Adam Kinzinger, the second Republican on the committee, also pushed back on Trump.
“Let me be clear: we did nothing wrong. The January 6 Committee’s work was driven by facts, the Constitution, and the pursuit of accountability — principles that seem foreign to Trump,” Kinzinger wrote in a blog post shared on Substack.
“If Donald wants to pursue this vindictive fantasy, I say bring it on. I’m not intimidated by a man whose actions on January 6th showed a cowardly disregard for democracy and the rule of law,” Kinzinger said.
President Joe Biden is said to be considering preemptive pardons for figures who may be targeted in the Trump administration, a source previously told ABC News. On the list of possible names, the source said, were Cheney and Schiff.
