Politics

(WASHINGTON) — A United States Capitol Police Officer, who defended the Capitol during the attack on Jan. 6, 2021, vividly recounts the events of that day, describing it as a profoundly devastating experience for himself, his fellow officers and the nation as a whole.

Former Capitol Police Officer Winston Pingeon spoke with ABC News about the trauma of Jan. 6.

“It’s hard to relive and talk about moments like this,” Pingeon said. “I had that moment right there that I might die right here on the steps of the U.S. Capitol.”

Pingeon and his team, dressed in full riot gear, rushed to the Capitol’s west front that day, the site of some of the most brutal violence against police officers that day.

“I remember hearing radio calls of officers yelling for help that the line had been breached,” Pingeon said. “They sounded panicked and like they really needed help. So, in my mind, that was one of the first indicators, ‘hey, maybe this is not just a normal protest.'”

Pingeon recalls his team being outnumbered and says he was punched in the face by rioters who had descended on the Capitol that day to protest the certification of the 2020 presidential election results, fueled by false claims about election fraud spread by Former President Donald Trump.

“I was knocked on my back,” Pingeon said. “My helmet came down and felt like someone was on top of me and I couldn’t see anything. And I remember just thinking, I have to protect my gun, because they stole my baton.”

Pingeon wasn’t injured as severely as other officers, but he has invisible scars that may never fully heal.

He returned to work shortly after the riot and served in the Capitol Police for another nine more months as the memory of Jan. 6 became politicized. He has since left law enforcement.

“Right after Jan. 6, it seemed like everybody was on the same page,” Pingeon said. “This is not OK. Then very quickly the narrative shifted. And that was really difficult to see.”

Approximately 140 Capitol Police officers were injured by rioters, making it one of the most violent days for law enforcement in recent U.S. history.

Four officers who responded to the Capitol attack have since died by suicide.

Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick died after suffering multiple strokes hours after he was pepper sprayed by rioters. The Washington DC medical examiner ruled he died of natural causes, but said his experience on Jan. 6 played a role in his condition.

Despite the deaths and injuries to officers, a months-long investigation by ABC News found conservative figures, including Trump, have begun to downplay the violence on Jan. 6, painting that day as a largely peaceful protest and recasting imprisoned rioters as “hostages.”

Derrick Evans, a former West Virginia House of Delegates and congressional candidate who served three months in federal prison for charges related to Jan. 6, repeated many of those false claims in an interview with ABC News.

“Do I think that anyone should be fighting police officers? No, I do not,” Evans said. “I think it’s wrong to do that. The police officers are the ones that really started the whole violence over there.”

Winston Pingeon reacted strongly.

“That’s not true,” he said when ABC News played video of Evans’ comments for the former Capitol Police officer. “We were there protecting. We were there to hold a line. We’re not pushing back unless we’re pushed on first. So its completely ridiculous.”

Multiple accused rioters from Jan. 6 have claimed they were incited to violence by police, but none have been successful in court.

Evans was convicted of trespassing at the Capitol and attempting to obstruct the certification of the 2020 election, a charge the Supreme Court has recently found was applied in an overly broad manner to Jan. 6 criminal cases.

“I don’t even think [Jan. 6] is really worth remembering. It’s been blown out of proportion by the media,” he said.

Meantime, the former president and his allies have made rewriting the history of Jan. 6 a centerpiece of his campaign, often saying a large number of capitol rioters deserve to be pardoned.

“If they’re innocent, I would pardon them,” Trump told ABC’s Rachel Scott during a panel at the National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) Convention.

A pardon is exactly what Capitol rioter Rachel Powell told ABC News she’s waiting for behind bars.

“If Trump gets that, he’s promising that he will pardon us, if he gets in and they don’t steal the next election,” Powell said.

Powell called ABC News from federal prison, where she is currently serving a more than four-year sentence for her actions on Jan. 6.

Several of Powell’s fellow Jan. 6 inmates feel the same, she told ABC News. Powell sent ABC News a photo, taken inside of her correctional facility, showing her and three other Jan. 6 inmates smiling, with the words “Trump 2024” written in marker on top.

“I would want to know why they did what they did, and I’d be curious to know if they have remorse today. I think that’s what I would want to know,” Pingeon said. “Because loyalty to one man, to alter your life negatively, to go to prison for years. I mean, I would ask them: Was it worth it?”

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(FLINT, Mich.) — Vice President Kamala Harris dunked on former President Donald Trump and his running mate, Sen. JD Vance, particularly on the auto industry at her rally Friday night, with an assist from NBA star and Michigan native, Magic Johnson.

“When it came to building the cars of the future, Donald Trump sat on the sidelines and let China dominate and then he talks down to American workers, saying ‘we can’t compete with Chinese workers,'” Harris said. “And make no mistake, Donald Trump is no friend of labor.”

Harris’ attacks focused on what she said was her rival’s unkept promises on manufacturing and putting Michigan auto jobs at risk something her campaign attacked Trump on the same topic in a digital ad launched last month.

The vice president also highlighted comments that Vance made earlier this week about whether the Trump administration would honor a $500 million grant going to General Motors to convert a Lansing plant to make electric vehicles.

“So, two days ago, Donald Trump’s running mate suggested that if Trump wins, he might let the Grand River assembly plant in Lansing close down, the same plant that our administration helped save earlier this year, along with 650 union jobs,” Harris said. “Michigan, we together fought hard for those jobs, and you deserve a president who won’t put them at risk.”

Asked by the Detroit Free Press on Wednesday whether Trump would honor or cancel the Biden administration grant, Vance didn’t give a direct answer.

“First of all, the $500 million grant came along with some really ridiculous strings and no protections for American jobs not getting shipped to foreign countries because a lot of not just the cars themselves, but the battery components, the minerals, this stuff is all produced in China, and so when we write massive checks on American taxpayer expense to these companies, a lot of times what we’re doing is selling American middle class jobs to the Communist Chinese, and we ought to be doing exactly the opposite,” Vance told the Detroit Free Press.

“We ought to be rebuilding the American middle class and investing in our own workers, not shipping our tax dollars off to electric vehicles made in China,” Vance added.

In Michigan, Trump is running a new ad targeting auto workers, accusing Harris of wanting to “end all gas powered cars” and force Americans to drive electric vehicles. Harris shot back Friday night.

“Let us be clear: Contrary to what my opponent is suggesting, I will never tell you what kind of car you have to drive,” Harris said. “But here’s what I will do, I will invest in communities like Flint.”

Johnson, who is from Lansing and went to Michigan State, spoke in the program ahead of Harris, and praised her as “strong,” “smart” and “passionate.”

“Nobody’s going to outwork her. She’s committed to you as the people United States, the people of Michigan. She’s committed to you,” Johnson said. “She’s going to be a president for everybody. And one thing she’s going to do is finally unite us, bring us together, that other party is trying to tear us down.”

But the five-time NBA Finals champion took time to directly address Black men, a demographic whose support for Democrats has softened.

“There’s a lot of Black men in here. I don’t mean to not talk to other people, but this is important,” Johnson said. “Our Black men, we’ve got to get them out to vote, that’s number one.”

“Kamala’s opponent promised a lot of things last time to the Black community that he did not deliver on,” Johnson added. “And we gotta make sure Black men understand that. So, that’s why I’m here: To make sure I help Black men understand, first, get out and vote, and then vote for the next president of the United States Kamala Harris.”

Johnson also called on America to take inspiration from Mexico, which swore in its first woman president on Tuesday.

Earlier Friday, ahead of the Flint rally, Harris stopped by a firehouse in Redford Township, right outside Detroit, where she labeled Trump “an existential threat” to labor.

“Donald Trump’s track record is a disaster for working people, and he’s trying to gaslight people all over our country, but we know the facts and we know the truth: He is an existential threat to America’s labor movement,” Harris claimed.

In a short statement Thursday, Edward Kelly, the president of the firefighters’ union, announced his board voted not to endorse a candidate for president — following the Teamsters’ lead.

“This decision, which we took very seriously, is the best way to preserve and strengthen our unity,” Kelly said.

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(WASHINGTON) — The Biden administration is saying those whose parole is expiring from the Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans and Venezuelans (CHNV) program will need to seek another immigration benefits and if they don’t find one, depart the country.

CHNV was implemented by the Biden administration with the intention to reduce irregular migration of Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans and Venezuelans, and to allow qualifying individuals to lawfully enter the United States in a safe and orderly manner on a case-by-case basis for urgent humanitarian reasons or significant public benefit.

The program was briefly paused for fraud concerns but has been reimplemented with better safeguards.

These processes were set up as temporary in nature, a source told ABC News, to allow the beneficiaries to work and provide them the time and opportunity to pursue avenues for immigration benefits or humanitarian relief if eligible such as, for example, asylum or Temporary Protected Status (TPS).

“As initially stated in the Federal Register notices, a grant of parole under these processes was for a temporary period of up to two years,” a Department of Homeland Security spokesperson told ABC News. “This two-year period was intended to enable individuals to seek humanitarian relief or other immigration benefits for which they may be eligible, and to work and contribute to the United States.”

The Department said those who do not have pending immigration benefits or who have not been granted an immigration benefit during their two-year parole period will need to depart the United States before the expiration of their authorized parole period or may be placed in removal proceedings after the period of parole expires.

CHNV parolees may be eligible to apply for humanitarian relief or certain immigration benefits with USCIS, the Department said.

DHS points to the CHNV process as an example of a southwest border encounter reducer.

ABC’s Armando Garcia contributed to this report.

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(NEW YORK) — Israelis broadly pick former President Donald Trump over Vice President Kamala Harris as better for Israel’s security and in turn favor Trump for the U.S. presidency, albeit with sharp political divisions, a national survey by Langer Research Associates and PORI (Public Opinion Research Israel) finds.

Fifty-eight percent of Israelis in the survey, conducted in September, said Trump would be better for Israel’s security, vs. 20% for Harris. If they had a vote in the U.S. election, Israelis said they’d pick Trump over Harris by a similar 54%-24%, with the rest taking a pass.

To a large degree, these attitudes follow the fault lines in Israeli politics. Among people who would support parties in the ruling coalition led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu if an election in Israel were today, 88% picked Trump as better for Israel’s security and 84% preferred him for the U.S. presidency — results that may reflect tensions between Netanyahu’s government and the Biden administration.

Supporters of Israeli opposition parties, by contrast, split closely, 39%-37%, Harris-Trump, in preference for the presidency. That said, even opposition party supporters picked Trump over Harris as better for Israel’s security, albeit by a comparatively close 41%-32%.

While much attention now is on the conflict with Hezbollah and Iran, another question finds majority Israeli rejection of the suggestion that Israel is doing too little to avoid civilian casualties in the war in Gaza. To the contrary, “considering the challenges of conducting battles in populated areas,” 54% said Israel is doing too much to avoid such casualties. Twenty-eight percent said it’s doing the right amount; 14%, too little.

The three questions in this study were included in a random-sample, face-to-face survey of 1,012 Israelis, with fieldwork by PORI, Sept. 8-22, before the bulk of Israel’s campaign against Hezbollah and Iran’s subsequent missile attack this week. (Eighty-two percent of interviews were completed before Sept. 17, when thousands of Hezbollah pagers exploded.)

The U.S. election

In addition to the political gaps in attitudes toward the U.S. presidential candidates, ethnic and religious differences are sharp. Sixty-four percent of Jews picked Trump over Harris as better for Israel’s security, while Arabs, who account for about 17% of Israel’s adult citizen population, divided essentially evenly, 27%-24%; 36% saw no difference between the two. In vote preference, Jews went for Trump by 58%-23%, while Arabs split 28%-26%; the rest said they wouldn’t participate or didn’t express a preference.

Gaps also are present within the Jewish population. The shares picking Trump as better on security ranged from 53% of secular Jews to 88% of Orthodox Jews. Patterns are similar in preference for the presidency: Secular Jews favored Trump by 11 points, 46%-35%, widening to 65%-17% among traditional Jews and 69%-3% among ultra-Orthodox Jews, and peaking for Trump at 85%-4% among Orthodox Jews.

U.S. election preferences among Israeli Jews overall are sharply different from those of Jews in the United States. In ABC News/Ipsos polling, combining late August and mid-September surveys for an adequate sample size, U.S. Jews favored Harris over Trump by 63%-33%.

Another difference is by age. In the United States, Harris does best with younger adults. In Israel, it’s Trump who does best in this group, with 65% of those younger than 35 picking Trump on security and 58% supporting him for president. These drop to 52% and 48% for Trump, respectively, among Israelis age 65 and older.

Trump also prevails among Israelis in strength of sentiment. Thirty percent overall said they’d “surely” support Trump for president, vs. 10% who said this about Harris; and 37% said Trump would be “much” better for Israel’s security, compared with 12% for Harris.

Civilian casualties in Gaza

There also are ethnic, religious and political gaps in views of efforts to avoid civilian casualties in Gaza, given the challenges of urban combat. Strikingly, while just 7% of Jews said Israel is doing too little to avoid such casualties, that rises to 50% of Israeli Arabs.

Among Jews, about eight in 10 of those who are Orthodox or ultra-Orthodox said Israel is doing too much to avoid civilian casualties. This falls to 63% of traditional Jews and 47% of secular Jews.

Politically, among those who favor coalition parties, 76% said Israel is doing too much to avoid civilian casualties. This declines to 41% of opposition party supporters, with 21% saying Israel is doing too little; 34%, about the right amount.

About this survey

This survey is a joint project of Langer Research Associates, a New York-based firm that specializes in the design, management and analysis of public opinion research domestically and internationally; and PORI (Public Opinion Research Israel), a leading Israeli public opinion research firm founded in 1966. The study’s questions were asked as a part of PORI’s September face-to-face omnibus survey.

The survey was conducted in Hebrew and Arabic among 1,012 respondents across Israel via area probability sampling. One hundred primary sampling units were randomly selected, with households selected via random walk and respondents selected via the last-birthday method. Up to three revisits were made at each selected household. In quality control, 20% of each interviewer’s work was re-checked randomly by phone.

Data were weighted for probability of selection and calibrated to census data for sex by age and region. Results have a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 3 points for the full sample, including a design effect due to weighting of 1.05. As in any survey, error margins are larger for subgroups. Sampling error is not the only source of differences in polls.

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(WASHINGTON) — Democrats and Republicans have proposed vastly different policies on education – and one key difference highlights a battle that has been happening on the ground in states across the country.

Education Savings Accounts, or ESAs, and school vouchers have spurred debates at the local level for years.

ESA programs allow families to divert a designated amount of per-student public school spending to pay for expenses for private schools, microschools and homeschooling — including tuition, books, tutoring, transportation and more.

School vouchers similarly use public funds to allow students to pay for tuition.

Arizona passed the country’s first ESA program in 2011, and at least eight other states have followed its lead: Arkansas, Florida, Iowa, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Utah and West Virginia.

Former President Donald Trump has expressed support for ESAs and has proposed a plan that will allow parents to spend up to $10,000 a year per child in taxpayer money, “completely tax-free,” on alternative education or homeschooling costs.

The Democratic 2025 platform opposes using private school vouchers and tuition tax credits, opportunity scholarships, “and other schemes that divert taxpayer-funded resources away from public education.”

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, a former public school teacher who is running for vice president on Vice President Kamala Harris’ presidential ticket, has opposed private school vouchers in the past.

In opposition to a school voucher policy proposal from Republicans in his state amid the COVID-19 pandemic in 2021, Walz stated: “We are not going to defund our public schools at this time, when especially those hardest hit need them more than ever,” MPR News reported at the time.

The start of vouchers

Scholars trace the origins of school choice to the Brown v. Board of Education ruling, where the United States Supreme Court ruled that segregating public school students based on race was unconstitutional.

Anti-segregation efforts led to state-funded school voucher programs in some states like Virginia and Georgia, offering financial assistance to white students to attend all-white private academies known as segregation academies.

However, the first modern private school voucher program started in Milwaukee in 1990, as some communities of color saw vouchers as a chance to help low-income students of color attend private schools.

Vouchers also have been geared toward disabled students; however, vouchers often force students with disabilities to forfeit some Individuals with Disabilities Education Act protections because they are considered “parentally placed” in private schools.

These schools are not legally required to provide individualized or “appropriate” education to students and are not held to the same nondiscrimination standards as public schools.

Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, microschools, private schools, and homeschooling have seen a boom — and so has the availability for families to use vouchers or ESAs to fund tuition at these institutions or fund alternative forms of education and their expenses.

According to pro-ESA organization EdChoice, the number of students using ESAs has increased seven-fold between 2022 and 2024 to a total of more than 328,000 students.

As these programs continue to gain momentum, the debate about these policies continues.

 

The debate about ‘school choice’

How much ESA programs cost has varied from state to state — in Arizona, the ESA program has been estimated by the state governor’s office to cost the state $943,795,600 for the 2024 fiscal year for roughly 79,728 students. Meanwhile, in West Virginia, it could cost over $10 million for roughly 2,333 applicants to the 2022-2023 academic year of the program, according to the scholarship program report.

This has been one major source of contention around ESAs.

Critics of school choice, including West Virginia Education Association President Dale Lee, say that public schools are already under pressure due to underfunding and poor staffing. Shifting funds away from public schools will make it harder for them to thrive, Lee said.

“Because of the loss of funding, we’ve reduced the opportunities in the curriculum areas that they have,” said Lee, adding that vocational and technical schools have reduced the number of offerings they have and reduce the number of courses that secondary students have available.

In some cases, that includes the arts.

“As a high school teacher myself, the arts are one of the areas that for many students, that’s what drew them into the school, and that’s why they were continuing,” Lee said.

He said public education is supposed to be “the great equalizer” … “if you go back to the system of the haves and have nots, you eliminate that opportunity for students.”

Emily Kirkland, communications director at the Arizona Education Association, slammed some ESA programs for funding controversial purchases. These purchases have been dubbed “welfare for the wealthy” by critics, after a CNN analysis of state and federal data found that wealthy communities are disproportionately benefiting from these programs.

ABC affiliate KNXV-TV in Arizona analyzed ESA data for the 2022-2023 school year and found that some of the money was used for purposes that have been condemned by critics, including ski resort passes, trampoline parks and ninja warrior training centers, aeroponic indoor gardens, pianos and more.

Expenses in some states, like Arizona, are approved by program staffers.

Supporters of school choice, including president and CEO of pro-school choice EdChoice Robert Enlow, applauds the transparency, arguing that its more insight into specific expenditures than is publicly known from public schools. He adds that the expenses allow families to tailor their education to their individual needs.

“You can see in Arizona, every single minute of every single day where every single dollar is going in the ESA program, I challenge you to do that in public schools, right?” said Enlow. “You may not like where the dollars are going. There may be an issue of whether you like it, but the reality is, you know exactly where they’re going.”

Enlow adds that these programs allow students to take an individualized approach, noting that those who may have different needs based on disability, neurodiversity, and other needs can make adjustments based on those needs.

He adds that criticism over spending doesn’t take into account that, in some cases, families are buying what schools would buy: “It’s OK if a government system buys $1,000 per classroom Lego set, but it’s not OK if a family does it?”

It is unclear how successful alternative education like microschooling or homeschooling can be. Rules and regulations dictating microschool and homeschool requirements are determined by each state’s Department of Education. For example, the National Microschooling Center notes that some microschool educators do not need to be licensed teachers and some institutions do not need to follow state academic standards.

Enlow notes that as these kinds of educations become more popular, the question about what regulation should look like and how success is measured is being asked: “You can’t put a one-size-fits-all system of regulation on a system that is meant for families to have individual options and choices.”

“Successes are in children making progress towards what makes them a successful human being, a successful strategy for coping and for living and for being successful right in life,” Enlow said. “We believe, for example, that families want to have knowledge about how their kids are doing on a test, but we don’t think this is the only way to go.”

Critics are concerned about the lack of regulations and accountability about the quality of education, success of the institution and the stability of the institution.

“I called microschools the food trucks of the education industry, because they can open up, go wherever they want, and close down very quickly,” said Josh Cowen, author of “The Privateers: How Billionaires Created a Culture War and Sold School Vouchers.”

Cowen calls alternative education “a predatory environment where private schools and microschools are promising the world to each of these kids,” making it hard for families to know what the truth is because of the lack of oversight and measures of success.

He continued, “It could take months, if not years, for a parent to understand that they’ve gone to a school that has substantially altered their child’s academic trajectory. Or worse, it could take three or four years, and by then, it’s too late. And so that’s where you need oversight.”

In West Virginia, Lee argues that the school choice program has contributed to a teacher shortage, citing poor teacher pay, poor school funding and poor resources that contributes to low moral “when you’re seeing the dollars go to these microschools and learning pods where there’s no accountability.”

Enlow argues that adding more education paths for students could lead to improvements in public schools: “Who’s going to really buy a system where we’re just trying to let it continue the way it is without any kind of challenge?”

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(BUTLER, Pa.) — Former President Donald Trump is making his return to the site of his first assassination attempt in Butler, Pennsylvania, for a rally on Saturday — a moment the campaign hopes will spur inspiration among his fervent supporters as they come together to honor the victims who died during the July shooting.

“I’m going back to Butler because I feel I have an obligation to go back to Butler. We never finished what we were supposed to do,” Trump said earlier this week in an interview with NewsNation. “I said that day, when I was shot, I said, ‘We’re coming back. We’re going to come back.’ And I’m fulfilling a promise. I’m fulfilling, really, an obligation.”

Trump’s rally is taking place at Butler Farm Show, the exact same location as the outdoor rally where he was shot in the right ear nearly three months ago. One main difference this time around: security will be tighter.

Security will be of utmost concern during Trump’s remarks after lapses in security plans led to the gunman being able to scale an unmanned building. Security personnel have already started increased measures. For example, a secure perimeter was enacted around the fairground earlier than usual as the campaign started to set up the rally site.

The campaign quickly worked in the weeks after the July attempt to secure an October rally date at the site, knowing the significance of having Trump return to a place where he survived an assassination attempt for the first time.

The campaign told ABC News the family of Corey Comperatore, the man who was killed at Trump’s rally while shielding his family, along with one of the two supporters who were injured, David Dutch, will be in attendance on Saturday.

Several of Trump’s allies are expected to attend in a show of force, including tech entrepreneur Elon Musk, who posted his plans on X, and Pennsylvania senatorial candidate Dave McCormick, who was just about to walk onstage before shots rang out.

Trump’s running mate, Sen. JD Vance, will also appear with Trump.

With exactly a month until Election Day, Saturday’s Butler rally will be an opportunity for Trump, if he can stay on message, to rally his base behind him in the sprint to November, just as he was able to do in the days after he was shot.

After being struck in the ear, Trump was briefly taken to the ground by Secret Service agents covering him until he rose back up moments after, pumping his first in the air with a bloody ear, shouting “Fight, fight, fight!”

The moment has since become a central messaging of his campaign, Trump and his supporters often chanting, “Fight, fight, fight!” at campaign rallies and his campaign frequently using Trump’s image of pumping his fist after surviving an assassination attempt as a symbol of his defiant campaign just days ahead of the critical week of the Republican National Convention.

Counter snipers in Trump’s Secret Service immediately killed the shooter, identified by the FBI as 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks, but the incident stirred a flurry of questions regarding the security of the former president, prompting U.S. Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle to step down and Trump to only hold indoor rallies for a few weeks after the attack.

Just nine weeks after the shooting in Butler, Trump had a second apparent assassination attempt on his life while he was out golfing at his course in West Palm Beach, Florida. More recently, it was revealed that there were assassination threats from Iran against Trump as well.

In the wake of both incidents, the former president was granted presidential-level security as his campaign has been forced to grapple with new security protocols in the planning of his campaign events.

Trump has gradually started holding a limited number of big and small outdoor campaign events again, including in Asheboro, North Carolina, on Aug. 21, where he was seen surrounded by bulletproof protective glass for the first time as he spoke in front of thousands of supporters gathered at an outdoor aviation museum.

As the campaign prepares for its high-profile rally on Saturday, they’ve said that the rally will be about honoring the victims and their family and expressing thanks to law enforcement and the Pennsylvania community; however, it comes as in recent weeks Trump has escalated his attacks, veering into dark rhetoric on the road.

After once calling for unity, Trump now blames rhetoric from Democrats as the reason behind threats on his life.

In the immediate aftermath of his attack at Butler, Trump called for both sides to tone down their rhetoric against each other — a posture that ended relatively quickly for Trump, who returned to his usual attacks.

While addressing the country after officially being nominated Republican presidential candidate at the RNC in Milwaukee, Trump said, “just like our ancestors, we must now come together, rise above past differences.”

“Any disagreements have to be put aside, go forward, united as one people, one nation pledging allegiance to one great beautiful — I think it’s so beautiful — American flag,” he said as he concluded his nomination speech at the RNC.

But just days after that, Trump, at his first rally after President Joe Biden dropped out of the presidential race, called his political opponents “dangerous people” and escalated personal attacks on Vice President Kamala Harris — who was shaping up to be Biden’s successor at the time.

“I was supposed to be nice,” Trump said in Charlotte, North Carolina, in late July. “They say something happened to me when I got shot — I became nice.”

“When you’re dealing with these people — they’re very dangerous people — when you’re dealing with them, you can’t be so nice. You really can’t be so — if you don’t mind — I’m not going to be nice. Is that okay?” Trump continued, followed by the crowd chanting, “Fight, fight, fight.”

Just as Trump is returning to Butler, many of the former president’s more ardent supporters have shied away from continuing to attend his rallies.

“It’s kind of like — it almost brings back memories, because it’s almost kind of the same set up,” said one Butler rally attendee, speaking at the Asheboro, North Carolina, rally last month where Trump delivered remarks in front of thousands of supporters outside for the first time since his first assassination attempt.

“At least we got snipers on it. Really, every roof of snipers on it makes me feel more safe. It brings back memories, especially when we go back in October,” he said.

Susan Gibala, of Irwin, Pennsylvania, said she went to a Trump rally in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, just after she survived the Butler rally, and has continued to feel safe at Trump rallies.

“To be honest with you, this is one of the safest places. And I know that I was in Butler when that happened. And I know that sounds very strange to say, but I feel like these are the safest places I could be,” Gibala said, attending another Trump rally in Indiana, Pennsylvania, last month.

“So it hasn’t really changed me in that sense. I know a lot of my friends, they had to take time out. They had to really work through some things, but I just believe this is one of the safest places to be.”

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(NEW YORK) — Former President Barack Obama will hit the campaign trail for Vice President Harris and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz starting next Thursday, Oct. 10, through election day, according to a senior campaign official.

The first stop will be in Pennsylvania in the Pittsburgh area before Obama embarks on a campaign blitz across the battleground states in the final 27 days.

Obama held a Los Angeles fundraiser for Harris in September and — along with former first lady Michelle Obama — gave a speech at the Democratic National Convention in August.

Meanwhile, Harris recently enlisted the help of former Republican Rep. Liz Cheney on Thursday at a rally in Wisconsin.

Cheney, the former co-chair of the House committee that investigated the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the Capitol, laid out former President Donald Trump’s actions on that day before telling the crowd, “I don’t care if you are a Democrat or a Republican or an independent. That is depravity, and we must never become numb to it. Any person who would do these things can never be trusted with power again.”

Cheney is among a handful of prominent Republicans, including her father, former Vice President Dick Cheney, who have pledged to support Harris’ bid, but her endorsement, as one of former President Donald Trump’s most outspoken critics within the party, is one that Harris hopes to leverage in crucial states like Wisconsin, whose margins are expected to be razor thin.

In August, Obama delivered the closing speech on night two of the Democratic National Convention in Chicago.

“We do not need four more years of bluster and bumbling and chaos,” he told delegates. “We have seen that movie before and we all know that the sequel is usually worse. America is ready for a new chapter. America is ready for a better story. We are ready for a President Kamala Harris.”

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(WASHINGTON) — Special counsel Jack Smith has outlined new details of former President Donald Trump and his allies’ sweeping and “increasingly desperate” efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss, in a blockbuster court filing Wednesday aimed at defending Smith’s prosecution of Trump following the Supreme Court’s July immunity ruling.

Trump intentionally lied to the public, state election officials, and his own vice president in an effort to cling to power after losing the election, while privately describing some of the claims of election fraud as “crazy,” prosecutors alleged in the 165-page filing.

“When the defendant lost the 2020 presidential election, he resorted to crimes to try to stay in office,” the filing said. “With private co-conspirators, the defendant launched a series of increasingly desperate plans to overturn the legitimate election results in seven states that he had lost.”

When Trump’s effort to overturn the election through lawsuits and fraudulent electors failed to change the outcome of the election, prosecutors allege that the former president fomented violence, with prosecutors describing Trump as directly responsible for “the tinderbox that he purposely ignited on January 6.”

“The defendant also knew that he had only one last hope to prevent Biden’s certification as President: the large and angry crowd standing in front of him. So for more than an hour, the defendant delivered a speech designed to inflame his supporters and motivate them to march to the Capitol,” Smith wrote.

The lengthy filing — which includes an 80-page summary of the evidence gathered by investigators — outlines multiple instances in which Trump allegedly heard from advisers who disproved his allegations, yet continued to spread his claims of outcome-determinative voter fraud, prosecutors said.

“It doesn’t matter if you won or lost the election. You still have to fight like hell,” Trump allegedly told members of his family following the 2020 election, the filing said.

In a statement, Trump campaign spokesperson Steven Cheung said the release of the filing was an attempt to interfere with the upcoming election following Tuesday’s vice presidential debate.

“This entire case is a partisan, Unconstitutional Witch Hunt that should be dismissed entirely,” Cheung said.

In her order allowing the redacted filing to become public, U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan, who has been overseeing the case, addressed the defense’s accusations of partisan bias.

“Defendant’s opposition brief repeatedly accuses the Government of bad-faith partisan bias,” the judge wrote. “These accusations, for which Defendant provides no support, continue a pattern of defense filings focusing on political rhetoric rather than addressing the legal issues at hand.”

“Not only is that focus unresponsive and unhelpful to the court, but it is also unbefitting of experienced defense counsel and undermining of the judicial proceedings in this case,” Judge Chutkan wrote. “Future filings should be directed to the issues before the court.”

According to prosecutors, Trump “laid the groundwork for his crimes well before” 2020’s Election Day, including by sowing doubt among his supporters and planning to declare victory immediately, despite multiple advisers telling him that the results were unlikely to be finalized on Election Day.

Prosecutors allege that Trump and his allies “sought to create chaos” at polling places — including one instance when a campaign employee encouraged a colleague to “make them riot” at an ongoing vote count in Detroit — which the former president later used to support his claims of voter fraud.

“The throughline of these efforts was deceit: the defendant’s and co-conspirators’ knowingly false claims of election fraud,” the filing said.

In addition to outlining the instances when Trump was directly corrected about his allegations of voter fraud, the filing said Trump privately called allegations of voter fraud made by his lawyer Sidney Powell as “crazy” — despite employing similar arguments to cast doubt on the legitimacy of the election, prosecutors allege.

Trump last year pleaded not guilty to federal charges of undertaking a “criminal scheme” to overturn the results of the 2020 election in order to remain in power. Wednesday’s filing comes at a pivotal moment in the case, as Judge Chutkan is set to begin considering whether any of the allegations included in the government’s case are protected by presidential immunity after the Supreme Court ruled in a blockbuster decision that Trump is entitled to immunity from criminal prosecution for official acts undertaken while in office.

In August, Smith filed a pared-down indictment that removed allegations likely to have been considered official acts — including Trump’s interactions with Justice Department officials to interfere with the election — while still charging the former president with the same four criminal counts he originally faced. Last week, Smith filed a sealed brief seeking to justify the superseding indictment, then sought to file a redacted version for public release.

Trump’s lawyers opposed Wednesday’s lengthy filing — which they described as “tantamount to a premature and improper Special Counsel report” — and argued that public release of the allegations would improperly influence the election and violate Department of Justice policies. Judge Chutkan — who has long stated that the election does not play a factor in her decision making — ordered the filing be publicly released Wednesday.

In justifying his case against Trump, Smith alleged that Trump acted as an office-seeker rather than an officeholder when he committed crimes, and that he “must stand trial for his private crimes as would any other citizen.”

“Although the defendant was the incumbent President during the charged conspiracies, his scheme was fundamentally a private one,” Wednesday’s filing said.

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(WASHINGTON) — Melania Trump, the wife of former President Donald Trump, is criticizing restrictions on reproductive rights, including limits on abortion, in her new memoir, Melania, according to a new report.

“Why should anyone other than the woman herself have the power to determine what she does with her own body? A woman’s fundamental right of individual liberty, to her own life, grants her the authority to terminate her pregnancy if she wishes,” Melania Trump writes in her upcoming book, according to a report Wednesday from the Guardian.

In a position at odds with much of the Republican party, Melania Trump reportedly argues that the decision to terminate a pregnancy should be a decision left between a woman and her doctor, calling it “the common-sense approach.”

“It is imperative to guarantee that women have autonomy in deciding their preference of having children, based on their own convictions, free from any intervention or pressure from the government,” she reportedly writes in the memoir set for release next week.

“Restricting a woman’s right to choose whether to terminate an unwanted pregnancy is the same as denying her control over her own body. I have carried this belief with me throughout my entire adult life,” she reportedly says in the pages of Melania.

Purported excerpts of Melania Trump’s forthcoming book were published by the Guardian Wednesday but not independently verified by ABC News. A spokesperson for Melania Trump and the Trump campaign have not responded to requests from ABC News.

Melania Trump also addresses late-term abortions, according to the excerpts.

“It is important to note that historically, most abortions conducted during the later stages of pregnancy were the result of severe fetal abnormalities that probably would have led to the death or stillbirth of the child. Perhaps even the death of the mother. These cases were extremely rare and typically occurred after several consultations between the woman and her doctor. As a community, we should embrace these common-sense standards. Again, timing matters,” she reportedly writes.

Those comments offer a stark contrast to narratives Donald Trump has pushed around the issue, falsely claiming that Democrats support abortion “after birth.” Infanticide is illegal in all 50 states.

According to the report, Melania Trump then goes on to further ask for compassion for women who decide to terminate a pregnancy, detailing the hardships that surround making the decision and stressing the importance of “knowledge, security, and solace” for the next generation.

“When confronted with an unexpected pregnancy, young women frequently experience feelings of isolation and significant stress. I, like most Americans, am in favor of the requirement that juveniles obtain parental consent before undergoing an abortion. I realize this may not always be possible. Our next generation must be provided with knowledge, security, safety, and solace, and the cultural stigma associated with abortion must be lifted,” the former first lady reportedly writes.

Melania Trump’s reported comments come as husband Donald Trump has, at times, stumbled when answering complex questions on the campaign trail about his position on abortion rights and what reproductive care he would or wouldn’t protect. After being instrumental in the overturning of Roe vs. Wade, the former president has advocated for certain abortion exceptions and has said he wouldn’t sign a federal abortion ban.

During campaign rallies, Trump has touted his abortion policy, calling himself “the most pro-life President in American history.” He has also celebrated his appointment of three U.S. Supreme Court justices who helped overturn Roe vs. Wade.

As Sen. JD Vance and Gov. Tim Walz sparred over Trump’s policies on reproductive rights at Tuesday night’s vice presidential debate, the former president reiterated his position that the decision on abortion is where people wanted it — with the states, writing on his social media platform that he would not support a federal abortion ban “under any circumstances, and would, in fact, veto it.”

Abortion remains a top issue for voters — especially women — in the upcoming election. Both Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris are working to connect with voters on the topic in what’s expected to be a close contest in November.

According to the Guardian, Melania Trump, an immigrant herself, also addresses immigration in her book. But she writes that she likes to keep “occasional political disagreements” private.

Donald Trump recently promoted his wife’s book at his rally in Uniondale, New York, though he suggested he hadn’t actually read it.

“First Lady, people love our first lady out there. Go out and get her book,” Trump said to cheers. “She just wrote a book. I hope she said good things about … She just wrote a book called ‘Melania.’ Go out and buy it. It’s great. And if she says bad things about me, I’ll call you all up, and I’ll say, don’t buy it.”

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(WASHINGTON) — Domestic violent extremists will pose “the most significant physical threat to government officials, voters, and elections-related personnel and infrastructure, including polling places, ballot drop box locations, voter registration sites, campaign events, political party offices, and vote counting sites,” according to a Department of Homeland Security assessment released on Wednesday.

DHS believes that extremists will be motivated by policy grievances, which have also led to an uptick in the targeting of election officials.

The overall threat environment in the United States “will remain high,” according to the department’s annual threat assessment.

“The Homeland faces a complex set of threats to our public safety, border security, critical infrastructure, and economy from violent extremists, transnational criminal organizations (TCOs), adversarial nation-states, and malicious cyber actors,” the 2025 Homeland Threat Assessment says.

“The Homeland Security Assessment provides an important overview of the dynamic and evolving threat landscape, illustrating just how varied and challenging the threats we confront are,” said Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas. “It is because of the remarkable DHS workforce, and our close collaboration with our federal, state, local, tribal, territorial, and private sector partners, that we are able to meet the challenges and keep the American people safe and secure.”

The assessment, produced by the Office of Intelligence and Analysis, said that threats from domestic actors will “continue to be characterized primarily by lone offenders or small cells motivated to violence by a combination of racial, religious, gender, or anti-government grievances; conspiracy theories; and personalized factors,” and be motivated by the Presidential Election and the Israel/Hamas conflict.

“Between September 2023 and July 2024, [domestic violent extremists] driven by various anti-government, racial, or gender-related motivations have conducted at least four attacks in the Homeland, one of which resulted in a death.7 US law enforcement disrupted at least seven additional DVE plots,” according to the assessment. “Two HVE attacks, partially motivated by the Israel-HAMAS conflict, also occurred during this timeframe, and law enforcement disrupted at least three other HVE plots.”

Mass shootings in the United States over the “last year were not motivated by an ideology, but were rather associated with suspected or confirmed mental illness or driven by relationship grievances,” the Department assesses.

DHS officials said that they are aware that the upcoming anniversary of Oct. 7th may add “even more fuel to an already challenging and heightened threat environment.”

The officials, on a call with reporters, said they’ve communicated this to their state and local partners.

Foreign terrorist organizations also maintain a threat to conduct or inspire attacks in the United States, the assessment said.

“These organizations maintain worldwide networks of supporters that could target the Homeland. FTO media outlets promote violent rhetoric intended to inspire U.S. persons to mobilize to violence, while foreign terrorists continue engaging online supporters to solicit funds; create and share media; and encourage followers to attack the Homeland, U.S. interests, and what they perceive as the West,” the report said.

Iran is also a concern for DHS officials, who say that they have threatened former U.S. government officials including former President Donald Trump.

“We’ve been very, very clear that is a threat vector that we are extremely concerned about and monitoring very closely, working to gain as much information and fidelity on as we possibly can,” the official said.

In addition to Iran, China and Russia also “pose a host of threats” to the United States and will attempt to use a blend of subversive, undeclared, criminal, and coercive tactics to seek new opportunities to undermine confidence in U.S. democratic institutions and domestic social cohesion.

The department has concluded, as intelligence agencies have, they will likely attempt to interfere in the election.

It’s not just the election; DHS assesses that nation state backed “criminal hacktivists” will attempt to position themselves on critical infrastructure networks.

Along the southern border, DHS assesses that the challenges will continue, including from Individuals on the terror watchlist who the report says will evolve their tactics and try and exploit vulnerabilities along the border.

The official noted that the number of suspects encountered on the terror watch list have also decreased from year to year.

The encounters do remain high, the assessment notes, but due to the recently policies put in place, they are decreasing.

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