Politics

(WASHINGTON) — With only days to go until he faces off against President Joe Biden in Thursday’s CNN debate, former President Donald Trump is escalating his demands that Biden take a pre-debate drug test, something the Biden campaign rejected as “desperate.”

That’s in addition to a growing list of complaints Trump and his campaign are making about CNN, accusing the network and its moderators of being biased.

“DRUG TEST FOR CROOKED JOE BIDEN??? I WOULD, ALSO, IMMEDIATELY AGREE TO ONE!!!” Trump wrote on his social media platform Monday afternoon and later fundraising off his call.

Trump has called for Biden to be drug-tested as early as April, saying he would debate Biden “anytime” and “anywhere” if the president takes a drug test. He has escalated such attacks since he and Biden agreed to debate in May, citing Biden’s strong showing in his State of the Union address in March.

At his recent rally in Philadelphia on Saturday, Trump continued to push the baseless claim that if Biden did well on Thursday night, it would be because he was taking performance-enhancing drugs.

“So, a little before debate time, he gets a shot in the ass — they want to strengthen him up so he comes out, he’ll come out, okay, I say he’ll come out all jacked up, right? All jacked up,” Trump told the crowd.

The Biden campaign quickly dismissed Trump’s demand, saying he would not submit to a drug test.

“Donald Trump is so scared of being held accountable for his toxic agenda of attacking reproductive freedom and cutting Social Security that he and his allies are resorting to desperate, obviously false lies,” a Biden campaign spokesman said.

“Trump’s going to talk trash like that all the time because that’s what he does. The other day you may remember he was trying to question our president’s mental acuity and he could not remember the name of his own doctor so tell President Trump, bring whatever he’s got — President Biden will be standing there, ready for him,” Biden campaign adviser Mitch Landrieu said on CNN. (Trump had referred to his White House physician Ronny Jackson as Ronny Johnson at a campaign rally.)

Calling for drug tests has been a tactic Trump has used repeatedly for years. He previously called on Biden to take a drug test before their 2020 debates, suggesting without evidence that Biden must have been on “performance-enhancing drugs” during that year’s Democratic primary. In 2016, Trump made similar unsubstantiated claims about Hillary Clinton.

At the same time, Trump and his campaign also are continuing to level accusations that CNN will favor President Biden on Thursday, a charge fueled by Trump’s national press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, during an appearance on CNN that was cut short Monday.

On “CNN This Morning,” anchor Kasie Hunt attempted to get Leavitt to answer questions about the Trump campaign’s debate preparations and expectations.

Leavitt, instead, tried to attack CNN and debate moderator Jake Tapper.

She was quickly cut off twice by Hunt who said she wouldn’t give Leavitt a platform to criticize her colleagues. After Leavitt continued her attacks against the CNN debate moderators, she was dropped from the segment.

“You come on my show, you respect my colleagues. Period. I don’t care what side of the aisle you stand on, as my track record clearly shows,” Hunt posted on X after the show wrapped.

“You cut off my microphone for bringing up the debate moderator’s history of anti-Trump lies,” Leavitt responded on X. “This proved our point that President Trump will not be treated fairly on Thursday. Yet he is still willing to go into this 3-1 fight to bring his winning message to the American people, and he will win.”

In a statement to ABC News, a CNN spokesperson called Jake Tapper and Dana Bash “well respected veteran journalists” with extensive experience moderating major political debates.

“There are no two people better equipped to co-moderate a substantial and fact-based discussion and we look forward to the debate on June 27 in Atlanta.”

On the campaign trail, Trump also has complained about the debate being hosted by CNN as well as about the rules he and his campaign agreed to, including not having an audience and the mics being muted when it’s not the candidate’s turn speaking.

“You know, I agreed to the debates. They came up to me and they said, ‘We’re going to do a debate. We’d like to challenge you to a debate.’ But they didn’t want me to accept. So, they gave me something that I couldn’t accept,” said Trump at a rally in Racine, Wisconsin, last week.

“They thought I would say, no, I don’t want to do because CNN is so, you know, it’s fake news. But I think maybe they’ll be honest,” Trump said. “I think fake Tapper would really help himself if it were honest. But you’ll see immediately if it is or not.”

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(WASHINGTON) — Former President Donald Trump — who has made opposition to immigration a defining message of the GOP — last week pitched what would be one of the most significant expansions of U.S. immigration in decades.

Speaking on a podcast hosted by tech businessmen, Trump announced his support for giving a green card to every noncitizen graduate of a U.S. college (“staple a green card to every diploma,” said the former president).

Hours later, following outrage from some anti-immigration Republicans, he issued a clarification. A statement from a spokesperson given on Friday to ABC News said that the proposed program would involve an “aggressive vetting process,” and that “this would only apply to the most thoroughly vetted college graduates who would never undercut American wages or workers.”

Whether or not they become a major part of his messaging, Trump’s recent comments offer a glimpse of what appeared to be a more moderate approach to talking about immigration ahead of a hotly-contested presidential election where immigration will be a top issue — and a high-stakes first debate this Thursday.

ABC News spoke to conservative experts and immigration policy insiders to discuss how a potential shift in tone on immigration could play with voters.

“It runs against type, in many ways,” said Whit Ayres, a long-time Republican political strategist. “In some senses, it’s a ‘Nixon goes to China’ kind of phenomenon, where the guy who has been the most critical of immigration offers an opportunity for immigrants who are most likely to create jobs and grow our economy to stay in America.”

For key independent voters, Ayres believes, more vocal support for high-skill immigration could offer a needed complement to the fiery anti-immigrant rhetoric that Trump has long made his calling card.

“It could make swing voters and suburban voters take another look at the way he’s approaching the immigration issue,” Ayres said, “and make it seem more rational than emotional.”

Daniel Di Martino, an economist who studies immigration and a fellow at the conservative Manhattan Institute, also noted that the stance appeals to business leaders looking to hire high-skilled immigrants.

“The audience here is corporations and businesses — not voters, necessarily,” said Di Martino.

Trump announced the position on green cards during an appearance on a podcast hosted by several businessmen from the tech industry, which relies disproportionately on high-skilled worker visas. In recent weeks, Trump has made overtures to Silicon Valley, looking to draw support from a group that has tended to side with Democrats.

As several interviews with conservative immigration advocates and policymakers made clear, though, Trump’s position isn’t without its critics.

“My first-rip reaction was roll-backward shock,” said one senior official who served in the Department of Homeland Security during the Trump administration. “This is so outrageously unthought-through it’s amazing.”

If all foreign students were to receive a green card on graduation, the official objected, “you’re not buying an education — you’re buying citizenship.”

“It’s a terrible idea,” concurred Mark Krikorian, director of the Center for Immigration Studies and an avowed immigration restrictionist. “But it doesn’t surprise me coming from President Trump, because he’s never been a restrictionist.”

“He subscribes to the standard Republican mantra, ‘illegal good, legal bad,'” Krikorian added.

Another former Trump immigration official — former acting director of ICE Tom Homan — was more approving.

“If we’re going to immigrate, let’s immigrate some highly-skilled workers,” Homan said, noting that he believes Trump’s comments on the podcast referred back to proposals from early in his administration.

In 2017, the former president issued an executive order commissioning a review of the H1-B high-skill visa program and backed legislation that would have substantially reduced the number of green cards granted each year, saying that it would “prioritize immigrants based on the skills they bring to our Nation.”

Before his election as president, in 2015, Trump tweeted language similar to his comments on the podcast last week, writing that “When foreigners attend our great colleges & want to stay in the U.S., they should not be thrown out of our country.” But weeks before the 2020 election, the Trump administration would go on to modestly restrict the H1-B program.

Despite opposition from some conservatives, experts interviewed by ABC News agreed that Trump did not risk losing support from opponents of immigration among his base.

“What are those people going to do? Vote for Joe Biden?” asked Ayres. “They’re not going to vote for Donald Trump, because he wants to have high-skilled immigrants in the country? Really?”

“He has got so much credibility on these issues, he can actually take a position that seems slightly at variance with what he said in the past on immigration and get away with it,” Ayres added.

“Nobody’s going to stop voting for him because of what he said,” echoed Di Martino. “If anything, that can only earn him more votes.”

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(WASHINGTON) — In an overnight court filing in Donald Trump’s classified documents case, special counsel Jack Smith defended the August 2022 search of the former president’s Mar-a-Lago estate, following Trump’s lawyers’ request to dismiss the case on the basis that some of the documents were shuffled around during the search.

The new filing, which comes as the judge overseeing the case, Aileen Cannon, hears arguments today on defense requests to have the case dismissed, provides perhaps the most detailed account of the search and the state of Trump’s boxes that were seized by the FBI — including never-before-seen photos of some of the boxes to illustrate how Trump stored his materials.

“Trump personally chose to keep documents containing some of the nation’s most highly guarded secrets in cardboard boxes along with a collection of other personally chosen keepsakes of various sizes and shapes from his presidency — newspapers, thank-you notes, Christmas ornaments, magazines, clothing, and photographs of himself and others,” the filing says.

Trump pleaded not guilty last year to 40 criminal counts related to his handling of classified materials after leaving the White House, after prosecutors said he repeatedly refused to return hundreds of documents containing classified information and took steps to thwart the government’s efforts to get the documents back. Trump has denied all charges and denounced the probe as a political witch hunt.

“At the end of his presidency, he took his cluttered collection of keepsakes to Mar-a-Lago, his personal residence and social club, where the boxes traveled from one readily accessible location to another — a public ballroom, an office space, a bathroom, and a basement storage room,” Tuesday’s filing said.

The boxes’ lack of organization — and Trump’s detailed familiarity with their contents — prompted some of his staff to call them the “Beautiful Mind” boxes, referring to the film of the same title about genius mathematician John Nash, according to prosecutors.

Trump’s lawyers claim the boxes were not preserved in the exact manner in which they were found, and claim the evidence has been tampered with. However, the special counsel argued in the filing that Trump’s “cluttered collection of keepsakes” and “the haphazard manner” in which the items were stored allowed the contents of the boxes to shift anytime they were moved. The special counsel says the contents of the boxes didn’t change at all, despite some items perhaps moving within the boxes.

“Because the boxes were a mix of items and contained many small, loose materials and papers of various sizes and shapes, items within them necessarily shifted around anytime they were moved,” the filing said.

In the filing, the special counsel details the cautious nature of the FBI agents who were tasked with searching the boxes — both for privileged materials and classified documents.

“However, once agents saw the state in which Trump kept his boxes, it became apparent that maintaining the exact order of all documents and items within the boxes was nigh impossible given the variety of document shapes and sizes (newspapers, photographs, magazines, loose cards and notes, envelopes, etc.), and the presence of other non-documentary items like clothing, framed pictures, and other keepsakes,” the filing says.

Prosecutors argue in the filing that the recent defense arguments about the conditions of the boxes are “newly invented explanations” and Trump’s “latest unfounded accusations against law enforcement professionals doing their jobs.”

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(WASHINGTON) — With the Republican National Convention less than a month away, former President Donald Trump’s timeline to select a vice president is dwindling. While Trump continues to weigh his options on who he might select for the No. 2 slot, the abortion stances held by prospective shortlist candidates have become an issue of focus.

North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum — a potential veepstakes candidate — backed one of the strictest anti-abortion laws in the country, something the Trump campaign is aware of as they move forward in the selection process.

In April 2023, Burgum banned abortion in his state with very limited exceptions — some of which only apply up to six weeks’ gestation, before many women know they are pregnant.

The exceptions within the first six weeks of pregnancy allow abortion in cases of rape or incest, while exceptions for medical emergencies are allowed throughout pregnancy.

“This bill clarifies and refines existing state law … and reaffirms North Dakota as a pro-life state,” Burgum said in a statement when he signed the law.

Burgum’s signature came almost a year after the Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision that reversed Roe v. Wade. At the time of his signature, there were no abortion clinics in the state of North Dakota.

On the second day of his GOP presidential primary campaign, Burgum shifted his narrative, saying he would not support a similar nationwide law if he was elected to the White House. He advocated that the issue should be decided on a state-by-state basis, a stance that Trump has since adopted on the campaign trail.

Trump has said he supports abortion with three exceptions: in cases of rape, in cases of incest, and in cases where it’s necessary to save the life of the mother. In contrast, Burgum’s ban doesn’t allow for rape and incest exceptions after the first six weeks of pregnancy.

“I think the decision that was made returning the power to the states was the right one. And I think we’re going to have — we have a lot of division on this issue in America. And what’s right for North Dakota may not be right for another state … the best decisions are made locally,” Burgum said on “CNN This Morning” in early June.

Another candidate on the former president’s shortlist, Ohio Gov. JD Vance, has danced carefully around the issue of abortion, applauding the overturning of Roe v. Wade and supporting Texas’ ban on abortion, which does not allow exceptions except in cases where the mother’s life is at risk.

Late last year, though, Vance called on Republicans to respond to abortion in a more sensible way, saying on CNN’s State of the Union, “We have to accept people do not want blanket abortion bans, and I say this as a person who wants to protect as many unborn babies as possible.”

Last November, in Vance’s home state of Ohio, voters approved a constitutional amendment that protects access to abortion and other forms of reproductive health care. Vance, who opposed the amendment, called the passing of the initiative a “gut punch” but also spoke to his party on how they must accept the “political reality of abortion,” writing on X last year voters do not trust Republicans on the issue.

“Donald Trump has said, ‘You’ve got to have the exceptions.’ I am as pro-life as anyone, and I want to save as many babies as possible. This is not about moral legitimacy but political reality,” Vance said.

Another VP hopeful, Sen. Marco Rubio, famously said during his 2016 presidential bid that “every one abortion is too many,” and in 2022 he co-sponsored federal legislation that would ban abortion after 15 weeks.

In recent years Rubio has said that he supports any legislation that “protects unborn human life,” but has also acknowledged that not everyone shares his views on abortion.

“I support any bill that protects unborn human life, but I don’t consider other people in the pro-life movement who have a different view to be apostate,” Rubio said during an interview on NBC News’ Meet the Press last month when pressed on whether he disagrees with Trump’s opposition to Florida’s six-week ban.

In the past, Trump has criticized Republicans for signing strict abortion bans, publicly slamming Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis after he signed a six-week abortion ban into law in April of last year.

“I think what he did is a terrible thing and a terrible mistake,” Trump said during an appearance on NBC’s Meet the Press.

Trump’s comments were indicative of the political approach he has taken on the issue of reproductive rights, arguing that Republicans need to be cognizant of the need to win elections and not alienate voters with extreme policies.

Early in April, he stated that since Roe v. Wade had reversed the nation’s prohibitions against abortion access, the matter should be left to the discretion of the individual states, advocating that they maintain laws allowing abortion access for victims of rape and incest, and to save the life of the pregnant woman.

“You must follow your heart on this issue but remember, you must also win elections to restore our culture and, in fact, to save our country, which is currently and very sadly, a nation in decline,” Trump said in an abortion policy video released on his social media platform. “Always go by your heart. But we must win. We have to win, we are a failing nation.”

Since then, Trump has reiterated his belief on numerous occasions — including at a religious convention just this past weekend while courting conservative Christians — as he has publicly pushed for Republicans to move away from spotlighting abortion, demonstrating an awareness that voters tend to disagree with Republican abortion bans.

When South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham “respectfully” disagreed with Trump’s state’s rights stance and advocated for a 15-week national ban in April, Trump grew irate, highlighting how comments like Graham’s feed into Democratic narratives of Republican extremism that have cost the party electoral victories.

“Many Good Republicans lost Elections because of this Issue, and people like Lindsey Graham, that are unrelenting, are handing Democrats their dream of the House, Senate, and perhaps even the Presidency,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform, in a rare public rebuke of his congressional ally.

Trump similarly lashed out against his former Vice President Mike Pence when he called Trump’s stance on abortion “a slap in the face to the millions of pro-life Americans who voted for him in 2016 and 2020,” earlier this year.

“Mike Pence has been doing a lot of talking about Abortion lately … He started at no abortion for any reason, and then allowing abortions for up to 6 weeks, then up to 15 weeks, and then, who knows?” Trump wrote on his social media platform in April.

“But it doesn’t matter because the Radical Left Democrats will never approve anything on this issue, and Republicans don’t have anywhere close to the number of Senators necessary to make it matter,” Trump continued, suggesting that his former running mate was polling at 1%-2% because he was getting bad advice.

And though abortion is a key issue as Trump considers his choices for a running mate, he continues to try to shift the focus of the race away from reproductive rights toward other issues like the economy and immigration that he feels are more likely to generate support among Republicans.

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(NEW YORK) — The judge who oversaw Donald Trump’s criminal hush money trial in Manhattan agreed to partially lift a gag order on the former president Tuesday, granting Trump the ability to speak freely about witnesses in the case and the jury that found him guilty on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records.

“Circumstances have now changed,” Judge Juan Merchan wrote Tuesday. “The trial portion of these proceedings ended when the verdict was rendered, and the jury discharged.”

Trump last month was found guilty on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records related to a 2016 hush money payment to adult film actress Stormy Daniels in order to boost his electoral prospects in the 2016 presidential election.

During the trial, Trump and his attorneys repeatedly bemoaned a stipulation in the judge’s limited gag order that prevented him from publicly responding to commentary about the case from witnesses in the proceedings, most notably Daniels and Trump’s former attorney, Michael Cohen.

Merchan restricted what Trump could say publicly about them and others involved in the case out of concern for the integrity of the trial.

The judge’s ruling Tuesday left in place the portion of the gag order protecting members of the court staff, District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s staff, and their families.

“Until sentence is imposed, all individuals covered by Paragraph (b)” — referring to members of the court staff, the district attorney’s staff and their families — “must continue to perform their lawful duties free from threats, intimidation, harassment, and harm,” Merchan wrote in the ruling.

And although he struck the portion of the gag order pertaining to jurors, Merchan wrote that it would be his “strong preference” to extend those protections because there remains “ample evidence to justify continued concern for the jurors.”

An earlier prohibition on releasing personal information about jurors will remain in effect.

Trump is scheduled to be sentenced in the case on July 11.

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(WASHINGTON) — The House Judiciary Committee plans to take the first step toward holding President Joe Biden’s ghostwriter, Mark Zwonitzer, in contempt of Congress, two sources familiar with the committee’s plans tell ABC News.

The committee plans to hold a “markup” on the contempt resolution on Thursday, which would be followed by a committee vote, the sources said. The move would pave the way for a floor vote in the House to hold Zwonitzer in contempt.

The news of the committee’s plans was first reported by ABC News.

In March, Republican House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan subpoenaed Zwonitzer after he failed to turn over documents, including transcripts, audio and video recordings of his interviews with Biden for the president’s two memoirs, “Promises to Keep” and “Promise Me, Dad.”

In a copy of the resolution obtained by ABC News, Republicans point repeatedly to special counsel Robert Hur’s investigation into Biden’s handling of classified documents.

Hur’s report stated that Biden relied “extensively on the notebooks’ notes he took during his vice presidency” in the writing of “Promise Me, Dad” and referred to the notebooks during interviews with Zwonitzer.

“Mr. Biden told Zwonitzer that some of the information in the notebook may be classified. Some of these entries remain classified up to the Top Secret level,” Hur stated in his report.

The report suggested that Biden was not consistent in how he handled classified information, stating he appeared to have sometimes “stopped at or skipped over the potentially classified material” while also stating that at other times, Biden “read his notes from classified meetings to Zwonitzer nearly word for word.”

According to Hur’s report, Zwonitzer deleted recordings of interviews he conducted with Biden after he learned of the special counsel’s investigation but voluntarily turned over his notes and devices. Hur decided not to pursue charges against Biden or Zwonitzer.

House Republicans insist Zwonitzer’s failure to fully comply with the House Judiciary Committee has “hindered” their own investigation.

“Zwonitzer continues to withhold all documents and materials in his possession that are responsive to the subpoena from the Committee,” the resolution states. “The materials requested from Zwonitzer are crucial for the Committee’s understanding of the manner and extent of President Biden’s mishandling and unlawful disclosure of classified materials, as well as Zwonitzer’s use, storage and deletion of classified materials on his computer.”

ABC News has reached out to Zwonitzer’s attorney for comment.

The move comes after the House of Representatives voted to hold Attorney General Merrick Garland in contempt for refusing to turn over the audio of Biden’s interview with Hur to the House Oversight and Judiciary committees. The DOJ later said it has declined to prosecute Garland for contempt, according to a letter obtained by ABC News.

House Speaker Mike Johnson called the vote to hold Garland in contempt “a significant step in maintaining the integrity of our oversight processes and responsibilities.”

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(WASHINGTON) — Three more states are holding congressional primaries on Tuesday.

Voters in Colorado, New York and Utah will cast ballots. The Beehive State will also vote in a gubernatorial primary.

Colorado

Polls close at 9 p.m. ET.

The last day to register to vote in the primary and receive a mail-in ballot was June 17. Absentee ballots must be received by Tuesday, June 25, 9 p.m. ET. Early voting was from June 17 to 24.

Republican and Democratic primaries for several races — including the U.S. House, state House, state Senate and state Board of Education — will take place Tuesday.

Rep. Lauren Boebert announced in December that she will switch congressional districts when she runs for reelection.

Boebert, a House hardliner who made a name for herself as a staunch advocate for gun owner rights, said she will be running in Colorado’s 4th Congressional District rather than the 3rd Congressional District, which she currently represents. The winner of Tuesday’s Republican primary for District 3 will face Adam Frisch, the main Democratic challenger.

Republican Ken Buck previously represented the 4th Congressional District. Buck, who had already announced he would not be seeking reelection, left Congress in March. The district leans more Republican than the seat Boebert currently holds.

There is a special election Tuesday to replace Buck, and the winner will serve the remainder of his term; Boebert is not running in the special election.

New York

Polls close at 9 p.m. ET.

Mail-in ballots should be postmarked no later than Tuesday, June 25. Primary voters can also drop their ballots at their respective county Board of Elections Office no later than 9 p.m. ET on Tuesday. They can also deliver them to a poll site on Tuesday no later than 9 p.m. Early voting was from June 15 to 23.

One of the most anticipated congressional races is in District 16, where Rep. Jamaal Bowman faces Westchester County Executive George Latimer in the Democratic primary. District 16 includes a portion of the Bronx and the southern half of Westchester County.

Utah

Polls close at 10 p.m. ET.

June 18 was the last day residents could request a mail-in ballot for the regular primary election, and Monday, June 24, was the last day ballots could be postmarked.

Incumbent Gov. Spencer Cox and state Rep. Phil Lyman are on the ballot in the state’s Republican gubernatorial primary. Incumbent Lt. Gov. Deidre Henderson and Natalie Clawson are on the GOP primary ballot for lieutenant governor.

In Utah’s Senate GOP primary, voters will begin the process to elect a successor to Republican Sen. Mitt Romney, who announced in September 2023 that he would not seek reelection.

Romney — who once served as the governor of Massachusetts from 2003 to 2007 and earned the 2012 GOP nomination for president — has had a storied career as a conservative public official. However, as an outspoken critic of former President Donald Trump and Trump’s GOP, Romney has virtually lost his place in his party.

Trump supporters Brad Wilson, the former state House speaker, and Riverton Mayor Trent Staggs are on the primary ticket. U.S. Rep. John Curtis is also on the ballot.

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(WASHINGTON) — In two court rulings Monday night, federal judges in Kansas and Missouri halted key aspects of President Joe Biden’s sweeping student loan repayment program.

The SAVE plan, a student loan repayment plan that ties how much someone pays each month to what their income is, has been in place for almost a year and is the jewel of Biden’s surviving student loan efforts — one that he has touted heavily in his re-election campaign.

The rulings Monday will stop the Biden administration from any further implementation of the program — in which eight million are enrolled — but allow people who are enrolled to keep using SAVE as is until the cases are fully litigated.

That means phase two of SAVE, which would’ve reduced monthly payments from 10% of a borrower’s discretionary income down to 5%, is on pause, as is any further cancellation of debt for people who took out smaller initial loan payments and have been paying for 10-plus years.

SAVE is similar to other income-driven repayment plans, which have been used for decades but are more generous because of lower monthly payments — people who make a minimum wage can pay as little as $0 a month — as well as a shorter path to debt relief.

Through SAVE so far, Biden has canceled $5.5 billion in debt for almost 414,000 borrowers.

The lawsuits were brought by Republican states who argued that the Biden administration lacked authority from Congress to enact the SAVE plan — the same states that fought to overturn Biden’s initial debt relief plan last year.

The Department of Education and the White House vowed to fight the rulings.

“We strongly disagree with the Kansas and Missouri District Court rulings, which block components of the SAVE Plan that help student loan borrowers have affordable monthly payments and stay out of default. The Department of Justice will continue to vigorously defend the SAVE Plan,” Education Secretary Miguel Cardona said in a statement late Monday night.

White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre called out Republicans for depriving their constituents of lower student debt payments.

“It’s unfortunate that Republican elected officials and their allies have fought tooth and nail to prevent their constituents from accessing lower payments and a faster path to debt forgiveness — and that courts are now rejecting authority that the Department has applied repeatedly for decades to improve income-driven repayment plans,” she said.

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(WASHINGTON) — Kate Cox, a woman denied an emergency abortion last year in Texas, announced on Monday that she is pregnant again.

Her news comes on the second anniversary of the Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision overruling Roe v. Wade — eliminating the constitutional right to an abortion nationwide.

In December 2023, Cox sued the state of Texas in an attempt to obtain an emergency abortion that she said her doctor deemed necessary to protect her health and her chance of future fertility.

Cox’s fetus was diagnosed with trisomy 18, a condition described as incompatible with life.

The Texas mother of two had said she “desperately” wanted a chance to try for a third child but was in jeopardy of losing her uterus due to Texas’ abortion bans.

The Texas Supreme Court ultimately ruled against Cox, forcing her to leave the state to get an abortion.

“Wanted, prayed-for pregnancy sometimes ends in abortion,” Cox said at a campaign event in Maryland on Monday with Vice President where they called for restoring abortion access.

She had been the guest of first lady Jill Biden at the president’s State of the Union address back n March.

Reflecting on her experience, Cox said, “It was every minute that I stayed pregnant, the risks to my health and to a future pregnancy were growing.” She described her doctor’s assessment as “the most painful thing” she’s ever been told.

“Today, I am happy to share that I’m pregnant again,” she said to cheers and applause.

Cox said she is due in January. She said she hopes, by then, “it will be a world led by Joe Biden and Kamala Harris.”

Cox also thanked Biden and Harris for “fighting tirelessly” for reproductive rights, and urged voters to “restore our reproductive rights” in November.

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(WASHINGTON) — President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris on Monday — the second anniversary of the Supreme Court overruling Roe v. Wade — took the offensive, launching blistering blows against former President Donald Trump on abortion rights, just three days ahead of Thursday’s debate.

“Trump has not denied much less shown remorse for his actions. Instead, he quote, ‘proudly’ takes credit for overturning Roe,” Harris said at an abortion rights rally in Maryland. “My fellow Americans, in a court of law that would be called an admission in the case of the stealing of reproductive freedom from the women of America. Donald Trump is guilty.”

Biden, Harris, the White House, and their campaign worked to center the fight on abortion, an issue that has galvanized voters in both red and blue states over the last two years, and that they view as critical to their chances at reelection in November.

Biden’s surrogates fanned out around the country: Harris was traveling to Arizona for a roundtable on abortion after her Maryland rally; first lady Jill Biden is in Philadelphia for campaign events; and second gentleman Doug Emhoff has three campaign events across Michigan.

Biden himself is not on the trail to mark the Dobbs anniversary; he is instead at Camp David where he has been since last Thursday and is taking part in debate prep with over a dozen aides, including standing for full 90-minutes mock debates, ahead of his showdown with Trump later this week. But the president did comment on abortion access.

“Two years ago today, Donald Trump’s Supreme Court majority ripped away the fundamental freedom for women to access the health care they need and deserve,” Biden said in a statement, adding that “the consequences have been devastating.”

Biden later said, “Donald Trump is the sole person responsible for this nightmare.”

In a video posted to social media, Biden read from a post by Trump taking credit for being able to “kill Roe v. Wade” and said: “Decades of progress shattered just because the last guy got four years in the White House.”

“We know what will happen if he gets another four. For MAGA Republicans, Roe is just the beginning,” Biden argued. “They’re going to try to ban the right to choose nationwide. They’re coming for IVF and birth control next.”

The Biden campaign rolled out a TV ad featuring Kaitlyn Joshua, a woman from Louisiana, telling of her experience with abortion bans and laying blame at Trump’s feet.

“I was right around 11 weeks when I had a miscarriage. The pain that I was feeling was excruciating. And I was turned away from 2 emergency rooms,” Joshua said. “That was a direct result of Donald Trump overturning Roe v. Wade.”

The ad is part of a larger $50 million advertising blitz the campaign rolled out earlier this month.

Over the weekend at a Faith & Freedom conference, Trump continued to boast that he picked three Supreme Court Justices who voted to overrule Roe, saying that although they took a lot of “heat” over the decision, it was the “right” choice.

“I with stood vicious attacks to pick and confirm three great Supreme Court justices,” he said. “We have also achieved what the pro-life movement fought to get for 49 years and we’ve gotten abortion out of the federal government and back to the states.”

The Trump campaign on Monday pushed back on the Biden team’s coordinated messaging against the former president.

Karoline Leavitt, a Trump campaign spokesperson, labeled Biden, Harris and Democrats as “radical extremists” in a statement, accusing them of supporting “taxpayer funded abortions up until birth.”

It’s an accusation the White House flatly denied Monday.

“The president and the vice president do not support abortion up until the time of birth, nor do they support abortion after birth, in fact, that’s not abortion,” Jennifer Klein, the director of the White House Gender Policy Council, said on a call with reporters.

Leavitt, Trump’s spokesperson, also said the Democrats “lie about President Trump’s position on this issue in a desperate attempt to scare voters. The truth is that the Dobbs Decision returned the power back to the people in every respective state to make decisions on the issue of abortion.”

She later added: “President Trump also strongly supports ensuring women have access to the care they need to create healthy families, including widespread access to IVF, birth control, and contraception, and he always will.”

Congressional Republicans this month blocked bills that would protect IVF and contraception, claiming they were Democratic election-year messaging. It’s a move White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre slammed on Monday as “extreme,” “out of touch” and “wrong.”

At her rally, Harris was introduced by Kate Cox, a Texas woman who left her state to get an abortion after being told by her doctor that her life was at risk and who was one of the first lady’s guests at this year’s State of the Union address.

“Today, I’m happy to share that I’m pregnant again,” Cox said to cheers. “I hope that by then, when we welcome our baby to the world, it will be a world led by Joe Biden and Kamala Harris.”

ABC News’ Lalee Ibssa contributed to this report.

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