Politics

(WASHINGTON) — President Joe Biden joined gun control activists Tuesday in pushing forward more initiatives to combat gun violence and trumpeted his administration’s stricter gun laws.

Biden’s prescheduled remarks at the advocacy group Everytown’s Gun Safety University conference in Washington, D.C., came hours after his son Hunter was convicted on three felony counts in his federal gun trial in Delaware.

The president did not mention his son or the case during his remarks Tuesday afternoon.

“Look, folks, you’ve helped power a movement that is turning this cause into reality,” Biden said. “Especially young people who demanded our nation do better and protect us all, who protested, who organized, who voted, who ran for office and yes, who marched for their lives. From my perspective, today is about celebrating you.”

He touted new FBI data that shows overall crime, including violent crime and murder, has fallen in the first three months of 2024 compared to the same period last year.

“The year before I came to the presidency, the murder rate was the highest increase on record. Last year, we saw the largest decrease of murder in the history of it, and those rates are continuing to fall faster than ever,” he said.

Biden later said tackling gun violence has been “a passion of mine for a long, long time,” saying he understood the pain of losing someone.

“I give you my word. I know what that feels [like], that black hole when you receive that phone call. It seems like your black hole in your chest and you’re being sucked into it. Just showing up here and all the work you’ve done takes some courage because it reminds you of the moment you got that phone call,” the president said.

During his remarks, Biden cited several of his administration’s gun control initiatives, including changing federal law to make gun trafficking and straw purchases a federal crime and strengthening gun background checks for people under 21.

“Since the law was passed and implemented, the FBI stopped more than 700 sales of firearms for individuals under 21, and about 20,000 unlicensed firearms dealers are now required to become licensed to run background checks,” the president said.

Biden calls for ban on assault weapons: ‘This time we must actually do something’
Biden noted there is still a way to go, as thousands of innocent lives are lost to gun violence each year.

The president said, in part, that it was again time to “ban assault weapons,” which he has called for the in past — including at this year’s State of the Union address.

“Who in God’s name needs a magazine which can hold 200 shells? Nobody,” Biden said Tuesday.

ABC News’ Fritz Farrow contributed to this report.

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(COLUMBIA, S.C.) — South Carolina’s Department of Education has decided to eliminate Advanced Placement African American Studies in its high schools, saying districts can choose to offer it instead as a locally approved honors course without college credit.

The move has been criticized by free speech and civil rights groups including the NAACP and ACLU South Carolina.

“All students deserve access to a high-quality, inclusive, and accurate education with curricula and school instruction that reflects the experiences and perspectives of allcommunities,” read a letter to the state superintendent from several organizations including the NAACP, the Legal Defense Fund, the Charleston Jewish Federation and others.

South Carolina is the third state to restrict the AP class, following in the footsteps of Arkansas and Florida. The move was announced in a June 4 memo to superintendents and school leaders. The state Department of Education also decided to drop AP Precalculus for the upcoming school year as well.

According to the College Board, which creates AP classes, the African American Studies class is an interdisciplinary course that “examines the diversity of African American experiences through direct encounters with rich and varied sources.”

South Carolina officials said that recent classroom content restrictions being pursued by the state lawmakers have caused “significant controversy” over the course. The memo appears to refer to a bill that would restrict topics concerning race, gender, sexual orientation and more in the classroom.

Another bill being considered in South Carolina could create a state level test to determine whether some materials are “age-appropriate, educationally suitable materials” — which critics say could lead to an increase in book banning efforts by politicized groups.

A College Board spokesperson told ABC News the organization supports districts that choose to teach the course; however, “we regret that students and educators won’t receive the full benefits provided by the state as with other AP courses.”

The spokesperson said it will authorize African American Studies classes as an AP course in South Carolina “if those courses meet college-level standards as verified by the AP program’s standard process,” which could then be marked as Advanced Placement on student transcripts to colleges and universities.

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(TALLAHASSEE, Fla.) — A federal judge has called Florida policies restricting gender-affirming care for minors and adults “unconstitutional,” blocking the state’s policies from being enforced.

“Transgender opponents are of course free to hold their beliefs,” Judge Robert L. Hinkle said in the 105-page decision on Florida’s SB 254 and similar Boards of Medicine rules. “But they are not free to discriminate against transgender individuals just for being transgender.”

Hinkle wrote in his decision Tuesday, that bans on puberty blockers and hormone therapy for minors “even when medically appropriate” for treatment of “gender dysphoria” is “unconstitutional.”

The lawsuit did not challenge the state’s prohibition on surgery for minors and the decision does not address it, Hinkle wrote.

Hinkle also blocked parts of the Florida Board of Medicine and Board of Osteopathic Medicine rules that restrict transgender adult care, including mandatory consent forms that “include false and misleading statements” and “interfere with the physician-patient relationship and an appropriate informed consent process.”

The board’s rules also exclude non-physicians from administering care, require certain procedures and more follow-up appointments for all patients regardless of their individual needs, and more. These restrictions on gender-affirming care treatments, and others, have now been declared unenforcable.

“I’m so relieved the court saw there is no medical basis for this law—it was passed just to target transgender people like me and try to push us out of Florida,” plaintiff Lucien Hamel, an adult transgender patient, said in a statement Tuesday. “This is my home. I’ve lived here my entire life. This is my son’s home. I can’t just uproot my family and move across the country. The state has no place interfering in people’s private medical decisions, and I’m relieved that I can once again get the health care that I need here in Florida.”

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed SB 254 in May 2023.

In a statement to ABC News, DeSantis’ office said that they will appeal the ruling.

“Through their elected representatives, the people of Florida acted to protect children in this state, and the Court was wrong to override their wishes,” the statement read. “We disagree with the Court’s erroneous rulings on the law, on the facts, and on the science. As we’ve seen here in Florida, the United Kingdom, and across Europe, there is no quality evidence to support the chemical and physical mutilation of children.”

Florida’s medical boards passed rules on transgender care in March 2023.

Some supporters of restrictions on gender-affirming care for minors say that young people should wait until they’re older to make these decisions about their health.

The lawsuit, filed in July 2023, against state officials over the policies was brought by families and patients impacted by the decision, who were backed by LGBTQ+ advocacy groups, including the Human Rights Campaign, the National Center for Lesbian Rights, and more.

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(WASHINGTON) — Donald Trump’s 2024 campaign, and many of the former president’s Republican allies, are seizing on Hunter Biden’s conviction to escalate attacks on President Joe Biden.

The Trump team, shortly after the guilty verdict was handed down in the younger Biden’s federal gun trial, sought to shift focus, without evidence, to claims about the family’s alleged foreign business dealings.

“This trial has been nothing more than a distraction from the real crimes of the Biden Crime Family, which has raked in tens of millions of dollars from China, Russia and Ukraine,” Karoline Leavitt, the Trump campaign’s national press secretary, said in a statement. “Crooked Joe Biden’s reign over the Biden Family Criminal Empire is all coming to an end on November 5th, and never again will a Biden sell government access for personal profit.”

House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, who is leading the GOP’s stalled impeachment inquiry into President Biden, offered similar unfounded claims.

“Today’s verdict is a step toward accountability but until the Department of Justice investigates everyone involved in the Bidens’ corrupt influence peddling schemes that generated over $18 million in foreign payments to the Biden family, it will be clear department officials continue to cover for the Big Guy, Joe Biden,” Comer said.

Republicans have long alleged wrongdoing in Hunter Biden and James Biden’s overseas business affairs, and that President Biden was involved, but have yet to yield any concrete evidence against the president.

Rep. Elise Stefanik, the No. 3 House Republican, said the verdict against Hunter Biden was “step one” and that the party “will continue” to investigate the family.

Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, a Florida Republican who supported Trump at his criminal trial in New York, also expressed dissatisfaction with the gun trial charges.

“No one, including Joe Biden’s son, is above the law,” she said. “It’s time the DOJ takes action on Hunter Biden for using his father’s position to make millions of dollars from foreign influence peddling and even lying to Congress about it.”

Hunter Biden was indicted in September by special counsel David Weiss on two counts related to false statements in purchasing the firearm and a third count of illegally obtaining a firearm while addicted to drugs. The indictment came after a plea deal with the federal government fell apart.

The failed plea agreement was highly criticized by Republicans, who on Tuesday to continue to call it a “sweetheart deal.”

“They want you to forget DOJ was giving Hunter Biden a sweetheart deal with FULL immunity for ALL crimes against the United States until the Judge asked questions,” said Sen. Eric Schmitt, a Missouri Republican.

After a weeklong trial, a jury found the younger Biden guilty on all three counts after just three hours of deliberation.

In a statement, his attorney Abbe Lowell said they will continue to pursue legal avenues available to challenge the outcome.

President Biden, in his first comment on the conviction, expressed love for his son and said he respected the verdict and judicial process.

“Jill and I will always be there for Hunter and the rest of our family with our love and support,” President Biden said. “Nothing will ever change that.”

ABC News’ Soorin Kim and Allison Pecorin contributed to this report.

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(WASHINGTON) — Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito and Chief Justice John Roberts had no comment Tuesday after a woman posing as a conservative Catholic allegedly secretly recorded them at a black-tie event last week.

Lauren Windsor — seeking out the justices at the Supreme Court Historical Society’s annual gala — apparently attempted to engage them in the nation’s culture wars.

At one point, the liberal filmmaker started a conversation with Justice Alito, a well-known staunch conservative on the court.

She posted what appears to be edited audio of that exchange on X, detailed in an account first published by Rolling Stone.

ABC News has not authenticated the audio.

In one exchange, Windsor poses a leading question to Alito, suggesting that there can be no compromise between the right and the left.

Alito appears to agree, saying there are fundamental differences that are difficult to resolve.

In the edited recording, Windsor keeps pushing Alito, saying, “people in this country who believe in God have got to keep fighting for that, to return our country to a place of godliness.”

Alito responds, saying, “I agree with you, I agree with you.”

Windsor also posted an exchange with Chief Justice Roberts, a moderate conservative, at the same event, in which she suggests to him that America is a Christian nation.

Roberts pushes back, saying, “Yeah. I don’t know that we live in a Christian nation. I know a lot of Jewish and Muslim friends who would say, maybe not. And it’s not our job to do that. It’s our job to decide the cases as best we can.”

The Supreme Court Historical Society on Tuesday condemned the surreptitious recording of Roberts and Alito at the private gala, where Windsor said tickets cost $500 each.

“The Annual Dinner of the Supreme Court Historical Society is an occasion to recognize and support the educational and historical work of the Society over the last year. Society members are allowed to purchase two tickets, one for themselves and one for a guest,” James C. Defer, the society’s executive director, said in a statement.

“Our policy is to ensure that all attendees, including the Justices, are treated with respect. We condemn the surreptitious recording of Justices at the event, which is inconsistent with the entire spirit of the evening. Attendees are advised that discussion of current cases, cases decided by this Court, or a Justice’s jurisprudence is strictly prohibited and may result in forfeiture of membership in the Society,” he said.

ABC News has reached out to the chambers of the Chief Justice, Justice Alito and the court itself and received no response.

The secret recording controversy comes as the court prepares to release more than a dozen major decisions in the next three weeks and remains under close public scrutiny for its ethical practices and transparency.

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(WASHINGTON) — An extensive search of Justice Department records uncovered no contacts between senior DOJ officials and Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office relating to their state prosecution of former President Donald Trump, a top department official informed House Republicans in a letter Tuesday.

“The Department does not generally make extensive efforts to rebut conspiratorial speculation, including to avoid the risk of lending it credibility,” assistant attorney general Carlos Uriarte said in the letter to the House Judiciary Committee. “However, consistent with the Attorney General’s commitment to transparency, the Department has taken extraordinary steps to confirm what was already clear: there is no basis for these false claims.”

Since Trump’s conviction in the Manhattan DA’s case last month, House Republicans have attempted in various ways to tie his investigation to the Justice Department and GOP Rep. Jim Jordan, who chairs the House Judiciary Committee, has called Bragg to testify.

In a hearing last week, Attorney General Merrick Garland repeatedly rebuked the allegations as baseless and dangerous, pointing to an uptick in threats department officials have seen directly stemming from such conspiracy theories.

Republicans specifically pointed to a former top DOJ official, Matthew Colangelo, who departed the department in December 2022 and later joined Bragg’s prosecution team.

In the letter Tuesday, DOJ said their search included Colangelo’s email account and “did not identify any instances of Mr. Colangelo having email communications with the District Attorney’s office during his time at the Department.”

“Department leadership did not dispatch Mr. Colangelo to the District Attorney’s office, and Department leadership was unaware of his work on the investigation and prosecution involving the former President until it was reported in the news,” Uriarte said.

The letter further notes that any interaction DOJ had with the case was already a matter of public record well before Trump’s conviction at trial — both former President Trump’s legal team and DA Bragg’s office requested documents from the Manhattan U.S. Attorney’s Office which were produced under a protective order.

“In any event, information-sharing between a U.S. Attorney’s Office and local prosecutors is standard and happens every day all over the country,” Uriarte said.

The letter comes as Republicans set the stage for a full House vote this week to hold Garland in contempt for refusing to turn over audio recordings of President Joe Biden’s interview with special counsel Robert Hur.

In stern language rebuking their efforts to undermine the department, Uriarte echoes language from Garland’s appearance before the committee last week, as well as a Washington Post op-ed by Garland out Tuesday morning.

“The self-justifying “perception” asserted by the Committee is completely baseless, but the Committee continues to traffic it widely,” Uriarte said. “As the Attorney General stated at his hearing, the conspiracy theory that the recent jury verdict in New York state court was somehow controlled by the Department is not only false, it is irresponsible. Indeed, accusations of wrongdoing made without—and in fact contrary to—evidence undermine confidence in the justice system and have contributed to increased threats of violence and attacks on career law enforcement officials and prosecutors.”

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(WASHINGTON) — Former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo is speaking Tuesday before a congressional subcommittee about his administration’s response to the coronavirus pandemic, including its highly-scrutinized handling of nursing homes.

The transcribed interview is taking place behind closed doors with the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic. The GOP-led panel issued a subpoena in March for Cuomo, a Democrat, to sit for a deposition.

The former governor arrived at the O’Neill House Office Building shortly before 10 a.m. ET.

“Today is is an opportunity to actually get the truth and the facts out, and I welcome that opportunity,” he told reporters.

He went on to accuse Republicans of weaponizing the justice system to target Democrats over the pandemic, and said he was “proud” of how New York handled the health crisis.

Cuomo’s appearance comes on the heels of the subcommittee’s hearing last week with Dr. Anthony Fauci as Republicans continue to try to put the country’s response to COVID-19 in the spotlight amid a contentious 2024 presidential election cycle.

Fauci defended against Republican criticisms of his leadership and pushed back on their assertions about the origins of the virus.

The questioning of Cuomo is expected to largely focus on his administration’s instruction to nursing homes in the early days of the pandemic to accept residents recovering from the virus after they were discharged from hospitals.

The directive was issued in March 2020 and rescinded weeks later. Cuomo has long defended the policy as having been based on federal guidance, but the move faced criticism that it led to increased deaths in nursing homes.

Cuomo’s administration was also pilloried for having allegedly misreported the overall number of COVID-related deaths at New York nursing homes. At first, officials counted only residents who had died in such facilities, excluding residents who died in hospitals.

Cuomo attributed the discrepancy to a delay as his office prioritized federal requests for data over state requests. Though one of his top aides at the time admitted his office withheld certain numbers due to concerns it would be used against them by the Trump administration.

Chairman Brad Wenstrup, R-Ohio, said Cuomo’s testimony is “crucial to uncover the circumstances that led to his misguided policies and for ensuring that fatal mistakes never happen again.”

“It appears that politics, not medicine, was responsible for these decisions,” Wenstrup said in a in a statement ahead of Tuesday’s testimony. “Former Governor Cuomo owes answers to the 15,000 families who lost loved ones in New York nursing homes during the COVID-19 pandemic.”

Rich Azzopardi, Cuomo’s spokesperson, pushed back on the chairman’s characterizations in a statement to ABC News.

“The Department of Justice has looked at this issue three times, as have the Manhattan District Attorney, the Attorney General and the New York State Assembly, all determining that the actual facts and evidence did not support any claim of wrongdoing, and no MAGA farce of a congressional hearing is going to change that,” Azzopardi said in a statement.

“Despite the politicization of people’s real pain, the facts remain: DOH medical professionals issued its March 25th admissions advisory based on federal CDC and CMS guidance — just as 11 other states — Democrat and Republican — did,” Azzopardi added.

Cuomo, who gained national attention for his often combative performances at multiple COVD-related briefings, was once heralded for his political leadership during COVID but became a pariah in his own party both over the nursing home controversy and later sexual harassment allegations that forced his resignation.

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(WASHINGTON) — House Republicans this week plans to move ahead with a full chamber vote on holding Attorney General Merrick Garland in contempt of Congress for refusing to turn over audio of President Joe Biden’s interview with special counsel Robert Hur on his handling of classified documents.

The Rules Committee will meet Tuesday afternoon to mark up the contempt resolution. If that passes, the resolution then heads to the full House for a vote.

The vote has been in limbo since two House committees — Oversight and Judiciary — voted along party-lines last month to advance a report recommending that Garland be held in contempt.

But it was not clear if Republicans had enough support to clear the measure with their razor-thin majority. Regardless, GOP leadership is plowing ahead this week with a vote in which House Speaker Mike Johnson can afford only two defections if all members are voting and present.

The speaker said in recent weeks he expects the contempt resolution will ultimately clear the House.

While the Department of Justice has made a transcript of Hur’s interview with Biden available to the GOP-led committees, House Republicans argue the audio tapes are necessary to their investigation into the president.

“The purpose of getting the audio tapes of the Biden interview is because the committees have to do their legislation work. They use the audio to evaluate the work and the accuracy of the special counsel. We have the transcript; there should be no surprises here,” Johnson said at a news conference last month.

Before the Judiciary committee last week, Garland continued to defend his decision to not turn over audio tapes of the interview, over which President Biden asserts executive privilege.

“I will not be intimidated. And the Justice Department will not be intimidated. We will continue to do our jobs free from political influence. And we will not back down from defending our democracy,” Garland said at the hearing.

The resolution, if passed, would direct the speaker of the House to refer the case to the U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia for possible criminal prosecution.

In the past, Congress has held Cabinet officials in contempt of Congress for refusing to comply with a House subpoena, including Attorney General William Barr and Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross in 2019 and then-Attorney General Eric Holder in 2012.

Congress held Peter Navarro, a former top trade adviser in the Trump administration, in contempt of Congress in 2022 for defying records and testimony to the now defunct House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.

Navarro was recently sentenced to four months behind bars.

Steve Bannon, a Trump ally who was also held in contempt of Congress in 2022 for not complying with the Jan. 6 select committee, has been ordered to report to jail on July 1.

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(WASHINGTON) — Former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo will appear Tuesday before a congressional subcommittee to speak about his administration’s response to the coronavirus pandemic, including its highly-scrutinized handling of nursing homes.

The transcribed interview will take place behind closed doors with the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic at 10 a.m. ET. The GOP-led panel issued a subpoena in March for Cuomo, a Democrat, to sit for a deposition.

Cuomo’s appearance comes on the heels of the subcommittee’s hearing last week with Dr. Anthony Fauci as Republicans continue to try to put the country’s response to COVID-19 in the spotlight amid a contentious 2024 presidential election cycle.

Fauci defended against Republican criticisms of his leadership and pushed back on their assertions about the origins of the virus.

The questioning of Cuomo is expected to largely focus on his administration’s instruction to nursing homes in the early days of the pandemic to accept residents recovering from the virus after they were discharged from hospitals.

The directive was issued in March 2020 and rescinded weeks later. Cuomo has long defended the policy as having been based on federal guidance, but the move faced criticism that it led to increased deaths in nursing homes.

Cuomo’s administration was also pilloried for having allegedly misreported the overall number of COVID-related deaths at New York nursing homes. At first, officials counted only residents who had died in such facilities, excluding residents who died in hospitals.

Cuomo attributed the discrepancy to a delay as his office prioritized federal requests for data over state requests. Though one of his top aides at the time admitted his office withheld certain numbers due to concerns it would be used against them by the Trump administration.

Chairman Brad Wenstrup, R-Ohio, said Cuomo’s testimony is “crucial to uncover the circumstances that led to his misguided policies and for ensuring that fatal mistakes never happen again.”

“It appears that politics, not medicine, was responsible for these decisions,” Wenstrup said in a in a statement ahead of Tuesday’s testimony. “Former Governor Cuomo owes answers to the 15,000 families who lost loved ones in New York nursing homes during the COVID-19 pandemic.”

Rich Azzopardi, Cuomo’s spokesperson, pushed back on the chairman’s characterizations in a statement to ABC News.

“The Department of Justice has looked at this issue three times, as have the Manhattan District Attorney, the Attorney General and the New York State Assembly, all determining that the actual facts and evidence did not support any claim of wrongdoing, and no MAGA farce of a congressional hearing is going to change that,” Azzopardi said in a statement.

“Despite the politicization of people’s real pain, the facts remain: DOH medical professionals issued its March 25th admissions advisory based on federal CDC and CMS guidance — just as 11 other states — Democrat and Republican — did,” Azzopardi added.

Cuomo, who gained national attention for his often combative performances at multiple COVD-related briefings, was once heralded for his political leadership during COVID but became a pariah in his own party both over the nursing home controversy and later sexual harassment allegations that forced his resignation.

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(WASHINGTON) — Taxpayers will front the majority of first lady Dr. Jill Biden’s travel between Paris, France, and Wilmington, Delaware, last week when she broke away early after D-Day commemorations to attend Hunter Biden’s trial, only to return to Paris a day later.

When officials travel, they fly on military planes, which are paid for by the government. But for personal, unofficial travel, they must reimburse the government for “the full coach fare for all flights,” according to U.S. Code.

According to the National Taxpayers Union Foundation, the cost of the one-way trip from the airport in Paris to the airport in Wilmington, Delaware, is about $111,500, based on an eight-hour flight and the Air Force’s hourly reimbursement rate charged to other federal agencies for use of a Boeing C-32 (the type of plane Dr. Biden usually flies in, for security reasons). Dr. Biden made a round trip from Paris to Wilmington for an estimated $223,000.

The Air Force lists the reimbursable rate for use of this aircraft at $13,816 per hour. It is unclear what percentage of the total cost would be covered by the reimbursable rate that the Air Force charges other federal agencies for the use of the aircraft.

The Democratic National Committee will reimburse the value of two first-class tickets for the two trips she made in between the two cities, according to a DNC spokesperson, although when asked by ABC News, they did not specify how much that would be.

The DNC spokesperson did tell ABC News what they will pay is in line with what they are supposed to by law at the “specified rate.”

The cost of a first-class ticket from Paris to Wilmington is $6,655, per a search on Google flights, which would suggest the DNC will pay $13,310 instead of the full $223,000. That leaves an outstanding balance of around $209,690 to be paid for out of taxpayer funds.

Dr. Biden has been in the courtroom for most of Hunter Biden’s trial, missing only one day to commemorate the 80th anniversary of D-Day in Normandy last Thursday. That night she flew back to Wilmington to be at her son’s trial on Friday. She flew back to Paris in time for a state visit on Saturday. President Joe Biden remained in France for the 80th anniversary commemoration.

The White House and the first lady’s office did not respond to a request for comment.

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