Politics

(MILWAUKEE, W.I.) — It had been less than 48 hours since the attempted assassination attempt against former President Donald Trump, and for four Wisconsin voters, it was yet another sign of how divided the nation has become.

Valori Schmidt, a Republican living in Milwaukee, described the shooting at the former president’s Pennsylvania rally as a “wake-up call.”

“Unfortunately, it wasn’t necessarily a surprise because the climate of hatred has escalated to such a high level,” Schmidt said. “The wake up call is we must take the temperature down. We must become more civil, and we must start being factual and not not name calling and just saying awful things about one another.”

Next to her, Gary Berns, a fellow Milwaukeean who votes Democrat, replied: “I can’t disagree with that.”

Berns and Schmidt, joined by other local residents Julie Buckholt and Charlene Abughrin, sat down with ABC News at Miss Katie’s Diner just as the Republican National Convention was kicking off in their hometown.

At times, their conversation showed clear divides between the parties — especially when it came to the two presidential candidates vying for their votes come November: President Joe Biden and former president Trump.

“As far as the loudness and the anger calling, I mean he brings that on himself,” Berns said of Trump. Schmidt later countered that Trump, “has been vilified as a Hitler, as an anti-American, as an extremist … it’s been nonstop from all aspects.”

Abughrin, a former Democrat who has supported Trump since 2016, jumped into say Americans should be able to express their views without it devolving into dangerous scenarios.

“We have freedom of speech. This is America, right? And so with that all of us being adults, we should be able to agree to disagree without it leading to violent acts like an adult,” she said.

Trump 2016 versus Trump 2024

Abughrin said Trump is “better” than he was eight years ago because he’s learned from his past experiences and will be able to be more effective.

“He’s going in it with eyes open this time,” she said. “And so I think he’ll just be definitely do that much more for the community.”

Schmidt, also a Republican, had a similar view.

“He wasn’t a politician when he got in, and certainly, there’s probably things he would say, ‘Oh, maybe I won’t do that again,'” she said. “But I tell you what, Saturday night did one thing that people should have taken note. He got up because he wanted the people to know. ‘I’m okay.’ We’re in this. … I thought it showed his leadership and his faculties, I mean it was unbelievable.”

Berns and Buckholt, meanwhile, expressed concern about a possible second Trump term.

“I think Donald Trump is a worst candidate,” Berns said, “because if he’s gonna be elected with a stack Supreme Court, he knows what you can get away with in the courts, what the back and forth. So I just think it’d be a terrible thing.”

Buckholt said she agreed with Berns, and explicitly expressed concern about Project 2025 — a sweeping plan to overhaul the federal government proposed by a closely aligned conservative group.

“I believe it’s going to be worse for all of us,” she said.

Biden’s age and the CNN debate

Both Berns and Buckholt, the two Democrats, conceded that they believe Biden is too old to run for office.

“Yes I believe that he is too old. But I also believe he’s still able to do the job,” said Buckholt. “I believe that Trump is also too old. And if we talk about mental capacity I believe that [Biden] still there mentally and can do the job.”

The group then engaged in back and forth over Biden’s age and whether it impacts his mental fitness.

“He had a bad debate,” Bukcholt said of Biden’s performance. “He wasn’t feeling well, we all have bad days … I think he’s an honest man, I really do. And we need an honest man in office.”

America’s divisiveness

“How could we become less divided? That’s a really tough question,” Berns said.

“I think it is turning down the temperature,” he continued. “I think it’s no more name calling. It’s no more telling if the other person is elected, the world’s gonna end. I think we need to go back to talking policies, and not nothing else. That’s what matters. I think that will help.”

Everyone appeared in agreement.

Abughrin said she “100%” agreed that Americnas should “stick to the policy, stick to the topics, no more the mudslinging.”

Buckholt said the country’s become so fraught that sometimes families can’t talk to each other.

“Families are divided,” she said. “You can’t even have family get-togethers because you have arguments and fights, people walking out. So I also think that this needs to start at home with families and they need to listen to each other.”

“We need to stop trying to absolutely portray people as someone that people — all people — would be afraid to meet on the sidewalk,” said Schmidt. “We just need to get to the issues and verify our sources research, do not be a puppet for what you’ve heard or someone’s said or even a segment ont he news.”

Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(WASHINGTON) — Vice President Kamala Harris in a short video released early Wednesday said former President Donald Trump’s new running mate, Sen. J.D. Vance, will act as a “rubber stamp” for Trump and his “extreme” agenda.

“Donald Trump has picked his new running mate: J.D. Vance. Trump looked for someone he knew would be a rubber stamp for his extreme agenda,” Harris said in the video. “Make no mistake: J.D. Vance will be loyal only to Trump, not to our country.”

Harris called out Vance for saying he wouldn’t have certified the 2020 election results, a comment he made in an interview with ABC News.

She compared him to former Vice President Mike Pence, saying that Vance “would have carried out Trump’s plan to overturn the 2020 election.”

She also called him out for supporting a national abortion ban and for voting against protections for IVF in the Senate.

“And if elected, he will help implement the extreme Project 2025 plan for a second Trump term, which would target critical programs like Head Start and Medicare,” Harris said.

She added, “But we are not going to let that happen.”

Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(WASHINGTON) — With Sen. Bob Menendez having been found guilty by a jury, calls for him to resign are coming from the highest levels, including Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer.

But Menendez, at least for the time being, continues to hold his position as New Jersey’s senior senator.

Here’s what we know about what might happen to Sen. Menendez’s Senate seat.

Not required to resign
There’s no law that says Menendez cannot serve in the Senate despite a guilty conviction.

He can technically continue to serve until he is up for reelection if he so chooses not to step aside.

It was not immediately clear whether Menendez, who is currently running to reclaim his seat as an independent, will heed calls from fhis fellow New Jersey lawmakers and Senate leaders to resign.

If he chooses to hold on to his seat, the Senate does have a constitutionally-mandated option on disciplining its members: expulsion.

Expelling Menendez would require a vote of two thirds of the Senate. A senator would need to bring forward a resolution to expel him and then work it through the floor process. It’s unclear if there would be the votes necessary to expel him at this time.

Some Democratic senators are opening the door to an expulsion vote, however.

Sen. Bob Casey, D-Pa., for example, said in a post on X that Menendez should “resign or face expulsion from the Senate.”

If the Senate did manage to successfully expel Menendez, it would be truly historic. Only 21 members of Congress have ever been expelled and the Senate has expelled only 15 members. Fourteen of them were expelled during the Civil War for supporting the Confederacy.

There have been other instances when expulsion was considered, but the Senate either dropped the matter or the member left office before a vote. The last case of a senator being formally expelled from the upper chamber happerned in 1862.

Six House members have been expelled: Three of them were expelled for supporting the Confederacy, two of them Democrats. Rep. George Santos, who was booted from his House seat in December, made history as the first Republican House member to be expelled.

Menendez already voluntarily gave up his position as Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in September. It’s unclear what if any security clearances Menendez currently holds, but his conviction could affect his ability to hold a clearance.

If he resigns or is expelled, Governor Phil Murphy chooses his replacement
Menendez is up for reelection this fall, so New Jersey Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy would be responsible for appointing someone to temporarily fill the vacancy left by Menendez until his term expires.

Murphy issued a statement shortly after the jury announced its verdict in Menendez’s case reiterating his calls for Menendez to resign and calling on the Senate to act if he does not.

“I reiterate my call for Senator Menendez to resign immediately after being found guilty of endangering national security and the integrity of our criminal justice system,” Murphy said. “If he refuses to vacate his office, I call on the U.S. Senate to vote to expel him. In the event of a vacancy, I will exercise my duty to make a temporary appointment to ensure the people of New Jersey have the representation they deserve.”

The already-scheduled election would go forward as usual this November to select a new permanent replacement for Menendez who would then be installed in January.

Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

The second day of the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee gets underway Tuesday afternoon after a dramatic appearance Monday night by the party’s new nominee — former President Donald Trump — wearing a bandage on his ear where he was wounded in an assassination attempt two days before.

Among the featured speakers — a late add — will be Trump’s former primary rival — former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley — who once called Trump a “catastrophe.” She now is expected to stress Trump’s new theme of “unity.”

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Vance walks RNC floor with Don Jr.
JD Vance returned to the RNC convention Tuesday afternoon and walked the floor.

He was accompanied by Donald Trump Jr., but did not answer shouted questions from the press.

-ABC News’ Hannah Demissie

Trump meets with Boris Johnson
Trump posted an image on his social media platform on Tuesday posing with former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson.

“Nice meeting with Former Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, a very fine guy!” Trump posted.

It’s not clear if Johnson will be attending RNC events on Tuesday.

Trump senior advisor doubles down on Trump’s support for Second Amendment
Former President Donald Trump campaign’s senior adviser Chris LaCivita spoke at a panel hosted by pro-Second Amendment group USCCA on Tuesday morning updating the crowd about Trump’s recovery and message of unity.

LaCivita said both Trump and himself are supporters of the Second Amendment and reiterated the former president’s messaging has always been to allow law-abiding citizens the ability to carry firearms to protect themselves and their families.

“It’s also really important in this election, because Biden has made it clear he wants to ban them,” LaCivita said. “There are so many things that you can do to curb the problem of individuals as opposed to trying to ban what is clearly… a right.”

-ABC News’ Kelsey Walsh, Lalee Ibssa and Soorin Kim

Trump, Vance to hold campaign rally in Michigan
Trump’s campaign announced that he and JD Vance will be holding a rally in Grand Rapids, Michigan, on Saturday.

This will mark their first rally together and the first one after Trump’s assassination attempt. The rally will take place in an indoor venue.

-ABC News’ Lalee Ibssa and Soorin Kim

There’s Trump merchandise galore at RNC
Merchandise abounds outside of the convention center, with official RNC-branded souvenirs sold inside the Fiserv Forum. The signature red “MAGA” hat is sold at all of them, but all of the vendors have slightly different stock.

A vendor outside of the main security line was selling shirts with the now-iconic photo after the assassination attempt of former President Donald Trump, while another inside of the security perimeter sold T-shirts that declared “I’m voting for the felon.”

The official RNC store features T-shirts with Trump’s mugshot along with more niche merchandise such as Christmas ornaments.

-ABC News’ Diana Paulsen

Ramaswamy says ‘national unity is important,’ will be focus of his speech tonight
Vivek Ramaswamy, a high-profile businessman and former 2024 Republican presidential primary candidate, told reporters in a brief gaggle on Tuesday morning that he plans on striking themes of unity during his remarks he’s set to give on Tuesday night at the convention’s main session.

Ramaswamy said his focus on national unity might come as a surprise to some viewers and listeners.

“It may not be the message that everyone expects to hear from me, but I do think that this message of national unity is important,” he said.

He added that he strives for an “authentic” version of unity.

“I don’t want to fake national unity — not some astroturf, artificial kind — but the real thing. Authentic national unity, not one that pretends that we agree on everything, because we don’t. But that we are the country where we can still disagree like hell and still have dinner at the end of it.”

-ABC News’ Steven Portnoy

2024 issues Wisconsin voters said they care about the most

Wisconsin voters spoke with ABC News about what issues matter most to them this election as the RNC happens in their backyard. They include inflation, border, health care and democracy.

Republican voter Valori Schmidt, 68 and a retired teacher, said the border mattered most to her.

“We cannot sustain America on this massive influx of immigrants,” she said. “And then they’re everywhere that we don’t know. I want — I love the American dream. I love immigration coming in the correct door, the correct way.”

-ABC News’ Alexandra Hutzler

Trump elevates an ally in JD Vance and sets the course of the GOP’s future: ANALYSIS

Former President Donald Trump pick of Sen. J.D. Vance as his vice president is helping set the course of the Republican Party’s future.

With the selection of Vance as his running mate, it give the first-term senator a massive platform to help steer the party at the end of a hypothetical Trump term in 2029 — and even a leg up if he were to then seek the top job himself.

“Trump wants to make sure MAGA outlives him,” said Dan Eberhart, a Trump donor, referencing the “Make America Great Again” mantra that the former president popularized. “I think that was a big part of the choice.”

-ABC News’ Tal Axelrod

Liz Cheney blasts Trump’s pick of JD Vance as VP

Former Wyoming GOP Rep. Liz Cheney, one of Donald Trump’s most vocal critics, is blasting his selection of J.D. Vance as his pick for vice president in a post on X — slamming his stance on the 2020 election and contrasting it with that of Trump’s former running mate Mike Pence.

She said with Vance on the ticket, the Republican Party is no longer one of “Lincoln, Reagan or the Constitution.”

“JD Vance has pledged he would do what Mike Pence wouldn’t – overturn an election and illegally seize power. He says the president can ignore the rulings of our courts. He would capitulate to Russia and sacrifice the freedom of our allies in Ukraine. The Trump GOP is no longer the party of Lincoln, Reagan or the Constitution,” Cheney wrote.

Her post quoted a earlier post she wrote in February in which she claimed “Neither Trump nor Vance is fit to serve.”

“Yesterday, @JDVance1 claimed that Trump could defy rulings of the Supreme Court as President. Vance also admitted he would have done what VP Pence refused to do on January 6th—help Trump illegally seize power. That’s tyranny. Neither Trump nor Vance is fit to serve.,” Cheney wrote then.

-ABC’s Isabella Murray

Nikki Haley among tonight’s featured speakers as GOP stresses ‘unity’

Following a memorable day with former President Donald Trump selecting Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance as his running mate, the convention is off to a rolling start.
Tuesday’s theme is “Make America Safe Again” and speakers will focus on crime, fentanyl, and illegal immigration.

As the Trump campaign tries to capitalize on Trump’s new message of “unity,” Nikki Haley, Trump’s former bitter primary rival, will speak. Originally, Haley was not offered a slot, but was added the day after the attempted assassination> of Trump Saturday at his rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.

–ABC’s Kelsey Walsh

Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(WASHINGTON) — The U.S. Secret Service in recent weeks had increased Donald Trump’s security detail due to intelligence indicating there was an Iranian threat to assassinate the former president, according to three officials familiar with the matter.

There is no indication the plot was related to the assassination attempt against the former president on Saturday.

The sources have suggested Iran has been making these types of threats since the assassination of Iranian military officer Qasem Soleimani in January 2020.

CNN was first to report the increased detail.

“These accusations are baseless and biased,” according to the representation of Iran in the United States. “From the perspective of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Trump is a criminal who should be tried and punished in court for ordering the assassination of General Soleimani.”

It added, “Iran has chosen the legal path to hold him accountable.”

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.

Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(WASHINGTON) — With Amazon Prime Day in full swing, a report released this week by a Senate committee claims the two-day promotional event is a “major cause of injuries” for workers at the retailer’s warehouses.

The interim report from the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) accuses Amazon of understaffing its warehouses during peak shopping periods, including Prime Day, and “endangering workers who have to manage increased volume without increased support.”

“Amazon warehouses are especially unsafe during Prime Day and the holiday season — and the company knows it,” the report states.

The Senate HELP Committee’s interim report, released Monday, is the result of a year-long investigation into safety protocols at Amazon’s warehouses. The committee said it’s the first time that internal Amazon data about warehouse injury rates, from the years 2019 and 2020, is being made public.

The investigation found nearly 45 out of every 100 warehouse workers — almost half — were injured during Amazon Prime Day in 2019.

That includes minor injuries such as bruises and cuts, as well as more serious injuries like torn rotator cuffs and concussions, according to the report.

“Amazon must be held accountable for the horrendous working conditions at its warehouses and substantially reduce its injury rates,” Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., the committee chair and a fierce Amazon critic, said Tuesday in a statement.

In a statement to ABC News, Amazon strongly disputed the report’s findings.

“We’ve cooperated throughout this investigation, including providing thousands of pages of information and documents. But unfortunately, this report (which was not shared with us before publishing) ignores our progress and paints a one-sided, false narrative using only a fraction of the information we’ve provided. It draws sweeping and inaccurate conclusions based on unverified anecdotes, and it misrepresents documents that are several years old and contained factual errors and faulty analysis,” Amazon spokesperson Kelly Nantel said.

“We carefully plan and staff up for major events, ensure that we have excess capacity across our network, and design our network so that orders are automatically routed to sites that can handle unexpected spikes in volume,” she added.

The HELP Committee’s report also accused the retail giant of under-recording warehouse injuries by refusing to refer workers to outside medical care — a claim Amazon denies.

In its statement, Amazon said it has reduced its recordable incident rate (anything that requires more than basic first aid) in the United States by 28% and significant injuries by 75% since 2019.

Amazon brought in a record $12.7 billion in sales over the two days of its Prime Day event in 2023, according to Adobe Analytics.

The information released Monday comes as part of an ongoing investigation into Amazon’s warehouse safety practices that Sanders launched last June.

Sanders at the time sent a letter to Amazon CEO Andy Jassy, which alleged that Amazon’s “quest for profits at all costs has led to unsafe physical environments, intense pressure to work at unsustainable rates, and inadequate medical attention for tens of thousands of Amazon workers every year.”

At the time, Sanders opened a portal to call for Amazon workers to submit their stories about their time at the company to help in investigations.

Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(NEW YORK) — Sen. Bob Menendez was found guilty on all counts Tuesday in his federal corruption trial.

Federal prosecutors in New York alleged the New Jersey Democrat accepted hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes in the form of cash, gold bars, mortgage payments and more in exchange for the senator’s political clout. Three New Jersey businessmen who were also charged, along with the governments of Egypt and Qatar, were the alleged recipients. Two of those co-defendants, Wael Hanna and Fred Daibes, were also convicted of all counts they faced.

The jury deliberated for about 13 hours over three days.

Menendez pleaded not guilty to 16 federal charges including bribery, fraud, acting as a foreign agent and obstruction.

Prosecutors claimed Menendez, 70, “put his power up for sale” in exchange for the gold, envelopes stuffed with money, checks to his wife for a no-show job and a Mercedes-Benz convertible. The FBI found gold bars and more than $400,000 in cash stashed in places including jackets and shoes throughout his home, prosecutors said

“It wasn’t enough for him to be one of the most powerful people in Washington,” federal prosecutor Paul Monteleoni said during his closing argument on July 8. “Robert Menendez wanted all that power and he also wanted to use it to pile up riches for himself and his wife.”

The defense, meanwhile, maintained that all of the actions in the indictment fell within the scope of Menendez’s position and that prosecutors failed to prove he took any bribes.

During his closing argument, defense attorney Adam Fee mocked the government’s case as “cherry-picked nonsense” and accused prosecutors of “fudging” the facts.

“The only honest verdict I submit here is to acquit him on each count,” Fee told the jury on July 9. “His actions were lawful, normal and good for the country.”

Menendez declined to testify in his own defense. While leaving court after the defense rested its case on July 3, he told reporters, “From my perspective, the government has failed to prove every aspect of its case.”

He said he expected his lawyers to present a “convincing and powerful summation” and that the jury would find him not guilty.

Prosecutors told the jury that Menendez promised to use his power to help Egypt. According to the indictment, the arrangement was brokered by Hana, a New Jersey businessman and friend of Menendez’s wife, Nadine, who prosecutors said received the senator’s help preserving a halal meat monopoly.

Menendez was also accused of receiving a $60,000 Mercedes-Benz convertible in exchange for help disrupting a case by the New Jersey Attorney General’s Office.

Prosecutors said that in the spring of 2019, another New Jersey businessman, Jose Uribe, who pleaded guilty in the case, handed Nadine $15,000 in cash that she used as a down payment for the car. She texted Menendez, “Congratulations. We are the proud owners of a 2019 Mercedes,” according to prosecutors. Uribe kept making the monthly payments, prosecutors said.

Prosecutors claimed the senator promised a third businessman, Daibes, that he would interfere with Daibes’ federal prosecution and help the government of Qatar by supporting a Senate resolution praising the country.

Daibes’ fingerprints were found on the envelopes of cash found at Menendez’s home and serial numbers on the gold bars traced them to Daibes and Hana, according to prosecutors.

During the two months of testimony, jurors heard his sister explain why Menendez was caught with wads of cash stuffed into his embroidered congressional jacket: “It’s a Cuban thing,” Caridad Gonzalez said.

The defense also told jurors that Menendez and his wife, who has also been charged in the case, led separate lives and she had financial concerns that she kept from her husband.

Daibes and Hana pleaded not guilty to their charges. Uribe pleaded guilty and testified against the three defendants during the trial.

Menendez’s wife has pleaded not guilty to her charges and will be tried separately in August due to a medical condition. She is battling Grade 3 breast cancer, the senator revealed in mid-May at the beginning of the trial.

Menendez, who has served as senator for New Jersey since 2006, is the first sitting member of Congress to be charged with conspiracy by a public official to act as a foreign agent.

In June, he filed a petition to get on the U.S. Senate ballot in New Jersey as an independent candidate.

He refused to resign, though he did step down as the chairman of the powerful Senate Foreign Relations Committee following the initial indictment in September 2023.

This marked the second time the senator was charged with corruption. A 2015 indictment ended in a mistrial in 2018 after a jury failed to reach a verdict on all counts.

Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(NEW YORK) — Sen. Bob Menendez was found guilty on all counts Tuesday in his federal corruption trial.

Federal prosecutors in New York alleged the New Jersey Democrat accepted hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes in the form of cash, gold bars, mortgage payments and more in exchange for the senator’s political clout. Three New Jersey businessmen who were also charged, along with the governments of Egypt and Qatar, were the alleged recipients. Two of those co-defendants, Wael Hanna and Fred Daibes, were also convicted of all counts they faced.

The jury deliberated for about 13 hours over three days.

Menendez pleaded not guilty to 16 federal charges including bribery, fraud, acting as a foreign agent and obstruction.

Majority Leader Sen. Chuck Schumer called for his resignation immediately after the verdict.

“In light of this guilty verdict, Senator Menendez must now do what is right for his constituents, the Senate, and our country, and resign,” he said.

Menendez will be sentenced on Oct. 29 and faces decades in prison.

Prosecutors claimed Menendez, 70, “put his power up for sale” in exchange for the gold, envelopes stuffed with money, checks to his wife for a no-show job and a Mercedes-Benz convertible. The FBI found gold bars and more than $400,000 in cash stashed in places including jackets and shoes throughout his home, prosecutors said.

“It wasn’t enough for him to be one of the most powerful people in Washington,” federal prosecutor Paul Monteleoni said during his closing argument on July 8. “Robert Menendez wanted all that power and he also wanted to use it to pile up riches for himself and his wife.”

The defense, meanwhile, maintained that all of the actions in the indictment fell within the scope of Menendez’s position and that prosecutors failed to prove he took any bribes.

During his closing argument, defense attorney Adam Fee mocked the government’s case as “cherry-picked nonsense” and accused prosecutors of “fudging” the facts.

“The only honest verdict I submit here is to acquit him on each count,” Fee told the jury on July 9. “His actions were lawful, normal and good for the country.”

Menendez declined to testify in his own defense. While leaving court after the defense rested its case on July 3, he told reporters, “From my perspective, the government has failed to prove every aspect of its case.”

He said he expected his lawyers to present a “convincing and powerful summation” and that the jury would find him not guilty.

Prosecutors told the jury that Menendez promised to use his power to help Egypt. According to the indictment, the arrangement was brokered by Hana, a New Jersey businessman and friend of Menendez’s wife, Nadine, who prosecutors said received the senator’s help preserving a halal meat monopoly.

Menendez was also accused of receiving a $60,000 Mercedes-Benz convertible in exchange for help disrupting a case by the New Jersey Attorney General’s Office.

Prosecutors said that in the spring of 2019, another New Jersey businessman, Jose Uribe, who pleaded guilty in the case, handed Nadine $15,000 in cash that she used as a down payment for the car. She texted Menendez, “Congratulations. We are the proud owners of a 2019 Mercedes,” according to prosecutors. Uribe kept making the monthly payments, prosecutors said.

Prosecutors claimed the senator promised a third businessman, Daibes, that he would interfere with Daibes’ federal prosecution and help the government of Qatar by supporting a Senate resolution praising the country.

Daibes’ fingerprints were found on the envelopes of cash found at Menendez’s home and serial numbers on the gold bars traced them to Daibes and Hana, according to prosecutors.

During the two months of testimony, jurors heard his sister explain why Menendez was caught with wads of cash stuffed into his embroidered congressional jacket: “It’s a Cuban thing,” Caridad Gonzalez said.

The defense also told jurors that Menendez and his wife, who has also been charged in the case, led separate lives and she had financial concerns that she kept from her husband.

Daibes and Hana pleaded not guilty to their charges. Uribe pleaded guilty and testified against the three defendants during the trial.

Menendez’s wife has pleaded not guilty to her charges and will be tried separately in August due to a medical condition. She is battling Grade 3 breast cancer, the senator revealed in mid-May at the beginning of the trial.

Menendez, who has served as senator for New Jersey since 2006, is the first sitting member of Congress to be charged with conspiracy by a public official to act as a foreign agent.

In June, he filed a petition to get on the U.S. Senate ballot in New Jersey as an independent candidate.

He refused to resign, though he did step down as the chairman of the powerful Senate Foreign Relations Committee following the initial indictment in September 2023.

This marked the second time the senator was charged with corruption. A 2015 indictment ended in a mistrial in 2018 after a jury failed to reach a verdict on all counts.

Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

The second day of the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee gets underway Tuesday afternoon after a dramatic appearance Monday night by the party’s new nominee — former President Donald Trump — wearing a bandage on his ear where he was wounded in an assassination attempt two days before.

Among the featured speakers — a late add — will be Trump’s former primary rival — former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley — who once called Trump a “catastrophe.” She now is expected to stress Trump’s new theme of “unity.”

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Ramaswamy says ‘national unity is important,’ will be focus of his speech tonight
Vivek Ramaswamy, a high-profile businessman and former 2024 Republican presidential primary candidate, told reporters in a brief gaggle on Tuesday morning that he plans on striking themes of unity during his remarks he’s set to give on Tuesday night at the convention’s main session.

Ramaswamy said his focus on national unity might come as a surprise to some viewers and listeners.

“It may not be the message that everyone expects to hear from me, but I do think that this message of national unity is important,” he said.

He added that he strives for an “authentic” version of unity.

“I don’t want to fake national unity — not some astroturf, artificial kind — but the real thing. Authentic national unity, not one that pretends that we agree on everything, because we don’t. But that we are the country where we can still disagree like hell and still have dinner at the end of it.”

-ABC News’ Steven Portnoy

2024 issues Wisconsin voters said they care about the most

Wisconsin voters spoke with ABC News about what issues matter most to them this election as the RNC happens in their backyard. They include inflation, border, health care and democracy.

Republican voter Valori Schmidt, 68 and a retired teacher, said the border mattered most to her.

“We cannot sustain America on this massive influx of immigrants,” she said. “And then they’re everywhere that we don’t know. I want — I love the American dream. I love immigration coming in the correct door, the correct way.”

-ABC News’ Alexandra Hutzler

Trump elevates an ally in JD Vance and sets the course of the GOP’s future: ANALYSIS

Former President Donald Trump pick of Sen. J.D. Vance as his vice president is helping set the course of the Republican Party’s future.

With the selection of Vance as his running mate, it give the first-term senator a massive platform to help steer the party at the end of a hypothetical Trump term in 2029 — and even a leg up if he were to then seek the top job himself.

“Trump wants to make sure MAGA outlives him,” said Dan Eberhart, a Trump donor, referencing the “Make America Great Again” mantra that the former president popularized. “I think that was a big part of the choice.”

-ABC News’ Tal Axelrod

Liz Cheney blasts Trump’s pick of JD Vance as VP

Former Wyoming GOP Rep. Liz Cheney, one of Donald Trump’s most vocal critics, is blasting his selection of J.D. Vance as his pick for vice president in a post on X — slamming his stance on the 2020 election and contrasting it with that of Trump’s former running mate Mike Pence.

She said with Vance on the ticket, the Republican Party is no longer one of “Lincoln, Reagan or the Constitution.”

“JD Vance has pledged he would do what Mike Pence wouldn’t – overturn an election and illegally seize power. He says the president can ignore the rulings of our courts. He would capitulate to Russia and sacrifice the freedom of our allies in Ukraine. The Trump GOP is no longer the party of Lincoln, Reagan or the Constitution,” Cheney wrote.

Her post quoted a earlier post she wrote in February in which she claimed “Neither Trump nor Vance is fit to serve.”

“Yesterday, @JDVance1 claimed that Trump could defy rulings of the Supreme Court as President. Vance also admitted he would have done what VP Pence refused to do on January 6th—help Trump illegally seize power. That’s tyranny. Neither Trump nor Vance is fit to serve.,” Cheney wrote then.

-ABC’s Isabella Murray

Nikki Haley among tonight’s featured speakers as GOP stresses ‘unity’

Following a memorable day with former President Donald Trump selecting Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance as his running mate, the convention is off to a rolling start.
Tuesday’s theme is “Make America Safe Again” and speakers will focus on crime, fentanyl, and illegal immigration.

As the Trump campaign tries to capitalize on Trump’s new message of “unity,” Nikki Haley, Trump’s former bitter primary rival, will speak. Originally, Haley was not offered a slot, but was added the day after the attempted assassination> of Trump Saturday at his rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.

–ABC’s Kelsey Walsh

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(NEW YORK) — A federal judge’s decision Monday to dismiss Donald Trump’s classified documents case elevated a widely disputed theory about the legitimacy of special counsels to derail one of the most serious legal threats faced by the former president, legal experts told ABC News.

Judge Aileen Cannon ruled that special counsel Jack Smith’s appointment “breaches two structural cornerstones of our constitutional scheme” because Congress did not authorize Smith’s appointment and funding.

The decision — a major victory for Trump on the heels of the Supreme Court decision that broadened the scope of presidential immunity — not only sidelined the former president’s documents case, but also could upend the longstanding practice of appointing special counsels to independently conduct investigations and bring charges, experts told ABC News.

“Special prosecutors like Smith have been the norm for decades,” said Pace University School of Law professor Bennett Gershman. “It’s never been held by the court in any of these cases that the special prosecutor had to be first created by Congress before the President.”

A spokesperson for the special counsel said the Department of Justice has authorized an appeal of the ruling, which could trigger a lengthy process that could bring Cannon’s decision all the way to the Supreme Court for review.

“I’m sure that Jack Smith will … seek an expedited appeal,” said former federal prosecutor Josh Naftalis. “This is probably another Supreme Court case, for better or for worse.”

If the appeal continues through January and Trump becomes president, he could direct his own Justice Department to drop the case — killing the appeal.

A ‘bizarre’ ruling

Some legal experts ABC News spoke with said they weren’t surprised with Cannon’s decision to dismiss the classified documents case, pointing to Cannon’s previous rulings that favored the former president.

“It’s completely expected,” Michael Gerhard, a constitutional scholar at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, told ABC News. “[Cannon] has had a pattern for some time of issuing rulings that favor Trump, and it’s also been expected she would do whatever she could to help Trump.”

David Sklansky, a law professor at Stanford Law, called the decision “not exactly a surprise” but expects the decision to be reversed.

“It’s hard to see the great constitutional principle that the judge thinks that she’s defending,” Sklansky said of Cannon’s position, which rejected longstanding Supreme Court precedent dating back to the Nixon administration.

Stanford law professor Robert Weisber described the dismissal of the case as “bizarre” because other courts have largely rejected similar arguments.

“A quick look at Cannon’s ruling suggests that she engaged in a pretty bizarre form of statutory interpretation to find that they didn’t authorize Smith’s appointment,” said Weisber. “There’s been a general understanding for decades now … that this sort of special counsel appointment is perfectly legitimate.”

The Thomas factor

It was in February that Trump’s team first filed their motion to dismiss the case based on Smith’s appointment. Five months later, following a two-day hearing last month, Cannon dismissed the case Monday in a 93-page order.

On three occasions in her ruling, Cannon referenced Justice Clarence Thomas’ concurring opinion in the Supreme Court’s recent ruling on presidential immunity, in which he questioned Smith’s authority as special counsel.

“It seems like Judge Cannon accepted Justice Thomas’ invitation and concurrence to kick this on these grounds,” said former federal prosecutor Jarrod Schaeffer.

“Justice Thomas’s concurrence is really providing her with the rationale that she needed to get rid of the case,” said Michael Gerhardt, a constitutional scholar at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

A new judge?

If Smith’s appeal is successful, the case could be remanded back to the District Court to proceed to trial, according to Schaeffer. That could provide an opportunity to have a new judge oversee the case.

According to Shaeffer, Smith could ask the Court of Appeals or the District Court to disqualify Cannon from the case by proving “her impartiality might reasonably be questioned.”

The bar for disqualification itself is high — including proving a judge’s personal bias or conflict of interest — so legal experts appear to be split over the odds of getting a new judge assigned to the case.

“She hasn’t really done anything that suggests that she’s so out of line that she does not have the ability and the fitness to oversee the case,” said Gershman. “Although I disagree with everything she’s done in so many areas, I don’t know that Smith has enough of a case that she should be recused.”

Justin Levitt, a professor at Loyola Marymount University, said that Smith might be able to highlight a pattern of conduct based on past rulings and conduct in court that suggests she is partial to Trump.

“I think there’s a pattern that’s developing that is quite troublesome,” Levitt said.

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