Politics

(WASHINGTON) — House Speaker Mike Johnson is going on the offense in an effort to save his speakership after fellow Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene filed a motion to oust him just months after he ascended to the position.

The motion to vacate, which was raised just before the chamber broke for recess, is a “distraction” for Republicans, Johnson said in an interview with Fox News on Sunday.

“I think that all of my other Republican colleagues recognize this is a distraction from our mission,” Johnson said. “Again, the mission is to save the Republic. And the only way we can do that is if we grow the House Majority, win the Senate and win the White House. So we don’t need any dissension right now.

The House is not expected to take up that resolution, because it was not submitted as “privileged.” Johnson said he has been texting with Greene and expects to meet with her early next week when the House returns.

“Marjorie is a friend. She is very frustrated about, for example, the last appropriations bills. Guess what? So am I,” Johnson said.

“…With the smallest margin in U.S. history, we’re sometimes going to get legislation that we don’t like,” he added. “And the Democrats know that when we don’t all stand together, with our razor-thin majority, then they have a better negotiation position, and that’s why we’ve got some of the things we didn’t like.”

Greene filed the motion to vacate Johnson after a vote to fund the government to prevent a shutdown — which Johnson needed Democratic votes to pass. The Georgia Republican called her motion to vacate a “warning,” adding that “it’s time for our conference to choose a new speaker.”

“This is basically a warning and it’s time for us to go through the process, take our time and find a new speaker of the House that will stand with Republicans and our Republican majority instead of standing with the Democrats,” Greene said.

Greene went after Johnson in a post on X Monday, saying the speaker sided with Democrats on border policy — part of the spending bill that Johnson endorsed to prevent a government shutdown.

“If Speaker Johnson gives another $60 billion to the defense of Ukraine’s border after he FULLY FUNDED Biden’s deadly open border, the cruel joke would be on the American people,” Greene posted on X. “And it won’t be April Fools.”

A motion to vacate led to the ouster of Johnson’s predecessor, Kevin McCarthy last year. He was removed from the post by Republican hard-liners who were similarly upset that he worked with Democrats to pass legislation, including an eleventh-hour deal to keep the government open last fall.

Johnson has held the position since October.

During the interview, Johnson also said that he expects to move a package including aid for Ukraine with “some important innovations” when the House returns from recess next week.

“…when it comes to the supplemental, we’ve been working to build that consensus. We’ve been talking to all the members, especially now over the district work period. When we return after this work period, we’ll be moving a product, but it’s going to I think, have some important innovations,” Johnson said.

The Senate passed its own version of the $95 billion national security supplemental in February. Johnson is not expected to put this bill on the floor, but laid out a few options for what the House bill might look.

The House could tack on the “REPO Act,” which would give President Joe Biden authority to seize Russian sovereign assets frozen in the U.S. and transfer them to Ukraine for its reconstruction.

“The REPO Act, you know, if we can use the seized assets of Russian oligarchs to allow the Ukrainians to fight them, that’s just pure poetry. Even President Trump has talked about the loan concept where we set up, we’re not just giving foreign aid, we are setting up in our relationship where they can provide it back to us when the time is right,” Johnson said on Fox News.

Republicans are also taking a closer look at the “loan” idea floated by former President Donald Trump: making aid available to Ukraine as a loan that is waivable with no interest.

Another option would be to allow for natural gas exports to continue after the Biden administration paused approvals of new liquefied natural gas (LNG) export permits earlier this year to examine climate impacts.

“And then, you know, we want to unleash American energy. We want to have natural gas exports that will help unfund Vladimir Putin’s war effort there,” Johnson said of the Russian president.

“You know, there’s a lot of things that we should do that make more sense and that I think we will have consensus around. We’re putting that product together and we will be moving it right after the district work period,” he added.

ABC News’ Sarah Beth Hensley contributed to this report.

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(WASHINGTON) — U.S. and Israeli officials will hold a virtual meeting Monday to continue to discuss the standoff over the Biden administration’s opposition to Israel invading the southern Gazan city Rafah, a U.S. official confirmed to ABC News.

The official added that in-person follow-up meetings are anticipated after more work from experts.

This, after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu last week canceled a visit by an Israeli delegation in protest of the U.S. not blocking a U.N. Security Council resolution calling for an immediate cease-fire in Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza.

At the time, the White House said it was “disappointed” by that decision.

Monday’s virtual meeting was first reported by Axios.

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The White House is pushing back against top Republicans’ misleading criticism of President Joe Biden for issuing a proclamation in support of transgender people on the same day as Easter.

A spokesman for the president rejected the attacks from the House speaker and others that Biden’s message for the Transgender Day of Visibility goes against Christianity.

“As a Christian who celebrates Easter with family, President Biden stands for bringing people together and upholding the dignity and freedoms of every American,” White House spokesperson Andrew Bates said in a statement to ABC News.

“Sadly, it’s unsurprising politicians are seeking to divide and weaken our country with cruel, hateful, and dishonest rhetoric. President Biden will never abuse his faith for political purposes or for profit,” Bates added.

Biden, who is only America’s second Catholic president and regularly attends Mass, faced mounting conservative criticism over the weekend because of a proclamation he issued on Friday honoring “the extraordinary courage and contributions of transgender Americans” for the Transgender Day of Visibility — which occurs annually on March 31.

The date of Easter, which varies, fell on the same day this year.

Biden has issued a proclamation marking March 31 as the Transgender Day of Visibility every year since he took office in 2021.

He also issued a statement on Sunday marking Easter, saying in part that it “reminds us of the power of hope and the promise of Christ’s Resurrection. As we gather with loved ones, we remember Jesus’ sacrifice. We pray for one another and cherish the blessing of the dawn of new possibilities.”

Speaker Mike Johnson on Saturday posted on X that the Biden administration “has betrayed the central tenet of Easter–which is the resurrection of Jesus Christ.”

The speaker went on to say it’s “outrageous and abhorrent” that Biden is “proclaiming Easter Sunday as ‘Transgender Day,'” though the president was actually marking a date that has been celebrated since 2009.

ABC News reached out to Johnson’s office for further comment and got no response.

Former 2024 GOP presidential candidate and businessman Vivek Ramaswamy echoed Johnson’s attack in social media posts of his own.

Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina, another former Republican presidential candidate, likewise sent a text to supporters — accompanied by a donation link — saying that Biden had “insulted Christians everywhere.”

Former President Donald Trump’s presidential campaign on Saturday joined the chorus of Republican critics, slamming Biden’s proclamation as “blasphemous.”

“We call on Joe Biden’s failing campaign and White House to issue an apology to the millions of Catholics and Christians across America who believe tomorrow is for one celebration only — the resurrection of Jesus Christ,” Trump campaign press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement.

Trump has a history of questioning his opponents’ religious beliefs.

Biden allies are also challenging the attacks.

“This is just one more instance of folks who do not know how to lead us trying to divide us, and this is the opposite of the Christian faith,” Georgia Sen. Raphael Warnock, who is also a pastor in Atlanta, said on CNN on Sunday.

Another layer to the criticism of Biden this Easter weekend surrounds an egg art contest for the annual Easter Egg Roll scheduled for Monday at the White House. Trump, Johnson, Scott and Ramaswamy each claimed the administration had banned religious depictions as part of the contest.

The American Egg Board, which works to promote egg farmers, has partnered with the White House for the annual exhibits around Easter for 47 years, including during the Trump administration, a spokesperson told ABC News.

The spokesperson said the board, which was created by Congress, must follow federal guidelines, including one that prohibits them from being favorable to a religion — language they said they’ve included in their promotions for years.

A copy of this year’s flyer calling for submissions to the youth egg art contest lists restrictions including the promotion of discrimination, illegal drugs and firearms or “any questionable content, religious symbols, overtly religious themes, or partisan political statements.”

“The American Egg Board has been a supporter of the White House Easter Egg Roll for over 45 years and the guideline language referenced in recent news reports has consistently applied to the board since its founding, across administrations,” the organization said in a statement.

ABC News’ Lalee Ibssa and Soo Rin Kim contributed to this report.

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Democratic Sen. Chris Van Hollen on Sunday tore into Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over what Van Hollen said was Netanyahu’s refusal to acquiesce to President Joe Biden’s requests for more humanitarian action in Gaza amid the war with Hamas.

Appearing on ABC News’ “This Week,” Van Hollen, a Maryland lawmaker and member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, also said Biden “needs to back up his ‘no excuses’ language with real action.”

“We have a situation where Netanyahu continues to essentially give the finger to the president of the United States, and we’re sending more bombs,” Van Hollen told “This Week” co-anchor Martha Raddatz. “And that doesn’t make sense.”

The senator has been a vocal proponent of reconsidering sending offensive weapons to Israel out of concern for the situation for civilians in Gaza and Israel’s expected invasion of Rafah, Gaza’s southernmost city, where more than 1 million Palestinians are thought to be taking refuge.

“My view, Martha, is until the Netanyahu government allows more assistance into Gaza, to help people who are literally starving to death, we should not be sending more bombs,” Van Hollen said on Sunday.

Biden and other U.S. officials have voiced increasing frustration with Netanyahu and the way the Israeli military is prosecuting its campaign against Hamas in Gaza, given the high death toll overall.

Since Hamas’ Oct. 7 terror attack sparked the war, more than 32,000 people have been killed in Gaza, according to the Hamas-run health ministry there.

Still, though the president and his top officials have spoken out about the Palestinians caught in the crossfire and warned that there could be “consequences” if the Israelis move into Rafah without a plan for civilians, the White House so far has declined to condition military aid or take other overt steps to pressure Netanyahu.

Raddatz on Sunday pressed Van Hollen on what additional steps he’d like to see from the administration, given Netanyahu’s resolve to go into Rafah and, in the prime minister’s words, finish dismantling Hamas’ fighting capabilities.

Van Hollen said there needs to be a “two-way street, not a one-way blank check with American taxpayer dollars.”

“I think we need to better use our leverage. We have different parts of leverage and one of them is sending more offensive weapons. So, President Biden needs to be as serious about ensuring more humanitarian assistance gets into Gaza as Netanyahu has been in making his demands,” he said.

The administration has declined to submit new requests for weapons to Congress — opting instead to send packages that were already approved, which Van Hollen dubbed an “end run” around critics on Capitol Hill.

Though Van Hollen said he supports Israel’s ongoing operations against Hamas, specifically — noting the country “has a duty to defend itself” — “you could conduct this with fewer civilian casualties and certainly you could prevent the horror of this humanitarian catastrophe that we’re watching unfold.”

“One-third of the shipments of the humanitarian assistance into northern Gaza have been blocked in the last month. You could open Erez Crossing in the north and get assistance in right now. I mean, kids starve to death,” Van Hollen said.

He dodged, however, when pressed by Raddatz over whether he considers Netanyahu a war criminal after he singled out two hard-line members of the prime minister’s coalition for what he said were steps to block aid into Gaza.

“We’re going to have to make a decision as to what the intent of the full Israel government is … ultimately, that will have to be decided down the road,” he said.

A top Netanyahu adviser, Ophir Falk, insisted to ABC News earlier this month that Israel is doing enough for civilians in the war, saying that “maybe tens of thousands” of aid trucks have gone into Gaza since the beginning of the conflict.

“No other country would do that,” Falk said.

However, he said, Israel must also take steps to “verify it’s not being stolen by Hamas.”

Van Hollen on “This Week” separately also addressed the partial collapse of Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge last week. He said the government is dedicated to helping the city recover — including aiding the families of six workers who are believed to have been killed, all of whom had migrated to the U.S.

“It’s a clear example about the contributions and the sacrifices that immigrants make,” he said.

“The other priority right now is to open the channel because this is a thriving port of Baltimore. We have over 15,000 people working directly for the port. Thousands of others — their livelihood depends on the port. So, opening that channel is the priority,” Van Hollen said.

“The Army Corps of Engineers will cover all the cost of clearing the channel … The federal government will pay 90% of the [rebuilding] costs and Sen. [Ben] Cardin and I are planning to introduce legislation to cover the other 10.”

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The Islamic State terror group has a “strong desire” to attack the U.S. and other foreign powers, the former head of U.S. Central Command warned on Sunday, calling it a threat that is only growing.

“We should believe them when they say that. They’re going to try to do it,” retired Gen. Frank McKenzie told ABC News’ “This Week” co-anchor Martha Raddatz.

“I think the threat is growing,” McKenzie continued, pointing to the dangers from affiliates like ISIS-K after the broader group took responsibility for a deadly attack in Moscow earlier this month.The group also said it was behind a mass bombing in Iran in January.

“It begun to grow as soon as we left Afghanistan, it took pressure off ISIS-K. So I think we should expect further attempts of this nature against the United States as well as our partners and other nations abroad,” McKenzie said. “I think this is inevitable.”

McKenzie, who is also the author of the upcoming “The Melting Point,” a book about leadership and his time commanding U.S. forces in the Middle East, which included the exit from Afghanistan, said that the U.S. maintains a large enough military presence in Iraq and Syria to counter extremists there.

But he still believes the U.S. should have kept a small troop presence in Afghanistan rather than withdrawing completely in August 2021, bringing an end to America’s longest war.

Though President Joe Biden has previously maintained there would be an “over-the-horizon capability” to “act quickly and decisively” in Afghanistan, even from afar, McKenzie disputed that.

“In Afghanistan, we have almost no ability to see into that country and almost no ability to strike into that country,” he said of the conditions on the ground now.

That is a boon to the Islamic State and similar such militants, he said.

“If you can keep pressure on them … in their homeland and their base, it makes it hard for them to conduct these types of attacks,” he said. “Unfortunately, we no longer place that pressure on them, so they’re free to gain strength, they’re free to plan, they’re free to coordinate.”

Had the U.S. and its allies kept some forces in Afghanistan, prolonging military involvement there, “I have to believe, Martha, that things would be different. … I think we might actually be safer than we are,” McKenzie said.

The attack in Russia on March 22 underscores one of the dangers of militants being able to regroup enough to plan out large-scale operations, McKenzie said. At the same time, such efforts are more easily detectable, he said.

The U.S. has said it alerted the Kremlin to just such a possible terror attack weeks ahead of time, adhering to the “duty to warn” principle.

“I think there was probably good opportunity for the Russians to have averted this attack had they actually listened to the material that was presented to ’em,” McKenzie said on Sunday.

The suspects in the Moscow attack — who have been identified as citizens of Tajikistan — opened fire in one of the largest shopping and entertainment complexes in Russia, which was followed by a fire that engulfed the complex, according to the Russian Foreign Security Service.

McKenzie told Raddatz on “This Week” that militants can become radicalized to fight for groups like ISIS-K through influence campaigns and online methods or through in-person recruitment and training — but that self-radicalization “may be one of the most dangerous methods that ISIS can use to generate attacks.”

“Those attacks are generally not going to be well coordinated, they’re not going to be well planned and they’re not going to be well supported. But they could be very lethal because they’ll be so hard to detect,” he said.

Separately, McKenzie also briefly gave his view on the challenges that the Israeli military is facing as it targets Hamas fighters in Gaza in the wake of Hamas’ Oct. 7 terror attack.

The mounting casualties amid the fighting — more than 32,000 in Gaza, according to the Hamas-run health ministry — have provoked increasing international outcry.

“I think the Israelis are in genuine horns of a dilemma as they try to finish the ground campaign in Gaza,” McKenzie said, “and it’s going to be a very difficult stretch for them.”

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(NEW YORK) — Two days after former President Donald Trump targeted the daughter of the judge overseeing his New York hush money case on social media, lawyers for the Manhattan district attorney have asked Judge Juan Merchan to clarify the case’s limited gag order and “direct that defendant immediately desist from attacks on family members,” according to a letter sent to the judge.

“[T]his Court should make abundantly clear that the March 26 Order protects family members of the Court, the District Attorney, and all other individuals mentioned in the Order,” said the letter, which was sent to the judge Thursday.

“Furthermore, the Court should warn defendant that his recent conduct is contumacious” — i.e., stubbornly or willfully disobedient — “and direct him to immediately desist,” the letter said.

On Tuesday, Merchan issued a limited gag order prohibiting Trump from making comments about potential witnesses in the case, as well as jurors, lawyers, court staff, and their families. The order permitted Trump to continue making public comments about both Judge Merchan and Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg.

The following day, Trump railed against the gag order on his social media platform and criticized Merchan’s daughter for a social media post that a court official said was not posted by her.

“So, let me get this straight, the Judge’s daughter is allowed to post pictures of her ‘dream’ of putting me in jail, the Manhattan D.A. is able to say whatever lies about me he wants, the Judge can violate our Laws and Constitution at every turn, but I am not allowed to talk about the attacks against me,” Trump wrote.

A court officials later said the supposed post from the judge’s daughter was a “manipulation of an account she long ago abandoned.”

In a letter sent on Thursday, prosecutor Joshua Steinglass asked Merchan to clarify the gag order in light of Trump’s referencing Merchan’s daughter.

“The People believe that the March 26 Order is properly read to protect family members of the Court. But to avoid any doubt, this Court should now clarify or confirm that the Order protects family members of the Court, the District Attorney, and all other individuals mentioned in the Order,” the letter said.

Steinglass argued that “multiple potential witnesses” have expressed “gave concern” about their safety, and Trump’s post could influence the participation of witnesses ahead of the April 15 trial.

“That is, potential trial witnesses and prospective jurors who are not currently the subject of defendant’s invective will likely fear having themselves and their family members be subject to similar attacks,” the letter said. “This fear is not hypothetical: in the course of preparing for trial, multiple potential witnesses have already expressed grave concerns to the People about their own safety and that of their family members should they appear as witnesses against defendant.”

Trump’s defense attorney Todd Blanche responded to the request by arguing that Trump’s posts were permitted based on terms of the limited gag order, which does not explicitly prohibit statements about Merchan’s family.

“The express terms of the gag order do not apply in the manner claimed by the People,” Blanche wrote. “Contrary to the People’s suggestion, the Court cannot ‘direct’ President Trump to do something that the gag order does not require.”

Trump last April pleaded not guilty to a 34-count indictment charging him with falsifying business records in connection with a hush money payment his then-attorney Michael Cohen made to adult film actress Stormy Daniels just days before the 2016 presidential election.

Jury selection for the trial is scheduled to get underway April 15 in New York City. The former president has denied all wrongdoing.

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(NEW YORK) — Marianne Williamson, the author and spiritualist who has been one of President Joe Biden’s few primary challengers in the 2024 presidential race, suspended and unsuspended her campaign last month — and now that she’s back in the race, she told ABC News that her focus is not on taking down Biden, but on bringing progressive ideas and discussions about them to the campaign trail.

Williamson suspended her campaign on Feb. 7 following a string of significant primary losses in early states. She said she didn’t have the resources to continue — however, she wasn’t yet ready to abandon her candidacy.

“I suspended because I had done very poorly on the electoral level in the first three primary states. So if you just look at this in terms of the horse race, it was time to get out,” Williamson said in an interview with ABC News on March 18 — one day before a round of primaries that delivered a blow to her campaign. She was on the ballot in three states, earning an average of 3.6%.

Williams said she soon realized her purpose as a presidential candidate wasn’t necessarily about victory (Biden is already the presumptive Democratic nominee) or even earning delegates (she has not accrued any this primary cycle), but about triggering discussion on the campaign trail to include topics such as universal healthcare, youth hunger or free tuition to public colleges. She said that without debates or significant discourse between the candidates in the primary race, these progressive ideas have been missing from the conversation.

Williamson reentered the 2024 presidential cycle on Feb. 28 — three weeks after she left the race. She unsuspended her campaign the day after she received more than 2,000 more votes in the Michigan Democratic primary than Minnesota Rep. Dean Phillips, who was still a Democratic presidential candidate at the time.

She said she made the decision to restart her campaign ahead of Michigan’s contest — even traveling there to hold events ahead of the primary — but didn’t want to split votes between herself and the state’s growing coalition of Democrats who disapproved of the Biden administration’s handling of the Israel-Hamas war and were therefore voting for an “uncommitted” option.

“I was afraid that if I got in right then that it would look like I was challenging something,” Williamson said. “The morning after the Michigan primary, I got back in. Realizing the obvious limitations [to my candidacy] but also realizing that there’s a larger purpose here than trying to compete in the horse race.”

The second iteration of Williamson’s 2024 presidential platform is identical to her first — focused less on winning and more about ideas.

In the short time she was out of the race, the circumstances of the Democratic field had shifted so that she has emerged as a promising alternative for some Democrats disillusioned with Biden’s stance on the Israel-Hamas war, especially in places where an “uncommitted” option isn’t available on the ballot — considered a protest vote against Biden, who hasn’t achieved a cease-fire in Gaza.

Williamson has materialized as the candidate who will more aggressively pursue a cease-fire in the Israel-Hamas war as a longstanding proponent of peace between Israel and Palestinians and considered by many Palestinian supporters to be a stronger voice than Biden on the subject.

And in states like Virginia, Illinois and Arizona, where an “uncommitted” option wasn’t available to voters, cease-fire organizers encouraged Democratic voters to cast ballots for Williamson to represent their anti-Biden protest vote. They didn’t go as far as actually endorsing Williamson, however.

Williamson expressed gratitude for the groups that label her as the “cease-fire candidate.”

Liano Sharon and Nadia Ahmad, progressive Democratic National Committee delegates, recently threw their support behind Williamson. They cite her “unwavering commitment to advocating for a permanent cease-fire in Gaza and Palestine” as the primary reason for their endorsement.

Both are pledging to be automatic delegate votes at convention — meaning that in the unlikely scenario that Biden isn’t nominated on the first ballot at convention, Sharon and Ahmad would become superdelegates and support Williamson on the second ballot.

“The only way to be confident that you’re sending pro-cease-fire delegates to the convention is to vote for Marianne because she’s the only one on the ballot that’s pro-cease-fire,” Sharon, a DNC delegate for Michigan, said in an interview with ABC News.

“There are many things about Marianne that I think are really admirable. And there are some things that … I’m not so keen on. But in terms of getting cease-fire delegates to the convention, she’s the only way to do it,” he added.

Ahmad said she’s “actively getting other [ceasefire voters] to try to” endorse Williamson on a national scale.

Williamson, 71, is a best-selling self-help author who was catapulted to fame when Oprah Winfrey endorsed the now-candidate’s work through her book club and as sort of spiritual adviser on her show. She also ran for president in 2020.

Williamson was Biden’s first challenger in 2024. Now, after other dark-horse Democratic candidates Rep. Dean Phillips and progressive commentator Cenk Uygur have suspended their monthslong bids, Williamson is Biden’s last remaining primary opponent.

The DNC has thrown its support behind Biden and has not facilitated network debates ahead of the primary cycle. The national party, along with the Biden campaign, has engaged very little with Williamson’s candidacy, except in the very beginning when White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre jokingly dismissed her candidacy.

During a press briefing in March 2023, Jean-Pierre said she was “just not tracking” Williamson’s campaign, which had formally launched earlier that week.

When Williamson first sought the nomination in 2020, she participated in two primary debates and had the opportunity to make notable press appearances. This cycle has been a wholly different experience, she said. She said she has expressed intense frustration with her difficulty breaking through media markets, often taking to her own social media or Fox News to articulate her platform.

She said she’s been disenfranchised by not only the Democratic Party, but also state parties, who she claims — without clear evidence — have worked with DNC leadership to keep her off ballots states such as Florida, North Carolina and Tennessee. The state and national groups, for their part, unequivocally deny the allegation.

Last cycle, Williamson never experienced defeat. She left the race ahead of Iowa in 2020, ultimately endorsing Sen. Bernie Sanders and later Biden in the general election.

This cycle, she has placed in distant second or third behind Biden, and has not come close in any state to reaching the 15% threshold she’d need to earn a share of Democratic delegates.

The future of the Williamson campaign
Williamson and her “skeleton” campaign staff of just a few long-standing members of her team haven’t yet identified exactly where they might be able to gain delegates, she said. Instead, they’ve been traveling the country, putting on low-cost events in cities such as Chicago, New Orleans, Queens, New York, to get her message out.

She said she plans to remain in the race until the end of the primaries, which is in June, and that she will celebrate victories wherever they come.

“Look, I’m not delusional, and after going through this experience a couple of times, I’m not naive either. But the conversation matters,” she said.

She’s not raising money either. At the end of February, her campaign has more than $1 million of debt from loans she’s given herself, according to filings from the Federal Elections Commission. She ended February with just about $202,000 on hand, according to the FEC filings.

Williams said she is unsure about who she will support for president following her campaign.

When asked if she would engage in aiding any of the third-party candidates, Williamson responded that she wouldn’t do anything that would boost the candidacy of former President Donald Trump.

“My guiding principle is that I will not do anything that I feel increases the risk that Donald Trump will return to the White House,” she said. “That’s the bottom line for me.”

Editor’s note: This story has been updated to reflect a clarification by Williamson regarding her position on third-party candidates.

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(NEW YORK) — Former President Donald Trump and several of his co-defendants on Friday filed their appeal of the disqualification ruling that allowed Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis to remain on the Georgia election interference case.

The motion from Trump and others to the Georgia Court of Appeals argues that Judge Scott McAfee “erred as a matter of law by not requiring dismissal and DA Willis’ disqualification.”

“This legal error requires the Court’s immediate review,” the 51-page filing states.

The appeal came from Trump and co-defendants including Michael Roman, Rudy Giuliani, Mark Meadows, and Jeffrey Clark as part of their ongoing effort to have the Fulton County indictment dismissed and Willis and her entire office removed from the case.

Nathan Wade, the lead prosecutor in the Fulton County election interference case, resigned as special prosecutor on March 15, hours after McAfee issued his ruling that either Willis or Wade must step aside from the case due to a “significant appearance of impropriety” stemming from a romantic relationship between the DA and the prosecutor.

A three-judge panel will now be randomly assigned to review the appeal application and determine whether or not to take it up. A staff attorney will also make a recommendation, but the panel has the ultimate say.

The court has 45 days to issue its decision. Only one of the three judges has to vote yes in order for them to take up the appeal.

Friday’s defense filing urges the appeals court to take up their application for a number of reasons, including that McAfee’s order allegedly contained a “plain legal error” by finding Willis’ actions created an appearance of impropriety but not requiring her disqualification.

“The trial court was bound by existing case law to not only require Wade’s disqualification (which occurred) but also to require the disqualification of DA Willis and her entire office,” the filing argues. “The trial court’s failure to do so is plain legal error requiring reversal.”

Even though Wade has resigned, argues the filing, the case carries forward an appearance of impropriety “as long as [Willis] and her office remain involved.”

Willis’ disqualification “is the minimum that must be done to remove the stain of her legally improper and plainly unethical conduct from the remainder of the case,” the filing argues.

The filing also highlights many of McAfee’s critical statements in his ruling, including that a speech Willis made at church was “legally improper”; that an “odor of mendacity” lingers in the case; and that there were “reasonable questions about whether the District Attorney and her hand-selected SADA testified truthfully.”

Chris Timmons, a former Georgia prosecutor who is now an ABC News contributor, said that in a normal scenario he would not think the court would grant the appeal. But, he said, “this case is high profile and political, so they might.”

“The law of disqualification is well-settled, and the judge has a ton of discretion in making findings and crafting remedies in that area,” Timmons said. “So that should mean no appeal. But I’ve seen appellate courts create new law in political cases.”

Trump and 18 others pleaded not guilty last August to all charges in a sweeping racketeering indictment for alleged efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election in the state of Georgia. Four of Trump’s co-defendants subsequently took plea deals in exchange for agreeing to testify against other defendants.

Judge McAfee said last week he would keep moving forward with the case while Trump and his co-defendants pursue their appeal.

“The Court intends to continue addressing the many other unrelated pending pretrial motions, regardless of whether the petition is granted within 45 days of filing, and even if any subsequent appeal is expedited by the appellate court,” the judge said.

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(NEW YORK) — Several Democratic leaders who honored the life and legacy of former Sen. Joe Lieberman at his funeral Friday remembered the man who represented Connecticut for over two decades as a calming presence and commended his approach to holding public office in contrast to today’s division.

The prominent Jewish politician, was also former Vice President Al Gore’s running mate in the 2000 presidential election, died Wednesday in New York City at 82 years old.

Gore, Sen. Chris Murphy, Sen. Richard Blumenthal, former Sen. Chris Dodd, Gov. Ned Lamont, and Lieberman’s children all spoke at the funeral, held at Congregation Agudath Sholom in Stamford, Connecticut — his home state. Many regarded Lieberman as a “mensch,” a Yiddish term for a person of integrity and honor.

In a world of bitter political divides, Gore said Lieberman set an example others should follow.

“We can learn from Joe Lieberman’s life some critical lessons about how we might heal the rancor in our nation today.”

Gore pointed out that while they shared “bitter disagreements on policy and political matters,” they stayed close friends regardless.

“Both of us knew … the strong foundations of our friendship, and what we share in common were so much larger and so much stronger than what was driving us apart in those years,” Gore said.

The former vice president also recollected the time he shared with Lieberman as the two awaited the results of the disputed 2000 presidential election.

“On Saturdays during the long, excruciating, 36-day process after Election Day before the Supreme Court decision, we would … observe the Sabbath together and it was a time of real comfort and perspective,” Gore said.

Lamont — who was once Lieberman’s rival for the Senate seat — said when Lieberman served as attorney general, he was known for “standing up for civil rights, civil liberties, consumer rights and the environment.”

“He was always a calming presence like that bridge over troubled waters,” Lamont said.

Blumenthal also emphasized Lieberman’s accomplishments while he was a senator.

“He helped form the Department of Homeland Security, built the modern intelligence community … which has protected our nation from terrorist threats and attacks,” Blumenthal said.

Blumenthal said Lieberman was a skilled listener, too.

“The picture always in my mind will be of him listening to someone because he believed that every person has a story, and every story is worthy of respect,” Blumenthal said.

Murphy recalled running for a state legislature seat early in his career and having Lieberman — “a giant” — campaign for him.

“He came to campaign for me when I was a long-shot candidate for the state legislature at age 25 because he believed in mentoring young people who had a kind of vision for the world like he did,” Murphy said.

Murphy said Lieberman was “authentic” and rejected being boxed into partisan categorizations. Lieberman went on to become the founding chair of the No Labels party, which is considering launching a “unity ticket” in this year’s presidential election.

“He was one of one; how lucky for Connecticut that he was one of ours,” Murphy said.

Lieberman is survived by his wife, Hadassah, and four children.

“He gets a ton of credit for being kind and being honest and being courageous and unafraid. He deserves all that. The funny thing is it was easy for him — it came natural,” Matt Lieberman, a son of Joe Lieberman said.

“His integrity was not a blinding light. It was a magnetic field, drawing in fellow travelers and inviting even adversaries for dialogue and compromise,” Ethan Tucker, Lieberman’s stepson said.

Lieberman’s daughter, Hani Lowenstein, also paid tribute to her father and said, “I will certainly feel as if there’s a gaping hole without you with us physically in this world.”

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(WASHINGTON) — President Joe Biden, top lawmakers and administration officials are condemning Russia’s wrongful detention of journalist Evan Gershkovich and reiterating their commitment to bringing him home.

Gershkovich, a Wall Street Journal reporter, has now spent one year in Moscow’s Lefortovo Prison on espionage charges his newspaper and the U.S. government have denounced as false. Earlier this week, his pre-trial detention was extended for another three months.

Gershkovich’s family, in an interview with ABC News, expressed optimism and said they know the U.S. government is taking his case seriously.

President Biden reiterated that position in a statement Friday, in which he emphasized to all Americans abroad: “We are with you. And we will never stop working to bring you home.”

“As I have told Evan’s parents, I will never give up hope either. We will continue working every day to secure his release,” Biden said. “We will continue to denounce and impose costs for Russia’s appalling attempts to use Americans as bargaining chips. And we will continue to stand strong against all those who seek to attack the press or target journalists — the pillars of free society.”

Secretary of State Antony Blinken similarly stressed in a statement Friday that “journalism is not a crime” as he criticized Russia for going after its critics.

“To date, Russia has provided no evidence of wrongdoing for a simple reason: Evan did nothing wrong,” Blinken said, adding, “In the year since Evan’s wrongful detention, Russia’s already restrictive media landscape has become more oppressive, with a continued assault against independent voices targeting any form of dissent.”

Blinken and Biden also called for the release of Paul Whelan, a businessman and former U.S. Marine who was convicted of espionage in 2020 and sentenced to 16 years in prison. Like Gershkovich, the U.S. government considers Whelan unjustly detained by the Russian government.

“Russia should end its practice of arbitrarily detaining individuals for political leverage and should immediately release Evan and Paul,” Blinken said.

In a rare joint statement, House Speaker Mike Johnson, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said they continue to condemn Gershkovich’s “baseless arrest, fabricated charges, and unjust imprisonment.”

“Forty-five years ago, Evan’s parents, Ella and Mikhail Gershkovich, found refuge in the United States after fleeing the Soviet Union,” they said. “Today, Putin is restoring Soviet-style control through repression at home and aggression abroad.”

In December, State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said Russia rejected a “new and significant proposal” to secure the release of Gershkovich and Whelan.

Russian President Vladimir Putin, during an interview with former Fox News anchor Tucker Carlson, suggested he could be open to a prisoner swap involving Gershkovich.

“We repeat our call for the Russian government to release Evan, Paul Whelan, and others it has wrongfully detained without further delay,” the U.S. congressional leaders said Friday.

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