(MILWAUKEE) — President Joe Biden is continuing his campaign ramp-up with a visit to battleground Wisconsin on Wednesday, a day after he clinched the Democratic nomination.
Biden’s first stop will be an official event to talk infrastructure at a Boys & Girls Club. He’s going to tout millions in funding for a project to improve Milwaukee’s 6th Street Corridor — part of his administration’s push to highlight the positive impact of his policies as he looks to convince voters to give him a second term.
Later, Biden will turn to his reelection bid and join supporters at the opening of his 2024 campaign headquarters in the city.
Tuesday’s set of primary races sealed a rematch between Biden and Donald Trump, who also won enough delegates to lock down the Republican Party’s nomination ahead of this summer’s convention.
Biden won Wisconsin by just 20,000 votes in 2020. His repairing of the Midwest “blue wall” — Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin — was critical to his defeat of Trump but early polling has shown Biden trailing Trump in the state.
According to an official from the Biden-Harris campaign, the choice to base their statewide operation in Milwaukee (a first in 20 years for a presidential campaign) is strategic. It reflects their focus on voters crucial to the Democratic coalition, including suburban women, Black voters and Latinos.
Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris and their partners will travel to every battleground state over the next month to build up campaign infrastructure and engage grassroots supporters, the official said.
The blitz comes after Biden’s fiery State of the Union address last week, in which he laid out what he said were stark contrasts between his vision for the nation and that of the Trump-led Republican Party. Biden hit his predecessor on everything from abortion access to aid for Ukraine and more.
The speech featured a fired-up Biden, who is also working to quell doubt from critics and voters who say he’s too old to serve another four years. An ABC News/Ipsos poll released last month found a majority of Americans thought he and Trump were too old for a second term — though it is a greater weakness for Biden.
Last week, Biden began to take his State of the Union message on the road to Pennsylvania and Georgia.
“Folks, it’s not hyperbole to suggest our freedoms are literally on the ballot this November,” Biden said in Georgia on Saturday. “Donald Trump and the MAGA Republicans are trying to take our freedoms away.”
“But guess what? We’re not gonna let them take them away,” he said.
(WASHINGTON) — The House on Wednesday passed bipartisan legislation to force TikTok’s Chinese parent company to sell the wildly popular social media platform or face a ban in the U.S.
If enacted, the bill would give ByteDance six months to divest from TikTok before app stores would start prohibiting access.
The final vote was 352-65, surpassing the two-thirds majority threshold needed to pass the legislation under a suspension of the rules.
The bill passed despite an 11th-hour lobbying push from TikTok’s supporters and some opposition from former President Donald Trump, who reversed his position on the app.
It’s unclear if it will be welcomed by the same level of support in the Senate, where Majority Leader Chuck Schumer hasn’t committed to putting it on the floor. Though President Joe Biden has said if it lands on his desk, he will sign it.
House Speaker Mike Johnson, shortly after his chamber’s successful vote, pressured the Senate to take action.
“Today’s bipartisan vote demonstrates Congress’ opposition to Communist China’s attempts to spy on and manipulate Americans, and signals our resolve to deter our enemies,” Johnson said in a statement. “I urge the Senate to pass this bill and send it to the President so he can sign it into law.”
On Wednesday, two major Senate players formally endorsed the House-passed bill: Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Mark Warner, D-Va., and Vice Chairman Marco Rubio, R-Fla.
“We are united in our concern about the national security threat posed by TikTok — a platform with enormous power to influence and divide Americans whose parent company ByteDance remains legally required to do the bidding of the Chinese Communist Party,” they said in a joint statement. Still, it remains unclear if there will ultimately be 60 votes to advance the legislation.
Ahead of the House vote, the lead Republican and Democrat on the effort told ABC News that the potential disinformation and data “risks” the app poses are too ominous to ignore.
“We’ve had instances in the past where TikTok has used the app to spy on journalists, for example, but the broader risk in my mind is having a foreign adversary, in this case, the Chinese Communist Party, control what is increasingly becoming the dominant news platform in America,” Rep. Mike Gallagher, R-Wisc., said.
“The risk in terms of propaganda, the risk to influence our election are just too severe. That’s not just me talking. That’s every single major national security official from the Biden administration. That’s why we’re seeking a divestiture to guard against those two risks.”
Americans using TikTok “should use it cautiously,” Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi, D-Ill., agreed.
“I don’t have it on my phone. It’s banned from government devices for a reason. But you know, I think you should use it cautiously. My own children don’t have it on their devices, thankfully, and all parents should act accordingly,” he said.
In an hour of debate on the legislation, many lawmakers contended their primary goal was to separate the app from its Chinese parent company for national security reasons, not to ban a very popular app used by more than 170 million Americans.
“This is not an attempt to ban TikTok. It’s an attempt to make TikTok better,” said former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a California Democrat, as she highlighted the positive educational and business values of the app. “Tic-Tac-Toe. A winner. A winner.”
But others in the chamber voiced concern the bill is an infringement on the First Amendment and free speech.
“Americans have the right to view information,” said Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky. “We don’t need the government to protect us from information. Some of us just don’t want the president picking which apps we can put on our phones or which websites we can visit.”
ABC News’ Alexandra Hutzler contributed to this report.
(WASHINGTON) — President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump have clinched the Democratic and Republican presidential nominations, respectively, after another round of voting on Tuesday, ABC News projects based on the ABC News delegate estimate.
That officially begins a nearly eight-month-long general election battle that has, in some ways, already been underway for several weeks. That follows one of the shortest highly contested presidential primaries since the modern nomination process took shape in the 1970s.
The rematch between Biden and Trump is expected to revolve around the same swing states and similar issues as in 2020, including immigration, the economy, and democratic values.
Abortion and reproductive access are also expected to be flashpoints along with inflation and foreign policy.
Democratic primary elections were held in three states on Tuesday: Georgia, Mississippi and Washington as well as in the Northern Mariana Islands and in voting by Democrats living abroad.
For Democrats, 254 delegates were at stake on Tuesday, and Biden needed to get 100 more in order to earn the 1,968 delegates needed to officially win the Democratic nomination this summer.
He tipped over the edge after the results of the Mississippi presidential primary were projected.
A Republican candidate needed to earn 1,215 delegates to also earn the GOP nomination awarded this summer.
Trump had 1,078 delegates heading into Tuesday’s round of contests, according to ABC News’ estimate, so he had to get 137 more to cross the threshold — which he did when Washington reported its results. Overall, 161 delegates were up for grabs on Tuesday.
Because former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley, Trump’s last major Republican opponent, continued to contest the GOP primary until Super Tuesday, the competitive period of this year’s Republican contest ended up falling short of setting any records.
The current record for the earliest end date of a contested presidential primary is March 3 in the 2004 Democratic contest, and the lowest number of voting states is 19 in the 2000 Democratic race.
(NEW YORK) — New York Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers and former Minnesota Gov. Jesse Ventura top the list of Robert F. Kennedy’s potential running mates — though the independent candidate has not made a formal offer to either man.
In a text, Kennedy himself confirmed the news, which was first reported by The New York Times.
Kennedy is expected to select his running mate in the coming weeks, his campaign manager has told ABC News, due mostly to the requirement that he have one to apply for ballot access as an independent in certain states.
ABC is efforting comment from Rodgers and Ventura.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
(OLYMPIA, Wash.) — Organizers in Washington state have been leading an effort to encourage Democratic voters to cast their ballots for the “uncommitted” option on Tuesday, in the latest example of a protest movement against President Joe Biden’s stance on the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza.
The push to choose the uncommitted option, which is not available in every state, began in Michigan in February.
That resulted in some 101,000 uncommitted votes and two delegates won in Michigan, according to ABC News’ count and estimates.
In the weeks since, about 46,000 and 450 uncommitted votes were cast in Minnesota and Hawaii, respectively — enough to also send uncommitted delegates to the Democratic National Convention.
The uncommitted campaign in Washington has a connection to Michigan: Activists from the “Listen to Michigan” campaign collaborated with advocates in Washington like Bothell City Councilmember Rami Al-Kabra.
Within a couple weeks, Al-Kabra told ABC News, the “Uncommitted WA” campaign began.
According to Al-Kabra, some voters in his community initially threw their primary ballots in the trash due to their extreme dissatisfaction with the Biden administration’s support for Israel — but they have since ordered replacement ballots after learning about the “uncommitted” option.
“I feel that the policies in the past five months have been a betrayal of the work I personally did to help mobilize votes for him [Biden] here in the state of Washington” in the last presidential race, Al-Kabra said.
Sabrene Odeh, 29, a Palestinian American who is volunteering with the uncommitted campaign, said it’s a “tangible way to send a clear message” to the White House.
“Our votes must be earned,” she said. “And if we’re going to continue to feel as Palestinians that we are less than or disposable … then we’re going to stand in the way of all of our elected officials time and time again until they see the value in our lives.”
Broadly speaking, Biden has tried to balance his support for Israel’s campaign against Hamas fighters after Hamas’ Oct. 7 terror attack with sympathy for the tens of thousands of people who have been killed amid Israel’s bombardment of the Palestinian territory of Gaza.
The president has also pushed for negotiations to implement temporary cease-fires in exchange for hostage releases and criticized Israel’s tactics as “over the top.” But he has not said he would condition aid to the country on an end to Israel’s retaliation or on negotiations with the Palestinians.
His critics, including among Arab and Muslim Americans, accuse him of being indifferent to their suffering and what they contend is Israel’s brutal military operation, which the White House says isn’t true. (Israel insists it takes steps to curb civilian deaths.)
More than 30,000 people have been killed in Gaza and more than 72,100 have been injured since the war was sparked by Hamas’ October attack, according to the Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza.
“When I see the videos and the pictures and everything that’s coming out of Gaza, I see myself, I see my family members,” said Odeh, the uncommitted voter in Washington.
She said that the protest movement extends far beyond the Arab American and Muslim American population.
Faheem Khan, another volunteer, echoed that, saying the uncommitted campaign reaches a diverse coalition of voters including many non-Muslim and non-Arab Americans.
Khan also pushed back on criticism from some Democrats that protesting Biden will aid former President Donald Trump’s reelection chances, given how close the election could be in some states.
In Michigan, for example, Biden only won in 2020 by about 155,000 votes compared with the 101,000 uncommitted votes there in February’s primary.
“I am more concerned that people who are anti-war sit out the election … and that would help Trump more than anything,” Khan said.
The campaign in Washington was endorsed by the largest local labor union in the state, United Food and Commercial Workers 3000, a chapter that represents 50,000 grocery, health care and retail employees.
The group cited two reasons for their support: Members are concerned regarding Biden’s political strength and ability to beat Trump, and they are angered by the administration’s unwillingness to call for a permanent cease-fire in Gaza.
“It’s too risky for labor and it’s too risky for our democracy to give Trump any chance to win in November,” said Joe Mizrahi, the secretary-treasurer for UFCW 3000. “We need a different candidate to bring forward and to maintain those wonderful things that Biden has done or we need Biden to be aggressively making the case.”
A Seattle chapter of the American Federation of Teachers and Jewish Voice for Peace Action have also supported the uncommitted effort.
Since Washington conducts its elections by mail, organizers have warned that it may take several days to accurately count how many uncommitted ballots are received.
As of Monday, some 1.27 million total ballots have been returned, according to the Washington secretary of state.
Though Biden has handily won every state’s nominating contest so far and is set to clinch the party’s overall nomination, Al Kabra said he’s “hopeful” that the effort will garner significant reach.
“Early return ballot returns usually skew older and more center, and later ballot returns … are younger and more progressive,” he said.
State data shows that ballot returns have gotten smaller in the days closer to Tuesday.
For Washington to send uncommitted delegates to the Democratic National Convention in the summer, the option will have to get at least 15% of the vote either statewide, as happened in Minnesota, or in a congressional district, as in Michigan.
When asked about the “uncommitted” voting effort taking place in Washington, Biden campaign spokesperson Lauren Hilt said he “shares the goal” of peace in the Middle East.
“The President believes making your voice heard and participating in our democracy is fundamental to who we are as Americans,” Hilt said in a statement to ABC News. “He shares the goal for an end to the violence and a just, lasting peace in the Middle East. He’s working tirelessly to that end.”
This is not the first time that Democratic voters have voted “uncommitted” in a presidential primary. For example, it happened when former President Barack Obama ran for reelection in 2012.
Elsewhere on Tuesday, an effort similar to the uncommitted campaign has emerged in Georgia, where the “Listen to Georgia” coalition has started a “Leave It Blank” campaign, telling voters not to fill in any bubble in an effort to pressure Biden to do more to support Gaza.
In Wisconsin on April 2, an advocacy group is likewise urging Democrats to vote “uninstructed.”
ABC News’ Libby Cathey contributed to this report.
(WASHINGTON) — The department of Veterans Affairs will soon provide in vitro fertilization to eligible veterans who are single or in same-sex marriages — coming after criticism of the agency’s lack of reproductive benefits for some veterans.
The VA announced Monday that it will also provide IVF to veterans using donated sperm or eggs.
This announcement comes after lawsuits filed against the Department of Defense and VA in New York and Boston last year argued that some VA policies, including IVF care, were exclusionary to LGBTQ+ members of the military.
VA Secretary Denis McDonough said in a statement that the expansion of care has long been a priority for the VA. He added that “raising a family is a wonderful thing.”
“I’m proud that VA will soon help more Veterans have that opportunity,” McDonough said in the statement.
Before Monday’s announcement, the VA only provided IVF care to veterans who were legally married and could biologically produce their sperm and eggs. Federal law states that all veterans who receive IVF must have fertility issues because of a health condition caused by their military service.
Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., has worked to ensure more inclusive reproductive assistance for veterans. She previously introduced the Veteran Families Health Services Act of 2023 intended to improve the reproductive assistance offered under DOD and VA health care for veterans.
Following the VA’s announcement, Murray applauded the VA for its decision. Murray said she will seek unanimous consent to push legislation forward to ensure IVF care and family-building assistance for all U.S. service members.
“VA’s announcement is an important step forward that will help more veterans start and grow their families — and it’s especially timely as IVF is under attack from the far right,” Murray said in a statement.
Under current policy, VA health care covers up to $2,000 in adoption expenses, but does not cover surrogacy for veterans who have a service-connected disability that caused infertility.
McDonough said they are “working urgently” to implement these new policies as soon as possible.
“VA is taking immediate steps to implement this policy and expects to be ready to deliver this care to Veterans nationwide in the coming weeks,” the VA said in its statement.
(WASHINGTON) — With new aid for Ukraine stalled in Congress since December, the White House on Tuesday announced it had cobbled together another $300 million in military assistance to use as a stopgap measure.
“The package includes munitions and rounds to help Ukraine hold the line against Russia’s brutal attacks for the next couple of weeks,” President Joe Biden said in a meeting with Polish President Andrzej Duda and Prime Minister Donald Tusk at the White House, adding, “we must act before it literally is too late.”
National security adviser Jake Sullivan detailed the package at White House briefing, saying that the aid comes as Ukraine “does not have enough ammunition to fire back.”
“So today, on behalf of President Biden, I’m announcing an emergency package of security assistance of $300 million worth of weapons and equipment to address some of Ukraine’s pressing needs,” Sullivan said.
The package will include anti-aircraft missiles, ammunition, artillery rounds, and anti-armor systems.
“It is assistance that Ukraine desperately needs to hold the line against Russian attacks and to push back against the continuing Russian onslaught in the East and in other parts of,” Sullivan said.
When pressed by ABC News’ Karen Travers about how quickly this aid could get to Ukraine, Sullivan said “we can move this stuff fast.”
“We have proven that over time, we have built a logistical pipeline and backbone to be able to do that,” Sullivan said. “I can’t give you a precise estimate for operational reasons, but it’s going to move very quickly.”
This funding comes as a $95 billion foreign aid package that includes nearly $60 million in funds for Ukraine has been stalled in the House for nearly a month. That bill passed the Democrat-controlled Senate in early February, but House Speaker Mike Johnson has not brought the package to the floor for a vote.
Sullivan said that past contracts were negotiated “well,” leaving more savings on the table for this new aid package.
“And to put a fine point on it, we’re able to use these cost savings to make this modest amount of new security assistance available right now without impacting U.S. military readiness, and the president has directed his team to use these cost savings.”
But Sullivan also made clear that this package did not supplant further funding that would come from congressional action.
“It goes without saying, this package does not displace and should not delay the critical need to pass the bipartisan national security bill,” Sullivan said.
One official told ABC News that this package was one calling this drawdown package a “one-time shot.”
Sullivan also told Karen that the administration does not anticipate another opportunity like this.
“Well, as my friends at DOD like to remind me, we can’t plan on cost savings. So, we can’t plan on any future drawdowns being available on the basis of cost savings. So, we’re not anticipating that. It’s not built into what we’re looking for.”
ABC News’ Alexandra Hutzler contributed to this report.
(WASHINGTON) — Former President Donald Trump says one of his first acts if elected to a second term would be to “free” people convicted for their roles in the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, whom Trump continues to claim are “wrongfully imprisoned.”
He made that promise, presumably about using the presidential pardon power, on his social media platform on Monday night. It’s the latest example of how he has repeatedly defended those charged and convicted of crimes for their conduct at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
Trump didn’t specify how many of the rioters he would pardon, though he said last year that “I am inclined to pardon many of them. I can’t say for every single one, because a couple of them, probably they got out of control.”
The Department of Justice announced last week that, to date, nearly 1,400 people have been arrested and charged in connection with Jan. 6, with nearly 800 of them pleading guilty.
Of those charged, 127 people are accused of using a deadly or dangerous weapon or causing serious bodily injury to an officer, according to the DOJ.
Nearly 500 of the defendants have received prison sentences so far, though most of those sentenced to periods of incarceration will have already been released by January 2025, when Trump would return to the White House if reelected.
Trump has downplayed the violence that ensued that day, referring to the defendants as “J6 hostages,” calling for their release and appearing at fundraisers supporting them.
At recent events, right before Trump walks on stage, his campaign has been playing “Justice for All” by the so-called “J6 Prison Choir” — a group of men incarcerated for their roles on Jan. 6 — singing the “Star Spangled Banner” as Trump recites the Pledge of Allegiance.
The DOJ continues to arrest additional defendants accused of committing violence at the Capitol on a near-daily basis.
Among those that have received the highest sentences for their involvement in Jan. 6 Capitol attack are former Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio, sentenced to 22 years in prison, far-right group Oath Keepers leader Stewart Rhodes, sentenced to 18 years in prison for seditious conspiracy, Peter Schwartz of Pennsylvania who was sentenced to more than 14 years, including on assault and civil disorder, and retired New York City police officer Thomas Webster, who was sentenced to 10 years in prison after assaulting a Washington, D.C., officer that day.
The Biden campaign criticized Trump’s latest support for Jan. 6 defendants, claiming he’s “encouraging political violence” to “hold on to power.”
“The American people haven’t forgotten the violent attack at our Capitol on January 6 – they know Trump is too dangerous to be let anywhere near the Oval Office again, and they’ll turn out to protect our democracy and keep Trump out of the White House this November,” Biden campaign spokesperson Sarafina Chitika wrote in a statement.
ABC News’ Libby Cathey and Alexander Mallin contributed to this report.
(WASHINGTON) — Republican Rep. Ken Buck, who already announced he would not be seeking reelection, announced Tuesday he will leave Congress at the end of next week.
“It has been an honor to serve the people of Colorado’s 4th District in Congress for the past 9 years,” Buck said in a statement. “I want to thank them for their support and encouragement through the years.”
Buck’s departure will narrow House Speaker Mike Johnson’s already razor-thin majority.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
(WASHINGTON) — Both Joe Biden and Donald Trump may well earn enough delegates to clinch the nominations for their respective parties on Tuesday, when four states and one territory will report election results.
Should Trump be able to mathematically cross the Republican National delegate threshold then, the 2024 Republican race would be one of the shortest highly contested presidential primaries since the modern nomination process took shape in the 1970s.
Biden and Trump becoming the presumptive presidential nominees will also officially begin a nearly eight-month-long general election battle that has, in some ways, already been underway for several weeks.
The rematch between the president and former president is expected to revolve around the same swing states and similar issues as in 2020, with Biden arguing that Trump is an anti-democratic candidate who would pull the country back from its progress and erode rights like abortion access, corruption the nation’s “soul” — as Trump, running again on a MAGA message, hammers Biden over high inflation and immigration and contends his style would ensure more stability.
But first, both candidates have to finish winning their nominations, which is done by earning delegates based on the amount of votes they receive.
Presidential primary elections are being held in three states on Tuesday: Georgia, Mississippi and Washington. Hawaii will hold its GOP caucuses after earlier holding its Democratic caucus.
Biden could be declared the presumptive nominee first, after polls close in Mississippi at 8 p.m. EST.
For Democrats, 254 delegates are at stake on Tuesday. Thus far, Biden has won 1,868 delegates (including six allocated earlier in the day from the Northern Mariana Islands) according to ABC News’ current estimate. To win the nomination, 1,968 delegates are needed — and Biden just needs to win 100 more delegates to reach that threshold.
The earliest Trump could mathematically be declared the presumptive nominee is after polls close in Washington state later in the night, at 11 p.m. EST.
A Republican candidate needs to earn 1,215 delegates to earn the party’s nomination. Trump had 1,078 delegates heading into Tuesday’s round of contests, according to ABC News’ current estimate, so he needs 137 more to cross the threshold.
For Republicans, 161 delegates are up for grabs on Tuesday.
Trump’s last major remaining rival for the GOP nomination, former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley, suspended her campaign one day after Super Tuesday last week, when she lost 14 contests but won the Vermont primary. Haley had also won the Washington D.C. contest, which put her at 91 delegates earned, according to ABC News estimates.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and tech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy also have a small share of delegates, both from Iowa’s GOP caucuses, the only contest each participated in before they suspended their primary campaigns. DeSantis has nine delegates and Ramaswamy has three.
Both the Democratic and Republican nominations will officially be awarded at their party conventions this summer, in August and July, respectively.
Biden’s path to his nomination has faced fewer challengers than Trump did, though he has been running against long shot candidates including author and speaker Marianne Williamson, who also ran in 2020, and Minnesota Rep. Dean Phillips.
Neither of them has won delegates. Williamson suspended and then unsuspended her campaign, while Phillips, who ran against Biden by arguing that the president is too old and too weak against Trump to seek another term, left the race after Super Tuesday.
Biden’s only loss in a nominating contest so far has been in American Samoa, when little-known entrepreneur Jason Palmer beat him, 51 votes to 40.
More notably, an anti-Biden “uncommitted” campaign protesting his stance on Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza has had some success in a few states after being launched in Michigan in February.
To date, the uncommitted option is estimated to have earned 20 delegates total from Hawaii, Michigan and Minnesota.
Washington is the only state with an uncommitted option on their ballot on Tuesday. In Georgia, however, some anti-Biden organizers have initiated a “Leave It Blank Primary Campaign” that encourages Democrats to request a ballot but submit it without choosing Biden or another candidate as a vote.
Democrats abroad, whose voting ends Tuesday, are also able to cast their ballots for an uncommitted option.
